Like obedient dogs, the children all returned to their cages. Hanzo was really satisfied, no one tried to flee. He turned to address them, “A swift count reveals, there are only 287 bodies here. Do you know what that means?”
“No one escaped! Please count again!” One kid shouted.
Hanzo only smiled.
“There was never 400 people in village, were there?” Wang Jun asked, he finally realized this ploy. So did everyone else. They had been played this time.
“Are you accusing me of being dishonest?” Hanzo kept his face full of smiles. “I want none of these runts to wake up tomorrow with their 10 toes remaining on their legs!” Hanzo said out loud as jumped on his mount.
“FUCK!” Yu Han could not endure anymore. He applied just a bit of pressure on the bar and easily broke it off and got out. “I will kill you!” He directly went after Hanzo. Despite being just a foundation establishment stage level 1: Fate Palace establishment stage, it only took him a brief instant to brush past the Bandit guards to reach Hanzo.
“Just with you?” But to Yu Han’s shock, Hanzo had disappeared. He had leaped into the sky. And then in a swift move, he had hit the back of Yu Han’s head and brought him to the ground. “A mere Foundation Establishment stage 1 like you dare to test me?”
“You had best not underestimate me!” Yu Han had thought this a lot in his head many times. And he wasn’t afraid to bring out his Fate Palace. He’s read the Incomplete War Formulae and had learned how to utilize one’s fate palace to fight his opponents. The moment Yu Han brought his massive Fate Palace, his strength sky rocketed. He was able to get up while pushing Hanzo back.
“Captain…!!” The Bandit guards were a moments too short to react. They had only sensed someone rushing past them towards Hanzo, and then saw Hanzo had pinned down the boy. They were at least at stages 2 or 3 of Foundation Establishment stage. How did a mere Stage 1 rookie managed to blitz past?
“Stay…I will personally deal with this one, show everyone how I deal with those who oppose me,” Hanzo did not lose his cool.
Wang Jun patiently watched. For now, he had no ideas about running out of the cage. Neither did anyone else. But, none of them were actually willing to part with a part of their body. To this end, they were of a unified mindset.
Yu Han let loose with a punch. It was aimed at Hanzo. The Fate Palace seemed to have developed an aura of a hand simultaneously as it copied this motion with ferocity. This actually shocked Hanzo. He had thought Yu Han was merely at stage 1, but this implied he was already at Stage 2 of Foundation Establishment; Fate Soul. He instantly unsheathed his sword, and with a single swing, brushed away at the attack.
“More!” Yu Han materialized his second Fate Palace. “Merge!” He slammed both palms into one in front of him, then, made a slicing motion. The two Fate Palaces, actually joined together into one. An aura of a sword, and one much more ferocious than before materialized, and in an instant, like roaring thunder, fell down towards Hanzo. Wang Jun was shocked. He had not even tried to use such a technique with his fate palace. In truth, although he too had read the Incomplete War Formulae, he did not pay too much attention to it. If he brought out those 100 Fate Palaces, naturally, he could even contend with a Heaven Rank cultivator on equal grounds, while only being at Stage 1 Foundation Establishment. Not just Wang Jun, even Hanzo was badly frightened at this point.
Who was Bandit King Jerome? Why was he so frightening? There were quite a few Heaven Rank peak stage experts hidden within their territory, but none of them would dare say they could win against Jerome. This was not without reason. Jerome was famous for possessing Heaven Qi as a base. And on top of that, he possessed not 1, but actually 4 Fate Palaces. This gave him confidence of survival against even Earth Stage Experts. Naturally, he did not put heaven stage experts in his eyes.
Hanzo did not even dare to block it head on. He jumped to a side, “Suppress him!” He yelled.
At his command, the spectating bandits glanced at each other. “Tie him down!” But who would have realized that from behind them, Wang Jun actually pounced in order to support his friend. He had also brought two palaces. But they were nowhere near in power to Yu Han. Yu Han’s 2 palaces were already comparable to 10 of Wang Jun. So in actuality, Wang Jun was the weaker one in the equation. Wang Jun didn’t mind this weakness as he mimicked Yu Han’s movements and slashed down against the Bandits.
The Bandits were caught off-guard and were instantly killed. A handful survived out of sheer luck. But they had no chance to mount even a defense. Yu Han was ready. He also attacked, finishing off the remaining bandits. Hanzo was immediately placed in a tight spot. 2 Fate Palaces? Heaven rank Qi. This was not something he, a Foundation Establishment Stage 7 could even hope to out run. Yu Han alone was close to a Heaven rank in power now. How could he deal with this? He really had hidden his abilities far too well. And then there was Wang Jun. If it was just Wang Jun, he had the confidence to be able to deal with him.
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“Brother Wang Jun…can you deal with him? I have something I need to do!” Just when Hanzo thought he had no way out, Yu Han’s voice resounded. He had turned away.
“Run!” Wang Jun yelled. He needed to get away from prying eyes, if he wanted to release his full power. This still wasn’t something he would easily show others.
Hanzo knew he was saved. He didn’t think too much as he began running. Wang Jun directly followed him, with both his Fate Palaces released, the power it supplied had shortened the gap between him and Hanzo,
“You should know what I must do?” Yu Han stared in rage, at those kids from his village. In just one day, they had been tainted with something that will accompany them for a lifetime. “You- you- you and you-“ Yu Han selected a group of kids, these were those that had stayed back with him and Wang Jun, those that did not join in the killings of today. “You should realize I will not let any of you escape alive. You must share the fate of these bandits- the people who killed our parents!” His voice carried grief, and tears flowed down nonstop. It hurt him just to let Hanzo go. But this was far too important. “You are no less than them in my mind!”
It wasn’t that those children tried to escape from the grasp of Yu Han, but they simply were not able to. He had soon managed to kill 22 of his former brothers, who had been friends or relatives in Mud Village.
“Bandit King Jerome!” Yu Han swore to kill this menace if it was the last thing he did. He looked at the six children he spared. “Are you with me?” He asked.
“Wherever brother Yu Han leads us to- we will follow!"
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“Did I just create 2 heaven defying geniuses?” The Celestial Sage Emperor mused, as he sat in his desolate world. He did not really intend to create this other monster. At this rate, he was going to shadow Wang Jun.
“Perhaps it is a good thing!” A great black crow appeared in the Celestial Sage Emperor’s court.
“Karasu!” The Celestial Sage Emperor expressed shock and delight. It was evident his mind had been read.
“No worries old friend. I am on your side.” The crow shrank in size until it was the size of a regular crow, and sat right in front of the Celestial Sage Emperor.
“Nothing escapes your grasp, Karasu,” Great Sage’s son could only lament at his helplessness. This crow was an existence that no thought could be hidden from. He was incomparably old, one of the oldest Celestial Sage Emperors that lived. Even the youngest was billions of years old. This Karasu had lived far longer than the life span of 5 or so Celestial Sage Emperors. An ancient being such as this, not only was he unfathomably powerful, but crafty as well.
“Yu Han is my incarnation...as is that boy yours, Renma,” Karasu said.
Renma shook his head. “That boy is not my incarnation. He is far too simple!” Incarnations referred to those mortals that had been force-formed by intent from an Earth Sage or stronger existence. These mortals would exhibit traits similar to the Celestial Sage Emperors whose incarnations that they are. Incarnations are impossible to trace. These incarnations can be used to wreak absolute havoc in lower realms and can even be used to reincarnate. These incarnations they are independent of the power that formed them, and so they can act however they want. But ones the power behind his incarnation’s calls on him, the incarnation would be left with no choice but to comply.
While Yu Han was not being controlled by Karasu, this action was in the end, something Karasu, the Celestial Sage Emperor would do.
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Across the terrain, Hanzo was closely followed by Wang Jun. He waited until they were at least 2 miles from the spot where Rock Village was, now barely visible in the horizon.
“You die now!” Wang Jun roared.
“Just you, are not qualified to kill me, boy!” Hanzo laughed. They were not far from the lair of Bandit King Jerome. Once he managed to enter its premise, Wang Jun would be left with no choice but to surrender. This time, he really made a huge mistake. How could he have made such a blunder in evaluating a potential life threatening disaster?
However, Hanzo suddenly sensed a surging aura, a very frightening one. He did not dare stop. Such an aura was only capable for a Heaven ranked expert, and he offended none. None of these existences would dare become enemies of Jerome. So he was very assured. Little he knew that it was actually coming from Wang Jun. “Stop!” With the power of a 100 Fate Palace, his power had far surpassed norms, allowed Wang Jun to instantly get in front of Hanzo.
Hanzo was shocked out of his wits. A innumerable number of Fate Palace…and they seemed to have covered the whole sky. “Impossible! How can there be such a thing?!” Hanzo went mad seeing this sight. Wang Jun- this was inconceivable. A hundred fate palace…how was he even able to stand? A single Fate Palace was already very taxing to bring out and use. Not mentioning the Qi used to activate the palaces themselves, each of them used a portion of a person’s Qi the more they are used. And Wang Jun did not show any signs of fatigue. No human should be able to be able to bear the immense stress from bearing this many Fate Palaces. Was this an illusion? It cannot be. He himself did not know any such skill that could make ones aura this frightening, so how could it had been taught to this boy?
“It is me who shall conquer all under heaven itself!” Wang Jun. He was like the Buddha, praying, as he clasped both hands together. His many Fate Palaces combined to form two hands, which then seemed to respond to what he was thinking. –Pa! Hanzo had been slammed with a mighty palm, crushing him in an instant.
Wang Jun quickly absorbed his Fate Palaces back into his dantian. Far off in the horizon was a lone mountain, 3000 meters high. This was the lair of Jerome the Bandit King. He stared at it for a long time. Then he turned and ran back to Rock Village.
Wang Jun wasn’t surprised to find the dead bodies of those children lying next to all those others of Rock Village. This was simply a tragic end to their happy lives. Only the 8 of them knew about the whole night’s incident.
They calmly walked away from the village. The way they were, Bandit King Jerome, they knew he was far too powerful for them to face. They would need to grow stronger if they hoped to exact revenge.