Unfortunate Hero's Retirement Life

As the residual of the Abyss Parasite was taken out of Ryan White's head, he returned to his normal self.

That night, he was thinking deeply about everything that happened around him. Even though the Abyss Parasite affected his mind and judgment his memories were still intact.

He remembered everything, including "his friends". However, this morning, he was still unsure whether Heero was the person he could trust or not. Not until he talked with the Old Man Niadin.

"Oh, you woke up!" Old Man Niadin brought four skewers of meat. The meat looked greasy but appetizing at the same time.

"Do you want some?"

Ryan White looked at the old man closely. He remembered this old man was the one who took care of him. He had little trust in the old man.

Looking at the skewer, hunger struck him. He nodded as he took a skewer from the old man. He took the first bite and his eyes brightened. It was so delicious, then he devoured the last three pieces of meat in the skewer.

One skewer was not enough to satiate his hunger. He began looking at the other skewers in Old Man Niadin's hand.

"You can have all of them, it's prepared for you anyway," Old Man Niadin handed the rest skewers to Ryan White.

'It's not me who prepared those skewers though,'

It was Sun Zhou Yi who prepared those skewers. However, the guy did not want to hand those skewers to Ryan White who antagonized his Master hence he was here.

In a flash, Ryan White swallowed all meat into his mouth. It seemed four skewers were not enough to fill his empty stomach as he licked the skewer stick.

"How's your head?"

It was a weird question to be asked but Ryan White knew what the old man asked.

"I think I am okay now…" He paused as a frown formed on his forehead. He wanted to say something but he hesitated.

"What? You can trust me just say it out,"

"Hmmm… Are you his friend?"

"His friend?" Niadin paused for a moment before he nodded his head then he shook his head afterward, "If you are asking whether Heero is my friend or not… I don't know. We are not a friend but acquaintance… Yes, an acquaintance that on the same side,"

Ryan White was confused by the answer. Especially the last part, an acquaintance on the same side? He did not know what that meant.

"So, what do you want to ask? I don't know much about him but I do believe he is trustworthy enough,"

Ryan White squinted his eyes as he looked at Niadin. The old man was too kind to him, and he began to feel suspicious of the old man.

'Does he want something from me?'

"Why are you so kind to me?" He could not help but ask it out.

The old man kept him from Heero, taking out the poison in his head, and now the old man was taking care of him when he passed out. The old man was too kind and he began thinking the old man wanted something from him.

"Is it wrong to be kind?" Old Man Niadin asked with a strange look on his face.

"There's nothing wrong with being kind, but…" Ryan White shook his head.

Yeah, there was nothing wrong with being kind. He just needed to be cautious, just in case, the old man had a hidden intention.

"If he's trustworthy, why did he kill my family then?" Even though the poison that clouded his mind had been taken out, the thought of Heero killing his family was still in his mind.

"Hmmm… Did he? As I said, we are just acquaintances so I don't know much about him. However…"

"However?"

"However, I know his Master, I know him pretty well. If you thought he was eyeing your secret…" Old Man Niadin shook his head at those thoughts.

"To be honest, your secret is truly worth nothing to him. Your bloodline may be strong, but his Master is just far stronger than you may think. He is the strongest human in the world, so your secret worth a little compared to his Master's teaching,"

"As for your family, there are two possibilities that I could think of. First, your family is found out working together with the specter, and he would for sure kill your family for that,"

"Second, if your family is not working with the specter, there's no reason for him to kill your family. As for your secret, it's truly worthless in his eyes, and he won't kill your family for a mere petty grudge as well. And I more incline to the second one, it's not that I trust him but I trust his Master,"

Yes, all these comments came from his trust in Saint rather than Heero. Niadin believed Saint would not choose and raise Heero as his disciple if Heero was wicked as Ryan thought of.

Ryan White fell silent at those words. He looked into the old man's eyes, trying to find whether the old man was telling the truth or not.

"You do seem to trust his Master very much," Ryan White was piqued by Heero's Master identity.

However, Old Man Niadin merely smiled at Ryan White. He promised Saint to not tell his real identity to anyone hence he stayed silent.

"Then who's stronger, you or him?" Knowing Old Man Niadin would not tell him anything about the mysterious Master, he changed his question.

"Him? Did you mean Heero, right?"

"Yeah, who's stronger between you two?" Ryan White nodded his head.

"I…" Old Man Niadin paused.

He wanted to say, "I am certainly stronger than him!" but he swallowed back those words. Heero was Saint's disciple, not just a disciple but a successor of Saint.

"I-I don't know. We haven't fought yet, so we don't know who's stronger. But I am much older than him for sure,"

Niadin did not say he was stronger than Heero. However, he was older which meant he was stronger than Heero. That was what he tried to tell Ryan White.

Suddenly, a smile formed on Ryan White's lips. He certainly caught the hidden message and he pretended he did not know the hidden message.

"Then what about him? Can you tell me more about his background? About his past?" Ryan White continued asking.

He wanted to know more about Heero. How could he become that strong? He was curious about Heero's past.

"I told you I don't know much about him. Everything I know about him is told by his Master. I and his Master are close friends and my friend often talked about his lovely disciple to me. My information about him is limited," Old Man Niadin shook his head.

"I am willing to listen," Ryan White looked straight toward the old man with an earnest gaze.

"His past, huh!?" Old Man Niadin rubbed his chin as he recalled his memories.

"My friend picked him up under his family corpses. Yes, it started with a little tragedy, his village was attacked by the specter and everyone was killed but him. His family saved him and he was on the verge of dying when my friend arrived at the village,"

"Then my friend took him as his successor, but I heard a few years later, his lover was also killed by the specter. He has a deep grudge against the specter but he's a decent guy I think as he is my friend's disciple,"

"Nah, I don't know much. It was an old distant memory, I don't remember much about him,"

Niadin shook his head, giving up to recall the distant memory of his.

"If you want to gauge his strength, I have an idea actually,"

Ryan White's eyes brightened at those words. Indeed, he was trying to gauge how strong Heero was.

"How?"

"Fight his disciple!" Old Man Niadin pointed his finger toward Sun Zhou Yi's direction.

"It may not be accurate, but if you can't even defeat his disciple, don't dream of defeating him. It's simple, right?" Niadin showed his crafty smile.

Ryan White followed Niadin's instruction. He challenged Sun Zhou Yi to fight. There was no reason for Sun Zhou Yi to decline the challenge. He in fact also wanted to have a battle against Ryan White.

His resentment toward Ryan White had not faded yet. There was no harm in having a spar against Ryan White as he also wanted to test his new power.

Just like that, both were having a battle with Old Man Niadin as the observer.

In the center of the grass plain, Sun Zhou Yi faced Ryan White with twenty meters distance between them.

"Good, you guys can start!" Old Man Niadin's voice rang out.

He was intrigued by Ryan White, he wanted to know how strong this guy was. He could test it directly but he did this to check Sun Zhou Yi's progress as well.

As soon as Sun Zhou Yi heard Niadin's voice, he summoned his Ki Shaft. Yes, it was not Ki Sword as he could change the shape of his Ki at will. As this was a spar, he did not want an unwanted accident to happen hence he changed it into a shaft.

Sun Zhou Yi summoned a hundred shafts instantly. He did not give Ryan White a chance to move as he initiated the first attack.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

A hundred shafts moved at the same time. All of them moved toward the same direction, Ryan White.

Even though a hundred Ki Shafts moved at the same time, only five Ki Shafts that attacked Ryan White.

'It's fast but not enough to hit me,'

Ryan White leaped back to avoid the incoming shafts. But Sun Zhou Yi was not over with his attack. Another five shafts came from the top of him.

He was in the air, it was hard to maneuver his body as the shafts were almost reaching him.

Ryan White started to panic. He put his hands forward and shot fire with his hand. The momentum of shooting fire pushing his body back further. He barely avoided the five shafts from the top.

However, Sun Zhou Yi was not over. He had a hundred Ki Shafts floated around him. The moment Ryan White pushed his body backward with his fire, another five shafts came from his back.

At this point, Ryan White was at wits' end. He just pushed himself to the five shafts on his back.

Bugh! Bugh! Bugh! Bugh! Bugh!

All five Ki Shafts hit his back. Ryan White fell forward with his face. Again, Sun Zhou Yi was not over yet.

As soon as Ryan White's body fell to the ground, another twelve shafts shot toward him. Two shafts locked his neck, four shafts locked his both hands, two shafts locked his back, and the last four shafts locked his feet.

Ryan White was pinned down in less than five minutes. Right after that, Sun Zhou Yi moved his Ki Shafts around Ryan White. The rest eighty-eight shafts floated around, ready to shoot at Ryan White the moment he broke from the shaft. It was a crushing defeat, Ryan White could not even fight back.