Volume One: The First Glimmer of Glory, Chapter Ninety-Three: Miser, Drink Cold Water

At the same time, Wang Jue, standing not far away, easily heard the sharp crack as Wu Lei hunched over and bent low.

Crack.

A sudden thunderclap rang out from within Wu Lei’s body, as though his muscles and bones had abruptly gathered boundless power, ready to burst forth.

No good. This aura...

His heart sank.

He could clearly tell that Wu Lei had become almost like a different person.

No, to be precise, he no longer seemed like a person at all.

Wu Lei had a trump card, and of course Wang Jue did too.

In the next instant, he wasted no time channeling his astral power and brought his sword down in a fierce slash.

Heaven-Sunder erupted in a blaze of white-hot, savage sword light. The currents of air around Wang Jue’s entire body quivered and detonated violently, as though the world itself had grown restless.

The power it unleashed was no weaker than Wu Lei’s, and in fact seemed to be a shade stronger.

“My heavens...”

The girl with the bun once again gaped in shock.

Apparently stunned by Wang Jue’s swordsmanship, she actually stood up on the tree.

Shocked.

Very shocked.

Utterly shocked.

When had Peace Town ever produced such a young swordsman of this caliber?

What the bun-haired girl did not know was that her sudden appearance had made both Wu Lei and Wang Jue lose any desire for a prolonged fight. Instead, they both intended to settle things as quickly as possible.

The longer they dragged it out, the more likely something unexpected would happen.

Hearing the wind howl like thunder, the two figures leaped into the air amid flying sand and scattering stones, charging straight at each other.

At that moment, even time seemed to stand still.

Facing that overwhelming surge of air, the bun-haired girl was forced to retreat more than ten meters on the spot. Then, somewhat uncertainly, she looked up toward Wang Jue and Wu Lei at the heart of the storm.

Tear.

A spray of blood burst from Wu Lei’s shoulder, leaving behind a sword wound so deep it nearly reached the bone.

His whole body was flung backward with a deafening crash, snapping several large trees in his path. Blood kept pouring from the wound, quickly staining the ground red.

“No, I don’t believe it!”

Wu Lei’s face was filled with terror.

“How can you be this strong?”

He simply could not believe that even after using his strongest secret technique, he still could not defeat Wang Jue.

He suddenly looked up, glaring at Wang Jue with a shrill, piercing voice. “Anyone with this level of strength is no ordinary person. Who exactly are you?”

Wang Jue said nothing. Expressionless, he gave off a naturally imposing aura as he slowly walked toward Wu Lei.

The perfected Heaven-Sunder was indeed formidable.

So formidable that after unleashing a single strike, even Wang Jue felt somewhat drained.

Compared with the mastery-level Heaven-Sunder, the perfected version consumed far too much energy. Because of that, Wang Jue had always treated it as a trump card. Whenever he encountered a particularly hard nut to crack, he would usually rely on the mastery-level version instead.

It could be said that this was the first time the perfected Heaven-Sunder had ever been revealed since Wang Jue mastered it.

Its power was terrifying.

Even Wang Jue himself was stunned by it.

As he slowly closed in on Wu Lei, the killing intent in Wang Jue’s eyes grew ever denser.

He had to kill this man. To cut weeds, one had to remove the roots.

Though he still was not certain what the bun-haired girl was truly after, he at least needed to settle the matter in front of him first so he could face whatever came next with complete focus.

Seeing that Wang Jue intended to kill him no matter what, Wu Lei was utterly horrified and hurriedly shouted at the bun-haired girl, “Miss, he has a Nine-Leaf Flower on him!”

Nine-Leaf Flower.

The atmosphere suddenly turned heavy.

The bun-haired girl’s gaze instantly locked onto Wang Jue with blazing intensity.

Wang Jue held his sword and stood with his back to her, still walking toward Wu Lei step by step as though he did not care at all.

During all this time, the bun-haired girl made no move.

She only rolled her eyes back and forth, as if thinking about something.

Seeing that she remained unmoved, Wu Lei’s attempt to drag Wang Jue down with him came to nothing. Furious, he snapped, “Why aren’t you making a move? That’s a Nine-Leaf Flower, a treasure that comes once in a hundred years! Eat it, and your strength will skyrocket. You might even have a chance to break through to the next realm!”

“Make a move? Why should I?” The bun-haired girl curled her lip in disdain. “Do I look like a fool to you? I don’t know whether your strength would increase or whether you’d break through, but I do know one thing: in a moment, your dog head definitely won’t be attached to your neck.”

“You...” Wu Lei was so angry he nearly vomited blood.

Was this woman cursed or something?

“A pair of dogs!” Wu Lei suddenly erupted, seizing the chance to launch a sneak attack on Wang Jue.

Unfortunately, Wang Jue seemed to have anticipated it. He struck first, carrying a chilling sword glow straight downward.

Where Heaven-Sunder passed, a whole line of trees toppled one after another.

The brief recovery time had not been enough to restore Wang Jue to peak condition; he was only at about one-third of his full strength.

But he had not forgotten that if he was not in peak condition, then Wu Lei could not possibly be either.

No, to be precise, Wu Lei’s condition was far worse than Wang Jue’s.

Bang.

In the end, Wu Lei widened his eyes, clutching the throat from which blood mist gushed forth, and fell heavily to the ground with deep resentment.

Wang Jue let out a light breath. “Hah, this guy’s finally dead...”

Killing Wu Lei did not bring Wang Jue the slightest sense of relief. He turned around to look.

In the next instant, his expression changed dramatically.

He saw that while Wang Jue and Wu Lei were locked in battle, the bun-haired girl had happily been humming a tune as she gathered spoils from the corpses on the ground.

Whoosh.

A furious streak of sword light slashed toward her.

The bun-haired girl, startled like a rabbit, nevertheless evaded it with ease.

Once she recovered her senses and saw that it was Wang Jue who had attacked, she flew into a rage. “Hey, you’re really going too far! I didn’t interfere in your business just now, and now you’re getting physical with me?”

“My things.” Wang Jue’s face remained expressionless as he pointed the tip of his sword at the spoils in her hands.

The bun-haired girl covered her ears with both hands while still letting the loot bag swing by her side. “I can’t hear you. I didn’t hear what you said!”

Wang Jue: ...

After a brief silence, his gaze gradually turned cold, and his long sword trembled.

He was about to strike.

Seeing that acting cute had no effect, the bun-haired girl jumped in alarm and retreated several steps. “Hey, are you even a man? How can you be so petty!”

Wang Jue did not want to waste any more strength. Sword in hand, he stood his ground and said succinctly, “Put the stuff down.”

“I...” Remembering Wang Jue’s earlier savage, peerless slash, the bun-haired girl felt a trace of fear.

Now, looking at the way he showed absolutely no sign of pity for women, she ground her teeth in frustration.

Then she angrily threw every loot bag in her hands onto the ground. “Miser, drink cold water. Fine, take it! Take it all!”

After tossing down the bags, the bun-haired girl was just about to leave.

Unexpectedly, Wang Jue showed no intention of lowering his sword. He still blocked her way.

The bun-haired girl stole a cautious glance, and in the next second, Wang Jue’s fierce, flower-destroying expression made her hair stand on end.

She quickly stepped back, lowered her voice to tell herself to stay calm, and then gritted her teeth and flung out another small pouch from her clothing pocket, one filled with blood pearls. “Take it all. There’s really nothing left this time! Believe it or not, that’s your problem!”

“Leave now.” Wang Jue pointed with his sword, his tone crisp and decisive.

The bun-haired girl nearly exploded with anger. She wanted nothing more than to rush up and beat this blunt, tactless man into a pig-headed mess. “I’m leaving, I’m leaving. I don’t care! Hmph...”

As she spoke, her eyes rolled, and just before leaving, she made as if to kick Wang Jue in the rear in revenge.

Wang Jue easily dodged.

“Forget it. I’ll let you off this once!” Failing to land the blow, the bun-haired girl spun around and ran off at once, incredibly fast.

Wang Jue did not chase after her. Only when her figure had completely vanished from sight did he finally lower his sword.

Turning back to look at the scattered spoils everywhere, the expression on his face at last relaxed.

He packed up everything on his back and his figure gradually receded into the distance...

After this true life-and-death battle, Wang Jue felt that his overall strength had not increased, but he could clearly sense that his actual combat experience had improved noticeably.

He only felt stronger than ever before.

If he were to meet Wu Lei and the others again, Wang Jue was confident that he would no longer be as wretched as before.

Beneath his neat, spotless clothes were slabs of muscle that bulged the moment he exerted a little strength.

Unable to resist, he lifted his collar, lowered his head to admire himself, flexed this side, then that side, and after a long while finally satisfied himself and stepped out the door.

Hearing footsteps, Wang Xiaoyu poked her head out from the sofa and took one look at her brother’s high spirits. Her big eyes turned as she cautiously asked, “Brother, I feel like you look really different today.”

“Really?” Wang Jue’s eyes lit up. “Tell me, what’s different?”

Wang Xiaoyu shamelessly flattered him. “Really, really. I can barely find the words to describe you right now. You’re practically perfect!”

Beneath his composed expression, Wang Jue’s mouth twitched slightly.

As expected.

A sister really was better than a brother.

“Oh, right, Brother, are you going out?”

Wang Xiaoyu asked tentatively, “If you are, can you bring me roast duck when you come back tonight?”

“Roast duck?” Wang Jue reached out and rubbed her head hard. “No problem. Wait for my news.”

After Wang Jue left, Wang Xiaoyu took out a mirror with a dark expression and, while carefully straightening the strands of her specially styled bangs one by one, she muttered with a grin, “Wang Jue, for the sake of roast duck, I’ll forgive your rudeness this once. But not again...”

Just after leaving home, Wang Jue was planning to head to the Martial Arts Association to skim some benefits when he received a call from Monkey. Before he could even say anything, he heard Monkey on the other end say, “Junior Brother Wang, I’ve got a job here that’s somewhat connected to a big shot in the black market.”

Wang Jue’s interest was immediately piqued. “Oh? Go on, Senior Brother.”

Monkey lowered his voice. “The task isn’t difficult. It’s just a bodyguard job, no realm restriction, only five hours. If there’s no danger, the payment is five hundred thousand. If danger arises, it starts at two million.”

Wang Jue’s eyes flickered. “Then what do you think, Senior Brother?”

Hearing that Wang Jue had not immediately agreed on the spot, Monkey knew the boy was sharp, and said with a smile, “Being a bodyguard and earning five hundred thousand for free isn’t bad at all, and there isn’t much danger. The only downside is that it’ll be harder to catch that big shot’s attention. How you handle it depends on your own choice.”

“Anyway, you’ve made plenty of money lately. I doubt you even care about five hundred thousand. Whether to take this job or not is up to you.”

Wang Jue thought about it. “I’ll take it.”

Monkey was not too surprised. “All right. I’ll send you the details in a bit.”

Wang Jue could not help asking, “By the way, Senior Brother, will you be going too?”

“I can’t. I’ve got other matters and can’t get away.”

“That’s a pity. I won’t get to let you admire the sight of me cutting down enemies left and right.”

“Go on bragging, kid. But seriously, make sure you stay safe. Don’t charge in headfirst. If something goes wrong, turn around and run. To hell with the mission. Your life is worth more than money.”

Wang Jue grinned, baring his teeth. “I know.”

That was what he said, but why did that reckless gleam on his face make him look eager to try?