10 Chapter 9: A fight against 3 seniors (1/2)
”Whoa!”
I jumped away desperately, just barely able to dodge the freight train of massive, mountainous guys charging at me.
Tie Shan's iron fist slammed into the ground where I stood, carving a crater into the concrete. I stumbled back, pelted by the debris, and had to duck under a hook from Luan Fa, which ripped a huge chunk from the wall of a nearby building. I shifted my trajectory and jumped back, along the wall, narrowly evading Mohawk's kick that reduced a good part of the structure into rubble. Once again, I found myself under assault from the debris.
”Kuh!”
Spinning around, I dodged under Tie Shan's iron fist again, but the sheer blast from the qi coating his hand knocked me over.
”!”
I rolled away before Mohawk could finish me off with a stomp that smashed a crater into the solid concrete. Jumping to my feet, I staggered back just beyond the reach of Luan Fa, whose fist pulverized the wall that was unfortunate enough to be beside me when I stood up.
”Holy f…!”
I threw myself backward to avoid getting obliterated by Tie Shan's attack, as well as trying to stay out of the reach of Luan Fa and Mohawk.
”Those skills…what are you, the Iron Fist Sect or something?”
Tie Shan's eyes narrowed.
”Still trying to pretend that you don't know anything, I see!”
”…give it a rest already…”
I couldn't help but sigh as I avoided yet another deadly blow from Mohawk's kick, then jumped away before Luan Fa crushed the ground where I was standing on with his qi-enveloped fists. Debris pelted me as I reeled back from the shockwaves.
”We're from the Iron Mountain Sect,” Luan Fa explained helpfully. ”Our techniques are focused on hardening our bodies into steel, which grants us a ton of offensive and defensive power as well as envelop our bodies in armored qi. Immovable as the mountains, unyielding as the landscape. We have a great affinity with metal qi of the five elements.”
”Oh, that's amazing…”
”Why the hell are you explaining everything to him?!” Tie Shan yelled at Luan Fa, who had the decency to look chagrined.
”Well…he asked.”
I really like this guy. He really was a model senior…if only he wasn't attacking me.
”He's acting! Trying to distract you from the battle! Don't fall for it!” Tie Shan bellowed. I sighed yet again. This guy was really getting on my nerves.
”No, I'm not. I really don't know anything about the Heaven and Earth techniques.”
”You're lying! Then why would you have that medallion?”
Mohawk hollered as he swung his foot at me. I sidestepped the kick, glad that I managed to escape having my skull caved in.
”I already told you! The old man gave me that as a reward for saving his life!”
”Liar! Why would he give you that if you're not the successor?”
”Kuh!”
Cursing, I ducked under another swing from Tie Shan. The sonic boom from his vicious punch blasted me off my feet and knocked me flat onto my back. Mohawk tried to capitalize on the moment by stomping on me with those deadly feet of his, but I managed to roll away. Even then, the impact generated from the collision between his foot and the ground lifted me up bodily and sent me hurtling across the school compound.
”Ugh!”
I crashed heavily onto the ground, but tried to mitigate the impact by rolling to my feet. Swaying unsteadily, I looked up just in time to see the three seniors charge at me.
”Bloody hell…”
Wiping the blood from my mouth, I slowly rose to my feet to glare at the trio of seniors. While they advanced, I held up both hands in surrender.
”Before you kill me for some stupid reason, can you at least tell me what this medallion is?”
”Do you really not know?” Luan Fa scowled.
”Stop pretending!” Tie Shan bellowed. ”That medallion is evidence that you are the successor to the Heaven and Earth Sect! That's no use hiding the fact that you've inherited the Heaven and Earth techniques!”
Say what?
If I was getting this right, this medallion was proof that the bearer was the leader of the Heaven and Earth Sect, or at the very least the successor to the Heaven and Earth techniques. Then why the heck did the old man give something as valuable as this to a complete stranger like me? He didn't even tell me what this thing was, or tell me a single thing!
Gratitude?! Fuck, this was downright irresponsibility!
”Look, if you want this medallion, I'll give it to you. You guys can be the leaders of the Heaven and Earth Sect or whatever. I'm not interested.”
I held out the medallion. Whatever this stupid thing was, it wasn't worth giving up my life just to hang onto it. I didn't even have any emotional attachment to it.
The trio stared at me as if I had just said something incredibly stupid. Which, to be fair, was probably what happened.
”Idiot!” Tie Shan roared as he threw his iron fist at me. ”The medallion's worthless without the Heaven and Earth techniques!”
I considered telling him that they weren't going to get those out of me if they killed me, but by then it was clear that they were way past listening to reason or the truth. I also realized the futility of telling them the truth – I did not possess the Heaven and Earth techniques. In fact, this was the first time I had ever heard of such a thing.
”What exactly are these Heaven and Earth techniques?” I demanded. ”Some kind of ultimate martial art?”
”Sort of.”
Luan Fa replied as he struck at me with his qi-immersed fists, forcing me to duck. The shockwaves buffeted me, knocking me off my feet and causing me to sprawl on the ground. I rolled away before Mohawk could smash my head into the dirt.
Did they want the techniques or not? Idiots…
”The Heaven and Earth Formula is the most powerful martial arts in the world,” Luan Fa continued to explain while throwing punches. The seniors might undoubtedly be more powerful, but they were slow. Thankfully, I had built up my fitness and stamina with all that running, so I was fast enough to evade the main bulk of their attacks. For now, anyway. ”It's supposed to grant the cultivator near infinite qi and allow him to eventually become one with the heavens. It's an important step into gaining immortality and becoming invincible.”
That sounded really dubious, like some sort of myth or legend passed down along generations. But they clearly believed that it existed, which made me question more about the old man. Was he an immortal? And if he was supposedly invincible because of this technique, why hadn't I seen him ever since? Why did it seem like he was running and hiding instead of crushing all of his foes head-on? The old man didn't give off the feeling that he was an immortal.
”…and you think I have learned these techniques?”
”The fact that you possess the medallion is proof that you inherited the Heaven and Earth Formula.”
”Well, then take the damned medallion and look for the techniques inside it!” I threw the medallion at Luan Fa, who was the only senior reasonable enough to at least talk to me. He punched it away by reflex and sent it flying back to me.
Thanks to my training over the last three months where I practiced kicks against an automaton inside one of the training rooms that I booked every night, I caught the damned thing by reflex. Annoyed, I glared at Luan Fa.
”Do you want it or not!?”
”Are you stupid?” Tie Shan snarled. ”Do you take us for fools? Hiding a martial arts manual inside a small medallion? Who would believe that?”
”Ugh…” I sighed, frustrated. ”I already told you, the only thing the old man gave me was this medallion. He mentioned absolutely nothing about martial art techniques, and he certainly didn't teach me any ultimate move!”
”Do you honestly expect us to believe that?” Mohawk scoffed as he chopped toward me with his axe, forcing me to duck or lose my head. ”That the Absolute One would appoint you his successor and the new leader of the Heaven and Earth Sect, entrust you with the proof of your appointment, but not pass down his techniques and ultimate weapon to the one he chose as his heir before he died?”
”Wait…are you telling me that old man died?”
A chill ran down my back.
”The Martial Arts Alliance killed him,” Luan Fa explained simply before he threw a hook that blew the wall behind me into bits. Damn, I had to get away from the building or he would demolish academy property. ”After committing so many atrocities and massacring so many sects, the various orthodox sects banded together and united to kill him. They finally succeeded after much sacrifice and bloodshed. But there was no sign that he left any successor or will behind when they defeated him.”
”That sucks.” I shrugged before dodging another fatal blow that took out a huge chunk of the wall behind me. ”So why are you assuming that I am the successor when it's quite obvious he didn't leave any behind?”
To be honest, I felt uncomfortable and stunned by the revelation, but I refused to show it. Even though I didn't know the old man very well, he was someone who I had met and conversed with. It was just so difficult to believe that he was gone like that, killed by the very same Martial Arts Alliance whose Wu Ling Academy I was enrolled in.
Damn, and the last time I talked to him, he seemed fine and healthy. Could he really be dead? Did they really kill him?
Furthermore, it was also difficult to believe that a seemingly kindly and gentle old man like him was such an atrocious villain. He was so helpless that I had to save him from a bloody truck. How could someone like him be immortal and invincible? Not only that, he actually visited someone who saved his life, going to the hospital to personally thank me and even gave me his medallion as a token of his gratitude and appreciation. How could someone like that be a murderous villain who did not hesitate in committing atrocities and massacring countless people?
It made no sense.
But…
”Sounds like you're being chased by a bunch of killers.”
”Oh, you have no idea how right you are.”
Those lines returned to the surface of my memory and I frowned. The old man admitted that he was being chased by people trying to kill him. If he was referring to the martial arts alliance, then technically everything made sense. Even so, I was still unable to wrap my head around the fact that he was supposed to be a homicidal villain.
”You were the only person he was in contact with before his death…the only one he actually talked to without killing.”
”So…because he talked to me to express his gratitude for saving his life, you somehow believe that he managed to transfer his techniques to me in those brief seconds and those few words?” I asked, flabbergasted. ”Don't you think that's too much of a stretch?”
”It is,” Luan Fa admitted. ”But you're the only lead we have. And our master has ordered us to retrieve the information and Heaven and Earth techniques by whatever means necessary.”
”Your master did?” my frown deepened. ”Wait a minute, that can't be right. Aren't you disallowed from learning techniques from other sects? That's supposed to be a taboo!”
”It only applies if the sect still exists, or refuses to give permission.” Luan Fa shrugged nonchalantly. ”The Heaven and Earth Sect is destroyed…or is presumed to have been destroyed, so it's fair game. We'll be 'restoring' the Heaven and Earth Formula.”
”Especially if we eliminate you after seizing the techniques from you!” Mohawk laughed cruelly. ”Then the Heaven and Earth Sect will truly be destroyed!”
I ignored him even as I evaded another kick from the bastard, and instead focused my attention on Luan Fa.
”When did the old man die? When was he killed?”
”About two months ago,” Luan Fa supplied helpfully. ”I don't know the details, but I do know that every master from every orthodox sect under the Martial Arts Alliance gathered to finish off the Absolute One and his followers. There was a massive war about six months ago, where the Heaven and Earth Sect was utterly annihilated, and the Absolute One, despite slaying so many masters and veterans of the Martial Arts Alliance, was severely injured and forced to flee. He was in hiding for almost half a year before we located him again. The leaders of the Martial Arts Alliance gathered what survivors they could and launch an attack on him before he could escape.”
”There was a huge war half a year ago?”
It might have been my confused memory, which was trying to reconcile two different timelines together, but somehow I didn't remember hearing about that.
”Yeah.” Luan Fa nodded. ”That's why all the Martial Academies are so eager in recruiting new disciples. They're trying to replenish and rebuild their sects, most of which were utterly devastated after the war.”
Ah, so that was why I wasn't expelled even after being identified and singled out as a One Star Constitution practitioner. I was also thinking about how ridiculous it was for the different sects to choose so many different disciples from the four hundred students in our batch, even though they already had so many disciples among the seniors and possibly from the other academies. Turned out it was out of necessity. After being severely reduced to the brink of annihilation by the war against the Heaven and Earth Sect, they were forced to recruit vast numbers of new disciples to restore their sects. As Luan Fa explained, I vaguely recalled reading about that war in the news, but in a different, distant timeline that seemed detached from my original one.
”Why the hell are you explaining it to him, Luan Fa?!” Tie Shan shouted furiously. ”Just kill him already!”
”If you kill me, then how am I supposed to tell you about the Heaven and Earth techniques, assuming I do really have them?”
I couldn't believe that I had to point out the obvious, but here I was having to explain to my enemies how to rob from me. Albeit they were trying to rob me of something that I did not have, but there was no point telling them that.
They would never believe me. It was clear they only wanted to hear whatever they wanted to hear.
”Ho? So you're finally willing to give the Heaven and Earth techniques to us?”
Tie Shan smirked triumphantly. I buried my face in my palm. Did he not have ears? Or was his mind so warped that it automatically distorted anything I said into something that he only wanted to hear?
There was only one word to describe such characters. Delusional.
”I already told you, that old man never taught me any martial art techniques. Just this damned medallion. And if you want it, you can have it.”
Mohawk responded by scything his leg downward, forcing me to jump back. The blast from his kick sent me tumbling backward.
”You can drop your act now. It's getting really tiring.”
Yeah. I was getting sick and tired of these seniors. If words didn't get through, then I had no choice.
To be honest, I was still mired in disbelief. I couldn't believe that I was being assaulted by a trio of seniors from my own school trying to kill me. Normally you would expect the seniors to mentor you, not try and kill you. And it wasn't because I was being arrogant or ”didn't know my place” or because they wanted to bully me. They wanted to seize something from me that I did not have. The Heaven and Earth techniques. And they were determined to kill me before or after they succeeded. I could sense their killing intent as well. They were keenly honed and tempered.
By the way, Luan Fa's killing intent was the weakest. Given that his attacks were somewhat lackluster compared to the other two seniors, I doubted he really intended to kill me. That said, he was still doing his best to incapacitate me, so I couldn't let my guard down. But he probably had the sense to realize that dead men did not impart martial arts techniques.
”Even if you really don't possess the Heaven and Earth techniques, it's undeniable that you are the new leader of the Heaven and Earth Sect. that means you the enemy of the Martial Arts Alliance.”
Luan Fa was a lot less deluded and more open to considering the possibility that I was telling the truth. Not that it was doing me much good.
”And furthermore, even if you really don't know anything about Heaven and Earth Formula, we still have no choice but to eliminate you. We cannot allow anyone to know about our master's orders. We have to eliminate all eyewitnesses, to ensure that the academy does not find out about our attack. Otherwise our sect will be in trouble.”
The fuck?! You were the ones jumping in and attacking me over some mistaken assumption, and I had to die for your stupid mistakes? What sort of logic was that?