Chapter 028

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‘ ‘ for thoughts.

“ “ for speech.

<> for non-verbal communication like telepathy

Please point out any mistakes/inconsistencies you find and feel free to comment on anything regarding this FF.

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Warning: May contain mature content (18+) of an adult nature. Read at your own risk.

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Note:

Although the full name mentioned here are Chinese style, (example: Fang Hao, surname Fang first then given name Hao), the names clubbed with descriptions are description and then given name instead of description and surname (example Fatty Hao and not Fatty Fang).

Btw, I read all your comments, but may not reply to each and every one separately.

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Fang Hao and Zhen Ji were facing each other in the ring. Zhen Ji had chosen a wooden sword like last time…but Fang Hao had chosen a heavy wooden sledgehammer instead of his usual club. The sledge hammer was almost 2/3rd of his height and he needed to wield it with both his hands to make effective sue of it. As soon as the presiding judge gave the signal, Fang Hao rushed at his opponent like a charging bear, and swung his sledgehammer taking advantage of the momentum. His opponent slashed his forearm.

The puny wooden sword had no effect while striking his demi-gauntlets and Fang Hao continued swing his sledgehammer towards his opponent’s liver. The impact Zhen Ji received was apparently too much for him to bear as he dropped his sword and groaned in pain, momentarily stunned. Fang Hao didn’t hesitate to take advantage of his opponent’s helplessness as he slammed his knee with a lunge into his opponent’s solar plexus. Zhen Ji naturally fell over and landed on his back with Fang Hao over him. Fang Hao then slapped him to unconsciousness with his armored hand. His blows were heavy, and very soon Zhen Ji fainted and Fnag Hao heard a few of his teeth breaking.

The presiding judge was a bit startled and declared Fang Hao as the winner. Though Fang Hao couldn’t hear or see the audience’s reaction… he went off the stage with a proud demeanor as he said, “This Lord Lard hear rewards his allies…and decimates his opponents! Remember to choose your standing with this lord carefully…” The presiding judge snorted at Fang Hao’s grandiose claims, but couldn’t be helped being amused at this display.

Fang Hao retreated with a haughty demeanor from the arena with a proud expression under his full helm. He couldn’t participate in any other matches that day and hence was idling around the arena. He made small talk with some of his fellow outer disciples as he encountered them…but didn’t gain any significant intel. Still it was good to pass the time till the scheduled transport arrived. He made his way back to the cottage and checked his status. He had a little over 600 xp left for levelup.

‘While it was fun trolling that retard… a match with him give me far less xp than what I would get with regular competitions. I wonder where Master Zhu is.’ He had attempted to meet Master Zhu weekly in the outer assignment hall after buying his armor, but was disappointed to find that Master Zhu was not present. The cultivator who was managing the outer hall informed him that Master Zhu was away on sect business and wouldn’t return for a while. When Fang Hao had asked him the approximate date of return, the senior had replied that he didn’t know.

However, he did give him a rough jug crudely carved out of wood. He had mentioned him to come every week to take some more spirit wine from him. When Fang Hao returned and inspected the contents of the jug, he snorted as it was only 3/4th full. ‘Damn Greedy Senior! Coveting and stealing this poor junior’s wine…’was the thought in Fang Hao’s mind as he missed his generous master as he would accept the reduced quantity of wine. Still he supposed that it was good that he got any spirit wine at all. What could if he do if all of his wine was embezzled by his senior? Absolutely nothing that’s what. Besides if he rationed himself a bit, the wine would last almost a week.

Meanwhile near the edge of a vast desert a demure looking veiled female cultivator with a tomboyish looking female appeared out of thin air. The tomboyish looking female had rough honey colored skin with black eyes and ungroomed shaggy black hair. The veiled female cultivator had a grim look in her eyes as he said, “Be careful from now on disciple. This is far as I can go without provoking war. Call upon your Demon Spirit-”

“She is my mother! Not just a demon spirit!” the tomboyish female snapped. The veiled cultivator sighed mentally, but refrained from reacting. Soon, a phantom of a deep red, almost black giant hound appeared behind the tomboyish female. The female fell on her knees and used her hand to support herself as the phantom of the giant hound superimposed on the kneeling/crawling tomboy. There was a bestial groan as the tomboy’s prostate figure rapidly expanded. Within half a breath, her figure resembled that of the phantom hound! Her aura which was far weaker than the demure veiled cultivator had strengthened significantly, even if it couldn’t compare to the veiled lady.

Even on all fours she was twice as tall as the demure veiled cultivator near her. The hound had deep red scraggly fur and its canines were as large as the demure veiled cultivator’s forearms as the hound growled at her. The demure veiled cultivator seemed stoic as she summoned an ash gray bandana with a jade green pagoda with a flick of her hand. She tied the bandana on the hound’s forelimb, just above its elbow/knee. “Good luck disciple. This diplomatic token will prevent hostility from the old monsters…but you will have to fight your way through rest of the demons.”

The giant infernal hound snorted audibly, as a plume of intense heat and flame was exhaled from its nostrils. The heat was so intense that the desert air warped and shimmered as the giant hound shot towards the distance. The demure veiled cultivator looked into the distance as she heaved a sigh. The giant hound rapidly traversed the boundary of the desert which transitioned into a wasteland which looked like it was covered with volcanic ash. Further in the distance, active volcanoes could be seen, spewing ash and magma into the environment.

Far away, in what looked like an underground chamber, Old Man Zhu was waving his right hands at a superhuman tempo. His right hand blurred into streaks of silver as streams of profound mystical symbols emerged continuously from his right hand. They arranged themselves into profound multilayered here dimensional formations around him. His almost illusory right hand materialized from the silver blur as a crystal coffin shimmered into existence at the center. The translucent refracting lid of the coffin slid open as Old man Zhu lay in it. He then closed his eyes as the coffin sealed itself and shimmered out of existence, along with everything else in the chamber.