Han Xuhan opened his eyes and met Leng Qing's dull gaze.
"Get ready," he said. Then he proceeded to summon Zhanxian, who appeared behind his seat like a ghost.
"Go stand over there. Make room for the rest." With Han Xuhan's pointer, Zhanxian took a couple of steps to the side and partially blocked the view from the only window of the room.
"That's one," Leng Qing counted like a drone.
Han Xuhan closed his eyes and summoned Hai Yin Zhe, who came out of his back with an excited yelp.
"Come here, Yin Zhe. Don't run around."
He scooped the snake up like a kitten and placed her on his lap. His right hand stroked Yin Zhe's bony neck, restraining the snake's excited wriggling.
"Two," Leng Qing mumbled. Meanwhile, Xuhan brought something out of his pocket and put it inside the snake's jaw playfully.
"Is that it?" Leng Qing raised his eyebrows, unimpressed.
Han Xuhan canceled Tun Shi Tian's summon and then re-summoned him inside the room. Not having expected that, the owl hooted around furiously for a second before realizing the gravity of the situation from Han Xuhan's somber countenance.
With Tun Shi Tian settled, Han Xuhan turned to look at Leng Qing and explained. "My fourth and fifth minions are still in the construction stage So I can't summon him at the moment."
Leng Qing laughed grimly. "What a convenient excuse! Do you take me for an idiot? Golem-creation-type cultivation techniques are very specific and methodical. Your technique doesn't give you the ability to simultaneously work on creating multiple minions. At best, there's a fourth minion, unfinished, inside your dao base. However, that too is a suspicious explanation, because if it hasn't been given life, I would not be able to predict its existence ahead of time. It's just a dead object at the moment. Even these three minions of yours are barely perceivable as 'living' beings, a step away from a corpse.
"There's no reason for my divination spell to treat your unfinished fourth minion as a sentient being. And setting that aside, the math doesn't add up at all! What about the fifth 'minion'? There's no way it exists inside your dao base! So what did my prediction count as a living being? Who is the ninth member of your team? You've just claimed that it's your minion. Now don't go about denying that! You're covering up for somebody. Which also means you're hiding a lot of secrets from even the Phoenix Faction whom you claim to be helping unconditionally!"
Han Xuhan shrugged helplessly. "I have no plans to harm them. That's the only reason Feng Jun has been cooperating with me. If he had a shred of doubt about my motives, he wouldn't have done so. As for the inconsistent math, yes, I indeed am covering up some secrets. But they concern you or your sect in no manner. Why are you so worked up over them? It's almost as if you're catching at every straw before your eventual downfall."
Leng Qing opened his mouth to speak, only to go rigid as if something had occurred to him.
Han Xuhan knew what it was.
Leng Qing had realized that his opponent had surrendered too quickly. That could only mean that Xuhan's real counter would not come from that avenue.
Leng Qing's pupils shrank into pinpoints as his gaze flickered towards Zhanxian standing ten feet away from them.
But Zhanxian was entirely harmless in his appearance. He wasn't even moving. Less than a decisecond later, Leng Qing heard a soft hiss.
Every sensory nerve in his body suddenly recoiled, signaling that an overwhelming danger was a hair's breadth away from him. Leng Qing's instincts screamed for him to move!
From the corner of his frozen eyes, he noticed a....spray of black fluid flying towards him, their source being the skeleton snake's outspread maw.
Leng Qing's first identity was a body cultivator. Even at the fifth layer, his agility and reflexes were almost unmatched among ordinary cultivators around his level.
From the lazy sitting posture, Leng Qing couldn't move forward to make room for his body to dodge, because that would only shorten the distance between him and the black liquid.
Leng Qing kicked hard with his right foot which had been placed at the bottom of the table between them. The sheer force he employed behind the kick left a crack in the floor. As his foot crashed flatly into the bottom edge of the table, the entirety of that power was channeled into its body impact fully, and it rose into the air before even the sound of the impact could be heard.
Meanwhile, his left foot wasn't idle. The bottom of his feet bent slightly towards the left and kicked the floor hard enough to launch his entire body in the air.
The left half of his seat broke apart like a biscuit as his body bent sideways and used the force created by his left foot to crash through it.
Within just half a second, the scene inside the room had shifted to the point of becoming unrecognizable.
Faint splashing sounds came from the spot where the spray of black liquid had landed. It was the table which had blocked most of the spray, jumping into the air while Leng Qing took cover behind it.
A few drops had managed to slip past the table, but they landed unsuccessfully, hitting the remains of the recliner that Leng Qing had titled over during his fall.
But before Leng Qing could recover, a scream resonated through the room.
"Aaaahghgh! Zhanxian!"
Han Xuhan fell along with his chair as if the one to have been attacked wasn't just Leng Qing, as if his minion wasn't the one who had initiated the attack under his command.
Furious, Leng Qing pushed his body off the ground like a coiled spring, getting to his feet in a second.
"You-!"
He could not finish his words, because he heard a whistling sound behind him, its source closing in on his back.
An arrow?! Who was it?
Leng Qing whipped around and bent his body like a snake in mid-air. But at such a close range, he wasn't able to avoid the weapon completely. A very small tear appeared on his back as the source of the whistling sound passed by his spinning body, sinking into the wall behind them with a dull click.
Leng Qing landed on his feet and looked for the weapon...which turned out to be a crossbow bolt.
It took him less than a second to trace the trajectory. The bolt had come from the direction of the front room. The door between both rooms has been open the whole time. Shooting from that room would be easy.
Who was hiding there? Leng Qing had not sensed anyone entering except Han Xuhan.
Had the powerful members of the Phoenix faction grown so bold and uncaring? He, Leng Qing, was clearly about to win the argument against this foreigner. Yet, that chose to side with him?
No matter, this was still within his calculations. His objective behind this planned confrontation wasn't something even Han Xuhan could foresee.
Leng Qing quietened the burning anger and indignation in his heart. Just as he was about to turn towards Xuhan, he realized something.
Where the hell was the bird skeleton?
Right at that moment, a sense of chilling numbness appeared around his neck. Leng Qing touched the skin there and found the only injury he had sustained throughout the five-second-long ordeal.
The thin laceration made by the crossbow bolt didn't emit any sensation of pain. And that was the problem. Leng Qing rubbed the wet skin there and brought his fingers back to inspect.
It wasn't just blood that came with the fingers. Leng Qing could smell the stink of medicine on them. The color of the blood was also deeper as if something else was mixed with it.
The bolt was poisoned?!
Leng Qing was stunned, but only for a moment. The fact that someone was willing to go that far meant that the situation was beyond saving. Violence was the only option now.
Right at that moment, Han Xuhan managed to sit up on the floor and screeched, "Zhanxian! Why did you tell Tun Shi Tian and Hai Yin Zhe to attack him? I didn't signal anything!"
Under Leng Qing's cold stare, Han Xuhan turned to look at the snake in his arms.
"Yinzhe! How many times do I have to tell you not to listen to Zhanxian?! You're grounded!"
Before the snake could protest, Han Xuhan's hand clamped down around its mouth.
"Tun Shi Tian! Come out and admit your fault!"
The owl slowly hopped into the room. Leng Qing realized who had shot the crossbow now! It was this owl!
But how did it do it so fast? And where did it find a crossbow inside his front room? He clearly remembered that when Han Xuhan had summoned the owl, it didn't carry anything with it.
It must have snuck out during their conversation and picked up a crossbow from somewhere. Thankfully, he had been vigilant and experienced enough in close-quarters combat to avoid suffering fatal injuries.
"Sorry, master," the owl said. "Zhanxian was very insistent with his signals."
"Zhanxian!" Han Xuhan yelled angrily. He looked even more angry than Leng Qing himself was.
"Explain yourself!"
The red human skeleton shrugged after a moment of silence where its focus repeatedly darted between Han Xuhan and the owl. Leng Qing could almost see its mind running to make up an explanation.
"Er, master, he was...uh, he was being very annoying. I couldn't see any point in the accusations he was constantly making. And then what you said really put an end to the argument. But he looked like he still wanted to argue back. So I thought I would teach this punk a lesson..."
The explanation was so painfully slow that anyone would suspect its authenticity. The skeleton seemed to be trying his best to emulate the speech pattern of a playground bully.
Snorting in disbelief, Leng Qing interrupted their act.
"What the fuck did you put on the crossbow bolt, fellow cultivator? I do hope it's not poison!"
Han Xuhan visibly flinched. With tremendous hesitation, he slowly replied, "It is."
"No wonder my entire neck has gone numb..." Leng Qing growled helplessly.
"Fellow cultivator Xuhan!" Shouted a girl as she rushed into the room. Following her was a team of twelve disciples who looked as stunned as he was by the entire fiasco.
"I told you we aren't going to attack him before verifying the truth! I don't care whether it was unintentional or not, but I hope you'll excuse us for not entertaining your request further!"
Shen Mi looked wary, angry even. Even to her inexperienced eyes, it was clear that Han Xuhan had planned to finish off Leng Qing in one go. At least, he had played some part in orchestrating the attack.
Han Xuhan looked crestfallen. Lowering his head, he apologized repeatedly, insisting that he had no idea that his minions would launch a surprise attack on his opponent. It was truly laughable, Leng Qing felt.
"Give him the antidote first!" she yelled angrily.
At least my sect members haven't betrayed me...Leng was touched by the sentiment.
Wearing a guilty expression, Han Xuhan brought out a vial filled of colorless liquid.
Han Xuhan opened his eyes and met Leng Qing's dull gaze.
"Get ready," he said. Then he proceeded to summon Zhanxian, who appeared behind his seat like a ghost.
"Go stand over there. Make room for the rest." With Han Xuhan's pointer, Zhanxian took a couple of steps to the side and partially blocked the view from the only window of the room.
"That's one," Leng Qing counted like a drone.
Han Xuhan closed his eyes and summoned Hai Yin Zhe, who came out of his back with an excited yelp.
"Come here, Yin Zhe. Don't run around."
He scooped the snake up like a kitten and placed her on his lap. His right hand stroked Yin Zhe's bony neck, restraining the snake's excited wriggling.
"Two," Leng Qing mumbled. Meanwhile, Xuhan brought something out of his pocket and put it inside the snake's jaw playfully.
"Is that it?" Leng Qing raised his eyebrows, unimpressed.
Han Xuhan canceled Tun Shi Tian's summon and then re-summoned him inside the room. Not having expected that, the owl hooted around furiously for a second before realizing the gravity of the situation from Han Xuhan's somber countenance.
With Tun Shi Tian settled, Han Xuhan turned to look at Leng Qing and explained. "My fourth and fifth minions are still in the construction stage So I can't summon him at the moment."
Leng Qing laughed grimly. "What a convenient excuse! Do you take me for an idiot? Golem-creation-type cultivation techniques are very specific and methodical. Your technique doesn't give you the ability to simultaneously work on creating multiple minions. At best, there's a fourth minion, unfinished, inside your dao base. However, that too is a suspicious explanation, because if it hasn't been given life, I would not be able to predict its existence ahead of time. It's just a dead object at the moment. Even these three minions of yours are barely perceivable as 'living' beings, a step away from a corpse.
"There's no reason for my divination spell to treat your unfinished fourth minion as a sentient being. And setting that aside, the math doesn't add up at all! What about the fifth 'minion'? There's no way it exists inside your dao base! So what did my prediction count as a living being? Who is the ninth member of your team? You've just claimed that it's your minion. Now don't go about denying that! You're covering up for somebody. Which also means you're hiding a lot of secrets from even the Phoenix Faction whom you claim to be helping unconditionally!"
Han Xuhan shrugged helplessly. "I have no plans to harm them. That's the only reason Feng Jun has been cooperating with me. If he had a shred of doubt about my motives, he wouldn't have done so. As for the inconsistent math, yes, I indeed am covering up some secrets. But they concern you or your sect in no manner. Why are you so worked up over them? It's almost as if you're catching at every straw before your eventual downfall."
Leng Qing opened his mouth to speak, only to go rigid as if something had occurred to him.
Han Xuhan knew what it was.
Leng Qing had realized that his opponent had surrendered too quickly. That could only mean that Xuhan's real counter would not come from that avenue.
Leng Qing's pupils shrank into pinpoints as his gaze flickered towards Zhanxian standing ten feet away from them.
But Zhanxian was entirely harmless in his appearance. He wasn't even moving. Less than a decisecond later, Leng Qing heard a soft hiss.
Every sensory nerve in his body suddenly recoiled, signaling that an overwhelming danger was a hair's breadth away from him. Leng Qing's instincts screamed for him to move!
From the corner of his frozen eyes, he noticed a....spray of black fluid flying towards him, their source being the skeleton snake's outspread maw.
Leng Qing's first identity was a body cultivator. Even at the fifth layer, his agility and reflexes were almost unmatched among ordinary cultivators around his level.
From the lazy sitting posture, Leng Qing couldn't move forward to make room for his body to dodge, because that would only shorten the distance between him and the black liquid.
Leng Qing kicked hard with his right foot which had been placed at the bottom of the table between them. The sheer force he employed behind the kick left a crack in the floor. As his foot crashed flatly into the bottom edge of the table, the entirety of that power was channeled into its body impact fully, and it rose into the air before even the sound of the impact could be heard.
Meanwhile, his left foot wasn't idle. The bottom of his feet bent slightly towards the left and kicked the floor hard enough to launch his entire body in the air.
The left half of his seat broke apart like a biscuit as his body bent sideways and used the force created by his left foot to crash through it.
Within just half a second, the scene inside the room had shifted to the point of becoming unrecognizable.
Faint splashing sounds came from the spot where the spray of black liquid had landed. It was the table which had blocked most of the spray, jumping into the air while Leng Qing took cover behind it.
A few drops had managed to slip past the table, but they landed unsuccessfully, hitting the remains of the recliner that Leng Qing had titled over during his fall.
But before Leng Qing could recover, a scream resonated through the room.
"Aaaahghgh! Zhanxian!"
Han Xuhan fell along with his chair as if the one to have been attacked wasn't just Leng Qing, as if his minion wasn't the one who had initiated the attack under his command.
Furious, Leng Qing pushed his body off the ground like a coiled spring, getting to his feet in a second.
"You-!"
He could not finish his words, because he heard a whistling sound behind him, its source closing in on his back.
An arrow?! Who was it?
Leng Qing whipped around and bent his body like a snake in mid-air. But at such a close range, he wasn't able to avoid the weapon completely. A very small tear appeared on his back as the source of the whistling sound passed by his spinning body, sinking into the wall behind them with a dull click.
Leng Qing landed on his feet and looked for the weapon...which turned out to be a crossbow bolt.
It took him less than a second to trace the trajectory. The bolt had come from the direction of the front room. The door between both rooms has been open the whole time. Shooting from that room would be easy.
Who was hiding there? Leng Qing had not sensed anyone entering except Han Xuhan.
Had the powerful members of the Phoenix faction grown so bold and uncaring? He, Leng Qing, was clearly about to win the argument against this foreigner. Yet, that chose to side with him?
No matter, this was still within his calculations. His objective behind this planned confrontation wasn't something even Han Xuhan could foresee.
Leng Qing quietened the burning anger and indignation in his heart. Just as he was about to turn towards Xuhan, he realized something.
Where the hell was the bird skeleton?
Right at that moment, a sense of chilling numbness appeared around his neck. Leng Qing touched the skin there and found the only injury he had sustained throughout the five-second-long ordeal.
The thin laceration made by the crossbow bolt didn't emit any sensation of pain. And that was the problem. Leng Qing rubbed the wet skin there and brought his fingers back to inspect.
It wasn't just blood that came with the fingers. Leng Qing could smell the stink of medicine on them. The color of the blood was also deeper as if something else was mixed with it.
The bolt was poisoned?!
Leng Qing was stunned, but only for a moment. The fact that someone was willing to go that far meant that the situation was beyond saving. Violence was the only option now.
Right at that moment, Han Xuhan managed to sit up on the floor and screeched, "Zhanxian! Why did you tell Tun Shi Tian and Hai Yin Zhe to attack him? I didn't signal anything!"
Under Leng Qing's cold stare, Han Xuhan turned to look at the snake in his arms.
"Yinzhe! How many times do I have to tell you not to listen to Zhanxian?! You're grounded!"
Before the snake could protest, Han Xuhan's hand clamped down around its mouth.
"Tun Shi Tian! Come out and admit your fault!"
The owl slowly hopped into the room. Leng Qing realized who had shot the crossbow now! It was this owl!
But how did it do it so fast? And where did it find a crossbow inside his front room? He clearly remembered that when Han Xuhan had summoned the owl, it didn't carry anything with it.
It must have snuck out during their conversation and picked up a crossbow from somewhere. Thankfully, he had been vigilant and experienced enough in close-quarters combat to avoid suffering fatal injuries.
"Sorry, master," the owl said. "Zhanxian was very insistent with his signals."
"Zhanxian!" Han Xuhan yelled angrily. He looked even more angry than Leng Qing himself was.
"Explain yourself!"
The red human skeleton shrugged after a moment of silence where its focus repeatedly darted between Han Xuhan and the owl. Leng Qing could almost see its mind running to make up an explanation.
"Er, master, he was...uh, he was being very annoying. I couldn't see any point in the accusations he was constantly making. And then what you said really put an end to the argument. But he looked like he still wanted to argue back. So I thought I would teach this punk a lesson..."
The explanation was so painfully slow that anyone would suspect its authenticity. The skeleton seemed to be trying his best to emulate the speech pattern of a playground bully.
Snorting in disbelief, Leng Qing interrupted their act.
"What the fuck did you put on the crossbow bolt, fellow cultivator? I do hope it's not poison!"
Han Xuhan visibly flinched. With tremendous hesitation, he slowly replied, "It is."
"No wonder my entire neck has gone numb..." Leng Qing growled helplessly.
"Fellow cultivator Xuhan!" Shouted a girl as she rushed into the room. Following her was a team of twelve disciples who looked as stunned as he was by the entire fiasco.
"I told you we aren't going to attack him before verifying the truth! I don't care whether it was unintentional or not, but I hope you'll excuse us for not entertaining your request further!"
Shen Mi looked wary, angry even. Even to her inexperienced eyes, it was clear that Han Xuhan had planned to finish off Leng Qing in one go. At least, he had played some part in orchestrating the attack.
Han Xuhan looked crestfallen. Lowering his head, he apologized repeatedly, insisting that he had no idea that his minions would launch a surprise attack on his opponent. It was truly laughable, Leng Qing felt.
"Give him the antidote first!" she yelled angrily.
At least my sect members haven't betrayed me...Leng was touched by the sentiment.
Wearing a guilty expression, Han Xuhan brought out a vial filled of colorless liquid.
