23 Battle Commences

A light wind brushed up against Wu Niu's skin. A tinge of dusk's twilight darkness enraptured the nocturnal predators who prowled through the wilderness in the dark of night. Three stood before him bereft of any shred of ignominy.

Wu Niu's weighted stone greave, bracers, and chest plate lay at his feet, releasing tension from his hefty muscles. It was the first time he had taken them off in weeks, and his whole body felt substantially nimbler. It was like a floating feather had been released from its stone shackles.

Wu Niu could sense a faint essence of qi coming from the chubby bandit standing in the middle. It was hard to accurately gauge, but it was likely that it was of the "Copper" or even "Bronze" realm of qi cultivation.

Wu Niu couldn't be too sure, but if the bandit were of the bronze qi realm, he would need to pull out all the stops in order to defeat him.

-If he is in the "Bronze" realm, I may very well die.

An air of doubt-filled Wu Niu's heart. It was a conflict of interest, a dilemma that would form a crossroads for the direction of his fate—a crossroads that was not unlike the one he stood upon.

-Maybe, I should escape...

At that very moment, every single instance of his spineless actions rushed through his mind in a ceaseless torrent of introspection. He had finally noticed the incredibly evident trend of him having always ran from his problems as soon as they became too inconvenient. He had been doing his whole life, and it was time for a change.

-No more running from my problems. From now on, I'll take these situations head-on with no recourse for the outcome.

"After all, no one succeeds without taking risks!"

A fire lit behind Wu Niu's eyes. The will of the mighty ox had been fully realized within him. At this point, nothing was going to diminish his determination to be the winner, even if it meant having to fight against insurmountable odds.

"Pfft. What the hell are you even saying?! Are you stupid?!" said the chubby bandit, trying to contain his laughter.

Wu Niu sneered at the bandits with reaffirmed vigor.

In response, the chubby bandit scowled at Wu Niu, giving out orders to his goons.

"Grab the little shit."

The two tall men rushed to Wu Niu's sides, grabbing him by his wrists. They kicked him in the back of knees, in an attempt to force him to his feet. However, Wu Niu remained standing unaffected like the mighty pine.

A warped twitching smile formed on Wu Niu's face, inspiring dread deep within the men's hearts. His arm muscles exploded with tension as he jumped into the air using the men's forceful grips as springboards. Then doing a mid-air splits, he delivered two seismic kicks straight into the men's groins.

-That's two down for the count.

The men fell to the ground, writhing in pain as they firmly clasped at their groins. The chubby bandit's eyes twitched with anger. He was clearly ashamed to have his subordinates be shown what's what by some grubby kid.

"You lucky little shit. I'll make sure to bleed you slowly for doing that, you worthless little errand boy."

Wu Niu lifted his hand's up into a shrug and dismissively replied, "You keep calling me an errand boy, but you have no real basis to believe that. Maybe if you didn't underestimate me, you wouldn't have had to die."

"Tch. Shut your dirty mouth dog!"

The chubby bandit shouted as he pulled his fancy sword back in preparation for a thrusting attack.

The tip of the chubby bandit's blade began to expand longer and longer and pointier to boot. It was definitely the work of his qi.

-Is it some kind of metal manipulating qi?

The chubby bandit thrust forward with the long pointy spike aimed right at Wu Niu.

Jumping backward away from the attack, Wu Niu just barely managed to dodge impalement.

The chubby man moved in for another strike, which Wu Niu had also just barely dodged.

Wu Niu knew he wouldn't be able to keep up this chain of dodging. He had very little qi, which would mean his stamina reserves would eventually dry up before his opponents.

It was then that an insane idea popped into Wu Niu's mind. It was an idea that was so insane that only Wu Niu could have thought of it. It was by no means the best solution for the fight, nor was it even a good idea, but Wu Niu was willing to bet his life on it.

-If this is going to work, I'll need to make some room first.

Jumping back with all the force he could muster, Wu Niu gained a distance of a couple of yards away from his chubby assailant.

-Perfect.

Wu Niu's face twisted as all of the muscles in his body contracted into one nimble forward dash toward the oncoming attacker. He jumped forward with a powerful weighty motion into a flying kick aimed not at the chubby bandit but rather his distorted sword.

A bemused look appeared on the chubby bandit's face at seeing Wu Niu's actions. Nevertheless, he lunged forward into a strike aimed directly toward Wu Niu's chest.

"Bahahaha! So stupid!"

The chubby bandit laughed with an evil grin.

The sound of Wu Niu's flesh being pierced by the long metal spike was long in duration. The blade had punctured through Wu Niu with the full span of its length.

…