Zhuo Chaoqun sneered coldly, “Brother Yun, it seems your cultivation hasn’t advanced at all these years.”
Although the Commandery Governor addressed that fellow as “brother,” the crowd could see there was no goodwill whatsoever—the two clearly had some kind of grudge.
“Alas.”
The blue-robed middle-aged man shook his head. “The path of martial arts is unfathomably deep. With my limited talent and dull aptitude, naturally I won’t achieve much.”
“However.”
He paused, grinning to reveal a row of neat white teeth, and smiled. “Beating you—that’s no problem.”
“Is that so?”
Zhuo Chaoqun’s expression darkened.
Though the two were separated by quite a distance, their eyes met in a staring contest, and the atmosphere grew serious.
After a while.
Both of their eyes grew sore from staring, and they simultaneously withdrew their gazes.
“Brother Yun.”
Zhuo Chaoqun said coolly, “What difficulty requires this older brother to clarify?”
The blue-robed middle-aged man scratched his hair that hadn’t been washed in several days and said flatly, “You dispatched three hundred thousand troops to attack Qingyang Commandery which I govern—isn’t that a bit underhanded?”
The Qingyang Commandery he governed?
“Could it be…”
Someone suddenly realized, “This person is the Qingyang Commandery Governor?”
Correct.
The blue-robed middle-aged man was indeed Qingyang Commandery Governor Yun He.
This elusive fellow had come alone to Zhenyang Commandery, and from his words it wasn’t hard to discern that he seemed to be seeking justice for Qingyang Commandery—truly a man of temperament.
If Xie Guangkun knew about this, he definitely wouldn’t think so, and would quickly send people to carry him down the mountain.
Why?
Because the Commandery Governor not only loved drinking, but was a crazy drunk.
As long as he got drunk, forget about the Zhenyang Commandery Governor—even if it were a Martial Emperor, he’d dare point at their nose and say, “What are you looking at!”
As the saying goes, alcohol emboldens the timid.
Before drinking, he belonged to the Xingyun Continent; after drinking, the Xingyun Continent belonged to him.
“Natural selection, survival of the fittest.”
Zhuo Chaoqun said coolly, “Brother Yun should understand this principle, yes?”
“Cut the crap.”
Yun He let out a wine-scented burp. “If you’ve got the ability, then fight me right here in public!”
“…”
Zhuo Chaoqun’s brows furrowed.
Though he absolutely didn’t want to accept the challenge, with so many people watching, he coldly said, “If that’s the case, then I respectfully accept.”
…
The演武场 that had been filled with people suddenly became empty as Lingyuan Sect disciples and martial artists from all directions stood outside.
A battle between Commandery Governors—this was extremely rare.
Of course.
Since they were all from Zhenyang Commandery, they naturally stood on Zhuo Chaoqun’s side, hoping their Commandery Governor could thoroughly thrash that fellow.
Reeking of alcohol, Yun He staggered onto the演武场.
Zhuo Chaoqun approached from another direction. Smelling the wine fumes wafting through the air, he instinctively pinched his nose and thought silently, “As the master of a commandery, all he knows is drinking—truly unable to achieve greatness.”
To accomplish his ambitious plans, he was strict with himself and abstained completely from alcohol.
Setting aside the grudge with Qingyang Commandery, he was definitely someone worthy of our generation’s emulation.
“Zhuo Chaoqun.”
Yun He took another drink and said, “Today, in front of the people of Zhenyang Commandery, I’ll make you understand the consequences of bullying Qingyang Commandery!”
Zhuo Chaoqun said coolly, “If not for the Iron Bones Clanging Sect appearing halfway through, your ninth-rank commandery would have already been taken by this seat.”
“Hahaha!”
Yun He laughed heartily. “A small sect from my Qingyang Commandery completely annihilated your White Tiger Legion—doesn’t that infuriate you?”
At the mention of this matter, Zhuo Chaoqun’s anger flared to the heavens.
But he forcibly suppressed it and said, “Brother Yun, shall we begin?”
“Let’s begin!”
Before his words even finished, Yun He’s Martial King aura erupted as he charged forward with a twisting, swaying footwork!
“Martial King!”
The crowd exclaimed in shock.
That the governor of a ninth-rank commandery could break through to Martial King—this was completely unexpected.
Zhuo Chaoqun sneered coldly. His Martial King cultivation erupted, his fists gathering thick power as he directly bombarded the void.
Boom!
Boom!
Two explosive sounds rang out!
The surging spiritual energy resonated with space, rapidly condensing into a giant fist that violently pressed toward the charging Yun He!
High-grade middle-tier, Void-Shaking Fist.
“Well done!”
Yun He halted his steps and swept his long sleeves.
Spiritual energy spread out, forming a water curtain-like barrier in front of him.
Boom!
The fist carrying tremendous force directly smashed into the water curtain. Both forces instantly annihilated each other, with two different types of spiritual energy wildly spreading outward and disturbing the space!
Thud thud thud!
Zhuo Chaoqun retreated several steps before stabilizing himself. When he looked up, he discovered Yun He had vanished.
Where was he?
“Snore, snore—”
The sound of snoring came from outside the演武场. Zhuo Chaoqun swept with his spiritual sense and discovered Yun He was now lying down below, sleeping soundly on his back with all four limbs sprawled out.
Everyone: “…”
In the middle of fighting, he actually managed to lie down below and sleep—truly an absolute weirdo!
“Come… come… help me up… I can still drink…”
The sleeping Yun He still didn’t forget to mutter drunk talk.
Zhuo Chaoqun’s mouth twitched violently.
I actually accepted a challenge from a crazy drunk—has my brain gone wrong too!
“Someone!”
He commanded in a heavy voice, “Throw him out!”
“Commandery Governor.”
A strategist said, “We could capture this person—perhaps he’ll be useful in the future.”
Zhuo Chaoqun said, “Before taking down Qingyang Commandery, arbitrarily detaining a commandery governor would cause people to point fingers at our backs if word got out.”
The strategist said no more.
The Commandery Governor was someone who accomplished great things, but sometimes considering too many factors made him hesitant.
“Come… keep drinking…”
Several soldiers lifted Yun He up, and he continued mumbling drunk talk.
Was this fellow really not here to make a joke?
…
The farce ended.
Lingyuan Sect disciples and numerous martial artists sat back down.
Zhuo Chaoqun entered the great hall and warmly conversed with the Guiyuan Sect Sect Master.
Sitting on the high platform, Yu Hongtai proclaimed loudly, “We were delayed a bit earlier. Everyone may now ask this old one questions about martial arts.”
“Senior Yu, this junior has confusion regarding martial arts. Please provide guidance!” A family head was first to speak.
“Speak freely.”
Yu Hongtai said, adopting the appearance of a martial arts grandmaster.
“This martial arts confusion of jun—”
Speaking to this point, that family head’s face suddenly showed a terrified expression. “It’s over, it’s over!”
It’s over?
The crowd looked bewildered.
Instinctively, they looked toward where that family head had raised his head, and saw a brilliant light trailing through the sky rapidly approaching from behind the great hall.
“Hmm?”
Yu Hongtai also sensed a scorching power spreading toward them. He expanded his spiritual sense and discovered the red glow speeding toward them.
“Not good! It’s falling down!”
“Everyone run quickly!”
Those sitting in the演武场 scattered in all directions like startled rabbits.
“Hmph.”
Yu Hongtai sneered coldly, then raised his hand. Space suddenly twisted as visible spiritual energy formed and gathered into a substantial barrier above the great hall.
Boom!
At that moment, the meteor-like red glow directly crashed into the barrier, shattering it violently, then landed with a ‘bang’ in the very center of the演武场.
Whoosh—
A scorching heatwave swept out, blowing away all the martial artists who hadn’t retreated in time.
At the same time, because the landing force was too fierce, the entire Lingyuan Sect’s ground shook violently, and the great hall’s beams creaked and groaned chaotically.
The faces of Zhuo Chaoqun and the Lingyuan Sect Sect Master, who had been conversing, changed dramatically.
They simultaneously released their spiritual senses, enveloping the area where the force came from, and saw a mass of scorching flames appear out of thin air in the演武场. The precious stone slabs were either shattered by the震 or roasted red by the heat.
Within the flames, two human figures gradually appeared, and a voice rang out: “Iron Bones Clanging Sect Sect Master Jun Changxiao has come to visit Lingyuan Sect. Please teach me!”
—