Five Gold Coins

The people within the inn walked outside along with Lang Xinyue to watch the young master Gao Long defend the old man's establishment. "Don't you think he's a little too young to take on so many men?" One onlooker said nervously.

"He's just a boy, shouldn't someone stop him?"

"It's too late for that, unless you can convince him to give up his gold just to live. Whoever this kid's father is should scold him for getting in these thug's business."

"I just hope his father has a chance to scold him."

Hong Zhao smiled as he listened the villagers worrying about him. He was touched that so many strangers would care about a little boy who was seemingly going to be pummeled into the ground. He was slightly irritated that no one else was the same rank that could have stepped in for him, that way he didn't have to deal with someone else's problem, but it was what it was.

"I'll give you one chance, just hand over the gold and we will go back inside and eat. No one needs to get hurt."

Hong Zhao listened to the audacity of such an offer and chuckled. "You know, I really think someone does need to get hurt." His hand went to his sword hilt and slowly raised it from its sheath. As he did, he took the pendant from his clothes and discretely put it into his storage ring. His strength rose to his third star disciple rank smoothly, replaced by the qi that resided within the sword.

"That's a spirit sword!"

"A disciple ranked treasure!"

The man's stern face turned greedy once more. "Men! We found a treasure worthy of us. Kill him, what ever it takes!" He activated a movement ability and disappeared from the onlooker's view. Hong Zhao's eyes darted back and forth, yet his features never changed.

Standing still, only following with his eyes, Hong Zhao raised his sword above him and blocked a blow that would have sliced his head in two, if he were weak. A short sword appeared above him with an incredulous looking man. "That was luck!" He blew a gout of flame from his mouth, which Hong Zhao caught on his qi shield. The defensive sphere around him glowed white as it blocked the heat of the attack. Jumping back, he blocked a thrown knife with the tip of the blade, then activated qi shot. Pointing his finger at the man who threw the knife, he shot a beam of white qi from his pointer at the man's leg.

"Aagh!" The man crumpled to the ground, a bloody mess of a leg sprawled out in front of him. Even from where he stood, he could see the large hole that the beam created.

Activating vortex thrust, Hong Zhao disappeared from where he stood. To all who watched, he literally vanished from view. At a blurred speed, Hong Zhao created two qi balls and released them below two men's feet. When he reappeared, he activated qi explosion, adding to the melody of screaming in the area. Now three of the five men lay on the ground, one was unconscious and two screaming for help.

The leader looked at his men with fear. "Okay, you've made your point." He motioned for his one remaining healthy man to collect the injured. "We'll leave." He turned to pick up the unconscious man.

"I don't think that was the deal." Hong Zhao smiled as he pointed the sword at the man. "I think I said you would have to part with five gold coins if you were to leave here."

"Take the win, child."

"I'll take my gold." Hong Zhao's eyes narrowed as he activated vortex thrust once more. When he reappeared, he was but a hair's width away from the man, the sword already releasing a small stream of crimson from his neck.

Without words, the man fumbled with the string of his purse which appeared in his hand. He took five coins from it and threw them to the ground. "There, now let us leave!"

"I don't think so. I don't believe this is how one who is defeated should act." He kept the sword to the man's neck. "Kneel and beg." His voice went deep as he glared at the man.

"You'll have to kill m-" Before he could finish, Hong Zhao thrust the sword forward, completing the slice. In one clean motion, the head separated from his shoulders and fell. Before touching the ground, Hong Zhao caught it by the hair and held it towards the men who had taken a few steps back.

"Your leader wasn't very smart." He said as he lazily tossed the head towards them. He could see a the one uninjured man gulp down air. "Tell me you will be wiser." Hong Zhao raised an eyebrow. He looked darkly at the men and readied his blade.

"We're sorry!" The man dropped to the ground and kowtowed to Hong Zhao. "We will not bother this village again, just let us go!"

Hong Zhao smiled and nodded. "That's better." He put the sword back in it's sheath at the same time that he placed the pin back on the inside of his robe. His qi returned to a tenth of it's max. He had to believe they would take the bluff. If they didn't, he would at least be able to take out the last of the men, but he would have shown his hand to the rest of the villagers and word might spread back to Yuan City. If it did, he'd rather hear about a disciple ranked treasure versus a ten year old disciple ranked cultivator.

"Thank you." The man kowtowed one more time before slapping the unconscious man awake to help him with the other two. Though the other man had a gash on his leg, it was just the meaty part, so he was able to help support the weight of the other two.

Hong Zhao watched as the men made their way out of the village and even watched them fade into the distance before turning back to the crowd. He bent over and took the five gold coins and brushed them off. "This should pay for their food." He gave them to Lang Xinyue and bowed. "This lowly one apologizes for the mess he made with these fools."

Lang Xinyue nodded woodenly as he took the coins. He looked at the gold with wide eyes. He would be lucky to get even half of what he just got within a year. "Young master, please stay a while longer!" Lang Xinyue bowed low to Hong Zhao as did the villagers that had seen the altercation.

"Something tells me that there's more to this than just those five cultivators, isn't there." Hong Zhao sighed. "And this is why I don't usually meddle in other people's affairs."