Chapter 556: Gather 2
Several days later...
Boom!!
A fist covered in a black metal fist glove instantly pierced through a tree barely thick enough for one person to hug with the length of their arms, creating a perfectly round and smooth hole, as though a high-speed diamond-tipped drill had gone through it.
"The White Cloud Palace Master..." The man wearing the fist gloves panted hard, his eyes reddening.
He raised his head abruptly.
Ahhh!!!!
The howl of frustration and anger instantly reverberated throughout the whole valley.
"He's not dead... not dead!! Hahahaha..." The man threw his head back and laughed, "Not dead! Teacher! He really isn't dead!!!"
"Even if he really isn't dead, that person had been at the level of King of the Century even back then, do you really think you can take your revenge?" The man's expression changed instantly, and he smiled strangely, his voice even turning to that of a piercing woman's voice.
"Teacher died, but he didn't!? He didn't die?!" The voice instantly changed again, becoming a man's voice once more. The man held his head and stumbled a few steps back.
"If that person is the real deal, you won't be able to kill him." The woman's voice appeared again. "You are still one step away from King of the Century."
"Why don't you ask about that guy's level?" The man's voice gave a low laugh."
"That's right, what if it's a false alarm?" The girl's voice laughed softly. "Unfortunately, the name Garen had long been completely silenced, the only ones who know this name are all from the older generation, and the young ones have no idea what the name means. Even if someone impersonated him, an elite fighter who could defeat the White Dew Gate elder, who looks young, knows that name, and can say even Garen's surname without mistake, when he stands out like that to gather his gate members, he could invite enemies first if he's not careful. In that case, that person would either be a fool, or truly a survivor of the Southern Sky Gate, y'know~~"
"A hidden expert, is it?" The man's voice said coldly.
"Who knows?" The woman's voice slowly fell silent, and spoke no more.
In the forest, only the man was left standing quietly alone there, not moving at all.
*****************
"How's the Divine Master's condition?"
In a white gazebo, two people dressed in black were playing chess, talking in low voices as they listened to the howls and roars from the forests, neither of them seeming particularly bothered, evidently used to it.
"Not too bad, last time there was someone who impersonated the King of Nightmares, and this is even better, they even dare to impersonate the King of the Century, aren't they bold..."
"Not necessarily, with that kind of aura, that person does not need to impersonate any elite fighter, it would be too easy for him to just make his own name for himself."
"He is directly declaring war with our Immortal Palace. Or rather, this could very well be a ploy from the other factions directed at us."
"Interesting..."
The two of them took turns with their moves, moving extremely quickly, but with every rise and fall of their hand, the mill-sized chess board still kept on staying in play, remaining in a strange state of balance.
"It is most likely that there really was an expert born from the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate. There might even be a shadow of the Demon Gate in there."
******************
In the thick forests of the East Continent
The young woman in the skin-tight black clothes stumbled, leaning on a tree bark after a few steps, lowering her head to pant as she rested, then she continued laboring her way forward.
The light of noon was bright, the golden sunlight coming down through the leaves, making the whole forest hot and humid.
The girl's vision was growing blurred, she rubbed her eyes hard, and continued looking forward as she rushed forward.
The sweat on her body had already totally soaked her black clothes, plastered to her body, and onto the wound on her back, making it sting with pain.
Suddenly, her foot lost its footing, as though she was tripped by something, and she fell forward slightly, dropping to the ground with a bam.
"Cherry!" Suddenly there was a panicked woman's voice from afar.
A woman with white clothes and black hair made a few hasty leaps, landing beside the girl and hurriedly helping her up.
"I'm fine." The girl was slightly dizzy for a while, but now she opened her eyes again, pushing the woman away, as she stood up on her own, leaning onto a large tree beside her.
"Aunt Nora, how's the situation up north? I was ambushed here too, so it must be even worse up north!" She forcefully steadied her head, dizzy from blood loss, and asked quietly.
The black-haired woman frowned, and looked at her worriedly, but had no choice except to reply hurriedly.
"In the north, with the protection of Arielle and the others, they managed to evacuate most of the people, but there were still three people who... fell..."
The girl fell silent.
"That damn Immortal Palace!" She smashed her fist onto the tree trunk next to her, looking down so that her expression could not be seen.
"The Immortal Palace pulled off this ambush splendidly, it was arranged and directed by the Young Divine Master Jessian himself. There were fifteen different-sized sects surrounding us, they are all led by the best Grandmasters of Combat." The woman in black, Nora, replied carefully. "Thank goodness we still have news of you, Miss, or else this time we'll truly have..."
"I need to hurry back, if this goes on for much longer, Daddy and the others will be in danger." The girl said softly.
"But with the news leaked this time, you'll be suspected, Miss! If you go back now, and if your injuries are discovered..."
"Say no more!" The girl's expression was determined, she raised her head, revealing a fair, pretty, and pure young girl's face, her eyes were actually a rare wine-red color. Her shoulder-length purple-black hair was tied into a ponytail, well-defined and handsome. Her body was well-balanced in its curves, but she looked no more than fifteen or sixteen years old, so no matter how she acted mature, there was still a hint of childishness.
"If I don't go back for too long, the Moon Star Gate's young gate master will definitely suspect something, and then Father and the family will be involved as well!"
"But, if it is discovered that you got the news from the Moon Star Gate's young gate master..."
"I will handle it myself, don't worry." The girl's back was against the black-haired woman, "Aunt Nora, please help me put on some medicine, I can't reach it myself."
"Sigh..."
Nora saw the mess of flesh and blood on the girl's back, and her heart twinged in pain.
The fate and responsibility of the White Cloud Gate and the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate were all on the shoulders of a mere fifteen-year-old girl to bear alone, even if she was from a family that had borne the King of the Century, even if she herself had outstanding martial talent, even if she had just reached the level of Grandmaster of Combat right now, and was mature beyond her years.
But she was still a little girl that had just turned fifteen.
Her parents, and siblings, all of them had died at the ends of the Immortal Palace. She wandered around since young, and then in order to take revenge, she had given herself up to adoption by a family of good Samaritans. On the surface, she was a rich young heiress, but secretly, she was a powerful Grandmaster of Combat with great talent and a family legacy. And every day, she had to interact with her suitors to gain information...
After hurriedly bandaging up the girl's gruesome injuries, putting on some specially-made medicine, and taking out the clothes that had been prepared beforehand so she could change into them, Nora finally released a long breath.
"Your injuries are too serious, you must not fight within a month, nor can you activate your aura, or you run the risk of becoming paralyzed..."
But the girl seemed not to hear her.
"I'll go back now. With the help of Big Sister Arielle and the others from the Azure Continent, make sure nobody comes out for anything these next few days, as for your daily supplies, I'll have my maid secretly send them to a fixed place, be careful when you come to receive them."
"Got it."
"Alright, go." The girl said calmly.
"Cherry... be careful!"
"Mn."
The girl watched Aunt Nora leap away, and quickly picked up the clothes she had changed out of, disappearing into the forest and feeling instantly relieved.
"There really are threats on both sides... Grandma Ying Er, if it were you, how would you solve this right now..." She muttered, lost in thought.
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White Dew Mountain Green Cloud Temple
On a large square plaza in the middle of the temple, a white cement square, there were about a hundred elite fighters gathered in the plaza, the hot golden sunlight sparkling, but none of them felt hot.
Each of them felt ice-cold in their hearts.
In the middle of the plaza, there was a man with blonde hair dressed in tight black clothes, he stood in the center with a calm expression, surrounded by four elites of the gate with their floaty white beards. All four of them wore green, but just then, their clothes had been soaked in sweat.
An old man in white sat beside the plaza, his eyes lowered, but his hand was trembling slightly on his horsetail whisk, indicating how extremely disturbed his heart was.
The two middle-aged man behind him were already gripping their fists tightly, their nails digging into their palms but they did not even know it. Their gazes were just fixed hard on that handsome young man with shoulder-length blonde hair in the plaza.
"Your Excellency Garen, we have already helped you pass on the message you wanted us to, may we know if you have any other requests? You can just speak them all at once." The old man in white who was sitting in the chair spoke in a low voice, his expression solemn, but the weakened tone in his words unhidden.
Garen also felt that bullying these average elite fighters had no point whatsoever, with his prowess in his Evil Technique, he just had to use a little force, and these people would not be able to resist at all, their blood would be controlled by the Evil Technique in an instant, becoming his own puppet. Although they had trained their secret techniques for many years, and the blood in qi in their body was a lot more stable, but to Garen, even a larger ant was still an ant, and could still be stomped to death without him noticing.
Before he even released his presence, the elders around him were already too scared to move, and even too scared to fight.
"I had wanted to borrow your White Dew Gate's power for a bit, the people from the Immortal Palace and the Demon Gate will reach here sooner or later, so I would still need you, Gate Master Yue, to arrange a location for us."
"Do you really have that much confidence, Your Excellency?" Yue Qingdi could not tell how strong Garen was at all, he felt Garen's blood qi was as vast and limitless as an ocean, but how could a human's blood qi reach such a level? This was evidently an illusion caused by his secret techniques. But he had never heard of such a secret technique effect!
He did not dare to make a move, he was one of the East Continent's Three Absolutes, the strongest Grandmaster of Combat, once he made a move, it was normal for him to win, that would be fine. But once he lost, that was a fatal blow to the reputation of the White Dew Gate.
"Confident? Haha." Garen raised an eyebrow, this was not a matter of confidence at all, it was just that they were not on the same level to begin with.
"Regarding the Southern Sky Holy Fist Gate, I have some new information here." A white-haired elder next to Yue Qingdi spoke suddenly.
"Do speak." Garen looked at this person.
That elder glanced at the Gate Master, received his approval, and immediately spoke again.
"The Immortal Palace's Young Divine Master is gathering elites to surround and exterminate the... members of the Southern Sky Gate, and there is also the cooperation of the Lin family army, we don't know what the results are. I just received the intel as well."
"Extermination?" Garen's eyes narrowed, "Location?"
"I don't know... but we can go investigate!"