The moment the sickle pierced through Ryu’s chest, a huge brilliant explosion blasted out and decremented everything within ten meters. A small crater was created at where Ryu’s body was at.

The masked assailant was able to dodge the falling blade Qi from the sky last second and only lost his right arm. However, dodging the explosion was out of the question. His attires were ripped to shreds and his skin was badly burnt. Smoke came out of his severely burnt skin.

The hair on his back stood up, this was an extremely close call that could’ve cost him his life. That Qi blade could have cleanly chopped him in half if it landed directly or his body could’ve been blown to bits if he was close to Ryu. He changed his mask once again to a black one and picked up his left arm from the ground. Blood gushed out from the wounds but he paid no attention and stuck the arm back to his shoulder. An eerie grey light can be seen between his shoulder and his detached arm. Slowly the sliced off arm gradually fused back to the main body while the burn wounds sluggishly mended.

The masked man stood still and waited for his arm to fully reconnect and regenerate. A black figure appeared in his line of sight a few minutes afterwards. This person was completely covered in a dark aura, not one part of him could be seen.

“Oh? He got away?” The newly arrived dark figure asked.

“Yes, his cultivation was higher than we thought. Much higher…” The masked man replied as he directed the dark figure’s attention to his wounds.

“Oh? He inflicted that much damage to you? That kid was actually in King Domain?” The dark figure said in surprise. It seems as if they knew Ryu beforehand.

“Yes… He also seems to know advanced ninjutsu. I thought I finished him off but it was a shadow clone… and a really powerful one at that.” The mask man said with a sigh. “It’ll be hard to finish him off and he might have some powerful backings…”

Ryu doesn’t know any ninjutsu, he’s not a ninja. Ryu’s clone was a real one that contained all his original abilities. The only difference between the clone and the main body is the amount of Qi supplied and that it is controlled by the main body.

“He definitely has an extraordinary background. We should rope him in like how we did with those spoiled brats. He’ll definitely be useful to us.” The black figure said as he slowly thought about it.

“Are you sure? What if he realizes who we are?” The masked assailant replied.

“There’s no way… anyways our goal has been completed. We sowed the seeds of enmity between him and the Resilient Gaia Sect. Now we just reap the rewards.” The dark figure said plainly as three lifeless bodies fell in front of them. They were the three elders Ryu fought earlier.

“It would have been difficult to capture three King Domain experts… we’ll greatly benefit from this!” The masked man said with a drool. Unexpectedly he picked up one of the dead body and bit into it. The scenes that came next was so grotesque, most would throw up. All that was left of the victims were the bones.

A few moments later, the dark figure and the masked man changed their appearances and left. If Ryu stayed around he would’ve recognized them as Mr. R and John, the two people Leonardo looked up to.

Where was Ryu right now? He was fleeing as fast as he could underground, spreading his senses as far as he could. Ryu made sure he wasn’t followed. The masked man had strange but deadly methods that gave Ryu chills. Although his methods can’t be compared to Alexis’s, it was still a really dark art.

After an hour of running, Ryu was passing by a few people from underground. There seems to be five people in total but one of them was being chased by the rest. The potential victim here had a very pure Qi from what Ryu could see but the way the Qi quivered, Ryu knew this person was scared. This person’s Qi was also very nostalgic but Ryu couldn’t put his finger on it.

“Doesn’t hurt to take a look.” Ryu said as he reappeared on the surface. What Ryu saw next surprised him.

Two girls and two boys were chasing one nude girl through the woods. This nude girl had flawless white skin that shone in the moonlight. She had long legs that seemed to stretch forever and had curves that most women would be envious of. Her silky long hair dangled behind her as she ran for her life. Even in such a pitiful situation she looked stunning.  

“Where’s your cocky attitude now?”

“You think you are so special just because Elder Su had taken a fancy to you?”

“No one can protect you now.”

“Come here and let me have a taste of you. It’s been so long since I had a virgin.”

“I want you two to rape her so hard that she can’t even stand. Don’t go easy on her.”

“Make her swallow this pill first then you can do whatever you want.”

Ryu frowned as he saw the scene. These people pursuing the victim seem to be in the early Grandmaster Domain. The victimized naked girl was in mid Master Domain only.

The unclothed girl at the front was doing her best to run away from her pursuers but she was obviously at a disadvantage. Not only was her cultivation the weakest, she also had no items to aid her. The chasers easily flaunted their superior cultivation to obstruct her, occasionally pushing her down or bruising her.

While following them, Ryu looked around and noticed that he was close to one of the camps near the Starlight Blade City. This was not the Resilient Gaia Sect camp though, it must be the Saint Jade Sect’s camp. Recalling the information he got from his previous teacher or to be more precise, her new grandmother. This sect was an all-girls sect. It was one of the top five within the Lin Province.

Quickly drawing out a few enchantments, Ryu surrounded the area with a few invisible enchanted blocks. Enchanting has many uses. It can be used to buff objects, strengthen defenses of structures, create items that provides temporary power boosts or defense for users, create illusions, create restrictive zones, create spatial blocks and much more.

The four pursuers hit the invisible wall with a loud smack at full speed. All of them fell down in excruciating pain. All of them had bloody noses and were clueless as to how it happened. If they were on guard and protected themselves with Qi, they wouldn’t have suffered much damage but why would they be on guard when they are the chasers?

The victimized girl turned around in shock. A piece of white robe floated from above and a voice boomed out of nowhere, “Little girl, take this and cover yourself up.”

The four hunters were all groaning and nursing their wounds. One boy was starting trying to break through the enchanted blocks that surrounds them. To his horror, even at full strength this invisible wall wouldn’t budge.

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“Who… who are you?” The naked girl said as she covered herself in the robe.

“I am… an ally of justice.” Ryu said plainly from a hidden location.

“Let us out!” One of the trapped girls screamed.

“Don’t you know we are from the Resilient Gaia Sect and Saint Jade Sect?” A boy shouted with anger.

“So?” Ryu’s said indifferently. His voice was evidently backed by a strong and profound inner strength. The four trapped disciples’ Qi reservoirs shook, if Ryu wanted to he could cripple their cultivations in a second. Reality sunk in slowly for these four. Since they don’t know a thing about enchantments, they surmised that Ryu is using pure Qi to confine them. This would require not only a high cultivation but also a bewildering level of control.

“Tell me the truth and I’ll let you guys go. Why are you guys bullying this girl? Unless I hear the whole truth…” Ryu’s voice suddenly trailed off. He was suddenly reminded of the deathes of the three elders he fought previously. The elders were injured by him and bound by his rules from Absolute Agreement. Later they met their untimely demise from an unknown expert. Ryu felt regret and believes he is partially responsible for their deaths. What if they were not restricted from their usage of Qi? Would it have made a difference?

Actually it might have. If the masked assailant wanted to fight the three elders, it would have been hard to finish all three by himself. One was bound to escape. Mr. R and John actually planned for Ryu to weaken the elders before finishing them and devouring them. It was completely outside their expectation that Ryu would defeat all three, making their lives so much easier.

This made him re-evaluate if what he’s doing is the right thing. The Absolute Agreement held terrifying powers. In fact each of the mysterious tomes all did. Sentencing someone into a life of servitude under his rule, who was he to do that? However if he didn’t not carry out his own version of justice, who will stop these immoral people? Recalling the Buddhist scriptures he read, one must abstain from killing. However, what if it’s killing one to save many?

Being one of the most sensitive person to Qi in the world, Ryu sees each living creatures’ Qi reservoir. The shaman calls it their souls. Killing a person means extinguishing their souls forever. After learning Spirit Fusion Ryu now know that those without an essence formed from their cultivation will simply vanish after death.

Also killing is just a temporary solution. Would killing a murderer such as Alexis solve all the sufferings he had caused? The sufferings Alexis have caused would continue on. So is it better to force evil people to be slaves of justice to atone for their sins? But this circles back to who is Ryu to make this call?

Also if he forces the truth out of these for wicked disciples with Absolute Agreement but don’t impose conditions for them not to reveal anything about him, it’ll definitely expose him in the future. There was so many implications in Ryu’s mind but he has no solution for them. In the end Ryu decided to use it only on absolute evil figures. For now, he’ll refrain himself from using Absolute Agreement.

“… the walls will close in bit by bit and crush you all.” Ryu’s continued after a second. Ryu’s mental capacity had been augmented by the tomes, he can have a long debate or a thorough analysis in his mind in a second that’ll take a regular person an hour to process.

“What the hell, let us go.” The other guy screamed out. The next moment the enchanted blocks started closing in by a few centimeters.

“Wait wait wait we’ll speak.” A frightened girl said. “It was just a prank, we just wanted to get back at her. We weren’t going to really hurt her.”

The walls shrunk a bit more. Ryu might not be able to dominate these people with Absolute Agreement but he can see a world outlined by Qi and his Qi senses are much more heightened than other people’s. He can tell when a person is lying easily.

“It really was just a small prank… we stole her clothes and items when she was bathing and decided to tease her a bit…”

“Why?” Ryu’s indifferent voice boomed out once again. The walls started closing it a bit faster. Although the pace was still slow, the captives were terrified. They really will be crushed to death at this rate.

“We were just jealous of her progress. It’s the truth. She entered the sect only three years ago but was able to reach Master Domain. She was handpicked by Elder Su from the core courts. The reason she advanced so fast must be from the special treatment she got.”

“She’s only an inner court disciple but she’ll enter the core courts soon at this rate.”

“There are so many of us that have spent decades in the inner court, it’s not fair.”

“It’s not just us. Many other disciples are jealous of her too. It doesn’t matter what court she’s in because she’s already a personal disciple of a core elder.”

“We… we got permission to do this from senior Qin! She’s also a personal disciple of a core elder. She’s the daughter of the patriarch of the Xiawu Clan! Senior Qin was furious of the fact that the number one disciple of Sword Storm Valley had taken a fancy to her. We had to do it.”

“Both of us just came along because these girls invited us. They told us that we could rape this girl and get away with it, we didn’t know she was a personal disciple of an elder. Please forgive us!”

“Right right… these girls enticed us. It’s not our fault.”

“What were you planning to do to her?” Ryu asked coldly.

“We… we were going to rape her… so she can’t learn the most sacred art of our sect, Celestial Maiden, once she’s defiled.”

“Yes senior Qin told us that if we accomplish this deed, she’ll help us get into the core courts.”

“Yes… we were going to rape her… but these girls said it was going to be okay. They approached us in town and invited us.”

“And the pill?” Ryu asked.

“It’s… it’s an aphrodisiac pill that’ll get a girl in heat. We were going to… record this and … maybe use it as blackmail… please stop I don’t want to die.” One of the girls screamed out as space between the four of them shrunk to five squared feet.

“Who dares to bully my sect?” A powerful voice shouted out form the distances that cause all the trees around them to vibrate. A fierce aura scan spread over the area they were at.

Ryu’s face fell, it seemed like an expert from the Saint Jade Sect came looking for these group of people. Judging by her voice and killing intent, she seems to be exceptionally angry and can’t be reasoned by words alone. Also the four disciples trapped in his enchantments were crying while the victimized girl is covered by just a robe. It doesn’t look good for Ryu.