Tiding Up

"So, do you want to come up one by one, or should I beat you up all at once?"

"Huh?!"

"You little-!"

"Damn midget!"

Shui's taunt was met with angry shouts from Big Bear. They couldn't tell whether he was brave or stupid, but either way it made them angry. Rut was especially upset since his good mood was ruined. In his rage, he took out two large sabres from his back and held one in each hand.

"That's it! I'm taking care of you myself!"

"You're free to try at least."

Once their boss was armed, the other four took out their weapons as well. It was only to the level of barely being useful in battle, but all of them were familiar with how to use sabres so they couldn't be called weak for their level.

With Big Bear armed and ready to go, Shui had a smirk under his mask. The fight against the horned boar was honestly lacking for training, so he was very appreciative of this opportunity. It wouldn't be an easy fight, but not one that he didn't have confidence in.

Before becoming fully invested in the upcoming fight, Shui threw one of his swords to Ryan.

"Can you use it?"

"Uh, yeah, but I've only trained with a wooden one."

"That's fine."

Shui had seen Ryan's eyes light up every time he spotted a sword so he could guess he was a sword enthusiast. The reason why he didn't have one of his own was likely due to financial reasons so Shui lent him one of his. Whether he could use it properly or not was up to him, but Shui didn't want to deal with a sudden hostage situation while he was fighting, so he didn't leave him unarmed.

After lending the sword to Ryan, Shui focused on the five in front of him. Other than Rut, they were all in the late Mortal Realm. Two were in the eighth level, one in the seventh and one in the ninth. Based on how well they could cooperate it was enough to kill him, but why would he give them that chance?

Shui took out his dagger and made the first move. In an instant, he reached to the seventh level cultivator at the back of Big Bear and his dagger was already stuck in his throat. Rut had realised what he was doing but it was too late by that time. After getting his first kill, Shui aimed for a triple by throwing out two 'Burst' talismans towards the eighth level cultivators.

Bam!!!

The explosion blew away the arms that the two eighth level cultivators had managed to raise, along with their faces. Seeing three of his surbordinates get killed before he could do anything, sent Rut into a blind rage.

"You bastard!!! I'll kill you!!"

"Wasn't that your initial purpose?"

With only two left, the difficulty was lowered but he knew he couldn't lower his guard yet. Since he had to take down their numbers as quickly as possible, he couldn't hide one of his trump cards so they would now be cautious of it. However, he still wasn't worried. They were strong, but Shui didn't think he would even need to pull out his 'Haste' talisman to beat them.

The remaining two were now in between Shui and the siblings, but they didn't think they needed to worry about their backs. As long as they took care of Shui, the rest would be easy.

Rut rushed at Shui with his sabres. One vertical swing, then a diagonal one to the left, followed by two simultaneous diagonal slashes in opposite directions; Shui easily dodged each one by reading Rut's intentions from his aura and his body motions. In his berserk state, Rut happened to be even less of a threat than before as all of his moves were telegraphed. Because of his wild attacks, the ninth level cultivator couldn't even provide help. As he played with him a little longer, Shui used his martial intent to pull out a 'Light' talisman from his satchel.

As soon as he saw the talisman, Rut backed away like Shui thought he would. The light that burst from the talisman wasn't to attack Rut, only to distract him. The one that he really intended to get harmed by the talisman, staggered backwards and left himself open to the sabre of one of his fallen comrades. Shui had used his martial intent to pierce his heart with the sabre, leaving only Rut. Once Rut recognized the new corpse behind him, he screamed in fury and regret.

"Damn you!"

The charging Rut was the last one left. Whatever memories he shared with them or how close they were, none of that mattered; Shui would deal with him as indifferently as the rest. Without needing to confront him, Shui dodged Rut's reckless swing and stabbed his arm. The stab forced Rut to drop one of his sabres, but that didn't make him cool down. However, before he could swing again, Shui had already climbed up to his shoulder and his dagger had already made it to his neck.

"I think this is over."

"Hmph, kill me."

"Oh, and what makes you think I have to listen to you."

Shui then slammed the pommel of his dagger on Rut's head, jumped off and watched him tumble to the ground. Though he was in Soul Realm, he didn't seem to know any spells or arts so beating him was easier than Shui thought it would be. His lack of techniques wasn't too surprising since vagabonds were generally plagued by a lack in spells, arts and cultivation methods.

Lily had to cover her mouth to look at the bloody sight that was left after Shui's rampage, but Ryan could look at it with sparkling eyes. Neither of them thought of Shui as cruel for fighting back, but Ryan was especially excited. The fight against the horned boar only lasted for one exchange so he only thought that Shui was amazing, but this fight had him completely engrossed by Shui's skill. Even though he didn't need to swing his sword even once, his blood was boiling with passion.

Without minding the state of the siblings since he knew they were fine, Shui took out a pill from his satchel and shoved it in Rut's mouth.

"*cough*, *cough*, what did you feed me?"

"Just some poison. The effects will start showing in three days and by the fifth you'll be dead."

"What?! That, that must be a bluff!"

"Well, I won't force you to believe me. And if you'd rather die than listen to my favour than you can kill yourself here."

Just a few moments ago he was prepared for his death, but with the chance of staying alive dangled in front of his eyes, Rut couldn't resist the temptation.

'I just need to stay alive for now. I can always take revenge later.'

It didn't even take five seconds of waiting before Rut replied.

"What do you want?"

"I could have killed you but just in case you or any of these guys have any troublesome friends or family, I decided to keep you alive. I want to make sure nothing happens to these two, understand?"

"Hmph, fine. Where's the antidote?"

"Antidote? Did you really think I would give you it that so soon. All you're getting is something to relieve the symptoms that pop up. I could give you that in three days but, to help you believe that you're poisoned I'll wait a day extra."

"You little b-"

Before he could finish, Shui punched his face. Now that he was on his knees, Shui's hands could now reach him easily.

"Remember your position. Your life is in my hands."

Without fear or uncertainty, Shui dealt with Rut. If it was him alone then he wouldn't need to be this cautious, but he also had to think about the siblings.

As for the pill he force fed him, though it was a delayed lethal poison, he wasn't good enough to come up with a poison as complex as how he described it. When he gave him the antidote, he would also give him another dose of the poison. It would be problematic if he got some alchemist to make the antidote for him, but the poison could only be detected after it erupted. When that happened he would be overcome by absurd levels of suspicion, anxiety and stress so he would become increasingly cautious and would hesitate to get the antidote from anyone other than Shui. Furthermore, when both the poison and antidote were consumed consecutively, there was an addictive effect so he would end up wanting to consume the poison without even realising.

"Okay, meet me around noon at the Workers' Association in four days. Now get out of here."

Once Shui dismissed him, Rut stumbled up to his feet and walked away after looking at Shui with deep hatred. When he was out of sight, the siblings came up to Shui and thanked him for his help. Ryan then returned the sword while Lily expressed her worries.

"I'm sorry you had to get in trouble because of us."

"It's fine. It's my decision after all."

"But, still, we're just burdens."

After Lily's words, Ryan felt depressed at how useless they were. Looking at the two, Shui changed his original plan for something more reliable. He was planning on leaving their protection to Rut for the time being, but there was a better method.

"You two, why do you cultivate?"

When Shui suddenly brought up this question, the two looked at each other before Lily responded.

"Well, it's not a profound reason or anything. We just want to protect ourselves and our loved ones."

Ryan nodded at Lily's words. They didn't understand the purpose of Shui's question, so they simply answered honestly. It was due to a complete coincidence why they were able to cultivate, and it might have gotten them into a lot of danger but they didn't regret it. Still looking at the two for a while longer, he made his choice.

Shui then turned his back to them and said.

"If you want to improve then find me by the notice board in four days."