Author’s note: Episode sponsored by Jamie Griffin-B.! Muchas gracias!

Host’s note: I’m rehosting on RRL for the author.

Taking out a white cloth and wiping away the bloodstains on his hand, Jin Xia turned and leaped back to the rooftop Hu Feng was on.

Hu Feng, who witnessed the entire event, had a pale complexion as he looked at the corpses. He could feel his stomach lurching and rolling around.

“This…isn’t this m-murder in broad daylight?!” Hu Feng thought in horror.

Even though he had been in WuDang for the past 18 years, he was quite the sheltered child. While he may have seen someone get severely beaten up, or even had personally experienced a beating, he had never seen someone getting killed in front of him.

He had merely heard about the chaotic and merciless world out there.

Today, was actually the first time he had witnessed something so bloody since reincarnating from Earth.

Arriving besides Hu Feng, Jin Xia grabbed the youth as he once again leaped away. “Let’s go now.”

As the two figures jumped away, a trailing voice was left behind by Jin Xia while the crowd was still stunned.

“I will leave the Fan and Meng Clan alone today. If you still wish to be foolish…then we may meet again at the Great Azure Country’s Annual Clans Gathering… ”

The complexions of Meng Bei and Fan Lei Yi turned pale when they heard Jin Xia’s words. The color of their face was altering between white and green as they struggled with their turmoiled emotions.

In fact, they still could not come around the reality that their fathers had been killed by Jin Xia.

“Father..father cannot be dead..no, no, that’s not possible..” Lei Yi muttered incoherently to himself as he abruptly turned and bolted towards the direction where his father was blown away to.

Meng Bei continued to stand where he was, with his jaws tightly clenched shut, and trembling ever so slightly. Unlike Fan Lei Yi, Meng Bei was much level headed.

Even though his father died before his eyes, he did not immediately lash out. He was able to assess the situation, and understood that the other youth’s strength was much greater than his own. He was more cool headed compared to Lei Yi, a trait that he got from his own father.

“It’s over…” Meng Bei thought as he slowly shut his eyes. The previous arrogance and anger he had felt slowly dissipated away. His face, which was originally brimming with confidence and youth, looked as if he had aged several years.

Opening his eyes again, a sense of tiredness could be seen within his eyes.

A sense of voidness.

With the death of his father, the Meng Clan’s standing in Red Sun City would definitely change sooner or later, just like the Fan clan.

Even though he was a 9th stage Wudan cultivator and a few of his clan elders were in the early Spiritual Dan realms, they could be compared with the majority of the powers in Red Sun City. Their Meng Clan would soon be overtaken if they do not start leaving the city…

At this moment, Meng Bei regretted.

He regretted not taking into consideration the other party’s strength and jumping right into a fight. Perhaps the initial shame had blinded his judgement. Or perhaps he had grown too aloof due to his status and strength. But in the end, it was all too late.

With eyes that opened but did not seem to focus, Meng Bei softly ordered the servants he brought with him today:

“Hurry and go recover father’s corpse. Then, let us quickly return and warn our entire clan to start packing. We have to leave Red Sun City as soon as possible.”

In that moment, Meng Bei made a quick decision to ensure the survival of his clan. To avoid any trouble, the best thing to do right now was to go into recuperation. Revenge was impossible.

After all, even though the Meng Clan was strong, it was not like a true major clan. The overall manpower of their Meng Clan is much weaker, thus once they lose their strongest member, then the entire clan will suffer.

A truly strong clan could still protect themselves even if their head was defeated, as there would be ancestor-level figures or other close powers to watch other the clan in its weakened state.

The Meng clan and Fan clan had neither type of support.

One of the servants suddenly asked: “But, but young master, what about the Annual Clans Gathering?”

Meng Bei’s dead expression did not change as he said: “We…will not be participating this year. With our standing right now, I do not even know if our clan will be safe…and even if we do manage to go, it would all be futile. He will be there as well…”

Understanding who that “he” referred to, the servant gulped as he hurriedly nodded his head. The servant could still remember the brutal scene of their patriarch being struck straight through the chest…

The Meng Clan and Fan Clan could not hope to worry about a competition when their family’s life was at stake here. The two clans did have many enemies after all. And if they learned of their current predicament, perhaps both clans would be wiped away soon…

The people from the Meng Clan, including Meng Bei, began to hurry back to home as a cloud of gloom hung over their faces.

In the distant, a cry filled with anguish and hatred suddenly rang out from the other side of Red Sun City…

***

Near the entrance of city, a middle-aged man dressed in plain blue clothes was talking to another man, who was dressed in a brown robe with a horse grazing by his side.

“Go back and report to His Majesty that the Fan Clan and Meng Clan have fallen. The other forces in this city has already begun to move against them; they will most likely last no longer than tomorrow.”

The blue clothed man continued to report on the events that transpired, as the brown clothed messenger listened intently.

“Make sure to specifically inform His Majesty about the youth whom I had just described, and have some people secretly investigate who this person is!” The middle-aged sternly said.

“I understand!” The brown robed man promptly answered.

After the middle-aged man had finished saying everything, the messenger swiftly turned around, jumped onto his horse, and sped off into the distant forest.

The other man in plain blue clothings, turned around as well, walking back into the streets as if nothing had happened at all…

______

After leaving the scene of battle, Jin Xia landed at an empty alleyway, in another area of the city, with Hu Feng.

“Hm?” Jin Xia slightly frowned when he felt the faint trembling from Hu Feng’s left arm, which he was holding.

“What’s wrong, Brother Hu Feng?” Jin Xia asked. “Could it be…you were afraid?”

Hu Feng’s round body jiggled as he shook his head in reply. “N-not really, Brother Jin Xia. I…was just a bit shocked. I didn’t think things will escalate so quickly like that…”

“Oh.” Jin Xia said, nodding his head. It seems like this fellow was sheltered from the world since he was young. No wonder he was shaken up by a few deaths.

In the world of WuDang, for random fights to break out at a moment’s of notice was normal. And for deaths to result from these fights could even be said to be a norm…

“Don’t worry. Once you get more experience outside, you’ll get used to things like this.” Jin Xia said as he started to stroll out of the alleyway.

Hu Feng watched Jin Xia walk away as he thought wryly in his head: “Get used to this? Get used to my ass! Am…I really going to become like these people?”

The chubby youth took several deep breaths as he tried to calm down. Pinching his arms to quench the trembling, Hu Feng somewhat shakily followed after Jin Xia.

While he knew that bloodbaths and deaths were most likely normal occurrences in this type world from his knowledge of reading martial arts web novels, he was still startled when someone was actually murdered right in front of him.

To read about something and to personally experience and see it were truly two different things.

For Hu Feng, while killing mindless Savage beasts may have been slightly fine, but killing humans was a different story.

With his mentality that was still mostly from Earth, Hu Feng had been unable to keep his calm. But it was not as if Hu Feng had never seen death before.

Back on Earth, Hu Feng had seen news of people dying on television and had even personally walked past a few crime scenes. Thus, while he still felt slightly sick in the stomach, Hu Feng was able to cool down after several tens of minutes.

“Dammit, if I have a nightmare tonight I’ll blame you…” Hu Feng grumbled bitterly in his head. Then, Hu Feng lifted up head as he suddenly recalled something.

Walking up next to Jin Xia, Hu Feng asked nervously: “Brother Jin Xia, now that you killed those two patriarchs, won’t the Fan Clan and Meng Clan fully focus on hunting you down now?”

Jin Xia continued to walk as he replied nonchalantly: “There’s no need to worry. While I spared those people, it did not mean those other groups in this city would do the same. Given the conduct of those two clans today, I doubt they were benevolent factions either. They will soon get what they deserved.”

“Ah..” Hu Feng said, understanding the hidden meaning in Jin Xia’s words. It seems there was no need to worry about the Meng Clan and Fan Clan anymore — for ever.

“This strength and attitude that’s not typical of a sixteen youth…if he’s really not an reincarnated person, then he’s no doubt a freak.” Hu Feng mused in his mind.

The Meng Clan and Fan Clan were two major clans of a Noble Ranked city after all. These forces were much stronger than Hu Feng’s Hu Clan, yet they were still unable to do anything to Jin Xia. This kind of end scenario just did not match what Hu Feng had predicted, nor what he knew of this world’s norm.

“Following him here was the right decision.” Hu Feng thought. “Now I’ve personally seen how eccentric his behavior is…it’s like he practically doesn’t even care or worry! Even if I am unsure of his “true” identity for now, acquainting with this person would still be a good thing in the future…”

Looking at Jin Xia’s back, Hu Feng thought back to Jin Xia’s various feats — none of them had been normal, or not stunning in the least.

Other people may take those as signs of Jin Xia being a peerless genius, but Hu Feng did not completely buy into that.

His suspicion of Jin Xia’s identity, as a reincarnated person, only continued to rise each time Jin Xia performed something that was outside the borders of common sense.

At least, in regards to this country’s standard that he himself understood best.

Taking out another jade bottle from his spatial ring, Jin Xia began to once again munch on the Dream Flower pills as he walked on.

“Should we leave this city now? It might get chaotic soon.” Hu Feng asked, seeing that they were just strolling around the busy streets.

“Why leave? Just because those groups might start fighting here doesn’t mean we aren’t allowed here. It has nothing to do with us.” Jin Xia replied, throwing another pill into his mouth.

“Nothing to do with us? My god, you were the one who instigated this mess in the first place and you still could say that…!” Hu Feng resorted fiercely in his mind. He could not find the right words to reply, and could only nod along as he followed silently behind Jin Xia.

Soon, as Hu Feng had predicted, the city became swamped with several forces that seemed to be moving rapidly towards somewhere. The streets were basically congested with large groups of people.

But to Hu Feng’s surprise, those groups of cultivators all seemed to make way for them as they passed through the street. No matter how many cultivators there were, they would all split into the two groups, running along each side of the street, when they saw Jin Xia.

No one blocked their way as they rushed past the two youths. It seems these factions were already informed of Jin Xia’s appearance and his deed in this city…