I stared at him blankly, not sure what exactly I was hearing.
"…who are you?"
"Are you as deaf as you are stupid? I said I'm Wang Teng of Huang Hai Military Academy."
"No, that's not what I meant. I mean, why are you challenging me to a life and death duel when I don't even know who the fuck you are?"
"Who cares if you don't know who I am? I have a grudge against your Divine Path University, and I believe your professor is Ling Zhen, right? Your advisor."
"Yeah, he's one of my mentors," I admitted. "But I don't see what that has to do with anything."
"Haven't you heard anything from him?" Wang Teng sneered, then he chuckled. "I see, the coward didn't even bother to tell his students that I'm coming for them."
"Why are you even coming for us in the first place?"
"You really don't know anything, do you?" Wang Teng shook his head in disgust. "One of your senior brothers, Zhuo Tai, challenged me to a life and death duel, and I killed him. Obviously, all of the students under Ling Zhen – his master – are fellow disciples and they are obligated to avenge him. I'm just cutting out the roots before they can come back and threaten me later. And I also made a vow to Instructor Ling Zhen. I said that I will challenge all his disciples one by one, until all of them are killed! I'm just keeping my word."
"…I don't know who Zhuo Tai is, and I have no reason to avenge him." I was clutching my temples as a headache began to build up in my skull. "You and I have no enmity and you want to kill me just because you…killed one of my seniors? How does that even make sense?"
"Are you stupid? Of course, I have to be ruthless in order to survive. Otherwise, you'll threaten me in future. I can't take the chance, and even the readers support me! Look at this comment by SW3RV33. 'I hate MCs who are immature not to kill the other students, only to be devastated when his family or lover gets killed or crippled later. This is a world based on power, and where there is power, there are those who abuse it. Remember that.' I completely agree. To be kind to others is to be cruel to oneself!"
"Are you deluded?" I retorted. "How did you even come to the conclusion that I or any of the other students under Professor Ling will go attack your family or lover? I don't even know who the fuck Zhuo Tai is, I have no reason to avenge him. And assaulting your family or loved ones is a crime, this is modern society, if I pull a stupid stunt like that, I'll be jailed!"
"It doesn't matter. This is a world where strong eat the weak. Only those with power have the right to survive."
"That kind of rhetoric is only used by bullies to justify them beating up or abusing other people." I facepalmed. "And if you're talking about cultivation stories, they are worlds of nepotism. Nobody is born strong right at the start. If it's really strong eat the weak, then all the antagonists should just accept their defeat. But they don't – they run to their daddies or granddaddies or masters or elders and have their family members take revenge for them. Also, most of them grow safely because of nepotism, because their family members shelter them and give them resources. Not because of their own personal strength. And by your logic, no matter how strong you are, your family members and loved ones wouldn't deserve to live because they are weaker than you, they should just accept their fate. But obviously, when they are threatened, you suddenly change your tune and start raging. 'How dare you attack my family?!' Well, you said it so yourself. Strong eat the weak, and your family members happen to be weak. But obviously, that's not the case. Really, all these cultivation stories are based off nepotism, and not actually 'strong eat the weak' as most writers or characters or readers claim."
"SHUT UP!" Wang Teng screamed and charged at me. "You talk too much!"
Yeah, he was allowed to rant and preach all he wanted, but when I came up with a perfectly rational rebuttal that he couldn't refute, he decided to silence me by force.
Stepping away, I ducked the golden brick he swung at me. Don't ask me why he was swinging a brick at me. I wasn't sure why he chose a brick as a weapon. For comedy effect? In any event, I realized that it was made up of super expensive material. What a waste.
Wang Teng brushed past me, his brick missing my cranium, and he swung about to counter with a hook. I ducked under it, and then parried his follow up kick. He refused to give up and smashed me with his brick, but I jumped away to put as much distance between us as possible.
"I didn't even accept your duel, and you attack me without warning." I shook my head. "Dude, you really need to relax."
"I don't like people telling me what to do," he snapped, turning to glare at me. "And what the protagonist does is always right."
What the fuck was he on about now?
"You should just stay still and let me hit you! That way, I'll be able to pick up attributes! If I smack you about, I'm sure I'll be able to pick up summoning attributes!"
The guy was raving about something insane right now, and I honestly had no idea what he was talking about. Nor did I care. I had more important things to worry about, especially when I caught sight of Myria and the rest rushing over.
"What do you think you're doing?" Myria snapped, drawing her sword. Wang Teng glared at her.
"I don't normally like hitting women, but if you get in my way, I won't show mercy."
"We are the ones who will not show mercy!" Sylvie declared coldly, holding up her hands as she cast a spell. A howling blizzard began to form around her. Wang Teng snorted and turned to me.
"A coward who hides behind girls, I see."
"Look, dude." I was rubbing my forehead to soothe the headache. "If you want to challenge me to a duel, I accept it later. After the mission in Yggdrasil, and when we return to Hua Xia. But not now, okay? Right now, we need to focus on saving the elvish enclaves."
"That's right," Eliza said angrily. "This is elven territory. Take your human disputes elsewhere."
"Do you think I'm an idiot?" Wang Teng growled, gripping his golden brick tightly. "If I agree to postpone the duel and work together on the mission, you'll backstab me later. Do you think I'll trust a villain like you? You'll inevitably betray me later. I must eliminate all threats first!"
"When did I become a villain?"
"That's how it works. I'm the protagonist of a cultivation story, so all other male characters are antagonists! If I don't kill you right now, you'll try to kill me later when you think my guard is down! You'll take advantage of the mission and the ensuing chaos to strike at me from the shadows! I know your type! Glasses characters like you always scheme in secret while acting all innocent and intelligent!"
…was this guy deluded? He reminded me of a middle school second year syndrome sufferer. And he was discriminating against people who wore glasses like me?
"Stop fighting!" Eliza shouted. "Again, take your disputes out of Yggdrasil! You are here to help us, not cause more conflict!"
"Silence," Wang Teng said intimidatingly. "This has nothing to do with you."
"Given that this is her home that you're trying to force a fight in, I will say that it is very much Eliza's business. Again, can't we wait until the business with Yggdrasil is finished? If you're really that afraid of me betraying you, we'll work in separate parties and you can stay on guard. I'll stay within your sight at all times if you really need me to."
I could hear the existences beyond the fourth dimension screaming and frothing in rage when I tried to compromise. They were furious that I refused to fight Wang Teng, and they wanted blood to be spilled. They were calling me beta and all sorts of names. These were the same readers who probably loved the cultivation web novel or manhua that Wang Teng was the protagonist of. If they really preferred ruthless, arrogant and bloodthirsty murder hobo protagonists, they could read his story (just refer to the title of this chapter) instead.
"But if I do that, I won't be able to pick up summoning attributes from you and become even more overpowered than I already am!"
Damn. So that was his real goal. It wasn't just to "eliminate threats" to himself or his family and loved ones, but because he was greedy for whatever attributes he could pick up from me. Though I honestly had no idea what he was talking about, or how it worked, I could guess that he had some sort of system similar to mine that allowed him to become overpowered by…uh, picking up attributes from defeated opponents or something?
Wang Teng didn't hesitate. He drew his sword and released his sword intent, his golden qi billowing about him like an inferno. Myria and the others were forced to retreat, particularly because of the ferocity of his sword intent.
"Fire Kirin Sword!" He yelled. He then turned to glower at Myria and the others. "Even if you're girls, I'll still cut you down if you're in my way!"
He then hurled the golden brick at me, probably seeking to hit me in the head and make me spill attributes. I dodged it and watched the meteoric weapon streak past me to fall off the branch of the World Tree and plummet below. I couldn't follow its trajectory all the way, though. Wang Teng was charging at me with such force that he blew Myria, Sylvie and Silvia away.
"You…" Sigmund said softly and stepped forward, but I shook my head and gestured for him to stay where he was. I knew that Sigmund could easily defeat an opponent of Wang Teng's caliber, but the guy clearly had plot armor and would use some sort of cheat or hack to beat a far superior opponent somehow. Because his author said so.
Unfortunately for him, I had the superpower of destroying plot armor.
Drawing Azure Dragon, I parried his blow. His sword blazed and he swept me off my feet with a vicious stroke that almost cleaved me in half. I then ducked under his next strike, only for him to twirl his sword about and perform a reverse sweep. Deflecting his blazing blade to the side, I then countered with a riposte, but he blocked it before retaliating with another strike.
"Give me your attributes!" He snarled, not realizing that he was speaking out loud. His greed and ruthlessness had overshadowed his morals and reason, and he was becoming the very villain he claimed to hate.
I honestly didn't understand this about cultivation protagonists. They always started off oppressed and the bullied underdog, but as they gained their cheats and became overpowered, they ended up doing the exact same thing as their oppressors, murdering people ruthlessly and plundering their wealth and resources like common bandits. They didn't like how arrogant people looked down on them, yet they prided themselves on their own strength and scorned other people with that same arrogance.
Shaking my head in disbelief, I parried the next blow, only to be caught off guard when he launched his Phantom Ice Fist with his free hand. I moved my head to the side to avoid getting smacked in the face, and I could feel his freezing fist brush past my cheek. A trail of ice was left across my skin, but my azure qi shattered it shortly after that.
I parried his next sword blow, dodged his follow up ice punch and then countered with a knee to his stomach. He cursed and blocked it with his elbow before spinning his body about to kick me. I ducked under his sweeping leg and stabbed upward, but he adjusted his stance and deflected my blade. Flames exploded from his blade and almost knocked me back from the shockwaves alone.
"Are you really only a two-star warrior?" He growled before slashing at me. I blinked in confusion.
"A…what?"
"Two-star warrior!" He snapped. "Don't tell me you don't know what I'm talking about? I'm talking about your cultivation realm!"
Did this guy really jumped in from another cultivation story universe, or did he read too much of a specific cultivation web novel or manhua and was mixing up fiction with reality? If it was the latter, he really was suffering from middle school second year syndrome.
"Dude, I'm Mystic ranked. Same as you."
"Same as me?" He scoffed. "You're nowhere near my level!"
Whirling around, he launched another fiery strike that detonated against my azure blade and hurled me several meters back. I landed on the branch and skidded along the rough bark, forcing myself to a stop. Before I could fully halt my momentum, Wang Teng was already surging toward me.
"What do you think of my sword intent?" He sneered before he swung his sword down. I barely brought my own weapon up in time to parry his strike, only to be engulfed in an explosion. As I vanished in the inferno, Wang Teng laughed triumphantly, holding up his hand greedily. Looking around, he grinned. "Your attributes…all of them will be mine!"
Then he blinked in disbelief, scanning around in a more urgent manner when he realized he couldn't see any dropped attributes.
"No way…impossible…where are the attributes? Where's the summoning attribute?"
"Sorry, dude," I said as I stepped out of the inferno and brushed the cinders off my shirt. Other than a layer of soot, I appeared completely unscathed. "I don't care if you're the protagonist of some trashy cultivation web novel or manhua. I'm going to teach you a harsh lesson in reality."