Weapons are one of the key indicators used to assess a martial artist’s strength. When Zhang Wen first started learning imperial martial arts, he had already seen this theory discussed in more than one textbook.
Since techniques have never been a primary focus in imperial martial arts, the weapons used in battle naturally became one of the key factors in determining the outcome of a fight.
Common weapons like crystal-energy swords are typically discarded once a martial artist surpasses the eighth-tier elite level. After reaching this level, a martial artist usually no longer relies on standardized weapons. Instead, they forge personalized weapons by channeling their battle energy into specially crafted crystals, which are made from unique minerals and treated through spiritual techniques.
However, maintaining the shape and strength of a weapon formed from a crystal requires the continuous infusion of battle energy from the martial artist. Therefore, although there are exceptions, generally speaking, the larger and heavier a weapon a martial artist wields, the more profound their battle energy must be.
As for the massive sword in the red-haired youth’s hand before Zhang Wen, nearly taller than the youth himself, without an overwhelming and awe-inspiring amount of battle energy as a foundation, merely generating it from the crystal would be difficult, let alone wielding it in battle.
Even if Agate wasn’t holding that greatsword, Zhang Wen would never underestimate the red-haired youth, who appeared to be about the same age as himself. From him, Zhang Wen clearly sensed that suffocating pressure he often felt from Iron Mask.
“Hey! Students of Almace Academy, did you have a great time bullying my dear little sister?” As Zhang Wen observed Agate, Agate had already plunged the greatsword into the ground beside him, his once bright and handsome face now dark and gloomy.
On the massive native stone ore vein, Linoa’s spiritual energy had been greatly enhanced, even unknowingly helping her break through the formidable barrier of the tenth-tier master level. However, under the current circumstances, this was not good news for Linoa; rather, it was extremely detrimental.
For a spiritualist, their spiritual energy is not only used for attacks but more importantly, to sense the surrounding world. The stronger a spiritualist’s energy, the clearer their perception of the world around them, and at the same time, the greater the impact the surrounding world has on them.
Suddenly possessing power beyond the tenth tier, the pressure and terror Linoa felt when facing a peerless powerhouse like Agate was incomparable to what she had felt at the ninth tier. That suffocating pressure, as if the entire world was collapsing down on her, nearly shattered her nerves.
Even surrounded by raging flames, Linoa continued to break out in cold sweat, her legs trembling slightly. Yet despite this, she clenched her teeth tightly, standing straight with her sexy figure, forcing out four words through gritted teeth: “Ridiculous nonsense!”
“That’s right! It was clearly her who attacked Teacher Linoa first!”
“That’s what people call ‘the aggressor accuses the victim,’ right?” With Linoa leading the way, the three female students from Almace Academy gathered their courage and loudly refuted Agate’s accusations.
“Hmph!” Agate let out a disdainful snort, his gaze as sharp and cold as freshly honed blades. “The aggressor accuses the victim? Even if they are aggressors, anyone who dares to harm Axi will be sent straight to hell by me!”
As Agate’s decisive “go” rang out, without making any move himself, another roaring flame dragon suddenly coalesced in front of him, charging toward Linoa with unstoppable momentum.
Linoa was already struggling to withstand the oppressive battle aura emanating from Agate, leaving her powerless to form a spiritual shield to defend against the attack. In fact, the terrifying might radiating from Agate had already instilled a sense of hopeless despair deep within her heart. Subconsciously overwhelmed, Linoa could only watch helplessly as the flame dragon, brimming with the aura of death, roared toward her.
However…
Just like when Linoa had attacked the red-haired girl moments ago, when Agate’s flame dragon was about to engulf Linoa, a massive surge of battle energy suddenly erupted from the side, slamming head-on into Agate’s flame dragon.
Boom! The collision of the two immense energies unleashed an ear-splitting explosion. A towering pillar of red and blue light shot into the sky, even piercing a massive hole through the thick clouds overhead.
On the ground, violent and turbulent winds instantly swept across the entire camp. Tents, campfires, and branches were all lifted high into the air. The three beautiful students from Almace Academy were also caught off guard and blown backward. As for Linoa, who was positioned right at the epicenter of the explosion, she was hurled away the moment the two energies collided head-on.
However, just as she was swept up by the wind, she was quickly caught around the waist by someone, and after several quick directional changes, she landed steadily on the ground.
“Hmm?” Agate’s sharp, icy gaze immediately locked onto the man who had caught Linoa and brought her back down.
When he had first arrived at the camp, this man had displayed a battle energy level of only around the seventh tier, which had not drawn even a shred of Agate’s attention. Just like the rumors he had heard about Kaseres, Agate had assumed this guy was just another useless martial artist from Almace Academy’s physical combat department.
However, the man’s performance just now completely shattered Agate’s impression of him. Although Agate had only used thirty percent of his strength when launching that flame dragon, anyone capable of blocking even that much of his power could certainly not be just a seventh-tier nobody!
“Heh, didn’t expect this. The seventh-ranked enforcer of the Consortium, the Flame Demon Agate, is actually a complete sister complex.” As he set Linoa down, Zhang Wen teased Agate with a grin.
“You… how is this possible?” Agate glared at Zhang Wen, his body gradually emitting a faint, flickering red flame.
Due to the immense battle energy within him, Agate had always struggled to control his power as perfectly as most martial artists of his caliber. That flickering red flame was the excess battle energy leaking out of his body whenever he prepared to unleash his full strength.
What kind of person was that guy who hadn’t even reached the eighth-tier elite level yet, yet could force her beloved older brother to go all out? Seeing this, the red-haired girl standing beside Agate couldn’t help but wear an expression of extreme shock.
“What’s going on… Do you really think I’d casually tell you something so personal?” Zhang Wen continued to speak in a relaxed, teasing tone toward Agate.
In truth, Zhang Wen himself didn’t know the exact answer to Agate’s question. However, one thing Zhang Wen knew more than Agate was that the energy he had cultivated by combining Spring Water Technique with imperial martial arts was definitely not the same as ordinary battle energy. In fact, just moments ago when he had intervened to block the red-haired girl’s sneak attack on Linoa, Zhang Wen had already discovered that the energy cultivated through his Spring Water Technique was also affected by the native stone!
No! More accurately, the influence of the native stone on the battle energy within his body was even far greater than its effect on Linoa’s spiritual energy! On this largest native stone ore vein in the empire, Linoa’s spiritual energy had only advanced from ninth to tenth tier, while Zhang Wen’s battle energy had truly leaped from ninth tier straight to the eleventh-tier Saint level! If not for this, Zhang Wen would never have been able to block Agate’s attack so effortlessly just now!
Still, even after reaching the eleventh tier, Zhang Wen could clearly sense the nearly insurmountable gap between himself and Agate.
Although Zhang Wen wasn’t exactly sure how much strength Agate had used in his attack on Linoa, he was certain it was just a casual strike. Yet even that strike, which probably didn’t exceed thirty percent of Agate’s power, had required Zhang Wen to use every ounce of his strength to barely match it. And that was only because Zhang Wen had the advantage of proximity!
Zhang Wen was well aware that the battle between him and Agate had become inevitable the moment he saved Linoa. And the opponent he was about to face would be the most terrifying one he had ever encountered since arriving in this world! Facing such an opponent, Zhang Wen’s alertness had naturally risen to the highest level of his life.
Of course, Zhang Wen had also considered that directly confronting Agate head-on with his current strength would give him almost zero chance of victory. Yet, without hesitation, he had still rescued Linoa from Agate’s wrath. Regardless of whether there was still a relationship of mutual benefit between him and Linoa, even if it was just for the pride of being a man, Zhang Wen could not tolerate watching a woman being killed right before his eyes.
“Is that so? If you don’t want to talk, then forget it.” Agate’s calm tone, however, conveyed an unusual sense of terror. After all, anyone could imagine that a man named “Flame Demon” in the Consortium would not be so easygoing.
Lifting his gaze, his pupils seemingly shrouded in flames, Agate swept his eyes over Zhang Wen. Even from over a hundred meters away, Zhang Wen could still clearly feel the tangible killing intent radiating from Agate.
“Hmph! Anyway, you’re about to die. Take your secrets with you to hell.”
Cang!
The moment Agate’s voice rang out, he flicked his wrist, pulling the greatsword, over two meters long, from the ground. As the greatsword rose with Agate’s movement, pointing straight into the sky, a towering column of fire erupted from his body. Once again, the clouds overhead were blasted open, creating a massive gap.
“Agate, big brother!” Seeing the column of fire around Agate, the red-haired girl cried out in shock with all her might.
However, Agate, engulfed in flames, shot up like a rocket, quickly ascending beyond the clouds in the blink of an eye. Then, from Agate’s position, the towering column of fire began to rotate vertically down its center! The direction it carved through the air formed a perfect cross with the fire dragon that had scorched the ground when Agate first appeared.
In an instant, the fire column shot out like a laser beam from space, sweeping across hundreds of meters, straight toward Zhang Wen. Just like the dragon that had marked Agate’s entrance, everything in the fire column’s path was reduced to ashes by its terrifying power. In fact, this time the beam seemed even more powerful, its blazing white-hot flames almost unbearable to look at.
If Zhang Wen had merely relied on his eyes to track Agate’s movements, he would have been reduced to ashes along with the camp under the beam’s attack. However, if Zhang Wen could truly be killed so easily, Agate wouldn’t have unleashed his full strength just for him.
The moment the brilliant fire column erupted from Agate, Zhang Wen’s increasingly acute sixth sense had already detected that this would be a full-power strike from this formidable opponent who far surpassed him.
Feeling an unprecedented sense of crisis, the battle energy at the eleventh tier, which Zhang Wen had not yet fully mastered, was completely unleashed in that instant. Zhang Wen’s perception, in that moment, seemed to break through some kind of limit, explosively expanding outward, reaching hundreds of meters away, encompassing the towering fire column within its range.
As the fire column controlled by Agate had just begun to rotate, Zhang Wen had already determined its next movement. Almost the moment the fire column started accelerating, Zhang Wen’s body was suddenly enveloped in a blue flame of battle energy.
The next moment, the fire column swept toward Zhang Wen, but instead of retreating, Zhang Wen surged upward along the fire column’s path! Being able to carry one’s body weight with battle energy and fly into the air was one of the most critical distinctions between tenth-tier masters and those below the tenth tier!
“Tenth tier… damn it! Damn it! Damn it…” Watching Zhang Wen shoot into the sky, Linoa gritted her teeth, muttering to herself. Her beautiful face was filled with frustration and anger.
“Hmph! So it really is tenth tier… no, even beyond tenth tier?” At the same moment Zhang Wen soared upward along the beam, Agate had already descended from the sky along the beam.
This was Agate’s true killing move. In fact, if Zhang Wen had chosen to dodge or retreat instead of flying upward to meet the incoming beam, when Agate accelerated along the beam and reached Zhang Wen’s position, Zhang Wen would have faced Agate’s earth-shattering final strike, already built up to its peak momentum.
Even among the top martial artists, Agate was renowned for his explosive combat prowess. When he amassed his full momentum, it would be no exaggeration to say that not even Zhang Wen, and perhaps not even the strongest warrior in the empire, could withstand his attack.
Boom!
Another explosion of red and blue combat energy erupted midair. Amid the blinding flames, Zhang Wen was blasted backward, tumbling like a stone and crashing heavily onto the ground. Yet Agate floated effortlessly in the air, unscathed, looking down contemptuously at the battered Zhang Wen.
At the very moment Zhang Wen clashed with Agate, the towering pillar of flame that had reached into the heavens twisted and dissipated into the air.
Crack! Before landing, Zhang Wen managed a quick roll, allowing him to touch down somewhat steadily. However, from the scorched spots on Zhang Wen’s battle suit and Agate’s nearly untouched attire, it was clear who had dominated the exchange.
Powerful! Unbelievably powerful! Agate’s display of strength in that brief clash had genuinely shocked Zhang Wen.
Even though Agate had failed to fully charge his attack, and even though Zhang Wen had redirected at least half of Agate’s force through clever shifts in his sword techniques during their blade clash, he still couldn’t match him—nowhere near enough to stand a chance!
Zhang Wen had originally believed that with his current combat energy, nearly reaching the middle Saint-tier, and with all his prior advantages, he should be able to withstand Agate’s strike.
But the moment their energies collided, Zhang Wen realized just how wrong he was. In that instant, it felt as if he were a minivan crashing head-on into a high-speed train. No matter how hard he concentrated his strength, he was still sent flying by that near-insurmountable force.
His body felt as if it had been shattered. If not for his gritted determination, he wouldn’t even be able to stand anymore. If Agate attacked now, even with just thirty percent of the force he had used against Linoah earlier, Zhang Wen would be helpless to resist.
So this was what people meant by “power conquers a thousand techniques,” Zhang Wen mused bitterly, staring unflinchingly at Agate, who was also watching him intently.
Indeed, the strength he had gained at the last moment still couldn’t compare to a true Saint-tier expert, let alone challenge someone like Agate, who had likely already entered the divine twelfth tier.
However, Zhang Wen had no idea that Agate himself was likely even more shocked than Zhang Wen could ever imagine. After all, Zhang Wen had only hoped to survive Agate’s strike. Though he had suffered greatly, the outcome wasn’t too far from his expectations.
But Agate had been absolutely certain that his full-force attack would kill Zhang Wen outright. Yet the result was merely knocking his opponent away. This was far from his imagined outcome of reducing his enemy to dust in an instant!
This alone indicated that the man before him was definitely above the eleventh tier!
Even more crucially, during that brief clash, the subtle movements of the longsword in the opponent’s hands had given Agate a deep, frustrating sense of being unable to exert his full strength. In his lifetime of countless battles, Agate had been beaten bloody countless times, but never had he felt the kind of suffocating frustration that nearly made him spit blood himself—until now.
Someone who only showed seventh-tier strength yet capable of exerting power above the eleventh tier. And those strange techniques… Who exactly was this guy?
As Zhang Wen landed, Agate fixed him with a sharp gaze, his expression suddenly shifting.
“Jackal Andrei Stein? Is it really you?!”
Agate swung his greatsword, pointing its tip directly at Zhang Wen’s nose.
“What Jackal Andrei Stein? I’ve never heard of such a strange name, nor would I ever use such a ridiculous nickname,” Zhang Wen waved him off defiantly. At this point, provoking Agate or not made no difference anyway.
“Damn it! Don’t think you’re the only smart one in the world while everyone else is stupid! Do you really think changing your appearance slightly and adopting a new identity is enough to fool me after opposing our guild for so long? Hmph! Tell me! Where is that bastard, Krasu? I wasn’t at my best last time and lost half a move to him, and I’ve been really pissed off ever since!”
Agate roared furiously, his combat energy flaring around his body like flames, expanding momentarily before gradually dissipating.
“Hehehe…”
Before Zhang Wen could respond to Agate’s outburst, a familiar, chilling, and unsettling laugh suddenly echoed from deep within the forest.
“That’s right… If you’re looking for Krasu, he’s already dead,” a voice that matched the sinister laughter approached rapidly from afar.
“Who’s there?”
“Who is it?” At the alert cries from Agate and the red-haired girl, a man and woman dressed in the uniform of the Empire’s Falcons finally emerged from the trees into the burning campsite.
“Reim?” Linoah gasped in surprise as she recognized the man walking into the camp.
“Reim… the Empire’s Poison Fang?” From Linoah’s exclamation and Reim’s uniform, Agate immediately understood the man’s identity. However, instead of showing any tension, he turned to smirk at Zhang Wen.
“Didn’t expect it, but it seems even Jackal Andrei has fallen so low as to become the Empire’s hound. Truly pitiful, Krasu,” Agate said bitterly, his eyes burning with a trace of sorrowful fury. “I wonder if he still believed your sweet words when you sold him out to the Empire, still thinking you were that brother who once shared his dreams?”
“What nonsense. I already said, I’m not Andrei Stein,” Zhang Wen replied coldly.
“Hmph! Are you too cowardly to admit it?” Agate scoffed. Naturally, he didn’t believe Zhang Wen’s “denial.”
“Haha! Hahahaha! The Flame Demon Agate is angry! How delightful!” Sensing the fury in Agate’s eyes, Reim couldn’t help but burst into laughter. After murmuring something to himself, he slowly approached Agate, spreading his arms wide.
“Enough reminiscing. Now, it’s just you and me.”
Reim’s chilling tone brimmed with barely contained excitement.
“Hmph! Perfect timing! The Empire’s Falcons have been praised so highly they’re practically on the heavens. I’ve been itching to test your strength. You four, come at me all together! Otherwise, don’t blame me if you die without holding back!”
Agate spun his greatsword, once again enveloped in flame-like combat energy.
“Hmm? Haha!” Reim blinked in surprise, then laughed again twice before his expression slowly turned calm.
“Kid, confidence is a good thing. But if you’re too confident…”
Reim spoke softly, just loud enough for Agate to hear. Though his voice was low, the overwhelming pressure radiating from his body made it impossible for anyone present to look away from him.
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