Chapter 00187: Truly Underestimating You
# Truly Underestimating You
Chapter 187
Novel: After the Myth
Chapter 187: Truly Underestimating You
"We have nothing to do with the City Guards..."
The woman's voice trembled as she retreated into the shop.
"The shop's been raided, everyone inside has been killed," Pan Qi said coldly, a hint of ice in his tone.
Ding Huan tossed twenty crystal stones onto the counter.
"I want this talisman brush; here are the crystal stones."
The old man with a white beard acted as if he hadn't heard him.
He had backing; their shop's protector was the East City Society.
But facing Pan Qi, even a whole East City Society wouldn’t dare show their face.
Whether it was the East City Society or the Iron Will Alliance, they were all groups permitted by Pan Qi.
If Pan Qi didn’t allow them, they wouldn't have any right to operate in this place.
"Wait a moment, bring that one with the backpack over."
Pan Qi had seen Ding Huan casually reach into his bag and toss down the twenty crystal stones.
Clearly, there were more inside that bag.
Without turning around, Ding Huan sent out a blade of his spiritual intent.
Someone like Pan Qi, who didn’t ask questions and simply raided shops and killed, should count himself lucky if he died a thousand times and no one would complain.
Suddenly, Pan Qi felt a chill creeping in, and years of combat experience made him alert; he promptly rolled back to avoid danger.
The wind blade grazed his chest, making every hair on his body stand on end.
"Poof!" Because Ding Huan hadn’t controlled the force of the wind blade, and as the blade came down from above, after Pan Qi dodged it, the blade didn't stop at all.
Instead, it struck the neck of a shop owner supporting Pan Qi.
Blood splattered, and the crowd took steps back in a frenzy.
Here it comes again.
Earlier, the Iron Will Alliance had been annihilated by these mysterious wind blades.
The over a hundred shop owners and assistants had also been silently cut down by those blades.
"Ah."
Ding Huan stepped out.
That man had considerable combat experience and had managed to avoid his wind blade simply by intuition.
"Who are you?" Pan Qi sat up again, his eyes showing wariness.
Ding Huan clenched his hand, and a long spear flew directly from the only grocery store, landing in his grasp.
In Ding Huan's Cosmos Star abode was a long halberd, but he felt this spear was more suitable for him and seemed to be a low-grade magical tool.
With a flick of his spirit, he refined the spear almost instantly.
He recalled spending several days to wear down the prohibitions in his star abode back then.
Yet now, it took just a moment.
"Aren't you going to kill me?" Ding Huan strode out holding the spear.
Even though Ding Huan hadn’t made a move or pressured with his aura, Pan Qi felt his breathing quicken.
It was psychological—it indicated that the opponent was dangerous.
"My friend, we have no grudges. It was my rashness to suggest fighting earlier," Pan Qi cupped his fist.
He didn’t want to engage Ding Huan in combat; Ding Huan was simply too dangerous for him.
Ding Huan wasn’t planning to drag it out with this man; with four cultivators at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer, he intended to demonstrate his Nine Styles of the Spear.
"Are you Pan Qi? The ruler of East and South City?" Ding Huan asked.
"Indeed, it is I, Pan," Pan Qi said, cupping his fist.
Though he hadn’t dismounted from the unicorn, his tone seemed much more polite.
"Pretty good."
Ding Huan shook the spear in his hand, unleashing a series of spear lights.
Fierce killing intent locked onto Pan Qi; at that moment, Pan Qi felt like a paper boat amidst monstrous waves.
Those boundless waves—you could crush him with just a single droplet.
He wanted to resist, but under such overwhelming spear intent, he was unable to muster even the will to fight back.
Ding Huan's spear's killing momentum accounted for Pan Qi’s potential retaliation with a magical tool; whether or not Pan Qi summoned a magical tool, Ding Huan's falling soul spear would completely lock down the opponent's space for attack.
Ding Huan found it hard to believe; his Nine Styles had just begun to surface, yet the opponent couldn’t even put up a fight.
Forget about summoning a magical tool; he couldn’t even lift a fist.
Using the Nine Styles to deal with someone like him was utterly excessive.
Ding Huan sighed, deleting the Nine Styles with a flick of his wrist.
A wind blade shot out, slicing open Pan Qi’s throat, and as his head rolled from the unicorn, Pan Qi's eyes were still filled with terror.
"Truly underestimated you," Ding Huan shook his head.
He realized what happened.
His cultivation technique, the Network of Awareness Scripture, was indeed a top-notch skill, and he'd cultivated spiritual intent even back in the Qi Refining stage; his spiritual intent was even stronger than that of many Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Yet here he was, using the Nine Styles to deal with a low-level cultivator at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining—it felt a bit like using a cannon to shoot a mosquito.
Ding Huan felt dumbfounded; he recognized he had been deceived by Pan Qi’s earlier dodging of a wind blade.
He thought if the man could evade his spiritual wind blades, his strength must be formidable.
Now he realized he had yet to gauge his own power clearly.
At this thought, a flicker in his mind occurred.
If he had stayed in the Lost Marsh back then, had he been able to defeat the Deacon Qiong using the Nine Styles?
This notion flashed by, and Ding Huan quickly felt he was right to choose to flee.
Deacon Qiong was no ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator, but one who was nearing perfect foundation establishment, seeking the path to the True Dan.
He likely wasn’t even a match for him.
Besides, even if he could kill Deacon Qiong, he still couldn’t make a move.
Ding Huan swept his spirit across Pan Qi’s body and walked over to pull a small bag from him.
This bag had some prohibitions on it, likely a rumored storage bag.
With one strike, he had killed Pan Qi, and the seven or eight owners cheering and rallying around him retreated in a panic.
Unfortunately for them, seven or eight wind blades awaited.
Seven or eight corpses fell onto the street, and at that moment, nearby onlookers dared not even stick their heads out.
Ding Huan knew very well that in West Wind City, being lenient only invited trouble.
Only by instilling fear into people would he have peaceful days ahead.
The three others who’d come with Pan Qi hurriedly dismounted from their unicorns and bowed to Ding Huan:
"Greetings, esteemed senior."
To them, Ding Huan was undoubtedly a powerful Foundation Establishment cultivator.
"Who is Bone占剑?" Ding Huan suddenly asked, gazing at the trio.
The thin, tall Bone占剑 stepped out, fear evident in his expression, and his face was pale:
"Bone占剑 greets you, esteemed senior."
"Very good."
That was all Ding Huan said, and in a downpour, his wind blades shot toward Bone占剑.
After understanding Pan Qi's strength, Ding Huan decided not to waste strength; he believed the wind blades would be enough to take care of him.
As the wind blades appeared, Bone占剑 sensed the danger immediately.
Unfortunately for him, Ding Huan was a Qi Refining cultivator with spiritual intent, and his wind blades, enhanced by spiritual intent, felt solid as reality.
Bone占剑 had no spiritual intent, and in terms of combat experience and true essence, he was nowhere near Ding Huan's level.
The density of those spiritual blades made it impossible for him to track their positions.
After a wind blade struck his forehead, all he could do was look at Ding Huan helplessly:
"Why..."
Ding Huan said, "I’m the captain of the City Guards. How many City Guards did you kill? Why do you ask why?"
"Thud!" Bone占剑 fell down, unable to protest his unwillingness.
"Senior Captain, though we traveled with Pan Qi and Bone占剑, we never killed..."
The other two spoke, their tone fearful and sincere.
Before they could finish, Ding Huan’s blades surrounded the man and woman again.
To leave the roots intact is to invite future trouble.
Ding Huan didn’t know the relationship these two had with Pan Qi and Bone占剑.
But one thing he knew was that since these two had come with them, they likely had the intent to assist.
Letting these kinds of people go would only bring trouble to himself.
The four at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining had no power to resist in front of Ding Huan.
Though he could easily use spiritual intent to take their storage bags, Ding Huan still walked over and took the bags with his hands.
With a captain of the City Guards this terrifying, one who doesn’t hesitate to slaughter, no one dared to linger around the streets at this moment.
In a short while, the street of Rising Path was left with nothing but corpses.
Adding it all up, it was the fourth time dead bodies appeared on Rising Path Street today.
Ding Huan, standing amidst the bloodied street, proclaimed, "From today onwards, everyone in West Wind City must adhere to the City Guard rules; those who disobey will be executed without mercy."
In a place like this, no other punishment sufficed; death was the simplest and most effective.
"Greetings, esteemed senior."
Seeing Ding Huan return to the grocery store, the white-bearded elder quickly bowed in thanks.
He still felt as if in a dream—this young man was actually the new captain of the City Guards?
"Help me get a thousand array flags. Oh, and this spear and the talisman brush; calculate how many crystal stones it’ll be."
Ding Huan weighed the long spear in his hand; it felt quite comfortable to use.
"Someone like me won't dare ask for money; esteemed senior can just take them," the elder said respectfully.
Ding Huan waved his hand, "I, the City Guards, do things according to rules; I won’t force purchases. If it's too high a price, I’ll find another shop."
"Sell, sell... esteemed senior, just fifty crystal stones will do," the elder hurriedly said.
Ding Huan thought that fifty crystal stones wouldn’t be enough for the items.
Once again, he pulled out a hundred crystal stones and tossed them on the counter, "Consider it one hundred and twenty crystal stones, wrap these items up for me. Also, I need the four unicorns outside delivered to the City Guards."
"Yes, thank you, esteemed senior," the elder said, fearfully.
A little over ten minutes later, Ding Huan exited the Only Grocery Store.
This time, he was satisfied not just for buying the talisman brush and array flags, but for smoothly killing Pan Qi and Bone占剑.
It could be assured that with these two eliminated, West Wind City would surely have a much more stable future.
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(End of Chapter)