Chapter 88: A Sword Through the Heart

A knowing smile instantly appeared on Tang Zheng's face.

"Alright, I'll leave you to it then, Administrator Fang. Say hi to Administrator Zhao for me."

"Piss off!" Fang Che scoffed.

Following Fang Che's departure, Tang Zheng continued to patrol the streets instead of returning to the Hall of Protectionists.

Just as Fang Che had said, his cultivation base wasn't particularly high, but the presence of a Protectionist was sure to instill a sense of security and reassurance into the hearts of the people nearby, and it could also make some demonic church members have second thoughts about doing something nefarious.

Sometimes, courage was more important than ability.

In the wake of Administrator Fang's departure, he had to continue patrolling the streets until he was relieved by his colleagues working the night shift.

He was deathly afraid, terrified by the possibility that a demonic church member could jump out all of a sudden, but he didn't let his fear show, taking measured and purposeful steps as he scoured a hawk-like gaze through the crowd, just as Fang Che always did.

Fang Che was making his way toward the western mountain while contemplating what he was going to say to Zhao Ying'er later that night.

Zhao Ying'er had made her feelings abundantly clear to him, and he had to reject her before her feelings had a chance to grow any further.

***

After burning all of the paper money that she had brought with her, Zhao Ying'er opened the jars of Iron Will Wine one after another before pouring them onto the ground in front of the grave.

As she finished pouring the nineteenth jar, tears began to flow down her cheeks as past memories of her time spent with Ren Chang surfaced in her mind.

"Is Administrator Fang still not here yet?"

Zhao Ying'er was very startled by this unexpected voice, and she raised her head to discover a portly man standing before him, watching her with a smile.

It was the shopkeeper of the wine shop.

A stunned look appeared on her face, and she was momentarily rooted to the spot, following which she abruptly threw a kick into the neatly arranged pile of empty wine jars, sending them rolling down the mountain.

The fact that the shopkeeper was asking about Fang Che clearly indicated that Fang Che was his target, so she immediately kicked the empty wine jars down the mountain to serve as a warning to Fang Che.

At the same time, she launched a signal flare into the air while simultaneously drawing her sword.

However, the signal flare had only just been released when it was shot down by a casual flick of the shopkeeper's finger.

Zhao Ying'er's heart instantly sank upon seeing this. Just that casual display of power alone was enough to tell her that he was a far more fearsome warrior than her.

"Who are you?"

"What do you mean, Administrator Zhao? I'm Old Man Xia, the shopkeeper of the wine shop! Did you think kicking those wine jars down the mountain would dissuade Administrator Fang from coming here?

“If he cares about you at all, he would still come anyway. Even if you had managed to release that signal flare, it wouldn't have done you any good. The Hall of Protectionists is too far away for your colleagues to get here in time, and I may not look it, but I'm a Warlord."

"Who are you?" Zhao Ying'er repeated as her face turned deathly pale.

"Fine, if you insist on asking, then I'll tell you. I'm a member of the Church of Light. Honestly, I didn't really want to do this. I've been selling wine ever since I came to the Warlord fifteen years ago, and I didn't have to do anything that entire time. It's been a really peaceful period of my life. Unfortunately, Administrator Fang eradicated the branch helm of our Church of Light, and such a transgression cannot go unpunished."

"So you want revenge, is that it?" Zhao Ying'er asked.

"No, I have no personal vendetta against Administrator Fang. It's just that all undercover members of our Church of Light have received orders to kill him. Honestly,

I'm

the victim in all of this," Old Man Xia said with a look of sorrow on his face. "From this day forth, I'll have to abandon the peaceful life I've led for the past fifteen years and be forced to go into hiding again."

"Why aren't you attacking me then?" Zhao Ying'er asked.

"There's no hurry. Administrator Fang still isn't here yet. Let me ask you this: would you rather see Administrator Fang run away after seeing the wine jars, or would you rather see him rush to his death to try and save you? "

"Of course I want him to leave!" Zhao Ying'er replied without any hesitation.

"Well, you certainly are very devoted to him. Do you know what the highest form of pleasure in this world is, Administrator Zhao?"

"What?"

"It's to find a pair of lovers, rape the woman in front of the man, then kill the man in front of the woman! It's my favorite thing to do in the entire world!"

A look of fury and resolve appeared on Zhao Ying'er's face as Old Man Xia erupted into raucous laughter.

In the next instant, she lashed out with her sword, but instead of attacking Old Man Xia, she had impaled her sword straight through her own heart!

As a General, she had no chance against Old Man Xia, so death was the only way that she could spare herself of the humiliation that Old Man Xia had just described.

Old Man Xia was very alarmed by this unexpected turn of events, and he hurriedly flicked a finger through the air, but he was only able to slightly divert Zhao Ying'er's sword from its original trajectory, and it still pierced straight through her chest.

***

Fang Che had already arrived at the entrance of the Graveyard of Heroes.

He took a glance at the uniform rows of tombstones, then made his way inside.

𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

As he walked along, close to twenty empty wine jars suddenly came tumbling down the hill, and many of them were shattered against tombstones, creating an almighty commotion.

Something must've happened to Zhao Ying'er!

Fang Che immediately pulled out a Cloud Spirit Pill, then tucked it under his tongue before drawing his sword and rushing his way up the mountain.

***

Old Man Xia shoved Zhao Ying'er against a tree before pulling her sword out of her chest, causing the wound to bleed profusely.

A sinister grin appeared on his face as he sneered, "Fine! I won't get to have my fun with you, but I'll still get to show you how I'm going to kill Administrator Fang!"

Blood was gushing out of Zhao Ying'er's mouth, robbing her of her ability to speak as she cast an urgent gaze down the mountain, praying that Fang Che would heed her warning and stay away.

However, her heart quickly sank as she caught a glimpse of Fang Che's shimmering saber in the distance.

"Administrator Fang, your little lover here is about to die! Are you not going to come and save her?" Old Man Xia goaded.

All of a sudden, a second sun appeared in the sky, rising up from beneath the existing setting sun!

It was a radiant streak of swordlight that had come from the sword intent bestowed upon Fang Che by Bing Qianshan back in Celestial Being Warrior Academy, and he was unleashing it in full force.

A resounding boom rang out as Old Man Xia was sent flying back through the air, but Fang Che was also sent flying as a mouthful of blood came spewing forth, and he immediately swallowed the Cloud Spirit Pill that was tucked under his tongue.

He had calculated the angles perfectly so that the force of the clash sent him flying directly to Zhao Ying'er's side, and he immediately stuffed another Cloud Spirit Pill into her mouth.

"Swallow it!" he ordered, then sprang up into the air before lashing out at Old Man Xia once again.

From their initial clash, Fang Che had already realized that he was facing a Warlord.

He could sense that his assailant was only a low-rank Warlord, but as a mere third-rank Lord, this was still too formidable an opponent for him to face.

Given his current level of combat prowess, he could easily slay even a ninth-rank Lord, but a Lord and a Warlord were separated by an entire tier.

If only I was just a single rank higher!

Fang Che was kicking himself.

Given the power of the condensed gaseous spirit qi in his dantian, he was fully confident in his ability to slay this opponent had he been a fourth-rank Lord, but at his current cultivation base, this was too tall an order.

If it were closer to noon, then he would be able to use the power of the sun to maximize the sun aura of Bing Qianshan's sword intent, but it was currently dusk, meaning that the power of the sun was virtually nonexistent.

Old Man Xia tumbled back over twenty feet from Fang Che's initial sword strike, and after throwing up a mouthful of blood, he immediately sprang back to his feet, at which point Fang Che's second sword strike had already arrived.

"Very impressive, Administrator Fang!"

The two engaged in a rapid string of clashes, and even though Fang Che had managed to inflict some internal injuries upon Old Man Xia by catching him off guard, the disparity in combat prowess between the two was still very apparent, and Fang Che was slowly being forced onto the back foot.

Old Man Xia's saber techniques weren't as exquisite as Fang Che's sword techniques, but he possessed superior power, and any direct clash between the two weapons would likely be enough to wrench Fang Che's sword straight out of his grasp.

The two of them were both aware of this, so Old Man Xia was adopting a very aggressive approach, while Fang Che was trying to dodge and deflect as much as possible.