"So how do we draw him out?"
Kai Li Si and I were currently on the train, taking it back to Cheng Shi City. Before the trip, I had plugged my smartphone into an electrical outlet in the station to charge it. I called my parents to ensure that they were all right. My mom sounded shaken, but apparently they were saved by the cops around my house.
The police had stationed themselves there because they suspected the murderer – Ba Bai – would target my home next. Unfortunately, their plans backfired and they sustained casualties when Ba Bai showed up to attack them.
Apparently guns didn't have much of an effect on cultivators. According to Kai Li Si, it was another cultivator who showed up to save the police and drive Ba Bai away. Unfortunately, I couldn't confirm that info, especially since I was limited to what I could read on the newspapers and Internet.
Fortunately, my parents were all right and that was the most important thing. However, I refused to let Ba Bai lurk about and continue to put them in danger any longer. The school was one thing, but nobody touched my family. Nobody.
I vowed to end this once and for all.
"That's easy. You just need to show up in public and wait. He'll come to you."
"Even if he's injured?" I asked skeptically. Kai Li Si nodded.
"No matter how hurt he is, he's still a cultivator at the Heaven Realm. You're a low-level Yellow Realm cultivator. There's no way you'll be able to defeat him. Theoretically, of course. And after you've disappeared for so long, he'll be desperate for clues leading to your location. There's no way he wouldn't miss this chance."
"How about you?"
"I'll stay in hiding."
"Wouldn't he suspect a trap?" I frowned. There was so many things wrong with this plan that I felt uneasy, but Kai Li Si shook his head.
"Oh, he knows for sure that this is a trap. But he won't care. Remember, he's an arrogant prick. He thinks he can defeat both you and me with one hand. In fact, he'll probably want revenge on me for kicking him into the opposite building the last time."
He sighed.
"Ba Bai will probably be delighted at this chance."
"So how exactly am I supposed to distract him if he knows this is a trap? He will be vigilant for you and guard against sneak attacks, wouldn't he?"
I couldn't keep the doubts out of my voice. Kai Li Si snorted.
"Who says I'll be launching a sneak attack? I only need you to distract him. The both of us will be attacking him together. No matter how skilled he is, fighting two people at the same time will still force him to split his attention. Admittedly, it'll be a very small gap, but it's still a gap all the same. I just need that one chance."
There was something he wasn't telling me, but I couldn't put my finger on it. For now, I decided to play along. If Kai Li Si wanted me dead, he could have easily killed me during the past ten days. But no, he decided to train me and teach me how to fight. How to survive.
If he was hiding something, it wasn't something insidious. Most likely something I wouldn't approve of, but something that wouldn't bring harm to me.
"All right. We'll give it a go then."
Alighting from the train, we proceeded toward the direction of my home, but I didn't return directly. I didn't want to turn my home into a battleground.
No, instead, Kai Li Si and I chose to visit a park. A wide, open space with no buildings in sight, it should be a location where collateral damage could be kept to a minimum. I pitied the grass and few trees that populated the park, but at least nobody would end up homeless in the aftermath of the fight. Also, if there were people around, they could easily escape in all directions.
I still remembered how my poor schoolmates were massacred in the corridor. If it had been an open space, would they have been able to escape?
I honestly didn't know. Not that it mattered now. It wasn't as if I could undergo some Nine Heavenly Temporal Tribulation to try and save them now. All I could do now was to minimize casualties. Which was why we were in this park.
"Does he know we are here?"
While waiting on a bench, I was practicing the breathing methods that Kai Li Si taught me. He shrugged.
"He should. Wait another couple of hours. Especially since I'm manipulating qi like this, he should be able to sense it eventually."
Kai Li Si was doing something similar, practicing his techniques and allowing his qi to flare up. In a world where the qi was thin, his qi was like a beacon, brightly shining in Cheng Shi City to indicate his location. There was no way Ba Bai wouldn't detect his presence.
And Ba Bai knew that Kai Li Si was with me. The dirty blond cultivator was the one who saved me from him, after all.
"By the way, who are my in-laws? Who did I marry?"
"The Na Lan family," Kai Li Si replied with a shrug. "I believe your wife was named Na Lan Yan Ran. She was supposed to be the reincarnation of the heavenly phoenix and practiced fire techniques."
"Huh? She's a cultivator?"
"The Na Lan family is a cultivator clan," Kai Li Si replied and continued his practice. He caught my stare and shrugged. "I told you, this world has hidden cultivators. You're the one who told me that."
My future self, at least.
"Why the fuck would the grandfather of a cultivator family want to marry me off to his granddaughter? That makes no sense."
"You saved his life. I'm not very sure of the details, but he owed you a great debt."
This was getting increasingly suspicious. I wasn't sure what was going on anymore. On the other hand, it explained why the Na Lan family was so bent on killing me off, and why they opposed the marriage. How could a mere mortal aspire to marry into a family of cultivators?
It might also explain why my future self agreed to such an abusive and toxic marriage. Apparently I wanted to become a cultivator. But Kai Li Si claimed that I only became a cultivator after I traveled into his world? Huh? That didn't make sense. There was so many inconsistencies in what he was telling me.
Just what was the truth?
Shaking my head, I resumed my practice. There was no use thinking too much about this. I had best focus on getting stronger. Then I would be able to avoid that stupid fate…assuming everything Kai Li Si told me was true, of course.
"Oh. He's finally here."
At his words, I stopped my practice and immediately hopped to my feet. Even though the sky had darkened as it transited toward night, the streetlamps were on. I could clearly see Ba Bai approaching us, casually strolling along the path.
"He's hurt," Kai Li Si whispered with a nod. I glanced at him, surprised. I couldn't tell. My mentor nodded. "Internal injuries. His qi circulation is clogged up. I was right, he probably traded blows with another cultivator."
"That's good."
If possible, I wanted to seek out these hidden cultivators, but Kai Li Si had no idea who they were. Since he came from another world, he had no connections. The only clue I had was the Na Lan family, but if what Kai Li Si told me was true, then I couldn't trust them. I had to stay as far away from them as I could.
"You've finally shown up, eh?" Ba Bai chortled as he approached us. He stopped a few dozen meters away from us and cracked his knuckles. Purplish black qi shrouded him, taking the form of a demon. "I assume you've washed your necks?"
Kai Li Si and I exchanged glances, and then the guy from the future nodded. At his signal, the both of us lunged at Ba Bai.
We had already discussed a plan earlier, though I didn't know how well it would work. But we attacked from opposite directions, with me coming from the flank.
"Oh? You've finally become a cultivator too?" Ba Bai's eyes widened when he caught sight of the faint trace of qi gathering around me. He shook his head in disbelief but spun about to counter my strike. I immediately aborted my Soul Crushing Strike and dodged under his punch. The demonic visage appeared to streak toward me, flying past above my bowed head. "But what can a Yellow Realm practitioner like you do?"
I was hoping to distract him, at least.
However, Ba Bai spun about and kicked in Kai Li Si's direction, driving him back. I seized the chance to punch him, but he threw out a hand. I quickly withdrew my fist, realizing that he would have caught it if I went through with my attack. The realization came to me subconsciously and I understood that I had developed my sixth sense through learning Heavenly Flow and Earthly Paths.
I could detect changes and shifts in Ba Bai's qi. That allowed me to duck to the side once more when I noticed a surge of qi in his other hand. His punch went wide, but it left a broken trail of soil in the grass. Wisps of ominous qi rose from the blackened soil, almost like acrid smoke.
I did not want to get hit by that.
"Useless! Useless! Useless!" Ba Bai was shouting as he threw another punch at me. "It doesn't matter if you become a cultivator! You can't beat me!"
When I dodged that, he immediately switched tactics and swung his arm in a slashing motion. To my surprise, I saw the purplish black qi coalescing around his arms transform into what seemed like blades and spiraled toward me.
"Ugh!"
I hit the ground, managing to dodge the blade-like qi that blasted past above me. I was suddenly reminded of the massacre in my school. This was the technique he used back then, but I wasn't able to see it because I wasn't a cultivator during the attack. But now that I had learned Heavenly Flow and Earthly Paths, I could actually see his technique!
Ba Bai followed up with another attack, the blade-like qi wreathing his arms now like sabers or swords. He made to decapitate me, but was forced to break off when Kai Li Si kicked him from behind. Spinning around, he parried my companion's foot and was sent skidding backward. He retaliated with those eerie blades of his, but Kai Li Si dodged them.
The two of them traded bows, their arms striking and colliding violently. Sparks flew in their exchange, the ground beneath their feet crumbling. While Ba Bai was occupied with fighting off Kai Li Si, I seized the chance to attack him from behind, delivering a Soul Crushing Strike.
"Did you think I wouldn't see that coming?"
I detected the spike of qi and instinctively dove to the side. Even though I knew what was coming, I was too slow. The kick sped toward me with such ferocity that I almost froze in horror. As it was, I managed to duck it, but his foot clipped me.
It was just a graze, but red-hot agony exploded across my vision and I was sent hurtling across the park. Slamming into the ground, I grunted as I slid back several meters, throwing up clods of dirt and grass. Blood dripped from my mouth and I coughed, wincing from the wound in my arm. Was my left shoulder dislocated?
Fuck! Was this the difference between three realms? No wonder Kai Li Si warned me…!
"Sir!��� Kai Li Si shouted, but he was driven back. He gritted his teeth and ducked under a slash, but Ba Bai slammed a palm into his crossed arms. The demonic visage seemed to expand, and then there was a violent explosion.
Kai Li Si was sent skidding backward. Even though he had successfully blocked the blow and was still standing on both feet, blood trickled from his mouth. He coughed and grimaced. Ba Bai laughed and lowered his hand.
"Did the both of you really think you could be a match for me just because you were working together?"
"We thought it was worth a try," I replied defiantly, crawling back to my feet and trying to stabilize my breathing once more. Damn, but the pain…
Ba Bai snorted and his eyes narrowed. Scoffing, he shook his head.
"I'll teach you the error of your ways. This time, I won't let you escape."
Then he kicked off the ground and lunged at me. Even as I dove to the ground, I knew I wouldn't be able to evade his attack in time. I could only look up and watch helplessly as the purplish black qi around his arms sharpened into deadly blades and slashed toward my face with impeccable accuracy.