C18 Martial Arts Practitioners

Cedric's demeanor shifted from annoyance to a frosty steeliness. "Yes! This is precisely why I summoned you to these remote mountains. There's no one else around, so don't accuse me of framing an innocent. I can't let the perpetrator get away, but I won't make baseless accusations either. Take a look at the evidence I have here..."

Despite his age, Rich's voice boomed with vitality, his diaphragm resonating with strength as he stepped forward to defend Nash. "Ha! You're the unrepentant ones. Do you think seeing the proof or a token will make you confess? Take a good look at this—what do you see?" Cedric's hand opened to reveal a pale, indistinct substance. We leaned in, driven by curiosity, mindful of the adage: 'Do not harbor ill intentions, but always stay vigilant.' Alas, we were a step too late.

The treacherous scoundrel had concealed a powder in his hand that caught us off guard. As the powder took effect, I managed to land a fierce kick on Cedric, sending him reeling, his whereabouts unknown. Rich and I supported each other as we stumbled up the mountain, both of us dazed. Though younger and more resilient, I was weighed down by the guilt of involving Rich, an elder, in this peril. In our desperation, we lacked foresight. The deeper snow slowed our escape, and soon, a dozen figures were hot on our trail—renowned martial artists from various regions, all somehow manipulated by Cedric.

Injured and disoriented, we fled along the mountain's edge, flanked by a sheer cliff on one side and an abyss on the other. Exhausted and with no escape, we braced for the inevitable, our vision blurred by the poison.

Forest was understandably tense, gripping Rupert's arm for answers. "Brother Rupert, how did you survive such peril? Surely, there must have been a way out..."

"Heh! No need for alarm. It was a stroke of luck. We were trapped and powerless to move forward when those dozen pursuers arrived. Among them was the cunning Cedric, who had his own agenda. He cleverly misled the group to search elsewhere while he and two oddly dressed individuals came after us..."

When we arrived, a fierce battle ensued. Despite being wounded by several blades, I raised my voice and declared, "Every debt has its debtor, every wrong its perpetrator. If you must kill or maim, direct your wrath at me alone and spare Rich..."

Cedric, his eyes bloodshot from the frenzy of battle, taunted, "Nash! You're already a dead man, yet you worry about others? All you're holding is Rich's severed arm, oblivious to the fact that we've already hacked him to pieces..." (I gasped in shock).

With a cold sneer, Cedric seized the moment to strike a psychological blow, brandishing his sword and saying, "Nash! Since you're about to die, I'll be frank. My blade won't let you die in ignorance. You're merely collateral damage. My quarrel is with Rich alone! He's been monopolizing the official salt trade and cozying up to certain officials, hoarding all the profits for himself and leaving us brothers out in the cold. That old fox has been too slippery for us to catch... until now."

"So, we employed a 'lure the tiger from the mountain' strategy. Knowing you and he were close, we figured he'd come to your aid. Our loud commotion caught him off guard, allowing us to strike effectively..."

"Heh, you fancy yourself some kind of hero, don't you? Well, I'll add Rich's debt to your account, and with one fell swoop, I'll take you both down. You've unwittingly stepped into a trap and now, as a scapegoat, it's time for you to close your eyes to the truth..."

"Alas! Though I did not kill Rupert, his death is a consequence of my actions. You all are deviously cunning. But why are those shouting from the rooftops here? Did you summon them to kill us? Surely they wouldn't come without the promise of profit," Rupert sighed.

"These so-called warriors of justice think they're something special. I let slip that a millennium-old Ginseng, a rarity in this world, has appeared in the Dragon Spine Mountains. Consuming it can reportedly increase one's vitality by a century. Right now, Mr. Owens and I are supposedly dividing the loot. Their greed is palpable; they're all eager to snatch it up. And me? I'm simply killing two birds with one stone, letting them believe you two are at odds, which serves my purpose... Hahaha... Nash, prepare to meet your maker."

Rupert struggled to resist the onslaught and narrowly dodged a lethal strike. However, his footing failed him, and he tumbled into the chasm's abyss. The trio peered over the edge into the fog-shrouded depths, seeing nothing. "Let's move on! Anyone who falls into this unfathomable pit is as good as dead. Only a deity descending to earth could survive such a fall without being shattered to pieces."

"Heh, looking down from here to that bottomless pit, one's heart could nearly burst from the urgency. Yet, Rupert, you seem unfazed. What's the deal? I'm covered in goosebumps just thinking about it."

Rupert simply nodded; he had no other choice. As they say, facing a bottomless abyss leaves you with no options. The valley's mouth shrank and blurred before his eyes as the howling wind filled his ears with whispers of mortality. "Of course, I was nervous. How could I not be? But at that point, what choice did I have? I resigned myself to fate. As my body plummeted like a stone, I felt an icy chill envelop me. The valley entrance blurred, and the whispers of death surrounded me... until a distant voice broke through..."

"Dreams and worldly affairs are fleeting, time in the mountains is immeasurable, devout cultivation brings one closer to divinity, known to the world as the Carefree Caden."

Imagine, in the remote past, before a sheer mountain cliff, someone falling only to be caught by the swift force of a shaman's power, which swept up my entire body and flung me out. I braced for a devastating impact, to be shattered beyond recognition, but it never came. As I slipped into unconsciousness, I glimpsed an elderly shaman with youthful features before darkness took me...

"Child, child! Are you awake? The shaman is calling for me." In my groggy state, I felt completely paralyzed. The old shaman tended to every injury, soothing and mending my battered body. When I finally awoke, the shaman was deep in meditation beside me.

"Mentor, please..." Groggily regaining some consciousness, I glanced at the kind-faced, gentle-eyed man before me and felt a sense of ease.

"Child, you've finally come around," Rupert said, addressing the unfamiliar shaman with respect. "Master, how long was I out? And where are we? Didn't I fall from the high school building? How did I end up in such an unbelievable place?"