A Sneaky Rat

Fifty years ago, in a time much simpler than the current era. The Jianghu was kept in balance between the three major forces.

First were the Orthodox Sects and clans, who made up the Orthodox Alliance. Who sought to be honorable and pursue justice in all aspects.

Second was the Unorthodox Alliance, formed when the Blood Fist Emperor, a rogue martial artist who would murder even his own family if they spoke out against him, went on a rampage and forced the leaders of the unorthodox clans and sects under his rule.

Third was the Demonic Cult. The cult was full of beings who worshiped the human incarnation of the Evil God, known as the Cheon Bloodline. They sought only strength and only fought for two reasons, one was if their lord gave a direct order, the second was to defend what was theirs at all costs. But unlike the other two factions, the Demonic Cult wasn't one sided towards one morals system.

The Demonic Cult held both justice and honor on the same level as brutality and chaos.

But it was fifty years ago that it all changed, and the balance was broken.

The change? The Namgung clan, once a member of the Orthodox Alliance, led an onslaught against the Orthodox Alliance. They declared themselves as an Unorthodox clan from that day forward and toppled over the Orthodox Alliance in three days.

So why did the Namgung clan come out as the losers of the war? The Mount Song Sect Intervened. Despite the Sect Leader not being able to stay in his physical form for longer than a few hours at a time, the Sect Leader himself descended from Mount Song and annihilated the Namgung clan.

Or at least, what he thought was all of the Namgung clan, as he evidently didn't wipe them all out. And now the Namgung clan is back in Zhongyuan, trying to bring it under their control once more.

But once more they will be brought down by the Mount Song Sect, as this time, someone much fiercer than the Sect Leader has become their worst enemy.

I dug my sword into the ground whilst Pyo Kang and Pyo Yong meditated with their backs up against a tree. It was only while they had their eyes closed that I could train my techniques to their fullest.

Five months of practice was enough to make this new body of mine become adjusted to the Golden Dragon arts of the Mount Song Sect. But now it was time to train my personal techniques.

But I no longer had any use for a sword. Even with the amount of qi I had right now, my accumulated experience of five millennia would make any foe look like a toddler swinging a stick through the air.

I slowly slid into a palm fighting stance and exhaled. It's been a while since I've had to use my personal martial arts, so I'll have to train them extra hard to get used to them once more.

The first technique I'll be working on? Silver Breath Arts, Palm of the Sea!

I slowly unleashed a formation of forty-eight palm strikes, each aimed at a different vital point on a human body. Each strike contained a glimmer of palm qi, as the technique's purpose was to distract an enemy with a tide of strikes that would damage their organs or disrupt their internal energy.

But the technique lacked the power it once had, as I hadn't yet reached the Golden Core stage. But I guess the technique lacking power was a good thing, because something was amiss about the entire situation around me.

Normally when training our martial arts without fighting, animals would gather outside a certain radius of us training, as they knew we meant no harm, but didn't want to get caught in our techniques.

But now, there wasn't an animal in sight, almost as if something else around us was scaring them off.

That's when I noticed it, a pesky little brat hiding in a tree leaking a small amount of qi, which felt just as foul as the middle-aged man's qi. If that's what the qi of the Namgung clan feels like, I'll be sure to remember it, so I know if they're tracking me down or not in the future.

It was a feeble amount of qi, but it was definitely that of a human. There aren't supposed to be any other people in this forest, so it seems like we have an uninvited guest.

"More information for me, and less members for the Namgung clan. This is great~"

I quickly used the Golden Dragon Flight technique, specifically designed to accelerate through the air like a dragon flying at top speed, to approach the sneaky rat spying on us.

Appearing beside him in a matter of seconds while he still watched where I used to be, I leaned forward and whispered in his ear.

"I hope you enjoy torture."

The man tried to jump off the branch he was hiding on, however, he didn't get far. As I grabbed his back foot the second it left the tree branch.

"Now now, I won't let such a good information scroll leave my hands that easily." I said in a teasing voice, raising the man by his ankle above my head.

"Put me down!" The man yelled swinging his fist toward my face.

Although I probably shouldn't let him hit me, I want to show him a glimpse of what he's going up against, and why he should be afraid.

I lowered my arm which held the spy, forcing his punch that was once aimed at my head to hit me squarely in the chest. Once it connected, a fierce ripple of energy was sent through the spy's arm, breaking his wrist the second it made contact with him.

"Kuak!"

"It hurts, doesn't it?" I mocked as I raised him back over my head, "If you're smart, you'll learn not to do that again."

I swiftly hit the spy's pressure points with my free hand, knocking him unconscious. Although, I did get hit one time more than I wanted to in this fight, as when the spy fell unconscious, his unbroken arm fell limp and smacked me squarely on the head.

"Even sleeping you want to fight huh? I'll make sure you pay for that once you're awake. Kukuku."