Chapter 862: A Torn Gap, the Whole World Against Us?!

Xuan Yu hands are just like jade, naturally more fragile, they break easily when hitting something hard, which is normal.

Jia Baoyu's half body was trembling; his left hand wanted to touch his right hand but dared not.

Seeing this, Jia Mother, who had been restrained by Yuan Yang and others nearby, instantly triggered her passive ability and fainted on the spot.

His Grand Master-level cultivation amounted to zero.

The facts prove that martial arts cannot defy fate; the Jia family's saying that one faints at will is a passive ability not solvable by martial cultivation.

"Carry her away, carry her away." Ao Yulie looked at Jia Mother the same way, waved his hand, and said.

Yuan Yang and the others carried Jia Mother away; just then Jia Zheng rushed back, saw Jia Mother being carried by a crowd, his body jerked, and he also fainted.

Everyone thought nothing of it; with many hands they skillfully lifted Jia Zheng away.

Tang Luo walked up to Jia Baoyu and asked, "Hey, how did you get so strong?"

Jia Baoyu hunched over, his face turned white from pain, his teeth chattered; he had never endured such suffering, and for a moment he couldn't speak.

"Speak up, why aren't you speaking?" Tang Luo slapped Jia Baoyu's shoulder, knocking him to his knees.

Jia Baoyu could no longer bear the pain, he wailed, crying so sorrowfully that onlookers shed tears.

""

Tang Luo felt doubtful, really that serious?

Actually it's not Tang Luo's fault; in his view, it's just a broken bone, not really an injury. Back when he journeyed west, he often fought people (mostly demons) while nursing serious wounds.

In battle, pain was never a hindrance but a catalyst.

Sun Wukong is the same; both have the berserker's passive ability that makes them fight harder the longer they battle.

The lower their health, the fiercer they become, like a cornered beast.

He would throw a punch, sacrificing his whole arm to inflict damage on the opponent—something Tang Luo had done more than once or twice.

At first he'd hesitate, but later he didn't even blink; he got used to it.

You have to know, back then his imagined opponent was the Tathagata; if he didn't go all out, he might as well just lie down and wait to die.

It's just a broken bone—really a minor injury!

Why is your reaction so intense?

Tang Luo crouched beside Jia Baoyu, thought for a moment, then poked his swollen right hand.

Hey, don't you know how to heal yourself with your qi?

One poke, and Jia Baoyu's crying stopped instantly; he was voiceless from pain.

Then he continued crying.

Tang Luo poked again, and Jia Baoyu lost his voice from pain once more, without even giving Tang Luo his usual resentful glare—he just focused on the pain.

"Master, I feel like we're bullying a kid," Ao Yulie said, also crouching beside Tang Luo.

Tang Luo nodded.

He had faced many enemies; earlier most were stronger than him, later most were not.

But opponents like Jia Baoyu, a true child, are rare indeed.

After a while of crying, Lin Daiyu and the others had settled Jia Mother, then saw Jia Baoyu still crying there; Tang Luo and Ao Yulie stood aside chatting, waiting for this little brat to finish his bawling.

They didn't continue beating him; they had already been more than kind enough.

It seemed that noticing Lin Daiyu and the others return, Jia Baoyu's crying suddenly grew louder.

Tang Luo and Ao Yulie exchanged a glance; well, there's some putting on, looks like he can still take a beating.

What to do with a disobedient little brat? Just give him a beating.

Just as they were about to act, a hurried footsteps came; Jia Zhen rushed over, his steps unsteady, body swaying, but his face was fierce yet somehow spirited.

As soon as he arrived, a strong smell of wine could be smelled.

It felt as if this guy had just been fished out of a wine vat.

"You wretched creature! You unfilial son!"

Jia Zhen shouted angrily while staggering toward Jia Rong, intending to give him a harsh blow as before, then spit in his face.

It wasn't a symbolic spit; he really spat saliva all over Jia Rong's face.

Jia Zhen used to do this all the time.

With the aura of "I'm your father," Jia Zhen charged straight at Tang Luo.

Ao Yulie kicked up, sending Jia Zhen tumbling head over heels.

If Jia Baoyu is a kindergarten kid who doesn't even inspire the urge to beat him, then Jia Zhen is just a pile of stinking dog shit.

Ao Yulie gave a disgusted look, turned to Tang Luo and asked, "Master, should we convert him?"

"Whatever." Tang Luo was saying.

Over there, Jia Zhen, who had just been kicked over by Ao Yulie, suddenly sprang up.

So fast that Ao Yulie, who had turned his head to look at Tang Luo, couldn't react in time.

Jia Zhen's face bore a mad, ferocious grin; his right hand turned into a claw, lunging for Ao Yulie's head.

The sound of ghosts wailing and wolves howling rose with his movement.

Jia Zhen's right palm swelled to more than twice a normal person's size, black meridians protruding, blood seeping from beneath the skin, dyeing the whole palm red.

His nails shot out, as long as a normal finger, pitch black, a foul wind blowing in his face.

Netherworld Blood Claw!

A hastily learned heretical martial art, it requires soaking the palms in human blood, best if it's boiling heart's blood, to be mastered.

It is one of the few martial arts defined as demonic by the Great Qian Dynasty and banned from practice.

No one knows where Jia Zhen learned it, but a single strike even carries the might of a Grand Master!

Jia Zhen's sneak attack left Ao Yulie unable to react, and there was no need to.

Before him, a tall and mighty man suddenly appeared, with a string of rather large Buddhist prayer beads hanging around his neck.

Jia Zhen's Yin-Ming Blood Claw struck Sha Wujing's body, leaving a few faint white marks on his half-exposed chest that quickly vanished.

Sha Wujing reached out to grab Jia Zhen.

Jia Zhen twisted his body sideways, like a swimming fish, nimbly dodging Sha Wujing's grab and then lunging back at Lin Daiyu and the others.

His body writhed like a snake, another exceedingly sinister martial art.

Midway, a heavy pressure came upon his back, and Jia Zhen slammed heavily onto the ground, shattering the blue stone slabs and leaving a small circular depression.

Tang Luo stepped on Jia Zhen's back: "What are you?"

He wasn't asking about Jia Zhen.

What stood before them was not Jia Zhen, but a hybrid of part of the Fortune Harvester and Jia Zhen.

It was not like Tang Luo and the others, where the main entity is completely replaced; rather, it is a more special and complex fused state.

No wonder Yang Jian used the word "fusion".

Jia Zhen gave no answer, turned his head 180 degrees, glared, and said: "A bunch of ignorant juniors, dare they defy heaven?"

Just now Jia Zhen's personality was dominant; now it has "switched" to the Fortune Harvester.

The "heaven" he spoke of probably refers to himself.

"Oh?" Tang Luo gave a light chuckle.

The small pit beneath his feet suddenly spread and deepened.

"Hahaha..." Jia Zhen let out an eerie low laugh: "It's only just begun; wait and see."

Saying that, he opened his mouth wide and let out a loud roar.

"Unfilial son Jia Rong, defying heaven and patricide! Heaven's principle will not tolerate it; heavenly punishment and earthly annihilation! Let all under heaven condemn him!"

His voice boomed like thunder, instantly spreading throughout the imperial city.

Lin Daiyu and the others changed countenance; these words were not words, but a blade!

Following Jia Zhen's thunderous roar, lightning suddenly struck from the clear sky; the people of the imperial city swore they had never seen such dense, rain-like lightning strikes in their lives.

What should have been a fleeting bolt of lightning intertwined, forming a dazzling light curtain.

It connected heaven and earth.

The location was precisely the Jia family estate from which the roar had emanated.

Amid the flashing lightning and thunder, the martial masters on the imperial palace city walls narrowed their eyes, seeing the Jia family's iconic Flower-Fruit Mountain, under continuous, unceasing bombardment of vast lightning, shrinking and collapsing.

"..."

Lin Lidao and Mei Qingsheng exchanged a glance.

The heavenly thunder that once struck Zhuge Liang, compared to today's, is utterly worlds apart.

Zhuge Liang prolonged his life with the Seven-Star Lamp; only because he defied heaven and altered fate was he struck by lightning.

And today?

Patricide? No, no, no—Mei Qingsheng and Lin Lidao know it's definitely not for that reason.

Rather, it's Jia Rong, who has likely truly become the "Enemy of Heaven"!

Only then would such treatment befall him.

The lightning light gradually faded, and the Flower-Fruit Mountain in everyone's sight vanished—at least it had been lowered to no higher than the Jia mansion's walls.

The Jia mansion—Flower-Fruit Mountain had shattered, turning into a small mound.

Vast amounts of gray-black powder floated about; at the spot where Tang Luo and the others stood was a scorched-black circular pit.

All around was scorched black, while the spot where the people stood bore no trace of lightning strikes.

Jia Zhen died when the lightning struck; it had nothing to do with Tang Luo.

Jia Baoyu simply stared blankly at the vanishing Flower-Fruit Mountain, forgetting to cry, his mouth slightly open, as if turned to stone.

Lin Daiyu and the others tried to stay calm, but their breath was slightly unsteady; after a while they settled, looking at Tang Luo with worry.

Tang Luo felt no tension at all, remaining calm and breezy.

Sha Wujing's solid form grew somewhat translucent: "Master."

"Nothing wrong?" Tang Luo asked.

Sha Wujing shook his head: "No, on the contrary, I've gained."

"All good." Ao Yulie smiled at the interface—truly worthy of being the third senior brother reborn with the spirit of a defensive divine artifact.

His reliability rivals that of the earnest second senior brother.

The lightning just now wasn't only striking Flower-Fruit Mountain; it also struck Tang Luo and the others, all of which Sha Wujing blocked completely.

Not only were they unharmed, they actually used the lightning to further temper themselves.

The inarticulate Sha Wujing nodded, turning into a string of Buddhist prayer beads that reappeared in Ao Yulie's hand, then faded away.

Lin Daiyu and the others watched, somewhat dazed.

Is this even considered martial arts?

Elsewhere, on the imperial palace city walls, Emperor Kaiyuan and those with him remained silent.

After a while, Gu Shang spoke up: "Your Majesty, make the decision early."

"How to decide?" Emperor Kaiyuan replied in a deep voice.

"Jia Rong will likely become an enemy of the whole world." Gu Shang hit the nail on the head—this is a man who seeks to shatter the world's ancient laws, his path originally one of hardship and peril.

Now, having suffered heavenly punishment, he has become one despised by heaven, directly struck by lightning.

Unless Jia Rong is willing to abandon the Chess Warrior Covenant he single-handedly promotes, otherwise he will truly be condemned by all under heaven!

Know this: those high-and-mighty grandees, including Emperor Kaiyuan himself, in fact dislike, even loathe Jia Rong—no one likes having a sharp sword hanging over their head, ready to take their life at any moment.

Ordinary people are already accustomed. Jia Rong's appearance made them suddenly feel like ordinary people.

They couldn't get used to it; what they thought and hoped for in their hearts could be guessed to some extent.

It's just that, because of Jia Rong's terrifying strength, they could only submit and play a minor role.

Now, the opportunity to rebel has appeared!

It's time to throw the first punch of armed resistance against the "tyrant Jia Rong"!

"Your Majesty." Seeing the Kaiyuan Emperor silent and speechless, Gu Shang still wanted to persuade him.

"Don't do it." The Kaiyuan Emperor raised a hand to stop Gu Shang from speaking, "Don't do anything, understand?"

After a brief thought, they all nodded.

They are not the kind of martial fanatics who are ignorant of worldly affairs.

Dagan's silence is an attitude in itself. Putting it bluntly, Dagan's former stance toward Jia Rong could be called groveling, though it was more subtle, showing their attitude by bestowing favors on the Jia family in Dagan's imperial capital.

Now that the Jia family has encountered a major incident, the Dagan court's silent response—what attitude is that? Everyone knows it in their hearts.

Sometimes, having no attitude is the most obvious attitude.

Several people descended from the city tower, while Li Lin Dao stayed behind to discuss some matters with the Kaiyuan Emperor; the remaining grand masters, including the grand master Mei Qingsheng, hurriedly returned to enter seclusion.

For some unknown reason, after witnessing the heavenly thunder, they inexplicably gained some insight, feeling they could advance further on the martial path.

Not only them, many martial artists in the imperial capital did the same, rushing into seclusion.

After the heavenly thunder, the Dagan imperial capital fell into an eerie silence, with undercurrents surging.