Chapter 29: Out of the Frying Pan

Chapter 29: Out of the Frying Pan

29

Out of the Frying Pan

I

Hao Zhen made his way over to where Tian Jin was standing in front of Du Jian, who was still crying out all sorts of threats and promises of pain. Hao Zhen didnt pay the rambling disciples words any attention, his mind was on other matters.

Duo Lan walked a few steps ahead of him. The physical recovry pill had had some effecthe no longer felt bone-wearybut as Duo Lan had said, it was a physical recovery pill, so its primary purpose was recovering his physical stamina, of which he hadnt lost much. Recovering some of his mental staminawhich he had pretty much exhaustedwas just a side effect.

He had ended up having to seize his opponents nerves two more times before Duo Lan sent him a voice transmission. At the time, he already had a fireball talisman in his hand.

His plan had turned out even better than he had hopedhis opponent had been completely incapacitated by the successive sensory overloads. Hao Zhen didnt think the other outer disciple had been in any condition to dodge or move out of the way, so it really should have been safe to use the fireball talisman to deal the killing blow.

Hao Zhen had reasoned with himself that he shouldnt do it because he didnt have to, because he didnt want to waste a talisman, because itd be taking an unnecessary risk. Just now, however, even though he hadnt had enough willpower and spiritual power to cause yet another sensory overload, even though he knew that he needed to use the talisman before his opponent had time to recover, he had still hesitated. And that made him realize that all those reasons he had come up with for waiting for Duo Lan or Tian Jin to finish his opponent off might have just been excuses.

What had caused him to hesitate was the Amyas in him. The modern Amyas, with modern sensibilities and modern morals, who had grown up being told over and over again that killing someone else was a terrible, awful thing.

Hao Zhen knew, rationally, that in that situation, mercy wasnt an option. To begin with, mercy was a rarity in cultivation novels, and the same went for this world. In his current life, as Hao Zhen, he had grown up with a completely different view of killing and death.

In this world, everyone believed in reincarnationand, to be fair, it probably really did happen, as he was someone who had undergone reincarnation himself. Dying, here, wasnt treated as seriously as it was back on Earth. It was still a big deal depending on the circumstances, something to grieve and feel sorrow for, but death was still something commonplace, and the same went for killing.

Hao Zhens father, as a merchant, would often hire assassins to kill the leaders of competing businesses, and he himself had ended up being assassinatedand that was just the way things were in the mundane world. Among cultivators, life and death were treated even more lightly.

Despite that, the Amyas aspect of him was just too strong, it seemed. This hadnt occurred to him before, as the fact that Tian Jin had killed Ke Li hadnt affected him at all, but when the time for him to take a life came, he had found himself hesitant. Now Hao Zhen realized that he still needed to dedicate some time to properly adjusting his altered perception of the world with the world itself.

Thankfully this hesitation hadnt gotten him in trouble just now, as Duo Lan had managed to arrive in time, but it was still something he needed to address in the future. He wouldnt be able to get far at all in this world if he shied away from killing.

Hao Zhen shook his head, focusing on the situation at hand. Hed have to do that later, though, because right now, he had other priorities. His exhaustion made it hard to concentrate, but he didnt have the luxury of giving in to it.

Du Jian and his lackeys were defeated, but things werent over yet. Not only was it possible Du Qing had a backup plan, but there was also something else Hao Zhen was concerned aboutthe inner elder supervising this area of the forest.

It still wasnt clear whether he was on Du Qings side or not, and that was a problem.

As Hao Zhen and Duo Lan approached, Tian Jin turned away from the ranting Du Jian, looking in their direction. His expression immediately changed, going from impassive to intent. Hao Zhen felt Tian Jins gaze bore into him as the taller disciple looked him up and down, ascertaining his condition. Hao Zhen himself took the time to look Tian Jin over and confirmed that the other body didnt have any wounds. In fact, Tian Jin didnt even appear winded at all, seemingly in peak condition even though he had just fought three same-level cultivators at the same time and won.

That was a protagonist for you.

Hao Zhen then glanced at Duo Lan and saw that she was pretty much in the same state, if not better, her clothes and hair pristine as if she hadnt been in a battle at all. Tian Jins clothes, at least, appeared rather wrinkled, and his hair a bit messy.

Tian Jin finished scrutinizing Hao Zhen the next moment, nodding to himself as his expression relaxed slightly.

Guessing what was going on in Tian Jins head, Hao Zhen felt warm. Without a doubt, whether it was in his current life or in his previous one, Tian Jin was the best friend he had ever had.

Hao Zhen blinked, before once again forcing himself to focus on the situation at hand. Right now wasnt the time for feeling touched.

Hao Zhen and Duo Lan quickly reached Tian Jins side, and they turned to look at Du Jian, who was still glaring daggers at Tian Jin but had stopped running his mouth. Then his gaze fell on Hao Zhen and Duo Lan, and he blinked. You two Does that mean

Tian Jin frowned at him, before nodding his head. He then started raising his sword. Hao Zhen had returned his attention to Du Jian, paying close attention to what hed do next, hoping hed suddenly cry out that he did know something while begging for his life.

Instead, Du Jians eyes went wide. Then, with a cry of rage, he threw himself at Tian Jin, who swiftly stepped down to the side while swinging his sword down, drawing a long, deep cut on Du Jians back, right over his spine.

Du Jian let out a cry of pain before his body dropped to the ground, a large, bloody tear on his robe. He lay there unmoving, and after the initial cry, no more sound came out of him.

Hao Zhen stared at the corpse in front of him blankly, taking a moment to process the quick turn of events.

That had really not turned out as planned.

Breaking out of his daze, Hao Zhen turned to look at Tian Jin, who was also looking at Du Jians corpse with slightly widened eyes, also slightly taken aback by what had just happened. Most likely, he had struck Du Jian down on instinct. Duo Lan was also looking at the corpse, her expression dark. Most likely she was mad she hadnt been the one to kill Du Jian.

Hao Zhen shook his head, forcing himself to concentrate again. Clearly, they wouldnt be getting anything more out of the now-dead outer disciple, so it was time to get a move on.

All right. He clapped his hands, catching Tian Jins and Duo Lans attention. We need to move. Lets get their spatial rings or whatever theyre keeping their possessions in and leave.

Personally, hed rather they just turn around and get away from here right now, but at the same time, there might be something in the spatial ring of Du Jian and his lackeys that they might need a little further down the line, so he believed it was worth it to delay things a bit furtherespecially since it wasnt clear whether an enemy was coming.

Whats wrong? Tian Jin said, giving him a confused look. There arent any more enemies.

Hao Zhen shook his head. Theres still the inner elderyou know, the one that was supposed to be supervising this area. He might be on Du Jians side.

Tian Jin widened his eyes, and Duo Lan had a similar reaction. Tian Jin then knelt down beside Du Jians corpse, grabbing the dead disciples hand. Duo Lan hesitated for a moment, giving the corpse next to herone of Du Jians goons a look of disgustbefore also kneeling down beside it.

Hao Zhen then looked around, and finding the corpse of the other outer disciple Tian Jin had killed, he knelt down beside it and grabbed its hands, looking for a spatial ring. He didn't find any, so he looked through the corpses robe and found a leather pouch, which he promptly stored inside his own spatial ring without bothering to check its contents.

Hao Zhen then stood up, Tian Jin and Duo Lan doing the same.

Du Jian had a spatial ring, Tian Jin said.

Mine only had a pouch. Duo Lan glanced at the corpse next to her, seemingly even more disgusted than before.

Same for me, Hao Zhen said, nodding in Duo Lans direction. Now, lets just search the other three corpses and get out of

Im afraid I cant let you do that, a deep voice suddenly rang out in the clearing, and Hao Zhen went still. Tian Jin and Duo Lan similarly froze. They all looked up and saw a red cloud descending from above.

Crap.

They had taken too long, after all.

A tall man in the golden robes of an inner elder stood on top of the cloud. Hao Zhen recognized him as one of the inner elders that had been assigned to watch over the outer disciples as they participated in the Glistening Stone Hunt.

The man in golden robes regarded them for a moment, before sighing. I only promised Du Qing Id turn a blind eye to his dealings, but it appears I must take action after all.

So he had been right. The inner elder in charge of the area was on Du Qings side. Hao Zhen inhaled sharply, narrowing his eyes as his heart started racing.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire, huh.