Chapter 64: To Test One's Strength
During Xu Min’s travels, no matter where he had gone, he had always met with both hostility and hospitality. Only in Honghe City, where he had spent years with his master Wang Li, he had never felt any hostility towards him, but he never knew this was due to the protection of his master.
When he left on his journey, he met Cao Cao and his family. They were very kind towards him. Although they did force him to travel with Cao Cao, none of them wanted to take his life. They even allowed him to take the herbs of his liking from their beautiful grounds.
The snakes hospitality counterbalanced with the cultivator in the forest he had the life and death encounter with. This was the first time he had been forced to fight to the death, and it had been an immense tempering of both his mind and body.
Reaching Ri Chu City, he had felt a great hostility from everyone apart from the Yong family who had taken good care of him. he had learned to repay kindness with kindness and enmity with death at Ri Chu.
Further on in the Ruins of the Immortals, he had encountered both kindness and enmity. Now,once more, he had arrived in a large city, and he had been shown great friendship. Nevertheless, when he was shown friendship, he knew to expect hostility. The two never came without each other..
The time had come. He had gone to town on his own to buy some items to prepare for the Immortal Valley's Ranking, but he could not avoid the people who viewed him differently.
"What can I do for you?" he asked casually. The smile on his face made him seem approachable, but his eyes emitted a warning to stay away.. Those who wished to approach had to be willing to suffer death.
"We heard about a new participant in the Immortal Valley Rankings," one of the young men said, stepping forward one step and smiling at Xu Min in a friendly manner.
"We were curious about this new participant, so when we heard that you were in town we rushed over to see with our own eyes what our competition is like. Who would have thought that you would turn into an external expert?" he mockingly laughed.
"Clearly you already knew that," Xu Min retorted casually. He cracked his neck, completely ignoring the people in front of him who were three-star Warriors and their entourage of one and two-star Warriors behind them.
"If you had not known how would you have found me?" he question sarcastically. The question completely stumped the one who had been talking. His face turned slightly malicious as he understood that Xu Min was making fun of him.
"I am here to see just how outstanding you are," he said with a shrill voice. "I heard you could defeat that weakling from the Bu family, but that does not mean anything to me. All of us could have defeated him."
"Well, good for you. If you have nothing more important to say, then stop blocking my way. I need to return to train." Xu Min bluntly stated. The smile on his face had disappeared. He was just annoyed now. The real killing intent was surging throughout his body. He was no longer interested in this conversation and wished to finish it as soon as possible.
"I am here to test you," the young man continued, "but you are a weak external expert. I won’t even use my own hands as I fear that you will die, and I don't want to be responsible for your pathetic death As well, that would be bad for me since the Bu family values you so greatly. Song Hu go and play with this young man!" the young man called out. One of the guards behind him stepped forward.
'Cao Cao, you're up!' Xu Min asserted. Xu Min stood as before.His arms were crossed over his chest, and the sword was on his back. He did not move an inch;yet, two seconds after a bloodcurdling scream resounded throughout the market.,The guard known as Song Hu collapsed on the ground. Foaming at the mouth, his eyes stared into oblivion as the pupils shrunk and turned dim.
"Sorry, I could not control my strength. Why did you think to send out such a weak guard?" Xu Min said sarcastically.He kept standing the way in the same position. The action caused everyone present to gulp, and their faces turned white.
All of them saw Xu Min had not moved. He had not even unsheathed his sword. However, he had somehow killed one of the strongest guards within the Lin family.
Because Cao Cao did not cancel his shroud of darkness, no one could see his movements. It had taken him one second to reach the guard, and one second to return to Xu Min's neck.
Xu Min looked at the many people in front of him and sighed. "if you really want to test my strength all of you need to come at me at once. If you truly chose to do this, though, then do not blame me for being ruthless. I will slaughter all who decides to test me." he carelessly explained. .
After the last city fighting a life and death battle, Xu Min was no longer the same simple cultivator he had been before. His body remembered the fight, and it had heightened his senses. His eyes were sharper; his movements were quicker, and his killing intent had risen dramatically. He no longer spared people who were going against him. Anyone who posed a threat would die. Only then could he succeed in moving forward.
"Now now, let us allrelax," a second young man pleaded. He looked at the young master Lin who was fuming with anger and clearly considered giving the sign to attack. "We are not here to insult you young man, but please understand the Immortal Valley's Ranking is important for all of us. We need to know what our opponents are like. I am sure we all found your techniques outstanding, so I suggest we end the test here. You thoroughly surprised us."
Taking a step back was currently the most beneficial thing to do. Xu Min had proven his strength,even in a way no one could question. Nonetheless,the Lin family had just lost an important guard, and they were not likely to accept this loss.
"Fine Fine. Who would have expected you were capable of such attacks, so swift we couldn’t see anything. How could we question your level of strength?" the Lin young master said through his gritted teeth. Though he was furious, he understood their only had a chance was if all of them charged at Xu Min at once. Hearing the other young masters’ comments, it was clear that they had no intention of joining in on such an assault.
"Xu Min!" a voice suddenly cut through the tense air. Shui Wu came rushing from the side. Her usually pale face contained traces of red tint in her cheeks, and her breathing was hurried. It was clear that she had rushed here as quickly as she could.
"Xu Min are you okay?" she asked. She was very worried since she remembered her master’s words about Xu Min.. A man who had sworn never to take a disciple had taken this young man as a disciple. The value of this one individual was clear. Even to Bu Huang, Xu Min was as important as his own sons.
After looking Xu Min all over, Shui Wu finally heaved a heavy sigh of relief. There were no signs of him having been injured. Then her eyes fell on the ground and the dead body laying next to her.
Her face instantly turned pale. She felt like hammering her head against a wall. Although she had found Xu Min, it seemed that she was too slow to avoid danger.
"Miss Shui, Seeing you this frantic, who would have thought that this young man meant so much to the Bu family? Is he a long lost son or is there some other reason as to why he is so important?"
The question the person asked was one which everyone was now curious about, but Shui Wu just glared at him silently. "Although it is our fault that Song Hu has died, we cannot take the entire blame. Three young masters intently ganged up one individual, knowing what the consequences might be. l. What righteous young masters they are!" she mocked. Her words struck them all, causing their faces to turn slightly pale.
The fight had caused many citizens to stop and watch. The entire ground outside the shop was filled to the brim. As soon as Shui Wu had finished talking, her words had caused everyone present to start mumbling to one another. Thirty guards and three young masters had indeed ganged up on one individual. However, this young man had not cowered in fear. Instead, he had stood strong, even killing one of the Lin family's guards after he warned them of the consequences of confronting him.
The three young masters’ faces increasingly turned sour as they heard from commoners on how shameless they attacked. They had lost face, not only because Xu Min had not shown them any respect, but also because the people surrounding them truly felt that they were cowardly, ganging up on one expert who was even of a lower rank than them.
"This is all a misunderstanding!" The young man explained once more with a smile on his face, "I don't understand why Lin Dong was so eager to test out this young man, but the three of us were having fun in town. Then we saw this new participant, and we were just curious about his strength. We never intended to gang up on him; it was all coincidence," he tried to argue, but the damage had already been done.
"I will take my leave now. I have what I need." the third young master said. He had been quiet this whole time, and of the three, he was the one Xu Min had been observing the most. He was a four-star Warrior whereas the other two were three-star Warriors. He had an oppressive air around him. He was definitely not an easy target.
The second young master also decided it was time to go, seeing the third young master leaving. "It was a pleasure to meet you Xu Min. Shui Wu as always a pleasure to see you, but I think it is the time I take my leave. A misunderstanding has already happened, and I do not wish to make it any worse." he nonchalantly expressed.
Even though these two experts had lost some face, it was nothing compared to Lin Dong. He had both lost a guard and his self-respect. He had claimed he could kill Xu Min by mistake, only then to suffer a loss of his favorite guard.
"Take Song Hu with us," he ordered the group of guards behind him and with a last venomous look at Xu Min he spat out the words, "I will see you at the Immortal Valley Rankings." before he too turned to leave.
Xu Min just stood back; his arms still crossed over his chest.His eyes as alert as ever before.s He stared at all of them until they vanished from his sight.
"Thank you, Shui Wu, for assisting me with these three young masters," he laughed afterwards as his arms went behind his head. He started whistling while walking towards the Bu family mansion once more.