Book 1- The Start of Cultivation Chapter 15: Is This How I Die?

After exchanging pleasantries, Ma Wei continued, "I've arranged for three additional carriages for your use during the journey. There are a total of twenty people traveling with me this time, including my five personal guards. We can depart immediately."

"Understood." Meng Xi turned to her team. "Jin Xiang and Jin Daiyu, you'll take one carriage. Ren Xiang and I will take another. Li Shi and Xue San, you'll share the last. When we make camp, we'll patrol in pairs at night. Is that clear?" Her voice brooked no dissent.

"Yes!" they responded in unison.

Xue San didn't know yet, but this mission would become a pivotal turning point in his life as a cultivator. In the years to come, he would ponder whether he might have achieved his current standing had he not undertaken this crucial task today.

If everything went smoothly, the journey from the Soaring Sword Sect to the Darkwood City would take them about four weeks by carriage.

The first three weeks of the journey passed smoothly. During this time, Xue San didn't dare to cultivate near Li Shi, so he focused on meditating on the Hundred QiHands. Thanks to his hard work, he could now conjure two Qi hands.

But when he attempted to manifest a third, he hit an impassable wall. It felt as if he were delving into realms beyond his current capabilities. The path ahead twisted and tangled; up became down, forward became backward. He felt disoriented, as though lost in a labyrinth of his own making. It was an utterly confounding sensation.

As if that weren't enough, Li Shi was a chatterbox who wouldn't shut up for a moment, and the topics he droned on about held no importance to Xue San.

One night, as the group sat around the bonfire talking, Xue San decided to voice a question that had been on his mind for days.

"Senior Sister Meng Xi," he began, "I was wondering—with a mission offering such great rewards, why did you have such difficulty finding people to join you?"

He wasn't sure, but he thought he saw a flicker of coldness in everyone's eyes after he spoke.

Silence hung in the air for a moment. Then Li Shi began to speak. "You see—"

"Li Shi!" the Jin brothers interrupted in unison.

Stunned by their sudden reaction, Xue San began to feel nervous. He heard Meng Xi sigh.

"It's because of me," she said. "As you know, I am at the top of the outer sect. When I choose a mission, few would dare to challenge me for it. The truth is my—"

BANG! Meng Xi couldn't finish her sentence before she unsheathed her sword and shouted, "Who is there?" Everyone was startled but reacted instantly, rising and readying themselves for battle.

Xue San was the only one unprepared for such situations. After all, the minor scuffles he'd had with village boys couldn't be counted as fighting. But Meng Xi already knew he had zero combat experience.

"Xue San, go stand next to Sir Ma Wei and make sure no one gets close to him, understood?"

"Y... Yes." He wanted to sound confident, but his voice faltered.

Ma Wei was surrounded by his guards. The others who accompanied them hid inside the carriages, praying they'd survive.

A band of bandits emerged, from the dark forest, wielding all manner of weapons.

"Quite the sharp little lass you are. Well, it doesn't matter—I prefer it this way," cackled a burly man who looked more like a bear than a human. "Leave all your belongings and the women behind, and scram!" bellowed the bear-like man, brandishing a massive axe.

"We are disciples of the Soaring Sword Sect! If you leave now, we'll overlook this transgression!" Meng Xi shouted back. Though she projected confidence, fear gnawed at her insides. She recognized this group—the infamous Savage Beasts Bandit Group—and their leader known as Bear-Axe, notorious among outer sect disciples.

They had earned their name through their savagery; they always left their victims' bodies as if beasts had feasted upon them. To make matters worse, Bear-Axe was at the sixth stage of the Qi Condensation. In contrast, Meng Xi was the only one among her group at that level.

The rest of her comrades—the Jin brothers and Ren Xiang—were at the fourth stage. Li Shi was at the fifth, and Xue San was only at the second.

"Hahaha! Don't worry, little lass—I'll enjoy your company first," Bear-Axe sneered. "And don't try to scare me with your sect. We know that even if we kill you all, they won't avenge you if you die on a mission," he added, a predatory grin spreading across his face.

Assessing the dire situation, Meng Xi whispered urgently to her comrades, "There are thirty of them in total. Excluding the leader, they have ten cultivators—two at the fourth stage, four at the third, and another four at the second stage of the Qi Condensation Realm. Li Shi, can you handle the two at the fourth stage alone?"

"Yes!" Li Shi responded resolutely.

"Good. The rest of you, take care of the others. You're all disciples of a great sect, so hold them back as long as you can. After I finish with the leader, I'll help you."

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"What about the others?" asked Ren Xiang.

"They're mortals, so Xue San should be able to handle them. And we still have Sir Ma Wei's guards; if I'm not mistaken, they should also be cultivators."

This entire exchange might seem lengthy, but it transpired in an instant.

"Charge!" Bear-Axe roared.

Xue San was at a loss; he didn't know what to do. Yes, he was a cultivator now, but he'd never learned how to fight. Coming from a remote, peaceful village, the sight of bloodshed unnerved him. Yet despite his fear, he obeyed and moved to protect Ma Wei.

The battle splintered into three fronts. Meng Xi faced off against Bear-Axe; Li Shi engaged two other bandits at the 4th Stage; and the Jin brothers, alongside Ren Xiang, confronted the rest of the bandits at the 3rd and 2nd Stages of the Qi Condensation Realm.

The fight involving the Jin brothers and Ren Xiang seemed the most intense. They moved as one, forming a formation that allowed them to attack and defend from every angle. Their seamless coordination spoke of long hours of practice.

The bandits assailed them with all sorts of weapons like bows and spears. Yet the trio held their ground. It was apparent that, in terms of techniques and cultivation, they surpassed the bandits.

But what surprised Xue San even more was Li Shi. That chatterbox was remarkably skilled; he was actually pushing back two opponents at the 4th Stage.

Xue San recognized the martial art technique Li Shi was using. He had seen it while choosing a technique for himself in the Scripture Pavilion. It was called the "Dragonfly Sword Art," focusing on extremely fast and precise attacks. The technique was divided into three parts, and the outer sect only had access to the first. So Xue San gave up on it.

But seeing it in action left him astonished. Li Shi's sword moved so swiftly that Xue San only saw afterimages; it was as if the bandits were fighting three opponents instead of one.

"Arghhh!" A piercing scream cut through the battlefield. One of the bandits fighting Li Shi had just lost an arm.

Seizing the opportunity, Li Shi pressed forward, his attacks accelerating. In a blur of motion, the bandit who had lost his arm was decapitated.

Now facing a single opponent, the remaining bandit panicked. "Captain, hel—" He couldn't finish before Li Shi seemed to teleport behind him, and then his head separated from his body.

Bear-Axe didn't seem to care about losing his comrades; he continued his relentless assault on Meng Xi.

"Hahaha, little lass, come here and let me show you what a real man is like," Bear-Axe taunted, a wide grin splitting his brutish face.

Meng Xi unsheathed her sword and charged. She knew that the longer the fight dragged on, the slimmer their chances of survival became.

Bear-Axe employed a strange technique that enveloped his entire body in a green aura. He swung his massive axe with reckless abandon, seemingly unconcerned with defense.

Meng Xi, meanwhile, wielded her sword enveloped in a soft blue glow, moving nimbly and gracefully like a feather dancing in the wind, dodging Bear-Axe's powerful swings.

Her technique was mesmerizing; her sword flowed like water, landing precise strikes. But her attacks only left shallow scratches on Bear-Axe's skin.

"Hahaha! Little lass, I enjoy opponents like you the most. When I'm done with you—"

Before he could finish, Li Shi appeared behind him in a blur, his sword slicing so swiftly that Xue San saw only a flash as Li Shi attempted to decapitate the bandit leader.

Suddenly, the green aura around Bear-Axe intensified. Li Shi's blade inflicted only a superficial wound. Everyone was stunned by this development—except the bandits.

Seizing the moment when Li Shi was off-balance, Bear-Axe swung his massive fist, striking Li Shi squarely in the chest.

Li Shi was sent hurtling through the air like a rag doll, crashing into a distant tree. His fate was uncertain.

"Im... impossible! He's just some bandit with no background, how can he be so powerful" Meng Xi gasped, horror etched on her face. This level of power was unheard of for someone at the 6th Stage.

"Now that the little bug is dealt with, we can continue our game, little lass," the bandit leader sneered, his eyes gleaming with malicious delight.

Meanwhile, the other outer sect disciples were struggling. Despite their superior cultivation, the bandits' sheer numbers were overwhelming them. Their bodies were already full of injuries.

Then the mortal bandits began advancing in Xue San's direction, ready to attack, but the guards around Ma Wei did not seem to care.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed one of the bandits breaking away from the main fight, heading toward the area where the women and children were hiding.

Without thinking, Xue San sprinted toward the bandit. Ma Wei didn't seem to care that Xue San left his side.

Sensing someone approaching, the bandit turned to see a young man charging at him. Narrowing his eyes, he hurled two daggers toward Xue San.

Startled, Xue San instinctively summoned the Hundred Qi Hands. The daggers veered off course, deflected as if by an invisible force. Before the bandit could react, Xue San was upon him.

The bandit felt as if a boulder had slammed into him. The air was driven from his lungs as he was lifted off his feet, sailing several feet before crashing to the ground. His ribs shattered, lungs punctured—he died moments later, never comprehending what had struck him.

Xue San barely had time to process what he'd done when a scream tore through the air—from Meng Xi's direction.

He turned to see her hand mangled and bleeding, her sword shattered. The bear-like bandit leader was closing in on her.

"Yes, yes, that's the spirit," the bandit leader grinned, his face alight with twisted excitement.

"No... no! Get away from me!" Meng Xi cried out, desperation in her voice.

"The more you resist, the more enjoyable this becomes," he taunted, advancing step by step.

"Stop!" Xue San shouted, rushing to her side.

Bear-Axe glanced over to see a youth of fourteen or fifteen charging toward him.

"Hmph, another bug to squash," he sneered, his grin widening, eyes gleaming with twisted pleasure at all the bloodshed.

As Xue San came within twenty feet, he used the Hundred Qi Hands and attacked with all his might. But to his horror, Bear-Axe used his fist to simply punch against his attack.

His fist was enveloped in that eerie green aura, it collided with Xue San's attack.

A thunderous bang resounded as Xue San's Qi Hand was shattered into tiny fragments.

A sharp pain stabbed through his head, momentarily disrupting Xue San focus. In that split second, Bear-Axe moved with a speed that didn't match his massive frame.

He closed the distance before anyone could react and delivered a brutal strike to Xue San's chest. Xue San was nearly cleaved in two; he only survived because the axe had blunt edges. Even so, his chest was torn open, a gruesome wound gaping. Anyone witnessing this would be horrified by the severity of his injuries; Meng Xi was certain Xue San was dead.

He lay on the ground, his chest ravaged. Agony exploded within him; the pain was beyond comprehension. He wanted to scream, to cry out, but he couldn't even breathe.

"Is this how I die?" he wondered, despair creeping in, tears mingling with blood. He didn't want to die; he didn't want to feel this pain. He was scared.

Just as darkness threatened to overtake him, a sudden heat surged through his veins. His blood felt like liquid fire, boiling within. The pain in his chest began to fade, then...

"RAAAHHHHHH!!!" Xue San let out a scream that sounded more beast than human. He didn't know why, but at that moment, his fear was replaced by an overwhelming, untamable rage. Something primal was awakening within him.