Chapter 78: Thunderous Voice

“Where do you think you’re running to?!” the late Qi Refining Stage cultivator bellowed, a note of anguish in his voice.

In the Zhao Clan’s current predicament, every cultivator was invaluable. The loss of even a mid-range Qi Refining Stage cultivator was an irreplaceable blow. That such a death had occurred at his very hands, courtesy of Li Zhen’s sneak attack, made him feel responsible for this catastrophe.

“Watch out, he’s deceptively cunning!” Steward Zhao shouted a warning.

After witnessing Li Zhen’s effortless slaughter of their fellow cultivator, more chilling thoughts raced through his mind. Could it be that Li Zhen’s murder of the old shopkeeper was part of a deeper plot? A scheme to plunge the market into chaos? If true, just how insidiously deep is Li Zhen’s treachery?

At that moment, Li Zhen glanced at the energy gauge of his ‘Police Type A30 Martial Fighter Armor’, noting with satisfaction that it still held 85% of its charge. The brief skirmish had only cost him 15% of his energy reserves, despite wielding a mid-grade longsword of first-rank quality.

Behind him, the late Qi Refining Stage cultivator seemed to employ some secret technique, for though the fighter armor’s speed was formidable, he was doggedly pursued. In contrast, Steward Zhao and the other mid-range Qi Refining cultivator had already been outdistanced by some fifty meters.

Li Zhen’s heart stirred, and beneath his feet materialized the ‘Green Jade Flying Leaf’.

Li Zhen rode the Green Jade Flying Leaf skyward. The Late Qi Refining cultivator, trailing by a heartbeat, also launched a small flying boat.

This Late Qi Refining cultivator was no ordinary individual—he was the Third Elder of the Zhao Clan. He had led the charge against the Lin Clan cultivators near the market these past days.

The small flying boat was the Third Elder’s personal, convenient tool for such pursuits.

In the span of that single heartbeat delay, Li Zhen carved an arc through the air, turning towards Steward Zhao and the other Mid Qi Refining cultivator.

“Hurry, move faster!” Li Zhen urged, his heart pounding as he watched the Third Elder through the retina scanner. If I follow the fighter armor’s calculations, I’ll never have time for a full strike by the time the Third Elder catches up.

Without a moment’s thought, he activated the martial fighter armor’s flight function. He had only used the Green Jade Flying Leaf previously to conserve the armor’s energy.

Drawing upon several bursts of propulsion energy from the martial fighter armor exponentially increased his speed. Its power now surged, he moved with the agility of a falcon diving towards earth.

“Cut down!” he yelled, simultaneously unleashing his dragon might.

As dragon might resonated around him, Steward Zhao and the other Mid Qi Refining cultivator’s bodies froze. Li Zhen’s sword danced with blinding light, sweeping across their necks in a flash. Two heads parted from their bodies, soaring skyward.

At this moment, the ‘Police Type A30 Martial Fighter Armor’ had 54% of its energy remaining; this last attack had consumed significantly more.

“I’ll flay you alive and tear out your tendons, I’ll make you wish you were dead!” the Third Elder roared, nearly mad with fury.

Li Zhen didn’t engage him directly at all, but rather used his puppet’s speed to kill three more clan cultivators.

This feeling of impotence was something the Third Elder couldn’t endure—the only way to relieve it now was to capture Li Zhen and torture him to death.

Conversely, Li Zhen focused himself, switching the mid-grade longsword in his hand for a high-grade iron sword. By this point, revealing that the Iron Sword Gang’s iron swords were involved was no longer crucial.

He was well aware of his own advantages—only his mastery of swordsmanship could truly excel.

The martial fighter armor merely narrowed the gap between him and the Third Elder in terms of physical prowess, but he had no idea how many tricks the old man had up his sleeve.

The Third Elder leapt from his flying boat, controlling an iron ruler that descended towards Li Zhen. The ruler was a high-grade magical device, growing from small to over three meters long as it fell.

Li Zhen didn’t dare take this blow head-on—he dodged swiftly to the side, his iron sword flicking with continuous light taps, sending multiple clumps of sword glares towards the falling ruler.

The iron ruler shifted direction, attempting to chase him down for another attack, but after taking hits from those multiple clumps of sword glares, its momentum slowed significantly.

Li Zhen had been waiting for this opportunity. His martial fighter armor once again surged with acceleration, and before the Third Elder could fully regain control of his iron ruler, Li Zhen was already within striking distance.

The iron sword in Li Zhen’s hand shot forward. He was confident in his advanced swordsmanship skills.

During their previous encounter, he had noticed that the cultivators in this world—or at least those in the market—relied heavily on instinct during combat. They lacked mastery of powerful, systematic attack techniques.

The iron sword easily pierced towards the Third Elder, but then his expression shifted.

Just ten centimeters away from the Third Elder’s body, the sword was halted by a protective barrier.

“Haha, do you really think you can break through my defenses with a puppet and high-grade magical artifacts? You’re too underestimated the strength of the Late Qi Refining Stage! As a mere early Qi Refining cultivator, achieving this much is already impressive!” The Third Elder laughed maniacally.

He seemed to already envision capturing and torturing Li Zhen, as Li Zhen’s attack, just as he had anticipated, failed to breach his defenses.

Even before the fight began, he had activated the defensive magical artifacts on his body. Upon realizing the formidable strength of Li Zhen’s attacks, he had swiftly enhanced his protection with a first-tier high-grade defensive talisman.

Two layers of defense at the Late Qi Refining Stage would not be easily breached by Li Zhen’s attack, which relied on magical artifacts for enhancement.

The Third Elder, now wielding the iron scale against Li Zhen, no longer worried about his opponent’s attacks; they simply couldn’t penetrate his defenses.

With the energy of his martial fighter armor down to 24 percent, Li Zhen knew he must go all out.

Unfortunately, his earlier spiritual energy expenditures had left him unable to meet the conditions required for using the Heavenly Thunder Magic.

Instead, he invoked the special talisman acquired from the Iron Sword Gang’s young master, unleashing a single strike. A thunderous roar erupted from the iron sword in his hand, which then transformed entirely into bursts of lightning.

As the lightning flashed, the iron sword struck the Third Elder once more.

This time, the attack carried terrifying force. The lightning-imbued sword pierced through both layers of defense, stabbing directly into the Third Elder’s chest and his heart.

The iron scale lost its control, hanging motionless in the air.

The Third Elder stared in disbelief at his chest, never imagining that Li Zhen’s sword could breach his defenses with a single strike.

Sword Qi Thunder Sound! he thought. This must be the Iron Sword Gang’s secret art.

However, even within the entire Iron Sword Gang, only the gang leader had barely reached the mastery of this technique.

Rumor had it that only by cultivating the Iron Sword Gang’s secret manual to an extremely high level could one possibly develop ‘Sword Qi Thunder Sound’.

The Lord of the Iron Sword Gang, blessed with exceptional talent in the way of the sword, had used the secret manual’s special enhancement ability to cultivate ‘Sword Qi Thunder Sound’. Yet, it had still taken him fifty years to achieve this mastery.

The Third Elder fell unwillingly to the ground, the iron ruler clattering beside him.

Li Zhen was now utterly battered. His martial fighter armor’s energy was completely drained, and more than half of his spiritual energy had been consumed. Most importantly, his physical strength was greatly diminished.

Even with his body tempering ability, drawing upon ‘Sword Qi Thunder Sound’ had proven unexpectedly taxing.

However, he had no time to ponder his situation; his entire being was completely absorbed in the manifestation of ‘Sword Qi Thunder Sound’.

Previously, he had treated his understanding of ‘Sword Qi Thunder Sound’ as mere theory. Today, he was truly putting it into practice for the first time.

A moment ago, he had channeled vast amounts of spiritual energy into the iron sword while simultaneously imbuing it with a unique consciousness. This specialized awareness was automatically generated by his invocation of ‘Sword Qi Thunder Sound’.

Within this unique consciousness lay all the insights he had gained from devouring the instance of ‘Sword Qi Thunder Sound’ within the Dragon Heart Space. He couldn’t adequately describe or comprehend the nature of this specialized consciousness.

It was akin to knowing the answer to a question yet being unable to articulate the process due to foundational knowledge gaps.

The interplay of spiritual energy and unique mental focus within the iron sword triggered intense vibrations. Resonating with certain energies of the cosmos, the sword achieved a remarkable acceleration effect.

The thunderous sound accompanying this sword strike was none other than the resonance of the iron blade with these cosmic forces.

Previously, Li Zhen had little understanding of the true power of the “Sword Pledge Thunderclap.” Now, however, he grasped its full potential with clarity.

It seemed that this technique could transcend the gap between cultivation realms, allowing him to slay a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator using “Sword Pledge Thunderclap” alone.

From the bodies of the four cultivators, he retrieved their storage pouches and collected various spirit artifacts.

He wondered if Steward Zhao had reported his actions back to the Zhao Clan, but he couldn’t afford to abandon the market as a base of operations.

Besides, he still had a Grade 1 High-Grade Spirit Tea Tree in the market. Leveraging this location would provide him with ample spirit stones and resources, a safe haven, and an opportunity to await potential recruitment by Ten Directions Valley.

After a moment’s consideration, he decided to return to the market first. Regardless of whether his actions had been exposed, he needed to secure his livelihood there.

Moreover, while the Zhao Clan couldn’t directly enter the market, he did need to guard against any interference from the Lin Clan, which administered the area. However, as long as they weren’t overwhelmingly powerful, he could still rely on his teleportation ability to escape to the Xian Nation if necessary.