Sparring Partner

Those who had the courage to admit they were "afraid" were not necessarily cowards. Yet those who struggled desperately on the brink of death could all be called warriors—after all, they had not surrendered without a fight. But warrior was not necessarily a flattering term, because warriors were often the quickest to die.

Ye Tong looked at Calon and pointed at Yasen. "I've never been able to figure out my true strength. After all, I rarely fought anyone before. If you're willing to let him fight me, I can tell you another secret."

Calon looked at Ye Tong strangely and asked, "What secret?"

Ye Tong spun a tale. "A treasure is buried on the seventeenth mountain of the Golden Phoenix Mountain Range—one hundred Silver Crystals in total. I learned of it from an old man I once saved. Before he left Cold Mountain City, he told me about it. The reason we entered the Golden Phoenix Mountain Range this time was actually for those hundred Silver Crystals, except..."

Calon's eyes suddenly lit up, greed laid bare. He hurriedly asked, "Except what?"

Ye Tong gave a bitter smile. "With our strength, we're confident of reaching the tenth mountain, and we might even be able to go a few mountains deeper. But reaching the seventeenth mountain... you understand."

"I do!"

Without hesitation, Calon said, "With your strength, the chances of reaching the seventeenth mountain are minuscule. Rather than throwing away your lives in the mountain range, it truly is better to exchange that information for some benefits. I agree. Yasen, fight him. Remember, you may injure him, but under no circumstances are you to take his life."

Yasen was shrewd by nature and hesitated. "Big Brother, do you really believe him? What if this brat is deceiving us? Wouldn't we be making a wasted trip?"

Calon said confidently, "He wouldn't dare!"

Yasen asked in confusion, "How do you know?"

Calon sneered. "Do you have a pig's brain? Since he knows there's treasure on the seventeenth mountain and even knows its exact location, how could we possibly not make him lead the way himself?"

That was right!

Hearing this, Yasen immediately cursed himself for being clever all his life, only to be muddleheaded at a crucial moment.

He looked at Ye Tong, twisted his body and kicked out his legs to loosen his muscles, then crooked a finger and said arrogantly, "Kid, seeing as you've become our God of Wealth, I'll give you three moves."

"Fine!"

Ye Tong readily agreed, but his gaze shifted behind Yasen.

Yasen froze, then turned around suspiciously to look behind him.

Ye Tong kicked off the ground, his body instantly shooting toward Yasen. At the very moment Yasen turned back, utterly unprepared, the hilt of Ye Tong's blade smashed directly into his chin. The crack of breaking bones seemed to strike up the melody of battle. As Yasen reeled backward, Ye Tong drove a fierce kick into his chest, sending him flying.

Bang...

Dust rose from the ground.

Ye Tong revealed a disappointed expression, shaking his head with a sigh. "I thought you had the capital to be so arrogant and conceited. I never expected you to be worse than the women of Piaoxiang Tower. I haven't even finished warming up, yet I already sent you flying like a pig. You're truly not worth a single blow! I'd like to ask, where did you get the confidence to claim you'd give me three moves?"

Off to the side.

Calon and the other two watched Yasen struggle dazedly to climb to his feet, their eyes full of unbearable embarrassment. They had not expected Yasen, normally as cunning as a fox, to be stupid to such an extent today. A single glance from the other side had made him lower his guard. He was stupid enough to make onlookers weep.

Medicine Slave, however, curled his lips as a smile climbed onto his face, inwardly praising, Wonderful!

Yasen finally got up from the ground and shook his head. Once he had fully sobered up, Ye Tong's words from moments ago echoed through his mind. Intense humiliation instantly washed over his heart, and killing intent surged forth. He wished he could hack Ye Tong, who had humiliated him, into ten thousand pieces.

Kill!

Yasen drew a sleeve sword and strode toward Ye Tong. He had forgotten Calon's order. In his eyes, there was only Ye Tong, who had brought him such humiliation. The sleeve sword was less than one foot two inches long. As he stabbed at Ye Tong, he pressed the mechanism with his finger, and the blade shot out of the hilt, sweeping toward Ye Tong's neck.

He was fast, but his strength was not great.

Ye Tong gripped the hilt in reverse, raising his arm in an instant. The moment he knocked aside the short sword, a dagger had already appeared in his other hand, tearing open a bloody gash beneath Yasen's armpit. As Yasen's expression changed and he retreated, Ye Tong also stepped back two paces and shook his head. "You lost. If I had wanted to kill you just now, this dagger could have pierced your heart through your armpit."

Yasen clutched the wound beneath his arm, a chill running through his heart. Others might not see the mystery within it, but he understood as clearly as a mirror. Ye Tong's dagger had clearly thrust straight at him, only to change moves at the last moment and turn into a horizontal slash.

What Ye Tong said was true. He had truly spared Yasen's life.

Yasen's face alternated between green and white. Though unwilling to accept this fact, he no longer dared to charge at Ye Tong, because he feared that next time, the dagger would pierce his heart. "Your cultivation is clearly only at the Qi Refining Third Level. How can you be this strong?"

Ye Tong glanced at him contemptuously, then turned to Calon. "Your subordinate reminds me of an embroidered pillow from a weaving shop."

Calon's face darkened. "What do you mean?"

Ye Tong said bluntly, "Nice to look at, useless to use."

"You..."

Calon flew into a rage. Just moments ago, he had brazenly instructed his subordinate that he could only injure the other party and could not take his life. Yet before even half the time it took to drink a cup of tea had passed, the situation had become one where the other party showed mercy twice and injured his subordinate twice.

His face burned.

It was as if a pair of invisible slaps were striking his face again and again—soundless, yet searingly painful.

Ye Tong looked at the other two men. If he remembered correctly, Yasen had just said that both of them were at the Qi Refining Fifth Level. Perhaps only by fighting them could he test his true strength.

But!

The other side was unwilling to kill him, and he could hardly kill them during a spar. Therefore, he could not fight without restraint in a true life-and-death battle.

Noticing Ye Tong's gaze, Calon immediately asked, "What do you want?"

Ye Tong said, "I want to fight them."

Calon's expression changed, anger blazing in his chest. This bastard had defeated Yasen, who was at the Qi Refining Fourth Level, and now he dared to be this arrogant? These two subordinates of his were both experts at the Qi Refining Fifth Level. How could a weakling at the Qi Refining Third Level provoke them?

At once.

Calon tossed the long blade in his hand to one of his subordinates, clenched his fists, and said, "I thought you were sensible enough to know the times, and I even liked you a little. I didn't expect you to become so wild and arrogant, actually wanting to challenge experts at the Qi Refining Fifth Level. Hmph... To avoid wasting time, I'll personally teach you a lesson and let you know the height of the heavens and the depth of the earth. Don't go looking for death."

As he spoke, his body flashed and he pounced toward Ye Tong.

"Hehe..."

An aged voice came from Medicine Slave's mouth.

Calon suddenly felt his throat tighten, and his body halted in an instant. The moment he turned his head in horror, he felt more than ten places across his body suffer swift blows. Rending pain then surged through his entire body like a tide.

Bang...

Medicine Slave grabbed Calon by the back of his collar and slammed him onto the ground, then kicked him away as though he were trash. He said faintly, "My young master wishes to challenge your subordinates. That is their good fortune. If you dare interfere again, this old man will slaughter you and use you as fertilizer for the trees!"

Yasen and the other two were terrified. Their scalps went numb, their entire bodies stiffened, and they did not dare move even half an inch. They knew their big brother's strength—he was an expert at the Qi Refining Seventh Level! How had he been dealt with so easily...?

Who exactly was this old man?

Could he be an expert of the Innate Realm?

What kind of old monster had the four of them encountered?

Calon coughed up two mouthfuls of blood. A chill of terror shot from his tailbone straight to the back of his head. When this old man had attacked just now, he had not sensed the slightest warning, much less had any chance to evade. Someone with such strength was absolutely not a cultivator at the Qi Refining Ninth Level.

Then...

He had to be an Innate Realm expert!

After Calon reached that conclusion, he raised his arm and fiercely slapped himself across the face. He had calculated a thousand things, ten thousand things, but never calculated that one day he would rob an Innate Realm expert. Was he tired of living too long?

"Senior..."

"Shut up."

Medicine Slave glared, then changed his expression faster than one could turn the pages of a book. He immediately smiled warmly at Ye Tong. "Young Master, whoever you wish to challenge, go ahead and do it. If they dare refuse, this old servant will skin them, pull out their tendons, then chop them into meat paste and feed them to vicious beasts."

Hiss...

The four of them drew in sharp breaths.

What a ruthless old man!

The four men were on the verge of tears as they looked pleadingly at Ye Tong, hoping that this youth, whom the old monster seemed to respect greatly, would spare their lives.

Ye Tong's interest was ruined by the sight of them. He waved a hand. "Strip everything off them, then let them get lost!"

"Strip!"

Though Medicine Slave was surprised that Ye Tong would spare their lives, he rather admired this style.

Calon was filled with frustration, but he did not dare voice the slightest objection. Yasen's lips moved as he pleaded, "Can you at least leave us a pair of fleece pants?"

Medicine Slave slapped him like lightning, sending him flying.

In the end.

The four men fled miserably into the distant bushes, naked from head to toe as they covered their sensitive parts.

Medicine Slave smiled as he watched the direction in which their backs vanished and sighed. "Young Master's temperament has not been completely influenced by the old master. At the very least, there is still a measure of kindness in his inner heart. If it had been the old master, I fear that with a blade raised and lowered, only four corpses would have remained on the ground."

Ye Tong curled his lips. "Not necessarily. He might have scattered a dose of poison and turned them directly into a pool of blood."

"Yes, yes, yes."

Medicine Slave's smile became much brighter, and the look in his eyes as he watched Ye Tong grew increasingly satisfied. Then, seeing that Ye Tong had fallen silent, he began rummaging through the belongings the four men had left behind.

Clothes, porcelain bottles, banknotes, blue silver...

Medicine Slave searched very carefully, while also finding it amusing that those four foolish thieves had tried to rob others only to be robbed themselves.

"Eh?"