Chapter 100 Everything Hanging By a Thread   Translator: BornToBe

“Who are you again?”

Marquis Ying almost burst from anger. Long Tianxiao actually acted as if he didn’t recognize him?! That was the greatest possible insult and humiliation for him!

He had challenged Long Tianxiao several times back in the day, all of them which resulted in his loss. In the last one, Long Tianxiao had severed one of his fingers, which was the greatest disgrace of his entire life.

At this time, Marquis Ying had already obtained the Flesh Bone Restoration Pill and grown back that finger. That had returned his tendons to a perfect state, and he had advanced from the sixth Heavenstage to the seventh Heavenstage of Tendon Transformation, stepping into the late stage.

Although it was just one Heavenstage’s difference, that was also the large step between the mid and late stage. Now that he had advanced to the late stage, his combat ability had soared, and he was now completely confident and prepared to challenge Long Tianxiao again.

Before he had had the chance to challenge him, he had received the order to go kill Long Chen on that day. The result of which was that he had been continuously thwarted by Long Chen, almost losing his life in the end. That had greatly shaken his confidence.

And now from just one sentence from Long Tianxiao, his anger completely burst and he was unable to endure it any longer. With an angry roar, he charged at Long Tianxiao.

The two of them had been separated by almost three hundred meters, but Marquis Ying closed the gap in just three steps.

On his first step, veins popped up all over his body and terrifying energy exploded from him. On the second step, he raised his sword up high, his qi pouring into the sword and the wind whistling around it.

On his third step, he suddenly sped up. His mind, spirit, and qi all merged together as his sword fell, perfectly raising his power to its absolute pinnacle.

It could be said that although Marquis Ying was infuriated, it went without saying that he was a true expert. That was something that even the Tendon Transformation experts of the Grand Xia had to admit.

Seeing Marquis Ying charge over, Long Tianxiao merely shook his head. “Even after ten years, you still haven’t grown the slightest bit. You want to defeat me with just yourself?”

A saber had appeared in Long Tianxiao’s hand all of a sudden. When he unsheathed it, its cold light shined everywhere.

But just when everyone thought Long Tianxiao would send a slash out to block, he instead took a single step back. That one step placed him three meters away.

Marquis Ying almost spat out blood. His striking point was originally perfect. But now his full force blow had nowhere to release its power. It was as though he had used his full power in an attempt to cut apart a rock, only to have that rock become a soft piece of tofu. That kind of feeling of using the wrong amount of power was extremely uncomfortable.

Marquis Ying’s sword landed on nothing but air. Knowing the situation had taken a turn for the worse, he was about to switch moves when Long Tianxiao stepped in, slashing with his saber. Saber images appeared throughout the air.

BOOM! But Marquis Ying was still a Tendon Transformation expert. In that extremely unfavorable position, he was still able to forcibly use his qi to take on Long Tianxiao’s blade.

Marquis Ying was like a skipping stone as he tumbled dozens of meters away before stopping.

As soon as he stabilized, he immediately spat out a mouthful of blood. That sudden blow and block had shaken his inner organs, causing him to be injured.

Everyone was astonished. Marquis Ying, who was also one of the three peak experts of Phoenix Cry, was unable to completely block even a single slash of Long Tianxiao’s.

Xia Youyu and the others might also be surprised, but they weren’t too shocked. Long Tianxiao’s attack just now had been set up almost perfectly.

He had exquisitely found the perfect moment between the moment when Marquis Ying had used up his force on nothing but had yet to gather his energy again. Attacking at that moment had caused Marquis Ying to suffer a loss.

That didn’t mean that Marquis Ying’s cultivation base was inferior to Long Tianxiao’s, but that Marquis Ying’s combat ability was far too lacking in comparison.

Marquis Ying had stayed in seclusion training for the last couple of years. Whenever he met anyone, it would always be someone weaker and he would forcibly suppress them. He would first lock his enemies in place before sending out a powerful blow.

But today he had been enraged and forgotten that Long Tianxiao was also a late Tendon Transformation expert. His realm was actually greater than his own, so how could it be possible for him to lock him in place? And so that was why he had suffered so greatly.

“Ying Zhao, you’re going to use only this level of strength to fight against me?” Long Tianxiao shook his head indifferently.

Marquis Ying’s face turned ashen from rage. He had been careless and caught unprepared. Although the injury wasn’t anything major, it definitely had impacted his confidence and spirit. For a moment, all he could do was grind his teeth in anger.

“The Border Suppression Marquis Long Tianxiao has rebelled. All troops are ordered to work together to capture this rebel!” the fourth prince ordered coldly.

Following the fourth prince’s cry, there were immediately dozens of squads that charged over. Those people were obviously his trusted agents who listened to his orders without the slightest hesitation.

As for the other officers who were still shaken by the situation, when they saw that there were already people charging over, they also stopped hesitating. One by one, they all began to charge over at Long Tianxiao.

“Phoenix Cry brothers, we all grew up together on this land. I don’t want to see my brothers’ blood. Don’t force me!” Long Tianxiao’s shout rang out.

His shout was backed up with his spiritual qi and shook the entire sky. There were immediately several people who paused.

They were all army men, and Long Tianxiao was their idol. Just how many people wanted to be like him and be called a military god?

But now they were supposed to point their weapons at this idol. That caused many soldiers to be at a loss.

“Don’t listen to his misleading lies! As long as you kill a single traitor, no matter their status, you will immediately receive one million gold coins and be promoted three nobility ranks!” cried the fourth prince.

Hearing that, some of those hesitating soldiers immediately gave up their internal struggle and charged forward, brandishing their weapons.

Ever since the day they had joined the army, they had been repeatedly taught that soldiers didn’t need to think. All they needed to do was to follow orders.

And with such a huge enticement, those people all followed their instincts. But they didn’t have any intentions of attacking Long Tianxiao. After all, that was an impossible-to-complete mission.

Luckily, other than Long Tianxiao, there were also over twenty random members of his household. Killing one of them would be too simple. A million gold coins and a three rank promotion in nobility rank were temptations only few could resist.

Seeing the tide-like army rushing over, Long Tianxiao sighed. “Have free rein to kill them.”

The other two people who had come with Long Tianxiao nodded. Placing Mrs. Long and the others between the two, they raised their swords towards the charging army.

Sword-light flashed. Limbs flew everywhere, and a rain of blood fell.

“What?!”

“They’re Tendon Transformation experts!”

The fourth prince’s expression changed. The two people that Long Tianxiao had brought were also Tendon Transformation experts! That was completely out of his expectations.

He had long since investigated Long Tianxiao’s bottom line strength perfectly. How could there suddenly be two new Tendon Transformation experts?!

But what he didn’t know was that that was Long Chen’s contribution. The Breaking Barrier Pills, which Long Chen had sent back with Chen Fei, had resulted in three people successfully advancing to the Tendon Transformation realm.

The remaining people hadn’t broken through, but they could already sense the barrier much clearer now. It shouldn’t be long before they could also break through.

That had absolutely delighted Long Tianxiao. From Long Chen’s letter, he learned that the undercurrents in the imperial capital were about to reach a critical moment at any time and that he should make his preparations.

After just considering it for a moment, Long Tianxiao collected his whole force stealthily and approached the barbarian tribes. But he had been surprised to see that the barbarians tribes had also been collecting in order to prepare for a huge battle.

However, since he had noticed this, he had immediately brought those three Tendon Transformation experts to the huge barbarian army that numbered in the hundreds of thousands. With four Tendon Transformation experts attacking, plus the fact they were launching a sneak attack, the barbarian army suffered a huge loss. The majority of their army was killed, and the rest fled deep into the mountains. Although there was no way to chase, it was enough to intimidate them from ever coming back again.

That was the greatest victory ever gained over the barbarian army. Having massacred hundreds of thousands of barbarians, everyone was fired up.

As soon as he had won this victory, he had received news from the capital that the Long household was to be executed.

After thinking it over for a moment, Long Tianxiao still decided to leave behind one Tendon Transformation expert as a guard and brought the other two rushing back to the capital in order to save them.

If he ended up bringing away all the experts, then on the off-chance that the barbarian tribes once more gathered together, the border might really not be able to defend without a single Tendon Transformation expert guarding it.

That was why Long Tianxiao had only brought two of them. Although the two had only just broken through to the Tendon Transformation realm, they were people who had fought alongside Long Tianxiao for many years and their battle experience was extremely great. Their combat strength was such that those so-called ‘elite troops’ of the capital were just a bunch of slow-moving ants that could be swatted away with their eyes closed.

Those two Tendon Transformation experts took the vanguard, slaughtering the charging army. Chu Yao and Shi Feng guarded the rear. If any fish managed to slip through their net, they would be able to easily kill them.

As for fatty Yu, Shou Hou, and the others, they were standing right alongside Mrs. Long and the others as guards. However, there was basically no chance for them to do anything as of yet.

As for Long Tianxiao, he was now surrounded by three Tendon Transformation experts. They were Marquis Ying, Marquis Wu, and a Tendon Transformation expert from the Grand Xia.

The first Tendon Transformation expert, who had been shot through the nose by Long Tianxiao’s arrow, had returned to his own camp in order to recuperate.

That was because without his nose, his senses were greatly affected. It was not just his sense of smell; the distraction of the loss of his nose slowed down all his other senses as well. On the battlefield, that handicap could easily result in Long Tianxiao killing him in a single blow. Tendon Transformation experts were an extremely precious military strength that no one would easily sacrifice.

But no one had expected just how overwhelming Long Tianxiao was. Even one against three, he was still beating them. That Grand Xia expert was almost cut in half by his blade. He had only been saved luckily by Marquis Wu.

Even one against three, he was still as valiant as ever, forcing back his opponents and making them fear for their lives. That caused everyone to recognize that the only one worthy of being Phoenix Cry’s strongest man was Long Tianxiao.

As for grandmaster Yun Qi’s battle with Wei Cang and Wang Luyang, that was also nearing its climax. It was becoming more and more intense and dangerous. But they were far away from this battlefield, and their ripples didn’t reach that far.

The most dangerous spot still had to be Mrs. Long’s side. The imperial capital’s soldiers seemed to have become insane. They charged forward, unafraid of death, for that reward. They were hopeful that as long as they managed to kill a single person from the Long household, their careers would soar higher than ever.

Despite the two Tendon Transformation experts fighting as hard as they could, despite the mountains of corpses that littered the ground, the locust-like army was still unstoppable. Fatty Yu and the others also had to start fighting with their lives on the lines. Danger sprung up from all sides, and they were gradually becoming unable to hang on.

As for Marquis Ying’s group of three, no matter how hard they fought, they were still powerless to deal with Long Tianxiao. Marquis Ying couldn’t help being shaken, and a spear suddenly appeared in his hand.

That spear was shot out just like a shooting star towards Mrs. Long’s group, its power completely unblockable.

“Long Tianxiao, first I’ll kill your wife and let you also taste the flavor of resentment!” Hatred and resentment twisted Marquis Ying’s face.

Long Tianxiao hadn’t expected Marquis Ying to suddenly make such a dirty attack. Those two Tendon Transformation experts were completely caught up with trying to block the huge army, and the others were all surrounded. No one else had noticed that spear yet.

And even if someone did notice it, it would be useless. In front of a Tendon Transformation expert’s attack, there was basically no one who could block it in the Blood Condensation realm.

Chu Yao was the first member on that side to notice the spear. Her expression greatly changed. It was already too late to push Mrs. Long aside. She directly rushed in front of her, actually using her own body to take that spear.

“NO!” Long Tianxiao roared. That spear contained a Tendon Transformation expert’s full force. It was something that the physical body could not possibly block. The both of them would be killed!

BANG!

A ray of black light flashed. That spear was turned into powder by a terrifying force. When the smoke and ashes scattered, a pitch-black broadsword appeared in front of everyone’s eyes.

That black broadsword was in the hands of a youth. His robes fluttered and his long hair danced.

“I guess this counts as making it on time.”