Wangyuan stood tall, his dark blue robes fluttering, but his eyes remained calm. Only one corner of his mouth lifted—a sinister smile.
"Still as arrogant as ever," Wangyuan quipped.
Luo Yian didn't answer. He just stared at Wangyuan like a wild beast marking its prey. His palms slowly opened.
A soft hissing sound accompanied the movement, and the air around him instantly felt dry, hot, and heavy.
A blackish-red aura began to envelop Yian's body, like a mist born of blood and anger.
"Wangyuan," his voice became deeper, heavier, "I didn't come to talk. I came to erase your name from this world."
And he disappeared.
In an instant, Luo Yian appeared in front of Wangyuan. A single blow from his bare hands shattered the ground where Wangyuan had been standing. Wangyuan parried—but his body was pushed three steps back. His robes were torn apart by an invisible force of pure power.
Yian launched himself again. A single kick swept across a large tree beside them, causing it to snap and fall with a terrifying sound. Without a pause, another punch followed, sending waves of pressure crashing through the air.
Wangyuan became serious. He formed a protective formation from his fingers, creating a wall of wind and light. However, Yian broke through it like a stone through glass. No human technique could completely block Yian's power that came from the dark depths of his own body.
"Every second you live, the name of Fenglin is tarnished," Yian said as he grabbed Wangyuan's shoulder and slammed him into the ground.
Boom!
The ground cracked. Dust swallowed his vision.
Wangyuan was shaken. He stood up with blood dripping from his temple.
"You will lose control, Yian."
"I don't need control," Yian replied. His voice was soft but echoed like thunder. "I only need your body to die."
The sky began to change color. The clouds moved erratically. The leaves of the trees fell as if hit by a storm.
An Jua and Zhi Mei stared unblinkingly. Even Qin Zeyu, who was usually fierce, was now gripping his sword hilt not to fight, but to be on guard in case Yian… changed completely.
Wangyuan straightened his body, opening his torn robe. The tattoo on his chest lit up. He shouted softly, awakening protective energy.
But Yian only raised his hand slowly.
A black aura enveloped his left palm. Yian's right hand clenched.
"I take my curse with you to the grave."
And his punch came down like a meteor from hell.
Wangyuan lay on the ground, one more punch from Luo, it was certain that Wangyuan would die.
A second before that happened, Wei Qiren barged in and pressed a point on the back of Yian's neck.
The burning red and black aura suddenly went out. Yian's body fell to the ground… then fainted.
"What are you doing?" Qin Zeyu asked.
"Are you crazy? Leaving him like this will make it even harder for him to recover!" Wei Qiren growled.
He immediately carried Luo Yian into the horse carriage, while Wangyuan was already unconscious there. So was his disciple Guoshu.
They continued their journey until they reached the Jinghai Sea.
"No matter what, you can't let him use his power by force," Wei Qiren warned.
Three days later, they arrived at Mount Jiuhua. They rested for one night, because it was already evening and the sea water was also receding. The ship could not leave the sea.
"This village is quite quiet." Wei Qiren said.
"You stayed in that ice place for too long, so you don't know the conditions outside. Yesterday Wangyuan's people destroyed the village, so some of them moved to Yusheng and Qianxi."
"Wangyuan, is he that evil?" Wei Qiren looked curious.
"Do you believe it or not, he is that evil. But the vice leader of the Shenli holy sect." Qin Zeyu whispered.
Wei Qiren chuckled, something like that was commonplace for him.
"We should leave tonight, I feel like something is going to happen." Wei Qiren said looking around him while drinking a glass of wine.
"Tonight is high tide, we'll leave right away." Wei Qiren continued.
They nodded in agreement, the air felt different like an aura of slaughter.
Night fell, but the water was still not high enough for them to sail. Wei Qiren felt something bad was going to happen.
"Like this, you guys go using a small boat. I'll wait here on guard." Wei Qiren said making them all refuse.
"Do you think I'll die if I don't go there?" Luo Yian chuckled, the first time they saw Luo Yian laugh.
Luo Yian showed his hand. The red color on his hand disappeared and turned back to black. That was a sign that his life energy was returning to normal.
"How is that possible?" Wei Qiren was shocked.
"You underestimate him too much." Qin Zeyu whispered.
"You guys wait here." Wei Qiren said, and walked out of the inn.
He looked for a head covering for Luo Yian, so as not to trigger a conflict before reaching his destination.
"Reducing thea little strength is fine." Luo Yian thought.
He didn't want to trouble anyone, anyway. He could train again and try out new strengths.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Wei Qiren saw from a distance, many masked people with weapons riding horses towards this place.
The headgear that Wei Qiren bought fell off, he was really speechless. The memory of his parents' murderer came back to his mind.
But a moment later, Wei Qiren picked up the headgear that he had just bought and immediately ran back to the inn.
Some villagers ran in panic and hid.
Wei Qiren arrived with a pale face, not afraid of the masked people. But, his trauma came back.
"What's wrong?" Qin Zeyu looked panicked seeing Wei Qiren's condition.
"A group of masked people. They rode horses here." he said, his face getting paler.
An Jua remembered something. "They want to catch Luo Yian? And they killed your parents?" he squeaked.
"SHUT UP!" Wei Qiren shouted, he immediately ran who knows where. While the other friends were worried about him.
"Don't chase him, he needs time alone." Luo Yian held Qin Zeyu.
Zhi Mei went downstairs, peeking from behind the door at the actions of the masked people. After that Zhi Mei quickly went back upstairs.
"They killed innocent people. If they continue to let it be, all the villagers will die."
"An Jua, you stay here with Luo Yian. I will go down to fight them, and you Zhi Mei, you guard this door." Qin Zeyu said immediately jumping out of the window.
Zhi Mei couldn't stay still, she also jumped to accompany Qin Zeyu.
"Hand over that person." said their leader firmly.