Chaotic Sword God
Chapter 614: Death of a Saint Ruler of the Shi Family (Four)

“There’s a fight going on, but what’s strange is that the offender hasn’t fallen to the barrier’s punishment. Why can’t any energy be felt now when it was always prevalent in the cases before?” A middle-aged man spoke in confusion in the middle of a room.

“Don’t worry about that for now. As men of Mercenary City, we should be upholding the laws of the city and stop them from fighting. Let us move out.” An elder in the center spoke before moving to fly.

However, before he could even get ten meters into the air, the man’s flight had been halted, causing him to float motionlessly in mid-air.

Sensing the oddity that was happening, the elder said in disbelief, “Not good! There’s something locking down my ability to move! Hurry and warn the elders!”

The other Heaven Saint Masters that hadn’t yet moved were startled to hear the elder’s words. Without any delay, they rushed out of sight to get the lord of the city.

Not too long later, three elders flew from the city lord’s mansion. Each one of them wore simple clothing, but their faces were kind and amiable in appearance.

The three of them first stared at the fight with bright eyes before looking at the still deadlocked elder in the air with furrowed eyebrows.

“What is going on?” The elder in the middle asked. The three of them sensed nothing out of the ordinary aside from the fight going on in front of them. There hadn’t been any strange disturbances in the space around them. They felt nothing strange around the elder who was locked in mid-air. In the eyes of the three newcomers, nothing was wrong.

The other people around the elder nodded their heads as if to agree with his confusion. One of them spoke with furrowed eyebrows, “Legend has it that no matter how fast one tries to strike another person, they’ll never be able to land a blow. The reason for that is because it is said that the barrier would strike down the offender before the blow can even land. But judging from this situation, the legends do not quite meet the expectations.”

“Yes, this is utterly strange. The two of them have already played cat and mouse for more than several dozen exchanges, and have caused a tremendous ruckus. Why hasn’t the punishment of Mercenary City befallen him yet?”

“What is going on? Every single person that has violated the rules of Mercenary City fell to the punishment in the past, have they not? So, why hasn’t it happened this time?”

“Perhaps Mercenary City has gone on for such a long time without any incidents like this before that the people in charge of administering punishments have become lazy?”

The longer the attacks continued, the more and more people realized that something wasn’t right. They talked to one another, speculating just what was happening. They were trying to find answers to their questions.

Patriarch Shi stared at the gigantic barrier that spanned across the entire Mercenary City in surprise. He then looked at Jian Chen, who was fighting the other Saint Ruler. He muttered, “What is going on? Jian Chen has already fought for long enough. Why hasn’t the punishment befallen him yet?”

In the center of Mercenary City not too far away from the statue of Mo Tianyun, there was a giant palace that had been established as the mansion of the city lord. A second city lord had never been declared to uphold Mo Tianyun’s sovereignty even after his departure, so the palace had been reformed to serve as a connection to the outside world.

Within the palace, several white-robed Heaven Saint Masters floated in mid-air as they listened to the faraway sounds of battle. Each one of them displayed signs of confusion on their faces.

“A report for the elders! My-my body can’t move! Not even a single finger!” The voice of the still-frozen elder could suddenly be heard as he cried out in panic.

“Boom!” Just at that moment, an explosion could be heard as a giant restaurant came crashing down in a midst of smoke that spiralled up into the air. The battle had not seemed to have weakened in the slightest. Instead, it was ramping up in ferocity.

“There are people fighting there, so why hasn’t the barrier punished the offenders? How peculiar.” One of the elders wondered aloud in confusion. Turning to look at the two elders next to him, he said, “No matter who they are, if they dare fight in Mercenary City, they cannot be pardoned. Twenty-third elder, twenty-fourth elder, you two will go over there and handle the situation. I will see what happens from there.” With that, the elder pointed at the stuck Heaven Saint Master in the sky.

The two elders nodded their head before disappearing in a blur of mirror images toward the scene of the battle, but their bodies seemed to make contact with some sort of invisible barrier after a mere ten meters. The barrier caused their forward momentum to come to a screeching halt before they were sent flying backwards.

“Boom!” The two elders ruthlessly impacted against the walls of the palace, sending a tremendous shake throughout the palace.

“You two! What’s… what’s going on?” The twenty-second elder asked in absolute stupefaction. He couldn’t believe his eyes at what he was seeing.

The twenty-third and twenty-fourth elder staggered up from the ground in pain as they stared at the empty space of air where they used to be. “That’s-that’s the power of the barrier! The barrier just repelled us! But no… that shouldn’t be possible. How could the barrier have the power to stop us?”

“What!? You were stopped by the barrier, is that true?” The twenty-second elder gasped in disbelief.

“It is absolutely true! The two of us have lived in Mercenary City for long enough. Do you think that we would be unfamiliar with what the barrier feels like? It was the barrier that stopped us, but, but I don’t know why! Just why is this happening? This can’t be a small matter, we must notify the grand elder!” The twenty-fourth elder spoke with determination. Disappearing into the palace without further notice, he left behind the still confused twenty-third and twenty-second elder.

This sudden development had caused a tremendous amount of pressure to fill the hearts of the two elders. As soon as the twenty-fourth elder left, the twenty-second and twenty-third elder became immobile. They could only watch the fight from far away.

The barrier surrounding Mercenary City had served as the city’s patron guardian since it was created. It silently protected the entire city for countless of years, making it something like a god to some of the inhabitants of the city that could not be offended. Not only was it a part of the long-standing history of Mercenary City, the most important thing about this barrier was that it was created by the one known as the strongest person on the Tian Yuan Continent, Mo Tianyun. This status brought up a completely different feeling for the barrier than previously considered, and many saw the barrier as something that represented the glory of Mercenary City.

So when the barrier that had been previously silent as it protected the city suddenly prevented the elders from stopping this battle, the twenty-second and twenty-third elder were left dumbfounded. They had never experienced something like this happen before where even they, members of the city, were stopped.

All of a sudden, the space in front of the two elders began to ripple as if it were water. Then, a fissure formed in the middle of the space. A dimensional gate formed as three white-robed elders stepped through.

One elder was standing in front while the other stood behind him. The one in front was a middle-aged man with black hair and a steadfast face. His eyes were incomparably bright as if they contained all of the stars in the sky. Just by staring at them, it seemed possible to get lost in them.

This person was Ming Dong’s uncle — Tian Jian!

The two men behind Tian Jian looked to be in their seventies. With their long hair and time-worn faces, their eyes seemed to show their countless years of living and the many things that had happened in the world. As of now, they looked to be men that had rejected the mundane world in order to live a secluded life, and the auras that they exuded around their bodies were anything but ordinary.

“We pay our respects to the grand elder, second elder, and fourth elder!”

The two elders immediately moved to bow their bodies as a sign of great respect. The sight of these three elders was enough to instill both respect and fear into the two.

“What is going on here!?” Tian Jian questioned at once.

“Grand elder, there are people fighting in Mercenary City! The twenty-fourth elder and I have tried to stop them, but the barrier not only stopped us, it threw us back into the palace!” The twenty-third elder explained.

The three elders that had just arrived were shocked to hear such an explanation. Turning around to look at the fight, the grand elder had been able to see the situation as if it were happening right in front of him.

“Eh? It’s him!” As soon as the scene was made available to him, Tian Jian let out a surprised sound.

“Grand elder, do you perhaps know the one that is fighting?” The second elder asked.

Nodding his head, Tian Jian responded, “The one fighting the Saint Ruler is called Jian Chen. He’s the one that won the Gathering of the Mercenaries. As far as his talents go, he’s someone that can only be seen once every ten thousand years.”

Smiling, the second elder spoke, “Haha, if the grand elder is able to praise him, then this Jian Chen is surely quite the person, but this youngster is far too rash if he’s starting a fight in Mercenary City. Does he not know the consequences of fighting in Mercenary City? Still, it’s strange; why hasn’t the barrier punished him yet?”

“I find that strange as well. But we must move to stop him. If we allow this to continue, we may see the death of such a talented genius happen. That would be far too unfortunate.” Tian Jian commanded before urging his body to move out towards the scene of the battle.

“Don’t move! You shall not pass!” Suddenly, the voice of a young woman made its way into the elder’s ears. Tian Jian’s body immediately seized up before he looked around with astonishment.

“Are you the spirit of the barrier?” For a good while, he did not speak, but when he did, his voice was filled with shock. Even as he asked, he felt as if his ears were deceiving him.

“You can say that, but you still can’t go there. Don’t bother with what’s happening, or Little Spirit will hurt you.”

Little Spirit’s words caused Tian Jian and the others to become as silent as statues. When it came to status, they were the leading figures of Mercenary City and could make use of the city as they saw fit. When it came to power, they stood at the very top of the power pyramid of the continent. So, to have what seemingly felt like a young woman threaten these powerful men, they didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

However, neither Tian Jian nor the second nor the fourth elder had felt discontent at her words. As if everything was as right as rain, they decided to stand there and obediently observe the situation without interfering. From there, they watched Jian Chen violate the rules of Mercenary City without being able to do a single thing about it.

That was because the spirit of the barrier had an extremely unique status in Mercenary City!

“Spirit of the barrier, I never would have imagined that I would hear it speak. The legends are true after all. The barrier that protects Mercenary City is sentient!” The twenty-third elder passionately remarked.

The fourth elder sighed in response, “I’ve lived in Mercenary City for four millenniums now, but this is the very first time I’ve heard the spirit of the barrier speak. Haha, this is truly an honor to me. What year did I think that it would be before I could hear the legendary spirit of the barrier. Even if it is just the voice, I am satisfied with this.”

“To what I know, the spirit of the barrier hasn’t been seen or heard for ten thousand years, but it has appeared now with the appearance of Jian Chen. It has forbidden us to take action. Perhaps there is a connection between the two? Otherwise, why would the spirit of the barrier protect Jian Chen to the extent where no punishment has been inflicted?” The second elder murmured with confusion and disbelief. Jian Chen and the spirit of the barrier had a connection? That was quite hard to believe.

“I am curious about this matter as well. It would seem that Jian Chen isn’t as normal as I thought.” Tian Jian spoke while full of questions.

……

Continuing to pursue the Saint Ruler, Jian Chen, without fail, continued to try to attack the man, much to the surprise and discussions of everyone in the streets. They were all wondering how Jian Chen had managed to escape punishment.

“What’s going on? Why hasn’t the spirit of the barrier punished you yet? Has the barrier lost its power, or is the punishment no longer in place?” The Saint Ruler could finally hold it in no longer and cried out in frustration.

Patriarch Shi’s eyes light up with a strange light as he listened to the Saint Ruler, “The barrier has to have lost its power! That’s why it hasn’t punished him yet. Jiede Tai, what are you worried about? Attack him!” With that, patriarch Shi immediately moved into action, sending a palm strike at Jian Chen.

Following the palm strike, the space around Jian Chen seemed to solidify. Jian Chen’s body was suddenly rendered unable to move. It was as if he was stuck under water. Not even a finger of his could be moved. Dodging was impossible.

Around the patriarch’s palm was a strong amount of Saint Force that continued to grow faster and faster. The space began to distort and tear around the palm as if threatening to open up a hole in space itself.

The power in this palm strike was far stronger than what a Heaven Saint Master could match even if one used a Heaven Tier Battle Skill.

However, half a step before the palm strike could make contact, a sudden beam of light came flying down from the heavens, striking him down at the speed of lightning.