Chapter 2080 - 2078: Your Bones Are Unusually Talented... (The Sheer Number of Times I Died in ARK Is Speechless)

Originally, Fang Zheng thought of killing the Emperor to incite internal chaos, so the Northern Empire would be too busy to care about anything else.

However, after hearing Kurumi’s report, Fang Zheng came up with a new idea.

Fang Zheng had also investigated the Northern Empire. He knew that there were two top generals, Esdeath and Budd. One was a spear, the other a shield. Esdeath mainly handled offense, while Budd was responsible for the defense of the Imperial Family. It could be said that in the military power within the Empire, both held half the influence.

But neither had any intention of interfering in politics. Esdeath seemed to simply prefer battle and showed no interest in politics, while Budd was entirely bound by the ancient rule of "military officers should not meddle in politics," so he turned a blind eye to everything currently happening within the Imperial Family.

But now, Fang Zheng had a new plan.

He planned to find a time to meet Esdeath and persuade her to inherit the Empire as the Empress after he assassinated the Emperor and Grand General Budd. After all, Fang Zheng had heard of Esdeath’s reputation. To be frank, her cruelty and ruthlessness towards enemies were not issues for Fang Zheng at all. When he went to the prairie to deal with the Huns in the "Prairie Cavalry," he wiped out entire tribes, not sparing men, women, or children, leaving no roots.

For Fang Zheng, protecting the Central Plains’ Huaxia Civilization was the primary duty. The Huns’ lives mattered not a whit to him.

So those outside rumors about how cruel and cold-blooded Esdeath was towards her enemies were simply nothing to Fang Zheng. After all, in dealing with enemies, Fang Zheng was no better than Esdeath. In terms of attitude towards enemies, they were practically birds of a feather. When he was Emperor of the Great Han for hundreds of years, his reputation wasn’t much better than Esdeath’s, and forces like the Night Raid hated him to the core, but it didn’t matter since they couldn’t beat him, ha ha ha...

All were just served on a platter.

But to be honest, Fang Zheng quite liked the honey trap tactic.

After all, as long as both parties were willing, every time Fang Zheng received beautiful assassin gifts from those secret organizations, he wanted to give them a Five-Star rating. Stuff like sisters, or mother-daughter pairs, the more the merrier.

No matter how Esdeath treated her enemies, at least she took good care of her subordinates, and that was enough. If someone like her became the Emperor, then the Northern Empire shouldn’t have any internal problems. The external matters were another story.

But Fang Zheng was confident in persuading Esdeath, knowing that if Esdeath became the Empress and then went to propose to Reinhard, he couldn’t simply refuse the matter. This concerned an Empire’s Queen’s dignity and might escalate to a diplomatic incident.

This would definitely make Reinhard have a severe headache.

But as for Fang Zheng, what did it have to do with him? As long as it wasn’t his own headache, it was fine.

Moreover, as a perfect knight, the spirit of self-sacrifice was also important, right? Reinhard?

The next day, when Fang Zheng returned to the training grounds, Akame was already there waiting for him. Seeing Fang Zheng appear, she immediately asked loudly.

"What can you teach me?"

"Looks like you’re ready?"

"........."

Faced with Fang Zheng’s question, Akame nodded, while Mai on the side looked at her with a complex expression. After they returned to their rooms last night, Mai grabbed Akame and insisted on hearing exactly what Fang Zheng had done to her, only to find that Akame showed no reaction at all after hearing it...

But then again, thinking about Akame’s desire to become stronger, if Fang Zheng could truly make her stronger, then even being treated like Mai wouldn’t matter to Akame.

What frustrated Mai even more was that Akame didn’t have to be as unlucky as she was...

Why was she so unlucky?

"Since you’re good with Murasame, I think teaching you a swordsmanship set would be more useful."

Fang Zheng looked at Akame in front of him, then reached out his hand and pressed it against her forehead.

"I will now show you a few sets of swordsmanship. You take a look and decide which one suits you better. Now, close your eyes."

Hearing Fang Zheng’s words, Akame obediently closed her eyes. A moment later, her forehead ached slightly. Then the previously pitch black world before her suddenly changed.

Akame widened her eyes in surprise, looking at her surroundings. Not far in front of her stood a man in white robes like snow. He was holding a sword, standing in a dim alley. In front of him stood a man. The man stared at the one in white, then suddenly drew his saber, attacking the man in white with eight rapid-fire strikes.

Seeing this scene, even Akame’s complexion changed slightly. She couldn’t deny that even she couldn’t block those eight strikes under such circumstances.

In her eyes, these eight strikes were like lightning chaining one after another, unavoidable, nearly perfect.

But the man in the white robe simply thrust a single sword.

With just one sword, it pierced through the opponent’s throat.

When the sword was withdrawn, it was still stained with blood.

Then the man in white gently blew, and the blood dripped from the blade.

At the same time, Fang Zheng’s voice echoed in Akame’s ear.

"Did you see it? This is Ximen Chuixue’s sword. His sword is not for show; his sword is a killing sword, his swordsmanship is for killing. For him, the most beautiful thing is killing with a sword. When you pierce their throats with one thrust, watching the blood bloom under your sword, if you can see that moment of magnificent brilliance, you would know that there is nothing more beautiful — well, I think you both have quite similar personalities."

Akame did not answer, she just stared at the figure of the man in white, saying nothing.

Soon, the scene changed again.

In front of the grand gate of the World’s Top Martial Club, an old man with white hair and beard slowly approached the steps. He looked so old, so old that he seemed as if he might breathe his last at any moment. However, under Akame’s gaze, the old man took a step forward.

After this step, time stopped flowing.

In that moment, Akame seemed to see the old man’s spirit fly out of his body; the formless Sword Qi erupted suddenly, everyone around appeared to be immobilized as if under a spell, just standing there blankly, watching in horror as the sharp and invisible Sword Qi tore them apart, pierced through them. When time resumed, only the spraying blood and corpses covered everything.

"The Destructive Sword Twenty-Three, it emphasizes commanding the sword with the heart. Once unleashed, the world shatters. Well, I think you also have potential to become a Sword Saint... Well, the next one..."

Thus, scene after scene flashed in Akame’s mind, and she witnessed the pinnacle of swordsmanship, the Ten Thousand Swords Returning. The Six-Meridian Divine Sword, which uses Qi to control the sword. The Thirteen Fatal Swords that symbolize death, with every strike lethal. The Rain-Cutting Sword Technique deals with emotions, therefore it reaches the ultimate in swordsmanship, using emotions to wield the sword, entering the path with the sword.

These were all people Fang Zheng had encountered during his many years in the World of Seeking Qin. Of course, the initial development of swordsmanship was very interesting. At first, it was in a low-level martial arts world conforming to physics, then it became an unscientific mid-level martial arts world, and finally evolved into a high-level martial arts world that could defy Newton. Fang Zheng experienced the entire process of the Martial Arts World evolving from weak to strong over a millennium. During this time, he also met many people who originally should have appeared in different martial hero worlds.

Of course, sometimes it was quite amusing, like Linghu Chong and Li Xunhuan drinking together, just thinking about the absurdity made people laugh till they burst.

Though Fang Zheng did not take anything from that world, just these memories were already more than enough.

When Akame opened her eyes again, she was almost shocked to numbness.

She had never seen such swordsmanship, nor such powerful people; every single one of them, whether male or female, old or young, appeared so strong in Akame’s eyes. She was certain that even with Murasame in hand, she would be incapable of defeating any of these people.

Akame had never imagined that there could be so many strong individuals existing; their swordsmanship had completely surpassed the limits she could comprehend.

"Alright then, whose swordsmanship do you want to learn?"

Fang Zheng looked at Akame in front. These sword techniques were collected by him, after all, many peerless swordsmen also did not have the chance to pass down swordsmanship before they died for various reasons, Fang Zheng collected all their efforts and essence to see if they could be continued in another world.

To his mind, Akame was a good inheritor.

"............"

Faced with Fang Zheng’s question, Akame was silent for a long time. It was the first time she encountered such a difficult question. Honestly, at this moment Akame did not even know if she should choose, just like a feast placed in front of her, she wanted to taste everything, but Akame also knew that she wouldn’t be full this way... However, Akame also clearly understood that she must eventually make a choice.

"I........."

Akame opened her mouth, then closed it, and then opened it again. Afterward, she seemed to finally make up her mind and looked up at Fang Zheng.

"I want to learn the Thirteen Fatal Swords."

"Oh?"

Hearing Akame’s response, Fang Zheng raised an eyebrow. He initially thought Akame would choose Ximen Chuixue’s, given their similar characters, but surprisingly, Akame actually chose... Well, it’s not strange, considering that person’s experience also seems somewhat similar to Akame’s.

Perhaps Akame found some insight in it?

"The Sword Qi traverses thirty thousand miles, one sword light chills the nineteen continents... Well then."

Silently sighing, Fang Zheng also nodded.

"You becoming the successor of Yan Shisan, it’s not bad actually."