Volume One: The Youngest Among Three Hundred Chapter 129: The Third Life and Death Encounter

Chen Chang'an could not help but chatter his teeth, stammering, "Th... Is this the Post-Mystic Realm?"

Beside him, Ye Lin also appeared somewhat out of control. Only Ruan Jingchu, who had truly witnessed the might of the Eighth Rank, remained relatively calm. Frowning, she explained, "It's not quite the true Post-Mystic Realm. It's merely stimulating the body's potential through drugs and acupuncture to force it out. It's akin to pulling shoots to help them grow, but... it's still formidable!"

"Protect His Majesty!"

Cheng Mulong shouted sternly, and the elite Black-Clad Guards immediately wielded their Tai'an sabers, forming a neat and protective barrier in front of Bai Wan, weaving it into a human wall that completely isolated the Son of Heaven from the outside world.

Bai Jinghu's lips twitched slightly. "I've said it before, though I covet this empire and throne, I... will not lay a hand on her. As for the rest of you, whoever blocks me from taking Chen Chang'an's life shall die!"

"Ha! Do you take Deputy Commanders Cao and Cheng for cowards? Ridiculous!" Chen Chang'an hid at the very back of the crowd and shouted.

"Not fearing death does not mean one will not die!"

Bai Jinghu let out a muffled grunt and lunged swiftly toward Chen Chang'an. Almost simultaneously, Cheng Mulong and Cao Wu made their moves; a red-tasseled, silver-shafted spear and a spiked mace were summoned, whistling through the air from afar.

Cao Wu was the first to catch the silver spear, tracing a gorgeous semicircle in mid-air. The apex of the arc stopped precisely, aiming straight at the throat of Prince Jing'an, Bai Jinghu. With a sharp, ripping sound, she thrust straight forward.

Bai Jinghu sidestepped to dodge and grabbed the silver spear roughly two-thirds down its length.

Leaving not the slightest gap, Cheng Mulong's offensive followed closely behind. He raised the spiked mace high above his head, channeling his entire body's strength into it, and smashed it down fiercely toward the back of Bai Jinghu's head with a force capable of splitting mountains.

"Hah!"

Sensing the murderous intent, Prince Jing'an bared his teeth and let out a long hiss. The muscles and tendons on the arm gripping the spear shaft bulged violently, and he forcefully dragged the entire silver spear out of Cao Wu's control, thrusting it behind him. It clashed against Cheng Mulong's spiked mace with a metallic ring, parrying each other and throwing off dazzling, brilliant sparks.

Amidst the humming vibrations of the metal, the arms of both Cao Wu and Cheng Mulong were numbed and sapped of strength, causing them to freeze for a split second. Taking advantage of this very gap, Prince Jing'an, Bai Jinghu, launched his counterattack. His large hand moved rapidly, and the entire silver spear began to spin at high speed with him at the center, plunging Cao Wu, who was gripping it with both hands, into a dizzying whirlwind.

"Away with you!"

Bai Jinghu shouted, his hand-blade carrying a crushing momentum as it slashed across Cao Wu's shoulder, sending her flying backward toward the ground. Without a moment's pause, he spun around and unleashed a heavy punch at Cheng Mulong, driving the inner Qi of the Eighth Rank Post-Mystic Realm to its maximum power in a bid to kill with a single blow.

"Damn it!"

The entire process took less than half a second. By the time Cheng Mulong reacted, there was nowhere left to dodge. He could only throw a punch of his own to meet the blow head-on. Soon, a series of explosive, deafening blasts echoed out. Layers of majestic, surging shockwaves, visible to the naked eye and warping the space itself, rippled in all directions. Cheng Mulong's figure drifted downward amidst them like a kite with a broken string.

"What the hell... The... The two deputy commanders have lost?" Chen Chang'an was greatly shocked. In his impression, Cao Wu and Cheng Mulong were the absolute ceiling of combat power in Chang'an City, or even the entire Great Min. Even if not the absolute highest, they belonged to the very peak tier. How could they lose?!

Ruan Jingchu explained with a solemn expression, "The gap in strength caused by different cultivation realms is as vast as the abyss, especially among the higher ranks. Although Bai Jinghu's Post-Mystic Realm was artificially forced out by medicine, it will only show signs of decline in the later stages. Right now... his vigor is at its peak."

"This..."

Chen Chang'an was dumbfounded. Bai Jinghu's target was no longer the Great Min empire, but him! Unable to help himself, he immediately ran up to Bai Wan to offer counsel: "Reporting to Your Majesty, for the long-term stability of your throne and the security of the Great Min empire, please immediately dispatch someone to the Weapon Repository to summon Commander Wang to resist the enemy!"

Only a true Post-Mystic expert could defeat a pseudo-Post-Mystic expert. His voice was loud and clear, his gaze resolute, perfectly portraying the sentiment of "I am thinking only of Your Majesty." He was practically missing the words "Loyal to the Sovereign and Patriotic" written across his face.

Bai Wan, protected at the center by the elite Black-Clad Guards, showed little emotional fluctuation upon hearing his words. She merely glanced indifferently toward the direction of the Weapon Repository in the Black-Clad Alley and said, "No, Wang You and I have an agreement that during his seclusion, no one is to disturb him under any circumstances."

Pausing for a moment, she shifted her gaze from Chen Chang'an back to the battlefield, leisurely adding, "Besides, Cao and Cheng are both in the Seventh Rank Life and Death Realm; how could they be defeated so easily? Do you have so little faith in your own commanders?"

Just as she finished speaking, Cao Wu's body floated and righted itself without any external support. Rising simultaneously with her was a majestic dharma idol manifested behind her—towering and stalwart, with an ethereal and graceful posture, holding a pure water vase as she looked down upon all living things in the mortal world.

Cheng Mulong also tossed aside his spiked mace, gathering his focus as his inner Qi circulated. Gradually, the image of a goddess with delicately sculpted facial features, graceful contours, and holding a bright staff slowly took shape. From nothingness to existence, shifting from illusory to solid, she stood gracefully behind him. The entire process resembled the transition from a pencil sketch to a fully colored painting, vivid and distinct.

The two dharma idols, controlled by Seventh Rank Life and Death Realm martial artists, flanked Prince Jing'an, Bai Jinghu, on both sides.

"The 5th Original Art: As You Wish. The 15th Original Art: Compassion for the World. Quite interesting indeed!"

Bai Jinghu muttered under his breath, similarly gathering his focus and intent. Under the gaze of the crowd, a Yaksha emerged: draped in scale armor, bare-footed upon the ocean waves, with pale blue skin, a fierce and rugged physique, knotted muscles, a ferocious expression, and holding an iron halberd.

Cao Wu froze slightly, glanced at Cheng Mulong, and murmured softly, "Which Original Art's dharma idol is this?"

The latter shook his head, indicating he did not know. After all, the forms of Original Art dharma idols were not fixed like their functions. As the saying goes, appearance stems from the heart, and they were not uniform.

Cheng Mulong clenched his fists again. "Regardless of which Original Art's dharma idol it is, just beat him!"

With that, he stomped his right foot on the ground and lunged at an almost naked-eye-imperceptible speed toward Prince Jing'an, Bai Jinghu, who was suspended in mid-air, muttering inwardly, "Although he is indeed at the Eighth Rank Post-Mystic Realm, after all, it's all stimulated by drugs. My Seventh Rank Life and Death Realm is built on solid ground, so hitting him with a punch should be possible, right?"

When this thought surged in his mind, the light staff in the hand of the dharma idol representing the 5th Original Art, As You Wish, flickered slightly. A mysterious force—intangible, uncapturable, yet truly existent—began to take effect, propelling Cheng Mulong's speed to even greater heights.

In the next second, amidst a flurry of cracking bone-shattering sounds, Cheng Mulong's heavy punch successfully struck Bai Jinghu's temple, sending his entire head leaning heavily to the side in the direction of the force, nearly snapping his neck.

"As You Wish. Not bad, but As You Wish does not necessarily equate to being useful!"

Had anyone else suffered such a heavy attack, their brains would likely have splattered and they would have been smashed to pieces on the spot. Yet Bai Jinghu reacted with indifference, as if it were nothing. He arrogantly scoffed before launching a counterattack, slamming a heavy palm down onto Cheng Mulong's spine to force his body downward, while his right knee gathered strength to thrust upward.

With a loud *bang*, a deep depression was instantly smashed into Cheng Mulong's chest, while correspondingly... his back bulged outward.

"Overestimating your capabilities!"

Roaring out these four words, Prince Jing'an, Bai Jinghu, grabbed Cheng Mulong firmly by the chin with his powerful fingers, drove several consecutive knee strikes into him with a *bang, bang, bang*, and then hurled him away.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh... As he plummeted rapidly, Cheng Mulong could clearly hear the howling wind whistling past his ears, pouring continuously into his head. Stirred awake by this rushing air, a desperate thought bloomed within him: "Since I was a child, I've trained my body to have strong, robust bones and sinews. How could my copper skin and iron flesh be ruined just by a few knees from that disgusting freak?!"

The light staff in the hand of the dharma idol representing the 5th Original Art, As You Wish, flickered once more. Subject to certain existing laws of reality, his injuries were healed.

At this moment, the Bodhisattva dharma idol behind Cao Wu gently raised her right hand, flicking willow branches dipped in the pure water vase onto Cheng Mulong. Droplets of spring morning dew rained down upon him, nourishing his bones and skin. In a split second, all his injuries vanished, and he returned to his initial combat-ready state.

What is Compassion for the World? It means taking pity on the world, observing and sympathizing with the suffering of all beings; it can eliminate the worries, afflictions, and miseries of all living creatures. When the battle escalated from physical clashes of fists and kicks to the level of Original Art dharma idols, while it might not provide massive, direct help for offensive combat, its healing efficacy was absolute.

This was precisely the primary reason it could inherently suppress the 9th Original Art: Slaughtering Life.

Prince Jing'an, Bai Jinghu, touched his slightly aching temple. Looking at Cheng Mulong, who had restored his health completely, he clicked his tongue and said, "Compassion for the World plus As You Wish—rather interesting. However, since the Prince Jing'an Estate is the main stronghold of the Dragon-Slaying Society, if only I were here to play with you all, it would be somewhat anticlimactic!"

He suddenly raised his voice and let out a long whistle. The sound lingered and echoed in the sky for a long time without fading. Below, with a series of *crack, crack* sounds, numerous crisscrossing gullies and trenches split open across the ground. Nearly a thousand assassins, clad in black robes, wearing black-and-gold masks, and carrying system-style long sabers, leaped out. Led by five suicide squads wearing iron plaques of five colors—red, gray, yellow, green, and white—they surrounded the estate watertight.

"Brothers, repel the enemy!"

The leader among the elite Black-Clad Guards issued the order.

Thus, amidst the screeching clash of iron and the ringing of swords, the two battle lines drew up, and the slaughter commenced.

Bai Jinghu proudly flicked his eyebrows and brushed the dust from his lapels. Looking at Cao and Cheng, he said in a playful tone, "I told you I wouldn't make a move against the Emperor. For one, she is blessed by national fortune and protected by faith, making her unkillable; for another, we are, after all, brother and sister. But the people I want to move, you cannot protect."

He proclaimed with absolute confidence, "Though this Eighth Rank Post-Mystic Realm of mine was forced by drugs, it is still far beyond what the two of you in the Life and Death Realm can compare to. Get lost if you know what's good for you!"

"What if we add a third Life and Death Realm expert to the mix?!"

Before Cao Wu and Cheng Mulong could respond, melodious and resounding shouts came rolling in from the distant sky, approaching rapidly. Everyone looked toward the source and saw that atop a pavilion opposite the Prince Jing'an Estate stood a man in flowing blue robes with an iron ruler hanging at his waist, standing with his hands behind his back in leisure.

Behind the man, a several-zhang-tall dharma idol shrouded in black robes flickered with streams of light, endlessly cycling. Its features were ferocious and terrifying, its angry eyes glared left and right with wide pupils, its purple lips were pursed together, and it wore a gauze hat on its head. Its left hand held a thick book, while its right hand pinched a brush as thick as a rafter. Its image was vivid and lifelike, and beneath its feet stood a wicked ghost restrained by chains.

It was the Underworld Judge.

In front of the Prince Jing'an Estate, Ye Lin cupped his chin with an awestruck expression. "The 27th Original Art: Mirror of Good and Evil!"