Chapter 24: 'Friendly' Passerby
Chapter 24: ‘Friendly’ Passerby
‘Most obviously some operation is going….maybe that Liang tribe is in some sort of conflict.’ Cain was making several astute observations while analyzing the campsite ahead.
He noticed several critical things that led him to believe that this Liang Tribe may be in a conflict with another power.
Firstly, these three brown leather armor men were all making coordinated lines around the campsite. They all seemed to be on the utmost alert as if they’re expecting an attack at any time.
His second reasoning came in the form of what lies at the center of the campsite. A glowing brown flag that appeared to be several meters tall stood rooted right at their center. Inscribed on the flag part was a unique symbol Cain never saw before in his life.
When Cain focused his Soul Sense on the flag, he had even perceived a slight sensation of energy from it.
Even if Cain didn’t have that meeting with those previous Liang Tribe men, this campsite alone would’ve still caught his interest.
Beyond what’s shown here, Cain had also sensed two more presences slumbering inside two of the tents. And one of those presences felt the strongest out of them all. Cain assumed that had to be their Leader.
“Say, should we promptly start trouble? Or mess around a little bit.” Kali quietly whispered to Cain, waking him from his own thoughts.
She kept her eyes glued on the campsite, suspecting some conflict is occurring around this area. Although, her suspicions were only on the surface level. Kali was more anticipating the inevitable fight that will happen between them.
Glancing over to Kali, Cain took a moment to think of a decision. With little to zero information, he decided it wouldn’t be wrong to mess around a bit.
With his mind quickly made up, Cain gave a small calming smile and told Kali, “Let’s at least give them a chance and act as a friendly passerby just looking for directions. This way, we can either get information or get another chance to stretch out our bones.”
“Alright. Let’s go.” Kali turned calmer as she prepared to go up.
Once both Cain and Kali collected themselves, they began to casually stroll up to the campsite.
The sibling duo walked in a simple nonchalant manner. If anyone were to spot them, they wouldn’t think they’re a pair who’s either strong or have a high lust for battle.
Then, once the sibling duo reached 50 feet from the campsite, one of the Liang Tribe men immediately snapped his attention over to them.
“Halt you two! Do not resist and come with me!”
The Liang Tribe man strolled up to the sibling duo in an intimidatingly aggressive manner. His voice was loud, filled with power from Spirit Qi energy.
As the Liang Tribe man got close to Cain and Kali, he felt zero apprehension of danger about them. In fact, he could barely feel any power at all from them.
With their looks and nearly nonexistent energy, the Liang Tribe man knew these two would be suitable for them.
Under normal circumstances, the Liang Tribe man expected Cain and Kali to be shaking with fear and worry.
However, he didn’t see any of that from the sibling duo.
Even when he got dangerously near them, there wasn’t even a hint of concern on either of their faces.
“Ah, we mean no harm, really. We’re just two travelers looking to ask some questions.” Cain calmly explained.
He and Kali even put on their best friendly smile, truly showing they have no intentions of causing any trouble.
The Liang Tribe man had only disdainfully snorted in response. “You can ask what you want when you come back with me. I will cut straight to the point, The great power Liang Tribe is in need of some slaves. No matter how weak you are, it would be best if you don’t resist. Otherwise, don’t blame me if I end up accidentally breaking something.”
“I see….quite domineering, are we? Well then, if you’re not going to answer us, we won’t stick around. Let’s go, brother.”
Kali didn’t even wait for the Liang Tribe man’s reaction. She promptly turned on her heels alongside Cain and began walking off in the same casual manner.
Neither of them had even taken a second glance back at the Liang Tribe man.
At the same time they began walking back, the Liang Tribe man swiftly took out his sword. “Tch, little brats, how ignorant you must be of the situation. It seems you two need to be taught the ways of the world.”
As he spoke, the Liang Tribe man’s killing intent ferociously surged. With the current pressure he was releasing, he expected the sibling duo to go still like statues.
But when seeing that Cain and Kali basically ignore him, the man’s eyes dangerously narrowed.
Right then, the Liang Tribe man was about to burst forward and pierce his sword through Cain’s body, uncaring whether he lives or dies.
However, as soon as he tensed his body, a horrifying dreadful feeling forced the man to stop dead in his tracks.
A burst of cold sweat pooled down the man’s face like a freezing waterfall. His breathing shortened as an immense swirl of fear took hold of him.
This terrifying feeling….it was like death was right near him!
Then, before the Liang Tribe man could even process what was going on, a ghostly shadow flashed right in front of his face.
‘Chi!’
Blood squirted out like a red stream, and the man felt a tremendous pain in his chest.
On instinct, the man shot his eyes down to his chest and his pupils shrunk to tiny needle dots. Like his body was nothing but soft tofu, Cain had easily torn his fist right into his chest!
“Ah-Ahhh!?! Ho-how?!”
The Liang Tribe man was warped with fear and pain. His body has been tempered by Spirit Qi for several levels. Against weaker foes, he shouldn’t be harmed at all!
Furthermore, the man couldn’t even stimulate his Spirit Qi anymore. Cain’s own dense Spirit Qi was heavily overpowering his.
Watching the man groan in agony and struggle upon his fist, Cain only gave a simple smirk. He didn’t bother wasting any more words and struck out with his other fist at lightning speed.
Without any resistance, Cain brutally smashed the Liang Tribe man’s head, effectively killing him one hit.
Once he was dead, Cain pulled out his bloody fist and indifferently watched as the man’s corpse fell to the ground.
“Lian!! You bastards!!”
And at the very moment Lian’s corpse touched the ground, a mighty shout reverberated in the area.
“An attack! Kill them!” Three other shouts immediately followed up after the first one.
Right then, from 100 feet away, four brown leather armor men rushed towards Cain and Kali at incredible speeds.
Each of them was spouting fierce expressions, spewing out malicious killing intent that wrapped around the sibling duo like a hurricane.
Cain and Kali didn’t waste any words. They surged their Spirit Qi and blasted forward in a head-on charge!
In that instance, both Cain and Kali became blurry shadows to the Liang Tribe men.
“Wha??”
The strongest one among the four suddenly slammed on the brakes as he lost sight of the sibling duo. Right then, before he could sense where they went, two loud impacts sounded out.
‘Bang, Bang!’
“Arrgh!!”
Accompanying the impacts were two horrific wails that sounded like the squeals of death. Blood sputtered out like crimson droplets, dying the nearby trees and grounds.
All in a single second, without the Leader being able to react, two of the Liang Tribe men were tossed into trees like broken ragdolls.
They both slumped to the ground, blood pouring out of their mouths, their bodies sparsely twitching.
“Th-this?! What the hell?!”
The Leader was fraught with pure horror. That speed! It was simply unimaginable! Even though he’s the strongest, he wouldn’t be able to attain such crazed speeds at his current level.
But before the man could fully process those attacks, another sickening impact sounded out, and blood burst out like a water balloon.
Only a second after the first two men got struck, the third man right beside the Leader was sent crashing into another tree. His state was the same as the others, blood pooling out of his mouth and his body sparsely twitching.
Finally then, it was like a bomb went off in the Leader’s mind.
“Ah-Ahh!!”
‘Hua!’
A strong energy released from the Leader’s body as he desperately retreated a hundred feet back.
Once at a fair distance away, he finally saw just who were the terrifying figures attacking them. His eyes were full of fear while staring at Cain and Kali, who had blood dripping from their hands.
Suppressing the overwhelming fear surging in his heart, the Leader glared at the sibling duo and roared out, “Just who-who are you?! Are you with the Kong Clan?!”
Cain and Kali exchange a brief knowing look with each other. Their lips slightly curved up before turning their attention back on the Leader.
“No, we don’t know anything about the Kong Clan. We’re just random passersby wanting our questions answered. Too bad for our question, one of your men was planning on maiming us just because we didn’t want to be your slave.”
Cain calmly explained. At any time, he could quickly crush this man’s life. But, he just wanted a little bit more information before doing so.
“Is-it that right?” The Leader couldn’t get rid of the shakiness in his voice.
And realistically, how could he? Both of these kids could instantly kill his men, and he can’t sense their level at all! He wasn’t sure if he could win or even safely escape.
In that instance, the Leader made a split decision, putting on a seemingly amicable smile while saying, “Look, I know we started off wrong, but with what you showed, I’m sure we can get along quite well. In these woods, my Liang Tribe is a superior power to all. We only have one rivaling power, which is the Kong Clan, but soon enough, we will eliminate them. And you see, if you two join the Liang Tribe as extra fighters, then you’re rewa-“
“Extra fighters? You truly mean extra slaves, no? Do you think we will be fool by sweet-sounding words?”
Cain sharply interrupted with a deathly cold tone. His eyes glare daggers at the Leader, inscribing him with fearsome pressure.
The Leader surprisingly still kept his smile and began saying, “Is that right? Well in that c-”
Suddenly then, the Leader interrupted himself, swinging his sword out of his scabbard in an instant.
Upon releasing his sword, the Leader’s energy grew powerful! At the same time, a bright blue energy covered his sword. The energy quickly gathered at the blade’s tip, and the Leader immediately unleashed a blue-ray energy beam towards Cain and Kali!
“Spirit Qi attack!”
Kali instinctively shouted, her eyes lighting up with intrigue.
The Spirit Qi beam traveled fast, but Cain and Kali were even quicker.
With a sway of their bodies, Cain and Kali leaped off in separate directions, easily dodging the powerful Spirit Qi beam.
And soon as Cain’s feet touched the ground, he rushed right towards the Leader!
“Yo-Die!!”
The Leader nearly lost his wits seeing Cain frantically charge at him. He instantly swung his sword again, unleashing another Spirit Qi beam.
Cain didn’t slow down his charge at all, only increasing his speed and easily dodging the Spirit Qi beam by swaying his body a bit to the right.
Then, without stopping, Cain went for a direct clash, brazenly swinging his fist towards the Leader.
Despite it only being a simple fist, it brought upon a great pressure for the Leader. He only had a split second to react. With his survival instincts frantically going off, he tore his sword straight down towards Cain’s mighty fist.
‘Bang!’
Fist met sword in a chaotic collision. Waves of powerful Spirit Qi burst all around them, kicking up the wind in a frenzied whirlwind.
“Geh!!”
From the clash, the Leader took numerous steps back. Blood was leaking out his mouth, and a tyrant energy was wreaking havoc through his whole body.
After twenty hard steps back, the Leader forcefully suppressed the pain and energy. He snapped his gaze up and immediately became fraught with horror once again.
Despite clashing with a sword covered with powerful Spirit Qi, Cain barely looked like he was affected.
From the clash, Cain had only taken three steps back and felt a slight sting on his knuckles.
Smirking just a bit, Cain matched his eyes with the fearful Leader and pointed his fist out. “What’s wrong? I was expecting more from you.”