Sword Ruins

Outer Courtyard, Blue Wolf Sect, Chongfan Empire

The noise of arguing and mockery gradually faded away.

Shen Fang was in semi-comatose state, with his head full of blood, his half-bowed body constantly twitching and his hands creasing the mat on the bed.

And just now, he was battered and bullied by a crowd of people. Only his maid Xiaoya standing by him cried and begged for leniency.

That impact force of the stick almost killed him.

No one came to rescue him from such a serious injury. They treated him like a wild dog, leaving him alone and for dead.

"If it was half a year ago, no one would dare to hit me like this."

An implacable voice yelled in Shen Fangs mind.

The courtyard was quiet, with nobody else but the sound of leaves rubbing against the windows.

With limbs still twitching, he gradually felt some numbness in the headache and fell into a trance, while things of the past passed through his mind like smoke.

In the past, Shen Fang's destiny was nothing like this.

He had a distinguished parentage as the descendant of an eminent general. His grandfather was the Frontier Commander of the Chongfan Empire.

At that time, he was escorted by his own guards and regimental commanders when he went out. He also took care of the large family business, and was admitted to the prominent Blue Wolf Sect.

Life was easy on him, favoring him with fancy clothes and strong horses. It looked like that he was the chosen one who provoked everyone's admiration and envied others.

But unexpectedly, good days suddenly utterly gone down since then.

Half a year ago, Shen Family, who was framed by political enemies, was brutally exterminated. All members of the family died miserably. Without his identity as a disciple of the Blue Wolf Sect, he would have also been murdered and died in misery.

All of a sudden glory, wealth and status turned into ashes.

During that time, Shen Fang suppressed the hatred deeply in his heart and buried himself in hard cultivation, hoping that one day he could succeed and get the revenge for his family.

However, by that time he found himself incompetent in cultivation. No matter how hard he practiced, he could only reach the body exploitation of heaven layer three, and there was hardly any space for further refinement.

Only then did he realize that his family contributed to his admission to the Blue Wolf Sect, not his personal gift.

With fortune and cultivation both falling to the bottom, he gradually became the useless man in others eyes and the one target of mockery and insult.

More and more disciples in the sect came over to beat, scold and bully him.

Beating up the descendant of a previous general was supposed to be the best way to satisfy the distorted mentality of those people.

Shen Fang wasn't strong enough to fight back and had to endure this all alone. He hoped that one day he would be strong.

But today, Hu Biao, grandson of the First Elder, came over with a crowd of people to rob Xiaoya as his maid by force.

Xiaoya followed Shen Fang to join the sect and served as his personal maid. Since Shen Family had been exterminated, Shen Fang had no one close to him except Xiaoya, the one who was regarded as a sister by blood. He would never allow anyone to take her away by force.

At that moment, he could not bear it any longer and fought back desperately. But he was no match for his vicious opponents. He was knocked down, punched and kicked on the ground.

At last, he was hit by a stick on the head and nearly died.

Wind blew into the house.

Shen Fang lay there in dizziness while past memories crowded in upon his mind. He wasn't willing to see his family revenge unfulfilled, himself humiliated, and Xiaoya suffering with him.

On his head, for the spot hit by a stick, he suddenly felt more pain. It seemed that an axe was cutting downing and splitting his head.

Shen Fang was like in numbness. The pain caused his limbs to twitch, but he made no sound, just bit his lips to bear it.

Although he suffered such tremendous pain, there was still nothing he could do.

He must tolerate the pain and could not die like that.

If he died, Xiaoya would have no one to rely on.

In this world, he was Xiaoya's only family member.. As her bother, he had to stand up again no matter how difficult, and protected her from any form of humiliation.

Click.

There came a low cracking sound.

The pain of axe cutting seemed to have splitting something in his head. Suddenly, Shen Fang could unexpectedly look inward and saw the scene inside his head.

It was a mist.

In the middle of the mist, the pineal gland was suspended in the void.

The sound just now was made by a crack at the top of the pineal gland.

The pineal gland was cracked. Am I completely crippled? Not willing for this, Shen Fang clenched his fists.

The pineal gland was suspended in the middle of the knowledge sea. From the opening on the top, the thick fog rose surprisingly, constantly filling the knowledge sea.

The fog was getting thicker and thicker, and its concentration in the knowledge sea was gradually reaching three, four, and five times of the normal level.

The fog symbolized a person's spiritual force.

As the fog grew stronger and stronger, Shen Fang finally realized something was wrong.

The spiritual force is so strong that it overflowed unconsciously from the knowledge sea, and as it diffused outwards, he could even saw the scene outside with his eyes closed.

His vision followed the spread of the spiritual force.

In the end, he saw the entire room.

At that moment, in his vision the whole world seemed to be dyed with all kinds of brilliant colors. The walls, tables, chairs, and old window lattices became magnificent, bright and incomparably clear.

He could even see colorful spiritual Qi floating in the void, and its silky and foggy movement.

Looking further into the distance, in the courtyard, he could see the tiny parasites wriggling in the cracks of the old tree and all lines on the its bark.

Shen Fang was shocked by the scene and felt stunned.

"It is the spiritual force."

"Had my spiritual force been suppressed until the rod broke my pineal gland and released it?"

Shen Fang was shocked and didn't figure out what was going on.

The dense fog in the pineal gland released in a faster way. Its concentration in the knowledge sea gradually reached eight, nine and ten times of the normal level.

It still continued.

The concentration of the fog was too high as to gradually change from colorless to light golden, and then to golden in the squeezing and compression process.

The golden fog was full of vitality.

Shen Fang felt that he was different as unprecedented strength and fullness appeared in his mind. At this moment, he subconsciously circulated his inner Qi.

Buzz!

His inner force ran in his meridians at a terrible speed, dashing around madly.

The operation of inner force needed spiritual guidance.

To him, Inner Qi circulation was like a thin horse struggling with a big cart, but at this moment, with his spiritual force guiding his inner force, it was like ten elephants tugging a small cart.

After a few breaths, he finished circulating his inner Qi that needed half a day in the past.

At the end of circulation, Shen Fang felt his inner force improved a lot.

"Unbelievable, unbelievable!"

Shen Fang shivered a little and realized that with the rupture of his pineal gland, he might have ushered in his transformation.

Spiritual force was the life essence of a person, and also the most important gift and basics for cultivation.

Stronger spiritual force would definitely mean that his gift of cultivation was growing stronger.

Sword Drawing

Shen Fang rehearsed his best trained swordplay in his mind.

In an instant, just as he could see the lines of the bark, he spotted 13 inadequacies of force exertions in his Sword Drawing technique.

Before this, he thought that this technique had been trained to the extreme and his swordsmanship could not be improved furthermore. Until this moment, he found his swordplay was full of flaws, shapeless and powerless.

With the spiritual force, in an instance, he corrected 13 errors in strength exertion and thrust out his sword.

Cling-clang!

The sound of his swordplay was eardrum piercing, and the Qi was overflowing from the sword, like the lightning tearing up the night sky as well as a tiger whistling and a dragon roaring.

Shen Fang never thought the simple technique of Sword Drawing could exert such unpredictable power.

It's clearly that my gift of spiritual force is growing. That stick-hit unleased it unexpectedly.

Now I am no longer a useless man.

Shen Fang got rid of coma with his powerful spiritual force. Suddenly, he opened his eyes, which were full of brilliance.

He woke up in vitality and was an entirely different person.

Turning his head to the ransacked house, Shen Fang slowly supported himself up with his arms.

Shen Fang, you are all right. That's great.

From the outside of the courtyard, a figure stormed in.

The comer was a chubby teenager with sweat on his face. He dressed like the apprentice disciple of the Blue Wolf Sec. For the convenience of movement, the lower corner of his robe was tucked in his waist.

The man was Chen Feng, the only friend who really cared about Shen Fang here. He had the Body Exploitation of Heaven Layer Four.

Seeing Shen Fang awake, Chen Feng's eyes lighted up, but then felt a bit depressed. He passed a note to Shen Fang.

"Shen Fang, this, this is the scrip left to you by Xiaoya. Take a look."

"Xiaoya!"

Shen Fang realized that Xiaoya was not there when he woke up.

Over the years, Xiaoya grew more and more beautiful. Since Shen Family was booted out of power, she suffered more and more harassment, especially from Hu Biao, the grandson of the First Elder. He had been coveting Xiaoya for a long time.

Just now, Hu Biao brought his subordinates to snatch Xiaoya as his maid, and knocked out Shen Fang.

"Xiaoya is not here? Had she been snatched by Hu Biao when I lost consciousness?

Shen Fang frowned and grabbed the scrip in his hand. With a few twisted words, the scrip said: My master, Xiaoya was going to find my own happiness and won't follow you anymore. Don't worry about me!

Seeing these words, Shen Fang felt a tearing pain in my heart. Didn't this silly girl always say that nothing was happier than being with him?

"Chen Feng, when I fainted, was Xiaoya snatched by Hu Biao?" Shen Fang asked urgently.

"Xiaoya Xiaoya followed Hu Biao on her own will. This scrip was written by Xiaoya herself."

Chen Feng was absentminded and lowered his head.

How was it possible?

Shen Fangs face went pale. In his memory, Xiaoya is very disgusted with people like Hu Biao and annoyed with their daily harassment. How could she be willing to go with him?

"Well, Hu Biao said he had an order from the First Elder that stipulated your exile from the sect for your incompetence. He also said that as long as Xiaoya went with him, he could persuade the First Elder to take it back."

"Shen Fang, as you know, members of Shen Family are wanted for arrest by the empire. If you are dissociated from the sect, you will be hunted down immediately. Xiaoya Xiaoya, she has no choice..."

Chen Feng sighed and shook his head.

Shen Fang felt more painful of his heart in a moment.

Xiaoya's father was a deputy general who had been saved by Shen family. In order to express the gratitude, Xiaoya was sent to Shen family and served Shen Fang as his maid.

Xiaoya's family collapsed with the downfall of Shen Family. Both of them lost their homes and had to depend on each other.

Shen Fang never expected that so many things would happen after his faint, and Xiaoya was willing to sacrifice herself to save him.

"But silly girl, do you think I would take the discipleship at the expense of your suffering? I would rather wander all over the world than survive dishonorably in the sect.

With his hands propped up by the bed, he wanted to sit up. But the fog in the pineal gland was constantly overflowing. The spiritual force in his mind was not stable yet. It was still very hard for him to control his body.

"Chen Feng, where did Hu Biao go?"

"In the direction of the Fengyue Cave, there were about seven or eight people of them..." Chen Feng answered with a ghastly pale face.

Boom!

It was like thunderbolt exploding in my heart.

The sect advocated asceticism and prohibited any sexual behavior. The only place free from the restrictions was the Fengyue Cave. Hu Biao took Xiaoya not to his residence, but directly to Fengyue Cave. It showed that Hu Biao did not want to take Xiaoya as his maid but to rape her.

The most unbearable thing was seven or eight people of them went to the Fengyue Cave together.

Hu Biao had left for a long time before Sheng woke up out of his coma. Thinking about that the frail Xiaoya was subject to obscenity, Shen Fangs eyebrows were about to erect.

He struggled to sit up.

When he was struggling, he heard a loud sound. The door was kicked open and timbers shattered to the ground.

"Ooh-la-la, you're not dead yet."

An acrimonious voice came in from the broken door.

The entrant was extremely strong, just like a tower, but had an asymmetrically small head, a face of treacherous and mean, and a look funny and ferocious.

Tie Kaishan.

A cold light flashed in Shen Fangs eyes.

Tie Kaishan is the No. 1 apprentice disciple of the Blue Wolf Sect, but he was not a malevolent man. Instead of climbing to the top by virtue of real strengths, he acted like a flunkey and tried hard to please someone more powerful like Hu Biao.

Hu Biao was a formal disciple of the Blue Wolf Sect and the grandson of the First Elder. In his opinion, if he got Hu Biaos favor, he found himself a patron to depend on.

Over the years, Tie Kaishan had almost acted as Hu Biao's flunky.

The stick-hit that made Shen Fang fall into a coma was from Tie Kaishan.

Tie Kaishan, you injured him to this extent, and you come here for what?

Chen Feng, looking at the broken door, condemned him with a reddening face.

Shen Fang felt a sharp dizziness in his head. Hands on his forehead, he almost fell down. The spiritual force in his mind was not stable yet and he couldnt move normally.

Now for Shen Fang, he needed time to stabilize his spiritual force, but that was what he lacked most.

"Haha, I'm here to announce good news. In a moment, Xiaoya will be cherished by Master Biao, and you deserve a bottle of the wedding wine. Look, it's Master Biao's reward for you."

Tie Kaishan, with alcoholic smell givng out from him, took out an almost flattened wine pot from his chest, raised his hand, and threw the pot with wine splitting to Shen Liang and Chen Feng.

Thud.

The wine pot landed by their sides, wine sprinkling all over Chen Feng.

"Ha-ha, what is that look, you wanna eat me?"

Wearing a look of banter, Tie Kaishan shocked his little head.

The chill in the eyes of Shen Fang and Chen Feng grew more intense.

To die was no big deal. Being knocked out and humiliated in his own house, it was going too far.

Tie Kaishan shook his head with disapproval and ridicule,

"Speaking of Xiaoya, that girl is really stubborn. Seeing that Master Biao was taking her to Fengyue Cave to have fun, she took a dagger out of her arms and wanted to commit suicide. However, Master Biao let her put down the dagger obediently with just one sentence. Guess what Master Biao said?"

Shen Fang's look was more ferocious.

After a moment's silence, Tie Kaishan said as if people were listening.

Master Biao said that if Xiaoya died, her master would be the next one to be killed.

"Ha-ha, at this point, Xiaoya lost her countenance and cried hopelessly, and then obediently followed Master Biao."

Shen Fang suppressed the dizziness in his head, closed his eyes slightly and visualized the speed of the pineal gland overflowing thick fog in hope of accelerating the process.

Buzz!

Tie Kaishan suddenly turned fierce and raised his chilling cold steel sword.

But Xiaoya wouldnt expect that even if she compromised, her master would die anyway. Shen Fang, Master Biao ordered me back and killed you.

He looked down on Shen Fang who was sitting on the bed, as if he was a dead man.

"Why, don't you get what you want? Why do you insist on killing Shen Fang?"

Chen Feng was pissed.

"You don't understand, do you? Hey, do you know how much the s rivals have offered for Shen Fangs head? Thirty thousand of spiritual stones. Kill this insignificant loser and the fortune will be mine."

"Shen Fang, blame nobody but your fate that makes you born in Shen Family.

"So that's why."

Shen Fang and Chen Feng looked at each other, their eyes full of desperation. They finally realized that Xiaoya's so-called sacrifice for the life of her master was her own purely wishful thinking. They didn't plan to spare them at all.

Well, it's all clear now. Prepare to die.

The sword in Tie Kaishan's hand was imbued with immense bloodlust. It went down like a lightning flashing across the room and headed for Shen Fang who was sitting on the bed.

Clank!

A deafening sound of iron clash.

At that critical moment, Chen Feng blocked the fatal strike with his sword. However, Tie Kaishan was the most skilled apprentice disciple of the sect, and his strike was way beyond Chen Feng's power to bear. Chens sword was shaken off his hands, and his bosom was open for attack. His opponent followed a downward strike.

Squish!

The sword cut a deep big wound on Chen Feng's shoulder, and the splashing blood stained his clothes.

Kata-kata, Chen Feng receded a few strides and slumped on the ground. His face went ghastly pale because of the pain.

Shen Fang, run now. Chen Feng shouted in anxiety.

At the sight of this, Shen Fang's eyes flashed a smear of coquettish redness, his heart almost burning. The quiet heart as ancient well rippled in circles.

Chen Feng put up a desperate fight for him.

This sentiment deeply touched his heart. The fog in the pineal gland kept overflowing rapidly outside the knowledge sea until its concentration reached about 20 times. It slowly stopped overflowing.

The golden fog in Shen Fang's mind stabilized completely.

Snap, Shen Fang shocked his neck and felt that he could move his body without any difficulty.

When Chen Feng was struggling to get up, Shen Fang put his hand on Chen Feng's shoulder. Shen Fang then strode down from bed to the ground and stood up. He ripped off a piece of cotton tape to bind up Chen Feng's wound. There was ice-chilly expression in his eyes that wouldn't disappear in ten thousand years.

Its okay, Chen Feng. I've got this. Xiaoya, we'll save her.

Turning his head slightly, he looked backed at Tie Kaishan. In an instant, Shen Fang was like a famous sword shaking off the dust and the rust spots, showing its dazzling sharp blade.

With a gesture, Chen Feng's sword on the ground magically sprung up and zoomed into Shen Fangs hand.

With the sword in hand, Shen Fang turned on a free, natural and unrestrained look.

"Gee, you loser can still move. You are lucky to be alive after the accident, aren't you!"

Tie Kaishan was also somewhat surprised. He tilted his head and looked at him, thinking what happened.

He felt that Shen Fang's temperament had changed so dramatically that he could barely recognize. But he couldn't tell exactly where it had changed.

Feeling angry, he pouted his lips, "Last time you didn't die, doesn't necessarily mean that you wont die this time. I will send you to hell with my sword.

He knew Shen Fang just reached the body exploitation of Heaven Layer Three, even weaker than Chen Feng. Such an opponent was like nothing to him. However, Master Biao had given orders. In order to accomplish this task, he had to do his best.

Blue Wave Swordplay

With a tremor of the wrist, the sword was filled with amazing brilliance. Its light huffed and puffed like a grand curtain and a giant net hooping over Shen Fang.

The net was so big and wide that Shen Fang had no chance of escape.

Stop it.

Chen Feng shouted in alarm, but it was too late to rush to help.

Eyes shimmered with coldness, Shen Fang took a sudden step forward, his sword hurtled out with a clank and penetrated the sword curtain like cutting the silk. Shen then followed a gentle whirl of the sword tip.

Squish!

Tie Kaishan's right hand was lightly chopped off and fell to the ground with the sword.

The whirling sword curtain disappeared all of a sudden. Tie Kaishan's wrist was still spraying blood. He looked at his opponent in horror. He couldn't believe it.

The golden spiritual force was so strong. Under Shen's control, it had corrected every inadequate power exertions of his swordplay, which delivered ultimate lethality.

Every strike was full of incredible swordsmanship.

It was something Tie Kaishan could never counter against.

Shen Fang's wrist raised again.

Oh, no!.

Feeling a lethal threat, Tie Kaishan twisted his upper body to dodge. The sharp blade fell down with a squish, cutting off his other arm along with the shoulder, just like cutting a crisp lotus root.

The chopped arm flew out. Tie Kaishan stepped back and hit the wall. He looked at Shen Fang as if he was the Death.

The sharp blade was shimmered with dazzling light.

His swordsmanship was like a dragon flying in the sky, with a kind of unrestrained, never-ending cruelty. It seemed that as long as Shen Fang had a will, the blade would reach anywhere accordingly.

Not realizing what was going on, Tie Kaishan had been mutilated by Shen's two strikes.

Shen Fangs sword became fierce and went near to Tie Kaishan with a slight cling-clang.

"Stop it. I'm with Master Biao. If he knows you hurt me, do you know what are the consequences?

"If Master Biao knows, you will be worse than death."

Tie Kaishan threatened in shouting but was cowardly at heart. However, the sharp blade before him showed no mercy. A spectacular strike came like a piece of ribbon streaking across the sky.

Tie Kaishan's subcostal part was pierced with a squish. The sword tipped upward, and his ribs went away.

At this moment, a spasm of pain hit Tie Kaishan. But he had no time to cry out for pain as the sharp blade before him did not even grant a rest time.

Another ray of light flashed, Tie Kaishan twisted his body to dodge, but the swordplay was like a thunder, too quick to evade.

Squish.

The rib on the other side were pricked out. Tie Kaishan, now a bloody man, was just like a deflated bellow. He did not even have the strength to stand upright.

His knees lost strength and fell down to the ground. Eyes turning red, Tie Kaishan was so scared that every hair in his scalp pores was about to erect.

Blade and blood were reflected in Shen Fangs reddened eyes. At this moment, Shen Fang was like a bloodthirster.

"Shen Fang, spare me, spare me, that's not my idea, and all is proposed by Master Biao... No, Hu Biao forced me to do all this. I've never intended to kill you, nor had I wanted to dally with Xiaoya

With the killing weapon before him, he was frightened and incoherent.

"Shen Fang, don't kill him..."

Chen Feng also came from behind with a glazed look. These swordplays were completely the basics for beginners, but Shen Fang exerted incredible lethality in his hand. He wondered when Shen Fang, a benign young man, grasped such amazing swordsmanship.

He suppressed his shock and came up to persuade Shen Fang not to kill Tie Kaishan. The sect had strict rules, and killing people for no reason was a serious matter.

They were only the low-ranking apprentice disciples of the sect, only one level higher than the handymen. They were unable to get away with the sects rules.