New Faces Old Problems

"Yijin Liu was his name, master. He was only of about the age of sixteen to seventeen physically, but he stated clearly that he killed you and you died by his blade. Master Lu, I beg of you, take little to no time to consider. We need to get rid of this threat as quickly as possible. He is still a youth in cultivation for this new body of his. Send me and my men and I promise you he will not pose any possible inkling of a problem."

These words were spoken in a raspy voice, worn down by countless years of smoking and alcohol. An elderly man stood speaking to a boy, years his junior, who was wearing a mask halfway up on his face.

"Yijin Liu, huh? So that's what The Unknown Swordsman calls himself nowadays. Walking Boss of the Golden Apple Group, take your men and eliminate Yijin Liu. I can't have him interfering with my plans again." Lu Gongfen uttered these words and unmasked himself. His hands were bloodied and he held a metallic bat in his dominant left hand. "I'll turn him into mincemeat soon enough."

He turned around and slammed his bat into a man's, being held hostage who was tied with ropes, shin. The man yelled in agony, his right leg had been broken utterly, especially since the blow had been with an added effect of Qi. Lu Gongfen spoke,

"Now then, Mangu, I thought the Kanling Gang told you. If you embezzle any of our funds you'll wind up facing a fate worse than death. Did I not tell you that? Did Captain Hukong not tell you that as well? Let me teach you a lesson that you'll never forget."

Lu Gongfen raised his bat high into the air and slammed it full force vertically downwards into the man called Mangu's skull. A fleshy, wet thud was heard on impact and Mangu slumped in his chair as he fell to one side. He had been murdered by Lu Gongfen.

"Huanzhi. I swear, you will die at my hands this time around. This time, I'll survive." Gongfen clenched his fist in fury and threw the bat onto Mangu's corpse. He turned to two thugs of his standing by, "Clean this mess up before I get more irritated, or I swear you two will be joining our good friend Mangu over there."

Gongfen grabbed a leather jacket from a nightstand in the corner of the warehouse where he was situated and mechanically dressed in it as he walked out the door. "Damn you Huanzhi! I thought you'd never be back!"

Upon Gongfen's cry, Yijin awoke in his apartment. It was almost as if the two mortal enemies were telepathically connected. It was almost as if...Yijin had heard that scream. Yijin rose out of bed and rubbed his temples. A pounding pain was present. He made quick use of the toilet, brushed his teeth, and then washed his face before heading out dressed in a perfect fitting, tailored school uniform.

His backpack swayed with his calm and collected walk as he eventually reached the bus stop and rode the same bus that he always rode. He arrived at the school, but something was amiss. Since he had left his apartment, he had felt an evil, watchful eye upon him gazing from the shadows and posing unseen. Yijin had spent two nights cultivating without breaks. Thanks to the Kanling Sect's pill, he processed his Qi more efficiently and safely, allowing himself to improve himself immensely in such a short period of time. He was now about the same strength as he was after two or so years travelling with Suntao as the Unknown Swordsman.

Still there was quite a long way to go before Huanzhi could regain his strengths in Yijin's body. He entered his class and quickly noticed his teacher's absence. Yijin walked to his chair and sat down next to Xiao.

"Hey Yijin, how're you doing?" Xiao greeted Yijin and Yijin nodded in reply. He was too caught up in his thoughts.

"Oh Gods, another one of these days."

Yijin turned to face Xiao. "Don't worry about it, I'm still the same prick you know and love."

Xiao laughed. "Listen Yijin, I've never seen a cactus before but I know a prick like you when I see one. We'll talk after class."

Yijin nodded and suddenly a substitute teacher walked in. It was the elderly man from the noodle stand. Yijin's eyes widened. "What the f***?" Yijin whispered. "What is this guy doing here?" He looked at the man inspectingly. He was dressed quite well actually, considering the man had been wearing a generic tank top while cooking in high heat weather earlier that week.

His hair was combed neatly and he wore a prim pair of glasses. "Alright then, shall we take attendance? We will start in no particular order...now first name on the list, Yijin Liu?" Yijin stared in silence as he pretended to sleep so as to hide his face. "Yijin Liu?... Is he not here today?... Yijin?"

"He's here." A familiar voice said from behind him. "This is Yijin."

"Damn you Xiao. Damn you straight to hell you dense motherf***er." Yijin whispered under his breath. He lifted his head off of the desk.

"Yes I am here."

Yijin stared forward as the elderly man's face contorted into a vicious smile that was seemingly only visible to him. "Wonderful. Now then next on the list..." He began to go through the entire list of attendance. As Yijin watched the elderly man, he became incredibly tense. His hands shook. He knew that he couldn't deal with a warrior that had been training nearly as long as he had before his first death. Yijin quickly raised his hand.

"May I head to the bathroom please?" Yijin asked in an incredibly fearful tone. He tried to calm himself down but it would be impossible. The elderly gentleman grinned sadistically and allowed Yijin to go. The boy quickly rushed out of the classroom and started his walk down the hallway. He passed by the teacher's lounge on his way to the bathroom. "Ymmphjin!" yelled a voice from within the lounge. "Ymmphjin!"

Yijin turned and looked through the window. It was covered by blinds but Yijin made out the figure of a man on his side on the ground with his hands behind his back. Yijin tried to open the door, but the lock was from the inside. Yijin imbued his hand with Qi and pushed down as hard as he could, a loud crack was heard and the door's knob opened. Yijin pushed on the door and saw his regular homeroom teacher tied with zipties on the ground and with his mouth gagged.

"Teacher? What happened? Yijin shut the door behind him rapidly and heard footsteps quickly pass by. Yijin held his hand at the door's knob as the steps came back to the door. A figure peered through the window.

"Did he get in here somehow?" The elderly man's voice spoke. The man turned the knob, but thanks to an imbuement of Qi by Yijin who was holding the lock with an intense grip, the elderly man grunted and moved on in the direction of the bathroom.

Yijin sighed in relief and turned to help his teacher. His hands quickly ran to some scissors by the sink of the lounge and he dashed to his teacher. He scrambled and quickly cut the zipties from the man's hands and feet. He then peeled off the duct tape from the man's mouth and suddenly the elderly man's voice returned.

"So, you've already regained some mastery of your Qi, Huanzhi Ren? I swore to Master Lu that I would end your little games today. You cannot stand in the way of progress. Master Lu demands it of me. You are surrounded by the Golden Apple Group's elite. We've jammed the CCTV cameras with our electromagnetic pulse Qi skill user, Huafeng. Surrender or die."

The teacher looked at Yijin in fear. "Yijin? What's going on?"

"Teacher, please find somewhere to hide really quickly. This is going to get pretty ugly. Yijin dropped to his knees and grabbed the scissors that he had used to cut the ties on the teacher.

"You want to take me to Lu, then come get me." Yijin pulled apart the scissor and used only the handles and blades separately. The elderly man spoke in a menacing tone.

"That can be arranged, Masterful Unknown Swordsman." He dashed forward in the blink of an eye and pulled a hidden dagger from on his body. He thrusted it towards Yijin's chest, but Yijin moved to one side and made an X-like motion with his two blades towards the Golden Apple's Walking Boss's arm. The man retracted his limb just before Yijin made contact with the man's skin.

"You're quicker than I thought, old man." Yijin said with a smirk.

"You too, little shit."

"At least grant me your name, if you want to kill me so badly."

"The name's Xifang."

The two charged at each other once more, their blades meeting in the middle. Sparks flew from the metal on both blades, but Yijin's little scissors were getting dented and cracked. He knew they wouldn't last too long. As Xifang stabbed his dagger forward once more, Yijin dodged and dropped the blade from his non-dominant hand. He imbued it with as much Qi as he could and clasped onto Xifang's hand like a clamp.

The man attempted to pry Yijin's hand off, but to no avail as the youthful ancient stabbed his other blade into Xifangs foot. "Damn you kid!" Yijin pulled his blade upward through Xifang's shin and then twisted the blade within him. Xifang screamed in agony. Luckily the walls were soundproof.

Whilst Xifang was unfocused due to pain, Yijin grabbed the dagger from his hands and grappled Xifang after reaching the space behind him. He knocked the elderly man to his knees and slammed the dagger into the man's shoulder.

"Son of a bitch! Just kill me already." Xifang spoke. Yijin thought about the God of Discipline and as soon as the word God went through his mind, the divine voice spoke.

"Go for it."

Yijin looked at the teacher for a moment and saw that he was covering his eyes in terror. Yijin retracted the blade and pierced through Xifang's lateral jugular. "Shit!" Came a last word from Xifang as Yijin pushed him forward and let him lay on the bloodied carpet.

It was then that two loud bursts of glass shattering was heard and from the windows entered two elite members of the Golden Apple Group. Yijin turned and sprinted for the door, closing it behind him as two dirks flew through the air and slammed into the metal. "Damn, Lu really missed me!" Yijin started to laugh as he began a mad dash through the school. He didn't know where to hide and most importantly, after the glass had broken the school had gone into lockdown.

There was nowhere to go that was unlocked. Behind him, the door suddenly burst open and flash step footwork could be heard catching up to him. Yijin leaped to one side and burst through a janitor's closet. He shut the door as quietly as he could and the footsteps quickly passed by. Yijin hid himself in the closet. His breath was quiet, quick and heavy. The only weapon Yijin had was a dagger taken from Xifang's hands. Mighty fine luck.

"Who the hell are you, kid?" A voice came from behind him. Yijin's eyes widened in horror as he turned around and saw the janitor with a broom in hand looking to bash his head in as soon as he burst through the door. Yijin stared at him for a moment before raising his index finger to his lips. The footsteps outside were now becoming louder and slower. A walking pace. One continued on down the hall while another stopped just outside the door. Yijin took this opportunity to catch the assailant off-guard. He opened the door rapidly and without making a sound.

The assailant attempted to shout but was so surprised that he choked on his words. Yijin slammed the knife into the man's chest and pulled him into the closet. The man clasped Yijin's hands as his eyes dimmed and he stared up at the young man. Yijin looked at the janitor. "They're trying to kill me." He whispered. The janitor looked at him and nodded. Yijin opened the door and bowed slightly to the janitor as he exited and crept up behind the second assailant. He lunged forward at breakneck speeds and stabbed the knife into the man's jugular.

He retracted the knife. "Is that all of you?"

The would-be assassin looked at Yijin with an intense feeling of scorn and hatred and spat at him. Yijin's well-dressed look soon went down the drain. "Oh! You done f***ed up now, asshole." He stabbed the man thrice in the chest and stood up. The fact that the assassin didn't want to say anything about who else might be there was proof enough that they had sent only three men after Yijin. Not good enough.

Yijin dropped the dagger and walked onwards, heading to a stairwell a few tens of meters away.

Always trust a janitor to keep a secret.