Although the crowd remained silent after the interruption, they secretly cheered on for the interloper.
Tian Kai stepped out of the crowd shaking his head in a disappointed fashion, under the furious gazes of the 'soldiers'.
"What did you just say?"
Shrugging to them with a smug look on his face, Tian Kai said mockingly, "Sorry about my earlier words, I didn't recognize your greatness from behind the crowd. Only true warriors like you could cut down woman and beat up children without a hint shame. I bow to your fighting spirit."
Lowering himself at the waist, Tian Kai glanced up at the soldiers with eyes devoid of any emotions. It was as if he was staring at a couple of worms.
The man who was pressing the young man into the ground growled as he slowly released his grip on the kid.
Standing up and cracking his fingers threateningly, he approached Tian Kai with a grimace in his face.
"Hey kid, do you know who you're messing with? If you don't shut up and get out of here right now then we will have to teach you a lesson."
The entire time the militiamen never really paid attention to the crowd. So they didn't notice anything. Strange about this young man who was bowing to them in a mocking manner.
But as they approached Tian Kai who began to rise from his bowing position they all realized something.
Tian Kai was actually quite tall.
After cultivating with the earth fire and becoming an elemental cultivator, Tian Kai's body was modified slightly.
His build became more robust and he even grew several centimeters. Now he stood at a towering 193 centimeters.
And considering he was still in his teenage years, this was quite a frightening height.
The militiaman man gulper down some saliva as he backed up slowly. Tian Kai was a whole head taller than him, so any bravado he might've had before was gone.
"And what would you do to me?"
As the group of soldiers began to panic, their leader, the guy holding a blade up to the old woman's throat, stepped back and sheathed his sword slowly.
Glancing at Tian Kai, his eyes widened as he seemed to recall something.
"You're Tian Kai."
Xue Chang and Tian Kai we're both surprised by the militiaman's words.
Xue Chang remained within the crowd without acting out. At this point it wasn't wise for him to reveal himself yet, it would be better for him to act at the last minute.
"You know me?"
"How could I not, you're infamous among the barracks. Not only have you injured over a dozen of our brothers, but you have also offended Wang Fan. Your end will not be pleasant."
The leader sneered at Tian Kai. He was a long time friend of Wang Fan and had always been on his side. As such, when he heard that some guy named Tian Kai was being a bother to him, of course he did a background check and started a hunt for his head.
Of course his first attempt at capturing Tian Kai ended up in most of his men being forced to go to a hospital.
But this time was different.
"So Tian Kai, what do you plan on doing? I'm just here doing my duty, I don't think you have a right to interfere in my work."
"You're duty doesn't include crippling and maiming innocent civilians."
The militia leader just laughed away the accusation, "I haven't even done anything yet. I was just scaring them a little. But you are intruding upon my job. Try anything and I'll have you arrested immediately. You can stop the common soldiers but you can't stop us all. After all we aren't mortals like the others you faced."
Fighting intent began to fill Tian Kai as his annoyance rose.
While he acted mature, he was still a hot blooded young teen. Seeing this injustice caused a feeling of anger to rise within him.
"You need to learn that not everyone is easy to bully-"
Just as he was about to step toward the group of men, a small hand grabbed at and pulled his robes.
"Don't do it." Xue Chang looked over at the group with annoyance. Although Tian Kai was not wrong in his actions, he knew the situation better than anyone.
Wang Fan would not let this chance to get rid of one of his targets go to waste. If Tian Kai were to fight now, he would be in serious trouble in the future.
But they couldn't just leave this situation as it was. It was either strike now and worry about the future later or ignore the injustice now and be safe for the future. Neither one would be good.
Xue Chang's eyes began to glow with a faint yellow light as he prepared to settle everything himself.
'Suppress the injustice, suppress his anger, suppress his enemies. That was his dao.'
A hidden power began to surround the militiamen.
But suddenly, a black figured shot out of the crowd and attacked the soldiers.
"What the hell!"
A small puppy with pitch black fur charged forward and began to bite at the militiamen's legs.
While from the size of the puppy it shouldn't have done any damage to these grown men, somehow from their reaction it wasn't so.
"Hey it off get it off!"
"Dammit dammit! Fuck! Shit!"
"Argh help me!"
The group of men screamed and wailed with tears streaming out of their eyes as they struggled to run away from the scene.
The puppy just kept barking at them angrily as they all ran with their tails between their legs.
The crowd of onlookers stood frozen in shock as they tried to process what happened.
Suddenly the puppy turned around and stared directly at Xue Chang.
With a strange glint in its eyes, is hopped over and began to rub its head steadily upon his legs.
"Master~~" a soft child like voice suddenly resonated within Xue Chang's head.
"What?" Xue Chang's glowing eyes looked down at the puppy before him. Even he couldn't process what was happening at the moment.
But as he stared into the puppy's eyes, he began to notice a strange detail about it.
It's eyes were very dark but they contained random traces of lights spread around everywhere. It was as if these eyes were reflecting the night sky itself.
Then a quote from Yong Heng appeared within Xue Chang's head,
"Asuras represent space itself. While their appearance varies, their bodies always contain a trace of their heritage. Whether it is hair that blazes like the sun or skin that is as cold as space itself, a mark will always be present on an Asura."
And as Xue Chang looked into the puppy's longing eyes, he finally mouthed out a single word, "Asura?"
The puppy, or asura, yipped in response as suddenly a familiar scent stretched into Xue Chang's nostrils.
"…fish sauce?"