When the man called Zho Gen heard that, his eyes swiftly darted to the side and landed on Jing. Visible rage appeared on his eyes as he clenched both his lips and fists at the same time. "Demonspawn," He mumbled with a snort. He looked at the old Li Yan once again and roared, "Then so be it," Before a huge broadsword appeared out of nowhere and landed on his right palm as he gripped it tightly.

From the house where he just emerged from, a pair of teens appeared, also drawing the attention of the onlookers. Jing could tell that they didn't just merely look like one another but were in fact identical twins. Their short honeyed hair, long nose, and weak eyebrows were completely identical. Even the grey robes they wore and the way they carried themselves were similar.

Out of the window of the first story, a beautiful brunette woman was looking at everything unfolding with a complicated expression. Suddenly her gaze met Jing, and he shuddered. She looked at him with such a glare that he wondered if he had killed her children, and so he swiftly averted his eyes and watched what would happen.

Li Yan didn't show any reaction when he saw the sword, but with steady steps he approached the man. With every step he took, thick dark roots would emerge out of the grounds and dutifully followed after him.

Zho Gen mirrored his opponent's expression, and strode in his direction. An invisible pressure descended on everyone present, leaving them breathless. Jing was mortified as he could feel his heart threatening to shut down, and briskly reatreated backwards. Squinting, he was able to see ripples flowing in every direction from the duo.

When the two were but a dozen or so meter apart, the roots following Li Yan began to race through the air, aiming for the tall bushy man's legs and arms. However, with perfect control over his weapon, and without even using his Qi he perfectly sliced through all of the incoming thick roots, letting them weakly tumble into the ground as he continued his advance.

Li Yan merely grinned at that as a mocking expression creeped up his eyes. "You're still too young junior."

His two arms abruptly transformed into two clusters of thick roots dark that sinuously danced around like living snakes, and with a strong gust of wind, he jumped in the man's direction, appearing before his eyes in a split second.

Zho Gen brandished his huge broadsword to block the old man's charge in a start, but the moment the two made contact his eyes narrowed as he clenched his lips together.

Although the collision between the two seemed to be a draw as the both of them retreated backward, what happened next shocked everyone present.

The dozen dead roots that previously fell weakly to the ground suddenly sprung to life and through some unseen force, they jumped toward the unaware victim and latched into him, rendering him immobile as he weakly fell to the side, unable to move in the slightest.

With a confident smile, Li Yan gently approached the fallen man and put his sandaled feet above his chest as the man violently squirmed around. "You can't do this," He shouted with rage. "You know what he did."

"Then you also know why must I do this," Li Yan calmly spoke. He crouched down, and gave the man two strong punches to the nose, breaking in the process as it gushed out with hot sizzling blood and began walking in Jing's direction under the shocked onlooker's eyes whose murmurs culminated into a loud noise.

"Say, I challenge you." Aukhman voice suddenly echoed in Jing's head. He swiftly turned around, afraid that someone might've heard it, but they all seemed engrossed in their gossip.

"What?!" He questioned back, unaware of the demon's objective.

"If you want strength," Aukhman explained. "This is the first step, you need to act and be more active in your life. Just say it. Look at the two boys there who are hatefully looking at you and say it."

Jing's heart began to wildly beat in his chest, and his palms oozed with sweat that he frantically brushed against his white robe. He understood what was the demon's goal after that explanation, and he vehemently agreed with it. The only problem was, he had no idea how strong those boys were, nor how to fight, especially with these newfound powers inside of his body. However, the prospect of dying in a week proved to be enough motivator.

"Go!" Aukhman abruptly said.

Preparing himself one last time, Jing deeply exhaled the breath he was holding and attempted to compose his chaotic state of mind. Shoulders upright, and with a solemn look he stepped forward.

In this eerily quiet atmosphere interuppted only by the crowd's hushed whispers, his move was immediately noticed by everyone present.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Jing's resolute eyes met the old man, and he saw him desperately shaking his head whilst mouthing, "No."

But Jing had already made up his mind. He knew that the old man was merely looking out for his safety, and he knew that it was vital that he did what the demon said. Thus, under the old man's shocked gaze, he shouted in the teens' direction, "I challenge you two!" His voice though loud lacked any semblance of confidence.

The duo were already standing in both sides of the bushy man who appeared to be their father, and the moment Jing said that both of them grinned at the very same second.

Taking advantage of his brother's lack of speed, the one on the left stepped forward and said, "Let's go."

Jing's feet almost tripped over due to his taut nerves as he made way to the heart of the wide circle, and after he brushed against the old man, he made sure to avoid looking at him.

The crowd's murmurs increased in intensity yet again as they animately discussed this turn of events.

"Is that newcomer crazy? Young Master Zho will eat him alive."

"I heard he's one of the new Gay Dragon's Peak disciples."

"Shuush Peak Master Yan is just here, if he heard you bad mouthing him he might take offense."

Feeling the energy and the formidable strength coursing through his body, Jing wasn't all of that concerned with the fight. What he was most afraid of at that moment, or rather what made his nerves stretch to the limit were the dozens of disciples men and women that had gathered around to watch. It had been years since he last found himself in a room with more than six people at a time.

With another gentle exhale, he began going through some of the memories he received in order to understand more how to use his power, and the more he looked the shocked he became. Although he only had two techniques, they were simply miraculous.

The two teens stood a few paces from one another in the very middle of the circle made up by all of the onlookers. "Are you ready?" Said Jing's opponent with a confident smile on his face.

Gritting his teeth yet again as he prepared himself, Jing yelled, "Go!"

The moment he uttered those words, his right hand glowed bright red before scales sprouted all over his forearm, and his fingers turned into sharp claws. Astonishing strength accompanied the changes, and he felt like the strongest man in the world. Witnessing the magic he had just performed, Jing's eyes widened in pure astonishment and he lunged at his adversary with a swipe of his claws.

His opponent nonchalantly swatted his claw to the side, and without even using any sort of techniques, a swift and powerful knee was planted in Jing's solar plexus, sending him flying a considerable distance away.

The victim's eyes bulged as he fell to the ground, air escaping his lungs as he found himself unable to breath. Squirming in pain under the watchful mocking eyes of more than a hundred people, he reflexively moved both of his hands to soothe the tearing pain in his stomach.

However, his technique was still operating and so his terrifyingly sharp claws tore through his white robe before smoothly penetrating his vulnerable stomach as a fountain of blood streamed down his stomach, coloring his white robe red.

A simultaneous gasp echoed from all of the crowd as they watched that, and an intense urge to laugh overwhelmed them. But as they looked at the old Peak Master whose fists were clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white with eyes boiling with rage and humiliation, they willed themselves to stop.

Yet, that proved to only make it even more difficult for them. Thus, when the first person broke into a fit of laughter, everyone followed suit.

Li Yan gazed at everyone with a mad look on his face, and finally with a loud harrumph that sent shivers down their spine he jumped in the fallen youth's direction, and threw him over his shoulder. Without saying anything else, he disappeared into the giant tunnels behind with astonishing speed.

...

Jing woke up and the first thing he noticed was the smooth fabric on his nape, and the way his back was comfortably supported above a soft surface, unlike the last time. Then, he could hear the sound of two people talking, and just from their voice he knew exactly who.

"And everyone saw that, master?" Shen Yun, the dark haired youth who was the very first face Jing saw since opening his eyes in this world spoke.

"Yes," Angrily replied the old Li Yan through clenched teeth. "Stupid fool."

Hearing the insult, Jing just feigned that he was still unconscious, dreading confronting the man.

"Just wake up you idiot." Old Li Yan yelled once again. "I know you're awake..."

Feeling even more embarassed, Jing's eyes jolted open and he sprung up to his feet.

He found himself in a dark wooden house, and from his position beside the bed he could see the two men looking at him with different expressions from their chairs in the middle of the house.

"Sit down," Li Yan ordered, gesturing for the chair before him with a hard look.

Jing could only brace himself for what would follow, and approached the chair and sat down, sighing the whole way. Remembering the searing pain that cut through his stomach, he glanced down to look but found that other than some holes on his robe and a reddish coloring he found nothing serious.

"What did you do that for?" Li Yan looked at the youth before him with an impatient expression. "You've ruined the whole prestige I was building with your nonsense. Now when you go to the Golden Mountain Sect, you and your senior brother will be at the very bottom of the hierarchy in the infiltration mission. And that will make it even more dangerous for you."

Processing the wave of extra information, Jing didn't know what to say, and so he just kept quiet.

When Li Yan said that, he deeply looked at the young man before him, getting even more angrier, "It's not like you even knew your father to be so angry at them and try to fight. That was stupid, and next time you need to think more with your head. If you continue acting in such stupid ways death would find you sooner than you think."

Jing's eyes widened, and miraculously, he could immediately connect the dots this time because of the old man's helpess sigh. 'Those people he fought before had killed the original Jing's father, and that was why he went to them?'