34 I Want That Book Now

Shura repelled the intruder's blade in front of him with greater strength. He then put his strength and momentum into his next strike and attacked one of the approaching intruders. He wasn't going to take on all their attacks with his body, that was suicide.

This strong attack forced back the attacker. Shura took advantage of the gap made and quickly got out from the encirclement. Shura backed away from the circle of the enemy and kept his distance.

Doing nothing while the opponents surrounded him earlier was a big mistake and a stupid idea. He wasn't thinking anything at all while it happened. He wouldn't repeat it again. Perhaps living peacefully for some time had made him let down his guard, his fighting sense and instinct had dulled. This wasn't good at all. This was a kill or be killed world full of violence. If he became weak, he was as good as history.

Was it a mistake for him to try to live another kind of life in this sort of world?

Shura had forgotten what kind of place the Higher Realm was. His current strength, and presumably the strength of these people, wasn't great enough for raw cultivation power to overwhelm opponents and be undefeated in a one versus a hundred situation.

Even if it was one against five, by fighting with pure skill and martial arts alone, he would be at a great disadvantage if his opponents had equal or greater skill and strength than he did simply because they had the numerical superiority.

And if his eyesight had not failed him tonight, although he didn't count, there were definitely more than five people! Not all of them had entered his house earlier. Now that they were all outside, they had assembled themselves to attack him.

Shura took the book out and threw the book down on the ground. The book made a thud as it touched the ground. All the intruders became still. They all turned their sight to the book. If there was a line of light from everyone's eyesight, then there would be countless lines connected to the book on the ground this instant, and the book would be lit up like the sun. All of the intruders were intensely focused on the book.

"There, take your book. Must you still bother me?" Shura asked them. He really did want to avoid pointless conflict if he could. Since they wanted the book, Shura would give it to them. He would do it because it wasn't important to him, and he wasn't interested in fighting and potentially dying here. Why do an action that was meaningless?

Couldn't they have been civil and asked for the thing? People of the cultivation world really had bad manners.

One of the intruders picked up the book and placed it inside his spatial ring.

"You still have to die," another intruder cold voice sounded.

The wind was chilly and it was cold during the night. This part of the city was also secluded and quiet. Shura heard the words clearly. He felt that the air was colder than the intruder's words.

"Why do I have to die? All I did was just read a book. It was just about how to relax while cultivating. It said being tense while cultivating would make cultivating harder. Why do I have to die just because of a book about relaxation?" Shura casually asked.

"Fool, that's only what the book shows on its surface. Its real value is deeply hidden. What would the likes of you know about it? It isn't 'just a book', but a great treasure many supreme beings would kill and die for," one of the men said.

"A treasure many supreme beings would kill and die for you say?" Shura said again. "It sounds very precious."

A fuzzy and vague idea was taking shape and becoming clearer and clearer in Shura's mind in this instant. It was risky and ambitious, but he had nothing left to lose but his life and nothing better to do anyway. The reward was well worth the risk.

"Yes, it is indeed very precious. But it's something unrelated to a dead man like you."

"I changed my mind," Shura said, shaking his head. "I want that book now."

Shura didn't care about what would happen earlier, in fact, he was quite eager to get it over with and go on with his life. But now everything was different. If what this man said was true, then this book should be very valuable. He would trade it for a favor from a powerful cultivator to help him find Claira.

Everything was different now. He cared. He was motivated. He was eager. He felt the illusion of the night's sky turning instantly bright. Of course, this was all in his head. It was due to an instant's joy of discovering something that was useful and meaningful to him.

The only thing he was concerned about was that the supreme being cultivators the man mentioned wouldn't be powerful enough.

His time in the Higher Realm and what little bit of knowledge he knew about Spiritual Saints didn't make them to be all-powerful beings. And from his knowledge, the strongest in the Higher Realm was only at the level of a Saint. The path to Immortality had been cut off a long time ago by the Gods.

Shura's sword glowed an eerie and bright red in the dark. Whispers and howls came from the sword. It had sensed its owner's excitement and killing intent. The sword was as excited as the owner. It hadn't seen blood for a long time.

"Let's get this over with quickly, shall we?"

Shura disappeared from where he stood. An instant later he appeared next to one of the intruders, his sword had pierced the man's heart and jutted out from his back. Shura removed the sword, the man fell to the ground in a pool of his own blood.

"W-what!?"

"I-impossible!"

Shock and confusion were in the intruders' eyes as they looked at the corpse of their member who had been alive a mere moment ago. It was completely beyond their expectation that one of their own would die in this easy mission, and die so quickly and easily as well.

The intruders were unnerved seeing someone they thought they could easily take on disappearing and killing one of their own in an instant.

"Are you guys only this strong? And you said you wanted my life? How laughable!" Shura said with a smug look on his face.

Shura disappeared again. This time three more men were dead on the ground. Shura repeated this until the many men turned into few.

"Y-you! You won't get away with this! Our master is powerful, he will avenge us!" one of the surviving intruders yelled hysterically. This was the one who put the book into his spatial ring.

A thud sounded. The intruder turned his head to look. Another dead body was now on the ground. He was the only one alive!

"Now, I have a few questions for you, you wouldn't happen to be preparing to kill yourself, would you? Shura asked in a playful tone.

"S-spare me! Please spare me! I'll tell you everything!" the surviving intruder pitifully begged as he kneeled on the ground.

The man quickly spilled everything that he knew to Shura. His master was a Five Star cultivator who was a subordinate of a Saint. He was retrieving this book for his master's master. All he knew that it was very valuable, it was something a Saint was interested in. He didn't think to take it for himself as he wouldn't be able to escape. He'd be dead soon enough if he had designs on the book himself.

"I'll let you go. Tell your master to come and meet me here tomorrow at this time," Shura said.

Shura then let the man go after he gave his spatial ring to Shura. Shura then looked around him at the bloody ground. Who was going to clean this mess and how was he going to explain it? He proceeded to take all the spatial rings of the dead intruders and anything valuable they had. With this his finance wouldn't be so pitiful in the near future.

'Ah, whatever. I'll let the authorities deal with it, hopefully, the authorities don't come and deal with me instead.'

It was only after the intruder had left that Shura thought of something he overlooked. He could survive against a Five Star cultivator. His Two Star wasn't the normal Two Star everyone in the Higher Realm knew. Fighting tonight showed him that and gave him confidence. This was why it didn't bother him to meet the intruder's master.

But what if instead of a Five Star cultivator coming, he reports to his master and a Saint came instead? Wouldn't he be screwed then? He had nothing to negotiate other than the book, and a Saint could easily take it from him, never mind annihilating him. For a Saint to take action against anyone below the Saint level, It was like taking candy from a baby.

'Whatever, what's happened has happened. I'll prepare some formations. Even though I can't do much without materials, it doesn't mean there aren't formations that can be made only with spiritual energy. I also still have my spells. Worst come to worst I escape from a Saint's pursuit. I'll let nature take its course.'