Shocking the Nine Heavens With My Sword
Chapter 171 - 166: Tsundere Missy (2/5, asking for monthly passes)

Chapter 171: Chapter 166: Tsundere Missy (2/5, asking for monthly passes)

Fang Xiwen was indeed a beautiful woman, but Zhou Heng could not see any points of attraction in her that drew him in. Her beauty did not match Mei Yixiang’s, her physique was inferior to Gu Zi’s, her charm was less captivating than Xiao Huoshui’s, and her playful innocence could not even be mentioned in the same breath as Lin Fuxiang’s.

Only if he had consumed several hundred jin of aphrodisiac, leaving his senses in disarray, would he ever consider touching such a woman!

"Rest assured, I’m not interested in you!" Zhou Heng calmly said, "You can leave now!" His expression was cold, and he secretly thought that if Xiao Huoshui had not gone to nap in Mei Yixiang’s carriage, Fang Xiwen would naturally feel ashamed in the presence of such true beauties, and would cease her pointless chatter.

Fang Xiwen sneered, saying, "I’ve seen plenty of your kind trying to play hard to get. Let me tell you, you have no chance!" She increasingly found Zhou Heng loathsome, actually resorting to such crass and tasteless tactics.

Zhou Heng could not help but laugh, finding this woman delusional.

With a single gesture, an exquisitely crafted chair suddenly appeared out of thin air. He kicked away a stone at his feet, placed the chair down, and seated himself comfortably, saying, "Since you’re not planning to leave, and I am usually hospitable, feel free to do as you please!"

Fang Xiwen was almost driven mad. This crude man actually settled himself into the chair, leaving her, a delicate young lady, to sit on a cold, hard stone?

However, this man actually possessed a space artifact!

Her eyes lit up. Space artifacts were extremely rare treasures, even her own brother had only recently been favored by a powerful force, gaining possession of a space artifact!

The space inside that space artifact was merely a cubic zhang in size and equally high, and was treasured immensely by Fang Heqing.

Yet Zhou Heng actually used a space artifact to store a chair!

This revelation shocked Fang Xiwen and even angered her, exasperated by such wasteful misuse of a treasure! She wished she could snatch that space artifact away and hand it to her brother, as only in Fang Heqing’s hands would it truly demonstrate its intended use!

Yes, it must be seized, not allowing this youth to squander it!

It suddenly "dawned" on Fang Xiwen what her brother had intended. It was all for the space artifact on Zhou Heng’s person! Hmph, this wastrel, depending on his connection with a Heaven-Opening Realm expert, dared to treat treasures so carelessly!

First, steal the treasure, then expose this youth’s misdeeds, and let An Luochen see the true colors of this flirtatious scoundrel, and kick him as far away as possible!

For a moment, Fang Xiwen felt a surge of fighting spirit, filled with an immense desire to battle.

Zhou Heng had not expected that simply fetching a chair from the Nine Mystic Trial Tower for a bit of comfort would spark such wild associations in Fang Xiwen. He closed his eyes to feign sleep, yet his mind was fixated on the ore vein beneath his feet.

The Black Sword had some faint movements, probably due to the distance, the response was not very strong. But he was certain that there was a treasure nearby that could provoke a reaction from the Black Sword!

Master Jian had become increasingly discerning, with very few things capable of eliciting a reaction from the Black Sword since the last time in the Nine Mystic Trial Tower, which was undoubtedly worthy of its reaction. Now, at last, there was another response.

What in the spirit stone mine vein could be causing such a reaction from the Black Sword? After much thought, Zhou Heng had only one answer—it must be a Spirit Core!

There really was a Spirit Core here!

Zhou Heng’s heart raced. Now, with many experts gathered in the area, it was not wise for him to sneak off; otherwise, he would be too conspicuous. An empty tent could easily be discovered by the Divine Sense of any expert!

However, others could not be certain whether there was a Spirit Core here—according to normal circumstances, it was impossible for one to form in this location. Thus, individuals like Nangong Changkong, while hopeful, would not place all their bets on it, seeing tangible spirit stones as more realistic.

Therefore, after deciding the ownership of the remaining sixty percent of the mine vein, all the experts would naturally return home. The mine was so vast it would take at least ten years to excavate fully, who could say where to start searching for the Spirit Core?

Who had that much spare time!

If a Spirit Core really appeared, it would doubtlessly trigger a bloody battle, but now no Heaven-Opening Realm expert would squander their energy needlessly.

"Hey, I’m talking to you!" Fang Xiwen, whether Zhou Heng was truly asleep or pretending, was considerably upset by his apparent disregard for her, thinking he was playing hard to get excessively.

"Go on, I’m listening!" Zhou Heng did not even open his eyes, curious to see what tricks this woman could come up with, and later share with Xiao Huoshui, Lin Fuxiang, and others for a good laugh.

"Listen, since my brother holds you in high regard, I have decided to give you a chance too!" Fang Xiwen said arrogantly, "But, if you want to impress me, you need to put in some hard work. I’m not someone who is easily moved!"

"First, you must obey my commands; if I say go east, you can’t go west, where you stand, you cannot sit!"

"Second, without my permission, you can’t even think about me. Those dirty thoughts for even a moment are an insult to me!"

"Third..."

She listed over ten regulations for Zhou Heng, all asserting that everything Zhou Heng owned was hers, every word and every action must follow her command, and only upon meeting these conditions would he truly earn the right to pursue Fang Xiwen.

Zhou Heng couldn’t help but laugh, opening his eyes and saying, "Are you looking for a man or a pet?"

"Others wish for the chance, yet I wouldn’t even offer them the opportunity!" Fang Xiwen felt quite good about herself. Indeed, as the young lady of the Fang Family and given Fang Heqing’s exceptional nature, his charismatic personality had attracted a plethora of martial artists who willingly obeyed him. This made Fang Xiwen feel noble and in no way inferior to the princesses and noble ladies of the Imperial Capital, so naturally, she didn’t see Zhou Heng, also from the Initial Separation Realm, as anything significant.

Zhou Heng shook his head, smiling, "Alright, I’ll come to understand it slowly!" He just found it all very amusing.

"Hmph, that’s more like it!" Fang Xiwen lifted her slender neck proudly and strode out of the tent, heading towards the Water Origin Country camp. Just as she was about to leave the Cold Blue Country camp, she saw a woman whose charm was indescribable, approaching her gracefully, as if made of water, delicate and luscious, causing even Fang Xiwen, a woman herself, to behold her with a compassionate gaze.

This was indeed a natural stunner, possessing a face suitable for joy and wrath, beauty on her face, allure in her bones!

Fang Xiwen felt a regret of not being born a man, watching that calamitous woman walk away and unavoidably feeling inferior. It took a long time for her heart to settle as she returned to the Water Origin Country camp.

That striking beauty was naturally Xiao Huoshui. Unfortunately, Fang Xiwen did not see her entering Zhou Heng’s tent, otherwise her confidence would have surely crumbled, knowing that Zhou Heng was not playing hard to get, but genuinely disdained her.

A day later, the remaining experts from the two countries arrived, hailing from Baidian Country’s Huaying Sect and Tuluuo Country’s Sanyuan Sect.

With everyone present and being busy people, none had time to waste. The decision was made to start the contest the next day.

The rules were simple, a draw of lots, with the lots marked with the letters A, B, C, and D. ’A’ would fight against ’B,’ and ’C’ against ’D.’ Then, the winners of these two fights would face each other, and the one who won both matches would earn a tenth of the spirit stone mine.

No one could draw lots for someone else; each person must draw and fight on their own. The four nations mutually supervised this, and violators would be considered to have directly lost that round.

This introduced an element of gambling, strategizing to avoid strong opponents, as all four nations could not produce six warriors from the Heaven-Opening Realm. If someone from the Heaven-Opening Realm encountered three from the Land Cleaving Realm, it would be an absolute domination, a sure victory!

Of course, these chances were incredibly slim, but even encountering one could save strength and give an overwhelming advantage in the subsequent battle.

Thus, this required not only strength but also fortune.

For instance, if two individuals were equally matched but one had just endured a fierce battle, depleting a substantial amount of spiritual power, while the other had easily overcome a weak opponent from the Land Cleaving Realm, the scales of victory would no longer be balanced.

The first round of drawing lots had begun, with An Luochen taking to the field first, drawing an opponent from Baidian Country who was also from the Heaven-Opening Realm. However, this wasn’t a disadvantage since all four nations wanted a victorious start, with all deploying their strongest Heaven-Opening Realm experts, hence there were no easy targets.

The two fights began simultaneously, and as soon as both battles concluded, the winner’s match would begin immediately. Thus, the quicker one defeated their opponent, the more time they would have to rest and regain their strength.

With two matches and four Heaven-Opening Realm experts simultaneously unleashing their full battle power, the longer the time dragged on, the less favorable it became, with everyone eager to swiftly defeat their opponents and secure more rest time.

An Luochen won the first fight, but lost the second. Not because his opponent was stronger, but because he had exhausted too much strength in the previous battle and had to concede after a bitter struggle.

This was not a fight to the death, after all; there was no need for mutually assured destruction.

The second match saw Liu Qingxuan take action, unfortunately encountering the strongest Heaven-Opening Realm warrior from Tuluuo Country and losing the first battle, thus missing the chance to fight in the winners’ match. The third fight involved Nangong Changkong, the fourth Xiao Yuheng, and the fifth Tian Junzi.

Cold Blue Country’s luck reached a miserable low, with none of their five Heaven-Opening Realm experts managing to achieve two victories in both battles. Even the strongest, Nangong Changkong, had the potential, but he met the strongest expert from Huaying Sect. Despite a fierce battle, he ultimately lost by a slight disadvantage.

As Zhou Heng was preparing for the sixth match, he did not stand with Xiao Huoshui and Mei Yixiang. Instead, he was resting with his eyes closed when Fang Heqing squeezed his way over.

"Brother Zhou, it looks like Cold Blue Country will only secure a tenth of the spirit stone mining rights!" he whispered, careful not to anger Nangong Changkong and others, "Brother Zhou, why not join Water Origin Country, and together we can conquer the world?"

Zhou Heng knew Fang Heqing had intentions of recruiting him, but hadn’t expected him to voice it at this moment. He chuckled, "Brother Fang, this isn’t the time, I still have a battle to fight!"

"What?" After a moment’s pause, Fang Heqing burst out laughing, thinking that Zhou Heng was using this as a polite refusal. He hadn’t really expected Zhou Heng to readily accept his offer and thus wasn’t too disappointed.

However, Zhou Heng suddenly stood up and walked briskly towards the middle of the valley. Though his pace seemed calm, each step he took covered at least a hundred meters, instantly reaching the valley center designated as the battlefield.

Even with Fang Heqing’s intellect, he was somewhat stunned. Was Zhou Heng really entering the arena? (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote and support on Qidian.com. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)