15 Ho Fei.

Li Yang wasn't perturbed by the fact that Mei Kongxu ignored his snappy remark, lazily turning his head to look behind him. His gaze quickly landed on the same thing that Mei Kongxu was looking at, a small group of five people that were walking towards them. Something that looked like a shimmering film was receding from their bodies, the parts covered by the film seeming as if they were phasing in and out of reality.

Li Yang could sense some faint energy radiating from the film as it receded so he guessed that it was actually constructed using Qi, probably Qi pulled from a rune drawn using the law of camouflage or illusions. Li Yang swept his gaze across the five young men, his gaze lingering for a second on the angry-looking youth who seemed to be their leader. But he had never seen them before so he guessed that they were from the World-rending Behmeoth sect so he questioned the expert.

"So, what's with the sausage party over there? I hope they haven't come to recruit another sausage, because I don't really swing that way."

His words caused the approaching group's steps to falter for a second as their expressions twitched, his own lips curling up slightly at the sight. Mei Kongxu glanced sideways at Li Yang, but the angry-looking youth responded for her, his black eyes practically emitting sparks as he glared at Li Yang.

"I am Ho Fei, and I've come to do the opposite actually. You are not worthy of Senior Sister Kongxu so I want you to cancel the wedding so that she can be with someone more deserving, someone who isn't the laughing stock of his own sect."

Ho Fei swept back his needle-like bronze hair as he spoke, swiping his interspatial ring and taking out another finger-sized dart. The dart was dripping with a dark yellow liquid and although Li Yang couldn't detect any scent since they were still about 60 or so metres from each other, he was confident that the liquid wasn't there just for show and was probably poisonous. Ho Fei wore an exceedingly serious expression, but Li Yang couldn't stop himself from looking at the youth as if he was an idiot, pointing at him while tilting his head to Mei Kongxu.

"Hey, has he been huffing the stuff he smears on his weapons or was he just naturally born with missing brain cells? Don't tell me... dropped on the head as a child?!"

His sudden exclamation caught Mei Kongxu completely off-guard, the absurdity of it shattering her stiff expression as she involuntarily let out a short giggle that stood in stark contrast to her usual coldness. Ho Fei's expression twitched violently and the four other men around him started to step forward, but Li Yang turned his gaze back onto them and laid out the facts in a simple manner.

"Oh don't be so prissy, when you say dumb shit you get treated like a dumbo. We're not the ones that decided on the marriage, the ELDERS of our sects decided on it. Our opinions on the marriage don't matter, it'll happen no matter what. So yeah, asking me to cancel the wedding tells me that you've been huffing a bit too much of your own stash."

Ho Fei stretched out his hand to stop his four lackeys, sucking in a few quick breaths to calm down his nearly boiling blood. He let out a long breath once he managed to calm his anger, continuing to glare at Li Yang while making a counterpoint so valid that it actually surprised Li Yang.

"You're quite the infuriating person, I can see why there is no shortage of people from your sect who have been so willing to smear your name during the previous sparring matches. And it's true, the elders were the ones who decided on the marriage to strengthen the bonds between our sect, but let's be real, if you really tried to convince your father then you could break the engagement. After all, the only thing they care about is deepening the bonds through marriage, something they can easily achieve by tossing you one of the other daughters that our elders have, it doesn't have to be Senior Sister Kongxu. And for that matter, it doesn't have to be you either. How many children does your father have again?"

Ho Fei made a surprising amount of sense, and his words were completely reasonable. Li Tian had plenty more children that could be married away, it was pure coincidence that Li Yang and Mei Kongxu had been picked. If either of them was adamant enough, the engagement could be changed and the elders could just toss out some make-shift excuse. But Li Yang didn't falter facing Ho Fei's logic, nodding his head in understanding.

"You're probably correct, pestering him for a year or three can probably make him work out a deal with your sect. But, and here's the kicker, I'm not gonna do that."

He said it as simply as he could, he had no plans of pestering his father to maybe change the engagement. He didn't give Ho Fei a chance to make a counter-argument, placing his hand on Mei Kongxu's shoulder and ignoring the sideways glare she shot at his hand.

"You see, I've found that bugging the shit out of this girl is actually incredibly fun. She has great reactions, and I feel immense satisfaction whenever I break that cold facade she usually wears. She's also interesting and has thus aroused my curiosity, so I'm fine with following through on the marriage and taking her as my principal wife. Let me put it in more simple terms for a poison huffer like you. She is mine, and I don't abandon what's mine, no matter what."

While he started his sentence with his usual jovial tone, he ended it with the same tone he used when he answered Mei Kongxu's questions in the past, boundless arrogance and conviction. The reasons might be stupidly simple, but they were more than enough for Li Yang to make his decision. She was his, plain and simple, and no one was going to rob him of what was his. Of course, if Mei Kongxu herself were to work to end the engagement then that would be a different story, but a certain part of Li Yang was confident that she wasn't going to end the engagement.

Li Yang took his hand off of Mei Kongxu's shoulder when he finished speaking, he was a bit worried that she would snap at his hand if he kept it there much longer. But contrary to his expectations, she didn't look like she was about to snap but was actually looking at him with faintly narrowed eyes, a bit of confusion swimming around within her pupils.

This confusion was one of the reasons he found her interesting, she kept finding points about him that felt familiar and confused her. He wanted to discover the source of this familiarity and confusion, and he wanted to see if just maybe it had something to do with the voices that haunted him. He had also briefly toyed with the idea that the pair of black eyes he saw when he closed his eyes was actually her eyes, but the look in them was so different that he quickly tossed out that idea.

She was looking at him purely out of confusion, but to Ho Fei, who was observing from the sideline without knowing everything, it looked completely different. And her actions, coupled with Li Yang's simple yet arrogant statement, was enough to push him over the edge, his gaze turning steely and frosty.

"Alright, we may not be able to change your mind, but we can at least prevent you from getting anything out of this trip you yourself proposed. And even if we can't, there are hundreds of other men in this sect who covet Senior Sister Kongxu, so you are bound to have a bad time sooner rather than later."

Li Yang wasn't bothered by the prediction of doom that Ho Fei threw at him as he and his lackeys moved forward. Killing was forbidden, but just beating Li Yang until he was forced to leave the forest was more than okay, they could also take this chance to snatch whatever was in the wooden box he had used to make a bet earlier.

Mei Kongxu frowned at the sight of Ho Fei's group moving towards them, casting a sideways glance at the still smirking Li Yang. His hunch was correct, she had no intention of breaking off the marriage, she wanted to come to the bottom of why so many of the things he did seemed familiar, so she was planning to stick around him for a bit. As such, she couldn't exactly just stand here and watch as he took on the group of five. Mei Kongxu stepped forward and spoke up, but Li Yang placed a hand on her shoulder and cut her off.

"You got to fight earlier, this one..."

"Nah, I don't think so. I only fought against one so giving you an entire five seems unfair, it's cute that you're trying to hide your actual thoughts behind a lie like that though. I'll take on the prissy looking baby and slap him around for a bit, you can have the rabble."

Li Yang didn't give Mei Kongxu the chance to voice any complaints, stepping forward and then shooting at Ho Fei like an unleashed arrow thanks to his law of speed. He crashed into Ho Fei, who just barely managed to block Li Yang's punch by crossing his arms in front of his chest. But while he was planning on taking advantage of the fact that Li Yang was now right in front of him, an unexpected change occurred when a massive amount of force rushed into him from Li Yang's fist.

His body was violently pushed back, separating him from his lackeys while Li Yang pursued him, sticking to him like a maggot to rotten flesh. As for the lackeys, they were unable to follow after Li Yang as Mei Kongxu had reached them, a rare expression of slight dissatisfaction lingering on her face as she looked in the direction that Li Yang was moving.

Li Yang didn't bother with the soft searing sensation on his back, practically feeling Mei Kongxu's eyes digging into his guts. He pushed Ho Fei back until there was nearly half a kilometre of distance between him and his lackeys, separating himself from Ho Fei once he was pleased with the distance. Ho Fei finally got a second of peace so he clenched his fists and tensed his muscles, expelling the remaining force still lingering in them while looking solemnly at Li Yang.

"That... was a surprising amount of power, you must have cultivated more than one set of runes. Seems like you are worth at least a little bit, enough to at least look at properly. I am Ho Fei, I have carved 7 metal runes, 4 poison runes, and 2 strength runes."

Ho Fei spoke in a grand manner, his expression making it clear that he was waiting for Li Yang to introduce himself and his runes in a respectable manner. But Li Yang simply looked at him as if he was an idiot, waving an arm in a dismissive manner.

"Yeah, come back when you're worthy, then I might actually introduce myself respectfully. The you right now, however? Yeah, not even close to worthy."

Li Yang maintained his usual carefreeness, but his pupils had focused slightly as they swept over Ho Fei, searching for his every weakness. There were clear advantages and disadvantages to cultivating multiple sets of runes so the number of sets you went for was an important aspect for all cultivators.

Each set of rune carried with it its own Qi, so the more sets of runes you carved the more Qi you had, it also meant that you had more laws at your disposal. But cultivating multiple runes meant that you had to spend more time cultivating, as wanting to reach the next cultivation realm required you to reach the peak and breakthrough with all of your runes at the same time.

So while someone focusing on only a single set of runes broke through to the Immortal Rebirth realm, someone cultivating two or more sets might still be working on breaking through to the late or mid-stages of the Ascending Heaven realm. Achieve faster breakthroughs or acquire more Qi while cultivating slower than others who chose the first path, it was a question that cultivators had fought over for countless years already. And from his introduction, it was clear that Ho Fei had come to the same conclusion as Li Yang, one just wasn't enough.

Ho Fei's eyes narrowed sharply as Li Yang dismissed his respect, not even deeming him worthy of formally stating his name before they fought, a grave insult. He let out a long breath, a bit of Qi escaping his mouth and forming a fine white fog before it dissipated. All trace of emotions vanished from his face as he started the battle, throwing out the dart he was still holding, simultaneously swiping his interspatial ring and tossing out four more darts.

Li Yang leaned down and kicked off the ground, shooting forward at such a low angle that he almost resembled a beast pouncing forward, the five darts shooting over his back. The distance between him and Ho Fei was instantly crossed and he rose up while straightening his body, sending an uppercut straight at Ho Fei's Solar Plexus.

Ho Fei had just thrown out his darts so his hands were in a bit of an awkward position, forcing him to raise his right leg and push out his knee to block the fist. He steeled himself for the incoming force that he guessed was going to burst forth, but what overwhelmed him when the blocked the attack wasn't an immense amount of force but a feeling of weightlessness.

The sensation nearly made him lose his balance, an opening that Li Yang did not let go of as he slid his right leg into Ho Fei's left leg, the only leg he had left standing on the ground. A bit of force burst out and coupled together with the weightlessness to knock Ho Fei off his feet, pushing him into a horizontal position in the air.

And just as he reached this horizontal position, the sensation of weightlessness vanished, resulting in his body starting to descend to the earth. Even worse, Li Yang raised his knee to smash it into Ho Fei's descending waist, the arm that had just been uppercutting bending so that he could smash his elbow into Ho Fei's other waist.

But Li Yang felt five soft stings on his back just as his elbow and knee collided with Ho Fei's body, a stiff feeling starting to spread out from his back. His head rapidly snapped to the side so that he could glance at his back, his gaze landing on the five darts that Ho Fei had thrown out earlier. Looking at them from such a close distance, he was able to see that the wooden surface of one of the darts was scratched, revealing a metallic centre.

Seeing that the wooden layer was just a distraction, and realizing that he had actually fallen into Ho Fei's trap from the start, Li Yang felt like unleashing a barrage of curses. But the stiffness he felt spreading from his back got stronger and stronger, the yellow liquid was most likely a paralytic poison created by Ho Fei to rob his enemies of their mobility.

The poison quickly spread throughout Li Yang's body, even starting to affect his ears and eyes to plunge him into a world of total darkness. He was just barely able to see Ho Fei smirk as his vision started to turn dark, but before he got the chance to mentally curse both himself and his enemy, the voices assaulted him.

"Heh, even a Primordial Man is coming along this time? Well, come then, I haven't killed one of you before!"

"Come then, you fucking maggots! I haven't had my share of blood yet, and it seems like you're all more than willing to donate some!"

"Look at the lot of you, surrounding us but still shivering like a tree in a storm. Pathetic, every last one of you, pathetic losers. Well, come then, I'll show you what happens to those who touch what's mine!"

"Heh, this is what you're trying to use to kill me? What a sad sight, it's like you're not even trying. But, you're still trying nonetheless, so you'd best be prepared to leave that head here!"

The barrage of voices was different from any of the voices he had heard in the past, all of them were brimming emotion, an intense desire to butcher whatever was in front of him. It was quite a different experience from what he was used to, where the voices were either nonsensical or seemingly teaching him something while maintaining a calm and either neutral or arrogant tone.

The bloodthirsty voices actually seemed to rouse body and mind, pushing back the approaching darkness for a bit. But an overwhelming sense of tiredness assaulted him just as he was starting to think that the voices were actually helping him. Each word that was shouted out made his consciousness turn blearier and weaker, like a candle flickering in the wind. And the weaker his own consciousness got, the more golden his crimson pupils got, an all-encompassing and overwhelming thirst for blood welling forth from his body.