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Chapter 95
🕑 Added 2023-04-04 09:08:20 +0000 UTCApologies for the late chapter. Mistake on my part. As an apology, there will be two extra chapters this week.
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If they had decided to fight then and there, Chen Haoran would be the first to object. He’d already paid the house rent for a year. Even if Jiang Lei put a sword to his neck, he wasn’t going to waste his deposit by wrecking the place.
Fortunately, Jiang Lei defied his expectations and reasonably led him and Wang Xiao outside the city and into the jungle. It was a bit of a risk to leave the safety of the city given what he knew and, more concerningly, didn’t know about Jiang Lei. Granted if the Liquid Meridian wanted to do something to him he would have done so already. Being in the city or outside didn’t make much of a difference in that case. It was times like these that he missed Song Yuelin. While that snooping bastard was infuriating on a good day his presence was still useful in warding off other Liquid Meridians.
They traveled into the jungle and away from the main roads until they entered a clearing shaded from the sky by a dense layer of branches. It was far enough away that their training wouldn’t disturb anyone with their training but close enough that one could still see the city if they jumped above the trees. Phelps wasted no time in flying off his back and exploring the new trees. Chen Haoran let him do as he pleased although his heart did leap into his throat when one of the tree branches revealed itself to be a snake that twisted and struck at Phelps. He was worried for naught when the snake had its head speared through by Phelps’s claws. The sloth’s cultivation had taken another huge leap forward with how well he’d been eating. It was only a matter of time before Phelps entered the Ninth-Layer.
Jiang Lei tracked Phelps with interest as he floated up to the tree and whistled in appreciation upon seeing him practice self-defense. “I can see why you keep him around now. That’s quite the interesting pet you have.”
He didn’t know half of it.
Jiang Lei clapped his hands. “Alright. I hope you two are ready.”
Wang Xiao had turned his back to them and was kneeling on the ground with his sword laid across his lap. At Jiang Lei’s words, he awoke from whatever pre-duel ritual he was doing and spun to face Chen Haoran with a flourish.
“You do know this is a bad idea, right?” Chen Haoran asked.
“Don’t worry,” Jiang Lei cheerfully said. “He’s tough enough that I can save his life with little issue. Feel free to go all out.”
Chen Haoran shrugged. If he was that confident, then there was no reason to refuse. Besides, he would be lying if he said he didn’t want to properly beat down Wang Xiao for what happened last time. Now that he had an excuse?
“You caught me off guard last time,” Wang Xiao said, sneering. “I’ll properly educate you of the difference in our standings.”
Oh, he was going to enjoy this.
Chen Haoran raised an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t you wait until after you lose to start making excuses?”
Wang Xiao scowled. “Senior Brother, start the duel.”
“Let’s have a productive and educational spar now,” Jiang Lei said. He raised his hand in the air.
Wang Xiao fell into a stance. Chen Haoran twitched his hands. He considered using the Scattering Petal Palms. He looked at Wang Xiao’s tight grip on his sword and decided against it. Facts had proven Wang Xiao could cut him. There was no need to risk losing his fingers by fighting him barehanded. He grabbed the hilt of his scimitar.
Jiang Lei’s hand fell. “Begin.”
Water-like ripples spread from Wang Xiao’s feet, and he skated forward. He drew his sword in the same motion. Chen Haoran pulled out his scimitar in full and the ground split beneath his feet. He slashed the blade, and Wang Xiao’s face morphed into shock. He immediately turned, and dove out of the way as white energy tore through his water ripples like tissue paper.
“I warned you not to underestimate him,” Jiang Lei said. A careening blade of white energy flew over to Phelp’s tree. Jiang Lei placed himself in its way and protected the tree with a wall of liquid qi.
Wang Xiao’s shock expression quickly gave way to a scowl. He stomped on the ground and the water ripples spread from he feet like a wave. He shot off faster this time. Chen Haoran stood in place and sent slice after slice of white energy at him and everything around him. He was less aiming and more deciding everything in a certain direction deserved to be cut. Large gashes were opened in the earth, small cuts appeared on Wang Xiao’s robes, and trees fell in mass and scattered their leaves in the air. Wang Xiao quickly adapted and used the fallen trees to try and interrupt his attacks. Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t get close to Chen Haoran. On the flip side, Chen Haoran couldn’t hit him.
“It looks like you don’t have a movement technique,” Jiang Lei said. “I’m a bit surprised you don’t. You struck me as someone who had a power behind them.”
Chen Haoran frowned. That explained what that ripple technique was. He was wondering why he didn’t have something like that. Surely a movement technique wasn’t beyond the Chen Family’s means to acquire. Was his predecessor so useless he didn’t even attempt to practice something so useful?
Absorbed by his thoughts, he stopped waving his scimitar. While the white energy didn’t completely disappear and continued to emanate from the blade, it had grown weak enough that Wang Xiao found an opportunity to break through.
“Fall!” Wang Xiao roared. His sword thrummed with qi.
Chen Haoran raised his scimitar in an almost puppet-like motion. A feeling that was both deeply personal and extremely unfamiliar came over him. In his mind, the image of the White Tyrant using the Canyon Carving Sword perfectly overlapped with his current pose. No matter how flawless his mimicry the result was so much lesser than what he witnessed that day. His Harmonization was a spark compared to the sun. The scales were so hilariously different that comparing them was a hopeless endeavor.
Nevertheless, even a spark from the sun was enough to burn a forest to ash.
Wang Xiao’s eyes widened, and a peach glow spread across his sword. Chen Haoran swung his scimitar down with cloud-splitting force. Jiang Lei suddenly appeared, grabbing Wang Xiao’s head and throwing him face first to the dirt. The peach qi along his sword dissipated. A white beam of metal white energy passed five feet away from them, parting the earth beneath it with its presence alone and flying into the jungle. Trees fell like dominoes and broke apart in a rain of wood. Birds and insects madly fled into the air while the slow ones were turned into blood mist. The destruction continued for fifty feet before abruptly ceasing.
Chen Haoran warily observed Jiang Lei as he stood over Wang Xiao. While he tried to his best avoid aiming directly at Wang Xiao he wasn’t surprised Jiang Lei decided to intervene. Except, Jiang Lei didn’t bother carrying Wang Xiao to safety at all.
Wang Xiao lifted himself up, spitting dirt. “Senior Brother-”
“You’re testing my patience, Junior Brother,” Jiang Lei quietly said.
Wang Xiao froze.
“Senior-”
“Just dodge, you fool. Or better yet, just get hit and die.” Jiang Lei crouched and cupped his Junior Brother’s cheek. “Is this you rebelling? Did you ask me for permission first?”
Chen Haoran shivered. He couldn’t see Jiang Lei’s face from where he stood and that made his calm admonishments even more. Judging by how pale Wang Xiao had gone, it was perhaps a good thing he couldn’t see. He silently took a step back.
Wang Xiao, for the first time since Chen Haoran had met him, had a look of real fear on his face. “I- I’m sorry, Senior Brother. I was not thinking.”
“Oh, you were thinking alright. Perhaps too much.” He patted Wang Xiao’s cheek and stood up. “Go freshen yourself up. You’re filthy.”
“Yes, Senior Brother. Right away.” Wang Xiao shot up and scurried away, disappearing into the jungle.
Chen Haoran watched him go. What had happened? It was Jiang Lei’s idea to have the duel, yet he ended it just like that. It clearly had nothing to do with safety, at least not Wang Xiao’s. Was it for him? He could only think of the peach glow on Wang Xiao’s sword. Was it dangerous? Did Wang Xiao plan to kill him? It hadn’t seemed that dangerous to him at the time. He narrowed his eyes. It didn’t make sense. If Wang Xiao were truly that strong, he wouldn’t have panicked so much seeing Chen Haoran’s Harmonization. There was nothing else he could think of however, Jiang Lei only intervened once Wang Xiao started using whatever that technique was.
Jiang Lei turned around, and Chen Haoran banished his thoughts. He lacked the context to make a real guess at this time.
“Apologies for that,” Jiang Lei said. He softly smiled and motioned over to Phelp’s tree. “Let’s discuss the issues of your Harmonization now.”
Comments
Ethan Gardner
I wouldn't say it's stopped moving forward, we are just trying to improve his harmonisation and generally set him up for stuff to go wrong in the auction or stuff to go wrong after
Hunter8k
It may be only me, but I feel as if plot has stopped moving forward ever since Xie Jin left.
