Chapter 8 - Hold On, People!
"What"s the matter?"
Upon hearing the sounds of fighting occuring, Chen Chen immediately extinguished the fire and swallowed the last bit of soup.
Luckily the soup wasn"t that delicious, so the scent did not emanate.
Moments later, eight figures appeared on Black Wind Cliff.
Among the eight figures, seven of them were wearing nocturnal suits, not looking like decent people at first glance. They were beleaguering a young man in white like crazy.
The seven of them had pretty impressive martial skills, or at least more powerful than the a.s.sa.s.sin who had gotten killed by Lao Hei"s snout.
The young man in white was even more powerful, but fighting seven people all by himself drained him out, nonetheless. Soon, he was cornered at the edge of the cliff.
"Lord Zhang, why"d you have to be so stubborn when you already have your back to the wall? If you fall from the cliff, you"ll die an even uglier death than if we kill you. If that happens, your parents won"t even be able to recognize you. Wouldn"t that make them sad?"
One of the seven men in black admonished the figure in white kindly, but the blade in his hand was ferocious, aimed for the young man"s vital spots with every strike.
The young man in white did not say a word, continuing to resist rigorously. Gradually, he got closer and closer to the end of the cliff.
...
Chen Chen, who was witnessing the scene from behind a tree, was stupefied.
Lord Zhang? Could he be the son of one of the three great families of Shichuan County, the Zhang"s?
If not, which young man from an ordinary family would be so proficient in martial arts, especially at such a young age?
Shichuan County had three great families: the Zhao"s, the Zhang"s, and the w.a.n.g"s.
Among them, the Zhao"s were the most powerful, the Zhang"s were next in line, and the w.a.n.g"s, who had risen most recently, were the weakest.
At that moment, as Chen Chen watched what appeared to be the young lord of a great family being hunted down, he instantly felt much better.
Peasants did not live an easy life, but neither did the young lords of great families.
Chen Chen did not think much of it, nor did he think of stepping forth and putting on an act of bravery. He had a clear understanding of his own capabilities. Therefore, he only wished for the group of people to end the fight soon and leave, so that they wouldn"t ruin his great cliff-diving plan.
"System, how many minutes left until it"s time to jump?"
"Three minutes."
Upon hearing this, Chen Chen"s mood turned gloomy.
That opportunity couldn"t have belonged to this Lord Zhang to begin with, could it?
Otherwise, why would he be here at this point of time?
"Lord Zhang, you"d better not jump off the cliff! This is my opportunity, not yours!" Chen Chen silently prayed to him. He was counting on this opportunity to turn over his fate. There was no way he would give it away to someone else.
On the other hand, the word "opportunity" implied destiny. If he got to know where the opportunity was in advance with the help of the system, it meant that he was destined to come across the opportunity.
If it was destined for him, it would definitely be his. If there had to be a reason, this was it.
"Stop forcing me! I will jump off right here, and if I don"t leave a single piece of bone behind, you won"t get the money either!"
Right at that moment, Lord Zhang yelled from the edge of the cliff, his eyes filled with resolution.
The killers were intimidated by his words, which weakened their resolve to attack, and for a moment Lord Zhang seemed to stand a chance at breaking through the siege.
As Chen Chen saw the scene, he heaved a sigh of relief.
However, the heartening scene was short-lived. The lead killer noticed that this wasn"t right, and his attack became vicious once again.
"Brothers, no need to worry. Even if he turns into minced meat, we can take just about anything from him and report on our mission!"
Upon being rea.s.sured, the killers cornered Lord Zhang at the edge of the cliff once again.
Chen Chen was indignant.
These people really had no conscience. All they did was force people to go to extremes!
Black Wind Cliff was a thousand meters in height; was it a laughing matter to jump down from it?
"System, how much time is left?"
"One minute," the system replied mechanically withoutthe slightest bit of emotion.
Chen Chen grew more and more fl.u.s.tered. At this point in time, he understood that if he did nothing, that Lord Zhang would most probably jump off of the cliff.
Head-down, even.
There weren"t that many coincidences in the world, to make it so that the opportunity occurred at this point, and Lord Zhang happened to turn up at the edge of the cliff at this point as well.
The only explanation was that this opportunity was meant for Lord Zhang.
"Could his name be Zhang Wuji?"
Chen Chen was frustrated. There were people that were blessed by the heavens in this world, and this Lord Zhang was obviously one of them.
"No more delaying the inevitable! Force him down the cliff!" The lead killer couldn"t hold it in anymore, bellowing out the command.
Under the coercion of the killers, Lord Zhang"s feet stepped over the edge of the cliff. A loose rock plummeted into the chasm under his feet, and there wasn"t the slightest echo.
One could see just how incredibly high this cliff really was!
Chen Chen"s heart skipped a beat as he watched, but the look on his face turned firm and resolute the very next second.
He could not possibly obtain an opportunity like this if he didn"t fight for it!
If he couldn"t seize the opportunity, he wouldn"t be able to strengthen himself. If that happened, his family would still be hunted down by the w.a.n.g"s, and the consequences couldn"t possibly turn out well for them.
It would end his life at most, so why shouldn"t he give it a whirl?
Having thought that, Chen Chen did not hesitate any longer. He jumped out from behind the tree, his face concealed.
"Hold on, people!"
With a loud yell, all the killers, along with Lord Zhang, stopped in the midst of their fight, standing still in shock.
After all, they did not expect to see someone else on the Black Wind Cliff in the middle of night.
"Sir, who are you?" the lead killer asked in a low, deep voice, the murderous desire within him no longer controllable.
How could he not be shocked and frightened to see someone else at the scene of a murder?
If this guy recognized his voice in the future and pointed him out, the Zhang"s would certainly put him in deep trouble.
"I am from Wu Dang, Zhang Cuishan!" Chen Chen replied in a cold voice. Despite his youthful voice, it sounded formidable, without any anger.
The killers exchanged glances, making sure that none of them had heard of this name before. However, since his surname was Zhang, and he had shown up here in the middle of the night, he was most probably someone from the Zhang family.
Having thought of that, the killers raised their guards higher than before.
However, Chen Chen spoke again at that moment.
"Today, I came here to share with you a principle!" As he talked, Chen Chen walked toward the killers, his gait calm and composed.
Upon seeing this, the killers became anxious. This man must be a top-notch expert, to be so fearless and calm, shouldn"t he?
"In this world, the only principle is a big fist!" The lead killer said in a wicked voice. A tinge of fear had also risen within him at the sudden appearance of this masked man.
"Apart from that, there"s another principle in the world, which is that everything has to be done in the correct order. Do all of you understand?" Chen Chen approached them as he spoke.
While the killers were baffled, he sped up abruptly and dashed toward the edge of the cliff!
"Kill him!"
The lead killer thought that this guy was going to launch an attack upon seeing his action, issuing the order right away. However, not a single one of them dared to charge, getting into a defensive position instead.
Was he kidding? This man who had turned up out of nowhere did not seem like one that was easy to deal with at first glance. What if they got killed due to charging first?
The tension within Chen Chen broke off as he saw the scene before his. He darted right for the edge of the cliff and took off with a jump. He leapt to a height of 1.5 meters before plummeting from the cliff face down.
"Today, I, Zhang, committed suicide here. Farewell everyone!"
As he finished speaking, Chen Chen plunged from the cliff like a shooting star.
"G.o.d da*n it!"
"G.o.d da*n it!"
...
As he was free-falling, Chen Chen felt miserable. All he could hear, apart from the sound of the wind, was the incessant repet.i.tion of "G.o.d da*n it" from the cliff.