Overlord of the Wilderness

BAM! A young man was sent flying by Zhaang Ye, spitting out a mouthful of blood. Zhaang Ye paid no mind to his opponent’s furious glare, walking straight up to him, retrieving the Qi Gathering Pill from his robes, and deftly tucking it away.

Watching Zhaang Ye’s incredibly practiced motions, the faces of the onlookers twitched, and their gazes now held a hint of fear.

Three days. It had been three days.

Over the past three days, challengers had come after Zhaang Ye in wave after wave. But none of them had managed to claim the title of ”Eleventh Strongest of the Outer Sect” from him, and all of their Qi Gathering Pills had ended up in his hands.

Zhaang Ye had defeated at least eighty people over these three days. In other words, he had harvested over eighty Qi Gathering Pills in that time.

Besides acquiring more than eighty Qi Gathering Pills, Zhaang Ye had also been exposed to a wide variety of Combat Skills and Ultimate Techniques over the last three days. Although most of them were of a Low Level, each had its own unique characteristics. Fighting against them had been immensely rewarding, giving him a great deal of insight.

Such a massive haul made Zhaang Ye’s heart blossom with joy. He had every reason to be thrilled. The very thought of these guys lining up to take a vicious beating from him, only to then obediently hand over the Qi Gathering Pills hidden in their robes with pained expressions, made Zhaang Ye want to roar with laughter.

He almost wished the challenges would come even more furiously. It would be perfect if everyone in the Outer Sect came running over, Qi Gathering Pills in hand, cheerfully took a vicious beating, and then reluctantly tossed him the pills they had hidden away...

”AHAHAHAHAHA—!” A booming, hearty laugh snatched Zhaang Ye’s attention. He looked up to see a large, bare-chested man striding toward him, laughing all the way.

The man had thick eyebrows, large eyes, and exceptionally rugged features. His exposed skin had the color and metallic sheen of brass, and the blue veins that bulged from it were so full of power they looked ready to unleash ten thousand catties of force at any moment. What struck Zhaang Ye most was how, with every step the man took, the ground trembled violently as if a great beast were rampaging across it.

When the people surrounding Zhaang Ye saw this mountain of a man appear, their eyes widened in unison, filled with utter disbelief.

Finally, someone cried out, ”Is—isn’t that Pan Shi, ranked ninth in the Outer Sect? What’s he doing here?”

”That’s Pan Shi, all right. Judging by his aura, he’s probably just a hair’s breadth away from the Peak of Martial Arts Third Layer.”

”That’s strange. Pan Shi is ranked ninth in the Outer Sect. What’s he doing here? Don’t tell me he’s here to challenge Zhaang Ye, too?”

Pan Shi ignored the crowd’s murmuring, his tiger-like eyes locking onto Zhaang Ye. ”You’re Zhaang Ye? I hear you’re pretty strong. Been fighting for three days and no one’s been a match for you. Just my luck. My hands have been itching for a fight, so let’s have a good one today!”

Pan Shi drew closer to Zhaang Ye, then glared at the other challengers and roared, ”You worthless rabble, get the hell out of my sight! Hmph. Look at you lot. Barely any of you have even reached the Late-stage Martial Arts Third Layer, and you dare run over here to challenge him!”

The group of challengers lowered their heads at Pan Shi’s scolding, not daring to talk back as they silently shuffled to the side. Even though Pan Shi was challenging Zhaang Ye, and even though they’d been called ”worthless rabble,” none of them could bear to leave.

Seeing Pan Shi send a whole crowd of challengers packing without a second thought, Zhaang Ye couldn’t help but feel a pang of regret. He thought to himself, ’My friend, my friend, that group of people were my cash cows, here to deliver Elixirs to my doorstep! With you stirring things up, at least thirty Qi Gathering Pills just flew out the window...’

While feeling a little frustrated, Zhaang Ye was also secretly astonished by Pan Shi’s sheer presence. Pan Shi had cursed dozens of Outer Disciples, calling them ”worthless rabble” to their faces, yet not a single one had dared to talk back. This demonstrated that Pan Shi’s reputation was truly formidable.

Faced with Pan Shi, a man even more powerful than Zhaang Dongyang and Zhaang Yuhu, Zhaang Ye couldn’t help but feel his own battle lust ignite. He had fought nearly a hundred people in the past three days, which had been immensely beneficial, and his Reverse Flow Slash had been refined considerably. A fight against this Pan Shi would likely yield even greater rewards.

Zhaang Ye slowly drew the Thick-Backed Saber from his back and said, ”Come on, then!”

”Good! Straight to the point!” Zhaang Ye’s immediate challenge—drawing his saber without another word—delighted Pan Shi. With a shift of his feet, he charged forward—THUMP, THUMP, THUMP—and threw a punch at Zhaang Ye.

Although it was only a probing attack, Pan Shi’s punch was incredibly fast. As his fist shot out, it tore through the air with a strange WHOOSH. The air displaced by the punch billowed forward like a wave; long before the fist arrived, a massive force of impact was already pressing down, the fierce pressure almost forcing Zhaang Ye’s eyes shut!

”Hah!” Zhaang Ye bellowed. The Thick-Backed Saber in his hand suddenly flashed, cleaving straight through the wave of air and viciously striking Pan Shi’s fist.

DING!

The moment Zhaang Ye’s saber struck, a faint golden light flared from Pan Shi’s fist. The impact produced the sharp ring of metal on metal. It felt less like striking a fist and more like hitting a solid block of steel. The Rebound Force made Zhaang Ye’s wrist go slightly numb!

’Such a hard fist!’ Zhaang Ye was stunned.

”Such a fast saber!” Pan Shi exclaimed.

”Incredible! I can’t believe Zhaang Ye actually took a blow from Pan Shi!” one of the spectating Outer Disciples said in astonishment.

”Yeah, no wonder Zhaang Ye was able to defeat more than eighty people! He’s really got some skill.”

”Hmph. So what if he’s skilled? You think he can be stronger than Pan Shi? I say this Zhaang Ye won’t last three moves before he’s defeated!”

”Exactly. Pan Shi’s Protective Body Technique is just too powerful. Even an expert at the Peak of Martial Arts Third Layer would have trouble breaking his defense. This fight between Zhaang Ye and Pan Shi was doomed to end in Zhaang Ye’s failure from the very beginning.”

”Haha, well said, my friend! I think that’s exactly how it will go.”

In the fighting ring, after the initial probe, both Zhaang Ye and Pan Shi chose to attack simultaneously. With a shake of his arms, Pan Shi suddenly unleashed a dozen punches. In an instant, the air filled with overlapping fist-shadows and howling winds. Dust swirled up in the gale of his punches, forming a yellow dragon that lunged straight for Zhaang Ye.

Not to be outdone, Zhaang Ye’s Thick-Backed Saber flared with over six inches of Saber Qi as he unleashed his Reverse Flow Slash. The slash stirred the air into a roaring, unending waterfall, crashing down on Pan Shi with a momentum that was in no way inferior to his opponent’s.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The Powerful Qi clashed again and again, releasing a series of thunderous booms. The onlookers felt a sudden sting on their faces. Reaching up to touch them, they discovered they were covered in blood. As it turned out, the force of the combatants’ Powerful Qi had sent loose stones flying, injuring dozens of the Outer Disciples in an instant!

”Good! Good! Good!” Pan Shi’s boisterous laugh echoed through the gale. ”Zhaang Ye, I can’t believe you handled fifty percent of my strength so easily! I’m about to use eighty percent now! Watch out!”

”Fifty percent strength! All that power was only fifty percent of Pan Shi’s strength?!” one of the watching disciples cried out involuntarily. ”How can Pan Shi be this powerful?”

”Zhaang Ye is incredibly strong too! Let’s see if he can take a blow from Pan Shi at eighty percent of his strength.”

”I bet he can’t.”

”Haha, I agree. He won’t be able to take it. What kind of master is Pan Shi? He’s the expert who went toe-to-toe with Zhaang Yujing! Compared to him, Zhaang Ye still has a long way to go.”

While the Outer Disciples were murmuring amongst themselves, Pan Shi let out a great roar, shook his arms, and bellowed, ”Zhaang Ye, take this! My ’Four Directions Vast and Green’!”