Volume One: The Youngest Among Three Hundred Chapter 139: Wang You

"Holy shit, he is going to make a move!" high up in the air, Chen Chang'an, sitting atop the edge of the iron sword and tightly grabbing his brother-in-law's lapel while retching, exclaimed.

Su Dingfeng rolled his eyes in disgust and said, "I'm not blind yet, I can see it!"

Chen Chang'an: "..."

The howling sound of rushing wind echoed in everyone's ears. Takuya Chodto swung a heavy punch directly toward the window on the ninth floor of the Weapon Treasury, but just half a foot away, a silver spear flew straight toward his face from afar, carrying a sharp, piercing whistle.

Takuya Chodto swiftly transformed his punch into an open palm, sidestepped, and lightly parried. With a clanging sound, the silver spear was casually deflected, stabbing away at an angle of over thirty degrees to the right of its original target.

"Ha!"

Immediately following, amidst a sharp cry, Cheng Molong hoisted a spiked club with both hands over his head and descended from the sky, smashing straight down toward Takuya Chodto's forehead.

"Bang!"

Enveloped and swept by layers of radiant brilliance, Takuya Chodto's palm swung straight upward, his five fingers tightly clamping onto the spiked club. His suspended feet seemed to find a foothold as he spun three hundred and sixty degrees, swinging his arm horizontally.

"Damn it!"

Cheng Molong cursed inwardly as he and the club were flung several meters away together. He landed with a crunch that cracked a deep pit into the ground, taking three steps back to absorb the momentum before finally coming to a halt.

"Mr. Takuya's actions are somewhat lacking in decorum, aren't they!" Cao Wu, with the silver spear back in her hand, stood upright on the upturned eaves of the Weapon Treasury, looking down from above.

Takuya Chodto glanced at her, reined in his surging aura, and slowly descended.

Cao Wu leaped down from the Weapon Treasury right after him. Once her feet touched the ground, she rested the silver spear vertically behind her back and questioned, "Mr. Takuya, three years ago, the date you and our Commander Wang agreed upon for the rematch is today?"

Takuya Chodto shook his head and said, "Not at all. The date we agreed upon is the official beginning of autumn."

Cao Wu articulated her words coldly yet with perfect intonation. "So Mr. Takuya claims to have come to fulfill the appointment, but in reality, there is still nearly a month left before the agreed date. This is somewhat discourteous. Could it be that people from Yingzhou are all like this?"

"Deputy Commander Cao has misunderstood!"

Takuya Chodto smiled slightly and said, "I naturally know that the specific time agreed upon with Commander Wang has not yet arrived, but having been in Chang'an City for several days, I am truly impatient. Actually, it is not strictly necessary to fight him today; I merely hope that Commander Wang can step out of the building to meet and reminisce about old times."

Cheng Molong proclaimed in a loud voice, "Our commander will not come out of seclusion before autumn. Since Mr. Takuya knows this, why must you press us so aggressively?"

Takuya Chodto calmly placed his hands one over the other on his lower abdomen, striking a very gentlemanly posture as he said, "Whether the two of you think I am being aggressive or reasonable, today I must meet with Commander Wang."

Such a statement stirred the emotions of all the Black-Clothed Guards present, causing them to secretly curse and fume with annoyance. Sitting atop the flying sword, Chen Chang'an leaned against Su Dingfeng's shoulder out of fear of falling, lost in thought. From his perspective, as a veteran in the pugilistic world, Takuya Chodto could not possibly do something so image-ruining and tacky.

Running out to cause a stir when the agreed time hasn't even arrived—anyone with a certain status and a normal brain wouldn't do such a thing unless there was a special reason.

So what was his special reason?

Takuya Chodto used to be accompanied by two women named Kiyoko and Sakurako. Why were they nowhere to be seen today?

Could this be interpreted as Takuya Chodto coming to challenge the Weapon Treasury of the Black-Clothed Guards before the appointed time simply to create a headline-grabbing spectacle, drawing the attention of the entire city so that these two people could go do something else?

If his guess was correct, what they were up to must be shady, or even detrimental to Great Min, seeing as these Yingzhou people living such pleasant little lives were full of bad intentions.

Upon second thought, Chen Chang'an perceived a second possibility: "Or perhaps, after three years, he has no clear understanding of himself or of Wang You, so he came today to first force Cao Wu and Cheng Molong out to spar?"

As a mere spectator, Ye Lin also stroked the sharp tip of his chin, wearing the profound look of a scholar deep in thought as he muttered to himself, "That's not right. Since the agreed time hasn't arrived yet, Takuya Chodto doing this will inevitably damage his image to some extent. He definitely has other motives; it can't be as simple as it looks on the surface!"

Hearing this, Ruan Jingchu beside him guessed in a speculative tone, "Hmm, I remember he always had two female disciples following him closely, but now they are nowhere to be seen. Perhaps Takuya Chodto is merely using the pretext of the duel between the two Late Profound Realm experts here at the Weapon Treasury to attract everyone's attention, and he definitely has other ulterior motives."

In front of the Weapon Treasury, Cao Wu, holding a silver spear, and Cheng Molong, lugging a spiked club, stood on the left and right opposite Takuya Chodto, their auras swirling around them.

Takuya Chodto smiled cheerfully and said, "If I am determined to enter the building today, or force Wang You to come out, what do the two of you plan to do about it?"

"Fight!" Cao Wu and Cheng Molong spoke in unison.

Takuya Chodto laughed heartily and said, "I heard that just yesterday, the two of you, together with Ying Hong, an inner court attendant of Qinghua, barely managed to hold your own against the quasi-Late Profound King of Jing'an. Now, facing a true Late Profound expert, what percentage of certainty do you have?"

"Unknown!" Cao Wu answered concisely.

Auras burst forth layer upon layer around Cheng Molong as he loudly uttered four words: "We can give it a try!"

"Good!"

Like a television screen suddenly experiencing a power outage, the flickering image appeared once more. Takuya Chodto vanished abruptly from his original spot. Even Cheng Molong and Cao Wu, both in the Seventh-Rank Life-and-Death Realm, were caught off guard. By the time their conscious minds reacted, the crisp, squeaking sound of wooden clogs treading on the ground rang out behind them.

The two spun around rapidly, only to see Takuya Chodto's heavy punch already hurtling toward them.

"Clang!"

"Bang!"

Cao Wu and Cheng Molong met the blow head-on with their respective weapons, and amidst a deafening, muffled metallic roar, they retreated rapidly backward.

The corners of Takuya Chodto's mouth curled slightly as his feet sprang from the ground, leaping into the air to spin three hundred and sixty degrees. His wooden clogs kicked out in pursuit, wreathed in clusters of flames.

"Damn it, I can definitely dodge this!"

The coherence and swiftness between the two movements were executed in one go, flawless and watertight. Cheng Molong hurriedly urged the 6th Original Art: As-You-Will to buff himself and Cao Wu, allowing him to bend down just in time to evade it, watching helplessly as Takuya Chodto's body swept past right above his face.

"Squeak!"

The sound of wooden clogs striking the ground rang out once more. Takuya Chodto landed and stood back at his very starting position with absolute precision.

Relying on their weapons propped into the ground to steady themselves, Cao Wu and Cheng Molong also managed to halt their momentum. Fine beads of sweat oozed from their foreheads as lingering fear gripped their hearts.

From the Seventh-Rank Life-and-Death to the Eighth-Rank Late Profound, although it was a gap of only one realm, the difference in combat strength was as vast as heaven and earth.

Takuya Chodto was still smiling, confidently crossing his hands over his lower abdomen once again as he said, "As the undisputed number one experts below the Late Profound Realm in the Nine Provinces of Great Min, the two Deputy Commanders truly live up to your reputations. If it were anyone else, it would be utterly impossible to dodge those two moves just now."

Pausing for a moment, he asked supplementary-wise, "Shall we continue, you two?"

"Nonsense, of course we continue!"

Cheng Molong's temper was clearly flared up. Coming to cause trouble in the territory of the Black-Clothed Guards was a blatant slap in the face. He let out a loud shout, and high in the sky behind him—previously a clear expanse of blue sky and white clouds—flowing colors gradually appeared, continuously interweaving and outlining the silhouette of the Statue of Liberty, holding a torch of light and looking down from above.

Cao Wu likewise concentrated all her focus. Symbolizing the 15th Original Art: Compassion for the World, a Bodhisattva holding a pure-water vase with divine rings revolving behind her hung suspended in mid-air, overlooking the mortal world.

"Two Dharma forms of the Seventh-Rank Life-and-Death Realm. Hmm, not bad, but unfortunately they haven't reached the peak level; otherwise, combined, they could indeed rival the early stage of the Eighth-Rank Late Profound!"

"Now watch me shatter them with a single blade!"

As Takuya Chodto spoke, his right hand dropped downward to press against the hilt of the straight-backed saber at his left waist, slowly drawing it out inch by inch. Just as the sharp white blade was two-thirds out of its scabbard, a deep, resonant voice suddenly echoed from the ninth floor of the Weapon Treasury: "Cao Wu, Molong, put away your Dharma forms!"

The rookie members of the Black-Clothed Guards were momentarily at a loss for how to react upon hearing this, while the veteran members, the three Profound-rank Black-Clothed Guards, and the duo of Cao Wu and Cheng Molong immediately bowed in salutation toward the Weapon Treasury. That voice belonged to none other than commander Wang You, one of the only two ceiling-level Eighth-Rank Late Profound powerhouses in the Nine Provinces of Great Min.

Realizing what was happening, the rookies followed suit and saluted as well.

Waiting a moment and seeing that quiet had returned to the Weapon Treasury, Cheng Molong cried out in a very unconvinced tone, "Commander, someone has come to our doorstep to issue a challenge, shouldn't we respond accordingly? Why should we put away our Dharma forms?"

Wang You's resounding voice, resembling a giant bell, came floating down: "Any response should be an equal response. Even if you and Cao Wu exhausted your Dharma forms, you still wouldn't be able to stop him. Put them away!"

"I... Fine... Alright then!" Pouting and deeply reluctant, Cheng Molong shifted his thoughts, and the silhouette of the goddess standing tall in the sky vanished.

The Bodhisattva Dharma form behind Cao Wu likewise disappeared without a trace.

At this moment, Wang You's voice rang out from across the building: "Takuya Chodto, you came here for a duel knowing full well that I won't come out of seclusion before autumn. You are doing this for no other reason than to attract everyone's attention, so that your two female disciples could sneak into the Library of the Black-Clothed Guards to steal the Amaterasu Scripture and the documents related to the Rivers and Mountains Map."

"Both of those female disciples of yours are trapped within the formation right now!"

"What?"

Takuya Chodto's expression darkened noticeably for a split second, though he quickly recovered, laughing heartily as he said, "Two disciples sneaking into the Library of the Black-Clothed Guards to look for things? Where on earth is this coming from? I merely had them come to tour and admire the magnificent architecture of the Great Min Dynasty."

The complexions of Cao Wu and Cheng Molong shifted.

The three Profound-rank Black-Clothed Guards spat curses: "Utterly shameless!"

Ye Lin and Ruan Jingchu exchanged a glance, reading an "Ah, so that's how it is" realization in each other's eyes.

High up on the flying sword in the clouds, Chen Chang'an muttered a few words under his breath and asked Su Dingfeng, "Brother-in-law, do you know what the Amaterasu Scripture is, and what the Rivers and Mountains Map is?"

Su Dingfeng placed his hands behind his back and puffed out his chest even further, saying, "The so-called Amaterasu Scripture is... Oh, never mind, this stuff is too complicated and even if I explained it you wouldn't understand. As for the Rivers and Mountains Map, well, um, it's even more complicated, so you'd better not go asking around about it blindly!"

Chen Chang'an: "..."

"Oh? In that case, are you truly here solely to fulfill our appointment, having arrived at the Black-Clothed Guards ahead of schedule?" At this moment, Wang You's voice resounded from the ninth floor of the Weapon Treasury once again.

Takuya Chodto nodded shamelessly: "Indeed!"

From the ninth floor of the Weapon Treasury, Wang You's imposing voice rang out: "Regardless, I will not come out of seclusion before autumn. Of course, if your hands are truly itching and you desperately want to fight, there are plenty of people in the Nine Provinces of Great Min who would be happy to accompany you—I am not the only one!"

"Oh?"

Takuya Chodto asked curiously, "Could it be that Alliance Leader Zhou is here as well?"

Wang You replied from within the Weapon Treasury, "Although the Heaven-Platform Ceremony is coming up in a few days, Alliance Leader Zhou won't be arriving this early. I am speaking of someone else."

Pausing slightly, Wang You raised his voice by several decibels and called out, "Brother Li, someone is causing trouble in front of my building today. Aren't you going to come out and take charge?"