When the tall man hit the ground with a heavy thud, his lifeless eyes staring blankly upward.
Xiao Fei dropped onto the dirt like his legs had given out. His mouth opened but nothing came out except a sharp gasp. His hands dug into the soil, fingers clawing at the ground like he needed something solid to hold onto.
He was only eighteen. Just a village kid who had spent his entire life knowing little beyond the small world he grew up in. He had never seen a person killed before, let alone witnessed something so brutal.
In that moment, the reality of the cultivation world once again struck him harder than anything he had ever known.
In less than a day he had suffered two major blows.
Wei Feng stood frozen for a second. The blood on Yu Liang’s arm reflected in his eyes. His jaw tightened but not in rejection, but in grim recognition. He could see it on Yu Liang’s face too: The moment of horror and shock quickly shifted into acceptance as he understood the situation.
Wei Feng swallowed hard and straightened his back. In this world, survival was the only choice that mattered.
Yu Liang slammed the wiry man onto the ground. He looked down at him with a faint smile tugging at his lips.
That alone was enough to make the man freeze.
"Why are you smiling like that...?" the wiry man stammered, his face paling.
Without a word, Yu Liang raised the iron rod and swung.
CRACK
The blow smashed into the man’s shin. The sound was sharp, like dry wood snapping.
"AAAAARRGHHHHHH!"
The wiry man’s scream tore through the air, raw and piercing. His body convulsed violently, his fingers clawing at the ground as he desperately tried to drag himself away from Yu Liang.
But Yu Liang didn’t stop there. The rod rose and fell again.
THUD
CRACK
Another scream ripped through the trees, cracking into sobs as bone gave way.
"STOP—! AAARGHHHHH! I—I’LL TALK—!"
Yu Liang’s face didn’t change. He swung one more time.
CRACK.
The man’s leg twisted at a ’not so looking good’ angle. His cries turned into broken howls, then hoarse sobbing.
Only when he slumped half unconscious, spit and blood mixing at his lips, did Yu Liang finally lower the rod.
His eyes cold as he looked down at the broken figure. "You should have told me sooner."
The words hit the man like a blade. He trembled harder, swallowing blood. The words hit the man like a blade, his eyes widened as he stared at Yu Liang.
For the first time, he realized that the person standing before him was far more frightening than the pain he had already endured.
"I—I’ll talk! Just don’t hit me again!" His voice broke. "We... we were under orders from the Passion Sect an-and we’re only low level disciples. We don’t know much!"
He gasped between words.
"They told us to wipe out any remaining disciples and take whatever valuables we could carry. That’s all! The real reason... we weren’t told." He coughed painfully. "But... I overheard some outer sect disciples talking once. Something about a secret realm. That’s... that’s all I know! I swear! I swear"
He pressed his forehead into the dirt, too afraid to look up.
Silence stretched as only his ragged breathing filled the air.
Yu Liang’s voice came low.
"How strong are the others with you?"
The man flinched. "Th-the one you killed... he was the strongest at sixth level of Body Tempering." His eyes darted to the corpse and quickly away. "The rest are weaker. Most of them only second or third level."
Yu Liang frowned slightly.
’So he was telling the truth earlier...’
His grip on the rod loosened a little.
’It’s not that our disciples can’t handle their strength... it’s the sheer number on the other side that’s breaking their will.’
The wiry man saw him not answering and panicked.
"I’m telling the truth! Every word! By the heavens, if I lie, may lightning strike me where I stand!"
Yu Liang still didn’t talked neither did his expression changed.
He simply turned and walked toward Xiao Fei and Wei Feng.
Xiao Fei’s face was still pale, hands gripping the dirt. Wei Feng looked shaken but met Yu Liang’s eyes.
"I’ll handle most of the ones coming our way," Yu Liang said. "What we need to do now is regroup with the others. They can deal with the rest."
Wei Feng nodded firmly. Xiao Fei hesitated, then nodded too, though the tremor in his hands hadn’t faded.
Yu Liang let out a quiet breath. He rested his blood stained hand lightly on Xiao Fei’s shoulder.
"If you want to become a true cultivator in the future, understand that this will not be the only incident. Events like these will definitely occur again in your path, and they will only get progressively worse. Believe me, you will see more horrifying scenes like this one over and over again."
Xiao Fei swallowed hard. His shoulders shook, but the raw panic in his eyes dimmed a little and he forced himself to nod once more. This time his gaze didn’t drift back to the corpse.
Yu Liang gave his shoulder a light pat, then turned and started walking. Wei Feng and Xiao Fei followed close behind.
As the three of them disappeared into the trees, the wiry man slumped back against the ground. Relief flooded his face as a shaky grin pulled at his bloodied lips.
"Heaven truly spares the pitiful..." He let out a trembling laugh. "Hah... maybe this young master is actually blessed."
He turned his face upward, eyes shining with a sudden flicker of hope.
"Maybe... the heavens have something even greater in store for me..."
For the first time since the nightmare started, a thin thread of hope rose in his chest.
Then his gaze dropped forward.
A thick iron rod filled his vision, the cold tip only inches from his face.
Before he could even finish the thought, the rod shot forward.
Pchhk.
It punched clean through his skull.
The sheer force torn the head from his body, sending it flying forward with the rod still lodged through it and slammed into the ground a short distance away.
Blood sprayed across the ground, forming a dark halo around the headless corpse.
From a distance, anyone witnessing the scene would see only a body lying in a pool of blood, with the iron rod standing a short distance away with the severed head on it.