Shameless Theft
The two brothers looked at each other, conversing mentally. With a slight nod, they faced Azlan's noble pose and clasped their hands together, giving a slight bow.
"Thank you for saving us, we brothers owe you our lives!" Both the siblings replied at the same time, holding back their previous shame.
Azlan's eyes fell onto the siblings bow, he looked down on them, slightly frowning. Noticing this, the brothers once again looked at each other, conversing with a few nods and looks.
Bang! The brothers fell on their knees, prostrating towards their benefactor.
"Oh, great benefactor, thank you for saving our lives!" The brother on the right looked up to Azlan's knees, before banging his head on the floor again.
"Oh, great benefactor, please save us from our crisis!" the other brother assisted in their begging, looking up to Azlan from the ground.
Azlan had a pure face of shock! He was flabbergasted, not being an experienced member of the Jianghu, he thought to himself if all people were this shameless.
"Get up! Fools, don't prostrate so easily, did your mother and father not teach you any self-morals?" Azlan raised his voice at them, once more furiously spitting on their faces, whilst also trying to help them get up from the ground.
However, no matter how much he pulled them, they would gravitate back towards the ground.
"If Great lord benefactor had not saved us, we would already be on our way towards the Yellow Springs! No matter what, we will definitely owe you our lives!" Both the brothers yelled at the top of their lungs, releasing out waterworks from their crimson eyes.
Not knowing what to do in this situation, Azlan kicked their bottoms, imitating his master's actions.
"AHHH!" The duo screamed in the course of their flight, crashing into the crown of a tree.
"I don't know who you two are, but I, Azlan do not take other people's bows without enmity between us. Just watch as I slay these beasts!" Azlan turned around, facing the two ugly creatures in front of him.
The scoundrels sat atop the tree's arms, looking towards Azlan in worship and admiration. They clearly understood that because of their situation, Azlan had gone out of his way into saving them, even though there was only risks and no benefits.
GRAHH!! A giant gorilla with four arms smashed his chest, roaring in fury because his fresh preys, being the two brothers had just been stolen away from his grasps. Although their fellow beast died, they paid no attention to it, feeling no sympathy at all.
Smirking lightly in response, Azlan's stance readied up, raising his sabre with its point aiming towards the Gorilla's heart.
With every step the great gorilla took, the ground slightly shook, emitting out a pure aura of intimidation. However, this intimidation was nothing in Azlan's eyes, his master had already informed him about the dangers of the Jianghu, instead he was feeling nervous and excitement.
"Sabres Dance!" Azlan once again performed his only sword arts he knew of, transmitting a fury of strikes towards the gorilla's large body.
The gorilla held his arms in front of him in retort, blocking the potency the edge of a sabre bestowed. But, Azlan had already thought of this, feinting his next attack, the Gorilla was caught out distracted, leaving the crystal within his chest vulnerable.
Bang! Azlan's sabre viciously plunged into the gorilla's hairy chest, forcing out a crystalline object to pop out of its chest.
"Hahaha! Not so tough are we no- "Before Azlan could mock the gorilla, the gorilla's fellow companion took advantage of the situation, thrusting the horns of an ox towards Azlan's upper body.
Due to his previous cockiness, Azlan coughed out a mouthful of blood, dyeing the sabre in his hand cherry red. In that split second, Azlan moved just fast enough towards the side to avoid his chest from being impaled. However, he didn't have eyes at the back of his head, still being grazed by the horn, leaving half of it in place of his body.
The black hanfu styled clothes he wore turned crimson in colour, his entire right sides were profusely bleeding, causing his heartbeat to quicken by the second.
"Little brat, who said you can move?" Dripping out blood from his pale lips, Azlan gasped out words of fury towards the ox behind him.
Contrast to the ox's bestial thoughts, Azlan grasped the sabre's handle tightly moving it in a slow arc, while his other hand was holding the horn, stopping it from moving out.
The tight grasp around the horn caused the ox to panic, he knew that it would not end out well. Grunting with all its strength, the ox tried to retreat, but his body wouldn't move.
Swish! With a single swipe of the sabre, the horn poking out of his body was cut, leaving minor fractures of bones inside of his body. Even so, he didn't care, Azlan retreated back to his original position.
GRRR! The ox bellowed in ferocity, making it apparent that he was furious. Concurring his wrath, the ox rushed steadily towards Azlan, once more trying the same move.
"This time, your corpse will be headless!" Azlan exclaimed in savagery, dashing about towards the ox.
The two figures met at the centre of the opening, with rays of light shining through the trees, the clash looked heavenly as if it was an artwork.
Both the opponents yelled with their full strengths, but due to the ox's injured horn, he was on the weaker side being pushed back, step by step.
Suddenly, a splash of blood spurted from the ox's head, a sabre was planted into its hardy skull. The ox was stiff like a log, its eyes turning lifeless by the second, as its blood dripped from its neck in a slow and painful manner.
Finally, the forest was silent. The three monsters had perished in just a few minutes of combat. Lingering around the area was the fresh scent of blood, it was a very heavy atmosphere for Azlan.
Azlan closed his eyes and took a fresh breath of air, absorbing the heavy lingering scent of blood into his nostrils, before sitting down on his bottom, exhausted from all the fighting.
Seeing this, the two brothers jumped down from their resting tree, looking at Azlan in the eyes. Their hands were shaking, amazed from his power. Both the brothers truly thought that this forest would be their eternal resting place, who knew such a heroic figure would save them.
"Lord Benefactor, let me heal your wounds!" One of the brothers walked up, offering help to Azlan.
Azlan opened his starry eyes and gazed at him, inspecting his expressions and noticing that his eyes were red and teary.
"You two fellows, drop that title, just call me Azlan. Also, I would very much appreciate if you are able to treat my wounds, I don't have anything on me right now, I truly didn't expect such an event to happen." Azlan lazily spoke, focusing his mind and spirit to navigate through his body.
Such a thing was normal for cultivators after the result of battles, healing just the outer appearances of wounds was nothing hard, but many different issues could arise within the body, some even unhealable if left injured for some time.
"Yes sir Azlan!" the brother replied hastily in a manner of a soldier greeting their commander.
Azlan's face slightly darkened, noticing his discomfort, the soldier like man took large strides towards him and pulled out some bandaged wraps and medicines to apply on his wounded areas.
The rubbing of the ointment caused Azlan to feel slight pain, but nonetheless, he endured through the pain.
After an incense worth of time, Azlan's face returned back to its normal tone, with the two brothers sitting beside him patiently.
His internal injuries were long healed, but he still kept his eyes closed as he didn't know what to say in such an awkward, quiet atmosphere.
"Sigh, what are your names, fellows?" Azlan finally managed to speak out, breaking the quietness.
"Teren"
"O'ren"
The two brothers replied in unison, slightly bowing towards him as a greeting.
Azlan bowed back in reply, giving the same form of respect.
"So, brothers. Why are you fellows in such a dangerous forest?" Azlan questioned, looking at the brothers confusingly.
"Ahem!" Teren cleared his throat before continuing, "We brothers reign from the Long Kingdom, we are the sons of King Long. I am sure you've heard of the Long Kingdom before, right brother Lan?" Teren claimed proudly, puffing his chest out
"Such a kingdom exists? I am embarrassed to say that I am but just some child who grew up in the mountains, without ever exploring the outside world" Azlan sighed pitifully, feeling that he had missed out in the beauties of the world.
"Hahahaha, brother Lan must be kidding! With such amazing power, it wouldn't make sense if some great sect had not raised you." O'ren waved his hands, dismissing Azlan's words.
"It is the truth really!" Azlan looked solemnly at the brothers.
O'ren and Teren looked at Azlan blankly, feeling as if he was a monster.
"How has your power grown to such a state then? With no resources, it should be extremely difficult to cultivate in such conditions!" O'ren interrogated in surprise, once more examining the handsome but strong young man in front of him.
"I, along with my brother were raised under the same master. He took care of us from a young age and taught us how to become stronger, in order to protect the people around us"
"I see. Your master must be some great figure for raising disciples in the middle of nowhere, sadly we don't see many people with honest intentions now adays." O'ren replied back, appreciating the greatness of such a person.
"Hahaha, brother O'ren must be kidding! Based off your performance, I'd assume masters like mine are common within the secular world" Azlan smiled amicably, taking a hit in O'ren's sore spot.
O'ren's face soured, shifting into one resembling the colour of a tomato. He knew Azlan was clearly mocking his earlier actions of prostrating towards him. However, he could not take back his actions, shamelessly clearing his throat.
"Cough. Anyways, as a token of our appreciation, we'll gift you some monster crystals in return. Please don't shy away from our gift!" O'ren forced out two crystalline cores towards Azlan's hand, not letting him shy away.
"Dear brother must be kidding! How could I, Azlan take away such precious cores from two brothers I've just met. How cruel, oh how cruel, my fighting for you was not to just accept money like some bounty hunter…" Azlan replied haughtily, waving his hand around.
However, his next words would contradict his emotions.
"Hehehe, however, if two brothers really are not in need of such precious cores, I will shamelessly accept them in your steeds instead." Laughing cheekily, Azlan instead pushed his hands forward, swiping and accepting the cores within an instant.
O'ren stood there amazed, his long black hair with slightly brown tints escaping the edges of his hair was tied into a ponytail, flowing about from the wind. Expressing the amazement he felt, the already enormous eyes he had were now displayed even more ginormous than it usually appears as.
"Hahaha, of course! Feel free to accept our precious gifts, we don't need such things!" Teren exclaimed, saving O'ren from his momentarily shock and feeling a bit of pain from losing those cores.
Similarly to O'ren, Teren's hair was tied up into a ponytail as well, however his hair was coloured brown with hints of black corrupting it. His eyes were just as huge too, but in contrast, his pupils were brown, compared to O'ren's black eyes showing a clear difference.
Though the two brother's appearance were common, they emitted a fierce look, one fresh from the Jianghu. Such sharpness could only be seen in warriors who had faced life and death before, aura such as this could not be copied. But, their personality's betrayed their aura, normally such people who could face life and death would be brave and hospital, but clearly just a few moments ago, they were on their knees prostrating for Azlan.
Shamelessly pocketing away the cores, Azlan's stomach rumbled in hunger, surprising both himself and the brothers.
"Hehehe, it seems after all that fighting I've exhausted myself. Say brothers, I would feel embarrassed if I would just leave without leaving anything for two kind brothers. How about I treat us brothers to some food." Azlan laughed, pushing both the brothers towards an open area with logs serving as chairs.
Without any choice, the brothers sat along the logs, feeling betrayed from Azlan's character as it was not any better than theirs. He was masked with heroicness in his outer appearance, but his true self was a shameless scoundrel just like them.
Just thinking about how he had furiously chewed them off earlier would irritate the brothers, how could they allow such a rogue to take advantage of them, posing off like some great hero.