Chapter 45 - Hunt (I)

Silence ensued as a half-masked man in a black robe stared at the dried-up corpse on the ground before shifting his gaze to other corpses lying on the ground as he turned around and vanished from the spot.

The leaves rustled, branches snapped as a blurred image of a black man flickered through the forest.

Andy's bright red eyes were fixed ahead as he passed many trees in a blur, changing direction now and then. His steps came to a halt as he stood silently atop a tree, staring at four young men stripping the tendons of a massive dead snake in the midst of destroyed trees, while his ears picked up the chatter.

"I'm not sure who's going to kill that pretty boy. But can he be compared to me despite his talent? Who defeated the second-ranked inner disciple?" One man grumbled as his bloodied hands slowly pulled the tendons apart.

"Huh! So what if you defeated the second-ranked inner disciple? Your Heavenly Sword Sect is nothing compared to our Divine Flame Sect. It's just that we're usually low-key. I could easily defeat your second-ranked disciple with a flip of my hands. And as for that pretty boy, he was just bragging about his background. Even I could crush him like an ant." A man in a red robe boasted as he skinned the snake.

"You two are too much; don't you think the rumors about him are true? Didn't you see Young Master Lin's condition? He's a fool now. And he even extracted our Young Master Lu's eye. Even our patriarch couldn't touch him. You must take extra precautions around him. I would not have joined this hunt if it hadn't been for our Young Master. He insulted our Lu Family, and I couldn't forgive him." A man in a white robe muttered, his scowling face fixed on the two men in front of him.

Andy frowned as he looked at the man sitting on the rock. Even he couldn't recall anyone in the Lu Family who resembled him. But another voice interrupted his thoughts as his gaze was drawn to a man in a black robe who was removing the dead snake's fangs.

"You're just getting scared. All the rumors about him are just that: rumors. Have you ever heard of someone who was only a Core Formation Realm Cultivator making someone a fool, especially Young Master Lin, who was also an initial stage Core Formation Cultivator? I'm sure he used some tricks to fool him and made him a fool." He came to a halt and turned to face the man from the Lu family. "As for your Lu family, I don't believe anything they say. They only want to be the victim. If someone had done that to my son, I would have skinned him alive and slowly yanked his tendons out and would have laughed at his despair." The man grinned as he snapped the snake's fang.

After storing that Fang in the pouch, he looked at the men in front of him. His eyes crinkled, and he grinned. "I don't know about anyone else, but if that man comes before me. After capturing his storage ring, I'll snap his body in half and play with his head. Even though he is just a pretty boy, he appears to be quite wealthy. I'm sure our Eternal Palace just made him the prime disciple to make him cough up all of his treasure. Honestly, I was surprised that the Lin family even handed over their ancestral seal to suppress this man. Everyone is making a big deal out of it. I wish I could meet that Pretty Boy and play with him." As he snapped another Fang off the snake, a strange expression appeared on his face.

"Is it?" Suddenly, a deep voice echoed through the woods, and a tremendous pressure descended on those four men.

It rooted everyone to the ground. Their legs buckled and their bodies shivered, as a sense of reverence bubbled inside their hearts, as if some immortal had spoken those words. Their hearts pounded as they realized a half-masked black-robed man floating down from atop a tree, his silvery whitish hair fluttered in the air. They felt as if there was an immortal descending to the mortal world, and they should bow down to this man.

Andy stepped down from the tree, his bright red eyes fixed on the man in a black robe who had been boasting a few minutes before, and he strolled towards that man with a smirk on his face.

The man shuddered as he saw those red eyes staring at him as if a demon, a demon from hell, was about to devour him. His legs felt shackled as he couldn't move from the spot, and his heart sank as he saw the smirk on that man's face.

"You were saying something?" A voice reached his ears as he saw Andy standing in front of him and those bright red eyes were staring at him.

His Adam's apple went up and down as his voice got stuck in his throat, but only a few words escaped his lips, "I was just j... Joking. How could a lowly man like me c.. compare to you?"

"What are you bullshitting? Do you want to say that I heard the wrong words? Didn't you want to play with me, with my head? Wanted to snap me in half? Were all those words was my hallucination?" Andy frowned as his deep voice echoed through the woods, and his gaze shifted to the man from the Divine Flame Sect, who was shuddering and wiping a tear from the corner of his face.

"And you wanted to crush me like an ant, right?" When that man heard those words, his heart sank as he stuttered, "No, I was just talking about crushing Th.. e a.. ant."

Andy shook his head as his disappointed eyes shifted to the Man from Lu clan. "You are from the Lu family, right? You wanted to take revenge on your young master?"

But against the expectation, the man's eyes didn't waver as he stared at Andy. "Yes, I want to take revenge for what you have done to our young master. Even a barbarian couldn't do what you have done,"

Andy's eyes narrowed as he heard those words, and he nodded slightly as his gaze shifted to the man from the Heavenly Sword Sect, who appeared to be peeing under his robe as he stood on the wet ground.

A strange expression formed on Andy's face as he shook his head and turned around to stare at a distance.

"I thought a cultivator was the one who defies the heavens and would stand against any adversities he faces. But I am disappointed. When I heard those words, I really thought you'd have the guts to face me. I even considered sparing you. But I was wrong. Except for one man, you all just cultivate to bully the weak. I don't think I should expect anything from you."

As soon as he said those words, a long heavy sword appeared in his hand as he turned around and slashed horizontally towards those men, a big bright arc escaping the sword as it passed through all of them through their chest in the blink of an eye and their bodies snapped, blood showered from their split bodies as it fell to the ground.

While his narrowed eyes stared at the bodies lying in the pool of blood, Andy shook his head and vanished from the spot as a sound of sigh lingered in the woods.