by Tinalynge
Half of this Qi was being refined through the sword. It entered Xu Min’s body and his dantian was constantly quivering as more and more energy filled it up. It was so full that it was about to explode. Channeling the Qi from the dantian to his body, he managed to make sure he was not being crippled. The amount of Qi entering his body was so ferocious that Xu Min was almost in a worse position than Tang Jin who was being sucked dry.
The moment Tang Jin felt the suction force he backed away, but it was too late. The energy was being swallowed whole by the sword. While the Qi was pouring into Xu Min, he poured it out into the surroundings, makinga blanket of Qi similar to Tang Jin’s. However, Xu Min’s blanket was smaller than the previous one and it was not as dense. Still it was enough to be terrifying, especially for Tang Jin who had been completely emptied and now defenseless.
Having sucked up the final Qi from the atmosphere, Xu Min stomped on the ground and shot forward. The Qi blanket roiled around him, and shockwaves were constantly being emitted.
Moving forward, Xu Min’s Qi blanket enveloped Tang Jin. Soon, blood curdling screams could be heard. Although Tang Jin was a four-star Warrior, he was currently completely useless as all his internal energy was depleted. He had never physically trained his body, so there was no way for him to stand against the Qi which was crushing him.
His arms were raised for protection against the Qi, but these arms soon broke like twigs. His legs followed soon after, and blood started pouring from his eyes and his ears. His screams resounded through the silent arena until suddenly someone yelled out and a boom could be heard, “My son!” Tang Ye yelled and as he landed on the ground. Xu Min could feel an outstanding pressure behind him. Using the Sword to suck in the Qi, half of it returned to his body and the Qi blanket on the arena vanished. With the Qi blanket gone, everyone was able to see Tang Jin had been crippled by the one Tang Jin said he would cripple. The two-star Warrior defeated the four-star Warrior, something completely unheard of.
However, Tang Ye, Tang Jin’s father, was fuming with anger. His body trembled when he saw his son, his pride, laying there crippled. He would never again be able to once advance in the world of cultivators.
“He was going to cripple me! If I crippled him first, it is just too bad old man,” Xu Min said honestly to Tang Ye. Xu Min was fully aware that the expert’s power he could not defeat.
Retreating backwards, Xu Min knew what Tang Ye was currently contemplating to do. His anger was clear. It was obvious he wanted to make Xu Min suffer, but the arena’s audience was filled with Ri Chu City’s top experts. Personally acting in front of all of them would cause Tang Ye’s family to be disgraced, losing their position and respectability. This was a battle between the younger generation, and he had to admit Tang Jin had intended Xu Min to undergo a ferocious defeat. Thus, only Tang Jin was to be blamed.
Glancing towards his young son, his anger arose once more. He decided his son was worth more than his pride, and he strode towards Xu Min who wore a bitter smile on his face, beat the young one and the older man would appear.
“That is enough old Ye!,” someone suddenly called out as he joined the arena. It was a man Xu Min had never spoken with before; but looking at him, he knew that it was the patriarch of the Guo family.
“You don’t want the city to know what I know,” he said with a low voice. A voice he thought only he and Tang Ye could hear; however, the words were just loud enough for Xu Min to hear them as well.
“You have the skillful alchemist Huang Zhen as your guest in your mansion right now. Why don’t you hope he can do something for your son. Rush to the medics now and see what can be done. His dantian is not shattered. It’s just his arms and legs that have been crippled. Even if he cannot walk, he can still be an internal expert.”
These words were loud enough for all to hear, and the audience all nodded their heads in agreement. What he had said seemed reasonable to the audience. It was just bad luck that it had been Tang Jin that got crippled instead of Xu Min. Everyone was shocked seeing Xu Min standing still in the arena while Tang Jin was a bloody mess. The judge finally stepped in, “Older generations of the Ri Chu City have no reason to be on this stage. The battle has finally finished, and no one has died. I declare Xu Min of the Yong family has won this year’s younger generation tournament.”
After his declaration,no one knew if they were supposed to cheer or not. The dark horse had proven to be a true dark horse all the way to his victory. It was the first time anyone had succeeded in battling twenty one experts in one go, and, even more outstanding, being a two-star Warrior who defeated a four-star Warrior. What they did not realize was that Xu Min only won because Tang Jin lost control of himself due to his anger for a short moment, and this short moment allowed his demise. It gave Xu Min the one mistake he needed to win.
Had he fought the other experts, the ones who had willingly stepped down, then he would have likely lost. The only reason he could anger Tang Jin enough was because he was so over confident.His cockiness stopped him from crushing Xu Min from the very start.
Everyone was still shocked, even the Yong family. Even Yong Meilin was shocked, but her face was as tranquil as it had been almost the entire battle. Pride was shining in her eyes as a beautiful smile shone on her porcelain-white face.
As Xu Min stepped down from the arena, he was greeted by the experts who had stepped back from him in the beginning of the tournament. All of them tried to curry favor with him. However, Xu Min excused himself quickly, saying he had sustained internal injuries and needed to move back to the Yong family compound, but they could find him there later on.
The Yong family, alongside Dong Liang, had faces full of smiles as they looked at Xu Min. Seeing blood was still trickling down the corner of his mouth, Yong Meilin found a cloth tissue from her dress and gently wiped away the blood before she gently supported him. Together the two of them headed to the Yong family compound. Xu Min had not been lying, he had sustained internal injuries, and he needed to heal himself before continuing down the road of revenge.
‘You did pretty good,’ Cao Cao said, but his voice was sullen. It was clear he had wanted to battle the stronger expert himself. Understanding Cao Cao’s disapointment Xu Min chuckled in turn causing more blood to appear.
Yong Meilin who had been certain in Xu Min’s victory greatly worried as she gently wiped his mouth again. She helped him back to his house where she placed him on his bed. He instantly fell asleep. The final battle had severly exhausted and injured him.
After a few moments, Dong Liang suddenly showed up He knocked on the door before he entered into the room. A great smile was on his face as the Yong family’s patriarch stood behind him.
“This young man won against the cultivator who was personally looked after by Huang Zhen. This is my victory,” he cackled with laughter and reached into his cloak. He took out a small jade case which he opened and a strong medicinal smell wafted out.
“This is a special pill. Even I only have around thirty percentage chance of succeeding in creating it, but it can heal any injury. Allowing me to win against Huang Zhen, I don’t mind parting with one of these pills. Little girl, give this pill to him,” he said as he reached out his hand and passed over the pill to Yong Meilin who took it gratefully. Tears were in her eyes while she quickly placed the small pill within Xu Min’s mouth.
The energy in the room started rushing towards Xu Min, being absorbed by his body and slowly the sound of bones against bones could be heard. Grunts of pain escaped Xu Min’s lips; but even so, he did not wake up.
Dong Liang sent a final glance to the two youngsters in the room before he nodded his head and turned around. “Take good care of him!” Was the patriarchs only words before he hurried after Dong Liang.
Looking at the two departing figures, Yong Meilin quickly went and closed the door. She once more sat down next to the bed; her eyes were glued to Xu Min’s sweat covered face. She found some cold water and started wiping him down. She could not w
ait for him to wake up once more as healthy as he had been before entering the tournament. Yong Meilin wanted once more to return to the days where she and Xu Min would spend their time training together in the small courtyard, eating together and talking together and training together for their entire lives.
Although Yong Meilin wished for a daily life like this, she also remembered the cold expression on Xu Min’s face when he thought of his past. She understood his future was not with her, but in the vicious competitive world. He would rise to fame and become a known figure who would reside in another world than her.
Chapter 54 - Departure
Tears streamed down Yong Meilin’s eyes as she looked at the bustling road in front of her. This was one of the roads that was always busy with merchants, mercenaries and other adventurers. She had been standing there since the morning, the tears constantly falling from her eyes.
Many young men had tried to talk with her, some had brought her tissues while others would try and make her look at them, yet no matter what anyone did, Yong Meilin ignored them all and kept looking at the road. She felt as though someone had shattered her heart, broken it into thousand of pieces and that it was impossible for her to pick them up and put the together again.
It was now three months after the tournament had ended. Xu Min had spend an entire two weeks healing before his body was back at his peak performance and afterwards he spend another two and a half month to train. He had long since made up his mind of leaving, it was just a question of finding the right time, alongside planning where he wished to go.
‘If we are gonna leave, why haven’t we left already?’ Cao Cao asked multiple times but every time Xu Min just shook his head, ‘we cannot leave just like this. There is a lot of things we need to prepare first. Or are you saying that you don’t want to ensure that we have enough food for the travel? You know I want to enter the Ruins of the Immortals, but I need to have some more information about this place.’ Hui Yue argued, and the snake hissed a little when he heard about the food, but he still didn’t seem all that believing.
‘You just don’t want to leave Meilin!’ the snake said with a smirk on his scaly face. Shaking his head, Xu Min decided not to argue any further and instead had gone into the city where he had collected all the information possible about the Ruins of the Immortals.
The Ruins was a massive part of the neighbouring kingdom. It was a whole province where one could find both forests and plains. Scattered around the entire province were old cities that laid in ruins, all of them had their prime many years before, and they had all housed immortals. One could visit these sites and gain enlightenment by pondering about the dao in front of their ancient intricate inscriptions. Some of the ruins still controlled the elements and one could gain enlightenment in how to become one with the world.
Some of these ruins were inhabited by old magical beasts, some of them as strong as Cao Cao’s father. These ruins had gained the rank of forbidden cities, and no one dared entering them as they knew it would be impossible to return.
Even now, millenias after the immortals had left the province, new cities would sometime surface. These cities had previously been placed in pocket dimensions that after all these countless of years had lost its power and in return sent the cities back to the world where they originated from.
Xu Min had gotten all the information he had been able to get, he had even used the power of the Yong family to get maps which had been filled with dots, showing where they should not go and where they should go.
It had taken Xu Min three months to feel as though he was ready to leave the city, and even so, he was shocked to find himself still hesitating. In these three months Yong Meilin had only left his side during the night, every other moment during the day, morning and evening were spent together with the young man, and Xu Min could easily feel the worry that was growing in her heart.
Just as he was about to leave, Xu Min looked around the courtyard and the house he had been assigned all those months ago and he sighed deeply. He had the option of a new lease on life. He could stay within this Yong family and live an easy and happy life together with Yong Meilin, yet every time he thought about this happy life a face appeared in front of his eyes, the face of his beloved sister who was smiling at him, only to be engulfed in flames.
Even though he had the option of getting a new lease on life he also understood that this was not a possibility for him. He would never be free to enjoy life before he had gained revenge, he was forced down the road of revenge, forced to walk a desolate road where he alone could pressure himself time and time again, making it possible for him to reach the limits of his talent and when he reached high enough rank he would return to the small valley within the forest and mountains where the Zhong family was living their everyday life. He would return and make them regret what they had done against his sister.
Just as Xu Mi had made his decision of leaving he looked at Yong Meilin by his side and reacting on impulse he moved towards her, swept her up into his embrase and gave her a long hug before he slowly pulled backwards and placed a soft and gentle kiss on the woman’s lips.
Yong Meilin had become stiff as a wooden plank at first but soon tears started falling from her eyes as she gripped onto the robe Xu Min wore and she buried her face in his shoulder, cried her heart out.
“Wait for me,” Xu Min said gently as he stroke her hair, “I have something I need to do, something that makes it impossible for me to enjoy life, but as soon as I am done I will come for you,” he promised, his words were low, no one could hear it apart from Yong Meilin, but the words soothed her broken heart and she slowly stopped crying. Wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her dress she looked at Xu Min with pride in her eyes as she nodded her head.
“No matter how long I have to wait, I will always be the woman of Xu Min, the most talented youth within Ri Chu City,” She said, her voice still trembling somewhat but her eyes filled with a fire that no one could extinguish. “When you can, return to find me, I will always be waiting for you here.” she promised. Looking at her, Xu Min had a smile on his face and he once more dragged her into his embrace.
Xu Min had buried his feelings ever since his sister had done. Although he had lived with Overseer Wang, he had never allowed for himself to become emotionally attached. Overseer Wang was his teacher but neither were gentle and caring toward the other, they just shared their days with one another but even now, Xu Min felt gratitude towards Overseer Wang, especially because this man had given him a treasure such as the sword he had gotten, however Overseer Wang and Xu Min did not share any emotional ties.
When Xu Min had reached Ri Chu City he had been as emotionally dead as before. Although he had warmed up to Cao Cao he was still not trusting in humans, yet Yong Meilin had forced her way into Xu Min’s life. She had never expected anything from him, all she wanted was to be close to him and soon she had entered his heart. Although Xu Min had refused he deep inside knew that one of the reasons that he had a hard time leaving Ri Chu City was because of her.
Sighing deeply, Xu Min took Yong Meilin’s hand and hand in hand the two of them had left the Yong family compound moving towards one of the cities city gates. Many experts, including the patriarch all stopped what they had been doing and instead the group of high ranked experts all followed Xu Min through the city. All of them feeling unhappy with the fact that Xu Min was leaving, but all of them having assumed that it would happen sooner or later.
It was not only the Yong family who followed behind Xu Min, everyone who was of a major power in the city came to bid him farewell, everyone apart from the Tang family who still hated Xu Min more than death itself.
Reaching the gate, Xu Min stopped for some time and looked at Yong Meilin. A sad smile was on his lips as he gently stroke her hair. Such an obvious gesture of love was enough to make many of the experts present sigh in jealousy, but no one said anything, all of them having their hearts clenching when they saw the most beautiful woman in the city having t
ears streaming down her cheeks.
If anyone had ever doubted the rumor about a relationship between these two youngsters, no one questioned it any more.
“I’ll wait until I die, so you better come back as soon as you can,” Yong Meilin said, her voice was not lowered, instead she said it loud enough for everyone to hear. She, who had been the icequeen, had her heart stolen by this unknown youngster. She felt pride in being able to call herself his woman and she knew that in her entire life no other man would ever have her heart.
“I will return,” Xu Min promised with a smile on his face before he nodded to all the patriarchs present and the turned his back and slowly walked out the city gate, following down the road in front of him, the road which was leading him towards the Ruins of the Immortals.
Standing back in the city one patriarch left after another, leaving only Yong Meilin behind, her tears not stopping and her hands clutched together in front of her heart. Following Xu Min’s back into the distance she still looked even after he had vanished into the horizon. The entire day she stood there, looking at Xu Min’s direction before she finally wiped her eyes once more and left to her home.
