The Domineering Cultivator Farmer

Chapter 4: Killing an Earth-Rank Martial Artist with a Single Slap

After chatting with the Gao sisters for a while and going out for dinner together, Fang Yun returned to his room. In the middle of the night, he suddenly sensed energy fluctuations deep within the Shennongjia Mountains. “What’s going on? Could there be an ancient martial artist in there?” Fang Yun was quite intrigued by the ancient martial artists Gao Qian had mentioned. Without even saying goodbye to Gao Qian and Lianlian, Fang Yun hurried out of the hotel, made his way to a secluded spot, activated his footwork, and darted toward the source of the energy fluctuation. “Captain, run! Don’t worry about us.” Deep within the Shennongjia Mountains, several soldiers in combat fatigues were sprinting at full speed, with a dozen or so men in black hot on their heels. Several of them were injured; one even had to be supported by two others as they ran. The one speaking was the very man being supported. “Shut up. We in the Dragon Group don’t have a habit of abandoning our brothers. If we’re going to die, we’ll die together.” The man addressed as “Captain” was a middle-aged man in his thirties with a stern expression. His face was tense as he ran, carefully scanning his surroundings. The man’s name was Zeng Yong, a squad leader in the Dragon Group. Five days earlier, he had received a mission: someone had defected with the nation’s latest energy research data, and his superiors had dispatched him and his squad to apprehend the traitor. They tracked the traitor all the way to Shennongjia, but to their surprise, the traitor had ventured deep into the mountains. As soon as Zeng Yong led his squad inside, they were ambushed. The enemy outnumbered them three to one, and every single one was at least as strong as his own men; their leader was even a top-tier Earth-level cultivator. Zeng Yong was only at the mid-Earth Realm level, and his five subordinates were all at the early Earth Realm level. Fortunately, Chen Meiting, a member of the squad, had a keen sense of danger and issued a timely warning, allowing the group to escape unscathed. Suddenly, a flash of blade light cut through the darkness. Zeng Yong parried the attack with his military dagger and immediately stumbled back several steps; his opponent also retreated a few steps. “A Japanese ninja—mid-tier Earth-level. Everyone, be careful,” Zeng Yong warned the team. However, the ninja didn’t charge forward; he was merely tying up the squad’s attention. With a swift turn, he vanished into the darkness. Sure enough, with the addition of a Middle-tier Earth-class ninja lurking in the shadows, everyone’s pace slowed as they remained on guard against threats from all sides. Before long, they were caught up and surrounded by the men in black behind them. “I didn’t expect you lot to be so tenacious. You’ve managed to run this far even while injured,” said the leader, a bearded Russian man in his forties. He was extremely tall and burly, looking like a massive bear, yet his movements were remarkably agile. He was Kolov, a top-tier Earth-rank ninja nicknamed “Black Bear,” and the group’s temporary leader. At that moment, he was watching Zeng Yong and his companions with the smug expression of a cat toying with a mouse. With only six of them—the highest-ranked being mid-tier Earth-rank, and all injured—Zeng Yong and his group were as good as dead in his eyes. Black Bear’s greatest pleasure was slowly torturing people; he got a real kick out of seeing the helpless, fearful, and desperate expressions on their faces. So he intended to have some fun with these people, letting them face death bit by bit, consumed by fear. “Hmph. If it weren’t for the fact that several of our nation’s Heaven-level masters were injured, you vermin wouldn’t have the guts to come to Huaxia and cause trouble!” The youngest girl in the group snorted coldly. Her name was Li Bing, one of the two girls in the team. At just nineteen years old, she had already reached the early stage of the Earth-level—a true prodigy in martial arts. However, her temperament was as cold as her name, earning her the nickname “Ice Beauty.” The one with the most severe injuries was Li Cheng—Li Bing’s older brother. Several people formed a small circle around Li Cheng, positioning themselves defensively. But everyone knew it was futile—the disparity in strength was too great. They were simply determined to take down as many of them as possible. Black Bear sneered, “We’re not fools. Of course we’re going to seize this opportunity to make a killing. It’s the perfect chance to weaken the strength of Huaxia’s martial artists and wipe out a large number of you middle- and young-generation fighters. Once the old man dies, let’s see how you Huaxia martial artists can keep lording it over us.” Black Bear grew more and more excited as he spoke, his face contorted into a ferocious grimace. It was no wonder—there were currently no more than ten Heaven-level martial artists in the world, and Huaxia accounted for four of them. There used to be eleven—Japan originally had two Heaven-level ninjas, but one was slain with a single stroke by the late Old Master Long Zhan, former leader of China’s Dragon Group. That battle cemented Long Zhan’s status as the foremost among Heaven-level martial artists. Coupled with the large number of Prefectural-level and Human-level martial artists in Huaxia, Huaxia’s cultivators have consistently kept cultivators from other nations in check, deterring them from setting foot in Huaxia. Now that they’ve finally seized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—with China’s Heaven-level martial artists, especially Long Zhan, all severely wounded—several nations have joined forces to send martial artists into China to stir up trouble. Japan, in particular, has been particularly active and aggressive; Japanese martial artists make up nearly half of those who’ve entered China this time, all determined to avenge the death of the Japanese Heaven Ninja at Long Zhan’s blade. This group was the first wave; as soon as they entered China, they received orders to go to Shennongjia to pick up that traitor, and they happened to run into the squad today. Just then, the Japanese ninja from earlier revealed himself. “Black Bear, cut the chatter. Take them out quickly—better to get it over with than let things drag on.” “I don’t need your input—you’re not in a position to give me orders,” Black Bear glared at him, then turned and shouted, “Brothers, let’s get to work. Take care of these guys so we can get some rest early.” Although Black Bear looked down on the Japanese ninja, he didn’t want to complicate matters, so he decided to act immediately. “Who are you guys? Are you filming a movie?” Just as the two sides were about to clash, Fang Yun arrived. Everyone present was startled—they hadn’t expected to encounter anyone else in the dead of night, deep in the Shennongjia Mountains. However, upon seeing that it was just a young man in his twenties, the foreign warriors all breathed a sigh of relief. “Yamada, go take care of him.” Black Bear waved his hand at the Japanese ninja. Yamada shot Fang Yun a cold glance, drew his katana, and walked toward him slowly. The squad members had felt a surge of hope when they first heard Fang Yun’s voice, but their hearts sank when they realized he was alone. After all, anyone daring to show up here in the dead of night was definitely no ordinary person. Judging by his voice, he was Chinese—they’d thought reinforcements had arrived. But what good was a single person—especially one in his twenties? It would be a waste to sacrifice the life of another Chinese martial artist for nothing, even if he were at the peak of the Earth Realm. After all, in everyone’s understanding, the youngest martial artist to reach the Heaven Realm—Long Zhan—hadn’t advanced until he was fifty. “Run! They’re foreign martial artists—they’ve come to China specifically to kill our Chinese martial artists,” Chen Meiting shouted to Fang Yun. “Martial artists? From abroad? To kill our Chinese martial artists?” Fang Yun began to grasp what was going on. As he watched the Japanese ninja approaching, a flash of murderous intent crossed his eyes. Although Fang Yun wasn’t a hot-headed youth, he harbored a deep-seated loathing for Japan—a country that remained unrepentant and constantly provoked China. In the past, lacking the strength to act, he could only vent his frustration with words, but now he didn’t mind teaching them a lesson. Five meters in front of Fang Yun, Yamada suddenly raised his katana and roared, “Wind-Cutting Slash!” “Cut my head off, my ass!” Fang Yun raised his hand like lightning. With a loud “smack,” a fierce slap landed squarely on Yamada’s face. Since it was his first time fighting someone, Fang Yun couldn’t help but use more force than intended. Yamada was sent flying ten meters through the air by the slap. With a “pfft,” he spat out a mouthful of blood, fell to the ground, rolled over twice, and lay motionless. That single slap instantly stunned everyone present. “Yamada!” Another Japanese ninja among the foreign martial artists rushed over to help Yamada up. Upon seeing his condition, he shouted, “Bastard, I’ll make you pay for Yamada’s life!” He drew his katana and charged at Fang Yun. Without a moment’s hesitation, the scene from earlier played out once again. “He’s dead… Ugh… A single slap killed an Earth-Rank martial artist. Could he be… a Heaven-Rank martial artist? And it would take at least a mid-tier Heaven-Rank martial artist to dispatch a mid-tier Earth-Rank martial artist so easily.” This thought involuntarily crossed everyone’s mind. As soon as they realized this, the foreign martial artists were overcome with terror and shouted, “Run!” Everyone turned and fled as fast as they could. “Senior, we can’t let them get away—otherwise, it’ll cause endless trouble later,” Zeng Yong called out to Fang Yun. As soon as he finished speaking, he gave chase after the fleeing foreign martial artists. As for the rest of the squad, they had already caught up; at this point, even Li Cheng was ignoring his serious injuries. After being hunted down for most of the night, everyone was seething with anger. Now that they had such a golden opportunity to kick a man when he’s down, why wouldn’t they give it their all? However, in the face of Fang Yun, a Yuanling-stage cultivator, it was impossible for these men to escape. Five minutes later, every single foreign martial artist had been slaughtered—even scattering to flee was of no use.