Chapter 33: Nocturnal Attack
Jian had intended to spend the night at the inn, pondering over what Zhigang had told him. However just as he sat on the comfy bed of the most expensive room the inn had, Li Kuo kicked the door upon, and immediately grabbed his best friend.
" Jian we need to leave now !"
" What do you mean now ?! Something bad happened ?!" Jian asked, looking over Li Kuo's shoulder, expecting ennemies to appear at any time. Li Kuo actually scratched his cheek while chuckling and look elsewhere.
"Welllll....My mother wouldn't let me talk to the Zero King...So I kinda got the permission and took wrote the instructions on a piece of paper. I left before she could catch me, but she is aware of what I did....."
The two friends looked at each other, the tension could be felt throughout the room, until Jian's eyes twitched as he realized just what this meant.
"So we have a pissed off queen who is out for blood....My blood most likely since she won't actually hurt you.....Right ?" Jian said, grabbing his sword in reflex and gripping it tight.
"Indeed...So basically we either leave now, or we're de-AHHHH" Li Kuo screamed as Jian leaped off the bed and grabbed him before running away.
Before the oldest of the two even realized what was going on, Jian had jumped off a window and landed on his feet. Li Kuo on the other hand landed on his head, effectively nothing him out. Jian sighed and picked him out, before hearing shouts coming from the opposite side of the road.
"HE IS HERE !! GET THE PRINCE !!" Shouted the a captain of the Royal Guard.
'Time to use my favourite technique ! Tactical Retreat !' Jian thought as he ran away while laughing. He was afraid yes, but this also made him remember the year before he built his house, the first year he had as a free 'man'. He used to get chased after all the time.
[ This is no time to get lost in thought User ! Run faster ! ]
Jian realized the guards were closing in on him and he hurriedly put his cloak on to go faster.
' Damn, I didn't realize it before, but this doesn't just 'slightly' enhance my speed. I feel like I skipped a realm with this kind of speed.' And he was right, with his newfound speed Jian was easily able to put quite the distance between the guards and him.
However they were hell bent on catching him and Li Kuo, and so one of them took out a bow and shot an arrow at Jian. An arrow that nearly pierced his throat if not for the timely arrival of a masked man.
" Hahah ! This night is slowly coming boy ! Run as fast as possible and don't look back, those dumbasses won't dare to chase after you in the forest while it's dark outside !" The masked man whose reminded sounded oddly familiar said.
Jian had a smile plastered on his face when he understood who had just saved his life and he happily shouted.
"SEE YOU FOR THE NEW ERA, MONKEY !" Thus were the last words Jian and Zhigang Wukong exchanged before they met again much later.
As for the soldiers they quickly stopped when the Emperor slowly removed his mask, half of his showing, with his red eye glowing as the sun slowly disappeared in the distance.
"Ahhh...Been a while since anyone called me like that. Agent Monkey....Hahaha that was such a spot-on code name." He said before lifting his arm, his hand pointing toward the moon.
"Strike Fear into the Heart, Kinto !" He shouted as a bolt of lightning hit him. The soldiers looked in shock, thinking that the man in front of them had just died. However Zhigang reappeared right in front of them, lightning coating his armour and dancing over his monkey mask.
The day after a noble would find several passed out royal guards right in front of his door with a little note.
'Sorry for the mess, but the Monkey is playful.'
***************
( A few hours later with Li Kuo and Jian )
Li Kuo woke up fright, eyes looking around frantically until he realized he had just woken up in a forest. Just before he could ask if there was anyone there, Jian appeared out of the shadows weapon drawed and put a hand on Li Kuo's mouth.
The noble wanted to ask his friend what was going on but he immediately had a bad feeling when he heard voices in the distance and saw the doubt in Jian's eyes.
"Brother....I know this is gonna sound really bad....But I just found a camp of disciples from the Snow Peacock Sect. They are our ennemies too though the Raja Sect was once their allies in the past. It would help the sect if we eliminated them, and we have the shadows as our allies, and-" Jian stopped when he saw Li Kuo crying for some reasons.
"What's going on ?" He asked softly. This was perhaps the first time he had seen Li Kuo cry like that, and that was something with how wimpy the noble was.
" I...It's just.....It's been a while since I have been called brother." The young noble said, pain written all over his face. That's when Jian remembered when Li Kuo told him he had lost his dear sister.
"....Right...I forgot about that, sorry."
"It's alright...You...You were talking about a camp of disciples from an ennemy sect, right ? " Li Kuo said, getting up and stumbling while walking towards the end of the cliff they were currently on. He could see the camp from there. It would be no easy target.
" You're prepared for that ? It will be a first for us two" Jian asked, worried for the one he saw as his brother.
"We somehow went through a near death experience. We encountered a being so strong his mere aura could've crushed us. You lived your entire life as one of the weakest, preyed upon by those who had more than you. I lost the person I loved the most because I was weak, my quest for power is the one that's leading me to these situations.....My sister didn't die for nothing, and it's time to prove it." Li Kuo said, glaring at the camp with eyes full of hatred....And barely hidden sadness.
Jian put a hand on his shoulder and nodded. They both took out their swords and crossed them.
" To the first step on the path to power !" They both exclaimed before putting on their hood. Jian then explained his plan to Li Kuo. Although it was relatively simple, it was quite good. They were both aware though that everything could take the worst turn in a single moment.
Jian's plan was the following:
-Walk all around the camp while using his poisonous envy mist to weaken the ennemies. Only a few were still up, and they would be killed by Li Kuo before they had time to notice the mist and alert the others.
-Take out the leader who should be sleeping in the biggest tent.
- Enter each tent at the same time and slaughter everyone in them as fast as possible.
-Go through the entire camp and take what was valuable.
As soon as the explanation was finished they set out to execute the plan. They went down the cliff and both went in opposite directions.
Jian slowly walked around the camp while crouching, releasing the thin mist that could barely be seen in the dark mantle of the night. He then slowly walked up to the leader's tent. From there he could see Li Kuo who was laying out under a bush, observing the three disciples who were roasting a rabbit.
" Three days ya say ?! Damn. That mountain is so damn far away ! Couldn't we just use the flying swords ? I mean, I know we aren't supposed to learn how to use them until we reach the Laws Realm, but we could've just rode with the elders. They're leaving us behind as always. By the time we reach that damn mountain everything will have been taken !" One of them complained while the other two chuckled.
"Well that's the way the world works. Last time we did abandon the rest of our team to get those obsidian stones before them. First come first served. But those are elders, we can't compete in any way." The most powerful of the three, A Qi Realm 4th Step disciple, said.
Li Kuo glanced at Jian and saw him lift his hand close it. That was the signal. Li Kuo then crawled towards the pot full of soup that laid behind the third disciple. Before any of the three could notice him Li Kuo grabbed the pot and threw it in a way that would ensure each of the disciples would have their heads covered in soup.
"WHAT TH-"
"Zero Zone." Li Kuo said calmly, pointing his hand at the three disciples. In a split second, not even letting them the time to scream for help, their heads were frozen.
They all fell on the ground, their heads breaking as soon as they came into contact with the dirt. Jian raised an eyebrow at that since the violet ice was supposed to be insanely hard. But he figured that maybe Li Kuo could control it's hardness.
The noble gave him a thumbsup before looking for any other disciples that they hadn't seen. Jian didn't see it, but Li Kuo actually threw up right after that.
At the same time, Jian entered the biggest tent and found the leader sleeping just as he thought. A quick use of the system revealed the leader was a Mortal Realm 3rd form disciple. He could basically kill Jian with a single attack, but the boy held the advantage here. Except the Venerable Immortal Body and the Red Sky Sword, none of the things he had gotten from the system really helped him in combat. However said soul heritage was actually of the Laws Realm's 2nd Law, while the Red Sky at it's full power sat at the fourth law. He still hadn't unlocked it's special techniques, but it was already strong enough to give him a massive advantage. Any disciples of his level would kill to get something like that.
It actually reminded him that he still had quite the low rank. Hence the need to train a lot....No, not a lot. He needed to train harder than anyone else in the sect ever had. The next months promised a lot of suffering for him. But back to the matter at hand, Jian gripped his blade and got ready to slice the man's throat.
However right as the blade sliced through the air and left behind a trail of reddish black energy, it suddenly stopped, or rather was stopped....By two hands !
The disciple had actually caught the sword. However what followed was a pulse coming out of the blade and then....
"ARGHHHHH MY HANDS !!!!"