Sneak Attack

Ye Mo contemplated the issue.

He had no way to know if what Wei Leng said is true or not but if the matter of the pure iridescent iron was real he couldn't let this chance slip by.

"What's your name?" Ye Mo asked after he took his decision.

"My name is Wei, my first name is Leng" Responded Wei Leng with a smile, showing his white teeth. He was delighted, at least he would live.

"Fine. I, Ye Mo take an oath with the heavens as a witness that i won't kill Wei Leng. If i break my word, may i suffer a thousand deaths." After his announcement Ye Mo instantly felt a mysterious pain, like some kind of shackles binded his heart squeezing it.

"I knew brother was a sensible man, here take the map and you can keep the gold coins as well. Then let's never meet each other again." Wei Leng handed over the map and was going to depart.

"We won't indeed." Ye Mo grinned.

"What?" Wei Leng didn't understand.

Ye Mo had already struck at lightning speed, his phalanx lightly hitting his temple! He fainted immediately.

Wei Leng fell helplessly as Ye Mo's hand quickly moved seizing his pouch. Then he stomped with his foot breaking Wei Leng's limbs and left taking the others spatial pouches.

"I said i won't kill you but i didn't say i won't injure you." Ye Mo wouldn't bargain. When he striked he never planned to leave a survivor in the first place.

The fight has been a one-sided massacre as the place was filled with blood, it was bound to attract packs of beast. Wei Leng and his comrades corpse would be devoured soon enough. Since he wasn't the one to kill him he wouldn't break his oath.

Wei Leng in the spur of the moment didn't realize it but most of all he underestimated Ye Mo viciousness.

Ye Mo swiftly collected their belongings but when he approached the boy he kicked previously he noticed his chest slightly heaving and sinking.

Fellow has been faking his death all this time and was taking quick breaths from time to time as he remained motionless. Ye Mo chopped with his hand bending the young man neck in an odd angle, his shock and unwillingness apparent on his face.

Even if left alone he might still die from the beasts but Ye Mo couldn't let him go. If by chance he survived and heard everything about the pure iridescent iron, the map would become a curse more than an opportunity. At this time he would only be able to separate from it if he wanted to live.

When he departed Ye Mo could hear wolf howls as shadows were seen moving in the surroundings.

"A pity Ren Xue Tu's belongings burned completely." He was satisfied of his first assault. The reason he decided to hunt candidates wasn't solely because of ressources.

When he fought with Liu Huan he noticed something fundamental. He lacked experience.

Exchanging blows in close combat against Ye Mo with a broken arm, he shouldn't have been able to last this long but Liu Huan knew when to attack and retreat, he used the environment to his advantage and imposed his own pace in the fight.

Ye Mo had a hard time following him and landing hits.

Fortunately, this trial in the jade forest was the best battleground to sharpen himself and fill his pockets.

As he engaged Wei Leng's band, only Ren Xue Tu gave him a threatening feeling and when he analysed the situation, not only did he look like the chef positioned in the front, the others also regularly throwed quick glances to him showing some kind of dependances.

It was understandable as Ren Xue Tu was a 5th layer qi gathering realm, he learned multiple fierce battle skills and had great offensive power. He was the pillar of the group and their main killing force.

When Ye Mo got rid of him their end was already set in stone. The girl protected by the others and Wei Leng had rank four qi gathering cultivation and only possesed support type martial arts while the rest were rank three and posed no danger.

"If i didn't caught him unprepared from the start, even though i wouldn't die i might get injured. In the worst case i would need to kill Wei Leng or take someone hostage to escape." Ye Mo summarized his battle learnings while speeding through the woods when his heart suddenly started racing as a sensation of freedom invaded him.

"Seems like he finally died." Ye Mo felt like he was breathing fresh air for the first time after a long sentence of imprisonement. His inner shackles shattered which could only mean Wei Leng has disappeared from the face of the earth.

"Bursting with strenght from the start to take my opponent by surprise worked a couple times already but it's only due to my neglected appearance, my non existent cultivation and because im a nobody."

"Once i enter the Tiger Martial institute people won't be caught unprepared like before. No, even reaching the second phase of the examination without any qi cultivation will make me stand out." Ye Mo wasn't delusional. A trick could work once or twice but the real foundation of power was your battle strenght.

On the afternoon of the same day Ye Mo walked out of a small stream naked, his clothes hanging on a branch.

His face was plain and he could only be considered average in terms of looks but his scar ladden body and his powerful figure made him look like an experienced warrior that battled his way for his life more than once.

Ye Mo was formerly covered in blood so he took a halt to have a bath but he just left water and went past a tree when he felt wind behind his back.

A tall girl with two daggers suddenly appeared behind him and chopped down towards his back.

She obviously had a battle skill unabling her to blend with the environment.

However Ye Mo was doubtful from the start. Hiding near a stream was a good idea since water could wash your traces but he remarked the leaves on the ground beside the trees hab been stomped.

He might have thought a band passed by some time ago but he had been ambushed this way a couple times already on his way here.

He just waited for the rat to leave it's nest and catch it.

Ye Mo using his speed and his incomplete Wind Flow battle skill easily avoided the blades as he turned around and grabbed her neck.

She wasn't strong, around the same level as a rank two qi gathering cultivator. Ye Mo just applied a bit of force and it broke. He fixed her as life left her eyes. Her head fell on the side as a tear dripped from her eye.

Ye Mo felt no pity, it was the fate of the weak in this land. You could either beg the strong for their goodwill or lie low, bid your time and try your best.

This girl chose to come here so she should have expected it could end that way.

Ye Mo rummaged through her clothes and took her pouch then dressed himself. He transfered it's contents to his before leaving, tossing it back.

On the road Ye Mo met multiple beings and as usual he left no survivors ransacking what was possible on his way but even then he had only Liu Hualing, Liu Huan and Wei Leng's pouches tied to a rope relied to his waist.

Of course Ye Mo thought about putting spatial pouches inside other pouches then put these pouches inside pouches once again to have unlimited carrying abilities but it was simply impossible.

Theses little dimensional pocket contained spatial inscriptions, if you tried to put one in another, theses small formations would react as a counter force and reject each other. If you tried too hard and the inscriptions broke you would loose your loots forever. In some cases your possesions would randomly appear somewhere else in the world.

Ye Mo made the experience firsthand. That's why he only kept those with the best quality he found.

He had room for around one more pouch before it would become cumbersome for him to move with.

Ye Mo set out but he didn't move far when a blockhead suddenly jumped from the top of a tree. He held a huge axe in his hands and chopped down towards Ye Mo.

He even heard him yell "Die for me!" as he hacked down.