Chapter 383: Bystander

Shang Xia discovered that against cultivators in the same cultivation realm, his Nine Providence Spears didn’t give him the greatest advantage. There was obviously no need to bother with his Divine Killing Spear when up against them. After all, all those moves would create too huge of a commotion.

With his comprehension of the Man and Heaven Synergy Chapter, he was able to conceal himself almost perfectly. He needed attacks that could allow him to catch his opponents off guard!

The sneak attacks he used against Junior Brother Xiang and Senior Brother Yue succeeded due to their relatively lower cultivation realm. Neither of them completed their third divine sense transformation and they didn’t detect the danger that was rapidly closing in.

After a cultivator completed their third divine sense transformation, their senses would become a lot sharper. Even though they might not be able to detect Shang Xia, they would feel a sense of danger at the last second.

Unfortunately for the two of them, they were unable to feel anything and Shang Xia dealt with them with one move.

Originally, Shang Xia was planning to do the same to the third person.

However, the remaining two weren’t fools. They discovered that Junior Brother Xiang and Senior Brother Yue didn’t respond to any of their calls and they quickly gathered together. As they approached the hill, a deep frown appeared on Shang Xia’s face.

If Senior Brother Zhou was the only one with a strong cultivation base, Shang Xia wouldn’t feel too annoyed. He expected a direct disciple of the Changbai Holy Land to be at the grand completion stage of the Martial Intent Realm anyway. However, Junior Brother Qi had surprisingly completed his third divine sense transformation.

It seemed as though Senior Brother Zhou wasn’t as useless as he looked. He was actually able to get such capable subordinates.

The Azure Spiritual World and Azure Origin World might be separated by the spatial barrier and the battlefield between the two worlds, but the contact between the two worlds was pretty much plentiful. The Tongyou Institution’s information system wasn’t too bad and they gathered some intelligence on the Changbai Holy Land too.

Shang Xia knew that disciples like Chu Chen and Senior Brother Zhou were really important in the Changbai Holy Land. They had to gather their own subordinates before entering the Martial Extermination Realm and the holy land fully supported their actions.

Junior Brother Qi looked a little younger than Senior Brother Zhou, and Shang Xia couldn’t understand how Senior Brother Zhou got him as a subordinate. For a talented individual like Junior Brother Qi, he would most likely enter the grand completion stage in the future and become a direct disciple comparable to Senior Brother Zhou!

Well, it evidently wasn’t time to think about all that nonsense. The two of them didn’t slow down as they quickly approached the hill. Their voices eventually entered Shang Xia’s ears.

“... They came one after the other. However, they didn’t leave behind any indications for us to follow…” Junior Brother Qi muttered softly.

As soon as the words left his lips, Senior Brother Zhou snorted in disdain, “Hmph, they’re probably getting greedy.’’

“Senior Brother Zhou?” Junior Brother Qi stared at him with a confused expression.

Sighing softly, Senior Brother Zhou explained, “No one knows how many fruits the Lightning Fire Jujube Tree bore. If they located it first and kept a few for themselves, no one would know…”

Junior Brother Qi looked at him in shock.

Clapping Junior Brother Qi’s shoulders, Senior Brother Zhou muttered, “Let’s go. It’s not that easy for those dumbasses to steal the fruits for themselves. I’ll teach them a lesson so they behave themselves in the future!”

As soon as he spoke, he started walking towards the foot of the hill.

Junior Brother Qi hastened his steps as he followed closely behind Senior Brother Zhou. However, Senior Brother Zhou paused suddenly.

Junior Brother Qi’s expression changed as he retreated quickly. He didn’t forget to yell, “Senior Brother Zhou, get back!”

No one knew if Senior Brother Zhou hadn’t detected the danger or if he was planning to take it head-on, but he remained where he stood.

The second Junior Brother Qi left, a massive spear created from starlight shot straight for Senior Brother Zhou.

Junior Brother Qi’s pupils shrank when he saw the starlight that made up the spear. Since there was no way of sneak attacking the two of them, Shang Xia felt that he might as well open with his spear art.

Realizing that there was no way to run, Senior Brother Zhou roared and brought out his weapon. It was a high-grade weapon and heaven and earth qi gathered around him the moment it appeared. It was a massive metal ruler and he slammed it down heavily at the spear flying his way.

A loud blast rang through the air, but Junior Brother Qi yelled over it. “Senior Brother, be careful! That’s the Upper Division disciple of the Tongyou Institution, Shang Xia!”

Students in the Tongyou Institution would stay for six years at max, and disciples who could enter the upper division had statuses comparable to direct disciples of the holy lands. However, the Tongyou Institution was a special case. In order to nurture as many disciples as they could, the time disciples could remain in the institution was limited. In two short years, the cultivation of the Upper Division disciples couldn’t improve by much! When compared to true direct disciples of the various powers, they were far too lacking.

As a result, the disciples of the Tongyou Institution in the Upper Division would usually only possess cultivation bases at the peak of the Martial Extremity Realm. It would be rare for them to enter the Martial Intent Realm.

The institution only managed to increase the number of disciples who entered the Martial Intent Realm in recent years due to the increased resources they obtained from the battlefield between the two worlds.

Even so, disciples like Tian Mengzi and Sun Haiwei were in the minority. The Tongyou Institution might be growing stronger recently, but the quality of their disciples was far from holy lands like the Changbai Holy Land and the White Deer Paradise.

Of course, there were exceptions to everything. There was one black horse that managed to advance so quickly that his reputation rang loud and clear through the worlds. That was Shang Xia, who took less than 3 years to enter the Upper Division.

The terrifying existence known as Shang Xia not only managed to kill Chu Chen, a direct disciple of the Changbai Holy Land, he even managed to kill a Martial Extermination Realm expert, Sima Zhanxing!

Senior Brother Zhou and the others might not really care about an abandoned Martial Extermination Realm expert like Sima Zhanxing since they had no idea what it was like to face a Martial Extermination Realm expert, but Chu Chen hit close to him!

The reason they were able to become direct disciples was because of the support of the elders in the faction! Their cultivation base was also a cut above the rest as they could suppress those in the same cultivation realm.

Nevertheless, Shang Xia killed someone like that!

The fact alone caused those from the Azure Spiritual World to raise their guard against him.

There was even an order from the Changbai Holy Land for their disciples to report Shang Xia’s whereabouts if they ever ran into him. They were also specifically ordered not to fight him as the holy land would send out Martial Extermination Realm experts to hunt him down.

Unfortunately, Shang Xia disappeared from the battlefield between the two worlds when the order was released. The space within the battlefield might shift quickly, but no one expected him to disappear for three days straight!

Now that Senior Brother Zhou and Junior Brother Qi ran into him, they were cursing themselves for their bad luck.

Laughing bitterly, Senior Brother Zhou actually didn’t need Junior Brother Qi’s reminder of who Shang Xia was. He realized who the attacker was the moment he saw the spear. However, he didn’t plan on resigning to his fate yet.

As a direct disciple of the Changbai Holy Land, even if he was weaker than an opponent of the same level, he wouldn’t be defeated in a few moves!

As long as he was able to buy some time and send an emergency signal out, he believed that the seniors of the Changbai Holy Land would be able to arrive quickly.

Moreover, he wasn’t the only one who was present. There was also Junior Brother Qi who would assist him…

Many thoughts flashed through his mind, but in reality, only a short moment passed. His metal ruler slammed heavily into the spear and he took several steps back. Every time his foot landed on the ground, huge cracks would be seen.

When he finally stabilized his body, his face was flushed red with all the blood rushing up to his brain and his inner qi fluctuated unsteadily. He was on the verge of losing control of his inner qi altogether.

Luckily, he managed to deflect the spear with his previous attack. The giant spear made with starlight smashed into a rocky surface nearby. A massive hole was blown through it and the space seemed a lot wider than before.

With that, two corpses were revealed to Senior Brother Zhou and Junior Brother Qi.

“Junior Brother Qi…” Realizing that things were going south too quickly from the power contained in the spear, Senior Brother Zhou yelled in haste. He knew that if he were to fight Shang Xia alone, he would only suffer the same fate as Chu Chen. Only if they dragged the battle out would they be able to hold out till the seniors arrived!

With a loud roar, he raised his weapon and rushed at Shang Xia again without waiting for Junior Brother Qi to follow behind him.

One had to say that Senior Brother Zhou definitely possessed the qualities befitting a direct disciple of the Changbai Holy Land. Not only was he confident in his abilities, he knew that he had to risk everything for a chance to survive. Only by seizing the initiative would he be able to draw the battle out.

Too bad for him, he missed one extremely crucial detail. His Junior Brother Qi stood at the sidelines instead of joining the battle!

“Junior Brother Qi, hurry up and fight him with me!” Senior Brother Zhou roared as he took on several blows from Shang Xia.

He wasn’t the only one who was confused. Shang Xia was equally as puzzled.

“Junior Brother Qi, what are you doing?! Why aren’t you fighting him?” Senior Brother Zhou yelled as he was quickly suppressed by Shang Xia.

Even if he wasn’t willing to assist his fellow teammate, he should be running away to report to his superiors! Why was he standing there while watching the fight?!

Shang Xia couldn’t understand what was happening, but he didn’t let up on his relentless assault on Senior Brother Zhou.

Naturally, he split off a bit of his divine sense to observe Junior Brother Qi. The other party might look like he was planning to remain as a bystander, but Shang Xia knew better than to let his guard down.

Eventually, Shang Xia unleashed Piercing Sun and shattered Senior Brother Zhou’s martial intent, Measuring the Heavens. Releasing his fourth move, Void Evasion, he took Senior Brother ZHou’s life.

When everything was happening, Junior Brother Zhou merely stood at the side with a cold gaze.