World of Beasts

by Tinalynge

  "I better go warn the others," he said while gritting his teeth. Luckily, he had another mask in his bag, and he picked it out and placed it on his face, but he knew it was pointless. All the commoners and his assailant had already seen his face. It was already known who it was that was hunting Xue Wei.

  Chapter 28 - Unveiling the Enemy

  Xue Wei, who had vanished without anyone being the wiser, strolled around the central areas of town to see if he could find more masked men, while his face turned more and more solemn.

  The man he had unmasked was one he had never seen before, but Xue Wei had not often seen the guards of the other noble families as he rarely visited them. However, he knew that when the commoners saw him, they would be able to recognize him.

  All guards in Tiankong City had served in the military before they returned and took on a job as either a mercenary or a family guard. As such, they were commoners themselves, and there was always someone who would recognize them.

  Xue Wei did not have to move far before he found the second masked person. This time, the person was already walking on the street, which made it much more difficult for Xue Wei to attack him.

  He did not waste his time and instead found a new hiding spot. This time he did not pick the zither. Instead, he got ready to fire an Azure Light Finger beam.

  Although the attack from the zither was itself the product of a profound ability, it was roughly as strong as the Azure Light Finger, as the reason it had been graded a profound ability was because of its potential and ability to transform into any single weapon.

  The zither was good at attacking large groups of experts, and had a large area of effect. But the Qi drain that was needed for the zither was also much more than for instance when he used the sword or a saber.

  Xue Wei waited for the right moment. He was not willing to accidentally attack the commoners that were also on the road, so he waited for the moment where the masked man walked right past him.

  As the man walked past the alleyway, a big beam of azure light suddenly erupted on the street. Although it was in the middle of the day and the sun shone brightly, this light blinded almost everyone present.

  The masked man suddenly saw a bright gleam. In the next moment, he felt an intense pain in his leg. Just like how the muscles had been severed on the He and Jia Young Masters, the masked cultivator’s muscles were also severed.

  Xue Wei once again did not wait and rushed out from his location to another place, leaving behind a masked cultivator that was screaming out in pain and agony. It was not only the actual pain that caused him to scream out but also the mental setback he encountered when he realized that he had had the muscles in his leg severed. Although he would be able to continue cultivating, he would forever be slow and thus effectively be a cripple for life.

  Xue Wei knew that there existed pills that could restore severed muscles, but he was also aware that these pills were the rarest kind within Heping Kingdom.

  Pills, in general, were extremely rare within Heping Kingdom since it was the poorest of all the kingdoms and it did not have the ability to raise high-ranked alchemists.

  The alchemists that did exist within Heping Kingdom were at most capable of creating pills of medium purity. To heal an injury like the one this man and the He and Jia Young Masters had experienced, they needed pills of high purity. Pills that one had to travel to another kingdom to get their hands on; and even if they found one, gold might not be enough to purchase it.

  Pills of high purity were in Tiankong City as rare and elusive as tamed Fierce Beasts, and to expect the pill to be the exact same pill as the one they needed was simply out of the question.

  Had it been the Li family, then they might have had a chance of obtaining a pill as Li Fang could go to the other kingdoms with his strength. But if he did so, he was likely to be traveling for quite some time, and he would be losing out on the chance of fighting for the City Lord's position.

  Having injured two of the masked men, Xue Wei felt a bit better. These masked men were enemies. They had threatened to play with Wang Xiaoyun, something that did not go down well with Xue Wei.

  Every dragon had a reverse scale, and so did Xue Wei. When this subject was touched, he felt no pity for the ones he had targeted. He would also do anything in his power to make sure that those who targeted his loved ones would never be able to do what they said.

  Although Wang Xiaoyun had left now and was in no more danger, Xue Wei would not forgive the masked experts. They had threatened with messing with Wang Xiaoyun, so now he would mess with them.

  Just as Xue Wei vanished and the masked expert started screaming in agony, the other masked expert came running. His face was pale underneath the mask, and when he saw the wound on his comrade, he suddenly felt grateful that he had only been smashed in the head. Although he had lost a tooth, he was not crippled.

  "It is that damned Xue Wei!" the masked man with blood on his face spat out. "This is the same attack as the one used to cripple the young masters. To think that he has gained such strength in such a short amount of time!"

  The expert felt his heart grow cold, and a shiver ran down his spine. He would never have accepted this task had he known that he was up against such a little devil.

  "We cannot even impede him for this," the man said while gritting his teeth. "He has been hiding during each and every attack, and I am sure that his estate's manager Su will say that he was present in their mansion. Then it will be our word against theirs, and that is not strong enough to win a case. We need a witness!"

  As he looked around, he found that there was a dark alleyway right next to the place where his masked brother was wailing in agony; and when he entered he found that there was a warm spot on the ground, yet there were no signs of life. No one would have noticed him in this alleyway.

  "There was also an alleyway close to where I was located before," the man said to himself and scratched his chin.

  Other masked experts came rushing towards the area. The rumor of the masked experts being targeted had reached all around the marketplace by now, and those present hurried towards the location of the wailing masked expert.

  "What is going on here?" one of the masked experts asked, but before he had the time to look around, a loud, violent gale with a melody that sounded as if someone was heading to war came crashing towards him.

  It was as if a cavalry was trampling over them. All of them fell to the ground. Their faces were pale, and blood slowly streamed from the lips of the gathered masked experts.

  Some of them, the ones who had received the brunt of the force, had their masks cracking under the attack and splitting into thousands of pieces.

  The identities of three experts were instantly exposed, and the commoners present glued their eyes to the faces of the no longer masked experts.

  "Check the alleyways!" one of the masked experts called out. It was the one who had blood around his mouth and lacked a tooth. Although he was not amongst the highest ranked experts, he still had enough standing for the others to listen to him, and they split up to search the alleyways.

  Suddenly, a shrill shriek sounded out, and the others looked over only to find that another person laid on the ground while gripping his leg with both hands as blood poured out from underneath his fingers.

  The faces behind the masks all turned ugly. The ones who had had their mask broken had quickly replaced them with new masks, but it was too late to hide the damage done. They had long since been recognized.

  Xue Wei had been hiding in the shadows of the alleyways and attacked four times so far. Twice the attacks had crippled their targets, while the other two had caused the opponents to be unveiled.

  Now he just had to wait and hear the rumors about who these experts were, and then he would be able to move further with his plan.

  "I cannot cause more damage than what I already have," Xue Wei muttered to himself as he turned on his tail and ran far away from the masked experts without even the slightest hesitation.
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  He no longer had the element of surprise, and although he deducted that he now had the strength to fight them head on one-on-one, he knew that he stood no chance against a group of them. One thing was to jump a few layers while fighting one on one; another was to do it in a fight against seven opponents.

  Xue Wei did not wait anywhere in the city. He had no other purpose than to cause problems for the masked experts and unveil them so that his suspicions could be confirmed, and thus he returned to the mansion as fast as he had left.

  Xue Wei noticed that there was a group of experts standing outside the gate of the estate. Some of them were waiting for Xue Wei to return home, and amongst these people were two masked cultivators.

  Fortunately, Xue Wei noticed them before they noticed him, so he turned down a corner after which he used the Forbidden Rush to jump the wall.

  "Manager Su, if you do not show us the little rascal, I will blame this on him!" someone called out, and Manager Su's calm voice resounded with a hint of anger in it, "The young master is cultivating. He is about to break through. Who are you to interrupt the young master when he is cultivating? I can vouch for him being in the mansion, so take your leave now and don't disturb us, or don't expect me to keep this from Xiao Lei when he returns."

  Although the name Xiao Lei worked great as a deterrent, the Jia and He family leaders had rushed to the mansion to impede Xue Wei for the attacks on their guards. They knew by now that their men had been recognized. As a result, they could only hope that there was at least a little chance of blaming Xue Wei and getting their vengeance that way.

  "Will you stop yelling at my front door?" Xue Wei asked as he stepped forward. He looked dashing in his black clothes with his hair tied up.

  "I was busy cultivating and training, and all you do is come here to blabber about some sort of justice. What kind of justice are you here to find me for?"

  It was not only He and Jia families that had made it to Xue Wei's mansion. Shen Mu, Luo Zhirou, and a few other younger generation experts had made it over and were curious as to what exactly was going on.

  "You have crippled my guards!" He Tong exclaimed with a loud voice as he pointed a trembling finger at Xue Wei.

  "Have your guards entered my mansion?" Xue Wei asked, and He Tong, looking as if he was spitting fire answered, "No! They were in the marketplace. "

  "So it has to be me?" Xue Wei grinned, but his grin quickly turned to a sneer, "I have been in the mansion for all this time. If you find someone who can prove your claim, then sure let us hear what he has to say. Until then please stop interrupting my training! I am in a hurry to reach a higher realm before heading out to the army."

  Chapter 29 – Solid Foundations

  He Tong knew that he could say nothing. They had no witnesses, and Shen Bingwen would never judge anyone on something as simple as the He family's words.

  Gritting his teeth, He Tong waved his arm and turned around, getting ready to leave. "Watch your back whenever you roam around in the future!" he sneered at Xue Wei. Yet the moment those words escaped his lips, Manager Su’s aura exploded out and laid a heavy pressure on everyone present.

  Manager Su was angry. Usually, everyone forgot about this man's strength and saw him as a mere servant; but when he exploded forth with energy like this, then everyone had to take a few steps backward, He Tong included.

  This manager was a ninth layered Sky Warrior, just one step away from being a Heavenly Warrior. This strength was enough to create a faction within Tiankong City, but Manager Su had never done so and was content with just being Xiao Lei’s subordinate.

  "Are you threatening my family's young master?" he asked He Tong with a solemn expression on his face and a menacing air around him.

  Although infighting was illegal amongst those on the side of humanity, not all stuck to these laws. If someone from the older generation threatened someone from the younger generation, it was acceptable for the threatened family to step in. In such a situation, it was likely that it would end up in a fight.

  Xue Wei was surprised to see the sudden murderous air that was released from Manager Su, but he also felt warmth in his heart. So far, only Xiao Lei had stepped up for him like this, but now Manager Su was doing the same. Although Manager Su was far from Xiao Lei’s standing in Xue Wei’s heart, he still raised his position by a notch.

  "Wha-what do you think you are doing, you slave?" He Tong asked, but his voice trembled and his body shook like a leaf.

  He Tong was the Patriarch of the He family and thus a Sky Warrior like Manager Su. However, there was a difference between them. He Tong had only been in the army for as long as he had needed to be there to do his duty, while Manager Su had paved a road through slaughter and murder. He had been a mercenary when Xiao Lei had found him.

  Although they had the same cultivation base, Manager Su was stronger than He Tong. If it came to a fight, then He Tong would lose, and he would lose more than just face.

  He had already lost face from sending his men into town only to have them exposed by some unknown expert; two of his men even lost their ability to fight in the future, resulting in He Tong having to pay a fee to their families.

  Now, the entire city knew that the He family had deployed experts for the sake of capturing and injuring Xue Wei, something that was a great shame to them.

  Although Xue Wei had crippled the young master of the He family, it was not usual for the families to act against the younger generation. And although he had not asked any Earth Warriors to do battle, he had asked a whole lot of ninth layered Ordinary Warriors.

  Xue Wei stood there, leaning against the estate gate, and Manager Su stood right in front of him with a murderous look in his eyes.

  It was not only the He family that had lost something from this encounter; one of the unveiled experts had been from the Jia family. And although they had been present at the mansion when Xue Wei returned home, the patriarch had been wise enough not to make an appearance.

  The city was filled with people who were talking about these masked experts. They had been present for quite a long time, but no one had known for sure to whom they belonged, so they could only guess.

  Now that they had been unmasked, they naturally became the new topic of discussion, and everyone was filled with excitement. Some felt that they were shameless and despicable for trying to gang up on Xue Wei when all he did was save some commoner girls, while others were putting more focus on the way they had been beaten.

  Some felt sorry for Xue Wei; others laughed at the Jia and He families for not being able to deal with a single young man – but most feared retaliation from Xiao Lei. As a result, they dared not speak too loudly about their opinions. Even now, five years later, the memory of the man executed by Xiao Lei when Xue Wei first came to town remained clear in everyone's heads.

  “Are you okay?” Manager Su asked worriedly as he looked at Xue Wei. “I know that you are mentally strong, but you are being chased by some of the leading families within Tiankong City. Are you okay with this?”

  “Don’t worry about me,” Xue Wei smiled a small smile. “I have faith in my ability to stay alive. They went too far when they said that they would play with Xiaoyun; it is only fair that I actually give them back some pain and suffering.”

  Manager Su and Xue Wei had grown much closer in the time that Xiao Lei had been gone. Manager Su was genuinely concerned about Xue Wei, but he also trusted the young man when he said that he was certain in his ability.

  Saying this, Xue Wei clenched his hand and his face was serious. He had never forgiven them. Even now, he missed Wang Xiaoyun every waking moment, but the time he had with her had been interrupted by them, and they had even threatened her in his presence! This was simply unacceptable.

  Xue Wei felt the pressure. He had thoroughly started a war with the He family, and they had already sent out their Ordinary Warriors. It was likely that the next that would be sent out would be an Earth Warrior. If he ran into such an opponent, Xue Wei would n
ot be able to get off as easily as he had with the others.

  Even if the He family did not make a move, it was likely that the Li family or Jia family would make a move. If Xue Wei was found dead one day, with no assailant found, it would definitely be blamed on the He family. Although they would not be able to go to court with no witnesses, they would still be looked down upon by the commoners and have problems in the future to do business and hire guards.

  He Tong was well aware of this, and his face was pale from anger. He had no chance to change what had happened, and now he could only continue to walk down the path of hostility with Xue Wei and the Xiao Lei mansion.

  Xue Wei watched as everyone started to leave. A wry smile was on his lips, and although he seemed carefree, his heart was clenching and uncomfortable.