" Brother...Brother Shan?...." Pei Yao couldn't help calling out doubtfully as her eyes stared unblinkingly at the group of guards who were guarding the three closely not allowing her to get closer.
" Let's go." The people on the other side didn't even turn back or gave her a single glance as they prepared to leave not intending to bother any longer.
They had to make it back before the sun went down the west.
However, to the people who were drowning and were on the brink of death even a dry and withered twig would appear as life-saving straw.
Trying to get hold of it with all their might even after knowing that it might not work.
" Brother Shan....."
Pie Yao had just taken a step intending to stop the person the people from behind rushed over.
" Senior Tian Shan is that you?! Please help us out, we know we were wrong and admit our mistake!"
" Yes, Senior, we're willing to kowtow and beg for your forgiveness, please take us in, don't leave us here to die in the wilderness!"
" Please forgive us, senior, it's all that bastard Xiao Tingfei's fault for threatening us. If wasn't for his threat we wouldn't left you even if he had beaten us to death!"
" Yes, it was Xiao Tingfei, who said he would have my family killed if I didn't follow him obediently. Senior, I really had no choice!" Someone immediately followed the suit and chimed in.
" Senior Tian, please forgive us on account of our years of friendship..."
All sorts of pleading and begging mingled and reverted in the quiet and still air making the quiet wilderness turn into a noisy fish market.
A visible sneer appeared at the corner of the lips of the three people as watched a bunch of dogs acting pitifully.
Oh, no...these people couldn't be even called dogs. It would grave insult towards that loyal species.
Their footsteps paused and the three of them turned simultaneously walking out of the protective circle. The guards tactfully moved aside, making the way forming a half circle around the three.
" Are you apologizing?..." Tian Shan drawled looking lazy and carefree. There was a small smile hanging at the corner of his lips, but this smile didn't seem to reach his cold eyes which were freezing like a snow-capped mountain.
The people on the other side were too busy begging for forgiveness, trying their best to get a way out of this hell and didn't notice his strange gaze.
They frantically kept nodding their heads, their faces ashen and tearful, " Yes, we are apologising, we're sorry, Seniors please take us in!" Their eyes subconsciously trailed behind the trio sizing up the group of well-built guards clad in dark clothes.
A strange glint flashed past Tian Shan's cold eyes making him look even more cold and evil for a moment.
Heh, he had thought that he could play the character till the end, but it seemed like his last wish was also ruined by these people in the end.
Xiang QingLing and Yuan Fang, who was standing on his both side sensed this change and exchanged glances, pitying the people for the miserable end they were going to encounter soon.
However, did these people really deserve this pity?.... They didn't think so.
Even after what happened, their only regret was that they followed Xiao Tingfei only to be abandoned halfway. Their eyes, however, didn't show a tinge of remorse or guilt for what they had done to them.
Moreover, even now here when they came begging, they chose to push all the blame on that Xiao Tingfei, Huh!
Did they think that they were too good at lying or did they think that they were too gullible to believe such flimsy excuses?....Even more stupid than that spoiled brat Xiao Tingfei?...
" You want to follow?" Tian Shan glanced at them and asked lightly. He didn't speak anything about their apology nor did he mention anything regarding his forgiveness.
Faced with his sharp sword-like gaze the people couldn't help but tremble feeling an ominous foreboding. However, this feeling lasted only for a second before it was drowned and suppressed by the strong desire for survival.
" Yes, Senior Brother, don't worry we won't be a burden. When we return we'll help you pay these mercenaries, you don't have to pay a cent!"
When stole a glance at the group of strong people standing in a neat row orderly and thought about all the money they had to fork out to pay them their hearts couldn't help but bleed.
This group of mercenaries looked particularly strong and fearsome, they must be high-grade mercenaries. How much money they had to fork out?
It looks like after this trip they would be left with nothing but an empty treasury.
Mercenaries?...
The trio raised their brows slightly not showing any surprise.
It seemed only reasonable.
After all, they had been keeping low-key and playing poor all this while. Obviously, these people would never imagine that this group of fearsome people were their personal bodyguards.
However, they didn't correct them and let them continue to misunderstand.
" Alright, you can follow us, but I have one condition," said Tian Shan.
" Yes, Senior Tian, tell us we are willing to fulfil any condition." They would agree to anything at this moment. Even if he asked them to dance butt naked, they might agree to do it easily.
After all, nothing was more important than living.
" Since you guys are willing then I'm naturally glad in being able to help." He sounded just like the sunny and generous Tian Shan who he used to be, however, when the next sentence left his mouth they felt a sudden chill, " Then you guys can follow but you have to walk behind keeping a hundred steps distance. One step missing, one step closer my men here are free to kill you."
The people standing opposite instantly paled upon hearing his inhuman condition.
The temperature during the day was very warm in contrast to the extremely chilly night. Yet, at this moment these people couldn't help feeling their limbs turning cold.
As the fear and panic passed after a brief moment it was taken over by anger and raging desperation.
A hundred steps distance?.... was it any different from killing them?!
And that was not all, they had to walk every step in fear and trepidation, thinking that any unintentional mistake could get them killed at any time.
Was it a joke?....it must be a joke!
....But could this man joke at this moment?
They all scoffed inward in displease but didn't dare to show it on their faces. Their faces were as servile as they could get as smiled fawningly, " Haha...Senior Brother, you have gotten better at joking. Your face was so serious we really couldn't tell you were joking. You really got us there, Hehe..."
Tian Shan found their fake laughter so ugly that he wanted to wipe it off their faces with a hard smack. But he didn't think they were worthy in the end.
" So ugly." Yuan Fang, who looked irritated since morning couldn't hold himself back from stating this fact. Then he turned to Tian Shan and threw him a glare, " Ah Shan, hurry up and finish your childish game, we left Lanlan alone waiting for us!"
He didn't save his friend any face. This was how he was, especially when he was irritated.
He wouldn't speak much on daily basis but when he spoke his tongue was sharp and laced with venom. His every word would only get more unpleasant and ugly.
Xiang QingLing stifled her laughter that was threatening to break out any second. Usually, Yuan Fang looked quiet and obedient and would always comply with Tian Shan, however, when the guy lost his temper even Tian Shan would be at the receiving end.
" I know, I know, don't look at me like that, you are going to give me nightmares." Tian Shan didn't get angry at his lash out, instead nodded good-naturedly and whispered back. In front of his close buddies, he was still the previous Tian Shan, who was sometimes goofy yet very caring and protective.
After saying this Tian Shan turned his head, and the care and affection in his eyes that he had towards his friends were replaced by cold indifference," Who said I'm joking? This is my condition, if you can accept then follow us, otherwise you are on your own."
He made himself clear.
However, the people standing across him only turned paler, after being dumbfounded.
" Tian, Shan!! Don't go overboard!!" At last, someone couldn't help but rage out in fury. The fake respect and fawning that they had shown previously were all gone. The expression on their faces was particularly ferocious.
But, who was Tian Shan?
And what was his origin?
Was he someone who could be easily scared?...
" How am going overboard?" Tian Shan looked puzzled, " Didn't you all say that you would accept any condition to follow us, then why are you saying now I am going overboard?!"
" Senior Tian, don't twist our words. We just wanted a way out, but with the way you are putting this condition what's the difference between this and killing us directly ?" said Deng Quan weakly trying to bear the pain in his chest, " Senior, you should be magnanimous as a person."
Previously, during the fierce argument at Lan Quan, he had been injured by Jiang Ying Yue's heavy kick, which hadn't completely healed yet. In addition to this injury, there were various degrees of many injuries that he had gotten during the confrontation with the spirit beast, which was running amok in this forest.
" Hey, brother, where did you come from?" Tian Shan looked at him strangely like he was some alien, " Since, you know one should be magnanimous as a person then you should also know that one should have some degree of loyalty to be called a human, right?"
" Even dogs know how to be loyal to their masters after years of companionship, but what about you, can you be even compared to a dog?" His voice didn't carry a tinge of emotion, his expression nonchalant. He didn't angry, sad or disappointed at their betrayal as though these people meant nothing to him and just asking and nothing else.
People standing there were both ashamed and angry hearing him. Ashamed not because they did something shameful but because someone openly brought out their stain in front of everyone, they were even enraged and indignant when they heard Tian Shan compare them to a dog.
Was there a need to say so much?!
Was there a need to be this petty?!
" Senior Tian, we apologise again for our past deeds but you should also understand it's human nature to be selfish, besides it was Xiao Tingfei who was threatening us at that time we have no other choice. Senior Tian, can you forgive us, we've known you for so long, we know you're not that petty person?"
That meant if he didn't agree to their request then he was petty.
What fine logic!
Then, so be it!
Tian Shan didn't want to listen to their nonsense anymore. From the beginning he didn't care if they died or lived, he just wanted to teach them a lesson. Who asked them to block their way and cause trouble for them?!
As for the matter of betrayal, it didn't bother him much anyway. After coming here far from that chaotic land he just wanted to take his chance to live as an ordinary young boy that he had yearned for a while. And that was the reason after they had enrolled themselves in the academy they had been behaving like normal students. Taking tests, taking tasks, forming guild, all of this just to experience the ordinary life of a young teenage cultivator.
That was why he had never really taken it to heart while he was still at the academy, even repeated brawl with that brat Xiao Tingfei was a form of amusement to him. Let alone this group of people who he had taken in in order to form their guild.
" If you can take it then follow, if you can't then get lost!" He threw this sentence and turned to leave. Their time wasn't worth wasting, especially when every second was important for their survival.
The other two also followed behind not giving the people a single glance.
They were born and brought up in that cold-blooded land, and didn't understand words like pity and sympathy.
Even if this bunch of disloyal people died right in front of them they wouldn't feel anything.