## AST 660 – Killing Sima Sha!

Qing Shui was capable of killing his opponent in a split second, but he pondered whether he should reveal his true power this early. He hesitated for a moment as he stood in mid-air wondering what he should do next.

Suddenly, he felt a sense of restlessness inside his body, as if his body was telling him to vent his frustrations to his heart’s content. In the past, when he didn’t have the power to defeat his opponents, he could only feel helpless and timid. Rather than risking death, he would be forced to try all options in order to survive. However, things had changed now. Even though he didn’t possess power that could top the world, he still possessed the qualifications to step into Seven Stars Country and influence its workings.

If he had the power, why should he waste it grieving about the injustices he and his loved ones had once suffered when he could enjoy every minute doing whatever he pleased? Since he had the capability to direct the land’s future, then he would do so to turn it into his own haven.

“I wonder if your women will be upset if you suddenly die. Having beauties by your side is fine, but you should know that as the years go by, they will reduce your lifespan. Nevertheless, you won’t have to worry anymore, because someone else will love them as much as you do. It is your fault that you aren’t worthy of them.” Sima Sha had no smile on his face as he said those cold words. Despite his cold demeanor, it was quite graceful when he opened his mouth to speak.

“Can we begin now?” Qing Shui retained his smile. He was able to understand the kind of man Sima Sha was. He would not immediately raise his fist whenever he intended to kill, because he adored the look of ultimate despair and unwillingness on the faces of his opponents as they were helpless against him. To him, it was a kind of perverse pleasure and entertainment.

“Well, if you are so eager to die, let’s begin!” Sima Sha unsheathed his four-foot long curved black blade as soon as he finished talking. The blade was shaped like a crescent moon, and an unsettling air of agony emanated from the blade.

Nature Energy!

This was one of Qing Shui’s passive techniques that had already been circulating without any of his input. The level four Nature Energy had by now possessed a formidable power that was strong enough to handle the crooked and venomous ways of a person like Sima Sha.

Although Sima Sha had said that the fight had begun, he hadn’t actually started to move. He stood in place quietly and observed Qing Shui with a disdainful look in his eyes.

Even with that seemingly dismissive manner, Qing Shui could still feel a sense of cautiousness in Sima Sha’s expression. He laughed inwardly for a bit and then slowly flew through the air over towards Sima Sha.

State of Immovable as Mountains!

Frenzied Bull’s Strength!

Qing Shui casually circulated his powers, but for some reason, they did not want to be released at this time. Luckily, Qing Shui knew that with his cultivation, Sima Sha would not be able to sense his powers. At that moment, however, Sima Sha began to release a faint pink mist that quickly surrounded the area.

Even the black color of this curved crescent moon blade appeared to turn a strange red color.

“Qing Shui, don’t breathe in the mist! That’s a skill of his – the ‘Pink Dancer’. It will distort your mind and senses, and it will increase his strength in return.” Yuan Su quickly warned Qing Shui from afar. She didn’t possess any martial cultivation, so she just shouted as loud as she could. Fortunately, Qing Shui was able to hear her warning just in time.

Soon after that, Di Chen’s voice rang out and repeated the same words as Yuan Su. Qing Shui figured that she must have feared that he hadn’t been able to hear it when Yuan Su had warned him during the first time.

Qing Shui quickly stopped in his tracks, took out two spherical iron balls, and held them in his hands. He had already prepared a lot of these, including some that were shaped like flying blades and others shaped like arrow tips. Ever since he had learned the Hidden Weapons attack, Qing Shui had been busy preparing many of these handheld weapons. Other than the poison-infused Frosted Iron Balls, his other Hidden Weapons were not laced with poison. However, just these iron balls alone were enough to deal with Sima Sha.

The quality of Qing Shui’s Hidden Weapons had significantly improved after his improvement in power. He now found that, with his boost in powers, he was able to use the Hidden Weapons proficiently, unlike before when he wasn’t able to master their craftiness and swiftness.

Roar!

The grand force of the Tiger’s Roar burst out from Qing Shui’s body in an instant!

Twin Dragon Pearls!

Qing Shui took advantage of the brief stunning effect of his Tiger’s Roar, and in that instant, he shot out his two deadly iron balls. They flashed through the mist like two water dragons bursting out of the sea, and headed straight for Sima Sha. The moment was brilliant, as if there were shooting stars near the horizon, but the moment’s scenery also momentarily dazed everyone.

The Frosted Iron Balls left behind a trail of magnificent lights as they locked their aim at Sima Sha. No matter where he tried to hide, it was useless. The Frosted Iron Balls were too swift and fierce, and they couldn’t be resisted easily.

Pu pu!

One of the iron balls went through Sima Sha’s shoulder, and the other pierced through his abdomen!

It was as Qing Shui expected. With his full power, no one could evade his Hidden Weapon attack, not even a Grade Six Martial Saint.

“No way! You managed to hit me. Was I mistaken?”

“Crack….”

“That oaf actually hit me!” Sima Sha raged.

“You were the one who kept asking for it just now…..”

Sima Sha: “……….”

Sima Sha stared in disbelief at Qing Shui, who was about ten meters away from him. His expression changed constantly, and no one could tell what he was really thinking deep inside his mind.

“Why did this happen? Why did this happen?!” Suddenly Sima Sha started shouting furiously. He never would have thought that he actually couldn’t evade that deadly Hidden Weapons technique. Even though he had managed to prevent his vital points from being harmed, he was still severely wounded. Blood streamed down from his open wounds and dripped towards the ground. A trail of fresh blood streamed along the air as if he were holding a bunch of red threads.

Qing Shui stood nearby and said nothing as he quietly observed Sima Sha slowly going insane. He didn’t feel anything, as if everything was completely normal.

The ones who had come with Sima Sha were instantaneously stunned. They knew better than anyone else what kind of power Sima Sha possessed. However, it now seemed that Sima Sha had met his match, for he was almost crippled even before he and Qing Shui had any substantive interactions with each other.

As a member of the Sima Clan, Sima Sha was well-known as an expert of poison application. If he had been the one severely injuring his opponent, it was likely that people would be much less shocked and more accepting of the result.

In the hearts of the young people, the Sima Clan had already won their support through their formidable power and their proficiency in handling the best poison in the World of the Nine Continents. Essentially, people of Sima Sha’s age would not be able to get close to him due to his background. However, in this case, he was already hurt before his opponent had even approached him closely.

“Ah!”

Sima Sha screamed pitifully!

Pu!

Blood spurted from his mouth as he screamed. However, shortly after that, he quickly clenched his right fist and struck it in the air, causing black mist to gradually converge. Then, everything went dark as the mist completely engulfed Sima Sha, shielding him from sight.

“Black Cloud Protection!”

Suddenly, Qing Shui could hear someone exclaiming loudly from below. Now that he knew the skill’s name but not its effect, he quickly took out a Pure Jade Pellet and consumed it. As they said, ‘Caution is the parent of safety’, so it was always a good thing to prepare for the worse to come.

The black cloud surrounding Sima Sha began to fade away quickly. One could say that the black mist had already solidified on his body. Sima Sha now resembled a black iron tower standing tall in front of Qing Shui.

The crescent moon shaped blade on his hand had become sharper, and its size had doubled as well!

At that moment, Qing Shui was able to figure out the effects of Sima Sha’s Dark Cloud Protection. This technique was able to double his overall defense, as well as increase his energy by 50%. Sima Sha’s defense had now reached about 4000 countries of strength, and his attack power was almost 3000 countries of strength as well…..

The Dark Cloud Protection was categorized as a poison technique – a technique that Sima Sha had mainly developed for his cultivation. Any opponents who entered a 30-meter radius centered around him would have their speed and reaction ability each decreased by 30%. The weakening effect on the reaction ability and speed might seem harmless, but it was even more terrifying than directly weakening the opponent’s’ strength as his movements would become significantly slower.

Qing Shui quickly took out his Violet Gold Divine Shield!

“Die!”

Sima Sha howled furiously as he attempted to land a blow on Qing Shui. He needed to act quickly because his Dark Cloud Protection could only be used for a span of fifteen minutes. After this time, his body would be thoroughly weakened for three days. Regardless of that side effect, Sima Sha felt that killing Qing Shui with this technique would be a piece of cake.

Qing Shui, on the other hand, instantaneously boosted his strength to the maximum after his earlier consumption of the Pure Jade Pellet. Without much hesitation, he sent a Three Moves Combination Sword Technique towards Sima Sha’s direction!

The dark clouds in the sky began to distort from the forces released by both sides. The air pressure around the sky surrounding the two men was at its maximum, and the thundering noises rumbled as the wind blew violently around them.

Boom!

Even with his Dark Cloud Protection, Sima Sha was still way behind Qing Shui in terms of both attack and defense power. Qing Shui could easily reach the power of more than 4000 countries of strength with just his Combination Sword Technique alone.

A split-second kill!

Having overpowered Sima Sha’s overall strength, Qing Shui went directly for the kill and instantaneously turned the sky into a bloody mist.

The real battle was finished in mere seconds…

Qing Shui didn’t even need to use his deadlier skills against someone like Sima Sha, because those would’ve been overkill. The Fiery Golden Eyes skill was useful against those with 5000 countries of strength, but even the Thousand Buddha Palm Imprint and Primordial Flames would have been overkill for a weakling like Sima Sha.

Qing Shui slowly descended to the ground. He looked towards the ladies and nodded at them. Then he turned his attention towards the fellows who had accompanied Sima Sha and gave them a smile. However, these young men felt a chill go down their spines when they saw the smile on Qing Shui’s face. They knew it would be easy for Qing Shui to annihilate them right there and then.

“Go home. Such useless fools. What a bunch of gutless dimwits.” Qing Shui casually threw a few insults as he shooed them away.

“Hey, no vulgarities allowed.” Di Chen smiled as she chided Qing Shui. Only Di Qing, Yuan Su, and Qing Shui himself were able to hear those words.

The men who had come with Sima Sha quickly retreated as Qing Shui and the three ladies started making their way home. When those men had dispersed, the surrounding crowd began to voice out their opinions like the sputtering of fat in a frying pan.

“Ah, Qing Shui, I didn’t know you could kill Sima Sha in a split second! What is the level of your powers now?” Curiosity finally caught up to Di Qing and she couldn’t help but ask Qing Shui about his powers halfway on their way back home.

When Yuan Su heard that question, she turned her gaze at Qing Shui and looked at him doubtfully. She thought about the alchemy recipes she had given to him prior to the incident with Sima Sha, but quickly dismissed her thoughts by discreetly shaking her head. Both the Demonic Beast Advancing Pellet and the Gale Pellet were out of the question. The only medicinal pill that could increase his strength so tremendously was the Fate Pill. Even that was impossible because there had been several missing ingredients for the concoction of the pill, and those ingredients were extremely difficult to come by. Even if Qing Shui had managed to refine the Fate Pill successfully in such a short time, she would never believe it.

However, Qing Shui had already refined the Fate Pill successfully. Not only that, he had also managed to enter the state of ‘epiphany’ when he had attempted to consume the pill. Furthermore, the Demonic Beast Advancing Pellet was a disguised pill that allowed Qing Shui to gain the strength of 120 countries, an unexpected twist that even Yuan Su was unaware of.

In the span of one day, Qing Shui’s power had skyrocketed to the heavens. His current power was completely different from what it had been even a few days earlier.

“Currently, I think I can fight a Grade Ten Martial Saint to a standstill.” Qing Shui tried to give a clear answer instead of being ambiguous. That way, he hoped he could boost their confidence in his powers.

“You can evenly fight with a Grade Ten Martial Saint?” The three ladies looked at Qing Shui with disbelief in their expressions.

“Yeah. Even though my powers haven’t technically reached the level of a Grade Ten Martial Saint yet, I can take on those exactly at the level of Grade Ten Martial Saint. Anything beyond that might be a bit difficult.” Qing Shui explained further when he saw the skepticism expressed on their faces.

“Mm, you have quite a peculiar martial cultivation. That is indeed interesting.”

The four of them were almost back to the Di Residence!

At the same time, the Sima Clan finally received the news of Sima Sha’s death at the Seven Stars Arena. In an instant, the entire clan flew up in rage, anger, and shock.

“Sha‘er is dead….”

An old man shouted in disbelief.

“It was that man named Qing Shui, he did it.” A young man said timidly.

“Tell me everything from the beginning. If you leave out any details, I will kill your entire family!” The old man’s hair fluttered in rage. He was the elder of the Sima Clan who had appeared during the issuing of the letter of challenge for the ‘Fight of the Ultimate Life and Death’.