Infinite Fighting

Chapter 59: Chapter 54: Seeing Wang Quan Again

Dressed in slightly dirty clothes, Zhang Ji walked along a small path.

He had fully mastered his Five Elements Fist and could now unleash a true Five Forms in One.

This was on top of his mastered Iron Body Skill, True Qi Nourishing Spirit Skill, and the Waterfall combat technique.

He now effectively had eight (Fine)-grade combat crystals on him.

Even without using Five Forms in One, he would struggle to find a worthy opponent at the Grandmaster level.

And when he did use Five Forms in One, he could get infinitely close to B-rank.

Of course, it was only *infinitely close*.

Aside from the single blast of primordial qi from his Divine Dragon Stance, which could match the power of a B-rank master’s attack, his other abilities were still far too lacking.

Leaving the small path, he followed a main road for half a day before the outline of a town came into view.

He didn’t show himself rashly. Instead, he observed for a while, then tore off a piece of his shirt to use as a scarf, covering his face before entering the town.

To evade his pursuers, he had tossed all his electronic devices, including his phone, and he wasn’t carrying any money.

At this moment, he was worse off than a beggar.

At the bus stop, there was an electronic screen for checking routes. You could see the buses’ destinations and view a map.

Zhang Ji walked up to it, and a few people waiting nearby quickly moved away, apparently put off by the smell coming from him.

He had been eating raw food, hadn’t showered in ages, and had been engaging in strenuous exercise. Moreover, as a Martial Artist, his metabolism was faster than an ordinary person’s, making the odor impossible to hide.

But Zhang Ji didn’t care.

After looking at the map, he figured out his location.

If he remembered correctly, Elder Wang Quan and the others were still in Lianshui City, helping the remaining disciples.

Over the years, the Five Elements Sect had trained tens of thousands of disciples.

With so many people, they definitely couldn’t get everyone out at once.

Of course, not everyone wanted to leave.

So, they would only take those who wanted to go.

Zhang Ji wanted to go find them and leave the Eastern Extreme Country together.

Although he felt his current strength was already formidable, he also understood that even if he reached B-rank, directly confronting a state power like the Eastern Extreme Country would be incredibly foolish.

Besides, he was still a considerable distance away from B-rank.

Even if he ignored everything else and just tried to casually gather the last two (Fine) crystals, it would take at least a month under the current circumstances.

’What am I supposed to do with myself for that month?’

And even if he did reach B-rank.

If the Eastern Extreme Country was truly determined to kill him, they had plenty of ways to do it.

As long as he exposed his location, and as long as they were willing.

They wouldn’t mind a few civilian casualties; he would be bombed to smithereens along with them.

The Eastern Extreme Country had done such things before.

It was highly likely they would do it again now.

They wouldn’t even need missiles or anything like that. The Eastern Extreme Country had other weapons that could take his life.

Sonic weapons, electromagnetic cannons, supersonic drones... or maybe even some alchemical bioweapons.

Zhang Ji knew very well that the Eastern Extreme Country definitely possessed all these things.

It was just that before, it hadn’t been worth using such toys against him.

But if he really reached B-rank, the enemy would certainly assess his threat level in a very short time.

And the outcome would be obvious.

He couldn’t kill all the higher-ups, but the moment he made a move, he would expose his position.

Then, the other side would decisively employ extreme measures to eliminate him.

’Is this place over five hundred kilometers from Lianshui City?’ Zhang Ji muttered to himself.

Then he glanced at a nearby security camera and quickly disappeared.

He had a feeling his meager disguise wouldn’t be very effective in this information age, but it was the best he could do.

「That night.」

Zhang Ji had changed his clothes, taken a shower, eaten a full meal, and left the small town.

Of course, he hadn’t paid for the clothes or the meal, because he had no money.

However, he left a piece of deer antler at each place, worth about a thousand yuan, which was roughly equivalent to what he had consumed. It was something he had been saving as a medicinal supplement to replenish his Qi and Blood.

It wasn’t that he was particularly moral. It was just that when he took from the weak, he preferred to do it to their face. This kind of sneaky behavior was only something he resorted to out of necessity.

In other words, Zhang Ji approved of robbing someone face-to-face; it aligned with the law of the jungle.

But stealing made him feel ashamed.

Especially stealing from someone so weak.

If he were stealing from someone stronger than him, he probably wouldn’t have minded as much.

...

「The Xian Mountain Sect.」

Xiong Mingxu stared at his junior brother’s body, his face filled with disbelief.

’He lost! Even while wearing an exoskeleton, he was defeated in a single move?’

The gap in their strength was something he couldn’t accept.

’After all, in my mind, Zhang Ji was no match for Li Long—not even close!’

He was merely wary of Li Long, not afraid of him, let alone Zhang Ji.

Yet now, the truth was that this upstart, Zhang Ji, was stronger—perhaps even strong enough to kill him in a single blow.

Before he had much time to grieve, another order arrived from the Lin family.

"The people from the Five Elements Sect are all in Lianshui City now. Also, that True Disciple who killed your junior brother, Zhang Ji, should be heading there as well. He’ll arrive in the next two days... We hope the Xian Mountain Sect won’t make the wrong choice."

"I need help! They’re incredibly strong!" Xiong Mingxu said into his phone.

The person on the other end was silent for a long time before finally giving an answer.

"Fine!"

...

「January 5th.」

Zhang Ji walked the streets of Lianshui City, a thick scarf covering most of his face and a flat cap on his head.

His hair had now grown long enough to hang over his shoulders, and the faint beginnings of a beard were visible on his chin.

’Come to think of it, this body of mine is already seventeen, isn’t it?’

’In that case, it’s normal to be growing a beard.’

Zhang Ji rubbed his chin. The feeling of just two or three whiskers there was a little awkward.

Outside the station, Zhang Ji saw a strange piece of graffiti in the shape of a crane. Its beak was pointing in a specific direction.

It was an ancient method of communication for the Five Elements Sect, one that hadn’t been used in who knows how many years.

’It’s pretty interesting that it’s being used again now.’

Following the direction of the crane’s beak for some distance, Zhang Ji saw more graffiti. After weaving through a few streets, he made eye contact with a noodle stall owner.

"A bowl of noodles, please," Zhang Ji said.

"Life’s five flavors are difficult," the stall owner said to Zhang Ji. "What flavor would you like?"

"What flavors do you have?" Zhang Ji asked.

"Sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and salty. We have them all," the stall owner replied.

The five flavors here corresponded to the disciples of a particular hall.

"I’ll try a bowl of salty," Zhang Ji said.

Zhang Ji was referring to the Dragon Hall.

"You’re out of luck, we’re all sold out of salty..." the stall owner said.

The Dragon Hall had long since vanished, existing in name only. The stall owner was clearly a bit skeptical.

"Enough with the codes. It’s me!"

Zhang Ji couldn’t take it anymore and pulled down his scarf, revealing his face.

"Uh, I don’t recognize you!" the stall owner said, looking a little confused.

Zhang Ji raised an eyebrow, feeling a bit speechless. He then pulled a token from an inner pocket of his clothes and showed it to him.

It was the True Disciple token that Li Long had given him back on Shanli Island.

In this day and age, the token’s symbolic value far outweighed its practical use.

After all, everyone’s status was recorded directly in electronic files.

Zhang Ji had never imagined there would actually come a day when he would need to use this thing.

"A True Disciple?" The stall owner was dumbfounded. He took out a few photos to compare and then said, "Master Zhang, what are you doing here?"

"Something happened. I couldn’t get away. Didn’t you guys get the news?" Zhang Ji asked, confused.

"No, we didn’t hear a thing. We thought you had already left the country," the stall owner said.

"Let’s not talk here. Take me to Elder Wang," Zhang Ji said.

"Yes, yes, of course."

The stall owner nodded, quickly packed up his stall, and led Zhang Ji away from the area.

After taking a roundabout route, they went down through an underpass and arrived at an underground shopping mall.

Inside the mall, in a gym, Zhang Ji saw the current members of the Five Elements Sect.

Wang Quan and Liu Shan were both there, along with many other Five Elements Sect disciples, who were all working out.

Seeing this, Zhang Ji understood a few things.

The news about Li Long assassinating the council member hadn’t reached them yet.

The government hadn’t even released a single news report.

As a result, Wang Quan and Liu Shan thought that after the Five Elements Sect surrendered its interests, the government was still willing to let them live. They were actively gathering disciples, preparing to take more people with them to develop abroad.

This was clearly not right.

’The government is probably planning to wipe them all out in one go!!’

Zhang Ji cupped his fist in thanks to the stall owner who brought him, then strode forward, walking up to where Wang Quan was instructing a disciple.

"Elder!" Zhang Ji called out.

"You are?" Wang Quan asked, looking at Zhang Ji.

Zhang Ji pulled down his scarf and said, "It’s me, Elder Wang. I have something to tell you."

"Zhang Ji? How are you...?"

Wang Quan’s expression was one of shock.

As far as he knew, Zhang Ji had already fled the country with Li Long and the others, but now he was seeing him here.

’What about Li Long and the others?’

"Practice on your own for a bit."

Wang Quan said to the disciple, then pulled Zhang Ji further inside.

Soon, the two of them reached a private room.

Liu Shan was called in as well.

"What’s going on? Why didn’t you leave?" Liu Shan asked Zhang Ji.

"This is what happened. That day, Master left..."

Zhang Ji did his best to objectively describe the whole incident of Li Long’s assassination of the council member, as well as what happened after he and Zheng Chengze broke through the encirclement.

After listening, Liu Shan and Wang Quan looked at each other, both filled with disbelief.

"If you want to know if it’s true, you two Elders just need to have a disciple still in North Creek City go and check," Zhang Ji said.

"We’ll go verify it. It’ll take twenty minutes at most. You just sit here for a while," Liu Shan said.

Then the two of them left quickly.

Zhang Ji sat in the private room, his gaze deep as he fell into thought.

’The situation here is different from what I imagined.’

’I thought everyone was struggling to evade the government’s pursuit, barely managing to find a place to hide.’

’Who would have thought they’d be hiding out so brazenly in a gym like this?’

’If anything happens in a place like this, they’ll have almost nowhere to run.’

About half an hour later, Wang Quan returned.

"Get ready to move. The boat is tonight. We’re leaving now!"

His terse command said it all.

Wang Quan and Liu Shan had confirmed that Zhang Ji’s information was true.

That meant they could no longer stay here.

Were they supposed to just keep leisurely gathering disciples like before, waiting for the government to swoop in and wipe them all out?

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!