Chapter 136: The Passing of a Mentor
“Why bother?”
The voice was soft, yet Duan Qingkuang felt as though the great saber in his hand could not descend another inch.
The old man suddenly appeared, saving Zhang Ze at the last moment.
Duan Qingkuang clearly did not know the old man, and for a moment he still struggled to strike.
“Hmph.”
With a cold snort, the old man raised a hand and sent Duan Qingkuang flying into the distance.
Zhang Ze had resisted Duan Qingkuang for a while. Although he had suffered no serious injuries, his face was now deathly pale.
“Thank you, Senior, for saving my life.”
The old man turned to him but did not immediately reply.
……
All Zhang Ze saw was the old man soaring into the air and heading toward the rampaging horde of astral beasts in the distance.
“Begone!”
His voice thundered like a peal of lightning.
Roar!
The cries that came from the horde were entirely different from their earlier fury. Now they held nothing but submission and anguish.
In the space of a few breaths, those hideous astral beasts retreated like a receding tide.
Witnessing this, Zhang Ze felt genuine awe toward the old man.
He was awed that the man could soar through the air, and even more awed that a single command from him could drive back that frenzied horde.
……
“Die!”
Although Woody had been entangled with a powerful astral beast, she had still noticed the danger Zhang Ze was in.
Her two students had nearly died right before her eyes, filling her with overwhelming fury.
The moment she arrived beside Zhang Ze, she heard him shout an angry curse as he charged at Duan Qingkuang.
No one stopped him.
Everyone in the army had seen Duan Qingkuang swing his blade at his own people.
To them, there was no crime more serious than that.
Many of them even secretly cheered.
If that kind of vermin were not killed now, who would dare risk his life fighting the alien races of the star regions in the future?
What if you were locked in mortal combat with the enemy, only to have your head severed by the “comrade” beside you?
……
Duan Qingkuang—the fourth-rank powerhouse of the Nine Splendors Sect—died just like that.
Even Duan Hong, the eldest son of the Nine Splendors Sect, had died before him.
No one knew what Duan Qingyang would think upon hearing the news.
None of that mattered to Zhang Ze anymore.
Only after swallowing a Recovery Pill did the injuries to his internal organs ease somewhat.
Zhou Yonghao passed by him with a smile. “Your performance surprised me.”
“Heh.”
Zhang Ze could tell that these young soldiers were extremely proud, and that they seemed to harbor little goodwill toward students of the Martial Bureau.
Since the other man had taken the initiative to speak, Zhang Ze did not put on airs. “Do you all fight creatures like that?”
Zhou Yonghao stopped and explained, “Not all of them are beasts like those. More often, we fight those whose bodies resemble ours—the alien races.”
After saying those few words, Zhou Yonghao left on his own.
Woody also said nothing more about sparring.
……
Following the old man, the group headed toward the Affairs Building of Anqing City.
It was only during this journey that Zhang Ze learned the old man who had saved him was actually his teacher’s uncle—
the Director of the Martial Bureau, Wu Shishen!
When he first heard the man’s name, Zhang Ze could not help muttering inwardly: Whether he was divine or not, he certainly had the right air about him, considering he could walk through the sky.
He paid no attention to Zhang Ze’s thoughts.
Woody left with the old man, calling over Zhang Ze and Zhang Yue to give them their instructions. “Gather enough resources. I’m giving you three days to break through.”
“Understood!”
The two youngsters were both extremely excited.
……
Woody and Wu Shishen went straight to the upper floors of the Affairs Building.
The old man said in a solemn voice, “You saw what happened just now. If I had not intervened, your student might have died on his very first day in the star region.”
“……”
Woody remained silent.
The old man continued, “Some things should no longer be held against him. He did not want to flee back then either.”
“You can only say that fate was against him.”
Hearing this, Woody remained silent for a long while before replying, “Wasn’t he solely responsible for the deaths of those nine children?”
“You all tell me to stop resenting him, but who will answer for the nine children who died? They were not merely the hopes of nine families. They were also the product of years of my blood, sweat, and effort!”
Woody’s emotions grew agitated, and her voice trembled slightly.
“Ah…”
The old man let out a long sigh and said nothing more.
……
After arranging a place for Zhang Ze and Zhang Yue to enter secluded cultivation, Zhuang Ting could not help sighing with emotion.
“Thank goodness neither of you was hurt. Otherwise, Teacher would have gone mad.”
Hearing this, both Zhang Ze and Zhang Yue felt puzzled.
Zhang Yue pressed her for an answer. “Was the mortality rate among Teacher’s former students very high?”
This time, Zhuang Ting clearly had no intention of hiding anything.
After Zhang Yue finished speaking, Zhuang Ting’s expression turned grave. “As Teacher’s students, we enter this place earlier than others. So yes, our mortality rate is indeed somewhat higher.”
“However, there was another particularly tragic matter concerning Teacher’s former students…”
Zhuang Ting then explained everything to the two of them.
……
It turned out that Woody had married long ago, and her husband had also been a prodigy of the Anqing Martial Bureau—a favored disciple of its Director, Wu Shishen.
He had broken through the seventh rank at a very young age, earning the title of Martial Grandmaster.
But youthful arrogance often accompanied such prodigies.
After breaking through to the seventh rank, the man declared that he would defeat Venerable Yun of Blood Moon City. He then took Woody’s nine students and traveled a thousand miles from Anqing City, waiting for Venerable Yun to accept his challenge.
No one had expected that Venerable Yun of Blood Moon City, a member of the Heavenly Horse Clan, would summon another seventh-rank Venerable. Together, the two of them surrounded and attacked Woody’s husband.
In the end, the young man was forced into retreat. A peerless prodigy was on the verge of dying on the spot.
Woody’s nine students, whose cultivation ranged only from the fourth to the fifth rank, desperately held back the two Venerables of the Heavenly Horse Clan, giving him a chance to escape with his life.
Wu Shishen arrived in time and saved the gravely wounded young man.
But all nine of Teacher’s students died in the battle…
……
After finishing the story, Zhuang Ting remained sorrowful for quite some time.
Only then did Zhang Ze understand why Woody had accompanied him and Zhang Yue during their operation in Nanye City.
Perhaps from the moment she assigned them the mission, Woody had already been following close behind them.
At the thought of this, Zhang Ze felt a warmth spread through his heart.
He never wanted to experience the desolation of his former life again.
Now, after spending more than half a year in this world of martial artists, he had gained the friendship of people like Qianqian and Peng Fei.
And Woody, his teacher at the Martial Bureau, had become the first true elder in his life.
……
After arranging everything for Zhang Ze and Zhang Yue, Zhuang Ting left.
Zhang Ze’s thoughts were in turmoil, and he did not immediately enter a state of cultivation.
“Ding!”
The mechanical voice he had not heard in a long time rang out.
“Third skill acquired: Ten-Day Countdown!”
“Body strength requirement: Above 1,000 S!”
When the voice ended, there was no further response.
Still, it washed away some of the emotion in Zhang Ze’s heart.
In the blink of an eye, nearly three hundred days had passed since Zhang Ze arrived in this world of martial artists.
What the third skill would bring him was something he eagerly anticipated.
With this feeling in his heart, Zhang Ze formally began advancing toward the fourth rank.
……
The Martial Bureau of the Capital.
“Hoo…”
Li Sanqing’s expression was solemn as he exhaled a breath of stale air.
“Fourth rank—finally achieved!”