Unfortunately, the streak of golden sunlight didn't last long against the fearsome pitch-black slash and dissipated almost immediately. It seemed that Zou Rou was unable to handle the combined attack of ten cultivators by herself.
Pu!
She was thrown back like a broken kite while coughing blood from her mouth and momentarily fainted.
The group of black-robed martial artists laughed in satisfaction while moving closer to grab this Zou Rou.
Despite having been planning his escape, Zhen Shi had been rooted to the spot in fear when those terrifying sword slashes had been launched. But now, seeing the girl about to get hurt and suffer in the hands of these lecherous men, as fearful and terrorized as he was, he could not stop himself from instinctively jumping forwards to stop them.
Even as he did this, he couldn't help but think, 'SHIT! Am I really going to die trying to be a hero of justice? At the very least it'll be more dignified than the last time! But why do I feel like a certain green-haired Deku unable to control himself from saving others?'
Pushing aside those thoughts, Zhen Shi steeled his mind and threw away the instinctual fear arising in the face of the powerful auras seething from these black-robed Xue Yue sect cultivators.
Having already jumped in front of the fainted girl it was too late to run away from this situation. And so Zhen Shi decided to face this hopeless situation with bravery and style!
He grinned and responded to the surprised black-robed men while shouting, "You shameless bunch of pigskins! Do you think you can gang up on an innocent girl when this handsome and scholarly self is here?"
The black-robed members of the Xue Yue clan immediately stared at him with growing anger and rage.
Despite his initial bravado, Zhen Shi gaped as he watched a terrifying dark black energy manifest around their bodies along with another energy targeted specifically at him.
Facing the ten cultivators, he felt like prey in front of a predator; a grasshopper trying to stop a train. Zhen Shi could only conclude that this was the famous killing intent!
Nevertheless, he took a deep breath and controlled his fear. Even with prior knowledge of cultivators, being able to control his fear in the face of their unhidden killing intent was rather miraculous. This could only be attributed to the eternity he had spent within the void which had tempered his will, and his sudden reincarnation which was dulling his sense of logic.
"A non-cultivator dares to talk back to us of the Xue Yue clan with such a foul mouth. Dressed like a barbarian no less? If you crawl down and beg for mercy we might trouble ourselves to give you a clean death," shouted out one of the Xue Yue cultivators.
Surprisingly, despite their threat, they didn't attack. Probably because they were extremely confident in their combined power while in battle formation. They wouldn't be unnecessarily frantic to kill a mortal and capture a single foundation establishment girl. At the same time, the majority of them wanted to relish watching the helpless prey squirm under their power.
Noticing their reaction, despite his attempt to hide it, Zhen Shi's stomach clenched in fear.
He wasn't afraid of course! 'Preposterous! Who dares say that?' It was just that the lunch that the former owner of this body must've eaten wasn't agreeing with him.
Zhen Shi quickly pushed all these irrelevant thoughts out of his mind. With these cultivators locked on to him, he desperately tried to think of some way to survive. Remembering the rules of reincarnation, he focused all of his thoughts and efforts into discovering some sort of cheat or golden finger he could use to turn things around.
In the face of death, people tend to put their hopes in things that even they would find nonsensical in other instances. It was the same for Zhen Shi...
Honestly, he was only barely aware that he was seeking death by jumping in front of these men. Having just reincarnated into another world, after god knows how long in that dark void, everything seemed unrealistic and unbelievable no matter how familiar he was with the concept.
Since he had been unable to watch this Zou Rou be tortured by these men, he had instinctively stepped in. Now he was putting all his hopes of survival on the legendary 'gift pack' of reincarnation.
His eyes glowed as he figured that the only cheat that could save him instantly at this moment was one of those 'legendary' systems. As such, he immediately put his slight hopes of survival on this 'system'...
Almost a lifetime of an instance of failure later, Zhen Shi was sweating heavily. In fear? Of course not! He was simply angry that his system was too much of a coward to come and help him!
Honestly only a moment had passed, but the 'angry' Zhen Shi had felt that it was much longer.
'Shit, where's my system? Is it in my loincloth? But my loin-cloth is completely packed. And there is no space for a system, so probably not!' He felt like flipping a table... (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻.
As time passed and the energy of the cultivators reached a crescendo, with no signs of a 'system' to save him, Zhen Shi realized that he just might die again on his very first attempt at being a suave hero.
He couldn't help but shiver at the memory of the desolate void, but, he wasn't a coward either. Now with his 'only hope of survival' disappearing, he could only accept his possible death. As he did, a sense of fearlessness he never knew he had, arose...
His mentality was more mature than most with the greater part of his former life spent neck-deep in academic pursuit and entertaining fiction. Most importantly, he had spent some time in the terrifying dark void. So despite only having lived until barely becoming an adult, his knowledge, experience, and strong will, greatly reduced his fear of death.
As such, he decided he would go out with a 'bang' if he truly had to die, or at the very least extend his now terrifyingly short lifespan, so that the fainted girl could wake up and hopefully give him the opportunity to survive a bit longer. Even then, Zhen Shi knew that his chances of survival were very low.
Now that things had come this far he decided to throw everything to fate. He grew even calmer as he accepted this fact. There was no way he was going to die on his knees begging.
He would only die after leaving his memory seared on to the minds of these damned cultivators!
However, it was true that he was only a simple mortal. If he wanted to make these cultivators sweat and shiver in fear, to truly make sure that they never forgot him, he was going to have to completely surprise them.
As an ordinary mortal fellow, there was only one way to do this… and that was to recount some of the most legendary stories and tales he had read back from earth!
With an emotionless and aloof expression as if the entire world was beneath him, he serenely spoke up, "I have witnessed countless legends being born and countless men reaching the heavens with their own effort! The heavens were sealed, eternal immortality was achieved, flames were conquered, otherworldly invaders were beaten, peace was established between warring nations, and countless gods were slaughtered..."
The black-robed cultivators of the Xue Yue clan were rather stunned by the mention of such unbelievable actions from a mere mortal.
Their aura and killing intent reduced slightly as they grinned in amusement and one even said "Shameless braggart, your words are truly amazing! Come along then, entertain us more!"
Alas, despite their disbelief, in a way Zhen Shi had truly witnessed these events.
He continued to reminisce about all the novels and stories where he had witnessed heaven-defying main characters who had always come out on top. Now that he was in a similar life-threatening situation, reminding himself of things that he was familiar with helped to reduce his fear. He knew that those stories were fiction, but somewhere deep in his heart, he held onto a belief that they were actually true!
Now having completely calmed down, along with his speech and thoughts, his own spirit was being stirred. He was slowly developing a strong will and intent to lead an awe-inspiring life!
Even while the cultivators of the Xue Yue clan were eyeing him as prey on the chopping block, Zhen Shi calmly changed topics.
There was one other thing he had truly loved to throw himself into. He was a bookworm who had loved to read books of any sort. Be it fiction, non-fiction, thesis, philosophy, physics, chemistry, history, business, and etc. Even then, a topic he truly loved was ancient mythology!
In his previous life, despite living an ordinary life, he had been all over the world with his parents who had to frequently travel due to work. However, they had mostly been busy with work. In fact, if he hadn't been killed, he was supposed to be on his way to another country the next day...
As such, despite having traveled worldwide, he had spent the majority of his life on his own. But frequent travel had caused a passion for various cultures to arise in him. This had ultimately led him into philosophy and mythology!
The tales of gods in different parts of the world, their struggles for power, their abilities and powers, and the possibility that they truly existed in the past excited him beyond measure!
Seeing that his life may truly end here, he figured he might as well die with the things he had been passionate about. Most importantly, seeing the failure of recounting fiction, he figured that this was the only way to make these damned cultivators truly feel fear and shock, and make sure that they never forgot him...
Thus with unwavering determination and a confident voice he spoke out, "Let me mention some truly almighty personas,
Zeus, the God of Lightning and Thunder, the leader of the pantheon originating from none-other than CHAOS!
The World Tree, Yggdrasil, rooted within the waters of the Norn, which bears the nine worlds of existence!
Odin, the all-father, who mastered the Runes and Seither magic disregarding the opinions of others, originating from Ymir the father of all giants!
Atum-Ra, the Creator God, who was born of the empty waters of Nun and gave life to the world!
The lesser-known but undoubtedly powerful Heka, who viewed the creation of the universe itself, and was the personification of magic!
The Three Pure Ones, who created existence and as a whole completed the ephemeral and formless Dao!
The Jade Emperor of Eastern mythology, who rules the universe with all immortals including the Taoist and Buddhist factions beneath him!
Sakyamuni, the most recent Buddha who overcame worldly attachment, bringing peace to the masses!" finishing his words with heavy breath.
But the cultivators of the Xue Yue clan were staring in surprise and horror as this random mortal shouted out those all too familiar names. They were extremely surprised by the way he had talked and the words he had spouted at the moment of his death.
In fact, they had actually been frozen in place until he had finished speaking.
Just as Zhen Shi finished, the apparent leader of the group returned to his senses and shouted out hurriedly, "Attack! That was a chant to the gods! He might be a potential divine prophet! We can't let him complete his preparation!"
As if death was looming over them, the group of cultivators dashed towards Zhen Shi while brandishing their swords.
That moment was a mere instant, but to Zhen Shi, it was comparable to a lifetime...
He was extremely satisfied by this turn of events. Even though he was only a mortal, he had made those lofty cultivators feel genuine fear!
Despite his success, in the end, Zhen Shi was unwilling to die so soon after his sudden reincarnation.
His passion for knowledge, all that which he had enjoyed in his past life, combined with the desire to grow stronger in this new world, resonated with his heart and soul.
Although he could see death arriving as the attack of the Xue Yue cultivators grew closer, he continued to shout out in his mind,
'The path to the heavens is difficult and riddled with countless obstacles. Now that things have come this far, the only thing that can grant me the chance to survive is a SYSTEM! Since I have reincarnated and been given a second chance, I refuse to die a useless death!
IF I DON'T GET A SYSTEM... WHO WILL??'
DING.....