Having exchanged oaths with Wu Guang, it was no wonder that Jiang Bing, the Black and White Evil, took out a cleaver from his holding pouch and moved towards the nearest survivor, the bear-like man.

"You motherfucker! What are you doing? Attack that fucking kid! If you kill him, we all get to live!" The latter started shouting in a mix of anger and panic. These two emotions were so strong that in fact, he had seemingly forgotten about the pain he was suffering.

"Heh... You are a dying man anyway, you should better thank me instead as I will end your suffering"

Receiving such a response from Jiang Bing who had already neared him, the bear-like man's expression froze.

He wanted to continue speaking, but the moment his mouth opened, he could not speak anymore. After all, who could speak after one's head was severed from the body?

Jiang Bing did not show any reaction after killing this man who could be thought of as a companion. Even more, he did not even spare a single glance at the beheaded body before rushing towards the four weaker survivors.

One of them had avoided any damage as his location was too far from the lightning, but still, he had not moved at all, seemingly either scared to the extreme or dazed by what had happened. Nobody would know of the reason as he died right at the moment Jiang Bing approached. His death was painful and gruesome as his body was cleaved in two, still, even so, he had not shown any reaction.

Now only three people were remaining. The three of them had a similar level being peak Body realm cultivators, but even if they were in full health, how could they contend against a 7th level Spirit realm cultivator? And such was Black and White Evil's actual level.

Still, the latter was an experienced killer and so his first target was the one with lesser injuries, the one that was simply paralyzed.

"Don't kill me! I surrender!" Seeing the approach of what would be his death, the man fell on his knees. He even began to kowtow and plead for leniency. But as Wu Guang was ignoring the matter and Jiang Bing had to comply with his oath, his death was sealed.

Ironically, his death came right in the middle of a phrase

"I will do anything if you spare me. I will be whatever you want, even if you want me to be a..."

"A dead body" Jiang Bing completed the phrase right after landing a swift stroke that ended the pleading man's life.

The remaining two were killed after this, but they did not even react to their death. And maybe that was good for them, as with the enormous pain they were feeling from losing their extremities, neither of them had really paid attention to what was happening and death could even be said to be something good for them. Especially as lost limbs could not be recuperated without medical formations or Earth-level healing pills... and neither of them existed on this plane.

"I have completed the first part"

"Indeed you have. Now, tell me about how you escaped. Be clear and truthful about this so-called Lord Liao's involvement as well. I know that he was the one that helped you all escape"

After this short exchange, Jiang Bing revealed everything he knew. Even without the knowledge that the oath compelled him to say the truth, Wu Guang could sense that he was being told the entire truth. Or at least what Jiang Bing thought to be the truth.

The explanation was neither short nor long, but even so, took a quarter of an hour. It turned out that someone who called himself Lord Liao had appeared at the bottom of the tower. Or to exact, at the so-called peak level of it. After all, the tower was inverted and so its peak was where the base was located.

This peak floor was not more dangerous than the rest of the floors, but it was used to mine blue iron. The latter being a material for rune and spirit weapons that had a strong qi fluctuation surrounding it. Such fluctuation was dangerous and so, no one below the Spirit realm could mine it.

Lord Liao did not reveal himself to everyone but approached several prisoners one by one. What he spoke about with everyone was different, but in short, he had promised them revenge for their grievances and a safe haven. The former was easily understandable, as for the latter it was somewhat fishy. Especially as this safe haven was not a place where they could hide, no, it would be a new power founded on the island by Lord Liao and his backers.

Details would be given after helping them escape. But even if they latter disagreed, Lord Liao would release them after they return the favor. Still, for the sake of escaping, almost everyone who heard this agreed. After all, even if they would have to work for Lord Liao, they would do so outside the tower. Initially, Jiang Bing did not trust such motives as he doubted that someone wanted to use effort and resources simply for the sake of giving them a place and helping them get revenge. Still, as more and more of the criminals mysteriously disappeared, he agreed.

The escape process was simple. The one to escape would need to enter a fight or break the rules to a point of being sent to the first or punishment level. And then they would be helped by Lord Liao or his men in avoiding the sea beasts and reaching the ocean. Afterward, using a boat they would reach this cave.

"Hmm? Wait, did you say that Lord Liao personally spoke with every one of you?"

"I can't tell for all, but I am sure that he had approached three people that are not present here first. Later he approached me and these two" Jiang Bing pointed at the bear-like man and the hairless burly man.

"Was he a prisoner?"

"I thought so for the first day, but on the second I discovered that the guards were speaking with him respectfully"

"So he was a guest then?"

"I don't know. I can only tell that after he spoke with whoever he wanted to, he simply left"

"I see. Tell me a bit about the blue iron. Isn't cultivation restricted inside the tower? If so, how could you resist its pressure?"

"The first is true, our cultivation is indeed restricted. But it's not so complete as young master thinks. We can't cultivate or use qi, but the basic strengthening remains. So even if we can't use our cultivation, our bodies are still at their peak condition"

"So that's why the peak Body or initial Spirit realm cultivators are not used for the task. After all, they need to will qi to strengthen their body"

"Indeed. So, have I fulfilled the second part of the deal?"

"Mostly. I have a last pair of questions. Were the clothes, holding pouches, and so on provided by Lord Liao? And if it's so, did he say anything about them?"

"When I arrived here everyone else was already present so I can't tell. Still, I did overhear that it was given to them by him. As for my own holding pouch, it was given to me by Lord Liao's helper. Inside there were clothes, this cleaver, and enough food and wine for a week. I did not ask anything and so I don't know anything about their origin"

"I see. Well, I consider our agreement fulfilled. So now, let's have our agreed fight"

"Heh, I have long waited for it!" Jiang Bing shouted and rushed towards Wu Guang.

Wu Guang did not react until the moment that the cleaver was practically touching him. But between the timing and how he reacted, he managed to surprise Jiang Bing to a point that the latter quickly retreated

"You! You lied to me, how could someone with lower cultivation than mine block a weapon with their bare skin?!"

"Hmm? I did not lie at all, after all, I am of a lower level than you. Look" As Wu Guang said that, he canceled all the concealment methods he had used and thus revealed his current cultivation, the 5th level of the Spirit realm.

"Then you are using a treasure!"

"Hahahaha" Wu Guang laughed and walked towards a similar-looking cleaver that was lying on the floor nearby. This and the one in Jiang Bing's hand cleavers were identical to the ones he had seen before during the bandit subjugation mission. Thus, he could now be sure that his guess about a mysterious backer giving them to the latter was true.

"It's not that I am using a treasure... It's just that the quality of these weapons is too bad" Deciding to maintain his arrogant genius facade and feeling that there was no need to reveal the real reason, Wu Guang proceeded to grab the cleaver blade with his bare hand and applied force until it was crushed.

"What?!" Jiang Bing could not believe his own eyes, after all, he was holding a similar cleaver in his hand. Granted, the weapon was of simple middle quality, but even so, nothing except a soul realm cultivator strength could crush it so easily.

"In any case, let's continue. As I said, I don't lie, and you should be able to see my current cultivation right now, can't you?" Ignoring the dazed Jiang Bing, Wu Guang activated his four flaming techniques and with explosive speed approached his opponent.

Jiang Bing's strength was well earned, especially as he was a rogue cultivator and so was not helped by anyone on his cultivation path. But even so, how could someone who had not fought for 11 years win against Wu Guang? Surmounting levels was normally something considered possible only for geniuses, but that was only for the Soul realm and above. As for the Spirit realm, everything would depend on training and skill.

As to prevent the flame-covered Wu Guang from closing in, Jiang Bing utilized all the techniques he could and constantly retreated. Still, Wu Guang had no trouble crashing through them by relying on his flame-covered body and so the distance continued getting shorter and shorter.

Six minutes after Wu Guang had closed in, Jiang Bing fell to the floor. He had not received serious injuries, but his qi was fully spent.

During this brief fight Wu Guang did not even need to resort to other means as with his senses he could avoid any counterattacks. As well turn his own attacks unavoidable. So while he simply evaded, every one of his attacks made Jiang Bing defend against it by using a qi technique.

Speaking of the latter's technique, it was indeed impressive. A small shield was conjured from qi right before the attack and then disappeared as it was never there.

Leaving aside its qi drain that made Jiang Bing lose the fight, it still could resist the full strength of Wu Guang without any side effects.

"You have lost" Wu Guang calmly said this while looking at the exhausted Jiang Bing.

"The chance was real, but I have missed it. Seems that my death is now unavoidable" These words were said with mixed emotions, but if one listened carefully, they would be surprised to hear that the dominant one was joy... as if death was something he expected.

"Truth to be said, I did not expect for your fighting prowess to have diminished to such low level when offering you the deal" After Wu Guang said these words, he landed a powerful kick on Jiang Bing's body. So powerful that the latter was sent flying and crashed against a wall.

After slowly falling down on the ground, Jiang Bing lost consciousness and so could not know that Wu Guang did not kill him right away...