Chapter 50 (1/2)

This battle really surprised the smiley old man who was in the air. Mainly because the fight ended in a flash, and though the two people’s energy weren’t considered strong in his eyes, the ferociousness of their duel surprised him. Even more surprising was Ren Jie’s ruthlessness. From the start to the end, he never showed any fear of his first time being engaged in a life and death struggle, he was even more brutal than his opponent as he fiercely fought to the end.

That Yan Zhenfei, from abandoning his sword from the start to subsequently forcing his True Qi into Ren Jie’s body, all were acts of experience, giving play to his strong points and avoiding his shortcomings. However, he ultimately didn’t even manage to end things with both sides defeated while Ren Jie could persevere till the end and relied on his final breakthrough to kill Yan Zhenfei with a single strike. The ruthlessness and ferocity that was consistently present made up a big part of the reason for that.

“Damn it, he actually really broke through!” The smiley old man was very speechless even now. This fellow really had a breakthrough, how did this even make sense.

Although he was in the Body Refinement Realm, how long had it been, merely a few days had passed.

The last time he cultivated the All-Kill Array with him, he advanced in one night. It was the same thing today. Previously, he had thought he was speaking rubbish, but now…

Looking at Yan Zhenfei who had been killed and sent flying by Ren Jie, the smiley old man thought to himself, If this fellow knew that Ren Jie was only at the fourth level of the Body Refinement Realm, I wonder how he would’ve felt. The difference between Body Refinement Realm and True Qi Realm was huge. Usually, it would be considered good if three to four perfected Body Refinement Realm beings could go against one in the True Qi Realm. Occasionally there were god-forsaken people who challenged those in another realm, they were essentially in the ninth-level or had perfected the Body Refinement Realm.

Such people usually had great potential. Though they were at the ninth-level or had perfected the Body Refinement Realm, they were definitely several times stronger than the usual beings in the Body Refinement Realm. They’d even learned some middle-grade or superior-grade combat skills or possessed some spiritual artifacts, that was how they were able to skip the ranks for their challenges.

Whereas even after his breakthrough, Ren Jie’s true capability was merely at the fifth level of the Body Refinement Realm. He actually feared nothing when faced against a True Qi Realm and ultimately killed him. How was he a young master, even soldiers that had spent a long time on the battlefield were nothing more than this.

Most detestable was that this wasn’t an assassination but an outright, face to face kill. Goddamn it, how did he meet such a monster? How was he supposed to teach him, what should he teach him!

Originally, he’d wanted to use this incident to have him learn the cruelty of this world and let him witness what truly killing someone was, but now…

“Spurt…” After finally killing Yan Zhenfei, the mouthful of blood that Ren Jie had been suppressing was finally spat out. He went through many expressions. He’d skipped the realms and killed a being in the True Qi Realm, after all, it wasn’t a joke. Only, he had a firm belief earlier, that he absolutely could not retreat.

Fortunately, the energy was released now. The Qi at the fifth level of the Jade Emperor Refinement Technique was strong. After circulating it several times and stabilizing his internal injuries, even his other wounds felt much better.

Ren Jie walked over and lifted Yan Zhenfei’s body in one grip. He strode to Sun Zhu who was seated on the steps in front of the door propped up on a broken sword and holding a crying child.

“Passing through, plop…” Ren Jie said as he threw Yan Zhenfei’s body in front of Sun Zhu. Only once he spoke, blood streamed from the corner of his mouth again. Ren Jie wiped the blood using his hand. Ever since he came to this world, he had known that this was longer a society ruled by law like how it was on earth, everything depended on fists and capability. However, it was only today that he seemed to experience first hand the cruelty of this world.

Ren Jie could tell that this Sun Zhu was dying. He was inhaling more than he was exhaling, only hanging on with his willpower.

“Ha… haha… cough…” Sun Zhu laughed. The Qi that had been sustaining him instantly seemed to break up, but he ultimately looked towards Ren Jie gratefully. “Thank… you. At least… I… know, my Sun family… has been doing good our whole lives… on the whole, would not… cough…

“This… this… is what he wants… I got it by chance in the past… I… I realized it was unusual… but didn’t know it… it would bring misfortune, otherwise… I wouldn’t have kept it… no matter how good… I don’t want it, I only the family… peaceful… don’t want, I really didn’t want it, this… isn’t something… an average family like us… can have. You can have it… thank you for avenging… my Sun family… Sun Rui… the child… please, she’s very spec…” In Sun Zhu’s hand that was holding his granddaughter was a round pearl the size of a baby’s first. It was utterly clear, and one could see that something was in there, only it was quite blurred.

He opened his hand towards Ren Jie, at the same time wanting to entrust him the child and say more. However, before he could finish, his eyes slowly shut and he passed away in the same position.

Sun Rui’s eyes were still wide as she sat in his arms. She had a death grip on Sun Zhu’s arm and her body continued to tremble.

A courtyard full of bodies, in the darkness of the night, standing there, Ren Jie also couldn’t find peace for a long time.

“Dang…” Just then, the pearl fell from Sun Zhu’s hand.

Looking at Sun Rui who was still holding tightly onto the arm of the dead Sun Zhu, Ren Jie was suddenly at a loss of what to do. When facing Yan Zhenfei who was much stronger than him and had massacred more than a hundred people, he could charge forward without any fear. However, looking at this little girl in her pajamas with bloodstains on her face that were clearly from when Sun Zhu was battling Yan Zhenfei, this little girl who didn’t have the aura of a child raised in a village and seemed to radiate grace, Ren Jie also felt really troubled.

“Um…” Ren Jie was feeling troubled about how to talk to this little girl and didn’t bother about the pearl that had dropped. However, once the pearl fell out of Sun Zhu’s hands, the smiley old man in the air suddenly faltered. In the next second, he landed and stood by the pearl, staring at it unmoved.

“How… how could this be, jade… jade essence…” The smiley old man’s voice was slightly shaky as he looked at the pearl in disbelief.

“What jade essence?” Ren Jie was also stunned to see the smiley old man drop down so quickly and look so surprised. He had yet to probe into the background of the smiley old man even till now, but he was certainly exceptional. Something that could make him this shocked must be out of the ordinary.

Ren Jie asked as he bent and picked the pearl up, looking at it carefully. It only felt very comfortable in his hands, nothing special.