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  Eyes snapping open, Song Ru swallowed a shocked gasp as he felt his instincts wake him up forcefully. He sat up instantly, his eyes momentarily looking around wildly for any movement before he went completely still, his ears twitching when he noticed it. The creeping sound of several footsteps slowly approaching.

  Despite his nerves at the suddenness of his current situation, the teen forced himself to be calm, not only putting a blank expression on his face but also slowly creeping towards his nearby sword. In his paranoia the teen slept already fully dressed and ready to run at the slightest threat, but that did not help him at the moment as he winced; each sound his clothing made practically drummed against his ears.

  'Just three people,' he reasoned to himself, taking notice of the amount of footsteps.

  He grabbed his sword quietly, cursing the wooden scabbard that he had. It was a terrible idea to leave his weapon barren while he slept near it, but he also couldn't unsheathe it without making too much noise. Song Ru made a mental note to get another scabbard as soon as he could, together with stealthier clothing.

  While he doubted any ordinary group of bandits would be capable of killing him, neither would he be careless enough to give them the chance to. He was well aware that overconfidence killed just as many as weakness ever could, and for all his strength when compared to normal people, he was still made out of blood and bone just like them.

  Along with the fact that a few "bandits" were just loose cultivators lacking a few too many morals, most of the least dangerous ones often fought enough to have an instinctual amount of control over their Qi; some mortal bandits even had conscious control over it.

  'If they're even bandits...' he thought for a moment. Dread was starting to pile in his mind before he banished any wild theories before they even sprang up.

  Taking notice that the footsteps had stopped near the entrance of his tent, the teen held his breath, his body ready for violence. Muscles tightened against his skin, while his eyes were sharpened at the entrance of the tent. He had to forcefully control the amount of strength he put into the hilt, lest he break the sword before even fighting, for it wasn't of particularly high quality.

  'Did they notice me?' he wondered to himself. When they didn't move, a slight shiver went down his spine. If any of them had sharp enough hearing to hear him preparing himself from this distance, they'd be a threat.

  Swish.

  Just as a sword sliced through the back of the tent, nearly cleaving his head off, Song Ru both swung his own weapon and rolled to the side, ending up in a crouched position. The man's arm fell limply on the ground, and his sword clattered against the hard floor of the tent. Blood erupted everywhere, prompting a pained cry from the man. Just like that, the man's life was over.

  If the blood loss didn't kill him, being a cripple would. Yet, he did not just fall over and die peacefully. The man, who now had murder in his eyes, rushed in with a dagger in his remaining hand.

  Ashy blond hair clung to the man's forehead like a second skin as he fearlessly leapt towards the raven-haired teen. Time seemed to stop as they locked eyes.

  Despite the chaos that was erupting around him, the teen's golden eyes shone with an unnatural coldness. A flick of fear entered the older man's blue eyes at the expression he was met with.

  Blood splattered against his face as his jian sliced through the blond's throat. Hearing another set of footsteps coming in, the teen's eyes shone with malice as he kicked the shocked blond towards the entrance of his abode after taking the knife from the man's frozen hands.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  In addition to getting his current enemy skewered by his own ally, he threw the dagger towards the second man, a redhead with poisonous green eyes. The dagger missed the man's head, digging into his shoulder violently.

  However, Song Ru did not rejoice in victory, his eyes widening in panic as he sidestepped, nearly losing his neck as an arrow bit into his own shoulder in a show of karma. Feeling the Qi in the arrow dig itself into his skin, the teen grimaced as he tried to locate his true enemy in this group. Leaping towards the entrance, Song Ru quickly dispatched the bleeding man with a punch, his neck snapping with a sickly sound.

  Swoosh.

  'Fuck,' he cursed mentally as he dodged, his lips thinning at how exposed he was.

  Looking around, he finally found the archer. A woman with hazel-green eyes, dressed in similar clothing to himself, was perched on top of a tree, knocking another arrow into her bow with practised ease. Ignoring the gurgling from the dying blond and the battle cry from another swordsman coming towards him, they locked eyes. Sidestepping his third enemy, the golden-eyed teen grabbed the man by the nape and used him as a shield.

  As a result, the arrow aimed at his throat dug into the man's skull. The sound was like nails on a chalkboard to his ears, but he did not turn away from his assailant. Even as she decided he was too much risk for her own good and ran away, he still looked in her direction as she hopped from tree to tree.

  After waiting for a few seconds to make sure this wasn't a ruse, Song Ru flopped against the ground, letting go of the dead man. His enemy fell onto the ground face first, the arrow digging itself deeper into his deformed skull.

  "Fuck," Song Ru cursed out loud as he eyed the arrow in his shoulder. Taking a deep breath, he snapped the shaft as close to the skin as he could to ease his mobility without risking blood loss.

  Despite his wound, he rolled his shoulders, a wince appearing in his face at the pain, as he decided to take a look around before treating his wound. He needed to make sure there were no more enemies around.

  Closing his eyes, he breathed in. Qi poured into his lungs, and just as he was about to breathe out, he forced that Qi into his control, twisting it in the direction of his ears. It was a crude technique that would probably be taken as an insult to any prideful cultivator, but it worked.

  Along with his breath, the forest breathed into his ears. The leaves flew through the wind, while the trees stood valiantly against its onslaught. Animals, small and big, had taken notice of the fight and were staying away from it, and some were already preparing to swoop in and take whatever was left behind.

  Just as he was about to open his eyes, so sure that the closest human had already run 2 km through the trees, he froze. Something was wrong with the Qi near him. His eyebrows furrowed into his face as he tried to feel it bet―

  "How fascinating..." a woman said, her voice right behind him.

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  If you want to check it out ahead of time, Chapter 3 is already available for FREE Members on Patreon! If you want to support this novel, the membership tiers start at 2 dollars, and while it is not a lot of money, it would be a great source of motivation. <3

  I ended up stopping writing for a while because of some personal issues, but now I plan on writing a new chapter once a week. I'll have to write some more chapters for members first, however, so it may take a while for it to transfer to weekly postings here. <3