Chapter 1264: Famous Under The Heavens

“Ye Qing?”

“Ghost Taisui?”

“The Boss??”

At Red Moon River, countless people were watching the spot where Ye Qing had vanished while trying to digest the surprise of what they just heard. It wasn’t long before they gained an inkling of what just happened.

Earlier, the Red Moon River had suddenly stirred violently without warning, and a grand, majestic bell had suddenly chimed and nearly scattered their Seven Earthly Souls. At the time, they had no idea what was going on.

But now they saw that figure and heard his voice, they were starting to put two and two together.

“Look! The river!”

Suddenly, someone cried out in surprise. When the people looked at the direction the crier was pointing at, they immediately saw many bodies floating on the surface of the river toward them.

The bodies all gave off the presence of a Trueman or a Grandmaster. There were so many of them that some people’s scalps crawled just looking at them. And yet, they were all dead. At first glance, there were at least thirty or forty of them.

“So many dead... and t-they’re all Truemen or Grandmasters...”

For a moment, the crowd could only stare at the corpses floated past their vessels before sinking into the river. No one said a word for a long time.

“Are these... Taisui Mountain and Westwind Inn’s men?”

“They probably are!”

“Then... I know what happened. That was the Mad Lord Just now. Taisui Mountain and Westwind Inn must have tried to ambush the Mad Lord together and take the Earthly Sovereign Bell for themselves, but they underestimated his power and got destroyed instead...”

“That has to be it! Was that bell chime earlier the Earthly Sovereign Bell’s chime? Haha... to think I would get to see the Earthly Sovereign Bell one day!”

It was common practice to round up to the nearest integer. Therefore, hearing the Earthly Sovereign Bell’s chime was the same as seeing it with his own eyes. Yep. There was nothing wrong with this logic whatsoever.

“Heavens above, just how many people did Taisui Mountain and Westwind Inn dispatch to attack the Mad Lord?”

“Look! Is that... Is that a...?”

“A Great Trueman...

and

a Great Grandmaster? Not even a Great Trueman and Great Grandmaster can handle the Mad Lord’s wrath?”

Finally, someone noticed Shadow and Fist Demon’s bodies and drew everyone’s attention to it.

Truemen and Grandmasters were strong, but a Great Trueman and Great Grandmaster were at a completely different level. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that a Great Trueman or Great Grandmaster could kill them with a single breath, literally. And yet, not one, but two of them had died.

Someone mumbled, “Tsk. What’s there to be surprised about? This is the Mad Lord we’re talking about! It’s perfectly normal for him to kill a couple Great Truemen or Great Grandmasters!”

For some reason, he looked proud like he had done the deed himself.

Was it normal for a “mere” Great Grandmaster to kill another Great Trueman

and

Great Grandmaster? Of course not.

The Mad Lord was an exception though. No one even questioned if it was fake. Why? Because the Mad Lord was the number one under Half-Sage, of course!

Yep. Two days after Ye Qing defeated Taba Xuanwu fair and square, the news had spread to every corner of the

jianghu

. Now, his name was on the thirty-second place of the Earth Champions Ranking, and everyone else below him was pushed back one placement.

As for why Ye Qing did not replace Taba Xuanwu’s ranking and become the thirty-first ranker on the Earth Champions Ranking, that was because Taba Xuanwu had become a Half-Sage, of course. Taba Xuanwu’s cultivation level was technically higher than Ye Qing, and he hadn’t fought anyone in the top thirty yet. Therefore, he got to maintain his ranking while Ye Qing replaced the thirty-second ranker.

Anyway, Ye Qing was the number one under Half-Sage, so it was perfectly reasonable for him to kill a Great Trueman or Great Grandmaster or two.

“Tsk tsk... What on earth was Taisui Mountain and Westwind Inn thinking about? They know that the Mad Lord is the number one under Half-Sage, and he was armed with the Earthly Sovereign Bell as well. Did they seriously think that one Great Trueman, one Great Grandmaster, and a handful of Truemen and Grandmasters are enough to handle him?”

“I know right? They must be sick in the head!”

A couple of people echoed gleefully in agreement. Unfortunately, they did not get to indulge long in schadenfreude before a sword flash circled around their heads.

The next second, the jeerers’ heads fell off their shoulders and hit the deck with a thud, rolling a bit. They never realized what had happened to them until they died.

The rest saw this and fell into a deathly silence, shocked and afraid.

“Anyone else who dares to slander Westwind Inn shall face their ending!”

It was at this moment a furious, bloodthirsty voice came from somewhere in the river center. “Now, get lost or die!”

As soon as the words, “Get lost or die!” erupted, another sword flash split the river in half. Any vessel or crew unfortunate enough to be near to the growing crack was killed in an instant.

“Ahhh!”

“Run!!!”

Panic enveloped the Red Moon River immediately. The crowd who was enjoying their gossip just a moment ago immediately turned around and fled for the wharf like terrified mice.

Just a dozen breaths later, the river was completely devoid of human life.

The next moment, grayish flames descended from the sky and spread across the entire Red Moon River. Water did nothing to abate its existence, and it was deadly despite burning almost gently. It burned the corpses into ash in just the blink of an eye.

It wasn’t until after all the corpses were cremated that the grayish flame finally began to subside. The figures standing high above the river also left one after another.

After that, Red Moon River returned to peace and calm.

About a quarter of a teatime later, new figures slowly appeared on the wharf.

“Are they gone?”

“I think so.”

“Phew! That scared the shit out of me. The one who attacked earlier is the One Sword of Westwind Inn, right?”

“I doubt there’s another guy with a sword intent like that in Westwind Inn.”

“To think that One Sword had come as well!”

“It’s not just One Sword. Did you see that grayish flame? If I’m not mistaken, it’s probably the Life Extinguishing Spirit Fire by Sunlao Taijun of Taisui Mountain.”

“Brother Wan is right. Besides One Sword and Sunlao Taijun, I sense four or five other powerful auras as well. This old one cannot identify them, but I am certain that they are all Great Truemen.”

“Heavens...”

Everyone gasped and exchanged shocked glances with each other when they heard this. “Are you saying that Taisui Mountain and Westwind Inn sent a combined force of

eight

or

nine Great Truemen and Great Grandmasters

to attack Ye Qing?!”

Excluding the Great Truemen and Great Grandmasters, there were dozens of Truemen and Grandmasters involved in the ambush as well. The earlier accusation that Taisui Mountain and Westwind Inn weren’t taking Ye Qing seriously were wrong after all. With this line-up, they could have threatened a top twenty or even a top-ten champion of the Earth Champions Ranking.

Despite this, Ye Qing managed to escape to safety. Not only that, he managed to kill a Great Trueman, a Great Grandmaster, and many more Truemen and Grandmasters in return. This proved that Ye Qing’s true strength far exceeded the people’s expectations. His power had completely surpassed what someone of his cultivation level should be able to do.

“No wonder they say that all heroes are young. Taisui Mountain and Westwind Inn had become Ye Qing’s stepping stones.”

“Yeah. The hidden dragon has grown into a true dragon, and none could stop his ascent anymore.”

“It’s all up to Taisui Mountain and Westwind Inn now. Whatever they choose to do next will decide if they will become the laughingstock of the year or not.”

“Do you think that Ghost Taisui and the Boss of Westwind Inn would step into the battlefield themselves?”

“It’s hard to say...”

“One thing for certain, the

jianghu

is going to hear of the Mad Lord once more...”