Runt watched everything that took place between Bing and that Huan guy. As a 3rd stage Qi Gatherer, the amount of support he could’ve brought to Bing was absolutely zero. He would’ve only got in the way and got both of them killed. But his Boss was right about how this would be good for him to tag along with Bing. Seeing a fight like that with neither party holding back against each other helped him gain some understandings for his own martial arts.

  But the most interesting part was when he took pictures with his camera in the middle of their fight. In several photos, Bing could be seen inside Ying’s void world being fed several cakes by her with a smile on his and her face. Behind Bing was Huan eating Bing by the legs first. So, it didn’t take much to see that even though Bing was fighting to kill Huan, he really didn’t want to be doing it right now. While Huan wanted nothing more than to eat Bing.

  Runt didn’t understand it. If Bing didn’t want to kill that guy right now, why was he fighting him? He knew if he was fighting against a guy who tried to kill him more than once, he would’ve killed him. His bloodline might have helped him on the streets as an orphan but that didn’t mean his life was nothing but great. There were plenty of harsh and unforgiving experiences he’s been through and saw that happened to others.

  All of those sights hardened him and filled him with a sense of urgency for strength. For his own protection. Without strength, you had nothing and you were nothing. Your words meant nothing. So, when looking at Bing who was taking on someone 4 stages above him and not losing, it filled him with a sense of respect and disbelief. This fatty didn’t want to be here but something forced him into coming here. Runt didn’t know what that was but he understood that it had to be something special to risk his life for in a fight that was not in his favor.

  And then Bing died. Just when it looked like he was gaining the upper hand, the tables turned and he was eaten by Huan. Just like in his pictures. Out of the dozens of pictures he took during their battle, there was a common sight for Huan. In all of them, he was eating something. Most of the time it was Bing but in others, it was whatever he laid his eyes on. Bing’s shield, a cultivator watching their fight, multiple cultivators watching the fight, or himself. The stomach mouth would stretch out to bite Huan's own head.

  While with Bing, it frequently switched to several different scenarios. There was the first one where he was being fed Spirit Cakes by Ying. Another one where he was cooking up Spirit Beasts by the dozen with a smile on his face and everyone in Heaven’s Angels sitting around waiting to eat. One picture was of him just sleeping inside Ying’s void world without a care in the world. All of them were completely unrelated to what he was doing at the moment and that spoke to Runt. It wasn’t until the moment before he died that there was a picture actually related to the battle. Bing was standing over the hungry skeleton of Huan with an ocean of blood surrounding them both. A skeleton that even in death still wanted to eat and devour.

  Seeing these pictures helped Runt somewhat understand the type of person Bing was but what did this mean for him? He definitely wasn’t going to return to Ying and tell her that Bing was dead! She’d probably kill him for bringing the news to her! But Runt didn’t know where his Boss was either. There was no winning for him in this situation.

  Either he went back into the forest to wait for Ying to bring him into the void world and die after telling her the news or walk around lost and confused inside the sect until he found his Boss. The second option sounded safer for him but at the end of the day, he would still have to tell the others what happened to Bing! Runt pulled on his face as he realized that no matter what, things were going to be bad for him unless his Boss protected him. If only Bing didn’t get eaten! If only Bing didn’t lose!

  Then he would have nothing to worry about at all! Ying would be happy at his safe return and wouldn’t snap his neck. Boss would be happy that he went out and got some experience like he wanted. Bing would’ve killed the guy that’s been a thorn in his side for so long. And he would be able to go back in the void world to do whatever he wanted.

“Why isn’t that bastard moving?”

“Maybe he got constipated eating that fatty whole.”

“To think Huan Leng had a bloodline this powerful... He really kept his true strength hidden.”

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“That’s not all either. It was a 9th stage Qi Gatherer that managed to push him this far as well.”

“He must have been a low-key genius... It’s a shame that he lost his life trying to do the impossible.”

“Really low-key. I haven’t heard of any talented fatties from the Outer Court at all. Where did he even come from in the first place?”

“That’s a good question.”

“Hey! Did you guys hear about the elders?!”

“Elders? What’s going on with the elders?”

“They say that the higher-ranked elders will be paying very close attention to the Grand Tournament in search of new disciples! So, this is the only chance of finding a reliable master for a while!”

  Runt kept his ears open and alert as he pointed his camera at the motionless Huan. Those people did bring up a good point. Why wasn’t he moving? With a quick snap of his camera, Runt inspected the photo. He couldn’t keep himself from gasping once he saw what it showed.

  In the photo, Leng was sitting among countless half-devoured corpses with some of those faces resembling the people in the crowd, eating a person. Crawling up the pile at the bottom of the tower of corpses was Bing with a determined expression on his face. Reflected in one of his eyes was an image of Bing’s hand swallowing Huan Leng whole and in the other Bing happily laughing with everyone else in Heaven’s Angels. Did this mean he was still alive somehow? The way this camera worked made it so that the thoughts of those not pictured in it weren’t captured. If it was shown in the picture, it is solely what the creature or creatures being photographed at the time would rather be doing. Not anyone else uninvolved in the photo.

  So, instead of running off and looking for his Boss for protection, Runt stayed and watched. He kept his camera trained on Huan who still wasn’t moving even after half an hour of eating Bing. Some Inner Court disciples wondered what a kid as young as he was doing in the Inner Court and what kind of Spirit Tool was in his hand. But his concentration never slacked. Even when one of the Inner Court disciples threatened him to answer her questions or be beaten, he didn’t even look in their direction.

“Do you think someone as weak as you can ignore my questions?! You’re a little cute but you definitely aren’t cute enough to ignore me! I was thinking about giving you the opportunity to warm my bed tonight but because of your annoying attitude, I'll beat just you half to death instead!” She pulled back her hand to give him a slap.

  A puddle of black began to pool out from his shoes. The sight of the strange black liquid surprised the female disciple but did not deter her hand. The girl wouldn’t leave him alone and she was about to break his focus. Once she moved her hand to hit him, it leaped from the ground and covered her hand. She screamed as her hand began to slowly corrode away. With a burst of qi, she blasted the puddle into multiple pieces on the ground.

“Do you mind being one once more?” Runt kindly asked.

  At his request, the sludge that took the color of darkness itself began to form together once more. His bright eyes looked into the girl’s. Did she understand that he could’ve targeted her face instead? Instead of horribly injuring her hand, she could’ve been disfigured for the rest of her life. Runt wasn’t able to find out as the girl glared at him before walking away, clutching her partially melted hand. Maybe he was too forgiving... That look in her eyes didn’t exactly make him feel the safest. The Boss always told him never to hold back, no matter who he faced off against. A baby, a girl, an old man, a grandma, a puppy, this world was not forgiving to the soft-hearted. If he was willing to punch a man in the face, he better be ready to do the same to a beautiful woman.

“Graaaa!” Leng Huan let out a howl that shook the air.

  Runt took picture after picture once he felt that scream. His body shook from the disgusting qi but this did not affect how many pictures he took. He continued to watch the changes going on with Huan. Whatever was happening could not be natural as the yelling seemed to become painful.

  Then, a hand burst from Huan’s stomach. A thick white flabby arm held onto the upper roof of the stomach mouth as a second hand gripped onto the lower mouth. And from then on countless more hands began to come out of the mouth before a familiar round figure lifted himself up and out of the mouth. Everyone watched as Leng was quickly reduced to nothing but a skeleton and a pool of blood. In that pool, a fatty radiating with power and pure evil stood nakedly.

  It was at this moment a flash appeared from Runt’s camera. The following picture made him question if he knew anything about the fatty at all. In the photo, Bing sat on a throne on top of thousands if not millions of skeletons with a hazy-faced woman sitting on his lap and gently rubbing his face. Three similarly hazy-faced children surrounded his throne but each held some characteristic of Bing’s. One holding a shield, another with a black orb and white orb floating above his shoulders, and the last one with multiple arms. His qi rose to the sky and took on the shape of a thousand-armed devil while a gigantic mountain-sized shield was in the distance.

  When Runt took a second picture, it was only of Bing eating a Spirit Cake made by Ying.

‘I don’t understand...’ Runt realized that humans are more confusing than he thought they were.