The f.u.c.king b.a.s.t.a.r.d had kept me starving, depriving me of food and feeding me only enough water for me to survive. The only reason why I managed to beat him was because I drew upon the qi from the Parasitic Wasp larvae to nourish and sustain myself. But qi was no subst.i.tute for food. I could rely on qi to keep me strong and alive for a week, maybe two, but once my body ran out of nutrients, carbohydrates and protein, no amount of qi was going to keep me alive.

Leaving Ba Yun"s dried, desiccated husk of a corpse in his torture room, I went down the corridor in search of a cafeteria. Surprisingly, the corridors were deserted, with no guards or members of the Chinese Parasol Tree Sect patrolling about. Stopping and listening to the distant sounds of battle, I figured that they were too busily defending their base from invaders to patrol and roam about the interior of their base.

Good. I was free to go wherever I wanted. I was too hungry and thirsty to fight right now, anyway. I need to replenish my strength in that area.

Where"s the infirmary?

Now that I was exploring the area, I realized I had no idea what the layout of the warehouse was. It was only natural – I had spent practically the entire two weeks locked inside the bas.e.m.e.nt that was converted into a torture room. This was my first time setting foot out of that h.e.l.lish s.p.a.ce in about fifteen days.

Fortunately, I found the infirmary easily enough. Just like the corridors and other abandoned rooms in the warehouse, the infirmary was empty, save for scattered chairs and broken tables. Pa.s.sing by the wrecked furniture, I headed into the kitchen and rummaged the place for food. Fortunately, there were refrigerators stocked with some food. Not caring if they had rotted or spoiled, I took some meat and vegetables, cooked them in the frying pans I found, and then sat down to eat. Turning around, I poured myself a gla.s.s of water and gulped it down.

"Ah…I"m revived."

After filling my stomach, I leaned against the damp, moldy wall and rested for a few moments. Closing my eyes, I took a short nap, but as usual the place wasn"t conducive for sleeping. Still, that short period of recuperation allowed me to digest my food.

"?!"

I woke up suddenly as something crashed in the distance. Apparently there was violent fighting somewhere outside the infirmary, probably between the orthodox martial artists from the Alliance and the rogue criminals from the Chinese Parasol Tree Sect. some were drawing closer, some were getting further away, and some remained where they were.

Oh…interesting…

After resting, I felt as if my qi senses had sharpened. Just by closing my eyes and zoning out the outside world, I could extend my senses and detect the qi presences of everybody in the vicinity. I could roughly guess – from the spikes of their qi – what they were doing, how they were going to move, and where they proceeded toward.

Eh? This group…

And just like that, I detected a small cl.u.s.ter of faint, weak qi, all huddling together. It seemed that warriors and martial artists weren"t the only ones who were inside the warehouse.

Could these people be…?

Only one way to find out. I picked myself up and began heading in the direction where I sensed their presences. As I suspected, the corridors and warehouse remained unguarded and I encountered no opposition as I neared my destination.

However, I could sense the large-scale conflicts raging outside the warehouse. Ducking my head below a window as a flare of qi explosion surged toward the heavens, I quietly made my way toward what seemed like another chamber.

"…"

I heard mumbling as I descended the stairs. Despite the majority of the Chinese Parasol Tree Sect having mobilized to combat the Martial Arts Alliance"s Imperial Guard, they weren"t careless enough to leave their spoils of war unprotected. Even from this distance, I could detect the presence of two sentries outside the door.

"Whoa, that"s mental."

"They"re really going at it out there, aren"t they?"

Despite not possessing qi senses as sharp as mine, the sentries could still hear the thunderous noises of conflict even in the bas.e.m.e.nt. As another detonation vibrated through the thick walls of the warehouse, they looked up nervously.

"Do you think we"ll be able to win?"

"Of course. Vice Sect Leader Tuo Ta La is leading the resistance, after all."

"Where"s the leader?"

"In seclusion somewhere. I don"t know. You know that they don"t tell us grunts anything. Apparently he locked himself in isolation after absorbing a few hundred commoners" essence. He"ll need a few months to a.s.similate such a ma.s.sive amount of qi."

"I wish we had access to some of that qi."

"Heh. If things don"t go well for them upstairs, we might get our chance. There"s n.o.body to keep an eye on us, after all."

"You mean…?"

"Yeah. You take the first watch. I might as well absorb the qi from some of the people here. No one"s going to notice if a few of the sacrifices die, right? And besides, the sect leader already absorbed hundreds of villagers" qi. He won"t miss a few dozen."

"Heh…fine. But once you"re done, it"ll be your turn to guard."

I vaguely wondered how coincidental it was that I just happened to stumble upon the sentries at the exact moment they decided to feast on the abducted villagers. It was almost as if the plot dictated that I happened upon this very instance right after defeating an enemy. Of course, the fact that the Chinese Parasol Tree Sect was embroiled in a major conflict right now probably contributed that, but I was amazed I didn"t stumble upon them several seconds before or after they had this conversation. It was almost as if they were speaking for an audience beyond the fourth wall to listen to, you know, to emphasize just how villainous and despicable they were, and to justify my killing of them later.

Or maybe I was just overthinking things.

I descended the stairs stealthily, not making a single sound with Shadow Steps. Neither of the sentries, even the one who had taken the first watch, noticed me. Silently rounding around the stairs, I crept out of the shadows and materialized behind the sentry. It was pretty easy, given how he was facing the door instead of keeping a proper lookout. Entirely distracted by the screams of the sacrifices within the room as his comrade set himself upon them, he leaned closer to press his ear closely to the door, as if he could see through the thick material.

I didn"t blame him. If I was in his position, I would never have thought there would be an enemy lurking so close. I would have a.s.sumed that because of the ferocious combat upstairs, everyone else would be too busily fighting for their lives to come down here. This was probably the last place to be in the middle of an invasion.

a.s.suming that no one could hear the racket the abducted victims and the other sentry were making, of course.

"NOOO!!!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"SAVE ME!"

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Even behind the closed doors, I could hear the screams of the dying and the laughter of their tormentor. I had to hurry or there wouldn"t be anyone left to save. Okay, perhaps that was an exaggeration, but I would rather save more people than less.

"b.a.s.t.a.r.d…he"s enjoying himself, isn"t he? I should have asked him to let me go first. Wait, will he really leave some for me?"

Nope. Even if he did, it would be pointless, because I killed the guy with an ice sword the next instant. The poor sentry didn"t even know what killed him. One moment he was leaning against the door and trying to eavesdrop, and the next, his heart was run through. He gurgled, blood dribbling from his lips, and crumpled to the floor.

I caught him before his ground could hit the floor, and placed him down as soundlessly as I could. I needn"t had bothered. The people inside the room were making too much noise to hear what was transpiring outside.

Shaking my head, I quietly pushed the door open and slipped inside. Peering around the door, I saw the second sentry gripping a poor lady by the throat and draining her qi. Veins bulged on her head as she gasped, turning pale and pallid as her life essence left her body. Similarly, veins bulged in the guy"s hand as he attempted to suck her dry.

Judging from the lack of corpses lying around, it seemed that I wasn"t too late. That made sense. Sucking someone"s essence wasn"t an instantaneous process, but one that took quite a bit of time. Unfortunately, if I didn"t hurry, the poor lady would expire and the sentry would turn his greedy attention to the other cowering occupants in the room.

"?!"

Several of the abductees were taken aback by my sudden appearance, but I shook my head and gestured for them to remain silent. Creeping behind the busy sentry, I abruptly lashed out and took his head off his shoulders.

"!!"

The lady dropped from the headless sentry"s grip, coughing and gagging. The villain stayed standing for a few more moments before his beheaded body realized that it was dead and consented to toppling over.

"T…thank you," the lady gasped. I shook my head again.

"Don"t thank me just yet. Wait until I actually get you guys out of here."

The villagers" eyes widened and they stared at me in wonder. For the first time in weeks, it seemed that they had recovered just a bit of hope of leaving this place alive. Having experienced h.e.l.l in the last fortnight, I knew fully well the kind of despair that they had sunk into. But even I had managed to crawl out of that dark abyss and turn the tables on my opponent.

Power comes with responsibility. I am not these b.a.s.t.a.r.ds from the Chinese Parasol Tree Sect. just because I"m strong doesn"t mean I can do whatever I want and kill whoever I like. I"m different from these b.a.s.t.a.r.ds.

Like Master said, there is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to be a hero and saving people. What"s wrong is trying to save people when I"m weak and shamefully failing at that, thus becoming a burden and causing my family and friends to worry.

But now…I had attained the strength necessary. Or so I hoped. Even if I didn"t, I knew better than to let myself get caught alive again. At worst, I could just escape first and then return later with reinforcements. That was better than everyone dying together.

"Is everyone all right?"

The abductees nodded, still unable to believe that their chance to escape had finally dawned on them. They traded wary, cautious looks, but aware that they had no other choice or opportunity, rallied around me.

"Follow me."

I could hardly care less if they trusted me or not. I wasn"t a G.o.d. I couldn"t save everybody. That painful realization had weighed heavily down on me over the past two weeks. The number of people I could save was limited to the level of ability I possessed. Sometimes I had to make a few tough sacrifices in order to save at least a few, or everyone would get wiped out together. The world wasn"t ideal, and sometimes difficult choices were forced upon me.

If they wanted to stay behind instead of trusting me, that was their prerogative. As long as they didn"t drag us down, as long as they didn"t get in my way, I didn"t care what they did. My responsibility was only to those who decided to follow me.

"Stay close," I told them curtly as I led the way out into the corridor. A few of the abductees glanced at the corpse of the first sentry, but didn"t say anything. They probably were hardened after witnessing unspeakable acts of brutality and violence during their few weeks of captivity here, or they just didn"t care anymore. It didn"t matter. I was only going to take care of their physical wellbeing, not their psychological conditions. "The Martial Arts Alliance"s Imperial Guard has come for us. I"ll lead you guys to them."

"The Imperial Guard!"

"The Alliance!"

"Finally!"

The abductees finally saw a huge ray of hope, and their pace quickened. I had to get them to slow down in order to inject them with some caution. It would be extremely frustrating for us to get so close to freedom, only to fall at the final hurdle.

"Whoa!"

"What"s going on?"

"!!!"

As expected, the route outside wasn"t entirely smooth. As we neared the exit, we came across reserves of demonic martial artists, warriors who were hiding in the shallow interior of the warehouse and awaiting their chance to enter the fray.

Fortunately, we were coming from the direction they least expected, and most of their attention was riveted on the battle outside, or they would have seen the whole crowd stampeding toward the exit. Even with my techniques, I couldn"t possibly conceal over a hundred untrained civilians who had lived in a village their whole lives without ever experiencing combat.

"You are…?!"

"Aren"t those the sacrifices?"

"We can"t let them get away! Otherwise the sect leader will…!"

"Your sect leader will die," I coldly corrected them, landing on the first one and pulverizing him with a Seismic Step before they could react. As the b.l.o.o.d.y pulp of flesh that barely resembled a corpse toppled over, I landed in their midst and lashed out with two ice swords, cutting them apart before they even realized what was going on.

These henchmen…they"re too weak. They"re nothing compared to Ba Yun. I guess that"s why he was one of the higher-ranking leaders in this sect.

"You…"

The villagers stared at me blankly after I finished the remaining dudes off, almost awestruck by the carnage. One of them widened her eyes.

"You...aren"t you the kid? The kid who came to our village last year? The one who Lu Shun saved by the riverside?!"

I turned back to her, but didn"t recognize her. Nonetheless, if she knew who I was, then she must be…

"You"re from Chun Xiang Village?"

"Yes, that"s right. I saw you last year, when you helped to haul back the Wild Boar meat."

I nodded, half-distracted. "I"m sorry about what happened to your village."

"Oh, no! What happened wasn"t your fault! I"m just grateful that you came to save us, but…"

She stared at me, perplexed. I noticed a cl.u.s.ter of villagers nearby, also giving me the same confused stares. I didn"t recognize any of them, but they seemed to know me. I guessed they were also from Chun Xiang Village.

Not that it mattered. They were under my protection right now, regardless of which village they were from, and I only cared about delivering them to safety. Turning away, I stalked toward the exit while keeping an eye out for more interlopers and guards.

"Hey…isn"t he…a little different from before?"

"Yeah…I don"t remember him being this…this…"

"Ruthless?"

"Yeah…I guess so. But I guess he had no choice but to be ruthless to survive."

"The kid has changed so much since the last time we saw him."

"He…grew up? No…even so, he grew up too quickly."

"Didn"t they say they captured him and he was locked up in one of the torture rooms by that monster elder? What happened to him?"

"He escaped?"

"…he probably went through a worse h.e.l.l than us…"

"…"

I could hear them whispering behind me. Apparently they were taken aback by my mentality. Some of them felt sorry for me.

I ignored them all.

As we neared the exit, I suddenly threw myself against the wall and gestured for all of them to stay back.

"Stay here," I instructed them. Frowning as I detected the familiar sense of qi, I slowly crept along the wall and peered around the corner.

Someone was fighting intensely against a large group of people. A young man my age, who emanated an unyielding sphere of golden, earth qi that protected him by repelling the attacks of the hooded, masked figures who surrounded him.

"Kuh!"

"This brat is tough!"

"d.a.m.n it! Why can"t we handle a single kid?!"

That kid was none other than Zhu Jiao. Even though he was outnumbered by several opponents who were older than him, he was more than holding his own. I guessed it wasn"t surprising, given how he possessed a s.e.xagenary of qi – in other words, the amount of qi he received was equivalent to roughly sixty years of cultivation.

On the other hand, despite his vastly superior quant.i.ty of qi and his overwhelming strength, he lacked experience in combat. That was something that his opponents took advantage of, relying on tactics to win. Clearly brute force and raw strength wasn"t everything. Zhu Jiao was being pushed back slowly but surely.

"Ugh…"

Gritting his teeth, Zhu Jiao waited for one of his opponents to become overzealous with his attacks before he lunged forward and punched the guy"s chest. The hooded figure was flung backward, blood spraying out of the gap that served as a mouth for his mask, and crashed into the wall with a loud thud. The concrete cracked from the impact and he slid down, unmoving.

"Whoa!"

"Zhang!"

"Be careful! This brat is strong! Getting hit by him even once is no joke!"

The Chinese Parasol Tree Sect members immediately grew wary of Zhu Jiao"s overwhelming power and retreated in high alert. They continued their relentless a.s.sault, predicting Zhu Jiao"s fairly predictable attacks and seizing chances to attack when he showed an opening. Despite Zhu Jiao"s impeccable defenses, his supposedly impenetrable Golden Kirin Armor was slowly being worn down by the sheer number.

"Kuh!"

Clenching his fists and gnashing his teeth from frustration, Zhu Jiao tried his best to defend from the next onslaught of attacks. He lashed out, only for his target to deftly dart out of reach. At that moment of overextending himself, one of the Chinese Parasol Tree Sect members attacked him from behind, causing him to stagger.

These guys are good…they"re no ordinary henchmen. They"re a lot better than the reserves who remained behind earlier.

The current batch of enemies were clearly on a different level from the sentries and reserves I had faced thus far. My only chance was to take them out by surprise, or I would be dragged into a long, unwieldy fight.

I couldn"t afford to do that right now.

Pressing myself against the wall, I counted the number of a.s.sailants. There were five of them, and they were slowly breaking Zhu Jiao"s defenses apart. If I attacked too soon, I wouldn"t be able to take them out and I would be dragged into a stalemate, but if I left it too long, my good friend Zhu Jiao would be in danger.

My timing had to be perfect.

Taking a deep breath, I began drawing upon as much natural qi from the surroundings as possible while purifying my innate qi. Juggling a few calculations in my head, I waited until all five had their backs turned on me before I stepped out and materialized my icy qi into physical form. Clashing my volatile innate qi with that of the surrounding elements, I launched a hail of ice swords at the group of Chinese Parasol Tree Sect members.

"!!!"

Distracted as they were by the desperately defending Zhu Jiao, none of them saw my attack coming and they were all pierced and impaled by the powerful icy projectiles. Splashes of blood slapped wetly against the concrete floor and walls as the five of them were brought low, precious red fluids leaking from their mouths and wounds.

"Who?!"

"What?!"

"Ugh!!"

They struggled to turn around and counterattack, but already frost was rapidly expanding across their wounds and freezing their bodies from the point of entry. Coughing and wheezing, they sought to break free of the ice, but I didn"t give them a chance. Striding forward, I froze a pair of ice swords and slashed them, delivering the finishing blow and killing all five of them.

"Hey, Zhu Jiao."

"…Fei Wu…is that you?!"

Zhu Jiao couldn"t believe his eyes. Not that he never expected to see me again, but he appeared terribly disturbed by my coldblooded execution of his foes.

"Are you all right?"

"Uh…yes…that"s not it!" Zhu Jiao deactivated his Golden Kirin Armor and stared at me, his mouth agape. "What about you?! What happened to you?!"

"I"m all right too. Went through h.e.l.l, but I managed to escape."

"Went through h.e.l.l?" Zhu Jiao continued to stare at me, stupefied. He probably wanted to say that was an understatement, but he was unable to find words for it. Instead, he shook his head and approached me while casting a glance at the dead Chinese Parasol Tree Sect members at my feet.

It was obvious what he was thinking.

Is this really Fei Wu? He…he"s like a completely different person from before…

Shocked by my callous, coldblooded execution of enemies who were, just moments earlier, giving him a hard time, Fei Wu put on a complicated expression. He seemed to want to ask something, but wasn"t able to put his question into words.

I didn"t wait for him to process his thoughts, and instead offered a question of my own.

"You"re here…did you come for me? And I"m guessing you came with the rest?"

"Ah…yeah." Still in shock, Zhu Jiao nodded. "Teacher Jiao, me, Ban Zhang, Tong Xue, Tang Qi Hong and Lian Rou. We all came to rescue you."

"Thank you."

Bowing my head, I expressed my grat.i.tude sincerely. I truly meant it. I had never thought anyone would come save me, having given up any hope of being rescued during the two long weeks of h.e.l.lish torture.

"No, that"s…"

"Where"s the rest?" I cut Zhu Jiao off before he could wave my thanks away. He hesitated and glanced outside before turning his view upstairs.

"While trying to infiltrate the Chinese Parasol Tree Sect"s base, we ended up running into one of the sect elders. Teacher Jiao is currently engaging him in battle, trying to hold him off so that the rest of us could break in and locate you. However, we encountered some resistance within the base and were forced to split up."

"That makes sense." I nodded, and then closed my eyes. Even without being told, I could sense Teacher Jiao"s qi faraway, clashing with an almost equally powerful presence. That fight might take a bit longer, but currently it seemed to be in Teacher Jiao"s favor.

More importantly…

"Tang Qi Hong is upstairs," I murmured upon detecting her qi on the rooftop. Her presence was flickering faintly, and from my limited perception I could tell that she was being bombarded and overwhelmed by a hail of powerful attacks from a formidable enemy. "She"s the one in most danger right now."

"Ah! Tang Qi Hong! That"s right!" Zhu Jiao"s eyes darkened. "Earlier, before we were forced to split up, we ran into Qi Fu Ren. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d was clearly targeting her for some reason, and he set his new lackeys upon me."

He gestured at the corpses who were scattered across our feet. I shook my head and smiled bitterly.

"I guess he needed new subordinates after killing off Hu Shuo and Ba Dao."

"That lowlife scoundrel…" Zhu Jiao growled. I nodded in agreement.

"Tang Qi Hong is the one who"s in the most danger right now, so I"ll be going up to support her."

"Eh?!" Zhu Jiao"s eyes widened. "You"re in no condition to rescue other people! You should get out of here first! I"ll bring you to safety! In the first place, we"re here to save you!"

"Says the one who needed me to save him," I smirked. Zhu Jiao grimaced at that, and lowered his head.

"Ugh…yeah…but really, what happened to you, man? It"s like…you"re a completely different person."

"Well…a lot of things happened," I replied vaguely as I started up the stairs. "And I don"t have time to explain. I need to help Tang Qi Hong first."

"Wait! I"m coming with you!"

I nodded. "I appreciate the backup, but first…can you do me a favor?"

"…a favor?"

I gestured toward the band of abductees who were crouching and waiting from around the corner, having watched the battle from afar. Zhu Jiao did a double take when he spotted them.

"Whoa! Where did all of them come from?"

"A hold in the bas.e.m.e.nt. The Chinese Parasol Tree Sect was keeping them as prisoners. They were meant to be sacrifices for their sect leader, so that he can absorb their essence. More importantly, can you help guide them to safety? Bring them to the Imperial Guard and get those orthodox martial artists to look after them."

"Whoa, whoa! I get that, but aren"t our positions reversed?!" Zhu Jiao waved his hands in protest. "You should take them to safety, while I go back up Tang Qi Hong."

"Do you have any confidence of beating Qi Fu Ren as he is right now?"

Zhu Jiao stopped short when I threw him that question. The look on his face was enough to tell me everything.

"Even so…"

"I do," I cut him off. "I have a trump card."

"Really?" Zhu Jiao sounded skeptical. I merely smiled rea.s.suringly and went up the stairs, refusing to listen to any of his objections.

"Besides," I called back to him from the top of the stairs. "I have a score to settle with that b.a.s.t.a.r.d. One way or another, I"m going to finish this once and for all."