Chapter 227 - 225: Temple Warrior, Slaying True Gang

Endless wind and sand. A desolate land.

The red glow from the visor of the Temple Warrior’s helmet hadn’t yet faded when a deadly attack came from behind.

After appearing with his Earth Element Escape, Yang Shen had no intention of asking why. Once someone attacked, they were an enemy.

He wasn’t in the habit of giving his enemies a chance to talk.

A black longspear instantly materialized in his hand, its tip wreathed in the brilliant gold of the Rising Sun Flame. He thrust it forward, aiming for the neck.

But the Temple Warrior was no weakling. With no visible sign of leveraging his strength, he shot backward while swinging his longsword once more.

Despite the distance of several meters, the blade of light was still lethal. Yang Shen tapped his toes to retreat but deliberately extended the black spear.

’I need to test the power of this blade of light...’

Just as he expected, the black spear, as hard as steel, was sliced through as if it were silk. Yang Shen felt almost no resistance, a testament to the blade’s absurd sharpness.

Yang Shen frowned slightly, looking at the footprints his opponent had just left.

’That kind of lateral movement... it’s probably an application of True Gang.’

While the names and training methods of Martial Arts vary greatly between nations, many of the benchmarks for advancement are consistent.

Take True Gang, for instance. As a Martial Artist’s first foray into controlling the External Output of their Source, its manifestations may differ, but its essence is similar.

In Europe, they call True Gang "Sword Qi," and it’s primarily used to amplify offensive power. That blade of light, several meters long, must be the combined effect of True Gang and runes.

In Magna, True Gang is known as "Super Thought," and much like in Yanhua, it focuses mainly on support effects.

’So this is a Temple Warrior comparable to someone in the True Gang Realm... Judging by the length of his blade of light, he’s probably just entered the realm...’

’That’s two minor realms above my own Middle Stage of Innate... Plus, he’s wearing a full suit of Rune Armor. A walking tin can.’

’Not a big problem!’

Yang Shen immediately switched tactics and vanished into the ground again.

He had no intention of letting his opponent leave alive, so he didn’t mind using as many of his trump cards as necessary.

Yang Shen’s vanishing and reappearing startled the Temple Warrior. It was a power he had never even heard of. But his reaction was incredibly swift. He stomped toward Yang Shen’s likely subterranean path and unleashed an even larger blade of light.

The blade of light, now over ten meters long, sliced through the ground as if it were tofu. Earth and rock shattered, leaving a gash several meters deep. The red light on his helmet flared, shining like a scarlet cross.

However, a gash that shallow was nowhere near deep enough to threaten Yang Shen.

Yang Shen reappeared behind him again. With his fingers held together like a sword, he launched a dense volley of peanut-sized fireballs from their tips.

He was clearly imitating one of Luo Sheng’s techniques.

’An enemy this cumbersome would never dodge a dense barrage like this as their first reaction. It all comes down to confidence in one’s own defense.’

’If you have top-tier defensive power and don’t use it to trade for opportunities to attack, there’s no point in wearing heavy armor in the first place.’

Sure enough, seeing these light, seemingly weightless flames, the Temple Warrior chose to ignore them. He stomped his foot, and the ground exploded! Clearly, it was another of his Martial Arts!

He intended to charge right through them and cut Yang Shen down.

The specks of golden flame struck his armor, but the Temple Warrior felt no resistance at all. Unfortunately for him, Yang Shen was much faster and had already vanished into the ground again.

Doubt began to creep into the Temple Warrior’s mind... ’How is he doing that...?’

’It means I probably can’t kill him...’

As he considered whether to just snatch the supplies and run, the Temple Knight patted his Rune Armor, trying to put out the small flames.

But then he froze...

The flames... hadn’t gone out. Instead, they had spread from his chestplate to his gauntlet.

Yang Shen had reappeared at some point and was now sitting on the tall crate he’d left behind, watching his opponent with a placid expression.

"You lose your own supplies, so you try to steal someone else’s... Is that still the basic logic of a pirate after all these years?"

He knew the man couldn’t understand him, but it was a good way to kill time.

It was true that exploring the Exotic Realm was incredibly dangerous. It was a place beyond the reach of law and morality, a breeding ground for savagery and desire. But this guy was just too arrogant.

Yang Shen propped his chin on his hand. "Do you like barbecue?"

The Temple Warrior felt the temperature inside his armor rising rapidly and immediately activated a special ability of his Rune Armor.

Complex patterns lit up across the armor’s surface. They looked a lot like the ones on the Rune Sword Fragment Yang Shen had once found, but they covered a much larger area.

The next moment, a layer of frost appeared on the armor’s surface. Clearly, the "tin can" had come prepared for fire-based attacks.

A pity, however...

’The special property of the Rising Sun Flame... is that it burns Source.’

’The more runic power he releases... the more intense it becomes.’

The next moment, the Rune Armor, which had just begun to cool, erupted into a blazing torch!

Golden flames shot several meters into the sky.

Yang Shen said, "Tsk, tsk..."

’Even I can’t produce flames that big!’

The Temple Warrior finally started to panic. The temperature inside his armor hadn’t yet reached a level that could kill a True Gang Martial Artist, but something was clearly wrong with these flames!

He was a human torch, constantly activating the various functions of his Rune Armor, but each attempt only made the flames burn even more fiercely.

When the bizarre flames finally slipped through the gaps in his armor, the searing pain made the Temple Knight realize he had only one sliver of hope left.

’If I kill Yang Shen, there’s maybe a one-in-a-hundred chance the flames will go out!’

And so, the warrior in burning armor stopped trying to extinguish the fire and charged toward Yang Shen with explosive speed!

Instead of retreating, Yang Shen advanced, rushing to meet his opponent.

Fire Element Escape!

Instantaneous flash! Sudden Stop!

The golden flames didn’t harm Yang Shen in the slightest. Within half a meter, a fist is faster than a sword.

As the ferocious blade of light tore through the earth, carving a trench dozens of meters long, Yang Shen dodged the terrifying strike with a perfectly executed sidestep.

Then his right fist came forward with immense power, as if it could crush space itself.

"Overlapping Waves!!!"

Fine tendrils of red lightning crackled around his knuckles, then exploded against the warrior’s chest!

The priceless, ornate breastplate caved inward, but it didn’t shatter completely.

A testament to its incredible defensive power.

’If I hadn’t mastered both the Rising Sun Flame and Overlapping Waves, one could only imagine how much trouble an ordinary Martial Artist would have against such a tin can.’

’The value of this full suit of Rune Armor is probably immeasurable!’

The penetrating damage from Overlapping Waves reverberated through the Rune Armor. Blood trickled from the cross-shaped visor of the Temple Warrior’s helmet, but he still had some fight left in him. He unhesitatingly dropped his longsword, attempting to engage Yang Shen in close quarters.

But as he turned, horrified, he saw Yang Shen’s fingers pressed together against his throat.

Exorcism Spell!

"Hah!!!"

A thunderous crack echoed through the valley, and the Temple Knight inside the helmet was momentarily stunned.

Yang Shen grabbed the man’s helmet with both hands and unleashed a torrent of golden flames without restraint.

’You’re pretty fire-resistant, huh!’

His opponent was over two meters tall, far taller than him, so Yang Shen simply planted his feet on the Temple Warrior’s shoulders and gripped his head with both hands.

A violent torrent of golden flames erupted like a rocket engine, instantly flooding the Temple Warrior’s helmet.

Lethal heat poured in through the cross-shaped visor, searing his eyeballs and face, melting his skin in an instant.

"Ahhh!!!"

A bloodcurdling scream. A desperate struggle. Iron fists flailed wildly, but Yang Shen simply endured the blows, his hands gripping tight... He held on as the man’s struggles grew weaker and weaker.

"Ahhh!!"

"No!!"

The screams faded. Yang Shen felt a brittle texture under his hands.

And so, with a sudden wrench...

CRACK...

Amidst the flames, he twisted the head clean off, revealing the charred stump of a neck within....

The headless body, belching black smoke, toppled to the ground.

Yang Shen lifted the helmet in one hand. Baring his teeth in a steely grin, he peered inside.

Only a half-melted head remained within.

"Looks like you prefer it well-done."

Wiping a smear of blood from the corner of his mouth, Yang Shen let out a long breath.

His opponent’s offensive and defensive power had been tricky to deal with. Taking those last few punches was an acceptable trade.

Minor injuries for a well-done corpse.

Yang Shen waved his hand, and the golden flames around them instantly vanished. Then he plopped down right on the Temple Warrior’s chest.

’It’s nice and firm, complete with the dent I made. Even comes with its own heating. Not a bad seat...’

’A fully equipped, top-of-the-line True Gang Realm warrior...’

’Rune Armor has its flaws, but for it to have survived this long, it must have its merits... Someone else at the Middle Stage of Innate, like Jiang Xin, probably couldn’t even get past its defense...’

’Conventional weapons would have a hard time cracking this turtle shell.’

’I wonder what the characteristics are for that other Martial Arts tradition in Europe, the Pirate Martial Artists. I hear they excel at naval combat...’

Yang Shen couldn’t help but compare this man’s strength to Luo Sheng’s, who was also in the True Gang Realm.

’In the end, I have to admit, Luo Sheng is much stronger... his realm is higher, too.’

’With Luo Sheng’s extreme-temperature flames, he wouldn’t have needed to wait for the guy to be well-done. He could have burned right through him in a single exchange.’

’Back at the recycling station, I was deeply impressed by his ability to ignite steel with his flames. I even looked up the ignition point of steel later—a conservative estimate is 1500°C...’

’My own Rising Sun Flame, on the other hand, only has an actual temperature of about six hundred degrees, if you ignore its Burning Source property.’

’One is pure stats, the other is pure mechanics.’

’Especially that final state Luo Sheng entered, where his aura straightened out like he was getting an "ion perm." He clearly had more tricks up his sleeve...’

’Too bad this suit of Rune Armor, worth who knows how many tens of millions, is probably mostly scrap after being baptized by my Rising Sun Flame.’

After resting for a moment, Yang Shen pried open the tin can. Inside was a man in his thirties, but his face was unrecognizable.

’I’ll just call him Maillard.’

He took anything that might prove the man’s identity, salvaged a few rune components that still seemed intact, and then used Earth Element Escape to pull the corpse underground...

The whole process of destroying the body and erasing the evidence was slick and practiced.

Yang Shen shouldered his crate again and continued on his way.

In that short time, the sky had turned completely dark. He needed to hurry.