The Grinder.
Although Fang Ping’s speed was not slow, the Catacomb martial artist that was chasing him had entered the middle-ranks. Hence, he was extremely fast as well.
Fury festered inside Fang Ping!
It was bad enough that he had been lectured by Tang Feng, but Fu Changding and the others also felt that him being grouped with them was not a good thing.
As a result, he had been left behind by Tang Feng!
Not to mention, he was ambushed and nearly had his throat pierced through.
Now, a middle-ranked martial artist was relentlessly chasing after him with killing intent without reason. Where could he find the reason!
“Was the person I killed close to you?”
Fang Ping turned his head to curse. He did not care whether his opponent would understand him. Nevertheless, he fiercely stuck up his middle finger. ‘Keep chasing. We’ll see who can last longer!’
It has to be said, that without a doubt, the eternal best method of expression is body language.
When Fang Ping raised his middle finger with scorn on his face, the face of the martial artist who was chasing him that had originally been icy cool suddenly became filled with rage. Then, out of the blue, he sped up.
Seeing this, Fang Ping was shocked. He hastily erupted his Vitality, fleeing hurriedly.
“Just you wait. Can a Rank-4 martial artist’s Vitality really be that much higher than mine? Once your Vitality is depleted, I’ll hack away at you!”
Fang Ping ran like the wind. The Manic Explosion technique he had been practicing was only average, and he could only execute four consecutive outbursts.
However, he had practiced his Cloud Step well and it was very strong. With each outburst, he could run at a speed of close to 30 meters per second.
At that speed, if he could make it last, he could even reach 108 kilometers per hour.
Martial artists of the lower three ranks who could achieve such a high speed under an outburst were very rarely seen. Of course, the Vitality consumption for doing so was not low.
As Fang Ping was running maniacally, he suddenly felt the movement of energy particles before him. Fang Ping was startled, and he swiftly turned a corner. The moment he turned, the air crackled—the sound of a long spear plunging was heard.
“Another one!”
Fang Ping’s heart was shaken badly. Another Rank-4!
‘Have I entered the enemies’ nest?’
Thinking about it, Fang Ping continued running away hurriedly. He could not fight two Rank-4s!
While he was fleeing from the long spear’s attack range, a martial artist whose face was painted with some black oil paint jumped out from the grass. Then, with a few sentences, he quickly communicated with the martial artist chasing Fang Ping.
Fang Ping did not listen to what he was saying. He would not understand him even if he did. He only knew he was in trouble!
In The Grinder, enemies were everywhere.
Running around aimlessly there would make it very easy for him to encounter the opposing party’s martial artists. If he kept running like that, he would perhaps be surrounded and killed before he could outrun them.
“I have to think of something!
“What about human martial artists?”
Fang Ping was slightly anxious. Were there not few middle-rank martial artists?
Motherf*cker, there were two already!
He looked at his surroundings. All around him was grassy territory... However, there was a shadowy area on the left side in front of him...
“The mountain forest?”
Fang Ping was hesitant. During class, including practice time, the instructors had all said not to enter forests carelessly.
The mountain forest was a good place to avoid disaster, but it was also a good place to court death.
The Catacomb martial artists were not the only problem. There were also a few Catacombs’ creatures which were also extremely dangerous.
In the mountain forest, he had a chance of encountering even scarier opponents than martial artists.
“Should I enter the forest or not...
“Big Lion, you son of a b*tch, come rescue me!”
Fang Ping wanted to cry but could not. He turned his head only to see the two martial artists closing in on his heels, relentlessly chasing him. If he kept going, he did not know how many more martial artists he would lure out.
Catacomb martial artists were not dumb. If they did not have the skills or were incapable, they would not chase an opponent with so much abandon.
Since they were chasing him relentlessly, there was a high probability... That he really had entered the enemies’ nest!
Otherwise, in The Grinder, the Catacomb martial artists had to be wary of human martial artists’ ambushes as well.
“Even if I shouldn’t, I have to enter it already. This place is tens of miles wide, and I don’t know how many martial artists are hidden in the grass. I could end up luring out a whole lot of them!”
Fang Ping’s expression wavered, and just as he had steeled himself to enter the forest, more martial artists appeared in his surroundings yet again.
“@#$...”
Fang Ping did not know how the other party communicated. However, another four to five martial artists quickly appeared near him and started chasing him.
Shoo!
As Fang Ping turned his feet to run toward the mountain forest on his left, the sound of air being split reverberated. Then, Fang Ping’s expression changed. With a roar, he vanished from where he was, face paling.
Behind him, a long arrow accompanied by bloody light smashed the plantation in his vicinity in a split-second.
“Damn it!”
Fang Ping’s face was not woeful any longer, it had a serious expression.
He had encountered a Rank-4 archer!
Being able to cast one’s Vitality from within to envelop an arrow and then leave one’s body, it was at least the patent of a Rank-4 martial artist.
On Earth, there were very few martial artists who learned archery. The main reason for it was that martial artists of the lower three ranks, even if they were in the Upper-stage or Peak Rank-3, found it very hard to utilize their Vitality to envelop their arrows and leave their bodies.
Since they could not do it, the lethality of their arrows was limited.
Hence, martial artists of the lower three ranks almost never learned archery. Everyone’s time was tight. Not to mention, if there was not enough time for Combat Technique cultivation; where would they find time to learn archery?
However, once one entered the middle ranks and could let their Vitality leave their body, as well as envelop their arrow before shooting, the lethality of the attack was much higher then.
If an Upper-stage Rank-3 martial artist like Fang Ping was shot in a vital area by such an arrow, he would most likely die.
Even if he were shot in other places, a Rank-4 martial artist’s Vitality would still definitely break his defenses and injure him.
Shoo!
In that lull when Fang Ping dodged the arrow, another arrow was shot from behind him!
“Asshole!”
Fang Ping cursed angrily. His footsteps trembled once again, and his body appeared ten meters away. His face turned paled once again before it quickly returned ruddy.
Three big Rank-4 martial artists!
There were also quite a few martial artists of the lower three ranks.
There was an archer for long-range attacks. Their line-up was already enough to surround and kill a Rank-4 or Rank-5 martial artist.
Fang Ping did not hesitate any longer. His legs looked like a phantom as he sped toward the mountain forest in front of him. As for his Vitality consumption... Who cared about it at that moment!
...
After dodging several more arrows one after another, Fang Ping was close to the mountain forest.
A few of the low-ranked martial artists had been outrun by him, but the three middle-ranked martial artists were still chasing him relentlessly.
The Catacomb martial artists could tell that they had possibly caught a big fish.
A Rank-3 martial artist who could escape three big Rank-4 martial artists chasing him. For such kind of martial artists, the weaker they were, the more they had to be killed!
Otherwise, when they entered the middle ranks, they would be terrific.
None of the three Rank-4 martial artists gave up. Even though the Catacomb martial artists did not enter the mountain forest easily either, the moment Fang Ping entered the mountain forest, the three of them did not hesitate at all and dashed straight in.
...
“Phew...”
Fang Ping panted softly. He had run wildly into the mountain forest. He did not care if he was lost or not at that moment. He did not know where he had been chased to, so going anywhere was the same.
After catching his breath, Fang Ping leaped into the air, jumping onto the top of a big tree.
The Catacombs’ animals and plants were all huge. Their trees were too.
It did not look like a dense forest, but the trees were already incomparably gigantic. Fang Ping hid his body under the leaves of a tree, held his breath, and hid his Vitality.
Crunch...
In the forest, there was the weak sound of a twig snapping.
Fang Ping focused and calmed himself, peering toward the direction the sound had come from with his peripheral vision. The Catacomb martial artists had followed him in.
“Jiliagu...”
A faint sound was heard from the other party discussing amongst themselves.
Fang Ping could not understand and could only guess that the person talking had said, “Let’s split up.”
The next moment, something made Fang Ping’s eyes widen and mouth fall open. The three Rank-4 martial artists in his line of vision really split up!
“F*ck, I’m a language prodigy!”
Fang Ping’s thoughts loosened up, ‘I even guessed it right!’
The martial artist who wielded a saber and had kept chasing after him after he had killed that martial artist earlier, began walking over toward the direction where he was hiding at.
Out of the other two, one was holding a spear, and he had black oil paint on his face.
The last person was holding a bow, and he had a quiver strapped to her back... The crucial part was that she was a woman!
Fang Ping confirmed that he had not seen wrongly!
It was a woman!
‘Is pummelling someone with close combat not enough to have the need for long-range combat?’
Fang Ping averted his gaze. The Rank-4 martial artists’ senses were not weak. If he observed them for too long, they would sense it.
‘What should I do now? They will notice me sooner or later.’
The Catacomb martial artists were not fools. They did not look much at other places in the mountain forest, and they only stared at the treetops. As for Fang Ping, the scurrying in the forest he had imagined, looking at the martial artists on the ground... All three of them did no such thing.
‘Even a sneak attack will be hard to pull off. I’ll be noticed the moment I move.
‘I’m no match for three Rank-4s. If I’m noticed and surrounded, my way out will be blocked. Even running away will be hard then.’
Fang Ping was a little fretful, his anger toward Big Lion increased. He had said that there were not many middle-ranked martial artists!
In reality, Fang Ping did not know that the current him was already far past the 30 kilometers’ boundary. His reckless retreat earlier had led to the current him being at a boundary of 50 kilometers.
The distance to Sky Gate City was only a little over 30 kilometers from him, and the place he was in was part of Sky Gate City’s hunting grounds.
On normal days, Upper-stage Rank-3 martial artists would be fine even if they were to go near this area. However the situation in the Catacombs had changed lately, and there were more and more middle-ranked martial artists there.
This had caused Fang Ping to very quickly encounter three middle-ranks in his panic.
Seeing the saber-wielding martial artist stepping closer and closer, Fang Ping’s head began to hurt.
He swept a glance at the other two martial artists with his peripheral vision.
‘They’re more than 50 meters away. If they dashed over with an outburst, it’d take two seconds.
‘However, the trees are blocking them. Maybe at least three to four seconds.
‘In three to four seconds, can I kill this bastard?’
Fang Ping thought randomly. His enemy was not a Middle- or Early-stage Rank-3 martial artist. He was a Rank-4 martial artist—how could he be that easy to kill?
If he was that easy to kill, he would not have run away earlier.
‘My advantage is that my Vitality can be quickly replenished. For martial artists of the middle three ranks, unless they’re Peak Rank-6 and are the type who have strong Mentality and don’t have to consider their Vitality, others have to consider this point.
‘A Rank-4 martial artist with a Vitality of 2000cal is the limit.
‘Geniuses aren’t everywhere. Breaking through that limit is not something everyone can do.
‘That bastard chased me for so long, I’ve used up close to 500cal of Vitality. Even if he used up less than me, he still should have used up around 200 or 300cal of Vitality.
‘But it’s still too little!’
Fang Ping’s eyebrows scrunched. This bit of depletion was not very effective.
Moreover, there were three of them. It would not be good for him to force something.
‘I have to split them up and then kill them individually. I’ll pretend that my Vitality is nearly depleted... yes, those people don’t know my Vitality is unlimited.
‘My consumption is not low. I’ll ambush this person later and force out some moves. Then, I’ll pretend like I’m fighting to the death before I quickly escape. They should split up even further...’ Thinking about it, seeing that the enemy was already close to checking the place where he was hiding, Fang Ping gripped his changdao tightly and got ready to attack.
...
The next moment, when the saber-wielding martial artist arrived at the bottom of the tree where he was at, he dropped from high above, falling fast. A red beam shone from his changdao as he violently swung it down!
Fang Ping’s opponent was on alert. Seeing Fang Ping, he was not shocked and was excited instead. With a low roar, his changdao shone even brighter than Fang Ping’s, and he slashed his saber!
Clang!
A loud sound reverberated. Fang Ping’s purlicues split. However, he did not hesitate for a second and raised his sword once again to slash it down. “Clang clang” sounds echoed throughout the mountain forest.
The saber-wielding Catacomb martial artist’s face looked serious, but he did not have a hint of panic in his expression.
For a Rank-3 martial artist to use big moves when he was surrounded by three Rank-4 martial artists, he was pretty much courting death. Even if he could hold him off for a while, the others could quickly kill the martial artist who used up his Vitality without caring about the consequences.
“Kujiwuyali...”
The saber-wielding martial artist said coolly as he counterattacked.
“Have all your tricks been exhausted?” Fang Ping helped to translate. His face showed an expression of distressed rage. “If you can understand my words, I’ll consider you great. If you don’t understand them, I’m telling you now, you’re the first one I’m going to kill later!
“Don’t just look at my large Vitality consumption—my Vitality will be fully restored in an instant, and I’ll hack away at you!”
Out of the four consecutive slashes, he had slashed twice in a row. Fang Ping was not feeling too good, and his opponent had backtracked a few steps too.
At that moment, the other two were speedily closing in on him.
Fang Ping’s face blanched. However, he did not get entangled as in the next moment, he stepped on the tree and launched himself deeper into the forest, retreating quickly.
The three Catacomb martial artists regrouped, and while they chased after Fang Ping, the saber-wielding martial artist said something in a small voice. He was probably explaining Fang Ping’s condition.
Earlier, Fang Ping had slashed eight times consecutively, stacking them up twice. Under an outburst, it did not matter that he was Rank-4 as his purlicues still split. Moreover, blood poured out of them.
Since he had become like so, Fang Ping was in an even worse condition. He was a Rank-3 martial artist, and his Vitality was probably close to the danger point.
If they did not chase after him so hurriedly, Fang Ping would be able to recover slowly. However, if he fled fiercely, he would not have the time to recover. In the three people’s eyes, this martial artist from the place called “Hope” would die without a doubt!
The three people chased after him relentlessly, entering deeper into the mountain forest.
...
At the same time.
Outside the mountain forest, Huang Jing slowly halted his steps. His eyes were studying the long-haired youngster who was stepping into the air not far away from him. Although he was a youngster, his gaze was very mature.
“I’ve met a big one.”
Huang Jing muttered. He was afraid that Sky Gate City was going to attack soon. A high-ranked powerhouse had appeared in The Grinder’s core area.
High-ranked powerhouses, including humankind’s Grandmaster martial artists, very rarely appeared in The Grinder if it was not for a big battle.
It was the place both parties had silently agreed was training ground for middle- and low-ranked martial artists.
The appearance of a high-ranked martial artist meant that a big battle was about to start, and they were going to eliminate enemy martial artists who crossed the border.
“If Lu Fengrou finds out I lost her student...”
Huang Jing raved to himself dryly. “That brat ran deeper in himself. I can’t be blamed, can I?”
He had seen Fang Ping leave the team by himself; he had seen the brat run further and further away the more he ran. Huang Jing did not know what Fang Ping was thinking either.
When he saw that Fang Ping was being surrounded by a few Rank-4s, somebody came before him just as he had revealed himself.
He watched as Fang Ping entered the forest while the three Rank-4 martial artists followed him. Huang Jing was helpless. He really had not lost him on purpose.
Who knew that a high-ranked martial artist would appear before him?
“There’s trouble!”
Exclaiming lightly, Huang Jing did not natter on. The next second, the two of them appeared in mid-air at the same time.
Then, an earth-rumbling bang reverberated loudly. The weeds on the ground disintegrated; the area in a radius of twenty to thirty meters became an empty no-man’s land.
Huang Jing shouted in a low tone, and a gold beam flashed across his face. In front of him, an invisible blade formed. It was as if it was going to cut open the void!
The expression of the young-looking man in front of him did not change. With a low roar, a howl sounded in the air. Then, he charged straight at Huang Jing.
“This much isn’t enough!”
The invisible blade in front of Huang Jing shot out. In between the two of them, a metal screeching sound reverberated.
As the aftermath diffused, the soil on the ground concaved and the wild grass seemed to have been cut by an invisible force. It spread quickly outwards and formed an even bigger deserted area.
While Huang Jing confronted the opponent’s Mentality, he did not stay idle. Instead, he stepped into the air, charging straight at the opponent.
Dong!
An even louder roar sounded. Both of them landed on the ground simultaneously, and a shower of soil kicked up beneath their feet. Where the two of them stood, a massive crater was formed.
“It seems like there’s still a show. If that brat can hold on a little longer, I’ll flatten you!”
Huang Jing cracked a smile. However, just as he had finished saying this, his expression changed. “Motherf*cker, ganging up on someone!”
After cussing, his body moved and a crackling sound was heard in the air. His current speed exceeded the speed of sound.
With speed that could not be observed by the naked eye, Huang Jing appeared by his opponent’s head. His two hands were blood-red, and in the air above his opponent’s head, he violently tore the air apart with a roar!
The face of the high-ranked Catacombs youngster suddenly became blotched in red. The air above his head turned from invisible to visible. A beast resembling a tiger was seen being pulled apart by Huang Jing’s two hands.
“Kagu!”
The next moment, the youngster bellowed along with the tiger above his head. Then, he wildly launched himself at Huang Jing!
“You’re a little too inexperienced!”
Huang Jing laughed loudly. An invisible blade appeared before him once again and it slammed into the already-becoming-translucent tiger-like beast with a bang.
Extremely fast, in the blink of an eye, the tiger beast had been sliced by the blade to the point that it looked like an illusion.
At this moment, a shadow appeared in the distance and it came flying at him mid-air.
Huang Jing huffed. Since he was alone with two big high-ranked martial artists, remaining there would just mean courting death.
Still, even if he retreated, he could not just leave like that. Two big high-ranks from Sky Gate City had unexpectedly appeared. It was not a small matter. Not mentioning Fang Ping, there were hundreds if not a thousand middle- and low-ranked human martial artists in The Grinder.
With two high-ranked martial artists being there, if he left, he was afraid there would be countless casualties.
‘Damned Old Kou hasn’t responded. How is he standing guard!’
Huang Jing cursed inwardly. There was a Grandmaster standing guard at The Grinder too, but the other party had not come to aid him even now. He was possibly being held up as well.
He did not think too much about it. There were quite a few human Grandmasters too. He would hold off the two enemies, and a Grandmaster would come to take on the opposing high-ranked powerhouses very soon.
“Huh!”
Huang Jing roared. He used the full force of both his hands again, and with a snap, the tore the tiger apart!
The next moment, Huang Jing paled. He quickly retreated to the left side.
He did not retreat toward his back. The high-ranked powerhouse who had just arrived bellowed when he saw this. The paled youngster on the ground knocked his head and then stepped into the air, chasing after Huang Jing.
Huang Jing did not head back to Hope City and instead fled toward the left again. Both of them knew what he wanted, which was to lure them into a chase.
Still, with there being two high-ranks, they were not afraid of Huang Jing. Although the high-ranked youngster’s Mentality had been torn apart earlier, and he was quite heavily injured, Huang Jing was definitely not as relaxed as how he had portrayed himself earlier.
The two of them flew toward the direction Huang Jing had run toward. Only after the three of them had left, did a few martial artists cautiously step out from the grassy surroundings.
When they saw that the place where Huang Jing had dueled the others at had formed a giant crater, the expressions of the martial artists nearby changed. They fled the area. A duel among three big Rank-7s was not something they could participate in.