Chapter 184 - 119: Broken String
With no other option, he turned to Cheng Tianyang:
"Chief Cheng, did you just encounter something strange?"
Cheng Tianyang nodded.
"It was as if someone was nearby just now, but I couldn’t find them.
"But their killing intent lingered, and it actually left me unable to move.
"If you two hadn’t arrived in time, I’m afraid I would have fallen into their trap."
Hearing this, Jiang Ran glanced at Ye Jingshuang.
Their eyes met, and both of them recalled Huang Xuan’s words.
’The Heart Demon... Shi Pingzhang!’
’In that case, Shi Miao’s appearance here wasn’t really a surprise.’
’Huang Xuan said Shi Pingzhang had returned to the martial world, and the five great sword sects had mobilized their full strength.’
’So there would certainly be no shortage of people from the five great sword sects in this area.’
’With such a major incident happening at Red Maple Manor, most would come to watch the excitement.’
’The Danyang Sword Sect would naturally be no exception.’
’Shi Miao had parted ways with Jiang Ran and the others back in Benma County.’
’If she received a summons from her sect afterward and traveled with them, it would make sense.’
’That girl was always reckless. If she encountered Shi Pingzhang, she definitely wouldn’t wait for others to team up and would charge in first.’
’In that case, it was only logical that she’d fall for Shi Pingzhang’s trick.’
"This is bad!"
Ye Jingshuang’s expression suddenly changed.
"If Shi Pingzhang is lurking nearby, Senior Brother Huang and the others... I’m afraid they’re in danger!"
"Let’s go."
As he spoke, Jiang Ran was already leaping into the air.
Ye Jingshuang followed close behind, carrying Shi Miao.
Cheng Tianyang, however, was stunned by the name ’Shi Pingzhang’.
Having been in the martial world for many years, he naturally knew who Shi Pingzhang was.
"Isn’t he dead?"
After muttering this, he too hurried to follow.
Setting aside the fact that Ye Jingshuang was still alive—meaning his escort mission was back on track—even if it were just for Shi Pingzhang, as a practitioner of the Path of Chivalry, he couldn’t just stand by and do nothing.
The group of four used their Lightweight Techniques, arriving before Red Maple Manor in just a moment.
Before they even got close, they could already hear the clang of clashing swords.
Arriving at the scene, they saw a crowd of people fighting amongst themselves.
Except for a few leaders like Huang Xuan and Junior Martial Uncle Gu, who were sitting cross-legged and using their Inner Strength to resist the killing intent within them, everyone else was radiating a murderous aura that soared to the heavens.
Moreover, it wasn’t just the Liuyun Sword Sect and the Cyan Pine Sword Sect anymore.
Even the Yun Mountain Sword Sect, which had left earlier, and the Danyang Sword Sect were present.
The four great sword sects were locked in a chaotic battle. Sword Qi crisscrossed the area, powerful enough to shave three feet off the ground.
Jiang Ran’s expression shifted slightly. He told Ye Jingshuang and the others not to get closer, then circulated the True Heart Scripture of Creation and plunged into the fray.
And in the very instant Jiang Ran set foot onto the field...
The sound of a zither suddenly rang out.
Everyone who had been fighting suddenly stopped.
As a second string was plucked, the entire group turned to look at Jiang Ran in unison.
Jiang Ran’s brow twitched; a bad feeling had already surfaced in his heart.
Sure enough, in that same instant, everyone drew their swords on him at once!
"Bastard!"
Jiang Ran was furious.
’I have no long-standing grudge or recent feud with this Shi Pingzhang,’ he thought. ’Why go through all this trouble to take my life?’
’No wonder the members of the four great sword sects have been fighting for so long without a single death.’
’So they were all just waiting for me.’
He immediately flickered, activating his Hidden Shadow Enchanting God Step to dodge the sword blades, and reappeared in another spot in a flash.
He glanced over and saw Cheng Tianyang pressing a palm against Ye Jingshuang’s back.
Both were sitting cross-legged on the ground, resisting the zither’s assault. Only then did he feel slightly relieved.
He scanned the battlefield again but didn’t see Li Tianxin.
However, Luo Qingyi and Zhang Zhihua were in the crowd, attacking him as well.
"This is too much..."
Jiang Ran’s face darkened. He casually dodged a thrusting sword, then flicked a finger and pressed it against the attacker’s brow.
The person grunted and collapsed to the ground.
’The True Heart Finger really is Shi Pingzhang’s bane.’
Encouraged by this success, Jiang Ran simply spread two fingers, using his Hidden Shadow Enchanting God Step as he executed the True Heart Finger.
He dodged through the flurry of sword winds, tapping everyone he saw.
His martial arts were superb, and his Inner Energy was almost unbelievably profound.
Everything he had learned was astounding.
There was no one he wanted to tap that he couldn’t reach.
The only problem was that there were too many people.
Tapping them one by one like this, there was no telling when it would end.
An idea struck him. With a RUMBLE, his protective avatar materialized before him.
This avatar moved with his thoughts; it wasn’t something that was gone forever once shattered.
With Shi Miao lying unconscious on the ground, there was no one on the field who could break his protective avatar.
So Jiang Ran simply sat down cross-legged. While using the avatar to defend against his surroundings, the internal breath in his body roiled as he compared the True Heart Scripture of Creation and the Great Brahman Vajra Skill.
Finally, after a moment, Jiang Ran opened his eyes.
The protective avatar enveloping him also seemed to open its eyes.
Jiang Ran reached out and pointed. The next moment, the avatar on his body mimicked the motion, reaching out to point.
OMM!!!
The finger descended from the heavens, the internal breath from its tip spreading out in all directions.
The disciples of the four sects surrounding him were all struck by this internal breath. They weren’t blasted away, but instead swayed and crumpled softly to the ground.
The range of this finger attack was immense.
Even the few masters nearby who were circulating their energy to resist the zither music and the killing intent within them were affected by the finger’s power.
In an instant, they felt their minds clear. The killing intent that had clung to their hearts like maggots on a bone vanished in a puff of smoke.
They couldn’t help but open their eyes and look at each other, seeing the astonishment in one another’s gazes.
At the same time, a sharp TWANG echoed from the distance, clear to the ear.
The next moment, Jiang Ran, who had been standing on the field, flickered and shot off toward the source of the sound.
The masters of the four sects looked at each other. They all wanted to stand, but with the killing intent gone, their bodies felt as empty as a house cleared out by a thief. For a moment, they couldn’t even muster the strength to get up.
Huang Xuan, however, used his final ounce of effort:
"Brother Jiang... don’t pursue a desperate enemy!"
But Jiang Ran could no longer hear him.
He was now standing on a small slope on the mountainside. From there, he could see the scene in front of Red Maple Manor from a distance.
There was no one else here. Only a zither with a broken string, and Li Tianxin, who was walking slowly out of the woods.