"You... you... you're a monster," the steward slipped on his own leg and fell to the ground. He hastily moved away on his knees, wearing a fearful expression.
"Hmph," Zhen Xia scoffed, attempting to move her leg forward, but she was halted by the Ronin.
"Don't waste your time on him," Ronin advised, then shifted his gaze toward the mansion. "Hey, old bastard," he addressed the Lin family's patriarch, "get that woman out of your damn mansion."
"You dare to be insolent in front of my Lin family. It seems you're either confident in your strength or simply mentally impaired," a voice reached Ronin and Zhen Xia as the Old Man slowly emerged from the mansion, his hand behind his back.
"Oh, you'll find out whether I'm confident or brainless if you don't send your young miss to my care right now," Ronin declared, drawing his sword from its sheath.
*Swoosh...*
Ronin's sword sliced through the air, producing a sharp sound, with a glint flashing along its sharp edge.
"Hmph, then I won't entrust my granddaughter to your care," the old man retorted, drawing his own sword, his eyes gleaming ruthlessly.
Ronin and the old man vanished from their original positions, and their swords clashed with one another.
"Father..."
"Stay where you are. This kid is strong. Let me deal with him," Oldman declared in a loud yet clear voice.
*Clang... Clang...*
"Heavenly strike!" Ronin shouted as he moved in, attempting to slice Oldman at the waist.
*Clang...*
"You're good, boy," Oldman remarked, deftly evading the attack while countering with his own sword.
"Yin moon slice." Oldman's sword strike targeted Ronin's chest, leaving a small cut even though he managed to dodge the attack precisely. Ronin reached out to touch the wound on his chest, running his fingers over the blood, and smiled, saying, "It's been a long time since I've bled. I almost forgot how my blood feels."
"Body... and... sword... as... one," Ronin said, each word emphasized as he took a step closer to Oldman. Sword intent radiating from Ronin widened Oldman's eyes in shock and fear.
"Such intense and pure sword intent. I can't withstand this sword strike. If I dodge, my entire mansion will be destroyed by his sword," Oldman muttered, sweat beads forming on his forehead, his back drenched in cold sweat. Ronin's sword intent even forced Oldman to kneel on the ground.
"Father..."
"Grandfather..."
"Grand elder..."
*****
"Everyone, stay back," the old man thundered, then he turned to Ronin, kneeling before him. "Young hero, please cease your attack. I apologize for not recognizing your mastery of the sword. Please forgive me."
Ronin halted his assault and sheathed his sword. He looked at Oldman, who knelt before him, and asked, "Oldman, now you know if I'm confident or brainless?"
"I know... I know," Oldman replied, continuing to kowtow to Ronin.
"Call your granddaughter. If she doesn't provide a satisfactory explanation for what she did to my people, she will have to face the consequences," Ronin said in an angry tone.
"Yes... yes," Oldman responded, then turned to the crowd behind him and called out loudly, "Lin Fai, come here."
"But... gr..." Before she could finish her sentence, Oldman interrupted her with a furrowed brow, saying, "When I say 'come,' you must come."
When he turned back to look at Ronin, his expression shifted to one of sheepishness.
Lin Fai, realizing she had no permission to voice her thoughts, lowered her head and approached her grandfather.
"Young hero, here is my granddaughter. Please tell me how you wish to handle her," Oldman inquired with a feigned smile.
Ronin didn't reply to Oldman. Instead, he turned to Lin Fai and calmly asked, "Why did you order your guards to attack innocent people in the market?"
Lin Fai glanced at Zhen Xia, who was giving her a menacing look, and understood what Ronin meant. "They... they are commoners and dared to disrupt the path of my carriage. They have a death wish," Lin Fai replied, gritting her teeth with a stubborn expression.
"Haha, so just because they are commoners and disrupted the path of your carriage, you ordered your guards to take their lives?" Ronin questioned. The Asura symbol on him shone brightly, advancing toward her step by step.
Suddenly, everything around Lin Fai seemed to darken, and a cold chill ran down her spine. Her body trembled violently as she saw Asura with three arms on each side, his skin a deep crimson red. He slowly opened his eyes and fixed them on Lin Fai.
Lin Fai fell to the ground with vacant eyes, her body trembling as she let out painful shrieks. Bystanders near Ronin and Lin Fai couldn't comprehend what was happening and why Lin Fai was convulsing violently on the ground.
With perplexed expressions on their faces, they continued to gaze at the scene, their eyes unblinking.
A bead of sweat rolled down Ronin's forehead, and the symbol on his forehead gradually dimmed, disappearing completely within a few seconds. Lin Fai slowly regained her senses, and the moment she did, she stared at Ronin as though she had seen a ghost. She screamed loudly, her face filled with fear, "Don't kill me... Don't kill me... I will do whatever you want... I beg you, don't kill me... Wuu... wuuu..."
She continued crying, tears streaming down her face as she knelt before Ronin and kowtowed, just as her grandfather had done.
Ronin approached her and knelt on one knee in front of her, holding up two fingers, and asked, "I will give you two choices."
Meanwhile, in the realm of the gods...
"Did you all sense the presence of the god's candidate?" the God's Emperor inquired, looking at the gods below him, seated on their thrones side by side.
"Yes, God's Emperor."
"Yes, God's Emperor. Even if it was only for a moment, i sensed him using god-level abilities, though those abilities lacked celestial energy."
****
****
One by one, the gods shared their observations on the god's candidate they had briefly sensed.
Meanwhile, in the shadows near the Lin mansion...
"Come on, whatever choices my master offers, accept them. The fact that he's giving you options instead of killing you outright means you must have accumulated some good deeds in your past life," a young girl murmured in a hushed tone, her heated gaze fixed intensely on Ronin.