Chapter 123: Rumors and the Princess

Panic, fear…

A pitch-black long blade radiating the ultimate aura of death!

It was a terror beyond description—no matter how bold you fancied yourself, your body would honestly tremble beneath this single strike.

Compared with Fu Yuxiang's earlier blade-light, which was swift to the extreme and dazzling to the extreme.

Fang Can's pitch-black long blade seemed to swing not at all quickly—or perhaps time itself had stretched?

Every single person could feel the blade-light drawing closer to themselves.

But precisely because this unhurried strike was so slow, it made everyone all the more terrified.

Because you could clearly feel your body unable to move, as if stretching out your neck to await the executioner's blade, waiting for the black saber to fall.

Compared with the lingering dread of a narrow escape, the fear brought by death by a thousand cuts from a blunt knife was far worse.

Within this blade infused with the Heart-Phase, everyone felt their neck first grow faintly cool, then their skin tear open, their windpipe severed, their throat snapped.

Death had never been so vivid—although no pain came, watching yourself die with your own eyes was no pleasant thing.

"Hah~ haa— inhale— exhale— inhale— exhale—"

By the time Fu Yuxiang came back to his senses, he was already kneeling on the ground, gasping desperately for fresh air, recalling the scene just now with dread.

When Fang Can swung his palm, he had also realized this was a pure Heart-Phase attack.

Only a Heart-Phase martial artist could stand against a Heart-Phase martial artist!

Therefore, he instinctively countered with his own Heart-Phase, only to watch in horror as his Heart-Phase was burned away like the fuse of a firecracker.

In an instant, as the defending side, he could only watch helplessly as his Heart-Phase was torn apart with ease by that palm-strike

'Just how many times stronger than an ordinary martial artist's is this guy's Heart-Phase?'

Fu Yuxiang stared at the calmly-faced Fang Can in disbelief, his Sea of Consciousness throbbing with relentless pain from the exhaustion of his Heart-Phase.

'If Fang Can had used a real blade just now, I'd already be dead,' Fu Yuxiang thought.

At this moment, behind him, a crowd of people—friend and foe alike—had already fallen to their knees.

Under this focused slash, the excess Heart-Phase had passed through Fu Yuxiang and struck the countless martial artists behind him.

These people began sucking in cold breaths, instinctively reaching up to feel their necks to confirm whether their heads were still attached.

The sensation of death had been far too real; fear spread outward like a rising tide.

"How did it feel, your technique?" Fang Can asked with a smile.

"My technique?" Fu Yuxiang's face showed shock: "You mean that downward slash just now was my Sky Soaring Furious Wave Slash?"

"So this move is called Sky Soaring Furious Wave Slash, huh? The name does have quite a flair to it." Fang Can nodded: "Trading insane consumption for an ultimate attack—interesting thinking."

And with Fang Can's words, Fu Yuxiang finally reacted.

Yes, whether it was the rapidly burning Heart-Phase or the ultimate blade-intent, it was identical to his own move.

The only difference was the manner of expression, and this guy's Heart-Phase was simply too vast in quantity—one slash and it directly emptied his mind and spirit.

But after understanding this, it instead became somewhat hard for him to accept.

A technique he had only learned after sitting by the sea day after day, painstakingly comprehending it, had now been seen through by his opponent in a single glance—the gap in talent was simply too vast to accept.

"Your name is Fang Can, right? I'll remember it." Fu Yuxiang stood up, sticking out his neck stubbornly: "I admit defeat this time, a bet is a bet—what do you want? Name your terms."

"Weren't you the one who came knocking? How are you the one acting wronged?" Fang Can said, speechless.

"So I'm negotiating compensation with you right now—do you want money or a technique? Apart from my dignity, I'll concede anything else." Fu Yuxiang said through gritted teeth.

"Oh, you've still got some martial virtue. Then you lot can be on your way."

Fang Can waved his hand indifferently: "Seeing that slash of yours was already worth the price of admission—whatever's left, suit yourselves."

"What? You really don't want anything?" Fu Yuxiang's eyes went wide.

"What value do you have to me right now?" Fang Can said. Letting you off and you're still not satisfied? You insist on being insulted before you leave?

Fu Yuxiang stared at Fang Can seriously, and only after a long while said: "Fine, I'll consider this one favor I owe you. If you need anything in the future, come find me—I'll definitely help."

"You're entering the Grand Competition of the Nations too, right? We'll meet in the tournament then."

"On what basis—you?" Fang Can said, utterly unconcerned: "I don't know what help I could possibly need from someone I've already beaten."

"Regardless, my word is already given. Whether you accept it or not is your business." Fu Yuxiang said flatly, then turned to his followers, who looked as though they'd lost a parent, and snorted coldly:

"What's there to cry about? Skill fell short—go back and train again. Anyone who wants to switch allegiance, don't stop them. Those still willing to follow me, follow me—we continue to the capital."

Watching the ranks reform and prepare to head for the capital, Fang Can turned his head toward the Hidden Dragon Ranking martial artists on the other side and said: "Hey, you—I've watched long enough, haven't I? Come down and have a go?"

Being called out by Fang Can, the Hidden Dragon Ranking martial artist first stiffened, then said arrogantly: "Hey, do you have any manners? Fighting and killing all day long—how boring is that?"

"Oh, so you're the coward who got scared halfway through. Beat it, then." Fang Can waved his hand indifferently—beating someone like this wasn't even worth the effort.

Having been exposed by Fang Can, the man's face stiffened, and he then spouted some incomprehensible nonsense along the lines of "We're just passing through normally—who says you have to fight just because you meet?"

But the more he said this, the more clownish he looked, and the contemptuous gazes of the surrounding onlookers grew all the more obvious.

But in his heart, this martial artist was also cursing up a storm—*you resellers, screw your ancestors, what kind of garbage intel did you spread? *

They call this 'a fierce, evenly-matched struggle with Wan Chenyu that ended in a narrow defeat'?

Having watched the entire battle just now, he was confident that even Fu Yuxiang's Heart-Phase-burning slash alone would be hard for him to withstand. If a slash of that caliber came a few more times, he'd be the one dead.

As for Fang Can? By his estimate, if one punch hadn't knocked the shit out of Wan Chenyu, that was only because Wan Chenyu had shat cleanly.

Cursing and grumbling in his heart, the two groups that had just been surrounding and blocking them quickly vanished, leaving behind that remaining team of several dozen people exposed.

"You lot staying here is… you want a fight too?" Fang Can stepped forward and asked.

As he spoke, his gaze drifted toward the slender figure inside the palanquin—she looked as though she couldn't take a single punch from him.

Being stared at by Fang Can, the leading guard-captain felt an immense pressure bearing down on him, and could only bow with cupped fists, drenched in sweat: "Young Hero Fang, I am the Imperial Guard Commander escorting the Princess back to the capital. The Princess is unversed in martial arts and harbors no intention of sparring."

"The Princess… is unversed in martial arts?" Fang Can's gaze turned toward the palanquin.

The curtain blocked him from making out the woman's features within, but those two conditions alone had already set his mind racing.

'No way,' Fang Can thought inwardly. 'If it's really the work of bad luck, then her father counts as one I killed, right?'

At the thought of this, Fang Can felt a strange sensation.

Could it really be that his few words caused things to develop to this extent?

(End of this chapter)