She Wang moved swiftly, his hands striking out like serpents and slamming into Gui Xiong's bulk. Serpents made out of qi coiled around his arms, lending them a ferocity that was unrivaled by any of those in his gang.
Gui Xiong, on the other hand, countered speed with stillness. The great bear remained unmoved, shrouding its master protectively. The giant brought his arms up to block She Wang's blows, which didn't leave a single mark.
She Wang hissed as he retreated, shaking his hands. Every time he attacked Gui Xiong, it felt as if he was hitting a truck. The goliath's muscles were as hard as steel.
"That Ghost Bear Body Tempering Method of yours is as troublesome as always," he growled.
"I could say the same for your Black Snake Striking Stance," Gui Xiong retorted as he swung a huge arm out to smack his opponent, but She Wang darted out of the way. "You just won't stand still long enough for me to hit him."
"Hah! Who's going to be stupid enough to let you hit them?"
Even as he snarled, She Wang knew inwardly that if he received even a single blow from Gui Xiong's lumbering strikes, he would suffer severe injuries. Gui Xiong might be slow, but he was extremely strong.
She Wang smirked, despite the beads of perspiration flying from his face. Of course, all that power was useless if none of them hit. In contrast, all he needed to do was strike at Gui Xiong's weak points and he would be able to bypass even the great bear's impenetrable defenses.
Weaving through Gui Xiong's almost clumsy strikes, he lashed out, aiming for the larynx. Gui Xiong grunted as he blocked the blow, but then She Wang spun around and attacked the place where his opponent's kidney would be.
"Ugh…!"
Weirdly enough, She Wang was the one who cried in pain. His fingers had collided with a thick slab of muscle, jarring them from the impact. He withdrew before Gui Xiong could smack his head from his shoulders, ducking under another blow and countering with a kick.
"What the…?!"
Even though he kicked Gui Xiong's knee, the big man didn't buckle at all. She Wang stumbled back, his foot aching a little, and he quickly dodged another sweeping blow from the giant.
"How is it?" Gui Xiong asked, amused. He slowly rounded on the retreating She Wang, a broad grin on his bearded face. "You don't look very good, She Wang Bro. but aren't you the one attacking all this while?"
She Wang snarled and bounded back, dancing around the lumbering Gui Xiong and striking out. Snakes appeared, coiling around his arms, and he rammed his fingers, palms and fists into the meaty portions of Gui Xiong.
The great bear seemed perturbed now, the qi-beast growling menacingly from the pain. As expected, even Gui Xiong couldn't keep up with the barrage. He might have tempered his body to the hardness of steel, but She Wang wasn't just any regular opponent.
He was seeking out his weak points and striking them, nullifying most of Gui Xiong's defenses. No amount of training could completely protect his vulnerabilities.
Gui Xiong was forced to defend his eyes, and even though She Wang failed to crush his windpipe, the big man felt the breath knocked out of him. With an angry growl, he retaliated with a swipe, but She Wang ducked again. Gui Xiong brought his fist down, and his slender opponent quickly spun to the side, narrowly avoiding it.
While evading, She Wang countered with a strike that would have ruptured the tendons of any other person's, but Gui Xiong had honed his muscles to near indestructibility.
Flexing his arm, he rammed his elbow against She Wang's head, but the skinny martial artist was already spinning away and putting a safe distance between the two of them.
"…argh!"
Disorientated, She Wang staggered in a daze. Blinking, he held up a hand and pressed it to the side of his head. When he pulled it away, he saw blood. Shaking his head, he forced his vision to right itself and he wiped the blood on his leathery shirt.
"Just a graze, and already so much damage," he murmured. Glancing up at the approaching Gui Xiong, he warily took a step back.
"With skills like these, it's no wonder thirty of your lackeys lost to a single man," Gui Xiong taunted. She Wang scowled.
"Quit your acting!"
Gui Xiong shrugged. Even though he was telling the truth, She Wang refused to believe him. There was nothing he could do about it.
That suited him fine. He preferred acting to talking. Besides, what mattered the most was the outcome. He didn't care that She Wang and his gang came to launch a full-scale assault on his Ghost Bear Clan's hideout. He intended to finish them off and eradicate the Black Serpent Gang anyway. This just made things easier and faster.
As long as he could kill She Wang and exterminate the Black Serpent Gang, the means didn't matter. The ends justified it.
That didn't mean he was going to let the idiot who made use of his Ghost Bear Clan to instigate this fight to get away with it. When this whole affair with the Black Snake Gang was over, he was going to launch an investigation and find out the culprit. And then he would crush the sneaky usurper and teach him a lesson he would never forget.
Nobody used the Ghost Bear Clan. No, the right to use others was reserved only for Gui Xiong.
"Ugh…!"
However, She Wang was a more difficult opponent than he thought. Gui Xiong took a step back, grunting in pain as another blow found one of his weak spots. She Wang ducked under another arm strike and kicked Gui Xiong's solar plexus. Even though the impact juddered him and almost caused him to double over, the big man was barely able to withstand it.
"I'm going to miss fighting this guy when this is over," he said with a half-grin and a half-grimace.
"I won't miss you, though!" She Wang snarled before slamming the heels of both his hands on either side of Gui Xiong's head.
"Gah!"
His brain felt like it was shaking around in his skull and he almost dropped to a knee from a spell of dizziness. Growling furiously, he lashed out to catch She Wang between his huge hands, but the skinny cultivator darted out of reach. Then he rushed back in when Gui Xiong groggily pulled his arms back and cracked his knee against his chin.
Gui Xiong's head was thrown back and he could taste the blood in his nearly broken jaw. He tried to shake off the giddiness, but She Wang was moving in to capitalize on the narrow advantage, bombarding his heavily muscle body with pinpoint strikes.
Like a boxer, Gui Xiong held up both his arms to defend his face and chest, but She Wang merely circled him and struck at other unshielded parts, such as his kidneys, and joints. With heavily muscled legs, Gui Xiong barely felt the hits to his legs, but pain continued to flare up in his body.
She Wang smirked, but he suppressed his glee with steely discipline. Despite his constant attacks, his opponent had yet to fall. Despite his fury and hatred, he couldn't help but feel deep respect for Gui Xiong's tenacity and strength.
He couldn't afford to underestimate a wounded bear.
The slender cultivator evaded another sweep of Gui Xiong's arm and then landed a few jabs into the big man's side. Gui Xiong grunted and retaliated, but She Wang ducked under the swipe and countered with a palm to his jaw. The giant could once again taste the blood in his mouth, but he gritted his teeth and lashed out once more.
"Hmph!"
She Wang swiftly darted out of Gui Xiong's reach. Dancing around, he kicked the bigger man's foot in an attempt to trip him, but the latter remained an immovable mountain. He staggered around, his huge arm striking out, but once again She Wang ducked.
"I can do this! I can win!"
Murmuring to himself, She Wang lunged forward, slamming a fist against Gui Xiong's solar plexus. His other hand struck at Gui Xiong's throat. After repeated attacks at the same spot, he was confident of finally crushing his enemy's larynx and suffocating him.
When that happened, he would win. Gui Xiong would be kneeling at his feet, slowly expiring.
The Ghost Bear Clan would be no more.
"Oh? You seem pretty pleased with yourself."
"?!"
Too late, She Wang realized it was a trap. He tried to pull out, but Gui Xiong seized his hand.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
The leader of the Black Serpent Gang screamed in pain as Gui Xiong crushed his hand, shattering bone and breaking his wrist. Tears leaked from his eyes, but he found himself unable to pull his hand free.
"You…you…!"
"Countering speed with stillness." Gui Xiong shrugged before pulling the smaller man into a suffocating bear hug. "I figured that since I can't match your swiftness, I'll have to wait for an opportunity. And since I couldn't avoid taking hits, I realized that I should just let you hit me and make use of the chance to ensnare you once your guard was down."
Gritting his teeth, She Wang kicked Gui Xiong with all his might, but his foot only found the muscular thigh of his foe. Gui Xiong was not stupid enough to leave his crotch vulnerable.
"Now, now. No hitting a man under the belt," the giant reprimanded the skinny warrior. He then increased the pressure, causing She Wang's arms to be dislocated from their shoulder joints. She Wang howled in pain again. Gui Xiong tilted his head. "Sorry, does that hurt? I'll let you go now."
To She Wang's surprise, Gui Xiong dropped him onto the ground. The slender cultivator staggered, still disorientated from the pain, but before he could get his bearings, Gui Xiong's hand smacked him across his face.
With a sickening crunch, She Wang's nose broke and his face was caved in. teeth flew loose from his mouth as he was hurled across the interior of the Ghost Clan Bear's hideout. He crashed into the wall and slumped down unmoving.
"Oh? Still not dead yet? That won't do."
Gui Xiong shook his head and slowly lumbered over to She Wang. The latter raised his head and stared fearfully at the massive, shadowy silhouette. Whether it was because he had been partially blinded by the strike or this was an illusion caused by the huge amount of qi emanated from his enemy, he didn't know. But all he could see was a dark, demonic figure with glowing eyes.
That was the last thing he ever saw.
In a single motion, Gui Xiong obliterated his foe with a stomp, his foot going through the slender body and squashing it into a bloody pulp. Blood spurted out of She Wang's mouth and wounds like a geyser and he sprawled, his torso twisted at an unnatural angle.
"That's better."
Gui Xiong turned away and dusted his hands. He stumbled for a second, blood trickling from his mouth. Grimacing, he placed a hand on his jaw, and then his chest.
"Damn. She Wang Bro is quite a formidable foe. To think he would cause quite heavy injuries to me. Even though I didn't underestimate him, I still didn't expect to be this heavily wounded."
Around him, there was a pause in the battle. The members of the Black Serpent Gang were dismayed by the fall of their leader and had lost their will to fight.
"The boss has been killed!"
"Run! Get out of here!"
"We're all going to die!"
Gui Xiong swung out an arm and caught one of the fleeing gangsters before crushing his head in his fist.
"Don't let any escape," he told his clan members, but it turned out that his orders were unnecessary. The Ghost Bear Clan were hunting down the escaping Black Serpent Gangsters and finishing them off. Gui Xiong grinned, despite the blood dribbling down his chin and beard, and the pain throbbing throughout his body. "Since they have the guts to come to our turf and cause a ruckus, they should pay for their…intrusion. With their lives."
He reached out and smacked another running Black Serpent Gangster, obliterating the poor fella's chest in a mist of blood and bone.
Bellowing in triumph, Gui Xiong stalked to the front of his clan's hideout.
"Let the whole of Hua Xia know!" he proclaimed proudly, his voice a thunderous rumble. "The Bear has devoured the Snake!"
*
"Huff…huff…"
I lay on the grass, exhausted. Shaking my head, I reprimanded myself.
I had only been training for three hours and I was already this tired. Weak. I was still too weak.
Kai Li Si's warning came again. There would be other demonic cultivators who successfully made it back to this time and world, trying to assassinate me. I couldn't afford to slack on my training. I needed to get stronger as soon as possible.
Yet at the same time, I knew I couldn't rush my training. Kai Li Si's advice drifted through my head again, reminding me that I needed to develop a solid foundation first. My priority was to stabilize my cultivation and develop a strong foundation, upon which I could build upon to transform myself into the ultimate cultivator. Celestial Divine realm, was it? I still had my doubts, but I knew that if I wanted to attain it, I would only be able to do so by forging a solid foundation.
Otherwise my cultivation would crumble and I would succumb to my enemies.
A familiar noise snapped me out of my thoughts, the growl of an engine. I turned my head and glanced into the distance. When I spotted a patrol car, I immediately tensed.
Even though it had been a few weeks since the murder, I still couldn't help but be nervous whenever I saw the police. No matter how many times I told myself that it was impossible for them to find out, that I had been thorough in covering my tracks, I continued to imagine that they would one day approach me. Apprehend me on suspicion of homicide, for killing a bunch of gangsters.
Whether Qi Fu Ren and his group deserved it or not was up to debate, but what was for certain was that I would be arrested for taking the law into my own hands. And I, more than anyone, knew that I didn't slaughter them out of some sense of justice.
I did it out of a bloodthirsty desire for revenge. I wasn't hypocritical enough to justify my murderous actions. It wasn't even necessary. It wasn't a kill or be killed situation. The gangsters and delinquents had surrendered, and it was unlikely they would ever bother me again. Bullies were cowards. If they knew the target was stronger than them, they wouldn't bother them. And unless they were as retarded as cultivation novel characters, they wouldn't be stupid enough to seek revenge by calling even more weaklings just so they could get beaten up again.
No, I killed them to tie up loose ends…to silence them and ensure that nobody, except me, would ever know what had taken place in the warehouse. That nobody would ever know who was involved.
"Hmm?"
I glanced up when I heard a rumble in the distance. The skies were darkening as ominous clouds gathered. Lightning was flaring up among the gray fluff.
"There's a storm coming." I shook my head. "I should get home."
Rising to my feet, I glanced at my smartphone and I snorted when I saw the headlines of some news that had nothing to do with me. I wondered why the AI of the app thought I would be interested in such nonsense. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the cheesy sentence.
"Ghost Bear Clan wipes out Black Serpent Society after a vicious gang war."
Even though I dismissed it at that time, I had no idea how much the outcome of this particular gang war would affect me.