Anger

After Xia Xue recovered, their days settled back into peace. With the spirit herbs they had acquired earlier, Xia Xue devoted herself wholeheartedly to refining pills, striving to reach a higher level in alchemy. Chu Xiaotian had little interest in alchemy. The properties of all those herbs and their various taboos left him completely baffled. After watching Xia Xue refine pills once, he stopped paying attention and focused all his efforts on cultivating the Heavenly Corpse Art.

The yang energy was simply too strong during the day, making cultivation of the Heavenly Corpse Art extremely inefficient. An hour of cultivation at that time couldn't compare to even fifteen minutes at night. So after trying it once, Chu Xiaotian stopped practicing the Heavenly Corpse Art during the day and focused instead on the Talisman Art he had mastered. Chu Xiaotian understood better than anyone how powerful runes were. They were sure to be immensely useful in this world. Besides, he had always been fascinated by them. A tiny talisman could have all sorts of wondrous uses. Who wouldn't love something like that?

During the day, he practiced drawing talismans, then prepared some barbecue to enjoy with Xia Xue. At night, he devoted himself to cultivating the Heavenly Corpse Art. Their days were full and comfortable. Chu Xiaotian's strength grew rapidly with each passing day, while Xia Xue's alchemy continued to improve.

Before they knew it, Chu Xiaotian had been in this world for a month. That day, it was time for Xia Xue to deliver pills to the Mad Blade Martial Hall again. After breakfast, the two left the valley and headed for Greenwood Town. Though pill refining involved complicated steps, and high-grade pills were said to take days, months, or even years to produce a single pill, first-grade pills were nowhere near that demanding. At her current level, Xia Xue could refine a batch in three hours, with five to ten pills per batch. At two batches a day, she could make around sixteen pills daily. Of course, pill refining didn't succeed every time. A fifty percent success rate was already quite good. After refining pills for more than twenty days, Xia Xue had produced only around a hundred and fifty pills. Even so, that was nearly twice as many as last time.

The hundred and fifty pills were of just three kinds: Recovery Pills for healing injuries, Spirit-Refining Pills that slightly enhanced the body and accelerated cultivation for those below the Tongmai Realm, and Origin Spirit Pills that restored spiritual energy for those in the Tongmai Realm and above. For cultivators, these three kinds of pills were practically indispensable. Though pills of this grade were useless to high-level cultivators, there was no one like that in this area. Each of Xia Xue's pills could be sold to the Mad Blade Martial Hall or the Hundred Herb Pavilion for ten Origin Stones. The Hundred Herb Pavilion, in turn, sold them for at least thirteen Origin Stones, and could hardly keep them in stock.

Origin Stones might be useless in the eyes of high-level cultivators, but for low-level cultivators like Chu Xiaotian and his companions, they were essential. Fifteen hundred Origin Stones was no small fortune. After all, Xia Xue had spent only a little over five hundred Origin Stones on the ingredients for these pills. She had more than tripled her money in no time. Chu Xiaotian now thought that Xia Xue, a first-grade Alchemist, was something of a little rich woman.

The two headed straight for Ba Dao's Mad Blade Martial Hall without stopping. After what had happened with Cheng Yuhu last time, no one on the street dared to come looking for trouble, even though Xia Xue and Chu Xiaotian seemed closer than before.

But when they entered the Mad Blade Martial Hall, they noticed that something was wrong. The many disciples who had previously been practicing in the courtyard were nowhere to be seen. Now they stood there, all wearing angry expressions and staring at the reception hall. Quite a few of them were injured. Following their gaze, Chu Xiaotian saw a young man in white seated in the place of honor. On either side of him stood two burly men who looked to be around forty.

Ba Dao stood in the middle of the hall, speaking to the young man in the seat of honor with an angry expression. Behind Ba Dao, four disciples of the Mad Blade Martial Hall lay on the ground. It was impossible to tell whether they were alive or dead, but there was no doubt that they were in terrible shape.

"What's going on? Where did those guys come from?" Chu Xiaotian asked a disciple of the Mad Blade Martial Hall standing nearby, pointing at the young man seated in the place of honor.

"He's Huang Nian, a direct descendant of the Huang Family in Yufeng Prefecture. He was bored, so he came here to throw his weight around." The disciple's eyes were full of undisguised disgust. He spat hard on the ground before telling Chu Xiaotian what had happened.

From his account, Chu Xiaotian learned what had happened. Greenwood Town was a border town, and its strongest cultivator was Ba Dao, a peak expert in the Pulse-Opening Realm. There were thirty or forty towns like this scattered around Yufeng Prefecture. Yufeng Prefecture was a larger administrative region that governed those towns, much like the relationship between a town and a county back on Earth. It was countless times larger than Greenwood Town, and naturally, its experts were far beyond anyone from this little town.

The Huang Family, one of the two great powers in Yufeng Prefecture, was a prominent lineage that would normally have no reason to visit a place like Greenwood Town. But today, perhaps the disciple was right—they were bored and had decided to come throw their weight around. So here they were.

They had first visited the Hundred Herb Pavilion, one of Greenwood Town's two great powers, then headed to the Mad Blade Martial Hall. Seeing the disciples practicing, the young man named Huang Nian had suggested sparring with them and giving them pointers. Though Huang Nian was only around eighteen, his cultivation was already at the peak of the Pulse-Opening Realm. When he said he would guide them, the disciples were naturally thrilled.

But they hadn't expected that this fellow had no intention of giving them sincere guidance. It seemed more like he was taking out his frustration on them. He had hit them brutally during the sparring, and nearly everyone had been injured. A few had even been beaten so badly that no one knew whether they were dead or alive. If Ba Dao hadn't arrived in time to stop the fight, few people in the entire Mad Blade Martial Hall would still be standing.

Naturally, after his disciples were injured, Ba Dao had demanded an explanation. He had gone to reason with those men, but an hour had passed, and still nothing had come of it.

After hearing what had happened, Chu Xiaotian felt a surge of anger. His relationship with the Mad Blade Martial Hall was good, and, young as he was, he couldn't stand watching people bully others with their power. He had no liking for that Huang fellow and wanted nothing more than to stomp him into the ground and beat him senseless. Of course, it was only a thought; he had no intention of acting on it just then. Never mind whether he could beat the Huang boy. Even if he could, the boy's family would likely wipe him out in no time.

Chu Xiaotian was furious, but Ba Dao was even angrier. He wanted an explanation for what had happened to his injured disciples. Yet after talking for ages, the Huang boy still hadn't so much as responded. He sat there leisurely drinking tea, his eyes darting about, clearly not listening to a word. This wasn't contempt. It was blatant disregard. If the boy hadn't had several powerful men with him, Ba Dao would have been tempted to give him a good beating.

In the end, Ba Dao stopped speaking. He simply stood there, calmly watching Huang Nian, who sat in the place of honor.

"Hey, why'd you stop? Go on, keep talking." Ba Dao's silence seemed to displease the young man. He turned to Ba Dao with a faint smile, as if everything Ba Dao had said was a joke.

"Young Master Huang, as a direct descendant of the Huang Family, you were kind enough to guide us country bumpkins in our cultivation. We are truly fortunate. It's only a pity that my disciples are too weak to withstand even one of your moves. But these four disciples are gravely injured, and in this remote little town, we have no way to bring them around. I beg you to be magnanimous and revive them. The Mad Blade Martial Hall would be deeply grateful." Ba Dao didn't fly into a rage at Huang Nian's taunts. Instead, he had calmed down completely. He no longer expected compensation or anything of the sort. In Huang Nian's eyes, they were probably nothing more than toys to vent his frustration on. Expecting him to pay was out of the question. But only Huang Nian could save the four disciples from their injuries. As Ba Dao had said, he himself had no way to wake them.

"Ha ha ha ha! Bring them around? Hall Master, you really know how to make me laugh. Go ask around Yufeng Prefecture: has anyone who lost consciousness at my hands ever woken up again?" Ba Dao's restraint hadn't gotten him the outcome he wanted. Huang Nian roared with laughter, treating his words as a joke. The four middle-aged men beside him wore mocking smiles too, looking at Ba Dao as if he were a clown.

Ba Dao's face darkened at once. From their expressions, he could tell that those four disciples might truly never wake up. At the thought, a powerful aura suddenly erupted from him. His eyes bloodshot, he stared at Huang Nian and asked in a hoarse voice, "Why? They had no grudge against you. Why did you have to deal them such a vicious blow?"

"Why? Why? Why, indeed? You ask me why, but how should I know? They were too weak to withstand a single move. Is that my fault? Look at you—what's with that face? Angry? Want revenge? Do you have what it takes? Come on, if you're capable, kill me right now. I promise I won't fight back." Huang Nian was as arrogant as ever, not taking Ba Dao seriously at all.