Back in the present, Yin Na was gripping the rat Yao Guai named Liao Ya Shu by one of its over-sized ears, as his other arm was raised with the insanely deadly brick poised lethally above the Yao Guai’s skull. With its shattered ribs, jaw and kneecaps, the rat Yao Guai could not move at all.

“Master!” it squealed, but its ruptured lungs gurgling blood made it really difficult for Liao Ya Shu to talk. “Master, please, I realized I was wrong!”

“Now that you’re near death, you know to call me ‘master’ again?” Yin Na said.

Yin Na himself was a bloody mess, his new martial arts clothing shredded to pieces by the Yao Guai’s furious attacks earlier. Though he was exhausted, if he was a mere mortal with no activated meridians like he has in Qi Refining, then he’d already have collapsed.

“Master please…spare my life. I’ll never betray you again, I’ll-”

“Correct, you won’t,” said Yin Na. “I intend to kill you when this is over. I’m betting you’re wishing you died throwing yourself at Tian Ji Han instead of cowardly running away during the chaos, now that you’re reduced to this sniveling, pathetic state beneath my feet, don’t you?”

“M-master!”

“Liao Ya Shu, do you know why the other Yao Guai fled?” Yin Na said with quiet emotion. “It’s because the other Yao Guai knew about the Golden Core-level Spicy Oil Boar that was still with me. You truly are a stupid Yao Guai, now that I sent the boar away it’s simply out of sight and out-of-mind for you, isn’t it?”

Liao Ya Shu coughed blood feebly through its mutilated teeth, realizing that it wasn’t able to talk its way out.

“It was…a trap? Why didn’t you just call the boar when I was…winning?”

A sinister smile crawled across Yin Na’s face.

“I could have called it and ended your struggle instantly, but what’s the fun in having someone else win your battles for you?” Yin Na said.

“Then…” Liao Ya Shu said. “Was the…vessel also part of your plan?”

SPLAT!

Chunks of brain and skull splattered Yin Na as he drove the brick down with all his might.

“Oh, nice,” Yin Na smiled through a visage of blood. “There’s your beast core!”

In death, the Yao Guai reverted back to its form before it had transformed into a humanoid figure. Yin Na was now standing over the corpse of a plump rat, with its head completely destroyed. Where its skull used to be was a single bead that held an aura of red qi.

“What was that question about a ‘vessel,’ though?” Yin Na wondered briefly before dismissing the thought.

This was a beast core, which certain magical beasts and Yao Guai possessed.

A beast core was really useful for the Qi Refining stage, as consuming them gave vast amounts of spiritual energy.

Harvesting the beast core from Liao Ya Shu’s corpse was more useful than keeping him alive. Now that his qi reserves were so small, compounded by his lack of authority as a mere Qi Refining stage cultivator, there was no ability for him to keep any Yao Guai in check as his slave.

“Why did I keep you so long in my army, Liao Ya Shu?” Yin Na spoke aloud, his voice only answered by the rustling leaves of the forest.

“You were a weak fighter, you had no useful abilities. You gave almost no combat benefits, and you had an awful personality and low intelligence. But I kept you around me at all times, regardless. Why is that?”

Yin Na began berating the small corpse of a rat whose head exploded. The sight would have sent chills down any sane mortal’s spine.

“Because I enjoy observing how an idiot tries to mimic cleverness. Liao Ya Shu, you made a fatal mistake in letting your emotions control your actions, leading you to confront me and ultimately cause your own demise. You were resentful of how Master treated you, thinking that you deserved more because you were always sitting front row listening to my lectures on the Dao of benefits. Aiya, how stupid you are! I always knew, despite your big ears and obsequious appearance of listening, in reality, my teachings simply went in one ear out of another! This kind of student is the exact kind of ‘learner’ I loathe, I would never cherish such a student.”

Yin Na’s words seemed to float with the wind, as a gentle forest breeze passed through the trees.

“Back in the Hidden Fist Sect, I was the kind of student to feign day-dreaming or being asleep in class, but in actuality contemplated everything the instructors said. This is called, ‘learning without making a show of it.’ Why, even from a low Qi Condensation rat, I was secretly observing and learning about his personality and how his tiny mind worked! Thus your actions were predictable, down to every little punch to ultimately your poor attempt at rebellion, I foresaw it all. Do you understand now, Liao Ya Shu? THAT is the kind of student I cherish!”

Yin Na laughed, his cold laughter contrasting with the peaceful tranquility of the forest.

At last, there was a rustle in a nearby bush.

“Master!” A cultivator came out of the bushes.

“She Ji Yao!” snarled Yin Na. “How nice of you to join me. Perhaps you think YOU are the kind of ‘cherished student’ I was mentioning?’”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

She Ji Yao was a thin-looking cultivator whose hair was rolled in a bun and wore light-purple robes, and his facial appearance looked like a middle-aged mortal man.

“N-no, I don’t dare, master!” the cultivator trembled, as he turned to look at the bushes behind him.

Another cultivator emerged.

“Forgive me, master” said a younger-looking cultivator with short hair, wearing white-green robes and carrying a more dignified presence. He could almost be mistaken for a righteous cultivator with his noble appearance.

“Hehehe, good to see you escaped the explosion too, Lu Jin Be…” Yin Na seemed instantly rejuvenated upon seeing his two acquaintances, as if he was not weary or fatigued at all. Even though both of the cultivators he addressed were of the Foundation stage and therefore were many times stronger and deadlier than he was, his Qi Refining body dripping with blood made him appear the most imposing of them all.

“W-we were trying to help you salvage your discarded weapons and other artifacts,” said She Ji Yao, as he took out two daggers. One was a dull, golden-colored blade and the other had a twisted, intricate design in red.

While the green-clothed cultivator named Lu Jin Be looked calm on the outside, he was furiously cursing inside his head.

“Ji Yao, you idiot!” Lu Jin Be thought. “First, you fell for Yin Na’s trap, he was deliberately delivering that soliloquy aloud to probe his surroundings. Aiya, you were spooked by Yin Na’s display of brutality in murdering Liao Ya Shu. Now you gave us away, and to make it worse, you’re trying to save your own hide by offering him the treasures you were trying to run off with. You think Yin Na would let you off easy for this?”

Lu Jin Be wanted to cry at their misfortune, but it was all he could do to maintain a stoic, guiltless expression, as he also thought:

“If I hadn’t come out earlier, you’d have compromised us both, and messed up the formation we agreed upon…”

“Lu Jin Be!” Yin Na suddenly said, after confiscating the daggers from She Ji Yao.

“Yes, what is it, master?” Lu Jin Be asked.

“What do you mean, ‘what is it?’ She Ji Yao here says you were helping me locate my lost treasures, so where’s your share?”

Yin Na’s sarcastic smile sent chills down Lu Jin Be’s spine, as he slowly took out from his clothing…

“Master, I did not take anything.” She Ji Yao said in a voice of regret, as if he was sorry he did not find anything from the rubble of the explosion.

“Oh,” Yin Na said. Then he sighed, closed his eyes and collapsed, dropping both the daggers lifelessly to the floor. Even that deadly brick of his fell from his grasp.

“M-Master!” She Ji Yao cried out, then quickly looked at Lu Jin Be for a signal on what to do.

Lu Jin Be was shocked, before he said “Master!” too and rushed over to Yin Na’s side.

“Heal Master’s wounds, he’s suffered too much blood loss,” said Lu Jin Be. He tore off a piece of his robe and wrapped it around Yin Na’s left forearm, stopping the bleeding while She Ji Yao quickly imitated him and did the same for Yin Na’s right side.

“No need,” said Yin Na weakly. “My pockets…I still have medicinal pills in them.”

She Ji Yao began to search Yin Na’s chest pockets, when Lu Jin Be’s heart jumped.

Yin Na wasn’t faking this, he really was weak and on the verge of death. In that case, they had a once-in-a-lifetime chance to kill him for good, and then leave the vicinity before the Spicy Oil Boar returns back!

“No!” He wanted to shout at She Ji Yao, but he had limited capabilities as a cultivator and wasn’t able to transmit messages with his mind yet.

She Ji Yao was tortured by hesitation and uncertainty for his next action. He turned his head to look behind him, and that was all the time Yin Na needed.

In a speed completely impossible for a mortally wounded man, Yin Na took one of the daggers he dropped from the ground. During that moment, She Ji Yao panically withdrew his hands, not realizing what was happening and mistaking Master’s sudden movements for a seizure.

The red, evil-designed hilt and blade of Yin Na’s dagger disappeared into the nape of Lu Jin Be’s neck.

Lu Jin Be wanted to cry words out but could only spout blood from his mouth, as the poison quickly reached his brain and heart.

He fell on the grass dead. Where his empty green robes lay atop of was the large corpse of a deer. Yin Na wasted zero time as he rummaged through Lu Jin Be’s pockets.

“Not exactly what I needed, but still a fortunate find!” Yin Na said aloud. “Lu Jin Be, you had guts hiding the fact that you coveted your master’s belongings! The fact that you lied about it means you thought you still had a chance. Your fatal mistake was confirming my suspicions by looking behind you for validation, instead of taking the initiative yourself while he was helpless right in front of you!”

The tension from the earlier game of guessing and bluffing immediately dissipated. With taking the first move, Yin Na proved himself to have known their attentions all along, as well as evincing proof that he was the better risk-taker. In the end, he was far deadlier than Yao Guai cultivators even though they were at higher cultivation levels than him!

Yin Na completely ignored She Ji Yao beside him, who was blubbering in fear.

“Spare me, spare me, Master! That’s really all the treasures I had, Lu Jin Be deserved to die for hiding it from you!”

Yin Na was shoveling medicinal pills down his gullet, while quickly unbottling the Jade gourd and washing it down with the liquid within. While he was healing, his eyes looked everywhere around his surroundings.

“Ah, nothing like good spirit-rich wine to enhance the healing process!” Yin Na gasped in satisfaction after taking big gulps from the gourd.

This was 1,000 year syrup wine. It was wine made from the syrup of giant Spirit maple trees, and its flavor and potency was preserved in the special Jade gourd that could contain the liquid. This was because the liquid was extremely potent in fire qi, it could ignite an ordinary wooden calabash in seconds!

Yin Na felt hot, as his wounds healed extremely fast thanks to the combination of pills and the 1,000 year syrup wine.

“Well, looks like Lu Jin Be was not the ‘student I cherish,’ either!” Yin Na laughed aloud. He wiped the blood off the poison red dagger, still ignoring the completely terrified She Ji Yao beside him. Instead, he eyed his surroundings.

“Hmm, I saw with my own eyes Huang E Gao and Huang Ke die trying to mob Brother Ji Han. And so did the horse Yao Guai and bull Yao Guai, how loyal they were, what work ethic they had! But I’m not a racist! I believe all Yao Guai have the potential to be brave and cunning. Look at Lu Jin Be, he was a deer, and yet he was smarter than this cowardly blithering idiot snake cultivator beside me!”

“Yes, yes, I’m a cowardly blithering idiot snake, master’s words are exactly so!” She Ji Yao shamelessly repeated, foolishly assuming that Yin Na was talking to him.

“But, as you can see, he wasn’t smart enough,” sighed Yin Na, as he kicked the deer corpse beneath him.

“So,” Yin Na’s eyes suddenly turned sharp, even as his skin turned red from the fire qi cooking up his Dan Tian internally and his pouring sweat soaked his blood-stained clothes.

“Come on out, Mao Shi Qi. Your window of opportunity to escape or attack me has passed.”