Chapter 644: The Hoe’s Elegance

When he thought of his hoe, Nong Zaitian wanted to vomit up blood. Who would refine a hoe into a power vessel? Really, who? Nong Zaitian wished that he could pull that bastard out of their grave and beat up their corpse.

This hoe had shoved Nong Zaitian straight into the pit of despair, as he would never be able to return from the path of a hillbilly youth; anything to do with elegance and style was no longer any of his business.

He had already reached the depths of despair, and even when he simply walked down the road, he felt like everyone was laughing at him. He had felt stifled due to this for a long time, but he eventually thought things through and finally decided to let go of such feelings. A hoe was a hoe, and he could still achieve glory with a hoe; a hoe could also be the foundation of many things.

Of course, letting go was one thing, but he still carried some regret in his heart.

𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

However, this regret had completely vanished after the incident at the First Divine Gate located in the Fifth Mainland’s Daosource Sect's ruins.

With the Sixth Mainland invading the Fifth Mainland, as a descendant of a Cosmic Imprinter’s family, Nong Zaitian had to go to the frontlines. Before he left, his family had allowed him to seek out a lucky encounter in the Fifth Mainland’s Daosource Sect's ruins. The members of the Nong family always had decent luck, and this youth was so smug that he had vowed to obtain countless treasures in the same manner as his ancestor.

Who could have known that, as soon as he had entered First Divine Gate, he would face a lunatic.

Thankfully, due to the guidance of his ancestors who had created the Nong family’s training regime, the Nong family kept records of all the experts who could endanger the lives of their family members as a method of preparing for the unexpected. This was one of the Nong family’s keys to averting disaster, and that madman, Blood Looney, had been in those records. He was a monster from 1,000 years ago who had failed during his bid for one of the Daosource Three Skies’ positions. He had killed many people and had thus been placed in cryostasis. The moment Nong Zaitian had seen Blood Looney, he had made his escape, and rather quickly at that.

As he thought about it, Nong Zaitian was once again grateful towards his hoe. Speaking of which, this hoe’s speed was truly impressive, and it had allowed him to flee from that madman in the blink of an eye. This thing was an absolute lifesaver, and because of this detail, he no longer had any regrets. The hoe was a good item.

As for those friends, they had just been fair-weathered people. Those buggers had mocked him many times in the past, and in the end, they probably regretted not having a hoe like his.

Nong Zaitian had then wandered about the Daosource Sect's ruins for several days, and he was currently feeling rather tired. He was about to make something to eat, but after he started his fire, he noticed that there was someone dashing towards him from a distance, and it seemed as though this person was not planning on stopping. Nong Zaitian stood up, planning to teach this person a lesson. Although he was not exceptionally powerful, he was still the heir of a Cosmic Imprinter’s family, and his strength was at an acceptable level for the Blood Homage Realm.

The person drew closer, and by then, Nong Zaitian had finally finished his preparations to take action. Eh? It looked like there was actually someone chasing after the person who was approaching; this situation was obviously a chase-and-kill one. It was no wonder why the person approaching him seemed panicked. Still, it didn’t matter to Nong Zaitian, as the person would die if they continued on their current path. Nong Zaitian would have no problem stalling the person for the pursuer.

Eh? Hold up, why does that red body behind him look so familiar? Nong Zaitian rubbed his eyes, and then his expression changed greatly. “Blood Looney? F*ck me!”

He swore, quickly stepped on top of his hoe, and then made his escape.

Lu Yin charged towards Nong Zaitian at top speed. He watched on as Nong Zaitian stood up, and Lu Yin even sensed the youth’s hostility. Lu Yin knew this person was about to act, and Lu Yin was about to call out to him when he suddenly saw this person step on a… On a… Eh? A hoe? What the hell?

With a whoosh, Nong Zaitian’s hoe flew away, and he vanished in the blink of an eye.

Lu Yin’s eyes lit up, and he instinctively activated the Yu Secret Art, which caused the hoe that was below Nong Zaitian to suddenly appear beneath Lu Yin. With the added momentum, he streaked through the air and caught up to Nong Zaitian before quickly surpassing him.

Nong Zaitian fell flat on his face as he crashed to the ground, and his mouth was filled with mud. He looked down. What the hell? Where’s my hoe?

He felt a breeze blow past him, and then he saw his hoe beneath someone else’s butt, leaving Nong Zaitian completely lost. What was going on?

At this moment, a chill ran down his spine as a horrifying aura arrived; the imprint of the approaching person had even turned the ground red. Nong Zaitian was so frightened that his hair stood on end, as he knew that Blood Looney had just arrived. He reached into his shirt and pulled out… another hoe! He stepped on top of it and rushed off.

Blood Looney was completely caught off guard by this development; what was going on? He could not understand the current situation, but it was clear to him that Lu Yin was quickly getting away. This was not acceptable.

Blood Looney thought about his options and then slapped his chest once again and spat out more blood, which caused his speed to increase yet again. He tore through the void as his body constantly flickered.

With a pale face, Nong Zaitian glanced behind. “Stop chasing me! This is none of my business!”

Ahead of him, Lu Yin tightly held on to the hoe. How was he supposed to control this toy? He could not control it, and the hoe only grew slower once Nong Zaitian caught up to him. He glared fiercely at Lu Yin. “Give me my hoe back!”

Lu Yin’s eyes lit up, and he casually waved his hand again. He threw the hoe under him over to Nong Zaitian while the hoe beneath Nong Zaitian suddenly appeared beneath Lu Yin’s butt, causing Lu Yin to rocket off at an impressive speed again.

Nong Zaitian was speechless; how had they just swapped hoes again? Blood Looney was getting closer, so he immediately manipulated the hoe that Lu Yin had tossed over to him and took off as well.

Just like that, due to Lu Yin’s antics with the Yu Secret Art, the two youths constantly traded hoes and gradually pulled away from Blood Looney.

Blood Looney was truly about to vomit blood.

Nong Zaitian was feeling the same, as he became completely depressed due to Lu Yin toying around with him. What was going on? This person was most likely using a secret technique, but what kind of freak would use a secret technique to swap hoes?

“Who are you? Give me my hoe back!” Nong Zaitian was furious.

Lu Yin agreed with him, saying, “Here.”

They swapped hoes once more, and Nong Zaitian shouted in indignation, “Stop being such a bully!”

But Lu Yin had no choice. “Brother, I’ll apologize after we shake off that lunatic.”

“I’m going to kill you!” Nong Zaitian bellowed.

“Then forget it. This hoe belongs to me now.”

“Hold on, no! Giving that to you is useless—you can’t control it.”

“No matter, I’ll still keep it.”

“Without me controlling it, you won’t be able to escape.”

“So we need to cooperate.”

“Blood Looney is after you!”

“You know him? Is he an acquaintance? That’s great! Tell him to stop chasing me.”

Nong Zaitian was rendered speechless.

Suddenly, the sky changed as the colors of black and white interchanged. At that moment, Lu Yin and Nong Zaitian both trembled as a black-and-white radiance streaked over both of them while an intense vibration rumbled through the air.

Lu Yin was dazed for an instant, but then he reacted and looked behind him to see that Blood Looney’s clothes had suddenly become stained with blood with half his body disappearing. In front of the red powerhouse was a figure with its back to the two fleeing youths. The moment he saw that silhouette, Lu Yin’s eyes shrank, and he immediately changed his appearance.

Although he could not see that person’s face, he knew who he was just from a glance. That black-and-white long hair was too distinct, and there was only one person from the Daynight clan who could appear here: a person from the Nightking branch of the Daynight clan, Arbiter Nightking Zhenwu.

Nong Zaitian only reacted at this point in time, and when he glanced back to see the miserable state that Blood Looney had ended up in, his mouth gaped open. “Th- this?”

“Who are you? Who are you?” Blood Looney wailed mournfully as he stared intently at the youth who had suddenly appeared and unleashed a punch that had shattered half of his body.

The newly arrived youth clasped his hands behind his back with a completely arrogant look. “One of the Fifth Mainland’s Ten Arbiters: Nightking Zhenwu.”

Blood Looney was stunned, and then he smiled bitterly. “The Fifth Mainland! Still the Fifth Mainland. I never thought that I would die at the hands of those evil survivors from the Fifth Mainland! Hahaha.”

Nightking Zhenwu’s gaze remained calm. “Then just die.”

He reached out and slapped down with a hand. It was clearly a very normal strike, but it still caused both Lu Yin and Nong Zaitian’s vision to tremble. Every move and action from Arbiter Zhenwu carried an unpredictable power with it.

Blood Looney clenched his steel-like teeth hard. He would unquestionably die after half of his body had been shattered, but he did not want to die in some obscure manner. This person had taken advantage of his injured state to take his life, and he did not want to die at his hands.

The blood lotus blossomed beneath his feet once again as corpse dragon after dragon then charged towards Nightking Zhenwu.

Nightking Zhenwu frowned slightly. “A final, futile struggle.”

He slapped down again, instantly shattering all of the corpse dragons. However, this gave Blood Looney enough time to race away under the protection of his blood lotus.

Nightking Zhenwu arrogantly glanced over at Lu Yin and Nong Zaitian’s position, but he did not bother with them. Instead, he chased after Blood Looney.

It didn’t take long for Blood Looney and Nightking Zhenwu to vanish from their sight.

“Blood Looney is screwed,” Nong Zaitian muttered.

Lu Yin nodded. “That’s right, he’s dead meat.”

Even if that madman had not been injured to his current state and was instead in his peak form, he still might not have been able to beat Nightking Zhenwu. Arbiter Zhenwu was considered dominating even amongst the Ten Arbiters, and nobody knew exactly how powerful he was. White Knight’s struggle with Blood Looney had led to losses on both sides, and the knight had even been able to come out slightly on top. Since that was the case, Nightking Zhenwu should definitely be able to accomplish something similar, and he was possibly even more powerful than White Knight.

There were times when Lu Yin was unable to understand how the overall strength of the Sixth Mainland could greatly surpass that of the Fifth Mainland since the Ten Arbiters were so powerful. It should be known that the Fifth Mainland still had the Neoverse, which was where the Hall of Honor’s headquarters was. There was also the Cosmic Sect and the Three Dark Hands, and their younger generations might not be any inferior to the Ten Arbiters. As such, the top-notch powerhouses of the Fifth Mainland’s younger generation may greatly surpass the Sixth Mainland’s, which was incomprehensible to Lu Yin.

The average strength of the Sixth Mainland’s younger generation definitely surpassed the youths of the Fifth Mainland, but from Lu Yin’s perspective, the number of top-notch powerhouses from the Fifth Mainland were higher than that of the Sixth Mainland, which was the exact opposite of the trend for their average cultivators, and it was rather baffling.

Lu Yin then recalled the conversation that he had heard between White Knight and Blood Looney during their battle. Apparently, all of the Sixth Mainland’s cultivators were slaves of a rigid cultivation system without any future. Could this be the reason for the discrepancy? Or was it that the Sixth Mainland still had top-notch experts of the younger generation who were able to crush all others?

The Daosource Three Skies?

Lu Yin considered this matter seriously, as someone like Blood Looney had possessed enough strength to fight for the position of one of the Daosource Three Skies 1,000 years ago, which showed that the Daosource Three Skies were not necessarily that much stronger than the Realmlings. Or rather, could it be that, after gaining the position of one of the Daosource Three Skies, their power would improve by leaps and bounds?

While Lu Yin thought about it, his collar was seized by Nong Zaitian.

Nong Zaitian glared at him, completely infuriated. “Give me my hoe back!”

Lu Yin raised his hand. “Here you go.”

Nong Zaitian snorted and took his hoe.

Lu Yin felt that something was strange. “That power vessel of yours is special, and there are even two of them.”

“What? An interrogation? One’s male and one’s female. Is there a problem?” Nong Zaitian was not happy.

Lu Yin nearly choked—even hoes could be male and female?

Nong Zaitian glared at Lu Yin once more before turning to leave.

Lu Yin thought about it and then followed him.

Nong Zaitian turned around and stared at Lu Yin. “Why are you following me?”

Lu Yin shrugged. “I’ve got nowhere to be, so let’s travel together.”

Nong Zaitian became angry. “No! The more people there are, the bigger the target.”

Lu Yin did not care about the man’s objections and simply followed after him. He had no choice, as that hoe was too impressive. Its speed was incredible, and not even Blood Looney had been able to catch up to the two of them. It would be very safe for him to follow this person, as it would at least give Lu Yin an escape method.

Wherever Nong Zaitian went, Lu Yin followed behind him. Nong Zaitian wanted to use his hoe to shake Lu Yin off, but with that bastard’s secret technique, he could only forget about it.

“You know a secret technique?” Nong Zaitian looked at Lu Yin.

“Take a guess,” Lu Yin casually replied.

Nong Zaitian was left speechless once again.

“For you to learn a secret technique, you’ve got to be someone from a family of at least an Empyrean Imprinter, so why haven’t I ever seen you before?” Nong Zaitian was doubtful.

Lu Yin checked his surroundings and then replied, “Can you recognize all of the people from the Empyrean Imprinter families?”

“Yes,” Nong Zaitian replied seriously. “I’ve memorized their faces.”

This time, Lu Yin was left speechless.