Twenty Six

Bao Bi had been excited to try out his techniques, and in a single swift motion he had taken the head of his opponent. He was reeling from that encounter.

So weak!

He had been expecting the guy to dodge or at least avoid him, but the guy seriously walked right into his hand and even decapitated himself with it. Bao Bi's hand wasn't even that sharp. His nails were well cut and his hands still had a bit of the pudge from youth. It was impossible to cut off a man's head with a single hand strike if you thought about it.

The man who had been eyeing the girl behind him only now paid attention to him. However, his look was completely stunned. Bao Bi was stunned too, but he felt that far too many people in the profound world just couldn't handle having their expectations not met. There were so many things they just knew to be a reality that turned out to be a load of shit. Bao Bi had already long abandoned his original common sense just to accept this crazy world he lived in. As far as accepting the common sense of this world, he was beginning to realize that it was probably impossible at this point.

The young boy who looked roughly around Bao Bi's age was having an impressive looking fight with the third man in their little group. In Bao Bi's mind, Bao Bi might be a bit strong, but he was roughly at the same level any Xaoi sect disciple would be at. So, seeing the other boy fight, he felt that they were probably around the same level. Since that was the case, then he must have lucked out and was fighting one of the stronger opponents.

Of course, Bao Bi could detect their profound levels, but he had successfully and frequently defeated profound practitioners at a much higher level than himself. The guy he had just decapitated was a clear sign of that. Without more experience, this led Bao Bi to the conclusion that profound levels weren't that important when determining a person's true strength. Techniques, practice, and strategy held much greater roles. In his mind, it was like a girl with martial arts training fighting a physically imposing guy. He'd seen strong men getting their asses handed to them by a skilled woman.

In a way, he was right, as pure profound strength could not be used to determine strength in Bao Bi, but he was an extreme abnormality in this world. As it turned out, the young boy fighting against the man stronger than him was also an abnormality. He was a genius of the noble family and had the best techniques and training humans could buy.

When it came to normal cultivators though, it was genuinely felt that profound levels were just about the only thing that mattered. There might be rare prodigies that could fight across 1 small tier, but for a low tier to battle a mid-tier, or a mid-tier to battle a high tier, not even mentioning realms, the thought was laughable. The boy fighting for his life right now had just crossed from mid-tier to a high tier, and with nothing else changed, the pace of his fight had changed drastically. He went from being completely overwhelmed, to now being a challenging fight for the man against him

Suffice it to say, that if any of these profound practitioners realized how Bao Bi felt about profound power, they would assuredly look at him like he was an idiot. As for Tigra, if she knew that her teachings had led him into this opinion, she would spit up blood over the shame of her failed teachings.

Simply put, despite the man fighting the kid was the weakest of their group, Bao Bi now had the opinion that he had rotten luck on the draw, and the second strongest practitioner of the group had ended up being the weakest practitioner. He acknowledged that Laio An had wanted him to gain more practical experience fighting others near his level, which was a difficult thing when you weren't in a sect yet. He had been excited over the prospect of gaining some of this experience, but his first enemy had ended up a complete dud.

"Y-y-you! I'll kill you!" The lead guy who had been staring in complete shock finally recovered enough to speak.

The other guy tried to look back to see what happened, but he was in too vicious of a battle at the moment to do anything. As a result, it turned out to be Bao Bi against the leader of this assassin group made of loose cultivators. Since he was the leader, he truly was the strongest, right? That was what Bao Bi was hoping.

The man launched killing intend and his profound pressure at Bao Bi. Bao Bi hadn't even noticed this until there was a cry from behind. He turned around and for the first time noticed the girl still standing there. He had thought she would have run the second he got in the way, but she had stood her ground, and hadn't even fainted when a man lost his head. Bao Bi had to remind himself that girls in this world were like Liao An.

Girls in this world were not like Liao An. No one was like Liao An. However, the young girl before him was a profound practitioner herself and a proud princess who had been trained not to give up. Even then, she was shaking so hard that she couldn't move an inch. It wasn't that she didn't have the desire to run. Had she truly had her mind intact, she would have run the second Bao Bi interfered to get to the castle gates, where there was a chance they could send someone to give them aid. However, her bravery had only gone so far as to keep her rooted in place. The killing intent and pressure was blocked by Bao Bi, but it was still enough where the young girl barely managed to keep herself awake.

She was a pretty girl, around the same level as Liao An. She had blonde, curly hair, and deep blue eyes. She was wearing a fine dress and compared to the simple clothing on Bao Bi's back, she had a wealthy feel about her. This wasn't to say that Bao Bi's family was impoverished. As long as an immortal could work in the moral world, money was no object. However, he found that simple clothing drew less attention and trouble his way. If someone looked closer, they'd see his clothing, while similar to what a mortal would wear, was made of profound beast skin. It was a defensive item created with skill and care by Bao Bi himself, with Liao An's help, of course.

As a former hunter, Bao Bi enjoyed the tasks of hunting and cooking that meat, but he also had grown an interest in treating and making the clothing as well. Liao An had allowed him this interest, since she didn't have any respect for the profound tailors of this world, and had an opinion that if you wanted it done right, you had to do it yourself.

Tigra also had made much of her clothing over the years, since her master didn't have any servants or even people in her realm to assign such tasks. She didn't know if her master, the Midnight Queen, made her clothing. She had a theory that her master was always naked, but used her profound power to give herself the illusion of having clothes on. The purest woman alive wouldn't even let clothing touch her body. It pleased Tigra's morbid sense of irony, as the purest woman alive also was doing the most perverted thing by technically walking around naked! If she had ever stated her suspicions to Master, she would have died in an instant. Some secrets were better off being left unknown.

Watching the scared little girl behind him, Bao Bi spread out his profound energy to protect her. The pressure diminished and so did her shaking. He gave her a gentle smile, reached out, and patted her head. Her mouth opened suddenly, and she gave him a wide-eyed look.

"Just let us handle this, okay, little miss?"

He turned his back to the girl before she could respond, and then faced the leader of the assassin troop single-handedly.

"Y-you… wait… a mid-tier mortal purification expert? Hmph… you had me worried. I don't know what trick you used to take him out, but I won't give up."

Bao Bi's eyebrows twitched slightly at those words. This was exactly the kind of stupidity he had faced with the shadow sect. It had been two years since he had last fought a profound practitioner, but he had thought those shadow brats were an exception to the rule. However, this guy had just seen him chop off his friend's head, but was unwilling to accept he had strength because his profound power was lower.

Bao Bi was wearing the ring that kept his power base down. He kept his power at the mid-tier, level 6. His father just assumed that he had reached a bottleneck. He was still proud of his son who had managed to climb to the mid-tier at only 9 years of age. It was still at a level that would impress anyone, even someone from the Xaoi sect. Had he known Bao Bi was wearing an artifact that hid his true level, which was level 9, and that his son was actually at the top of the mortal purification realm, and stronger than his father who had only made it to the 7th realm after all these years and countless spiritual stones, he may have both vomited blood in shame and cried blood in joy? Either way, Bao Bi thought his father shouldn't bleed so much, so he kept it a secret around the clock now.

However, even if his true power had been known to this practitioner, he wouldn't have acted any differently. No one here would have guessed that he was the youngest one present. He looked older than the girl, who was 10, and about the same age as the boy, who was 12. He could have been 14 for all they knew. The leader was in the second realm though, and anyway he looked at it, Bao Bi was in the 1st realm. He could call on profound power and was thus at a level far greater than anything Bao Bi could ever possibly handle. Bao Bi might have used a trick to catch a high tier first realm with an instant kill, but there was no way he could pull it off again, and even if he could, the difference between the two realms was heaven and earth.

In short, there was never any hope for this group of youth in the older immortal's eyes. Up until this point, he had been toying with them. He could have killed both children instantly had he truly wanted to. However, he wanted to let his friends have some fun first. Now one was dead, and the other was involved in a heated battle to the death with a young child. This was extremely embarrassing, and if the leader didn't kill all of these kids immediately, he wouldn't have the face to continue to call himself a loose cultivator.

"It's time to die, runt!" He growled, all of his shame and embarrassment being turned to rage that he centered on the unfortunate Bao Bi.

"You're not the first to say you'd kill me, and I have a feeling you won't be the last!"

Bao bi tossed out that line that he thought was rather clever. He had come up with about four or five lines. Remembering his fight two years ago, he had known that cultivators sure did love to talk. It felt like a fighting game. He just needed someone to hold up a sign that said "Fight!".

His words seemed to enrage the older man, who charged at the youthful Bao Bi to deliver a vicious punch. This time, Bao Bi was determined to savor this battle so he could learn something. Liao An had taught him to be decisive and kill quickly. It was honestly the safest method. Things like pride, feeling out an opponent, or trying to look impressive were the acts of childish practitioners. Tigra had long passed this level of showboating and instilled in Bao Bi a similar since of modesty and decisiveness in battle. It was kill or be killed. Every blow shout be swift, brutal, and effective.

Being on the defensive and allowing his opponent to act violated these principles just a bit, but Bao Bi feared that if he was too decisive, he wouldn't even be given the opportunity to act at all. So, he watched as an attack was launched at him, and even blocked the attack. He was instantly found wanting.

"Rapid strikes!" The guy called out.

As his fist lashed out toward Bao Bi's face, a knife he had hidden in his sleeve appeared. He intended to trick Bao Bi into blocking a fist, only to end up stabbed with his knife. Furthermore, his attack was a dozen quick strikes, which would have filled an unsuspecting cultivator full of holes before he had even realized what was going on.

Bao Bi's kinetic vision far exceeded his level though. Other than his high physical ability, he had also trained against Liao An, whose movements were at a god-tier. It was only too easy to predict the assassin's movements. He blocked the attacks, dodging back while not seemingly losing any ground. The girl behind him watched his back as he stood there protecting her, a monolith that would not bend to a man over twice his age.

His battle prowess diminished like it had been doused with a wet blanket. This man was no more difficult than the last. He had been looking for a fight like he had experienced with Liao An two years ago, something that could hone his skills. However, the difference between that fight, and this one was just too vast. Not only had Bao Bi grown too much, but these guys were only loose cultivators, and not part of any sect, let alone a powerful one.

As his battle intent decreased, the other man grew excited. He saw the smile slipping from Bao Bi's face, and assumed this meant that the boy finally realized he couldn't win. He had been shocked when his sure-fire attacks had been easily deflected. He might have even been suspicious that a 2nd realm was struggling to defeat a first realm at all. By all accounts, he should have been able to wipe the floor with Bao Bi in just a few strikes.

However, his blood was hot and he wasn't thinking properly. Instead, he excitedly attacked Bao bi, expecting to end his life any second.

"Let's end this." Bao Bi sighed.

"Grand Slam!"

"Watch out!" The girl behind Bao Bi only just managed to let out a warning.

The man had infused just a bit of profound power into his attack. This was not the same thing as the attack from the shadow clan member, who actually knew and just managed to execute a profound technique. This could be said to be the extent of this guy's ability and his best strike. It would exhaust him afterward, and he'd struggle to kill the other two without at least one of them escaping. If he succeeded in this attack, afterward, he would have called himself a fool for using such an overkill method on a 1st realm trash.

That was only if he had managed to successfully use the attack. However, just as it landed, he had stopped frozen. Bao bi shook his head with disdain. The last thing that filled the man's eyes were the deep, dark eyes of Bao bi. However, he'd never come to realize why or how he died.

Blood started to form on his chest, and with a sudden moan, he fell to his knees and then collapsed to the side. By the time he hit the ground, he was as dead as the headless body next to him. Hearing the thud finally caught the attention of the last assassin. When he saw both of his teammates were dead, the shock of it caused him to freeze solid. The same could not be said for the boy fighting him.

"Guh!" He was knocked to the ground. "N-no, wait!"

He gave out a cry, but the boy stabbed him in the neck without hesitation, a somewhat cold look in his face. He had not only managed to reach the high tier this day, but he had also defeated an adult loose cultivator. It was an action that would be both impressive and enviable if seen by anyone, and if not compared to the other two dead bodies around Bao Bi.

Seeing the way the youth casually killed the final man, he felt a bit better himself. He did try to look into how other people his age acted, but he only had mortals to compare to. They valued life, and while they were still filled with bullies, villains, and honest people, they were nothing like the cold aloofness of a cultivator. This would be the first person other than that older boy from the Xaoi sect that Bao bi had ever met in person. He was interested in getting to know the kid since it'd help him have a better understanding of how he was supposed to be.

He held up his hand, but just as he was about to give a friendly gesture, the boy's eyes shot up. They were slightly bloodshot, and he seemed extremely disturbed both mentally and physically.

"Get the hell away from my sister!" He shouted, suddenly leaping at Bao Bi with his sword drawn.