Chapter 034: The Shameless Scoundrel

“Hmph, for your sake, our sect dispatched several parties, searching and lying in wait throughout the Northern Border Forest… To die by our hands, you should consider yourself honored!” The elder at the forefront lifted his nose to the sky, clearly dissatisfied with the mission. No doubt, he believed dealing with a mere junior was far beneath him.

“Hahaha, Yun, even you have fallen! With your cultivation sealed, try being as arrogant as you were before!” a young female cultivator cried out, her indignation apparent.

Another man threw his head back with a wild laugh. “Junior brother, tonight your senior avenges you with blood!”

Watching these theatrics, Lin Zhan leaned over to whisper to Zha Shi.

“So you killed their junior brother, Senior Yun. No wonder they’re hunting you down.”

Zha Shi replied with a few swift words, barely concealing his disdain. The grudge, it turned out, arose during a hunt in the Northern Border Forest. Zha Shi had slain one Liang Qian, a disciple of the Liang family attached to Westward Peak.

Despite being called a subordinate clan, the Liang family held moderate prestige among the many clans outside Blue Ice City, and their strength was not to be underestimated. Only a select few of their elite disciples could enter Westward Peak on Blazing Ice Mountain to cultivate.

At the time, Zha Shi and two of his fellow disciples were tracking a wild beast when they stumbled upon Liang Qian and his followers robbing a weaker group of cultivators. True to his nature, Zha Shi intervened forcefully, killing the instigator Liang Qian and seriously injuring several of his followers—one of whom, a woman, stood among their adversaries today. The grudge was forged in that moment.

“In the Northern Border Forest, a cultivator is but a grain of sand—life is as cheap as grass. If you’re weaker, you die. Simple as that,” Zha Shi remarked, entirely unmoved.

“Senior Yun, surely the Liang family isn’t your only enemy?” Lin Zhan probed.

Zha Shi curled his lips. “Ha! There have been so many, I’ve lost count—and I won’t bother to remember. Scoundrels who disgrace the title of cultivator!”

Lost count? Lin Zhan’s mouth formed a perfect O.

Yet he found himself agreeing with Zha Shi’s latter words. People were as insignificant as dust, yet the fighting never ceased. Some sowed evil wherever they went. Such men deserved execution. Were Lin Zhan capable, he would do the same.

As the taunts continued, Zha Shi swiftly ended his conversation with Lin Zhan. Wiping the blood from his mouth, he sneered, “So this is the Zhao family’s way—bullying the weak with numbers and age. Since you’re so shameless, let me at least take a few more of you with me before I die!”

A surge of grim resolve rose within Zha Shi; he looked every bit the warrior prepared to die for his cause. Lin Zhan fell back a step, his right hand clenched in readiness—prepared to intervene at a moment’s notice.

Though Zha Shi feigned that his cultivation remained sealed, hoping to catch his foes off guard and kill as many as possible, Lin Zhan saw through the act. Zha Shi was genuinely injured, his strength greatly diminished.

Lin Zhan knew he had to lend his strength. This natural-born cauldron was at his most useful now.

Zha Shi brandished his heavy sword and, with steps even more dazzling than Lin Zhan’s, charged into the enemy ranks. At that moment, he looked every inch the doomed brute with sealed cultivation.

Death could come in just a few exchanges.

After all, both elders were yellow-grade cultivators; dealing with a pest like Zha Shi should have been as easy as swatting a fly.

And truly, the battle unfolded exactly as Zha Shi had planned—he wanted them to underestimate him, to see him as no more than a peak human-grade cultivator!

Of the six enemies, only three of the younger cultivators moved. The rest—save for the woman Zha Shi had injured before, and the two elders who disdained to fight—held back. Thus, Zha Shi needed only to face three at once.

Arrogant as ever, Zha Shi had boasted to Lin Zhan that he was unrivaled beneath yellow grade. With his agile footwork and flawless disguise, the three Zhao family youths never realized their peril until the heavy sword’s edge flashed—one lost his head, another was cleaved in two, and perhaps only in those final moments did they understand, dying with eyes wide open.

The woman Zha Shi had previously wounded, upon witnessing this, let out a shriek, coughed blood, and collapsed in a faint.

Zha Shi’s wave of slaughter—three dead and one down—at last roused the two elders to action. Their disdain vanished, replaced by a fury that made their faces flush and veins bulge. Weapons drawn, they advanced from left and right.

“Shameless wretch! You’ve infuriated this old man!” they bellowed.

By now, only a fool would still believe Zha Shi’s cultivation was sealed.

Based on what Zha Shi had confided to Lin Zhan, with the situation this dire, it was time for a strategic retreat.

But before withdrawing, Zha Shi had no qualms about using his secret weapon: a one-use Ninefold Skill-Stealing Talisman, forcibly boosting his cultivation to the early yellow grade for a short time—just enough to cause these two geezers some trouble.

If fortune smiled, perhaps he could seriously injure one of them—then the risk would be worth it.

Facing these provocateurs, Zha Shi was more than willing to strike back with interest.

By now, his robes were in tatters, baring a torso of corded muscle.

“Hahaha! Birds of a feather, even your stupidity matches! You fools—my cultivation was never sealed, and I’ve already stepped into the yellow grade. Do you two decrepit relics really think you’re my match?” Zha Shi’s laughter rang out, utterly ignoring Lin Zhan’s anxiety behind him.

The two yellow-grade elders faltered at his words, their faces darkening.

Zha Shi gave them no chance to react—the Ninefold Skill-Stealing Talisman flared, and yellow-grade power erupted from him.

“Falling Stars!”

His sword swept down in a move as breathtaking as it was powerful.

The two elders’ hearts sank. “This is bad!”

What word could describe their plight? Only “frustration” sufficed.

They had thought themselves overqualified to take down a supposedly sealed, peak human-grade junior. Now, three of their young disciples lay dead, another collapsed in rage, and both of them found themselves cornered.

Their old faces turned pale, then flushed with anger and shame.

Confronted with an attack called Falling Stars—which sounded every bit a finishing move—the two elders could only brace themselves, weapons raised to block.

Why “only”? Because both elders themselves had only just entered the early yellow grade. Against a peak human-grade Zha Shi, they would have crushed him. But against a yellow-grade Zha Shi who fought with such ferocity, they couldn’t help but hesitate—who could say what level this unpredictable brat had reached? If he were mid-yellow grade, they’d be walking to their deaths.

Zha Shi’s Falling Stars was so dazzling that even Lin Zhan momentarily believed it. He thought Zha Shi truly had reached yellow grade and could stand alone—so much so that he forgot to use the Nine Stars Diagram’s cauldron skill…