Chapter 16: The way of the world

Lin Feng was wearing a mask so nobody could recognize him, even though he wouldn’t be recognized by the top disciples who populated gorge. He had mastered the Nine Heavy Waves technique as well as the Roaring Thunder skill which proved he was a monstrous talent and would definitely draw attention.

Jing Hao was the sixth strongest disciple within the sect ranking system and was above Lin Feng in cultivation at the ninth Qi layer. Jing Hao had made his name famous by defeating three disciples who were also at the ninth Qi layer in a three-on-one battle.

Lin Feng’s level of cultivation was a whole layer below Jing Hao, but everybody had seen Lin Feng force Jing Hao to retreat. He had killed Jiang Huai who was one of Jing Hao’s closest followers. Jing Hao had lost face, he had allowed an unknown disciple who was only at the eighth Qi Layer to force him into retreating and even watched as his follower was killed in front of his eyes. At the moment when everyone was expecting Jing Hao to unleash his fury and force Lin Feng into a pitiful state, Lin Feng had already stepped back into the Life or Death Arena. While everyone staring disbelievingly at his action, Lin Feng wasted no time and challenged Jing Hao in the most condescending way.

“Maybe, he knows that his fate is already sealed and has chosen to die in battle” said a disciple in the crowd. Lin Feng was only at the eighth Qi layer after all and his strength was relatively low in comparison with Jing Hao.

Jing Hao felt humiliated and didn’t know how such a turn of events had come about. He had never been humiliated in such a way since he had joined the Yun Hai Sect.

“Since you are requesting to die, who better than me to kill you.” said Jing Hao full of hatred. Since he had seen Lin Feng use the Roaring Thunder skill, he knew that Lin Feng hadn’t lied to him, he definitely had the strength to kill Jing Feng.

Not only had he killed his little brother but he had also humiliated him in front of a large crowd of disciples. This could not be tolerated.

Jing Hao stepped into the arena as a strong force began to rise from his sword. Behind Jing Hao was a floating illusionary sword pointing towards the heavens. It was Jing Hao’s sword spirit.

“Jing Hao was wasting no time and immediately started using his sword spirit. He wants to show Lin Feng the gap between their powers.”

Everybody guessed what Jing Hao intended to do. He wanted to show how powerful he was compared to the commoner in front of him.

“Unsheathe your sword and I will let you have three sword strikes before I attack. Let me see what your puny strength can do with three sword strikes” said Jing Hao while holding his sword and arrogantly looking down on Lin Feng.

Lin Feng grinned. He immediately used his Moonlight Feather Agility. Like moonlight during the day, he disappeared from sight then appeared in front of Jing Hao. Many illusory swords began to form then shot from Lin Feng’s hand palm directly at Jing Hao. When they arrived in front of Jing Hao, all these illusory swords combined into the tip of Lin Feng’s sword and then smashed down into Jing Hao. A deafening thunderous roar spread throughout the atmosphere.

“How strong. He is really a master at using the Roaring Thunder skill”. When the crowd heard the noise, they looked at the scene horrified. The sounds emitted by his attacks sounded like lightening tearing through the air and then exploding on impact. These sounds could even scare the disciples watching from a distance.

Jing Hao’s expression which was initially extremely carefree suddenly tensed. He had underestimated his opponent and could not let his guard down.

The thunderous roars made the air in the gorge start to tremble. An extremely powerful illusory sword was hovering in the air in front of Jing Hao acting as a shield.

“First attempt” said Jing Hao mockingly.

Lin Feng didn’t lose his concentration. He believed in his power and ability. Countless thunderous roars exploded as Lin Feng prepared his second strike. This would be much more powerful than the first strike.

Jing Hao was still just protecting himself and not attacking. He was using his illusory sword as a shield knowing with his higher cultivation and sword spirit, he could counter any type of attack.

For his next strike Lin Feng started charging at Jing Hao, however he suddenly thrust his sword forward and loosened his grip of the hilt. The sword continued to move along its trajectory and flew through the air at Jing Hao.

“What is he doing?”

The crowd was as stupefied as to what Lin Feng had just done. Lin Feng had concentrated all his Qi into the tip of the sword then shot it towards Jing Hao. If Jing Hao accepted this attack like before, then he would damage his sword spirit with the impact. This was not an option for Jing Hao.

Jing Hao was stupefied for a second and then smiled to himself. Did Lin Feng really think this would work?

Jing Hao started to move backwards while bringing his sword upwards in an arc and with an elegant movement he had skillfully countered the force of the sword sending it flying powerlessly into the air.

After Lin Feng let go of his sword he was already charging at incredible speed towards Jing Hao. Using his Moonlight Feather Agility technique it seemed as if his feet did not touch the floor as they disappeared before anyone could clearly see them.

“Second attempt.” said Jing Hao arrogantly as he watched Lin Feng approach him at incredibly speed. He did not feel threatened, he was merely toying with Lin Feng. Lin Feng had landed in front of Jing Hao however his sword had landed on the floor behind him.

“You really want to die?” said Jing Hao while biting his tongue. Lin Feng had not stopped to collect his sword which was flying through the air. He began to strike towards Jing Hao with his fists, this way he was unable to count the third sword strike and would be humiliated by being forced to take Lin Feng’s blows without ever retaliating. All he wanted was to show Lin Feng the difference in their power, but again he would be forced to lose face because of Lin Feng.

Then Jing Hao heard Lin Feng say something which shocked him to the core: “that’s enough. I am done playing now”.

Lin Feng had stopped in front of Jing Hao with eyes filled with killing intent and suddenly a thunderous roar was heard. A bright and blinding light flashed through the air between the two figures before disappearing from sight.

Jing Hao looked stupefied and horrified at what had just happened. It seemed like he had understood what Ling Feng had meant. Jing Hao was not the predator in this fight and instead it was Lin Feng who was toying with him. Would the result have been different if he had not arrogantly given Lin Feng three strikes? Jing Hao no longer had the opportunity to regret his actions as he had already taken his last breath.

“Third attempt” Said Lin Feng as his voice filled the air surrounding the arena which was deathly silent.

Jing Hao was still stood in the middle of the arena unharmed but to everyone’s surprise, Lin Feng had simply walked past Jing Hao and picked up his sword which was previously sent flying. The whole arena was completely silent, everyone had heard it. As Lin Feng’s words echoed throughout the canyon the only other sound was of Jing Hao’s body slumping down onto the floor with blood seeping from a previous unseen wound on his neck.

Everybody was watching the scene stupefied and couldn’t believe it their eyes. Jing Hao had lost?

How had Lin Feng attacked?

“Sword unsheathing skill.” In the crowd there were many Elite disciples. They had seen the light of the sword which passed between Lin Feng and Jing Hao. Because the sword was too quick, it looked like a meteor flashing through the sky before disappearing.

Suddenly everyone started to discuss the battle they had just watched. They could not believe what they had just witnessed.

The sixth ranked disciple had been defeated by Lin Feng and the outcome of the battle had been his death.

“Who is he?”

Everyone was wondering which disciple had been so arrogant to directly kill two people in succession. How had he overcome Jing Hao who was ninth Qi layer and was one of the best disciples of the sect? Lin Feng had shown that he was the true genius and no one doubted his skill after this display. The news that someone had defeated Jing Hao was going to spread quickly within the Yun Hai Sect.

At that moment, on the top of the gorge many people were discussing the last sword strike of Lin Feng.

Not so far away from the gorge inside a bustling pavilion. A relaxed old man was staring blankly into the distance and smiling as he whispered: “That young man has already learnt how to master the Sword Unsheathing skill. He really does have incredible talent.”

The old man was the one Lin Feng had met at the Xing Chen Pavilion, who had reminded Lin Feng of an extremely powerful fictional monk from his past life. That old man would have never thought he would see the sword he gifted to an interesting young disciple appear in the Life or Death Arena. That is how he had recognized Lin Feng.

The Stormy Gorge was a place where many Yun Hai Sect disciples chose to go and practice the control of their cultivation and martial techniques within real battle. The top disciples of the sect, including many Elite disciples, were the disciples who populated the Stormy Gorge. You could see that the Yun Hai sect was an outstanding sect from just looking at the sheer number of its disciples in the gorge who were watching the fight from the sidelines.

Except for the old man, Jing Yun and Han Man, there was only one disciple in the crowd who knew the identity of who had just killed Jing Hao. That man was called Guo Hai, the young disciple who had used Jing Feng’s death as a pretext to blackmail Jing Yun. The result was that he had been beaten back by Lin Feng. Afterwards he had looked for Jing Hao and remembered what Lin Feng and the two others were wearing so he could identify the group. He had been tracking them as they went down into the gorge. This was all part of his plan as he would use Jing Hao to kill Lin Feng and Han Man then take Jing Yun as his reward.

Guo Hai had watched as Lin Feng killed Jing Hao which was utterly unexpected. He was so terrified that he secretly tried to escape knowing that he would be next.

“You want to leave now… but isn’t it too early to leave now that you have been so successful with your trap?” said Lin Feng to Guo Hai in an ice-cold tone. Lin Feng had paid careful attention and had already seen that Guo Hai had been hiding behind Jing Hao and whispering in his ear.

Guo Hai stopped and had a shiver run down his spine as he felt Lin Feng’s cold gaze piercing through his back.

When Guo Hai heard Lin Feng, he turned around. Guo Hai was smiling but it was a smile to hide his terror which was ugly to behold.

“You must be mistaken senior brother, I have nothing to do with the events which have happened here!” Guo Hai said in a respectful tone, pretending he did not know it was Lin Feng.

“Oh so want to lie and say that you do not know me?” said Lin Feng smiling. His face revealed clear killing intent which he made no attempt hide.

“Please remember we are in the Stormy Gorge and not in the Life or Death Arena. You cannot act rashly” said Guo Hai in a shaky and fragile voice, who could feel Lin Feng approaching with the intent to kill.

“I know.” said Lin Feng sounding indifferent.

“BOOM!”

Powerful waves suddenly crashed heavily onto Guo Hai pressing him against the ground. Guo Hai had no chance, he didn’t even attempt any resistance. After Lin Feng had killed Jing Hao, would he have the strength to resist such a powerful opponent?

Lin Feng grabbed Guo Hai using only one hand and threw him directly into Life or Death Arena. Lin Feng then picked up his sword and approached Guo Hai who was struggling to stand after landing so heavily onto the rocky arena.

“Now you are in the Life or Death Arena, so there are no problems.”

The crowd looked at Lin Feng, they were speechless in shock. How audacious could one person possibly be?

“This wasn’t my decision, I didn’t decide to step in here myself. You are violating the sect’s rules by doing this. How dare you so blatantly break the sect’s rules?” Guo Hai hadn’t expected Lin Feng to throw him into the arena. He started shaking from head to toe with fear.

A light suddenly flashed between Lin Feng and Guo Hai, sending his head flying into the air.

“Does the sect really have such rules? Then I will just have to ignore them”

Lin Feng said with a hint of anger as he finally sheathed his sword.

If the sect really had rules, would have Liu Fei dared take out her bow and try to kill him without discussion?

If the sect really had rules, would the Elite disciples really threaten him with death without being provoked?

These rules obviously do not apply to all disciples. If you are strong enough, if you master enough skills, if you have a high status within the sect, there is one rule: the rule is that there are no rules. It was as if he was daring the elders of the sect to try and punish him for killing other disciples.

Lin Feng doesn’t take pleasure in killing people. In Lin Feng’s previous life, if you killed people then you would be sentenced to death. However in this world several people tried to kill him even though there was no grudge between them. It enabled Lin Feng to understand that in this world, only the strong would survive. It was a cruel world, therefore if people wanted to kill him, then he would mercilessly kill them. Anyone who attempted to take his life would lose their own no matter their family connections, status or gender; all would be cut down by his sword.

Lin Feng went back to Han Man who was sat on the edge of the arena smiling. He said to Lin Feng: “I never doubted that you would kill them”

“Rules or no rules, they were already dead.” Said Lin Feng while smiling.

and they all lived happily ever after.

The end

Slightly late on my release today as I was working late. This is Wednesday’s regular release.

Unfortunately there is no cliffhanger for you today. Just Lin Feng daring an extremely powerful sect to punish him. I am sure that will go down well. hehe xoxo

Thank you to everyone for your support! I hope you enjoy this chapter.