24 Two Vs One(1)

-Jiang Jie Vs. -

"Jiang Chao!?" the lady exclaimed in surprise. He was the last person she expected to see here. Not to mention this was a secluded place, there was a secret formation drawn on the door. It was not something a weak brat under Soul Tempering realm could hope to open, let alone come inside. Moreover, it was impossible that he would come this close to them without either one noticing.

"Who are you? Wearing the face of my family member, you got some guts alright? Now, speak who are you, before I sent you to the other world." The lady instantly responded as a thick wave of black mist emanated from her. The other cloaked person also responded similar to her, with the same type of black cloud emanating from him/her. They both took a defensive position as they looked at Jiang Jie seriously.

At the same time, they used their 'Soul sense' an ability one gain after forming their core to scan Jie.

"EH! What? his cultivation is only at 9th stage Body tempering realm!" the cloaked person shouted in surprise. At the same time, he felt embarrassment bubbling up in his heart. He, a venerated cultivator who could even squash Core formation stage cultivators like a bug, spooked by a mere 9th stage body cultivation realm! If people of his circle hear about this, they won't let him have a nice sleep at night.

The serene smile on the brat's face didn't help the situation at all. On the contrary, the cloaked man literally exploded in anger. Unable to control himself, he leaped at Jie with his right hand raised high to give him a tight slap and sent him flying. He could have used his qi to injure him directly, but he wanted to feel the flesh of the brat in his own hands.

"Wait!" disregarding the lady's shout, he approached Jie in a flash. Glaring at him, he shouted "You damn brat! How dare you trick this father?"

As he swung his hand and was about to land it on Jie's cheeks, suddenly the man felt like a tremendous amount of counterforce generating below his palms before it exploded. The counter force collided with his momentum and caused a shockwave that threw him several meters away from Jie.

"Aah!" the man in the cloak screamed as he felt like his arms were turned to paste by something heavy. It's like he punched a heavy steel wall with his bare hands, without using any qi. It's not until a few dozens of meters did he stabilized himself. Looking down, he found his right arm indeed bent into a weird angle; bruises were rapidly forming due to blood clots. Biting back another scream of pain, he circulated his qi and healed his wounds.

Although it relieved the pain, the hand still remained useless due to his bone being broken. Looking at Jie who was still smiling as nothing happened, he wondered 'Is it a treasure? A defensive treasure? But, how can a Body tempering brat use a treasure? It doesn't add up! Unless one opens their sea of consciousness and starts tempering their soul, they won't gain Soul sense ability. Without Soul sense ability, it was useless even if one has a heaven-defying treasure. What the hell is happening here? Did this brat suppress his cultivation?'

The man in black cloak felt dizzy as he couldn't think of a valid reason for his wounds. All he felt before he sent flying was a massive amount of counterforce coming out of nowhere and impacting against his palm. The next moment, he was already a dozen of meter away with his hand broken and bent like a piece of junk metal rod.

He threw a glance at the lady who was equally stunned as him, albeit without the injury. Like him, she also thought if it was due to a hidden treasure or not. They were both clear about his mother' status. Although it was being said that she didn't have any relation with the kid since the day she had given birth, but who could say for sure that if it was true or not.

Thinking this, the lady narrowed her eyes and started "Are you really Jiang Chao?" actually this was what she wanted to know all this time. Her carefully laid plan was failed, not only this Jiang Chao walked out of the trap unharmed, he didn't have a single scratch on his body. Personally, she felt insulted as it was a challenge to her wisdom and stratagem.

Looking at her, Jie smiled and walked forward before until he reached near the chair that the lady was using earlier to sit. Calmly sitting on it, he stretched his legs before speaking: "Frankly speaking, your plan was really perfect. At least perfect for someone at the level of Jiang Chao. You should be happy, you have succeeded in killing the Jiang Chao past. Congratulations. The 'me' in front of you and the Chao you knew, we are two different people now."

If one thinks about it, it was clear enough. Then again, it was filled with hidden meanings. It depends upon the listener on what they want to believe. If they think that he and Chao were two different people, then that's hitting the nail directly. If not, then that's also good. Either way, he didn't care if these people learn about truth or not. From this day on, they were going to play the role of villain for him.

"Huh! What do you mean? Whatever, either you are Chao or not, don't think that treasure could protect you forever. Now, that you have come to this den of tigers, don't think of going back alive." The lady snorted coldly and then turned towards the cloaked man.

"Qianjin, let's unite our strength. Its seems the treasure with this brat is a bit special. I am sure, if we work together, we can make that thing useless in a few minutes. Come and help me!"

"Yes, my lady." The man nodded affirmatively and came towards the lady in a flash.

"Hahaha! You guys! What are you misunderstanding? Treasure? What rubbish you are blabbering? I ain't have any treasure. This is all natural!! By the way, let's make a deal-" before he even finished what he was about to say, a pinkish transparent sword apparition already reached him, aiming at his eye. He just calmly leaned back and let it pass in front of him.

The sword apparition sailed past him and a tore down a few bamboos shoots behind him before going out with a muffled boom. Jie flipped his eye at them both and said "you guys, listen to me when I am talking. What are you hasty for?"

But Jie's words fell into deaf ears when the hooded man appeared above him, holding a glowing red sword. He looked at Jie's eyes and snorted "Don't think you are the only one with a powerful treasure! I also have one!"

As the man swung his sword at Jie, a powerful sword qi generated from his sword and moved fast at Jie's heart. At the same time, another qi emerged and went for his head. The original sword also aimed for his heart. The cloaked man firmly believed that with this triple frontier attack from him, the treasure would inevitably fail to protect him completely.

Facing three attacks at point blank, even Jiang Jie had to tread carefully. Although his barrier could sustain pretty heavy hits, he was still unsure if it could endure an all-out attack from a powerful person like this hooded figure. Back then when he fought with Old Monster Ye, he had already formed a thin film of [Dimensional Barrier] atop his body to sent all kind of offensive forces into another dimension. It's his ultimate defense strategy.

Right now though, he hadn't formed a [Dimensional Barrier]. He only had a default barrier on which every ESPer would conjure subconsciously. He was unsure if that could sustain these deadly looking sword lights or not, being careful was the best strategy.

With a wave of his hands, he slowed down the time to one-tenth of its original speed and cleanly avoided every single sword lights before, grabbing into the face of the cloaked man. Nonetheless, for the current him, everything was as slow as a snail.

"Ha!" with a shout, he slammed the man into the ground, creating a huge crater and forming fissures.