Eternal Evil Emperor

Twice deceived by the semblance of hope, Chen Feng's will to fight was completely eroded. Without the spirit to fight, no matter how advanced his cultivation, or how pathetic the people chasing him, he no longer had the courage to turn and fight.

Half an hour ago, the hunted became the hunter, with Xie Tian following behind Chen Feng. Whenever Chen Feng veered off course, Xie Tian accelerated, forcing Chen Feng to change direction. During this relentless pursuit, Chen Feng hadn't realized that the route he was fleeing on was precisely the path Xie Tian had run before.

The Martial Artists following behind weren't disappointed. Before long, they witnessed another strange sight: the invalid, in the midst of his pursuit, suddenly started dancing, which left them completely baffled.

Only the crazy old man understood, but the realization almost caused him to rip off his own beard. Xie Tian's dance was actually Pei Yuan Gong—the art of cultivating one's vital energy.

"So this is how he cultivates the Pei Yuan Gong," the crazy old man watched Xie Tian's retreating figure and whispered in disbelief, "The upper half of Pei Yuan Gong has become an instinctive part of his body!"

Practice makes perfect. Xie Tian's attempt to cultivate Pei Yuan Gong while chasing Chen Feng to avoid losing him was just an impromptu idea, and to his surprise, his first attempt succeeded effortlessly.

This was indeed a reason for happiness. From now on, restrictions on him would diminish significantly, whether for cultivation, combat, or healing.

"Ah!"

The frantically fleeing Chen Feng suddenly stumbled and fell to the ground, sitting with an expression of agony instantly crossing his face. He looked at the back of his foot pierced by a sharp spike, shock mingled with the urge to vomit blood.

After cruelly pulling out the spike and glancing at Xie Tian closing in, Chen Feng ran in pain. His mind overwhelmed by anger, resentment, terror, and panic, he failed to notice that his speed had decreased by thirty percent.

Xie Tian also reduced his speed by thirty percent because Xie Sha had warned him that a direct confrontation with Chen Feng would only leave him with a ten percent chance of survival.

This was the inevitable difference brought by the absolute disparity in cultivation levels. Therefore, Xie Tian had to continue driving Chen Feng until the latter completed the five laps that he himself had desperately run.

In order to survive, not only did he arrange for a pack of wolves to attack at the green stones, but he also prepared many traps along the five laps that could ensure his survival and cause the other's death.

Chen Feng didn't get far before he was peculiarly injured again, such as having his foot pierced by spikes intended for trapping tigers, or stepping into a clump of grass onto iron caltrops coated with a stupefying drug designed to capture mountain panthers.

He thought he was utterly unlucky, unaware that he had already passed by these things five times. Back then, his mind was clear, and he unconsciously avoided them. Now, however, he couldn't.

While fleeing for his life, Xie Tian's backpack became lighter and lighter; one reason was to run faster, and the second was to leave himself a way to counterattack. He had laid traps, certain that the panicked Chen Feng wouldn't notice.

Everything was within Xie Tian's plans.

The onlooking Martial Artists were astonished. The expert was so unfortunate—the traps on the ground would have been easily spotted with a bit of attention. They were all Hunters; how could they lack even this basic knowledge? However, when they saw the invalid expertly picking up the hidden weapons and poisons and skilfully stuffing them into his backpack, a chill ran down their spines.

For they finally realized that those traps were deliberately prepared by the invalid during those five laps for the expert.

This was the reason for Xie Tian's circuitous route.

By the time Chen Feng returned to the vicinity of the green stones, he was unable to run any longer. He was bleeding profusely, his body covered with wounds, his feet numb, each wave of dizziness from the stupefying drug assaulting his brain. The panic in his heart finally turned into fear.

"It can't be, I have the cultivation of the eighth level of the Savage Force realm. How could I possibly die at the hands of this invalid!"

A touch of madness flickered in the depths of Chen Feng's eyes. He turned to look at Xie Tian, ten paces away, silently calculating if he could muster his last bit of strength to kill his foe. But a moment later, he despaired, for the ten paces were just out of his reach.

"You vile little brat, this is all your doing, isn't it!" screamed Chen Feng, tormented nearly to madness, his voice filled with bitter resentment, "Fight me like a man, face to face, or I'll despise you even in death! Come on! Come at me!"

Xie Tian shook his head, was about to speak, but then seemed to recall something. He stepped two paces closer and said softly, "Tell me how Xie Shuai came to know of my location here, why he wants to kill me, and I'll fight you."

At his words, a sincere plea flickered in Chen Feng's eyes. Cowed by Xie Tian's deceptions and seeing his solemn nod, he quickly responded, "Xie Shuai is no longer in Yangshuo City, but went to the number one sect of the Song Kingdom, Chi Xiao Peak. It was Chen Qin's message to me that notified Xie Shuai of your whereabouts. As for the reason he wants to kill you, you know it yourself. Come!"

Chen Feng finished speaking and, swaying, stood up. But just as he straightened, Xie Tian retreated two paces again, restoring the distance between them to ten paces.

Suppressing the urge to vomit blood, Chen Feng asked with a grim face, "Lied to me again?"

"No, I said I would fight you," Xie Tian shook his head and pulled out a well-strung crossbow from his backpack, aiming at Chen Feng, "First, a ranged attack, then close-quarters combat."

With a pff, the furious and frustrated Chen Feng finally spat out a mouthful of old blood. He exerted all his energy to sidestep, attempting to dodge the bite of the crossbow, but Xie Tian spoke again, "Like a man, face me!"

Whoosh!

Before Chen Feng could reply, a crossbow arrow hit his shoulder, the tremendous force pushing him back five or six steps.

Xie Tian also advanced five or six steps, once again aiming the loaded crossbow at his opponent.

Whoosh!

Every time Chen Feng retreated a few steps, Xie Tian would advance a few steps. No matter how horribly Chen Feng screamed and cursed, Xie Tian's eyes remained steady, and so were his hands—steady enough to send shivers down the spines of the Martial Artists behind him.

With a total of eight arrows, Chen Feng could no longer stand and collapsed to the ground. He looked at Xie Tian with the most sincere expression in his eyes, his lips parted as he whispered weakly, begging Xie Tian to spare his life.

Xie Tian's response was two crossbow arrows.

Only when Xie Tian no longer sensed any threat to his life did he slowly approach Chen Feng. He took out a caltrop from his backpack and shot it at Chen Feng's neck.

Seeing this, the Martial Artists couldn't help but cover their own necks, as if Xie Tian's throw had struck them instead.

"You, you will, will, regret..." Knowing he wouldn't survive, Chen Feng used the last of his energy to cast the most bitter and resentful gaze imaginable at Xie Tian.

Xie Tian quite liked these eyes that refused to close in death. He believed that a month ago, he might have had the same look in his eyes.

Not until Chen Feng's body turned cold did Xie Tian truly approach the corpse, an eight-inch blade sliding out from his sleeve with ease, cleanly cutting off Chen Feng's head.

Holding the head as the blood drained, Xie Tian sat silently beside the corpse. This sight finally caused the following Martial Artists to break down—some vomited, others fled. Some ran desperately because they remembered, half a month ago, they seemed to have mocked such a debilitated person who struggled even to climb a mountain.

Even the Martial Artists who remained silent eyed Xie Tian with wariness. They didn't understand the hatred between the group of experts and the disabled man, nor did they know why a pack of wolves would converge to attack the expert without reason, but they knew that this disabled man was truly ruthless.

Taking the token out of Chen Feng's embrace and holding the head, Xie Tian passed through the crowd as if no one else was there, walking towards the path down the mountain. What he left on the mountain was a rivers and lakes tale so bewildering to the others, it was like something out of myth.

Only the mad old man understood the ordeal. Because of this understanding, when everything was finally concluded, he couldn't help but be overwhelmed with excitement, striking his palms together in admiration.

Only he knew that the wolves attacked Chen Feng because, right before Xie Tian jumped down Beast Cliff, he threw an egg at Chen Feng. The egg belonged to a Fire-plumed Falcon—priceless to humans and fatal attraction to the wolves.

Xie Tian knew that the egg of a Fire-plumed Falcon would attract the wolves because he had thoroughly read the books in the cave and applied what he learned.

From that moment, Xie Tian began to lay out his plan—throwing the egg, leaping off the cliff, and after the first scavenging of bodies, leading Chen Feng to run five circles around the perimeter, attracting the pack of wolves. Chen Feng, with his hands covered in the egg fluid of the Fire-plumed Falcon, faced the crazed attack of the wolves, which drained his strength on the path to ruin.

Following that, Xie Tian's two instances of deceit left Chen Feng utterly without resistance. He was forced onto the path that Xie Tian had long prepared; a string of traps and hidden weapons cost Chen Feng most of his combat power.

Chen Feng hadn't given up and had tried to trick Xie Tian into taking action, but what he didn't know was that five days earlier, Xie Tian had understood that a cornered beast would be the most ferocious. Thus he used the crossbow to completely eradicate Chen Feng's combat ability while still remaining cautious, adding a caltrop for good measure, and finally, most securely, beheading him.

Only by beheading him could death truly be represented.

"Perfect, too perfect..."

The mad old man couldn't quite describe the joy in his heart, continuously repeating the word perfect. While some might call Xie Tian's act brutal or sinister, he would say it was the most captivating, the smartest and bravest script played out on the edge of death.

Beside that bluestone, Xie Tian, on his first mountain journey, encountered death and took life for the first time;

Beside that bluestone, as Xie Tian prepared to descend the mountain, he used everything he learned during his trials to spectacularly dispose of an enemy three levels higher than him, one who realistically should have been impossible to defeat.

In just half a month, fifteen days, the difference was as vast as that between cloud and mud, and this substantial disparity was bought by Xie Tian with courage, wisdom, and life.

The first trial had ended perfectly!

As Xie Tian descended the mountain, he still appeared sickly and wan. This time, however, passersby didn't bully him, because he was carrying a head that refused to die peacefully.

Arriving at the Anlan Town post station, Xie Tian placed the head and a silver note of a hundred taels on the counter, mentioned a location, and departed, ignoring the quivering Shopkeeper who tried hard to retain him.

He still had many things to do and wouldn't stop for anyone. To him, Chen Feng was just a passerby, his real targets lay within Yangshuo City, at the Biying Pavilion, at Chi Xiao Peak.

When Xie Tian walked into the dilapidated courtyard, he saw the mad old man standing by the window, his face filled with smiles, with not a trace of madness. Xie Tian knew that the doubts buried in his heart for so long would be answered today.

"Who am I?"

"I have a son, born three thousand years later, who shall traverse the nine provinces unrivaled by all!"