Chapter 139 (1): Standing Beneath the Dream Shattering Spear

With Duan Xiyang standing before him, Fang Che felt as if he were staring into a boundless void of darkness capable of consuming all of the light in the world.

This was a scene straight out of his worst nightmares, and his mind had gone completely blank.

Even though Duan Xiyang hadn't made a move, he had already immobilized Fang Che with his tremendous spirit sense.

***

The most famous battle of Duan Xiyang's life took place back when he reached a certain bottleneck in his cultivation, one that he was unable to overcome in spite of his best efforts. Deciding that enough was enough, he appeared on his own at a location that he had previously revealed to the entire world, declaring that he would either make a breakthrough there or fight to his death.

This declaration naturally drew countless formidable warriors out of the woodwork, all of whom were eager to take this opportunity to kill him, and not only were there warriors from the Guardians getting involved, a total of seven powerful sects had also thrown their hats into the ring.

Duan Xiyang stood on a boat as he gently drifted down a river, wielding his White Bone Dream Shattering Spear.

That was the only opportunity to kill Duan Xiyang.

Once he made his way downstream, his evolution would be complete, and there would be several deputy popes from the main church waiting for him.

However, over the course of this journey, he would have no allies or reinforcements.

Even if he were to die on this journey, he would have no regrets, and he had insisted that no one was to try and avenge him.

From the very beginning, he had backed himself into a corner.

On that day, hundreds of thousands of mighty warriors came from far and wide to try and put an end to his life.

Duan Xiyang began his downstream journey, and by the time he arrived downstream, the entire river behind him had been stained bright red with blood.

The long-awaited breakthrough was finally made, and it had come at the cost of the lives of over eighty-nine thousand formidable warriors.

From there, Duan Xiyang reigned supreme over the entire continent with his spear, and it was only the emergence of Xue Fuxiao that spelled an end to his reign of terror.

Countless years had passed since then, yet Duan Xiyang was still a dominant force on this continent.

This was the man standing before Fang Che at this very moment.

What was most damning of all was that Fang Che had come here completely undisguised while carrying his spear.

***

"You know me," Duan Xiyang said as he scrutinized Fang Che intently.

It was a categorical statement, not a question.

"I do. I was fortunate enough to have seen a portrait of you at White Cloud Warrior Academy," Fang Che replied.

"Why did you stop just now?"

"Because I felt a sense of danger."

"Danger? Your senses are pretty sharp. You're a spear wielder, are you?"

"Yes, I am."

Fang Che knew that there was no point in lying. He had been practicing his spear techniques on the way here, and clearly, Xue Fuxiao had to have been observing him this entire time.

He had thought that he was coming out to meet with Dong Changfeng, so he hadn't bothered to disguise himself at all.

Who could've anticipated that he would run into Duan Xiyang of all people?!

Why has Duan Xiyang set his sights on me? I'm just a King!

"Not bad," Duan Xiyang remarked as he looked over Fang Che's Hall of Protectionists uniform. "There really are some exceptional young talents among the Guardians."

There was a hint of bone-chilling malice in his voice as he spoke, and Fang Che knew that his life was about to come to an end.

He hurriedly lowered his voice as he asked, "Can we speak in your domain, Chief Enforcer Duan?"

"Hmm?"

Duan Xiyang was very much taken aback to hear this.

Only people from the Church of the Self-Righteous referred to him as Chief Enforcer Duan.

He had already been in the White Cloud Prefecture for some time, and he had come here to search for Dong Changfeng. He knew that Dong Changfeng definitely wasn't the one who had received the One Strike Spear Demon's inheritance, so he had to find Dong Changfeng and ask him about what had happened on that day.

However, ever since that fateful day, Dong Changfeng had gone into seclusion, but Duan Xiyang was content to remain in the White Cloud Prefecture and wait.

He had even paid a visit to the Unmatched Escort Agency, but of course, no one had discovered him.

Of course, it was only a very brief visit, simply out of intrigue at this so-called super branch helm, and he didn't even get to see Starlight.

Recently, Dong Changfeng had come out of seclusion, only to immediately depart.

Duan Xiyang was oblivious to this fact, and he only detected a trace of Dong Changfeng's aura once he returned to the White Cloud Prefecture with Yang Luoyu.

From there, he had been waiting for an opportunity this entire time, and finally, on this night, he sensed Dong Changfeng making his way to Spear Demon Mountain.

Duan Xiyang immediately set off for Spear Demon Mountain himself, but on the way there, he noticed Fang Che and was intrigued by the latter's spear intent.

Of course, Fang Che's cultivation base was orders of magnitude below his, but his spear intent felt extremely pure and potent.

After discovering that Fang Che was Protectionist, he decided to put an end to his life, only to lead to this present moment, in which Fang Che had stopped him cold in his tracks by referring to him as Chief Enforcer Duan.

He's not playing games with me, is he?

Duan Xiyang swept a sleeve through the air to conjure up a murky gray domain, and in the blink of an eye, Fang Che found himself in a gray world that was devoid of everything, like a realm in limbo.

"Subordinate Night Demon pays his respects to Chief Enforcer Duan," Fang Che greeted as he fell to one knee.

In this situation, his only chance at survival was to expose himself.

"You're Night Demon?!"

Duan Xiyang's eyes widened in shock.

"That's correct."

Duan Xiyang was truly bewildered.

He didn't have much interest in the younger generation of the main church, but he had heard of Night Demon.

He could hardly have avoided hearing about Night Demon, given his ties to so many of the major events that had taken place in the main church of late.

He had killed tens of thousands of fellow Generals during the Parasite Ascension Project, and that had directly led to tens of thousands of people being sent down to the southeast from the main church.

Furthermore, he had been instructing Yan Beihan in spear techniques of late, and she had mentioned Night Demon to him on more than one occasion.

A sense of bewilderment welled up in Duan Xiyang's heart at the sight of the absurdly handsome young man standing before him.

This was the biggest emotional swing that he had experienced in several thousand years, and it was all because of a mere King!

"Do you have any evidence to prove that you're Night Demon?"

"I can show you the messages on my communication jade that I've exchanged with my master, Pope Yin Shengong of the One Heart Church."

He immediately pulled out his communication jade to show Duan Xiyang the message logs as he spoke, and the latter was immediately convinced.

There was no way to fake something like this.

"You may stand."

"Thank you, Chief Enforcer Duan."

"Are you heading out of the city to practice your spear techniques?"

"That's right. There's a Spear Demon Mountain north of the city, and I heard from my master that you once went into seclusion there for ten years to achieve full mastery of your spear techniques, so I..."

"That's utter nonsense! I did spend ten years in seclusion there, but my spear techniques were honed elsewhere!"

Fang Che didn't dare to respond.

"If you're a spear wielder, then show me a spear technique."

"Yes, Chief Enforcer Duan!"

Fang Che raised his spear as he adopted an appropriate stance.

Of course, he wasn't going to use his perfect spear forms. Instead, he quickly recalled the spear techniques that he had learned at White Cloud Warrior Academy.

He took a deep breath, and even before his spear had moved, a burst of sharp spear intent had already erupted out of his body.

From there, he thrust his spear forward, the first strike in a sequence of many, while Duang Xiyang looked on with an intrigued expression.

After completing the spear technique, Fang Che returned to standing upright with his spear held vertically by his side.

Even though he had intentionally refrained from using his perfect spear forms, he had been constantly practicing them over and over again until they had become second nature to him, so he was unable to completely keep their influence out of his movements.

With this unconscious integration of his perfect spear forms, the spear technique had easily been enhanced severalfold in power.

"I can sense that you didn't go all-out."

"I didn't intentionally hold back," Fang Che explained in an embarrassed manner. "In the beginning, I wanted to go all-out, but for some reason, I couldn't muster up the strength and conviction in your presence."

Duan Xiyang knew that this was the effect of his aura at play, and he smiled as he praised, "Not bad."

As a matter of fact, Fang Che had put on far better a display than he had anticipated.

In his eyes, the spear technique that Fang Che had just demonstrated was downright terrible, but in terms of his spear intent and his understanding of the spear, he was superior to all of the young prodigies of the main church.

At the moment, he was instructing Yan Beihan, who was peerless in her aptitude for the sword, but she had horrendous aptitude for the spear!

"You have decent aptitude and spear intent, and your understanding of the spear is exceptional for someone of your age and cultivation base, but your spear techniques are terrible!" Duan Xiyang assessed