Chapter 136: Killing a Friend, System Punishment?

The humanoid mechanism puppet's feet could no longer bear this pressure and burst, both lower legs thrust straight into the hard ground.

Crack!

Crack!

The humanoid mechanism puppet struggled to pull its legs out, but it was obviously futile.

Seeing this, Fang Xu swept his long staff, launching the stone spear into the air, then struck the puppet's head with his staff, shattering its skull.

Thud!

An orange bead dropped from its head.

Fang Xu picked up the bead, glanced at the stone spear nearby, and directly stored it in his Cosmos bag.

After breaking through to Martial Disciple Eighth Level, counting the dragon scale he obtained with Huang Qingzhou in the Ti Lan Mountain ruins, he still had an aperture space unused for nurturing a lifebound artifact.

This spear can block his attacks; it is not mundane and can be used to nurture a lifebound artifact.

Having cultivated the Divine Extension Canon to this day, he also roughly understood.

"Senior sister, another mission?" He hurriedly tied the wineskin to his waist, Fang Xu exclaimed excitedly.

Compared to squads that often number over ten, Fang Xu's three-person team seemed rather weak.

The weakest was Lu Qingluo, but Fang Xu gradually discovered that Lu Qingluo seemed to possess many special abilities.

In this team, Yun Wan's own strength is Martial Master Ninth Level; although her cultivation is suppressed by a restriction, among the examinees she is still of top-tier ability.

Lu Qingluo frowned tightly and said, "It seems dangerous; should we go?"

The three followed the signs in the passage and hurried toward the exit.

Retracing the passage to the previous spot, seeing Lu Qingluo and Yun Wan still waiting where they were, Fang Xu raised the orange mechanism puppet core in his hand, then glanced at the remaining five martial artists slain with a single sword to the throat and said, "Did you also collect theirs?"

The three formed a team and continued forward along the passage.

Getting ready to leave, carrying a large amount of points, Fang Xu felt a surge of ease, casually taking out a wineskin filled with horse milk wine from his Cosmos bag and drinking it contentedly.

Obviously, these people were all killed by her, and the loot was also gathered by her.

Yun Wan nodded and handed the cloth bundle to Fang Xu.

Both Fang Xu and Yun Wan were curious about her ability.

Because Kuang Qing thought no one could obtain an orange mechanism puppet core, he also didn't tell them how many points one orange core was worth.

After some time of advancing, Lu Qingluo suddenly called out to Fang Xu, frowning slightly as she looked toward the right fork.

"Let's go to the exit." Fang Xu calculated a bit and decided to first head to the vicinity of the exit.

As for Fang Xu, needless to say, he's practically a pervert.

Foreknowledge!

After all, one purple mechanism puppet core equals two hundred points; compared to the higher-grade orange, a few are worth five hundred, or even more.

"Fang Xu..."

Time passed bit by bit; soon, only half a double-hour remained until the exam's end.

Obviously, she wanted to act together with Fang Xu.

After putting away the spear, he turned to the martial artist slain by the humanoid mechanism puppet, pulled out a handful of mechanism puppet cores from his bosom, roughly estimating that converting them to points would yield at least over two thousand.

"What are your plans next?" Yun Wan hesitated before speaking.

Actually, with her strength, passing this stage's exam is a piece of cake.

While robbing others, he also wanted to find as many purple and orange mechanism puppets as possible to kill.

At this point, the examination site had completely descended into chaos.

After letting go of her inner turmoil, once she decided to help Fang Xu rob others, she could always quickly find some martial artists in the passage.

A lifebound artifact nurtured in an aperture space is far beyond what ordinary things can handle.

The three's points had already exceeded twenty thousand.

But since Lu Qingluo didn't speak, they also didn't feel comfortable pressing further.

Now, with a little more than one double-hour left until the exam ends, it's natural to try to gain as many points as possible.

However, many examinee martial artists have already begun teaming up to rob others; if acting alone, Yun Wan knows she would likely still encounter danger.

Danger?

"Let's keep moving forward." Fang Xu thought for a moment and said.

This doesn't even count that orange one.

"I've tallied them; converted to points, they total eight thousand four hundred twenty."

Eight thousand plus?

Including what they themselves carry, the three's points have already exceeded ten thousand.

Moreover, with her help, Fang Xu again found two orange mechanism puppets and four purple ones.

Many martial artists, after obtaining enough points to pass the exam, began attacking each other in order to loot more points, making their subsequent exam easier.

Otherwise, once they miss the exit time and get trapped inside, no matter how many points they have will come to nothing.

Looks like this gang has robbed quite a few people.

Fang Xu pondered a bit and said, "Let's go take a look."

The three headed straight toward the right passage.

Just after turning a corner, Fang Xu saw not far off a martial artist staring blankly at the stone wall of the passage.

Upon noticing the stone ball atop its head, Fang Xu's pupils contracted instantly.

Red!?

This is a mechanism puppet of a level higher than orange!

Having killed several orange mechanism puppets, Fang Xu roughly understood that orange mechanism puppets generally have strength around Martial Master Seventh Level.

According to this calculation, the red mechanism puppet probably has the strength of an initial-stage Martial Sovereign.

Is this guy in front of us really strong?

He's actually hesitating whether to challenge the red mechanism puppet!?

In front of the red stone ball, some shy martial artists heard the commotion, also noticed Fang Xu and his two companions rushing over, and instantly, somewhat nervous, drew their weapons from behind their backs.

That is a huge black-iron sword comparable in length to his body!

Seeing this, Fang Xu frowned and said, "Sir, do you want to challenge the red mechanism puppet?"

The shy youth, hearing this, was slightly stunned and said, "What red mechanism puppet?"

Fang Xu pointed to the red stone ball on the wall before him and said, "I saw you just now extend your palm, as if intending to challenge this red mechanism puppet..."

Before he finished speaking, the youth turned his head in shock to look at the stone ball, then involuntarily stepped back two paces and said, "You say this is red?"

Fang Xu was a bit dazed by his question.

You can't see such a huge red stone ball?

"I... I thought it was green," the youth said, somewhat embarrassed, scratching his head, "Actually, in my eyes, everything is only black, white, and gray."

"The red and orange you speak of are just different shades of gray to me."

"I thought it was a green stone, so I was hesitating whether to try it."

Upon hearing his words, Fang Xu was instantly somewhat astonished.

So he's colorblind!

Mistaking red for green...!

There is absolutely a huge gap between the two types of mechanism puppets!

The green mechanism puppet at most equals an initial-stage Martial Artist, while the red one equals an initial-stage Martial Sovereign; if I had arrived a step later, this guy would likely have released that red mechanism puppet.

By then, one can imagine the entire examination site would probably be thrown into chaos by that red mechanism puppet.

"Thank you, senior brother; otherwise I'd probably be dead."

The youth put away his huge sword and, completely unprepared, bowed his hands to Fang Xu in a salute.

"Have you never encountered bandits?" Seeing the youth's utter lack of caution, Fang Xu couldn't help but ask.

"Bandits...?"

The youth shook his head and said, "What do they do?"

"They are martial artists who kill you and loot your belongings," Lu Qingluo said.

The youth was slightly startled, then suddenly drew his huge sword again, warily looking at Fang Xu and his two companions and said, "Are you also bandits?"

Fang Xu and his two companions exchanged glances, all amused by the youth's adorable clumsiness.

"Move aside, I'll try this red mechanism puppet." Fang Xu didn't answer, he just spoke directly.

"Fang Xu..." Lu Qingluo looked at Fang Xu with some worry.

She had already seen the strength of the orange mechanism puppet; the red one is definitely stronger than the orange, and she worries Fang Xu might not be able to handle it.

"It's fine, senior sister."

Fang Xu gave her a reassuring glance and walked over slowly.

The youth held up his black-iron huge sword; seeing Fang Xu stride over, he cautiously stepped back a few paces and said, "You really want to release this guy?"

Fang Xu turned his head, glanced at him, and smiled, saying, "Are you scared?"

"Then why don't you hurry up and run?"

The youth stared for a moment, shook his head, and said, "I can help you."

Seeing he wasn't leaving, Fang Xu didn't mind, extended his palm onto the red stone ball, hesitated slightly, then directly slapped it down.

Crack!

The red stone ball dented inward, and in the next instant, the nearby secret door slowly opened.

Whoosh!

A terrifying bone staff shot straight at Fang Xu the moment the secret door opened!

The bone staff's speed was great—so fast that Fang Xu didn't even have time to react before it was already near his body!

Feeling the force carried by the bone staff, Fang Xu dared not hesitate; shifting his mind, a huge dragon scale instantly appeared on the left side of his body!

Bang!

The bone staff smashed hard into the dragon scale; the tremendous force transmitted through the scale shook Fang Xu's body back several steps.

Thud!

Thud!

From the secret door, the mechanism puppet's figure slowly emerged.

It was a huge demon ape!

This mechanism demon ape's size is no inferior to that of a restored original body old ape; its body is covered in fuzzy gray hair, and it holds an unknown bone staff in its hand, appearing almost identical to a true demon ape.

Fang Xu steadied his stance, holding a long staff, and gazed solemnly at the mechanism demon ape.

The youth wielding the black-iron heavy sword also hastily raised his weapon, staring at the demon ape as if facing a formidable foe.

On the other side, Lu Qingluo and Yun Wan nervously watched the demon ape's rear, ready at any moment to cooperate with Fang Xu in launching an attack!

The mechanism puppet lacks any aura; otherwise, Fang Xu felt the youth with the huge sword and Yun Wan's trio would probably have already been frightened into losing their will to fight.

It's unknown whether because the stone door was opened by Fang Xu, or because the mechanism demon ape could sense that among the four, Fang Xu's strength is the strongest; after walking out of the secret door, it has kept its gaze fixed on Fang Xu.

Crack!

Crack!

The huge mouth opened and closed a few times, then the mechanism demon ape immediately raised the bone staff in its hand and smashed it toward Fang Xu!

Clang!

He pointed the long staff in his hand straight ahead, blocking the bone staff that the magic ape smashed down!

However, the immense force carried by the bone staff caused Fang Xu's grip on the long staff to slip slightly, and the staff's end slammed directly into the ground!

Fang Xu grabbed the long staff, then suddenly kicked the mechanism magic ape's body twice, forcing it back; he then violently pulled the staff out of the ground, leapt up, and smashed it toward the ape's head!

The fatal weakness of this type of mechanism puppet is its head.

Whoosh!

The mechanism magic ape had just steadied its body when it saw Fang Xu's long staff swinging toward its head!

It directly raised its left hand and grasped the long staff that Fang Xu was swinging!

The attack was blocked; behind Fang Xu, the youth with the giant sword quickly ran, the profound iron giant sword inside rubbing out a series of sparks, his figure arrived before the mechanism magic ape, and he swiftly leapt up!

In midair, he raised the giant sword high with both hands, then fiercely slashed at the left arm of the mechanism magic ape that was gripping Fang Xu's long staff!

Bang!

The profound iron giant sword, carrying immense force, struck the mechanism magic ape's arm directly, emitting a tremendous sound!

The mechanism magic ape's left arm was instantly dented by the bladeless giant sword!

But just as the youth prepared to withdraw his sword, he discovered his giant sword was stuck.

Crack crack!

The mechanism magic ape opened and closed its mouth, and the huge bone staff in its right hand swung straight at his body!

Boom!

Just as the bone staff was about to smash the youth, Fang Xu abandoned his long staff, waved his fist glowing with red light, and punched the magic ape's belly!

The scorching Flame Spirit Energy left a scorch mark on the magic ape's body, directly causing it to stagger!

The youth lowered his head, dodged the bone staff, and with both hands gripping the sword hilt, he kicked the mechanism magic ape's arm hard, pulling his profound iron heavy sword free!

Taking this opportunity, Yun Wan and Lu Qing Luo behind the magic ape also launched their attacks!

After Fang Xu retracted his long staff, his pupils constricted slightly, he took a deep breath, stepped down hard, and leapt up again!

The long staff, trailing a series of afterimages, slammed hard into the mechanism magic ape's shoulder!

Boom!

The force of this strike directly crippled half of the mechanism magic ape's arm, but the long staff also got stuck in its complex mechanism!

"Senior Brother, catch!"

At that moment, the youth who had just retrieved his giant sword, seeing this, directly threw his giant sword over!

Fang Xu released the long staff, used the mechanism magic ape's body to push off, caught the profound iron giant sword, and simultaneously lunged again toward the ape's head!

Boom!

The blade of the profound iron giant sword directly struck the mechanism magic ape's head, splitting its skull in half!

A red mechanism puppet core was revealed; Fang Xu reached out and grabbed the red bead in his hand, and the mechanism magic ape's body collapsed with a sound.

The youth ran over, pulled out his giant sword, looked at Fang Xu excitedly, and said, "Senior Brother, you're amazing!"

He picked up his own long staff, and also picked up the bone staff of the mechanism magic ape.

"What's your name?"

Fang Xu turned his head to look at the youth and asked.

"I'm Long Long." The youth quickly replied, "Senior Brother, what about you?"

"Fang Xu."

Fang Xu said, then looked at him and asked, "How many points do you have?"

Long Long's expression suddenly froze, then he grimaced and said, "I don't know; Senior Brother, please check for me."

Suffering from color blindness, Long Long also didn't know how many points these mechanism puppet cores he obtained corresponded to.

After taking out all of his mechanism puppet cores, Fang Xu leaned in and counted them.

"One hundred forty points."

Hearing this, Long Long immediately became a bit anxious.

The examination requirement is two hundred points; he is currently short sixty.

"Senior Brother Fang Xu, I… I can't idle chat with you anymore; there's little time left, I must hurry to find more mechanism beasts to kill."

"Wait a moment."

Fang Xu called out to stop him, turned around, took the cloth bag from Yun Wan's hand, took out mechanism puppet cores worth sixty points from it, and handed them to him, saying, "There's less than half an hour left; we don't have time."

"These are for you, considered as payment for your help just now."

"Let's go, we're heading to the exit."

Upon hearing this, Long Long eagerly took those beads, repeatedly thanked Fang Xu: "Thank you, Senior Brother! Thank you, Senior Brother!"

Fang Xu looked at him and smiled faintly, saying, "You must not trust others so easily from now on."

Although Long Long was still a bit puzzled, he nodded and followed Fang Xu and the three others toward the exit.

According to the signs in the passage, the four quickly arrived at a passage leading straight to the exit.

However, at this moment the passage was blocked by a large number of martial artists.

Seeing this, Fang Xu frowned slightly, not understanding why these people were gathered here.

"Listen up, if you want to pass, each person must leave fifty points!"

"Anyone who dares to resist will meet this fate!"

At the front of the passage, more than ten martial artists directly blocked the entire passage, collecting tolls from the martial artists rushing over.

The martial artists inside the passage at this moment actually dared not speak; many even began calculating whether subtracting fifty from their points would still meet the examination requirement.

"Senior Brother Fang."

Long Long glanced at Fang Xu beside him, his face somewhat unsightly.

He currently has exactly two hundred points on him; if he gives away fifty, he won't be able to pass the assessment.

Fang Xu patted his shoulder, looking at the martial artists ahead who dared not speak, and said lightly: "Make way."

The many martial artists turned to look at him, then all made way for the path.

Passing through the martial artists to the front of the passage, Fang Xu glanced at the more than ten corpses on the ground, then looked at the dozen or so martial artists blocking the way ahead.

"Kid, what are you looking at!!"

"If you want to get past, either hand over fifty points, or end up like them—become a corpse left here, and then all your points will belong to us."

"Fang Xu, they're very strong." Among the three who arrived later—Yun Wan's group—Lu Qingluo tugged at Fang Xu's sleeve and whispered.

"Very strong?"

Fang Xu gave a faint smile; under the suppressive seal, how strong could these people possibly get?

He glanced at the wineskin hanging at his waist, his heart stirred, he immediately untied it and came over with a fawning smile: "Elder brothers, you've worked hard, have a drink, have a drink!"

The few who were blocking the road, seeing this, all froze.

They had thought Fang Xu would be arrogant and challenge them, and were calculating how to quickly kill him to intimidate the martial artists behind.

But now, seeing this scene, it was clearly beyond their expectations.

"Kid, what are you up to!"

The leading youth martial artist, his face bearing a strange tattoo and his body full of muscles like coiling dragons, frowned and rebuked the wineskin Fang Xu offered.

Fang Xu smiled, pulled the plug from the wineskin, tilted his head back and took a sip from afar, saying: "No poison."

The rich aroma of the horse milk wine drifted out, making several of them involuntarily swallow.

Martial artists love wine.

That tattooed martial artist hesitated, then took the wineskin, lifted it to his nose to sniff, tipped his head back and took a small gulp, whereupon his eyes instantly lit up.

This horse milk wine was a gift from the surviving people of the Muyun Kingdom back when we were on the Muyun Grassland.

With the Southern Witch's favor, they would naturally not offer Fang Xu any cheap liquor to get by.

The tattooed martial artist took a sip, and immediately felt the wine's fragrance fill his senses, with an endless aftertaste.

"Not bad, not bad!"

"Come, brothers, have a taste!"

He passed the wineskin to the rest, and the group all tipped their heads back to drink.

On Fang Xu's side, seeing one name after another pop up on the friend list in his sea of consciousness, he smirked inwardly.

Ji Province!

These guys are all martial artists from Ji Province!

Ji Province martial artists are naturally strong in body; it can be said that before the Warrior Master realm, Ji Province's martial apprentices are inherently stronger than those of several other provinces.

Now, in the assessment grounds, there is a sealing pressure; for martial artists from other provinces, this seal is a shackle, but for those from Ji Province, it is practically a boon.

Precisely for this reason, these fellows dare to openly collect tolls here.

Seeing the friend list already full, and noticing that the "HP" after several names was plummeting, Fang Xu smiled.

"Elder brothers, you see..." Fang Xu pretended to rub his hands and asked: "Could you let me pass?"

The tattooed martial artist heard his words, a hint of mockery on his face: "How so? Do you think this little bit of wine can offset fifty points?"

"Want to get past? Hurry up and hand over the points!"

Upon hearing that, Fang Xu's expression shifted instantly, and he said with a light smile: "No room for negotiation?"

Seeing his expression, the tattooed martial artist blinked slightly, then snapped impatiently: "Either hand over the points, or get lost and wait to die here—what's with all the nonsense!?"

Upon hearing that, Fang Xu also didn't get angry, and said with a light smile:

"Give you guys a chance—hurry up and let me get past."

"Otherwise, you'll end up like them, stuck here forever."

Hearing this, the tattooed martial artist and the other Ji Province martial artists behind him stared at each other in astonishment—

"Hahaha!"

"This kid must have just arrived; he hasn't seen the strength of us brothers."

The tattooed martial artist gave a sinister grin, clenched his fists, and said: "Fine, I'll just kill this chicken to show those monkeys, and let them know how formidable we are—so no stray cats or dogs dare to challenge the authority of our Ji Province martial artists later!"

Saying that, he stepped forward outright, so arrogant he didn't even need a weapon, and swung a punch straight at Fang Xu!

This punch carried an immense oppressive force, directly blasting toward Fang Xu's head!

Even before the fist arrived, the terrifying fist wind howled toward Fang Xu!

Just as the martial artists behind Fang Xu thought another corpse was about to appear on the ground—

Pa!

A hand grabbed the incoming fist directly, and the fist wind ceased abruptly!

Pa!

His right hand seized the tattooed martial artist's fist, while his left hand slapped the cheek bearing that strange tattoo.

"What's there to do but learn from others and extort tolls on the road?"

The tattooed martial artist was stunned; after a brief moment of shock, anger surged in his heart, and he immediately broke free of Fang Xu's grip.

Pa!

Another slap landed on his face.

The force of that slap was huge, sending his whole body flying, several of his molars shooting out of his mouth.

Behind him, the other few Ji Province martial artists, seeing this, suddenly understood!

This is a provocation!

Kid, you're courting death!

More than ten martial artists immediately rushed over in a swarm!

They didn't draw weapons, and Fang Xu was too lazy to draw weapons either, so he faced the siege of over a dozen attackers with bare fists and feet.

Those martial artists behind him had already retreated far away, fearing to be caught in the aftermath.

Fang Xu clenched both fists, his fists radiating red light, and directly blasted forward to meet the incoming fists of the opposing martial artist.

The terrifying force, while shattering his hand bones, also blasted his tibia right out.

Then another punch, directly caving in his skull.

Having dealt with that martial artist, Fang Xu was preparing to strike again and kill others.

But a virtual light screen suddenly popped up before him, leaving him stunned.

【You personally killed your good friend Xian Yu Leshan; as punishment, you will only be able to obtain 20% of Xian Yu Leshan's inheritance!】

What the hell!?

Seeing this, Fang Xu was dumbfounded!

(End of chapter)