"Please, please forgive me. I have to take care of my family too. Please, I beg you," Yang Zhai started to beg. There were tears in his eyes. His expression was like that of a hopeless person.
"..."
"Uhh," all of the four men were dumbfounded.
"Hey, is it the same boy who was so calm a moment ago?" The man on the right side asked.
"I don't know." The man next to him answered.
"He is even more scared than the people we killed before." Another man spoke.
"Isn't it too easy? I always thought that the cultivators were too proud and wouldn't beg because of their pride." All of the men were confused by Yang Zhai's sudden change of emotions.
"Whatever, isn't it good for us? We can easily complete our task this way." The leader of the four spoke.
"Ahh… please… let me go. I can give you everything I have. I am willing to give you whatever you need. I also won't tell anyone about today." Yang Zhai was stuttering and crying whilst speaking to the four men.
"Ok, boy, we will think of that later. But first, hand us everything you have." A man in the middle walked forward. He had a large knife in his hand and a smile on his face.
"Huh, ok, ok, here, take this." Yang Zhai hurriedly wiped his tears with his right sleeve and removed a sack from his own waist with his left hand. This sack was only seven inches in size.
In this sack were the essence stones. Yang Zhai was a cautious person, he would never use the Bloody-Storage Ka in the open or market, in front of others. This Ka —even though it was a storage Ka— was very important to him in case of emergencies. Therefore, he would always keep some essence stones in a sack and hang the sack around his waist.
"Here, take this. These are all of the essence stones and the materials that I have. But, please let me go." Yang Zhai held out his left hand. On his palm was a seven inches sack.
"Good kid, you are more sensible than the other kids we killed. They would always begin to brag about their status and the clan. But you understand the situation you are in."
The man came forward and was about to pick up the pouch when Yang Zhai suddenly dashed forward and hit his left palm on the man's neck. Then, he pulled his hand back and jumped backward. The sack in his left hand had disappeared and there was nothing left in his hand, except for the blood.
When Yang Zhai pulled his hand back, a deep piercing wound could be seen on the man's neck, that had pieced deeply. Blood was gushing out of his neck. The knife fell from the man's hand down to the ground.
The man looked at Yang Zhai with eyes that were filled with fear. His fear was from Yang Zhai's decision. Yang Zhai killed him without even thinking. Not just that, Yang Zhai acted on his decision without even hesitating. And the man could also feel that Yang Zhai's left hand did not even tremble when he pierced his neck.
How could he be not scared?
The sack of the essence stones had disappeared because Yang Zhai had stored it in the Bloody-Storage Ka at the right moment and then pulled out a sharp knife after his palm was close to the man's neck. It came out exactly at the moment his palm was about to touch the man's neck. And then he stored his knife back in the bloody storage Ka.
Yang Zhai's body had crossed the limits of a mortal body¹ and his strength was far greater than the man's: therefore, his dash was fast and swift, even if a little.
The man fell down and died. His eyes were still open even after his death, and a fear could be seen in his eyes.
"You bast**d, how could you sneak attack? Aren't you ashamed at all? You cultivators always brag about your pride, but you still sneak attacked."
All three men were shocked by what happened.
"I would rather cheat than die." Yang Zhai said with an indifferent expression. He was looking and examining his left bloody hand nonchalantly. There were still leftover tears on his face and his eyes. He looked innocent, but the boy standing in front of the three was even more ruthless than the four men. And his calmness was even more fearful. Even if a little, there was a fear deep down in the three men's hearts.
Yang Zhai was a heedful man. Even though his body was stronger than the four men, he would not be careless. What if these mortals had some tricks up their sleeves? And Yang Zhai was sure that they did have some kind of trick up their sleeves. Yang Zhai would not be too prideful of his strength to attack without a plan. Thus, he acted to be helpless to reduce the next party's strength, and he succeeded.
"Attack him and kill him. We can't let him leave; otherwise, we are done for."
One of the three men charged toward Yang Zhai and attacked him with a sword. Yang Zhai evaded the attack by dodging to his left, and the man surpassed him because of the momentum of the charge.
Yang Zhai saw another man coming toward him with a club in his hand. Because Yang Zhai was in the air and had just dodged, he could not evade the attack. Therefore, he activated the Wooden-Fists Ka and parried the club with his fists, which had turned into hardwood.
Because his hands had turned into the wood with the help of a Rank 1 Ka and his strength was also greater than the man and the club, the man was pushed back by some feet and the club was sent flying.
The third man began to attack with a spear. But Yang Zhai kept on evading the spear attacks.
Yang Zhai punched the man with a spear and sent him flying as well.
After that, all three men started to attack him together.
Yang Zhai was having an upper hand over the three of them. There were many reasons for Yang Zhai gaining advantage an over the three.
He was a man with three lives of experience, with three different reasons to live and different goals. His experience was far greater than these three men could ever achieve in their combined lives. He had already seen the world.
Second, his body's strength was also greater than the three. After all, he was using strength Ka every day to increase his strength.
Then these three men had taken him easily at the beginning of the fight, giving him many opportunities to injure them.
And fourth, he was confusing them again and again. And he was also using all kinds of techniques and Dug-Worm Ka.
Yang Zhai was fighting the three men, when felt danger from behind. Yang Zhai hurriedly activated a Rank 1 technique and a red poison appeared and started to float in his hand. Whilst activating the technique m, he looked back. All of this happened in two to three seconds.
When Yang Zhai turned around, he saw whiteness in front of him. And he could see one of the men behind the whiteness. Right at that moment, Yang Zhai threw the poison at the man's face, who was behind the whiteness, but the whiteness also touched his face and body.
The man began to scream out of pain because this poison was deadly. It could rot things. And the man's face was already looking scary.
Whilst, on the other hand, Yang Zhai began to lose his eyesight, everything was turning blurry in front of him.
But Yang Zhai did not panic and hurriedly activated a Rank 1 water technique to summon water, and he threw it on his face and his eyes. He had to be calm at a time like this —of all times— the most. If he was not calm right now and begins to panic, he would get himself in trouble. These situations were where Yang Zhai had to stay calm and rational.
His eyes pain decreased a little and everything looked a little better than after throwing some water in his eyes. But, everything was still blurry in front of him. However, at least, he could see the blurry shadows moving in front of him now.
"Rank one Blinding Powder. Impressive, these men even have this powder. As I suspected, they had a trick up their sleeves after all. Thank goodness, my body is not a mortal's body. Thus, the effect of the blinding powder is less on me. And no wonder, they were so confident. They might have been using this powder to blind the kids before killing them if they resisted." Yang Zhai thought to himself. He finally understood why no kid was able to leave here alive after being trapped.
*****/*****
1- Mortals: Mortals are people who have not awakened their aperture. Therefore, crossing a mortal body's limit doesn't mean that a person has become immortal. A body below rank 2 is considered a mortal body, except if a person has used some kind of method to make their body stronger. Above a mortal body is a cultivator's body, starting from rank 2 (Important information).