Blame yourselves

The youths started to quiver and some of them stepped back, even so, they gathered their courage to face their enemy.

They can't afford to be afraid now, their young miss is doing her best to defend them.

Although they outnumber the opponent, their opponent is still powerful which is why they couldn't help but feel fear.

A young man who's about 18 years old, walked in front. He gulped and shouted, "I am your opponent!"

His name is David, 1st cousin of Lian.

"Brother," Lian said anxiously.

"Let me do it. I have my pride!" he then took a deep breath and took out a sword.

The black-clothed man looked at him with interest, "Ohh, a 1st Qi Refining stage. Not bad for a country bumpkin. I'll play with you for now."

He swung his sword covered with Qi towards David. 

David immediately used his sword to block the attack. He took a few steps and his arms numbed from the impact.

His face wore a gloomy expression. He knew that he was no match to his opponent. His opponent was clearly playing with him. 

"Hehehe." the black-clothed man laughed maniacally.

"Take this and this!" he swung his sword multiple times. 

David tried his best to defend himself multiple times. But he still received wounds after wounds.

"Don't get distracted!" the 9th Qi refining stage shouted while Lian was distracted. He then stabs his sword towards her thigh.

Lian hastily created an ice shield to defend herself from her opponent.

At this moment,

"Oh, it looks like you guys are having fun."

A calm voice resounded.

The people in the scene as if reached an agreement and stopped fighting. They looked towards where the calm voice came from.

They saw a handsome young man standing not far away from them with a nonchalant expression.

The black-clothed men became high alert because they thought that this man was a helper of these youths but after sensing that he has no cultivation they relaxed their guards.

Meanwhile, Lian was delighted at first because she thought that they could ask for help but to her disappointment, the young man had no cultivation.

The young man was no other than Azrael. He was walking around the forest when he accidentally bumped into this situation.

"You deal with him." the leader ordered his companion and ignored Azrael.

One of the black-clothed men walked towards him with killing intent.

"Oh, are you sure you want to deal with me?" he asked.

"Blame your luck! Hehehe."

Azrael then picked a wooden stick from the ground and swung it, he said, "This should be enough." he looked at the black-clothed man, "You're not enough to kill me. Maybe you should be asking them for help to deal with me."

The black-clothed man is not an idiot, the young man in front of him intends to fight him using the wooden stick. Furthermore, he was insulted by Azrael's earlier statement. He was provoked because he was belittled by this weakling. 

"There's no need for them to help me! I am more than enough to beat you to death! Don't expect to die easily because I'll surely torture you!" he warned.

Azrael ignored his warning, "Hey guys there, you didn't hear me? I said that he is not enough to deal with me. You guys should help him." 

But he was ignored, they knew that they were being provoked. Plus, in their eyes, he is already a dead man.

This statement further annoyed the black-clothed man. He rushed towards Azrael. He then swung his sword intending to chop all of his limbs one by one and skin him alive.

However, Azrael swung the wooden stick very fast, so fast that his opponent didn't notice it.

"Thud."

A sound of an object falling in the ground resounded.

The 9th Qi refining stage sneered because he thought it's the sound produced by the head of the young man falling to the ground.

"Didn't you say you will torture him to death? It looks like you gave him a sweep death," he said without even looking from behind.

Meanwhile, Lian and the other youths have shocked faces on their faces. He sensed something was wrong when he saw their shocked faces and when he was about to turn around a calm voice resounded.

"What are you talking about?"

He froze for a good moment and turned his head along with his companions. Their eyes are wide open from what they have seen.

A headless black-clothed man lay on the ground while his head rolled.

"T-this..." one of the black-clothed men muttered and gulped.

"Don't blame me. Blame yourselves, didn't I say earlier that you need to help him if you want to kill me but you guys just ignored me. Tsk, tsk. He must have resentment towards you guys. He died with resentment because you didn't help him. Tsk, tsk." he said to them while swinging the wooden stick playfully.

"Would you guys deal with me one by one or come together?"

The black-clothed men looked at each other.

"This young man is not simple! Let's come together with the intent to kill!" 

They didn't even feel sorry for their fallen companion and just decided to gang up on Azrael.

They have assassinated many people, so they can make judgments easily based on the situation. Although they didn't expect that this young man has the ability to kill one of them, it can still be attributed to being careless. But now, they knew that he was not as simple as he appears and wouldn't let their guard down. They are confident that they will kill this young man if they work together.

"How cold of you guys. You didn't even feel any sadness for your fallen companion."

Meanwhile, Lian and the youths were dumbfounded by what just had happened. This seemingly weak young man is capable of killing a Qi refining stage cultivator.

When Lian thinks about it more, she realizes that it is weird for a non-cultivator to wander around this forest because monster beasts roam here.

She then thought of the beggar. She looked at this handsome young man. And she realizes that he wore the same clothes. Although the clothes are old but clean now, it is no doubt that these clothes were the clothes of the beggar that day. She didn't realize it at first because Azrael looks clean now and has a handsome appearance.

Just like she had assumed that day. The beggar is not simple as he appears.