Chapter 11

“You won’t do it.” Qiu Zhen said confidently.

Tang Yin didn’t know where his confidence came from, but he indeed couldn’t bring himself to kill Qiu Zhen. Yan Lie belonged to this world, yet it had already been five hundred years apart. It was again a turbulent period now, and he wanted to survive. He needed someone who was familiar with everything here. And for now, Qiu Zhen was undoubtedly his best pick.
He asked in threat deliberately, “Give me a reason not to kill you.”

“If you kill me, there is one less person to help strategize by your side.”

Tang Yin sneered. He shrugged and said, “I have no need for that at all.”

Qiu Zhen said with a straight face, “You may not need it now, but you will know how important I am in the future.”

“Then I shall be anticipating.” Tang Yin didn’t care much for his words. Now, besides thinking that Qiu Zhen was extremely arrogant, he hadn’t found any other strengths on him.
However, Tang Yin didn’t expect that in reality, Qiu Zhen was indeed right. In the future, Qiu Zhen had really become an extremely important person for Tang Yin. Qiu Zhen’s strategies had pushed Tang Yin to climb upward constantly, and had also stirred up the whole of Feng state and even Haotian Empire. Years later, Tang Yin had said that in terms of big picture strategizing, ten Tang Yins were still incomparable to one Qiu Zhen. However, in terms of melee battles, he still trusted his gut more.

“We can’t stay here for long, let’s go!” Qiu Zhen looked around. It probably wouldn’t take long for the arrival of Ning state’s armies.

Tang Yin asked, “Where are we going?”

“Tongmen, of course!”
Tongmen was an important city at the western border of Feng State and also the gateway to the west of Feng state. Outside Tongmen was Hedong region in which Feng and Ning states were fighting over; across Tongmen was a flat land which connected straight to the capital of Feng state called the ‘Salt City’, that had no danger whatsoever in between. Feng state had always had heavy troops of defence in Tongmen. In result to the defeat of two hundred thousand Feng state soldiers that attacked Ning state, the remaining few were all fleeing toward Tongmen.

In order to avoid the pursuing troops of Ning state, Tang Yin and Qiu Zhen dared not take the big roads. Instead, they hid in the bushes and made their way through them.

Tang Yin was a man of few words. In addition to his indifferent nature, it was also related to the environment he grew up in. Qiu Zhen, however, was the exact opposite. Ever since he started his journey with Tang Yin, his mouth had never been shut. He was asking all sorts of questions, and even when Tang Yin ignored him, he was still able to continue muttering.

“Tang Yin, your Reiki doesn’t seem to be too strong.”
It was indeed not strong. Tang Yin was too lazy to speak and simply nodded. After combining with Yan Lie, he didn’t manage to gain much Reiki. Although he had used <the Flame of Darkness> earlier, the people he killed were all ordinary people. It was natural for the Reiki absorbed to be extremely little.

Qiu Zhen asked, “Which tier can you reach?”

There were a total of nine tiers in the cultivation of Reiki. From the lowest to the highest, they were First Spirit, Active Spirit, True Spirit, Break Spirit, Transform Spirit, Primary Spirit, Sky Spirit, God Spirit, and Empty Spirit.

Tang Yin asked, “Is it important to you?”

“Of course it’s important.” Qiu Zhen said seriously, “I have to first understand your strength to be able to make the right decisions at crucial moments.”
Tang Yin smiled. It seemed that Qiu Zhen had completely regarded him as a martial man who had four strong limbs but a simple mind. He wasn’t willing to further explain and said indifferently, “I could perhaps reach Active Spirit.”

Qiu Zhen nodded with a look that said ‘I knew it’. He muttered, “Like I said, your cultivation isn’t high.”

Tang Yin asked casually, “How can you tell?”

Qiu Zhen said, “The <Flame of Darkness> you used was the <Burning of Death>. If I’m not mistaken, this is the first tier of the <Flame of Darkness>.”

Tang Yin was a little surprised. It was already shocking that Qiu Zhen could tell that he was using the <Flame of Darkness>, who knew that he could even tell that the <Flame of Darkness> he used was the <Burning of Death>. He laughed and said, “I am starting to believe that the knowledge you’ve learnt is very miscellaneous.”

This was the first time for Tang Yin to praise him. Qiu Zhen was flattered and started opening up his chatterbox. He smiled and said, “I know more than these! The <Flame of Darkness> has a total of three tiers. First being the <Burning of Death> that could burn the body of all living things in this world and absorb fifty percent of the Reiki from its body. The second tier is the <Burning of Soul> that could burn the souls of living things and absorb a hundred percent of Reiki. The third tier would be the <Burning of Destruction> that could burn all things in this world and absorb Reiki from everything. However, it seems that ever since the birth of spiritual arts, no one has managed to reach the third tier of the <Flame of Darkness>…” As he was talking, he noticed that Tang Yin had a bitter smile on his face. He immediately changed his words thinking that he had blown his self-confidence and said, “You’re already very good. Based on what I know, there aren’t many dark spiritual arts practitioners who could even cultivate the <Flame of Darkness>. Or should I say that I have never heard of anyone who managed to cultivate it. It was a legendary skill. Who knows you can actually use it…”

Tang Yin already knew how hard it was to cultivate the <Flame of Darkness> without needing Qiu Zhen’s explanation. Even Yan Lie whose cultivations had reached his peak wasn’t able to cultivate the <Flame of Darkness> to its second tier, let alone himself. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be the case for Gu Zhen and Yan Lie to end up in a double loss, and ended up dying miserably in the hands of the villain Xuan Zhenzi.
As they walked forward, Tang Yin stopped in a sudden. At the same time holding Qiu Zhen who was beside him back.

Qiu Zhen didn’t know what was going on, and looked at Tang Yin with a puzzled look, “What happened?”

“Shh!“

Tang Yin gestured with his index finger asking him to shush. He lowered his voice and said, “There’s a sense of murderousness ahead.”

No enemy could be seen, nor was there any suspicious sound that could be heard. Yet Tang Yin could sense that there was indeed danger ahead. His beast-like instinct came from birth. It exceeded most people and was extraordinarily accurate. It was his magic weapon for self-protection.

Qiu Zhen focused his attention and looked forward. Yet all that he could see was only thick bushes and trees, not a single enemy was in sight. But Tang Yin’s expression didn’t seem like he was joking, and Qiu Zhen said cautiously, “I don’t see anything…”
“You step back!” After he finished talking, Tang Yin pulled out the sword he picked up from the battlefield and moved forward slowly.

Sha, sha, sha!

His surroundings seemed to have quiet down all of a sudden, only the sound of him stepping on the grass could be heard.

Qiu Zhen who was watching from behind started to feel anxious. His heart was beating in his throat and he looked forward without blinking.

As Tang Yin moved forward slowly, a cold light shot out in a sudden from the bushes next to him and aimed straight for his neck.
The cold light came too suddenly and was too quick. If it was anyone else, they might not even be able to spot it, let alone dodge it. But Tang Yin whose sixth sense was sharper than others had tilted his body slightly at the moment the light touched his neck. He dodged the blade easily and followed to raise the blade in his hand immediately. Only tearing sounds could be heard, and the light that shot out was cut off along with those sounds.

Only then did Qiu Zhen manage to see clearly that the thing which emerged from the bushes was a spear. Tang Yin had waved a strike with his sword and had broken the spear in half, and the tip of the spear fell onto the ground.

Such a quick reaction speed, such a quick sword. Qiu Zhen touched his neck subconsciously. He was a hundred and two percent sure that if Tang Yin’s blade was waved toward him, he could only just wait for his death. At this time, he was even more certain that following Tang Yin was the best decision he had ever made.

Tang Yin broke the spear with a single wave and a sharp scream was heard at the same time. The swaying of the bushes followed, and a black figure rushed out from the bushes. He didn’t rush toward Tang Yin, but turned to run instead.
The corner of Tang Yin’s mouth raised as he sneered silently. He hadn’t even accumulated much power, and his dashed out like electricity. In the blink of an eye, he had reached behind the black figure. He reached out to grab the person’s collar from the back and his other hand pressed against the person’s waist. His arm pulled backward with force as he shouted, “Lie down!”

The person’s body that had a heavy armor was pulled by Tang Yin over his head and smashed onto the ground next to his feet. Without waiting for that person to struggle to stand up, Tang Yin’s sword was already pressing against his throat.

“Ah-” The big man first screamed. But when saw Tang Yin’s face clearly, his eyes opened up wide and said in shock, “It’s you?”

Tang Yin looked down to take a good look. He didn’t know this big man, but he was indeed wearing the Feng state’s armor.

Without waiting for him to speak, there was a rustling sound in the bushes around him. Then, six or seven Feng state soldiers came out from the bushes.
“He’s on our side! Don’t attack, he’s on our side!” The big man who was controlled by Tang Yin’s sword waved to everyone.

When everyone saw that it was Tang Yin, they dropped their weapons at once. They surrounded him and asked all at once, “You didn’t die?” “You escaped!” “We all thought you were doomed going to lose!” “…”

Tang Yin took a moment to react. These Feng state soldiers were the ones he had just rescued from the Ning people’s encirclement.

It was them! Knowing that it was a misunderstanding, Tang Yin retracted his sword slowly and turned back to wave at Qiu Zhen casually.

The big man who fell to the ground stood up embarrassed and threw away the half blade in his hand. He rubbed his hands and smiled sorrily, “This… My brother, I’m really sorry. I thought the Ning people have reached us, which is why…”

Waving his hand, Tang Yin interrupted his nonsense impatiently and asked unpleasantly, “What are you guys doing hiding here instead of running?”