Chapter 19: Unexpected Savior

Special thanks and shoutout to someone who became a transcended patron: JC!

[❄️❄️❄️]

Feng Qin dropped the bloodied axe to the ground as he walked down a similar looking corridor with Long Yuyin just behind by an arm's length. Both of them were somewhat covered in blood, all belonging to the enemy.

"Master, was it wise to leave that man behind together with the other prisoners?" Long Yuyin asked, concerned. She had withdrawn her spirit and was wiping some of the blood that got around her face, neck and arms with a rag. "What if they kill him? We won't be able to extract more information."

"It's fine. I already got the important information out of him; the exit and where their leader is hiding. And we can just interrogate other bandits on the way to their leader. I just hope they listened and wouldn't escape until we finished off the rest." Feng Qin replied, looking down at his hands and wryly smiled.

'I really shouldn't have been recklessly using the Blazing Fists, the consumption rate is too fast! My spirit power is at least 5%.' But it's still more useful than some hundred year old spirit ring, as expected of an otherworldly martial art skill.

If he mainly relied on his Myriad Soul Gem then he would've had a much tougher time escaping and killing his enemies; he'd be exhausted and severely injured. But with the martial art techniques of another world, that mostly functions as a spirit ring ability, Feng Qin had come out unscathed.

He wasn't ignorant to understand that there might be similar techniques of the martial artist world that would exist here, spirit masters have been around for thousands of years after all. If there's one thing humans are known for, spirit master or otherwise, it's their ingenuity for becoming stronger.

But those self-created spirit abilities aren't available for the common spirit master; only those with sects, great families or clans, and the empire's army could have access to it. Truthfully, Feng Qin was thinking of joining a sect after he messed around in Wu Tan City so he could get his hand on a pure attack self-created spirit ability.

He was going to go down the path of both a pure defense system and power attack system spirit master, defense related spirit abilities from the Myriad Soul Gem and attack power from those self-created spirit abilities.

But with the martial techniques of another world from not only one immortal but possibly even more powerful ones, it wasn't impossible for him to be an all-around system spirit master.

But that sort of aspiration would only come to bear when they escape this place.

'If I keep using this skill then I wouldn't have enough to face the leader. I went a little overboard on those normal enemies.' Feng Qin inwardly sighed, he had the sudden urge to cover his face from embarrassment; he got too excited about using a martial art technique!

He glanced back at Long Yuyin, who looked back at him, tilting her head curiously and blinked her eyes.

'...Cute.' Feng Qin paused for a moment and shook his head. 'Get your head back in the game, me! Chicks later, enemies first.'

Scolding himself, he let a shallow breath, and touched his chin to think,

'The leader...I just have to leave him to Long Yuyin, she's more powerful than me overall. Even if I have full spirit power and some martial art techniques, that still won't erase the fact that he has a higher cultivation base than me and extensive combat experience against human beings; if what that guy told me about their leader is true.

The Bloody Butcher, Xi Huang. 40 years old, an attack agility system spirit master, rank 38 spirit elder, his first spirit ability is called Penetration; enhancing his attack power by fifty percent, and his second spirit ability is Haste; enhancing his speed by seventy percent, while his third and last spirit ability remains unknown as Xi Huang never showed it to them.

He's apparently a former disciple of some third-rate sect and became infamous after he massacred the entire sect when he found out that his childhood friend and crush was defiled by the young master of the sect...'

Feng Qin paused, deadpanned.

'That sounds so fucking cliché... I mean, I feel kinda sympathetic for the guy, but c'mon! I've heard, and seen, that sort of tragic love story so many times that it's like watching a cup being filled with water.'

He shook his head.

'It shouldn't be too difficult to kill him, though we shouldn't be careless. The main problem is if Long Yuyin can kill him before he escapes or reinforcement comes to back him up. Hmm.' Feng Qin turned towards Long Yuyin and asked,

"Hey Long Yuyin, did you pick up a weapon or two from the people we killed earlier?"

Long Yuyin nodded and pulled a sword out of thin air and presented it to him,

"Here, Master. I picked up all of them in case we needed them." she said.

Feng Qin looked distracted, he stared in awe at the small silver ring on the middle finger of Long Yuyin's right hand, muttering,

"S-Storage ring? A spirit tool!?"

A Spirit Tool, but don't mistake it as a Tool Spirit. A spirit tool, as the name implies, are tools that rely on spirit power to be used. Very few spirit tools are passed down from ancient times, for the most part without offensive function. Spirit masters, especially tool system spirit masters, themselves do not need weapons as no normal weapon could never harm another spirit master unless it's some divine tool.

Spirit tools can all be described as historical relics, as to how they came about, and how they were made, was lost long ago; making it impossible for a new generation of Spirit Tools to appear. And the rarest spirit tools were those with spacial storage function, a handle tool to have to carry a lot of your stuff with just a small object like a pouch or a ring.

"Long Yuyin, where did you get that?" Feng Qin hurriedly asked, barely containing his excitement.

Long Yuyin tilted her head and replied, "Oh this? I got it as a birthday gift from my aunt."

Feng Qin froze, his head and shoulders slumped down.

"Ah! Do you want this ring, master? I'll graciously hand it over to you–"

"No. No, it's fine. I don't want to be an asshole, especially to you. I'll get my own storage ring, someday." he waved her off as he took the sword from her hands and examined it.

It was an ordinary sword; it was made of steel, double-edged and its blade was about 30 inches long but added with the leather hilt as well it was a total 36 inches long.

'It isn't the sword that I'm used to, well, what the immortal is used to but it'll do nicely nonetheless.' Feng Qin smirked as he gripped the sword into a practiced stance with an unfamiliar feel.

He might like using his fists but with how low his spirit power was currently, he couldn't rely on using any martial art skills that used internal energy. Besides, the immortal was more proficient in using swords than any other martial arts.

'With a sword, it'll be much easier and faster in killing them...'

Feng Qin paused for a moment and wistfully smiled.

'I have to get outta here...The thrill and bloodlust is getting to me.'

Long Yuyin halted and widened her eyes, as an astonished light flickered across her eyes.

'Master's aura...changed. It's like he's a completely different person! Where he was a brutal and bloodthirsty warrior that would burn his enemies to ashes without mercy before, now he's like a lonely swordsman who got tired of all the bloodshed but had picked up his sword once more for justice!' her eyes sparkled in excitement. 'As expected of master! He's so unfathomable!'

Both Feng Qin and Long Yuyin then continued on their pace to search for the leader.

It wasn't long before they encountered other bandits that was searching for them or was lingering around to guard other cells had found them, but they easily disposed of them with more ease and quickness compared to before.

The difference was certainly because of Feng Qin, now with a sword in hand, he cut through all his enemies with a single move of his hand–decapitating or slicing vital parts of their body before they could even react. It made Long Yuyin adore him even more.

Half an hour and seventeen bodies later.

'This is it...' Feng Qin inwardly commented as he looked over his shoulder to stare at the wooden door besides him, his back stuck close to the wall while Long Yuyin waited in the same position at the other side of the door they were looking at.

It had taken a very long while, mainly because of the minions, but they were finally going to kill the big boss of the group.

Truthfully, they could've just escaped by now as they've fully cleared the entire hideout of the bandits from this underground lair to the wooden cabin up top.

But Feng Qin didn't want to leave any loose ends. One of the many things his mother taught him was that: "if you encounter a difficult problem/situation, make sure to cut it at the roots/source to prevent the problem from growing."

This group was a big problem. Feng Qin doesn't think of himself as a hero, they die young and live a troublesome life, but he wasn't callous enough to leave a bandit problem be.

Feng Qin leaned his right ear closer to the door to try and eavesdrop on what Xi Huang was doing to carelessly leave his subordinates to die in their hands; and all he could hear was almost nothing but silence, but a moment later and he could hear a distinct yet short sound of someone inhaling.

'Breathing? For it to be this silent, don't tell the guy fell asleep or went into a deep meditation to cultivate?' Feng Qin narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on the sword handle.

"Long Yuyin, be ready. We don't know what we might face inside." he whispered to her, and she nodded in agreement.

Feng Qin then raised his left hand to his mouth and silently blew a whistle, the signal for their plan.

The door swung open and Feng Qin dashed into the room, with Long Yuyin following right behind him, her spirit out; transforming her into her pseudo-dragon state and her spirit rings appeared in tandem and brandished her claws out.

The room was dimly lit, with only a few candles lighting up the area around a wooden table that was in the center of the room.

Sitting behind the table was Xi Huang, the leader of the bandit group. His eyes were closed however and his hands were laid evenly on the table before him.

For a man who lost all his subordinates and had two escapees standing in front of him with the intent to kill, he looked eerily calm and silent.

Feng Qin and Long Yuyin positioned themselves in front of him, and they stared at the man silently for a moment.

Feng Qin furrowed his brows, 'Something doesn't feel right. I can see that he's breathing so he's alive, but why isn't he attacking us? I don't feel any other presence in the room either.'

They waited it out for a moment and Feng Qin decided to take a chance and walked towards him.

Long Yuyin, expectedly, was surprised and upset at her master's action for risking his life and quickly took hold of his left arm, whispering, "Master! It's dangerous! Let me do it."

Feng Qin looked back at her with a reassuring smile and shook his head, "It's fine, Long Yuyin. I can handle this."

He continued his approach towards the man, his eyes sharp as he could see Xi Huang's chest rising and falling with each breathe.

Feng Qin reached out his right hand, slowly glowing, ready to grab the man's throat and end his life.

But just as he was about to make his move, a sudden gust of wind blew from behind him, knocking him off-balance and sending him tumbling onto the floor.

"Who dares!?"

Long Yuyin quickly turned around, her second spirit ring shone a brilliant yellow color, and unleashed a powerful roar, unleashing a wave of intense red flames that cleared the room of any potential threats.

Feng Qin got back up on his feet, his left hand clutching his injured abdomen. 'Son of a–! Okay, okay. Don't panic. There's–no blood? Damn. Whoever did that has good control of his or her strength.' He looked towards where the wind was coming from.

And through the raging flames and ashes, he saw a figure standing at the entrance of the room.

It was a woman, with long black hair and dark-red eyes that glowed with a feral intensity. She wore a black cloak that covered most of her body, save for her black boots and black stockings that reached up to her knees.

Feng Qin widened his eyes in shock. He could feel the immense level of spirit power emanating from her, and he knew that she was no ordinary spirit master.

But that wasn't what shocked him the most, it was–

"Xiao Qin?!" With wide shock filled eyes, his mother, Sheng Li yelled. Dropping down her long dark sword on the floor.

"Mom?!"