Chapter 34: Reward
Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
A hand suddenly appeared from nowhere. This large hand seemed to be made from steel. It gripped Rong Yitie's arm tightly, effectively holding him back.
Rong Yitie roared angrily, "Let go of me!"
The person holding onto him was the referee overseeing this battle.
He frowned slightly and coldly said, "Yitie, the rules set by the clan cannot be defied. Are you trying to break the rules?"
Rong Yitie suddenly shuddered. He knew what those words implied.
Rong Yitie's lips trembled slightly as he explained, "I'm not trying to go against the rules It's just that…" His eyes were bloodshot as he pointed at Rong Kaixuan on the Battle Platform and cried out in despair, "He actually dared to kill a fellow clansman, so that cannot be forgiven!"
"Tsk, tsk." Rong Jielin smiled coldly. "Yitie, when Rong Kaixin attacked earlier, don't you think he was trying to kill Rong Kaixuan? Ha, a Middle Stage Martial Artist carried a Spirit Weapon to fight a completely unarmed Elementary Stage Martial Artist and sent fatal blow after fatal blow. There's nothing wrong with Kaixuan defending himself in the same way."
Rong Yitie didn't know how to respond to that. He clenched his teeth and insisted, "I don't care what you say, my son can't die for nothing! I'm going to make this fellow pay!"
Rong Jielin glared hard at him. A powerful aura suddenly surged from his body. He took a step forward. His incredible aura immediately covered the nearly insane Rong Yitie.
"Say that one more time."
Rong Yitie instantly shuddered and snapped back to reality.
He looked at how Rong Jielin now looked like a furious lion and figured that if he continued to insist, this hot-tempered old man was really going to kill him on the spot.
The middle-aged referee overseeing the fight quickly chimed in. "Uncle Lin, please calm down." He turned to Rong Yitie and said, "Brother Yitie, I was overseeing this match. Rong Kaixin clearly has not just armed himself with a Spirit Weapon, but he also started using those Spirit Body Fighter talismans first and sent fatal attacks again and again. He ended up losing his life because of what he did in the first place, so that's quite enough from you."
Rong Yitie's family was of great standing in the clan, which was because they were backed by a particular elder.
But their family wasn't the only powerful family in the clan. This referee also had an elder to back him, so he could say what he wanted.
Rong Yitie's face twitched a little. He glared maliciously at Rong Kaixuan. He quietly went up the Battle Platform, lift his son's dead body, and left the arena.
When he walked down the Battle Platform, the tears in his eyes finally started to flow down his cheeks.
Rong Kaixuan felt a coldness in his heart. He immediately understood that he was truly bitter enemies with this family. This feud would not be settled until either side was all dead.
****
"Jie'er, your brother died so terribly, so you must avenge him."
Rong Kaixin's dead body had been cleaned up. He was now clothed in a white robe and laying in a dark room.
His wide eyes that could not close anymore still looked incredibly terrified.
Rong Kaijie's expression changed a little. It was his idea to get his younger brother to challenge Rong Kaixuan to a fight in the first place, and he had prepared his brother so well too. In the end, the one who died wasn't Rong Kaixuan, but his very own younger brother.
Even though Rong Kaijie never had much regard for this spoiled brat who only knew how to enjoy himself and engage in vices all day long, they were related by blood. When he saw how terribly his brother had died, Rong Kaijie felt awful inside.
"Father, I prepared a Spirit Weapon and four Spirit Body Fighter talismans, so why did he still fail?" Rong Kaijie asked in a low voice.
Rong Yitie clenched his teeth and replied, "That young punk had a Spirit Body Fighter talisman on himself too, plus he could evoke three Spirit Body Fighters at once."
Rong Kaijie's expression changed as he exclaimed, "What? He evoked three Spirit Body Fighters!"
"That's right." Rong Yitie gritted his teeth and said, "He's really gifted in the Art of Spirit Gathering." He turned to look at his son. "Jie'er, we must not let this boy live. If he does, he will become more powerful than you in the future."
He didn't want to admit it, but after watching the fight earlier, he had understood many things.
Rong Kaijie's expression darkened. Even though he wasn't a Spirit Gatherer, he knew that it was crazy for an Elementary Stage Spiritualist who had just started his journey to become a Spiritualist to be able to evoke three Spirit Body Fighters at once.
After a moment, Rong Kaijie said, "Even if he also had four Spirit Body fighters, he's not that powerful himself. How did he fight Kaixin?"
He was upset that he hadn't gone to watch the fight himself.
He had ulterior motives for making this fight happen. To avoid any suspicion or gossip, he purposely cultivated for an entire day within the Hall of Spiritualists.
Rong Yitie clenched his fists hard and asked, "Jie'er, were the talismans you gave to Kaixin of inferior quality?"
"What?" Rong Kaijie was surprised by the question. "That's impossible. I bought those secretly from the Li family's shop in Qiangan. They were definitely the best among Spirit Body Fighters."
Rong Yitie was silent for a moment as his tears flowed again. "You asked me how Xin'er died, so here's how. He died at the hands of the Spirit Body Fighters Rong Kaixuan evoked."
Rong Kaijie frowned deeply. "How did that happen?"
Rong Yitie pursed his lips and said, "The four Spirit Body Fighters that Rong Kaixuan evoked killed off Xin'er's Spirit Body Fighters. Then, they all attacked Xin'er at the same time, killing him instantly. Even if Xin'er wanted to admit defeat, he wouldn't have been able to do that in time to save himself."
He was Rong Kaixin's father and doted the most on this youngest son. Even though he was speaking to his eldest son, he would not say anything that could possibly demean or insult Rong Kaixin.
A Middle Stage Martial Artist armed with a Spirit Weapon couldn't defeat an Elementary Stage Martial Artist in a one-on-one duel. If that matter was known by others, Rong Kaixin would have been instantly deemed as a useless person. Thus, Rong Yitie preferred to blame Rong Kaixin's death on those Spirit Body Fighters instead.
Rong Kaijie was shocked. He stomped his foot hard and cursed, "Those filthy merchants… I'm going to teach them a lesson!"
Rong Yitie nodded gravely and asked, "Jie'er, what are we going to do now? Are we going to just watch him show off his victory?"
Rong Kaijie thought for a moment before he quietly replied, "Kaixin has just died terribly in his hands. If we do anything now, we'll be the prime suspects. But Father, don't worry, I'll definitely avenge Kaixin."
There was a disappointed look in Rong Yitie's eyes as he sighed softly. "Jie'er, this boy's cultivation speed is too shocking, and his ability improves with each attack. If you want to deal with him, you'd better do it before the rest of the clan notices him." He paused for a while and said, "If this boy catches the attention of the Clan Head's family and they take him in, it'll be much harder to deal with him when that happens."
Rong Kaijie nodded slowly and replied, "I understand."
His eyes were now cold and sinister, sending fear into people's hearts like a venomous snake.
****
"Ha-ha-ha! Kaixuan, you've done an excellent job!" Rong Jielin was still laughing after they got back home. "We should have a feast to celebrate!"
Rong Yihe took a step forward and whispered, "Father, Kaixuan doesn't look too good. I don't think we should have a feast."
Rong Jielin was surprised and turned to look at Rong Kaixuan. When he looked carefully, he felt his heart tremble. The boy did look a little pale in the face.
"Kaixuan, how are you feeling? Are you hurt anywhere?" Rong Jielin asked in a low voice. He couldn't think of where Rong Kaixuan could possibly be hurt.
"Grandpa, I'm fine." Rong Kaixuan smiled bitterly. "It's the first time I've killed someone, so I'm quite upset about it."
He wasn't some bold outlaw who didn't care for human lives. This was the first time he had fought someone to death, and this dealt his heart a fairly heavy blow.
Luckily for him, he was mentally prepared from the scenes the Spirit Body Fighter left in the deep mountains. It had gone through so many cruel and violent fights. Even though he had not personally gone through all those bloody fights, his mind was one with the Spirit Body Fighter. His mental state was now almost the same as the Spirit Body Fighter.
Because he had that dreamlike experience, Rong Kaixuan was finally able to harden his heart and order the Spirit Body Fighters to kill off his opponent.
Otherwise, there was no way a child who was barely 15 would have simply decided whether another person lived or died just like that.
After Rong Kaixin died, he started to feel stuffy and upset inside.
Rong Jielin looked at him quietly for a while before saying, "Kaixuan, I know you're feeling upset inside. Heh, back then when I killed someone for the first time, I felt way worse than you. But…" He briefly paused and said, "In this world, there are just too many people who deserve to be killed. Since you've already chosen to cultivate, you'll eventually get used to this."
Rong Yihe rolled his eyes.
He thought to himself, Father, your method of consoling others is really terrible.
Rong Kaixuan hesitated for a while before replying, "Yes, Grandpa."
Rong Jielin knew that he should not dwell on this topic for too long. As he had said, once Rong Kaixuan killed more people in the future, he would not be upset like this anymore.
"Heh-heh, Kaixuan, you've achieved glory and honor for the family, so I would like to reward you," Rong Jielin said with a big smile on his face. "What would you like? Just tell me."
Rong Kaixuan was surprised by the offer. He thought about it seriously and replied, "Grandpa, I want a Spirit Weapon."
Rong Jielin frowned slightly and replied, "No."
Rong Kaixuan looked in surprise at him and didn't understand why.
Rong Jielin said, "Spirit Weapons are good things, but to fully maximize a Spirit Weapon's power, you need to have a large amount of True Qi or Spirit Power as your foundation. Your cultivation level is too low now. Even if you were armed with a Spirit Weapon now, you would be unable to use it to its fullest potential. You might even be swallowed up by it because you don't have enough power within yourself."
Rong Kaixuan suddenly realized that was probably why when Rong Kaixin was attacking him, the shadows that he sent out came in spurts and weren't delivered smoothly.
If Rong Kaixin had delivered those punches smoothly, Rong Kaixuan might have had trouble dodging them, even though he had the heart of a Martial Artist.
Rong Jielin said, "When your level reaches the Advanced Stage, I'll get you a Spirit Weapon then." He smiled and added, "No matter whether it's your True Qi or your Spirit Power, one of them will do."
-- Gift
received