6 Swift Execution

*Things like sexism and racism are purely for worldbuilding and to make it more realistic. Thank you for your understanding.*

Qing Fang rushed toward the rogue while releasing a torrent of water around himself. The water spread along the ground while some remained suspended in the air in the form of numerous spheres. This was to defend from the rogue utilising the earth around Qing Fang to attack. The water would shoot toward the attacks and destroy them before they were formed.

Like Qing Fang suspected, the rogue stood steady while forming many spears and chains made of rock. The chains flew toward Qing Fang's direction like snakes before they were promptly destroyed by a few water spheres from all sides. Instead of using the spheres to block the spears, Qing Fang suddenly rose tens of meters into the air as a huge wave formed beneath him.

Not letting the enemy get above him, the rogue manifested a wide rock pillar beneath his feet and rose into the air while still sending rock spears at Qing Fang from every direction.

Riding the wave, Qing Fang didn't even glance at the hundreds of spears aiming to impale him. Before coming within a range of three meters of Qing Fang, the water spheres worked to destroy every one of them.

With dozens of spears attacking at every moment from every side, the dozen or so spheres rotated around Qing Fang in the form of another sphere.

Seeing none of his attacks get through and Qing Fang approaching very quickly, the rogue stopped sending spears and instead sent huge boulders flying toward Qing Fang. Each boulder had a diameter of more than ten meters and dwarfed Qing Fang's figure as their shadows covered him. They travelled very fast and appeared in front of Qing Fang in less than a second.

Smirking, Qing Fang made no effort to dodge as raging waters manifested around him. It looked as though a huge river was flowing in the air, swirling and crashing as thousands of tons of water hovered above the ground.

Smacking each boulder with the weight of a mountain, the river stopped them dead. Once the boulder could not advance any further, the water circled around it and stole it from the rogue's control.

With five new and much bigger spheres circling around him, Qing Fang controlled the wave to rush toward the rogue even faster.

...

'Who is this!?'

Seeing the unparalleled might his pursuer was showing, Li Guan screamed internally.

'Could it be one of the Patriarch's elite men?' Li Guan could only suspect such a background. After all, the skill Qing Fang was showing was truly immense and he was a Water path cultivator. Qing Clan was more specialised in Water path because it was the path that the Patriarch embarked upon. It was known that there was an elite detachment made entirely of Water path cultivators under the Patriarch, however, Qing Fang wasn't among them. Even so, Li Guan was sure that no Stage 3 cultivator could last a minute before him.

The battle had been going for less than ten seconds and Qing Fang had already made Li Guan feel hopeless with his violent advances. He was confident that if he tried to fight, he would die easily. So, he fled.

It couldn't be helped. Li Guan felt as though he couldn't use all of his strength properly and started to lose confidence.

...

Rapidly approaching the rogue, Qing Fang saw him suddenly turn and flee.

The rogue manipulated the huge rock pillar he was already standing on to launch him through the air with insane speed. As the rogue rapidly approached the ground, it rose and cushioned him before sending him flying again. It looked as though every step the rogue took launched him a hundred meters.

Seeing the battle rapidly develop into a chase, Qing Fang launched the five boulders toward the rogue' direction. If he was lucky, one of them would hit the rogue's springboard. However, he was not.

The rogue manipulated his trajectory with complex movements mid-air to make himself land away from the boulders before launching himself again. The rogue had a happy expression on his face, his consumption was much less than his opponents. While he didn't have to conjure earth and only had to control it, his opponent continuously conjured a huge wave. 'The burden on his body will eventually reach a point where he will not be able to continue following me', the rogue thought.

However, what his pursuer did next was truly out of his expectations. Like what the rogue did earlier, Qing Fang conjured water spears to shoot toward him while he was mid-air.

The rogue wanted to regret it, but it was too late. While his method of fleeing was effective and had minimal consumption of his energy, it made him very susceptible to attacks. He felt safe in using this move as Qing Fang was already conjuring a massive wave. However, to send thousands of water spears, Qing Fang actually dispelled the wave he was riding. He was banking everything on this move, however, he didn't look nervous at all.

Flying through the air with countless spears approaching from up, down, left, right, front and back; the rogue made a barrier around himself.

However, one side of it was broken with just three consecutive spears. But before the fourth could kill him, the barrier repaired itself.

Seeing this from a hundred meters away on the ground, Qing Fang still wasn't nervous. He controlled all the water spears to attack from one side, the front.

Qing Fang approached underneath the barrier which was sustaining a hundred attacks from one side every moment with a grin.

Then, he jumped up with great strength toward the barrier which was suspended forty meters into the air. Of course, he couldn't jump so high with Stage 3 cultivation so he controlled two water spears to carry him one his flying momentum dropped. Turning the spears into swords because the spears were too long, he approached the spherical rock barrier.

...

Within the barrier, Li Guan realised that all the attacks suddenly concentrated on a single side. Conjuring every ounce of his concentration to repair the barrier at every moment, thunderous sounds echoed within his ears from the impact every spear had on the barrier.

Li Guan felt that it was very close, but his repair speed was greater than the number of spears hitting every second.

However, it was at this moment.

A loud sound came from underneath Li Guan as he snapped his head to look.

When he did, his eyes shrunk to pin size.

There was his pursuer with two swords made from water in his hand. The pursuer had broken through his barrier while he was concentrating, but this was totally out of his expectations. He had never fought an enemy that used range attacks simultaneous with close combat.

Despair sinking in, he roared with indignance as both of his legs were chopped off with no resistance by the water swords. The motion was quick and skilful.

As the pain took over his mind, he couldn't sustain the barrier and it collapsed. Then, at least ten water spears all shot toward his face.

In his final moments of life, all Li Guan saw was a beautiful and shimmering blue.

...

Looking at the headless and legless body of the rogue, Qing Fang felt satisfied. It was definitely a worthy fight. Although confident, there was a tiny fraction of a chance that the rogue could've evaded the spears and escaped. However, that is if he had as much battle skill as Qing Fang.

Anyways, if Qing Fang didn't kill him, he would be found eventually. This entire planet was ruled by Qing Clan. To hide from them is impossible. As for fleeing the planet? Only Stage 6 cultivators had the ability to go into space and roam the many planets in the Universe.

Reaching his hand toward the tattered white robes, Qing Fang glanced at the rogue's hand. There, he saw an engagement ring. It was very beautiful and looked extremely expensive. Without hesitating, Qing Fang turned his attention away from the contents of the robes and onto it.

Analysing the many inlaid gems in particular, Qing Fang's gaze was heated. 'This ring is definitely with 250 silver coins if not more.' This was a big amount. Usually, only Stage 6 cultivators possessed a sum of up to a gold coin while stage 5 cultivators had around one hundred silver coins on average. From this, the engagement ring was definitely not worthy of a Stage 3 rogue. Suspicions slowly forming, Qing Fang continued searching.

He put the ring in the storage bag on his waist. This bag already contained a gold coin as well as Qing Fang's preparations for this mission. They included a map of the forest and some dried food. The food was in case the mission lasted a long time. There was still a lot of space in the storage bag.

After checking for other rings and finding none, Qing Fang searched the entire robes twice. He even searched the wrapping on the legs he had already cut off.

Unsurprisingly, he found nothing in the wrappings. In the robes, he only found a leather bag but his eyes weren't dejected. This was a storage bag.

Looking at the contents, he gasped in joy. Seven gold coins! This was enough money for Qing Fang to reach Stage 5 in under two months. By then, he would be a minor elder within the Clan and have a high status. Relishing in his thoughts for the future, he quickly put the gold coins in his own storage bag.

After that, he looked at the other contents of the storage bag. Qing Fang would never usually do this, however, finding seven gold coins and an expensive ring, Qing Fang was suspicious about the identity of the rogue. On the mission within the main pagoda, no information about him other than his appearance and cultivation were written. This was already very strange. Finding such a fortune, Qing Fang started to become nervous. If he had attracted a great expert, even he could only die.

In the bag, he found a few spare clothes, things that looked like mementoes and a few paintings. The painting looked like some sort of rubbing. It was likely a copy from another painting. Only two were like this while the other two were normal paintings.

In two of the pictures, there was a young girl. From the intimacy conveyed in the painting, Qing Fang determined that she was the lover of the rogue. In one of them, she was standing alone in a flower garden. In the other, she was with the rogue in the same garden. They were embracing as they started into each other's eyes. It would be a sweet scene for anyone but Qing Fang. Gaining nothing from these two, he looked at the other two.

In the first were a group of five youngsters, three boys and two girls. The rogue looked like the oldest there. However, Qing Fang was looking at the background of the painting. Shrugging off the expensive robes and jewellery they all wore, he was staring at the house in the background. It was a huge mansion. His expression sank. It seemed this rogue was truly someone with very high status.

In this Universe, rich mortals did simply not exist. Only the strong, cultivators, were rich. From this, it was obvious that the owner of that mansion was very strong. Likely stronger than Qing Fang. Also, since the rogue was on this planet, which was ruled by Qing Clan, it was a big possibility that he was part of the Clan as was this 'great expert' who owned that mansion.

Thinking of this, Qing Fang regretted ever taking this mission. His peaceful and transparent lifestyle within the Clan would most likely come to an end.

This was because the Clan already knew that he undertook this mission. It was documented within the hall of internal affairs in the main pagoda. Even if the Clan didn't attach the true identity of the rogue to the mission, the date and place would likely coincide with himself, making him a suspect.

Since this young man ended up as a rogue, Qing Fang had no doubts that the 'great expert' was likely following his movements. It was even possible that the great expert put the mission up within the hall of internal affairs himself!

Qing Fang never doubted that he would stay undiscovered. He was definitely going to be found sooner or later.

Mildly distressed, Qing Fang looked at the last remaining picture. When he did, he instantly regretted it.

In the picture, he saw the rogue standing alone with a middle-aged man. Everyone in the Clan knew who this man was, even children.

It was elder Qing Li Shan.

This elder was a powerhouse among Stage 6s as well as being extremely wealthy. He owned numerous businesses and was likely the second most influential person in the Clan after the Patriarch.

It turns out that this rogue cultivator was quite close to elder Qing Li Shan. In fact, very close. The rogue was definitely his child, maybe even his eldest son. To Qing Fang, this was a nightmare.

'The rogue is elder Li Shan's child?' Qing Fang was crestfallen. Elder Li Shan could kill him with a single finger. Since Qing Fang killed his child, it was definite that an unpleasant fate awaited him.

He couldn't hide within the Clan. He couldn't go to any cities at all. The reach of elder Qing Li Shan was very wide, especially on Qing Clan's planet. He could easily commission an order to find Qing Fang. Qing Fang knew he wouldn't last a week if that happened.

Thinking about the gold coins, Qing Fang realised that this was likely the property of the elder and not his son. How could a Stage 3 youth possess enough money to buy a city? However, he was reluctant to give up on the eight gold coins. Great experts have died for much less and these coins were very important to Qing Fang who wanted to quickly increase his strength.

Qing Fang started thinking of ways to remain safe while retaining the gold coins.

Before long, he had found a method.

He would go back to the Clan and say that he failed the mission. He would act like he didn't know the identity of the rogue and keep up that facade. When questioned, he would say that he did encounter the rogue and they fought, however, he escaped. After all, he couldn't hide the battle traces. Elder Li Shan would definitely send men to survey the area. If Qing Fang said he didn't meet the rogue but the land was heavily destroyed, they would never believe him.

Thinking on this, Qing Fang approached the body of the rogue and thoroughly destroyed it until there was nothing left but a deep pit. Destroying all evidence was of paramount importance. He walked over to the severed legs and destroyed them too. He even searched the ground for any flesh that would've remained from the rogue's head and might've been scattered due to the final blow. Finding a few pieces of skin, he was glad he did. This place will definitely be thoroughly searched by elder Li Shan.

Next was to hide the gold coins and the ring. Elder Li Shan would place great importance on the engagement ring of his son and eight gold coins. Qing Fang, even if proven innocent, would be searched for them.

Thus, Qing Fang spent six days travelling deep into Tai forest to find a place to hide the gold coins and ring.

...

While travelling deeper and deeper into the forest, he was constantly thinking about his current predicament. Now that the initial panic had faded, he thought with a clear mind and had many doubts.

Firstly, he wondered why the son of an elder within the clan would be hunted as a rogue. The appearance of the 'rogue' was displayed on the mission so there was no chance that his identity was not known. Such a mistake could not be made. Due to this, Qing Fang summarised that the one to place the mission was elder Li Shan. But why would he do that?

Thinking back to the gold coins, he thought it was strange that, high status or not, a youth would be hiding in the forest with such a great sum. He determined that the son likely stole the fortune from his father and, in his rage, elder Li Shan desperately tracked him down.

'However, on the mission, it said alive or dead. Why would elder Li Shan resolutely kill his own son? There is definitely more to this than eight gold coins.' Qing Fang was right. Li Guan held information that could lead to the downfall of the Li family. The reason why elder Li Shan could kill his son so easily was because of this.

Thinking on this, Qing Fang realised he probably did elder Li Shan a favour by killing his son. However, Qing Fang knew he was not safe. While inwardly thankful toward him, elder Li Shan would sacrifice him as on the surface. He was still the killer of his son. If he didn't bring Qing Fang to justice even after the information was known among the Clan, elder Li Shan would definitely be questioned by the other elders. After all, Qing Clan was a righteous force and the Patriarch was publicly acclaimed to be a 'good man', whatever that means.

'The mission posted was likely the second option of the elder.' Qing Fang thought. 'His men were likely to be in the forest and searching for the rogue even earlier than me.' Qing Fang knew he needed to be very cautious while travelling the forest now. The appearance of the cultivator that took the mission was probably known by the men sent by elder Li Shan. If by chance, Qing Fang was found by them, instead of cooperating, they would undoubtedly kill him. After all, information about this matter could not be known by outsiders.

It was at this moment that Qing Fang realised he was but a puppet in the grand plan of elder Li Shan in assassinating his own son. Feeling greatly insulted at being a simple tool, an ugly expression wore itself on his face. Qing Fang's pride was vast. So vast, it could lead to his downfall. He had the sudden thought of killing elder Li Shan but he threw it away. He would never do something so stupid. He had to keep these feelings in check or he would soon be dead.

'Once I take one step back into Qingshan City, elder Li Shan will take me away.' Qing Fang knew what awaited him and the plan to pretend the rogue escaped was promptly discarded. It wouldn't work according to the new developments. Qing Fang had literally chosen to be a part of a massive conspiracy involving a powerful elder of the Clan.

He decided he would stay in Tai forest for a while and then appear in a city on the other side of the planet. This was a good plan and would likely work, depending on if Qing Fang could hide for a whole year in the forest without being found.

In line with this plan, once elder Li Shan discovered that his son had disappeared and never came out of Tai forest even after a year, he would likely be at ease. Even if the eight gold coins were lost in the forest, money could be made again. With his status, elder Li Shan could even take out a loan from the Clan and pay it back with a generous time limit. Qing Fang knew, based on the kill order, that the rogue being dead was much more important than the coins. After his sons' death was confirmed, Qing Fang guessed elder Li Shan wouldn't even care if he resurfaced.

Consumed by his thoughts while moving deeper into the forest, Qing Fang was unaware of a figure covertly following him.