Long Di took out a handkerchief, wiping his hand with it as if to clean his hand of the filth it collected by performing such an act. His expression was the same as ever, apathetically defined.
He himself started walking towards the spot where Jiandan Tai landed before he said, while still wiping his hands, "Now stand up back for lesson two."
…
Personally, I don't think I'm asking for too much. Do you?
I say, please, thank you, excuse me, and you're welcome.
My uncle never taught me manners. I mean, have you met the man? `If you haven't, then my condolences for your current sufferation, because such a feat would suck dry the luck of three generations.
Then again, experiencing poverty, sickness and everything wrong with the world as opposed to meeting him. It could only be counted as a worthy trade-off. So maybe, I should say congratulations?
Anyway, the point is that once when Pebbles and I were walking down the street discussing the weather and bridges; I saw a conman tricking another man of all his money. However, the conman had a lot of manners.
This was all based on the expression of the conee who had a big smile on his face despite being robbed blind by the conner. I'm pretty sure those weren't even the right words, but darn it all if it don't sound right.
Therefore, I took the initiative to follow this con man around to learn from him, not his trade, but his mannerisms. Now, while I couldn't smile, I had the words and body language under control.
So with that being, I am someone with my manners in check, but it seems as if the people in this cultivation world don't give two shiznit about manners. With that being the case, I'll suspend my gentlemanly demeanour for a while towards this man-child who likes to lick his lips for some reason.
I stared at the pile of rubble as I walked towards it. I believe this is one of those moments where the cannon fodder villain gets, as the young kids say nowadays, 'rekt'.
Boom!
The debris of the crash that gathered into a pile burst apart with a powerful blast!
Jiandan Tai stood up once more, glaring in my direction, his eyes spitting fire. Now I don't know much about social cues mind you, but he didn't look too happy. Could be due to the eleven-year-old-sized handprint on his cheek, but who am I to assume?
"Give me a quick second, will you?" I asked him. "I'm still wiping the oil from your face off my hand."
"Courting death!"
After these words left Jiandan Tai's mouth, he shot after me, leaving a small dent in the hard floor of this not-relic.
I could see that everyone that was near us not long ago backed off, probably not wanting to be implicated in the fight, which made sense, I guess.
I sent a message to Shen Ling earlier and could see that she already made her way to Feng Yu, Tie Lang, Jia Yan and, of course, the legendary straggler.
Perfect.
Knowing she was safe, I could beat down this Jiandan Tai without reserve.
Hmm, why do I feel like my uncle all of a sudden? Meh, I'm not drunk, so I guess it's not the same. Hold on a second, my master is a drunken—
Whoosh!
No time to think. Jiandan Tai was upon me and shot a punch towards my face. I could see the air screaming in protest to the force of this attack!
I erected a cross block with my arms in a hasty defence when his punch landed, the force behind it similar to truck kun, ah the nostalgia.
Bang!
The blow sent me flying back at a dizzying speed. The people in the distance were nothing but a blur at this point, and my arms hurt like hell.
Bam!
I crashed into the wall, much like my opponent before me, and my body screamed in pain. That doesn't make sense, am I not supposed to be OP?
I felt something that tasted a bit sweet and metallic, threatening to come up my throat. I didn't swallow it since I knew what it was.
"Puah!"
'Point to note, body cultivators are really strong. My body is only around his level, even though I'm in another realm. Interesting. If only I could dual cultivate another cultivation technique meant for body tempering. Oh, well.'
At this point, I could see the other people in the distance looking at me with disdain, probably because of the blood I didn't hesitate to throw up. In this world, showing anything that resembled weakness or inferiority made you subject to sneer and disrespect.
Luckily, I didn't give a crap. I just stared at the enemy in front of me as he flashed his hand with a look of surprise. Obviously, he could feel the weight and toughness of the training gear I wore, and probably because I didn't die from that punch of his.
Demons had inherently stronger bodies than the other races, which made them naturally gifted body cultivators. This made their cultivation speed in that regard unparalleled.
"You're tougher than I thought," Jiandan Tai pointed out, his previous look of disdain reappearing.
"I've been told, how does your face feel?"
His face turned ugly almost immediately when he heard my sincere question. His reminiscence of the earlier slap would be his greatest shame.
"Insolent brat!" A vein bulged on his forehead before the muscles on his body bulged, nearly doubling in size.
He shot off in my direction once more, preparing his fist to land the same blow from before.
Shu!
I dodged it at the last second, albeit a bit clumsy, the weight of these gears was both a boon and a bond.
"The same move won't work twice," I told him.
I balled my hands up into the fistiest fist I could make before I looked for and found his other clean cheek.
Since he just released his own attack, he didn't have the time to dodge or block this one.
Bang!
My fist met his face, sending him into a twisting spin in the air like a cutaway kite before landing some metres away.
Slam!
He landed with a resounding boom that caused the ground to shake, sending a wave of dust to kick up in every direction.
I shook my hand to send a wave of air that banished the dust from hindering my vision in any way even though I could use my heavenly gaze to see through it.
Don't question my methods.
Everyone looked on in shock as Jiandan Tai shakily stood, still a bit groggy from the last blow. His eyes lacked focus, so I knew he wasn't all there yet.
Whoosh!
Not wanting to give him any time to recover, I rushed towards him at top speed.
Bam! Bam! Bang! Bam!
I landed several punches on his body in a flash. Each punch had the weight of the rune-operated gauntlets behind it!
Boom!
He crashed into the far end of the room, not for the first time today. The blows levied this time around left a small amount of damage evident by the trail of blood that leaked from the side of his mouth when he fell knee first.
However, I knew this was nothing but superficial injuries. This wasn't something that would cause his combat prowess to fall. In addition, the body cultivation technique he practised made his already strong body leagues above the norm.
Man, this guy is tough.
'So using purely my physical body to fight against him isn't an option. The only reason my body has been able to last this long against his is simply because mine has been augmented by my realm, whereas his, although lower, has received specialised tempering in that area.'
My mind worked fast as I tried to get a grasp of the power scaling system of this world. So far, everything seemed to make sense, but something told me it wouldn't stay this way for long.
You all know what I'm talking about.
Dum!
Jiandan Tai stood up once more. He quickly cleared his head, not giving me any time to pummel him as easily as I did anymore.
Not that it mattered at this stage. I got a lot of information from this fight and it was about time to end it.
Jiandan Tai looked at me with a touch of fright on his face, almost as if he knew what I planned to do.
"E-Everyone, don't let him escape. He got the inheritance from the Peach Blossom Sage Relic, that's why he's so powerful! If we all trap him, we can force him to spit out what he received!"
Everyone's expression at Jiandan Tai's confession changed as they stared in my direction.
Oh, that is just dirty.
I stared back at the conner with a terrifying feeling of foreboding deep within.
Something told me the brainless masses in this place are gonna actually believe that I not only got the inheritance in this place, but that I also somehow managed to master it in this short time, therefore, using it to fold the young man before them.
"You people aren't gonna believe him, are yo—"
Before I could finish what I was about to say, I realised that everyone was looking at me like Pebbles stared at that half-eaten can of cat food we found in the trash bin that day… Don't ask.
"Younger martial brother shouldn't keep the fortune for himself," the human race cultivator that stood opposite me and Jiandan Tai spoke up as he walked in my direction.
"Don't talk to me."
His expression became cold at my curt response to his words. This naturally trickled down to the rest of the human race cultivators that were partly on my side since I was fighting against one of the strongest experts of the demon race in this place.
Unsurprisingly, I was not in the mood to play around at this time and I wanted to leave so I could perfect my cultivation technique.
Jiandan Tai took advantage of everyone's growing displeasure against me to act.
"Hey, that's the group he travelled with! We should capture them too!"
The nearby cultivators in their crowd released their hostility and pointed their weapons in Feng Yu and company's direction. The only one who was calm was Yaomu Shou.
However, when some of the educated saw Yaomu Shou, they opened their mouth in shock and dropped their weapons as they trembled in fear.
Despite this, the others didn't notice this and still displayed their hostility.
"Kneel before we kill you!" A set of cultivators spoke with disdain.
Feng Yu and company were still afraid, not daring to move lest they be killed. Their weakness highlighted their uselessness.
I need to change that as soon as I get out of here.
When I saw who it was that spoke, I only asked one question. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Hmph! A peasant like you has no right to question us! You simply got lucky and think you're the strongest after getting the inheritance of a Sage-level Relic! You won't be able to get out of here to grow that strong!"
The ones who spoke were the same disciples of the Soaring Cloud Immortal Sect, which the elder charged me to protect. Fate had a funny way of explaining irony these days.
"Yaomu Shou," I called the name of the legendary straggler.
"Yeah?"
"You said you wanted me to dominate everyone and everything in this relic, right?"
"Oh, yeah!" I could hear her excitement threatening to spill out.
"There's no free lunch in this world. Protect them, and I'll show you the domination you've been looking for."
"Hahahaahahaa!! You've got it! Run wild then Long Di! Show these plebeians who's boss!" She was ecstatic at the moment, and didn't mind fanning the flames to make it even more entertaining.
All the cultivators, when they heard this, looked at me with even more contempt. The blatant claim of their eventual domination sparked their ire and compelled them to walk towards me in a united front, brandishing their weapons, both humans and demons.
The front was filled with nothing but enemies, while my two sides presented both Quon Bao and Jiandan Tai, who came back after me with renewed vigour.
I took my own sweet time as I walked forward under the heated gazes of everyone, stopping only at the edge at the top of the steps as I looked over them.
They didn't stop their charge. Only coming closer until they completely encircled me.
My expression didn't change. I simply placed my hands behind my back and asked the next logical question. "Now who wants daddy's belt?"