Rage

*Things like sexism and racism are purely for worldbuilding and to make it more realistic. Thank you for your understanding.*

A middle-aged man stood within the garden of a luxurious mansion. The mansion had many rooms and circled around the periphery of the garden, making it an enclosed courtyard.

The garden looked more like a forest; there was a functioning food chain in the garden as well as many breeds of trees. It was more like a personal forest.

The middle-aged man stood near the periphery of the garden, overlooking it. Behind him was a room with its door ajar. From the look of it, it was a private study. Within the study, there was an open safe that was completely empty.

The man looked up at the sky with a complicated expression. He was having doubts.

This man was naturally Stage 6 elder, Qing Li Shan.

The past three weeks have been a complete nightmare for him. Firstly, his son refused to marry the second daughter of the Patriarch, causing the family to miss out on a huge opportunity. Although he would be marrying the second daughter, he knew his son was more emotional than most and didn't really care for politics. When presented with a beautiful and pure young woman, he thought his son would jump at her. However, things went wrong.

One night when he was in his study, his son confronted him. He said he won't go ahead with the marriage as "his heart already belongs to another." Li Shan knew his son was emotional, but this was too much. He used his authority as the father to order his son to listen, however, it was of no use.

Seeing the opportunity for their family to rise above the others, Li Shan resolutely killed his son's little girlfriend. Although his heart ached for his son, it was all for the greater good. The sacrifice of one minor figure to bring the prosperity of a large family. It seemed reasonable to him.

However, an accident occurred. Somehow, Li Shan didn't know, his son found out that the death of his girlfriend was caused by him. And before he found out that his son knew, Li Guan slipped away in the night with most of Li family's fortune.

Although this didn't seem too bad, things were worse than they seemed for the Li family. This was because Li Guan now hated them with every fibre of his being and would likely plot their downfall given time. Never mind the money, elder Li Shan could always take out a loan and have it back in less than ten years. The main thing was if his son plotted with another family to destroy theirs. Although not political, Li Shan didn't doubt his son was capable of this.

Thus, elder Li Shan, with a heavy heart, decided his son must die. To Li Shan, the prosperity of the family came before his own. This was the teachings his father had given to him, and his father, and his father. It was the reason Li family could reach such a height. Now, his foolhardy son is going to destroy it all. He had to be killed.

So, he sent his men into the forest to find him, but hearing that they had no luck, Li Shan commissioned the services of expert hunters. He put up a mission in the hall of internal affairs which required that the hunter must have completed at least a hundred similar missions already.

The next day, someone took the mission. Li Shan quickly investigated but was dejected to find that the commissioned hunter was only Stage 3. However, upon looking into the mission records, Li Shan became hopeful. This junior, Qing Fang, had taken 112 hunting missions and had completed every single one without fail. It was obvious he was an absolute expert.

Thinking this hunting veteran had a good chance of finding his son, he sent two Shadow path cultivators to stalk him as he departed to complete the mission. One Stage 3 and the other Stage 4.

However, when he heard back from his men just an hour after the hunting veteran set off, he was surprised. It turns out that this junior, Qing Fang, slaughtered an entire mortal village with no mercy. Although he heard one of the gold coins was procured during the events, Li Shan was still shocked. It was not every day you meet someone so evil. Knowing that someone like this strolled around the Clan every day, a shiver was sent down this great expert's spine.

From this chain of events, Li Shan already decided he must rid the Clan of this scourge. Of course, he would kill him after he hunted his son. Li Shan wouldn't throw away a perfectly good pawn. Although a tiny bit insane, this pawn was likely his greatest force on the chessboard given the current situation. This was due to the hunting expertise it had.

And this pawn didn't disappoint him. Within a short twelve hours, this Qing Fang had already found his son's trail. Something that all the men he previously sent have yet to do. After he received this information, he communicated with the two Shadow path cultivators trailing Qing Fang and ordered them to report back often.

However, a short time later, this Qing Fang started travelling on a river that followed that trail. With his Water path cultivation, he dramatically increased his speed by controlling a massive wave to move him forward.

With the speed he was showing, only the Stage 4 Shadow path cultivator could continue following. The Stage 3 cultivator was quickly left behind. However, he didn't stop moving and was trying to catch up.

The method Li Shan used to communicate with the two was a communication amulet. Made by Forge Masters, they could project sound and worked as long-distance communication. Only elders like Li Shan could afford them as they were outrageously expensive. For a pair, it was a whole gold coin. However, they had the range of the entire planet and could be used anywhere. It has the appearance of a silver disk, about palm-sized, that was carved with blue runes around the edges that lit up when used. Elder Li Shan only had two in his possession. One was with him while the other was with the Stage 4 cultivator.

After the Stage 4 cultivator followed for over a day, Li Shan was informed that Qing Fang had finally made contact with the rogue, Li Guan. Ecstatic, the elder ordered his subordinate to spectate the fight and report back.

When the Stage 4 cultivator watched the fight from the shadows, he was dumbfounded. The battle strength that this Qing Fang was showing was too much. He was infinitely close to having the strength of Stage 4 while being Stage 3. This was very rare. But the worries of the Stage 4 cultivator lay here. Shadow path was more stealth orientated and wasn't very good at up-front close combat. The Shadow path cultivator was sure that if he fought with this monster, although he wouldn't be killed, he would definitely be beaten back.

When he reported this back to his master, Li Shan had a troubled gaze. He agreed with his subordinate that he couldn't beat Qing Fang. So, he ordered him to wait for the Stage 3 that was trying to catch up. If Qing Fang tried to leave, stall him.

Li Shan also thought it was a pity. He had already decided to kill Qing Fang but this junior would've been a very capable subordinate. Unfortunately, he had to die.

A few minutes later, Li Shan sighed in relief as he heard the dangerous Li Guan was dead. He was also inwardly shocked again with Qing Fang. He managed to kill a foe that was fleeing with all of his strength. Li Shan even started to get scared for his subordinate. Qing Fang's battle strength was higher than he initially thought. When trying to stall him, one mistake might even lead to the Stage 4's death.

The Shadow cultivator watched as his target retrieved all the gold coins as well as the ring. He then watched as Qing Fang looked at some photographs and his face turned into worry. He didn't hesitate to report this development to his master.

Hearing this, Li Shan speculated that Qing Fang had already realised the whole conspiracy from two photographs, Li Shan was more than impressed. This junior had a very good head on his shoulders. However, it was due to this that Qing Fang should realise his current situation and let the despair set in.

What happened next was within Li Shan's expectations. He heard that Qing Fang destroyed his son's body and even scoured the area for smaller body parts that might've scattered. Laughing internally, elder Li Shan had a smirk on his face. He found it funny that Qing Fang was trying to hide the evidence when the whole battle was already spectated by himself, the very person he was trying to deceive.

When he heard that Qing Fang was heading deep into Tai forest instead of going back to Qingshan City, it was obvious that he was planning to hide the gold coins.

As Qing Fang spent a whole six days travelling deeper into the forest in search of a place to hide the gold coins, the Stage 3 cultivator managed to catch up and regrouped with the Stage 4. They jointly followed Qing Fang from the shadows.

Shadow path was more leaned toward stealth and assassination. As Qing Fang was only Stage 3, he wouldn't discover the same-stage and Stage 4 enemies following him.

...

After trying to find a hiding spot for six days, Qing Fang finally stopped in front of an inconspicuous tree. Right now, he was in the very heart of Tai forest. It was likely that no one had ever been here before.

After coming right before the tree, he started to dig down.

About thirty minutes later, next to the trunk, there was a hundred-meter deep hole. Qing Fang wasn't taking any chances. He had to hide the gold coins very well. If he didn't, elder Li Shan's men might find them. At that point, trying to act like he didn't kill the rogue would be useless.

Putting all of the rogue's possessions back into the storage bag he found on him, he threw it into the hole and filled it with earth. After that, Qing Fang spent an hour compressing the earth. He had to make the density similar to the surroundings. Again, he wasn't taking any chances. When he was done, he made the surface look natural and even relocated a few flowers there.

Satisfied, Qing Fang started to head even deeper into the forest.

...

The two cultivators witnessed the whole process of Qing Fang hiding the coins and reported to elder Li Shan.

After contemplating, elder Li Shan told the Stage 3 cultivator to retrieve the coins while the Stage 4 would engage Qing Fang. After the coins were retrieved, the two would work together to kill Qing Fang. Under elder Li Shan's watchful eye, they put this plan into motion.

...

Qing Fang was scouring the deepest parts of the forest.

He was planning on hiding in the forest for a year so he had to get the lay of the land in his head quickly. After that, he would decide on a place where he would build some sort of underground house. Qing Fang was even prepared to spend most of his time underground. He thought of digging out passageways underneath the whole forest to make it easier.

He wouldn't have to worry about any beasts as the strongest one in the forest won't be higher than Stage 3. On this planet, all the terrifying beasts were deep in the sea. Even then, a Stage 6 beast would be extremely rare.

Each planet in the Mortal Realm usually has one Stage 7 expert. From this, a Stage 8 expert would appear from one hundred planets, showing how rare they were. Stage 9 experts didn't even exist at this point in time. The last one disappeared over ten thousand years ago.

While thinking about his plans for the year ahead, Qing Fang stumbled on a lake deep within the forest. Due to the Law of Water being prominent in this world, there were water bodies everywhere, even in forests. However, Qing Fang was attracted by this lake in particular.

On three sides, it was shielded by a thick wall of tall luscious trees. On the last side, there was a small grass clearing, where Qing Fang was currently stood. Due to the towering trees on three sides, only a small part of the water was lit by the sun. The rest was shrouded in darkness, bearing an aura of mystery and danger.

Qing Fang was marvelling at the works of nature when danger suddenly screamed in his head.

Erecting a tall pillar of raging water around him, Qing Fang suddenly felt a burning pain in his back as the sound of water being cut resounded in his ears.

Looking back, he saw a gaping hole in his water barrier. Through it, he could see a lean and tall man staring at him. Specifically, he was looking at the dagger made of shadows embedded in Qing Fang's lower back.

Qing Fang had no time to wonder who was attacking him or how he was found, he was currently on high alert. This was because the man before him was a Stage 4 cultivator. Although Qing Fang was confident of crushing any Stage 3 cultivator, Stage 4 was different. As you go up the stages, the gap between them got wider and wider until lower cultivators didn't even have a fighting chance. Between Stage 3 and Stage 4, the difference was quite big. A Stage 4 cultivator could confidently fight on par with thirty Stage 3 cultivators.

As for why Qing Fang was certain it was a Stage 4? Cultivators could tell each other's level at a glance. Only with a difference of 5 stages or more would one be blind to it.

Qing Fang's only advantage was that the Stage 4 before him appeared to cultivate Shadow path. Shadow path was more inclined towards stealth and assassination, robbing them of close-combat expertise.

However, things looked bad. The Stage 4 had already seriously injured Qing Fang and he was losing strength by the second. The only reason he could fight was due to his Stage 3 body that had tenacious vitality as well as regeneration. This wound would likely heal in one to two hours. But this was not enough. The outcome had already heavily tilted toward the Stage 4's favour because the wound decreased Qing Fang's strength.

The dagger was extremely deep into Qing Fang's flesh. If it was a bit longer, it would've broken through to the other side.

Focusing his eyes that turned dizzy for a second, Qing Fang steeled himself.

He was not losing his life here!

He swore this to himself was the water barrier around him suddenly turned into hundreds of water spheres. Each one had a diameter of one meter and they circled Qing Fang with beautiful patterns. These patterns were Qing Fang's most advanced defensive formation of the spheres. After training his techniques over hundreds of missions, his skills had reached such a level.

Within the defensive formation, Qing Fang removed the dagger from his flesh. Blood gushed like a faucet as Qing Fang went light-headed for a moment.

The Stage 4's eyes were steady while he was inwardly uneasy. The spheres that were rotating threateningly bore him a heavy sense of danger which he didn't dare to ignore. He wasn't specialised in this sort of combat but he couldn't back away into the shadows as he would like. This was an order from his master. He was to stall Qing Fang while his companion unearthed the coins. They would then reunite and kill Qing Fang together.

Seeing his opponent not advance, Qing Fang started to feel uneasy. 'Why is he not attacking? I've entered a passive stance. He should be capitalising on the opportunity to take advantage of my injuries to wear me out...' Watching the feet of the Stage 4 carefully, Qing Fang was ready for any sudden bursts of speed. The speed of the Stage 4 was definitely tens of times higher than his due to higher cultivation and that Shadow path focused on speed rather than strength.

Standing in a deadlock for nearly a minute, Qing Fang was the one who moved.

The hundreds of spheres dancing in the air suddenly emitted a suffocating murderous intent aimed toward the Stage 4 cultivator. They entwined with each other in the air with perfect coordination. Only a third of them were mobilised for this attack, showing how Qing Fang was still more focused on defence.

The Stage 4 saw countless spheres encircle him before moving forward with the intent of removing the bottom half of his body. Of those used in the attack, half went forward for close combat while the other half circled him and shot smaller spheres all around him like bullets. Qing Fang was taking away his option to dodge his attack and forcing him to use his shadows to face it head-on.

With a focused gaze, the shadow beneath the Stage 4's feet suddenly enlarged by dozens of times, turning into a flowing darkness that swallowed all of the attacking spheres into its domain.

Then, under Qing Fang's anxious watch, the spheres were robbed from his control and fell to the ground with a splash. As hundreds of spheres fell powerlessly, the ground slightly shook as the thunderous noise of crashing water resounded.

Feeling the loss of strength in his body, Qing Fang materialised more spheres that rejoined the defensive formation. His actions were very wary of the attacks this speed-orientated opponent could suddenly burst out with.

However, the Stage 4 cultivator remained still.

Puzzled, Qing Fang moved his sights from the body of his enemy to his eyes. But when he did, an uncontrollable rage exploded within him!

In the eyes of his opponent, he saw mockery, calm and worst of all: pity.

The arrogance he kept locked away shattered its seals as an aura ten times more dangerous than before emanated from Qing Fang.

A sudden feeling of imminent death washed over the Stage 4 expert as he stared at Qing Fang with shock. Just a moment ago, he was feeling sorry for the Water path opponent he was facing as he thought of the fate that awaited him. This was because he was caught in the midst of all this unknowingly. But the next second, only fear was there.

The desire to retreat slowly rising in his enemy's heart, Qing Fang burst out with unprecedented speed that was fueled by his rage.

...

Sat in the Void and staring at this scene, the Creation Deity glanced at the red figure beside him.

He had felt the red figure send something toward his Universe, though he didn't know what it was.

However, right after, the mortal they were watching burst out with anger and erupted with strength equal to Stage 4. It was quite rare for cultivators to have the strength to fight higher stages.

Curious about what caused this development, the Creation Deity looked into the soul of the mortal Qing Fang.

All he saw was uncontrollable, destructive and murderous rage.

Looking back to the moment he suddenly exploded, the Creation Deity felt an arrogance and pride deeply woven into Qing Fang's soul be stimulated suddenly.

The Creation Deity realised that what the red figure did was likely to be this. He stimulated the pride that Qing Fang normally locked away, and due to the circumstances, he exploded with anger.

Unable to contain his curiosity, the Creation Deity spoke.