The Outsider

Aside from the cultivator at the sixth level of Qi Refining, two others stood beside him. They seemed to be in the same group, but their cultivation levels were far lower. Both were only at the first level of Qi Refining, and even among cultivators at that level, they were on the weaker side.

"Useless! I told you to track the scent, and all you found was a group that's already been beaten to a pulp. They don't have a single Spirit Core on them. What's the point of killing them? You've just wasted my time!" The one speaking was the cultivator at the sixth level of Qi Refining. Before he had even finished, he kicked the person beside him, sending the boy flying more than ten meters before he crashed heavily to the ground. He had held nothing back.

The boy looked young, but he was incredibly tall. If Lin Chuan hadn't known that there were no children over ten years old here, he would have thought the boy was an adult. He was already a full meter and eighty centimeters tall.

"Young Master Yan, the scent I picked up really did come from this direction. This group must have just been robbed, which is why they don't have any Spirit Cores. The people who robbed them haven't gone far. I can still smell them!" The boy who had been kicked rolled several times across the ground, scraping bloody marks all over his body. He got back up and spoke.

"Useless! Hurry up and lead the way. Are you waiting for them to get away?" Yan Kang cursed, then kicked the other person beside him.

The tall boy sniffed the air lightly and set off, leading the other two. They soon disappeared from that battlefield, leaving only scattered chunks of bodies behind. They were heading straight for the place where Lin Chuan and the others were resting.

"Looks like we're about to meet one of those top-five teams you mentioned," Lin Chuan said, eyes narrowing slightly, his expression grave.

"What did you see? Is that powerful team coming?" Qin Lang asked in surprise, looking around in every direction.

Because Lin Chuan's Byakugan gave him a full 360-degree field of vision, he often wasn't looking where he appeared to be facing. Several times, Qin Lang had followed Lin Chuan's gaze and found no prey, only for it to appear behind Lin Chuan instead. Now, whenever he looked around, he had to check every direction.

"Right where you fought just now. They killed the three people who fought you earlier, and they're coming this way. One of them seems to have an extremely keen sense of smell and can track us," Lin Chuan said gravely.

"A keen sense of smell?" Bu Lianshi was startled. Her breathing quickened as she asked, "Is it a very tall boy, only at the first level of Qi Refining, traveling with someone at the sixth level?"

"That's right! Do you know anything about them?" Lin Chuan asked. He had no good feelings toward that group. They had killed three people who were already unable to fight back, and the way the boy at the sixth level of Qi Refining treated his teammates disgusted him even more.

"Mm. I've heard people talk about that group," Bu Lianshi said with a frown. "The boy at the sixth level of Qi Refining is named Yan Kang. They say he's very talented. Of the boys assigned to his group, the tall one is named Faye. He's an outsider with the blood of the ancient barbarian tribes. They say the other boy is talented too."

"But you've noticed it as well: aside from Yan Kang, who's reached the sixth level of Qi Refining, the others are only at the first level. That's entirely because Yan Kang seized their cultivation resources and took everything the group could use for himself. That's how he reached a level of cultivation far beyond theirs."

Lin Chuan's expression darkened. This approach might seem like a quick way to build one person's strength, but the outcome could hardly be worse. The plight of the other two showed that Yan Kang was simply exploiting and oppressing them to make them fight for him. He didn't treat them as companions at all.

"Hmph. People like that won't get far. If he doesn't value his companions, one day he'll die beneath a storm of blades. No one will mourn him, and no one will stand up for him. A man like that deserves to die!" Qin Lang suddenly burst out angrily, his face flushed as though something had set him off.

Lin Chuan glanced at the agitated Qin Lang, then lowered his head and thought for a moment. "Then why don't we stay and see what this Yan Kang can do?"

"Are you sure you can handle Yan Kang?" Qin Lang asked in surprise.

"At the sixth level of Qi Refining, he shouldn't be hard to deal with," Lin Chuan said with a shrug. That was the highest cultivation level he could currently handle. If Yan Kang were any stronger, he would have to flee with Qin Lang and Bu Lianshi.

Gentle Fist wasn't invincible. As a powerful close-combat technique of the Hyuga Clan, it let Lin Chuan use the Byakugan to directly damage an opponent's organs and meridians, but he still had to be able to land a blow.

Cultivators at the seventh level of Qi Refining already had enough strength to evade Lin Chuan's attacks. What was more, as a person's cultivation improved, their organs and meridians gradually grew stronger. They couldn't deliberately train or defend those parts, but with Lin Chuan's current strength, it would be difficult to break through the inner defenses of a cultivator at the seventh level of Qi Refining. Even if he managed to injure one, it wouldn't do much. It would only make the opponent more wary of his attacks and make the rest of the fight even harder.

A worthy opponent will make for a rare chance to hone my skills. As it happens, I've made a few changes to my Gentle Fist over the past two days. This is the perfect chance to test them on Yan Kang, Lin Chuan thought.

"By the way, what's the deal with that outsider named Faye?" Lin Chuan asked, puzzled.

"He has the blood of the ancient barbarian tribes. He isn't entirely human. They say outsiders have exceptionally strong bodies, but they're poor at cultivating immortality, so they can only train in hand-to-hand combat. They do fine in the early stages, but later on, just about any cultivator can hurt them badly," Qin Lang explained.

"A strong body, but poor talent for cultivating immortality?" Lin Chuan raised an eyebrow, struck by a thought. It reminded him of someone from Naruto, a man who had reached the pinnacle through nothing but Taijutsu.

After a moment's thought, Lin Chuan said nothing more. He turned to look in one direction. Through his Byakugan, the three of them had already arrived.

When Yan Kang saw the three, his eyes narrowed slightly in confusion.

In his view, anyone who could take the Spirit Cores from the three people they had just encountered shouldn't have such low cultivation. What surprised him even more was that the three showed little alarm at their arrival. Instead, they faced his way as if they had known he was coming and were waiting for him.

Most of all, the white-haired, white-eyed boy sitting in the middle gave Yan Kang the feeling that he could see right through him. But the moment he realized the other boy was only at the first level of Qi Refining, he snorted and paid him no more attention.

"What? You want to steal our Spirit Cores? You—" Qin Lang hadn't finished speaking when Yan Kang cut him off.

"Kill them, and the Spirit Cores will be mine. Attack!"