Chapter 239
Chapter 239
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 239
Chapter Title: Parents Gave Birth to Two Fewer Legs
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Under the terrifying pressure, Sima Xi involuntarily manifested his Void Great Realm.
His Void Great Realm hung in the air, with his nascent soul seated within it. Day and night alternated around him, the starry river shifting like flying sand—gathering and dispersing—giving off a sense of seas turning to mulberry fields, time fleeting while he endured eternally.
Two Void Great Realms hung in the sky, their four suns and moons shining in harmony, radiating a horrifying oppressive force.
Sima Xi's forehead broke out in cold sweat.
Young.
That was his first thought.
This iron plate was too young.
He looked to be in his early forties, in his prime, with vigorous vitality and a powerful fleshly body. Beating up someone of the same realm in their old age would surely be effortless!
Was he a Returning Void Realm iron plate or a Great Ascension Realm one?
Could his own old bones kick this iron plate?
The float in the river twitched—there was a bite.
But Sima Xi didn't dare to reel in the line.
He didn't dare move a muscle.
In front of such a rare supreme expert, any slight movement might expose a flaw, leading to his instant slaughter!
When fishing, he always disliked interfering with the fish biting the hook, calling it going with the flow and letting the willing take the bait.
With his skills, with a mere thought, he could hook every fish in the river on empty lines.
But what fun would that be?
True fishing relied on luck—watching the fish probe, feeling the joy of harvest only when they bit.
But now, Sima Xi wanted to curse this damned fish. Why bite at this exact moment?
He wanted even more to curse those five surviving Moving Mountain Sect disciples.
The five survivors of Moving Mountain Sect contacting Fuzheng Pavilion was a big deal for the sect, but not for him.
He happened to be nearby and, with nothing better to do, came to see how the others in Fuzheng Pavilion would handle Chen Shi, offering a bit of guidance and promoting the juniors.
Yet upon arriving, he encountered such a formidable foe!
How old was he?
Sima Xi's eye twitched. Age was crucial, as it determined the key to achieving Great Ascension Realm.
Many speculated he had already reached Great Ascension, but Sima Xi knew he was still far from it.
The Great Ascension Realm was exceedingly strange: either break through within ten years of entering Returning Void Realm, or wait a century.
He hadn't broken through in ten years.
His vitality had withered; failing in a decade meant he wouldn't live to the century mark.
But this young man had likely reached Returning Void Realm and formed his Void Great Realm around age thirty.
He absolutely had a shot at Great Ascension in ten years!
If this man reached Great Ascension, there was no need to fight—Sima Xi would only kneel and beg for mercy!
"What realm is he exactly? Can I withstand him?"
Sima Xi's forehead dripped with beads of sweat the size of beans.
Auntie A Ying stared blankly at her man. His broad back stood firm like the clear sky, blocking everything and giving an incomparably reliable feeling.
To Sima Xi and the others, A Zhuo's impression was like the blue sky pressing down, suffocating.
But to her, he was reliable.
No pressure at all—solid and dependable.
As long as he stood in front, even if the sky fell, he could hold it up for her.
She had never imagined that her honest, reliable husband—the man she needed to protect with two kitchen knives—was so powerful, unimaginably so!
She had always thought her笨笨 A Zhuo was an honest man needing her protection. She never realized it was her笨笨 A Zhuo protecting her all along.
In her mind, A Zhuo was honest A Zhuo.
They had known each other since childhood.
A Zhuo lived in Shuikou Village, she in neighboring Yangping Village—the villages weren't far.
They often ran into each other.
When Chen Yindu lured A Zhuo away from her side, she was only eleven. They were playing outside the village when Chen Yindu gave her a lollipop and took A Zhuo.
After losing A Zhuo, she washed her face in tears for a long time, until that creepy middle-aged uncle brought A Zhuo back.
She always felt she owed A Zhuo. If not for her greed for that lollipop, maybe A Zhuo wouldn't have been lost because of her.
She'd have traded ten lollipops to get him back.
A few months later, A Zhuo returned—the same笨笨 A Zhuo.
She was overjoyed, playing with him as before.
Some time later, the middle-aged uncle came again to take A Zhuo. This time, even faced with ten lollipops, she didn't waver, clutching A Zhuo's hand tightly.
But A Zhuo still followed the man named Chen Yindu away, gone for months again.
Just like that, back and forth, she often waited at the bridgehead in Shuikou Village, craning her neck for A Zhuo's return.
Thus, they slowly grew up.
She became a young lady, he a young man.
When she waited at the bridgehead, the returning A Zhuo was often covered in wounds, beaten like a dead dog.
Her heart ached terribly. She cleaned his bloodstains, bandaged his wounds, mended his clothes.
"A Zhuo, find a proper trade."
She leaned on his scarred chest.
"Don't go out with that Chen bastard anymore.
Find a proper trade. I'll convince Dad and Mom to marry me to you. Then you'll have a home, roots—no more wandering, no more injuries."
"Okay."
A Zhuo said.
He earnestly learned beekeeping—a proper trade that could support a family.
As a beekeeper, A Zhuo often left for months chasing nectar.
She always worried he'd be eaten by evil spirits abroad, killed by bandits, or seduced by fox spirits.
She never imagined her honest A Zhuo would learn such formidable skills.
"This dead ghost never told me what he learned from Old Chen."
She thought to herself, her heart warming.
She knew A Zhuo feared worrying her or implicating her.
Her man going beekeeping might not always be doing good—maybe bad—but he was always good to their home.
A Zhuo stepped forward.
With that step, Fuzheng Pavilion's Merit Officer Fang Tan and Wei Xize were like slamming into an invisible wall—they spat blood profusely but stood rooted, unable to move.
They were nailed in spacetime, while an invisible colossal entity—a pure force of return—squeezed their bodies and nascent souls, forcing everything inside them outward.
Through their mouths, expelling everything within!
Fuzheng Pavilion Chief Clerk Tang Balin bled from eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. His sturdy body flattened as he struggled to move, managing only his eyeballs—nothing else budged.
He tried to send out his nascent soul to escape, but even it was pinned down.
Fuzheng Pavilion Libationer Dou Qi's body crackled with breaking bones. Among those present, aside from Sima Xi, he had the highest cultivation—but suffered the worst injuries.
At Body Integration Realm with profound magic power, the higher the cultivation, the greater the pressure.
With A Zhuo's step, his bones shattered entirely—none intact!
He had never felt such terrifying oppression.
Even when Fuzheng Pavilion's Chief Secretary revealed his cultivation, he hadn't shown such overwhelming pressure!
Of course, the Chief Secretary wasn't an enemy—no need to oppress them.
A gurgling sound came from Libationer Dou Qi's throat—that was all air in his chest cavity forced out through his windpipe. His eyes saw nothing, eyeballs distorted on the verge of bursting—his body about to explode.
As A Zhuo took that step, Sima Xi in the boat on the river gripped his rod, shot to his feet. The two Void Great Realms slammed together.
The clash was silent—no sound from the two great cave-heavens—yet his fishing rod "whooshed."
The line shot forward along the river. A li away, Shuikou Bridge was sliced centrally by the line, yet stood steady.
However, centered on the cut, space bore an exceedingly fine incision. Left and right of the bridge's midline seemed in two worlds—the river split in two, waters not mingling.
The Cao Saintess, who had reached the bridge, halted abruptly, sensing the infinitesimal line's deadly threat!
"Sima Xi's strength is truly too great!"
She couldn't help exclaiming. Even Bodhi Temple, sacred ground of Buddhism, could muster only a few experts capable of this!
The incision gradually faded, the river merging once more.
The bridge trembled slightly, then stilled.
The Cao Saintess still dared not cross.
The space had been rent by the fishing line; though seemingly restored, residual power lingered. Approaching might cleave her in two.
She needed to wait longer for the aftershocks to fully dissipate before safety.
At the boat's bow, Sima Xi's robes billowed. His conical hat burst with a "pop," bamboo shreds flying, revealing a wrinkled, weathered face.
The face was creased, but the man spirited.
His features carried inherent authority from long ruling over others. His hand gripping the rod was steady, like a high official retired to the mountains, fishing to cultivate his mind.
A Zhuo's step should have crushed Dou Qi, Tang Balin, Fang Tan, and Wei Xize. Yet he blocked A Zhuo's pressure with his own Void Great Realm.
"His cultivation hasn't reached Great Ascension Realm!"
Sima Xi slightly relaxed. If A Zhuo were at Great Ascension, that step would likely pulverize even him—viscera shattered, blood, flesh, and bone mashed into pulp, spewed from his mouth!
A Zhuo was also at Returning Void peak, half a step from Great Ascension—like him.
Though the opponent hadn't reached Great Ascension, Sima Xi felt the surging vitality of a prime-age Returning Void expert crashing down, his aged body struggling to bear it.
"If only I were young too."
He didn't finish the thought. If young, he never would have reached Returning Void, let alone his current level.
The young him would lose even faster and worse to A Zhuo!
A Zhuo's eyes flashed oddly as he smoothly stepped forward again.
With that step, Sima Xi felt heaven and earth tilt, sky and land twisting and spinning, crushing toward him.
His fishing rod snapped inch by inch, the river surface underfoot exploding, the boat pulverized to powder.
"Go!"
He soared skyward, nascent soul emerging from his Void Great Realm. A giant hand scooped up Dou Qi, Clerk Tang, and the others, whistling along the river surface!
His fishing line hadn't broken—it now whistled, lengthening to encircle Shuikou Village.
He threatened the lives of all in Shuikou Village to stall that terrifying rustic—if the foe paused an instant, he could escape with everyone.
Flying over the bridge, he swept up the Cao Saintess, fleeing into Great South Lake.
A Zhuo pursued to the bridgehead and indeed halted, raising a hand to pinch the line's end.
He flicked a finger, sending the line flying.
The line encircling Shuikou Village whistled, chasing Sima Xi.
Sima Xi, midair and sprinting, paused slightly. A finger twirled, the line whirling around it, coiling tight.
He continued fleeing—until both legs severed at the knees, plummeting into the lake.
A Zhuo's flicked line had just severed them.
Sima Xi didn't pause, spurring magic power to flee like wind and lightning.
Behind, A Zhuo didn't pursue.
Sima Xi led the group skimming the lake surface. All looked back in terror; the Cao Saintess doubtful and shocked.
Defeated.
Fuzheng Pavilion's second strongest had lost—to Chen Shi's uncle, an obscure rustic!
Immeasurably deep Sima Xi had lost a pair of legs!
Her mind reeled. Chen Shi had such an expert following him too?
Sima Xi slowed. The others stared in shock. He coughed up blood profusely, his aura wilting.
When A Zhuo took those two steps, most pressure had fallen on Sima Xi, gravely wounding him.
Plus severed legs, the elder showed utter defeat.
All were horrified. Sima Xi was the senior Young Master had barely lured from seclusion. Restless, he agreed to help seize the world and reestablish Zhu legitimacy.
Yet nearly fell here!
Felled by a village husband at a lakeside hamlet!
"I have no major issues, just cultivation damage."
Sima Xi sat in midair, glancing at his legs—severed cleanly at the knees, no blood, vessels sealed by magic.
"He hasn't pursued. My legs are walking in the lake now, on their way."
Sima Xi's face was poor but composed.
"Once they return, reattach them.
The other injuries need time to heal."
Libationer Mai Qi, Clerk Tang, and the others sighed in relief. Fang Tan said:
"Good that Sima Xi has no major issues.
This man's origins are unknown..."
He had just spoken when a painted boat drifted toward them.
A pretty boat girl on board waved, casting a net—fisherfolk? But who fished from a painted boat?
As they wondered, the boat girl hauled in the net, laughing:
"Caught a pair of big fish in the net.
Hee hee, smelly feet... Offended the Imperial Graduate and think you can leave?"