C42 Jade Plates
C42 Jade Plates
Out of the 100 jade plates, nearly 60 of them were in the hands of the four big families (three great families and one royal family). The remaining 40 jade plates were in the hands of various other lower and middle-class families.
Now that the Hunting Contest was in its final phase, the death count rose exponentially. Obviously, the jade plates and the hatred among families were its major contributors. After Chu Zhongtian left the tree hole, he headed toward the center of the hunting ground.
There was a tall platform in the center of the hunting ground. On the last day of the contest, the patriarch and the experts of all families would gather on this tall platform, waiting for the contestants to arrive. Also, on the same day, the final ranking would be decided by the number of jade plates each contestant had obtained.
If someone wanted to obtain more jade plates, they had to rush to the center as soon as possible—it was the final battlefield.
Chu Zhongtian, who was advancing quickly, suddenly slowed down after he heard a ripping sound from his right.
Since he was in a hurry to find\snatch jade plates, he initially didn't want to pay any attention to that sound.
However, along with that ripping sound came floating a few sentences that made him stop and rush toward the sound.
Those scant few sentences revealed that the sound came from a battle between two parties; one side had jade plates. Chu Zhongtian didn't have a single plate in his possession, so when he heard that there were jade plates at stake, he was obviously going to intervene.
The battle wasn't too far away from him, so he used his movement technique and arrived near it quickly.
Both sides didn't have that many members: eight on one side and seven on the other. However, there was a Level-6 Qi Refiner with the side with seven people, so they had the upper hand despite being outnumbered.
"Tian, the gap between our strength isn't big. Why don't we stop now? Wait for the last day of the competition, and then we'll fight to the death," said the eight-people's leader, a cultivator just a step away from Level-6. He was struggling to defend himself against the fierce attacks from the other side.
"Sun, I can stop the fight, but you'll have to give me your jade plates." The Tian Family cultivator attacked with all his strength while making his request.
"Impossible! We obtained them after days of fighting and bloodshed. How can we hand them over so easily?!" The one surnamed Sun loudly objected.
"If you don't want to hand over the jade plates, then hand over your lives!" The Tian family cultivator said with a sinister smile.
"No need for that. You'll all just give me the jade plates!" Chu Zhongtian came out of his hiding spot after observing all 15 of the fight's participants. The strongest here was a mere Level-6 Qi Refiner from the Tian Family; as for the rest, they were all around level four and five. There were also two weak Level-3 Qi Refiners there.
Chu Zhongtian had just broken through, so he needed some opponents to test his strength. These contestants were perfect for him.
Besides, the Tian Family was the Wang Family's subordinate, and the Sun Family was the Qi Family's. Both of these forces had a grudge against the Chu Family.
If Chu Zhongtian could obtain jade plates and weaken his opponent's strength, why wouldn't he do it? It would be like killing two birds with one stone!
Chu Zhongtian asked for the jade plate; at the same time, he took out the steel blade and rushed into the crowd.
"A Chu Family disciple?!" Hearing the sudden interruption, the Sun and Tian family disciples quickly looked back and saw someone wearing the Chu Family garbs.
Initially, they were quite nervous as they were afraid that the man would be a Chu Family expert. However, they were first overjoyed and then furious when they found that the newcomer was merely a Level-4 Qi Refiner.
How could they not be angry? Chu Zhongtian was simply being too arrogant, asking them to hand over the jade plates, ultimately looking down on them.
How could they not be overjoyed? After killing this newcomer, they could boast about it for years. After returning to their families, they would get rewarded for killing a Chu Family cultivator. They could also narrate in exaggeration how they killed an invincible expert from the Chu Family and impress their admirers.
However, before they could even rejoice wholly in their fantasies, they received a painful lesson.
Chu Zhongtian was like a fierce tiger rushing into a flock of sheep as he rushed into the crowd. In an instant, blood was shed.
With a slash, heads flew up!
With another slash, someone's upper body was separated from their lower body.
With a third slash, someone was cleaved into two clean halves.
Chu Zhongtian was using the basic saber technique, but even though his movements were basic, they were deadly.
It had been a while since he had practiced the basic saber technique, so now that he was finally using it in a battle, his very being shone in a different light. It was a bloody hue that terrified all the Sun and Tian family cultivators.
After a mere ten slashes of the basic saber technique, the battle had only three living people left; Chu Zhongtian was one of them. In the eyes of those two survivors, he was now a ferocious beast that could devour them at any time.
"Sir Chu, please stop. I surrender!" When he saw the merciless Chu Zhongtian rushing toward him, the expert from the Sun Family immediately shouted. At the same time, he took out four jade plates and raised them up high.
When Chu Zhongtian saw the Sun Family cultivator take out four jade plates, his steel blade, which was about to cleave his opponent's head, instantly stopped. The cold and stern expression he held during the entire battle suddenly broke into a warm smile. Then, in a friendly tone, he said, "Alas, if I knew you would take out the jade plates, I wouldn't have attacked you in the first place. Sigh, you made me waste my spiritual power."
Although Chu Zhongtian said so, the steel blade was still above the Sun Family cultivator's head. Chu Zhongtian pointed at the ground with his right hand, indicating that he should place the jade plates on the ground.
The Sun Family cultivator obediently placed the jade plates on the ground, then slowly retreated. When he was three meters away from Chu Zhongtian, the Sun Family warrior suddenly turned around and quickly escaped from the scene.
After fleeing for dozens of meters, the Sun Family guy turned around and looked at Chu Zhongtian. He swore in his heart that he would run away from the scene if he even saw Chu Zhongtian's silhouette in the future. As long as he was alive, he would never come into direct contact with Chu Zhongtian.
"Did I tell you to leave?" When Chu Zhongtian bent over to pick up the jade plates, the Tian Family cultivator tried to sneakily leave the scene. Chu Zhongtian lifted the steel blade, pointed the tip of his blade out and asked in an unfriendly tone.
"What do you want?" Noticing the steel tip pointing at his face, the Tian Family guy asked with a stern expression.
"What do I want?" He sneered and used his movement technique. In a flash, Chu Zhongtian was already standing next to the Tian Family cultivator; before he could react, Chu Zhoongitan's blade was on his neck.
"I'll give you my jade plates," Sensing the coldness coming from the blade, the Tian family warrior said with a trembling voice.
Then, the Tian Family guy took out six jade plates and raised them above his head.
"Hmm, not bad, you are not a fool," Chu Zhongtian said with a smile. Suddenly, he exerted some force on his wrist, and the steel blade sliced the Tian family guy's neck.
"Y-you lie...led to me...?" Before he could finish his words, the Tian Family guy fell to the ground and died.
Chu Zhongtian bent over and took the jade plates from his hand. With a look of disdain, he said, "No. You are too naive."