Commanding Wind and Cloud

“Huh?”

Qian Jin looked around and frowned as he shook his head. He murmured, “Am I being delusional? I felt as if something just ran past me far away.”

“No, wait!” Qian Jin’s cartilage in the lower half of his ear shook, and his eyes instantly sharpened. Under Gabriella’s nervous stare, he slowly gripped onto the handle of the Zhanmadao tightly. “There is a fight happening in front of us,” he said to Gabriella.

“Fight?” Gabriella took a peek at the dense forest ahead of them. She was doubtful. “Everything is blocked off by the big trees at the front, and there are no sounds of fights or battles. How could he be so sure? How could he know that there is a fight happening ahead of us?”

Qian Jin bent his back as he tiptoed towards the battle that was happening close to them. One of his hands held onto the Zhanmadao, and his other hand held onto Gabriella’s hand. He thought to himself, “Could this battle be a trap? I’ve been having a strange feel of being monitored maliciously. Could it be that Lucas paid the assassins to act in front of me to attract my attention?”

“It doesn’t matter what is happening; I need to carefully observe it.” Qian Jin marched forward using his unique quick and short steps as he headed towards the location of the battle.

Number One stared at Qian Jin’s movement through the telescope. He frowned as he asked Nasda who was standing beside him, “Take a look at him. His walking posture is a bit like that of wolves, leopards, and...”

Nasda had his bow and arrow in his hands and was ready to strike. “It’s like a mix of all kinds of beast movements when they are getting ready to strike,” he said. He stared at Qian Jin without even blinking; it almost felt like his eyes were glued onto Qian Jin. “Could it be that this kid mastered a Beast Fighting Technique? Wait, he has to master more than one Beast Fighting Technique to have such an impressive form! But how is that possible? How old is he? It takes a lot of time just to master one Beast Fighting Technique,” he said to Number One.

Like an agile cat, Qian Jin jumped and rushed through the forest. Soon, he jumped into a tall bush that was right next to the battle. To his surprise, he actually knew the people in the battle! It was Fire Adventure Team!

“This?” Qian Jin was stunned. There were no outsiders; this fight was between all the team members. It was an internal conflict. Wilfred wore soft armor, and he was holding two short polearms that Franklin forged for him using the Level 5 Refined Iron that Qian Jin made. He suddenly shook his wrist, and the two polearms left afterimages in the air. The two short polearms glided off of the opponent’s blade as they left a series of continuous sparks, and the tip directly pierced through his opponent’s throat and left a bloody hole that people could see through.

The only member of Fire Adventure Team that was left except for Wilfred was the swordswoman that Qian Jin saw at Franklin’s Blacksmith Shop. The long blue hair that she tied into a ponytail before was no longer smooth; it had become much messier. Her red pretty leather armor that emphasized her beautiful curved figure also had a few cuts on it. She was also injured; Qian Jin saw a few deep wounds on her body. Her big eyes that seemed to be able to talk were staring at her former captain Wilfred angrily.

“Why? Why did you kill them?” The swordswoman tightly held onto her longsword that was about four fingers wide as Level 6 Warrior Energy floated around her body. “We are teammates! We’ve been together for more than three years!” she shouted.

“Three years. Yeah, three years...” Wilfred squinted his long and thin eyes. He sneered and let out a smirk. “In three years, we had been struggling to survive. This time, since we have clearly identified the location of this energy stone lode, do you think it’s better to share it with a group of people or keep it to myself?” he asked

“Energy stone lode?” Qian Jin’s heart skipped a beat. There had been numerous adventurers who came to the Sunset Mountains to search for energy stone lodes; even professional mine prospectors had come to search for it. After many years, they all concluded that there were no energy stone lodes at this gigantic Sunset Mountain’s outer layer. Who knew that the energy stone lode would be found by this small Fire Adventure Team?

The Adam’s apple in Qian Jin’s throat moved as he swallowed some saliva. There was no warrior that wouldn’t be intrigued by energy stones! If the scale of the energy stones was in terms of a lode, then even the Qian Family, one of the three Ultimate Supreme Bloodline Families in Zence Empire, would act.

“For an energy stone lode...” Anger and disappointment appeared in the swordswoman’s blue eyes. “For an energy stone lode, you were willing to kill the person who had saved your life three times?” she shouted.

Wilfred shrugged his shoulder; he really didn’t care. However, he wanted to talk to someone about all the conspiracies and secret traps that he had been planning and hiding. After today, this dark secret could only be stored at the bottom of his heart. He was really proud of what he had done. If he didn’t tell someone about it, he would feel really suppressed.

“Yeah, I killed your brother. For an energy stone lode, I killed you brother who had saved my life three times.” Wilfred slowly walked around as a vicious and hatful expression appeared on his face. “I wasn’t born in a bloodline family, nor am I a bloodline warrior who possesses bloodline power! I’m only a kid from an ordinary farmer family. I made a promise to myself! I promised myself that I would become someone influential and powerful! But after a few months, I will reach the legal age where I have to join the army! I will be going onto the Human-Demon Battlefront!” Wilfred replied.

“Human-Demon Battlefront!” Qian Jin lightly frowned; he instantly understood why Wilfred would kill his teammates and try to keep the lode to himself.

The Human-Demon Battlefront was an honorable place in numerous warrior’s mind. It was their dream land. For other warriors, it was place of nightmares. No one knew when battle and war would start on the Human-Demon Battlefront, which was still currently peaceful. Even Demon Fighters couldn’t be sure that they could survive on the Human-Demon Battlefront. It was the graveyard for many human and demon warriors.

“I don’t want to die! I still have a full life ahead of me! I want to have at least two women in my arms at all times, and I want to have many beautiful woman around me and serve me.” Wilfred shook his head emotionally and said. “But on the Human-Demon Battlefront, no one can definitively say that they will survive, especially for a Level 7 Warrior like me! I want to live! I need power! For this goal, I didn’t even use the Warrior Energy Concentration Array when I was still in the warrior academy! I didn’t want to stand at the outer layer of the array and absorb that tiny bit of pity warrior energy. I want to construct a Warrior Energy Concentration Array of my own! I want to absorb all the warrior energy it can concentrate and instantly become a Demon Fighter! As long as I can become a Demon Fighter, then...”

“According to the law in Zence Empire, Demon Fighters have the right to delay when they are required to go to the Human-Demon Battlefront by five years.” Qian Jin knew this very well. The reason the law was constructed this way was because Zence Empire wanted to give Demon Fighters enough time to grow and become even stronger. If these people who reached the level of Demon Fighter were under the age requirement, it signified that they had potential. Therefore, all Demon Fighters could delay going to the battlefield by five years and improve their power. To Wilfred who was going to own an energy stone lode, five years was too important.

Maybe after five years, Wilfred could earn enough military merits on the battlefront and earn enough money by selling a portion of the energy stones. With all of those resources, there would be a chance that he could become a mayor of a remote city like Oakland.

“Too bad...” Wilfred squinted his eyes again and carefully observed the swordswoman’s figure greedily. He looked through the swordswoman’s long legs, slender waist, and busty chest. “Sophia, I was planning to marry you and make you my woman. But to keep my energy stone lode a secret, you won’t have the chance to enjoy the money and power with me. Then, before you die, I will let you experience the pleasure of being caressed and petted by a man! You don’t have to die as a virgin!” he laughed.

Level 7 Warrior Energy was conducted into his legs. “Grunt!” The soft and mushy rotten leaves made a sound as it was stepped on; it sounded like a toad’s cry. The two silver short polearms shook in the air and left a series of afterimages like a flower. From Sophia’s perspective, the two polarms were like two silver snakes. In her eyes, the two polearms suddenly turned into six polearms. She couldn’t tell which ones were real and which ones were fake. She swung the sword that was four fingers wide in a hurry subconsciously. She didn’t care about the polearms that was messing with her eyes as she chopped at Wilfred’s head ferociously.

The sneer on Wilfred’s face grew even wider. The polearms in his hands continued to shake. One of them got under the sword, and Wilfred suddenly struck it upwards. The tip of the polearm smashed onto the body of the sword and hit the sword out of Sophia’s hand. As the sword flew in the air, Wilfred’s other polearm stabbed Sophia in one of her shoulders. Blood instantly spurted out of the wound.

“Listen to me and don’t resist anymore.” Wilfred pulled back his polearms and licked the blood off of the tip the polearm that stabbed Sophia. A proud smile appeared on his face; Qian Jin could tell that he thought he had everything under his control. “I was the one who taught you your sword technique. I know exactly where the weaknesses of your strikes are. I don’t want to damage your body before I have a good taste of it; that would be disgusting.”

Sophia’s hands were lightly shaking. The biggest weakness of the strike she just used was that if it was countered, then her wrists would be injured by her own strike. In a short time, both of her hands would be numb and she wouldn’t be able to use any strength or force.

“You...” Sophia stared at Wilfred angrily. Suddenly, a decisive and desperate expression appeared on her face. “Even if I’m going to die, I won’t let you touch my body...” she shouted.

“This...” Qian Jin’s body suddenly shook as he saw Sophia’s stubborn, yet unconquerable expression. He felt like there was some kind of hidden danger, and he was not planning to show himself. Even though the energy stone lode was very intriguing, he didn’t want to come out and fight just in case he let his guard down to this hidden danger.

But at that very moment... when Qian Jin saw Sophia’s expression, that expression had overlapped with a face and an expression that was always in his mind – a face and expression that he would never forget.

“Damn it! For the energy stone lode...” Qian Jin shook his head forcefully as his left arm suddenly coiled around Gabriella’s waist. His Level 9 Warrior Energy and strength both empowered his legs at the same time. He stomped the floor with his left feet as he slightly twisted his ankle! The huge amount of repulsion force pushed his body out of the bush at an insane speed. The friction between his body and the bushes made a series of “piapia” noise.

“Damn! I can’t take it any longer! If you are going to kill her, do it already! Why are you so chatty?”

The real distance between Qian Jin and Wilfred was less than eight meters. After he stomped the ground with his left foot, he stomped the ground with his right feet again as he landed! He was already in Wilfred’s sight at that point. The Zhanmadao in his hand was filled with his warrior energy as it lightly buzzed in the air. With a vicious and violent presence, Qian Jin chopped down at Wilfred.