Work Hard for the Money

"Urgh!"

Jiayi fell back on his rear as he was kicked away by the freakishly tall young man in front of him.

"Haha! Is that all you got, bro?" the tall youth asked cheerfully. It was very hard to tell if he was mocking him, or not.

"W-who are you?!" Jiayi shouted, for what seemed like the fourth time, already.

"I'm... The Mysterious Stranger," Ryker said, putting a hand up to his face in what he thought was a mysterious fashion.

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

Jiayi gritted his teeth and lunged up from the floor, yelling a battle cry as he swung his sword down at Ryker's head.

Ryker simply activated his Profound Wind Walking Technique and rushed up to meet him, pivoting around behind him before the attack could come down and slashing at Jiayi's neck with his own sword.

He purposely didn't follow through, however, drawing the sword back as it cut a few strands of hair.

Jiayi shakily put a hand to his neck, a shiver going down his spine as he felt the lingering coldness of the steel.

"Why?! If you're going to kill me, why toy with me, like this!"

"Huh? Who said I was gonna kill you?" Ryker asked, tilting his head to the side.

"I was just practicing my swordplay until your friends showed up, but honestly, your technique's the one that needs some work!"

He laughed as Jiayi tightened the grip on his sword, gritting his teeth in humiliation. Ever since he had stepped into the Soul Wandering realm, he'd never had to tolerate such insolence!

But he couldn't deny the fact that this Qi Gathering newbie was toying with him like he was a child!

Even though he'd been sneak attacked by this insufferable young man, he should have been more than capable of defending himself, but some strange energy was slowing down his movements.

And the laughing fool in front of him was using a high level movement technique, seemingly without running out of qi, at all. There was simply no way for Jiayi to keep up with him.

"Grr... Just wait until the rest of my group gets here!" he shouted like a cartoon series villain, "There are dozens of us at the Soul Wandering realm, I don't believe that you can take us all!"

Although he was bluffing a bit, there were indeed a dozen of them in the Execution squad, though only half were actually at the Soul Wandering realm. Still, that should be more than enough to suppress this fool's movements and make short work of him.

"Yeah? Guess I'll be making a tidy profit, tonight!" Ryker said with a grin, twirling his sword idly.

The practice he'd been doing for the past week was really paying off. Although the system gave him instant comprehension and knowledge of how to use a technique when he learned it, it only gave him the bare minimum of physical coordination required to execute it.

Basically, as soon as he learned a technique he was able to 'use' it, but he'd actually have to practice and develop the muscle memory required to 'master' it.

He felt it was more fun this way, though, so he didn't really mind.

Combined with his practice with utilizing qi and mana at the same time, as well as Luo Shuchang's movement technique, he was truly a force to be reckoned with, now.

And since most of his power came from mana, he only needed to use qi for his movement technique, at the moment, so he could literally do this all day.

"Jiayi!"

A shout from deeper in the forest caught both of their attention, and several figures jumped out to surround Ryker all at once, brandishing their weapons menacingly.

"Jinhai! Haha, you're in for it now, brat!" Jiayi shouted triumphantly.

"Hm, you think so?" Ryker asked, putting his sword back into his bag and pulling out the Sturdy Iron Cudgel.

"Quit bluffing, you fool! There's no way you can take on all of us!" the newly arrived lackey called Jinhai said, scoffing.

Ryker just grinned and rushed forward, straight at the exhausted Jiayi. Everyone present was stunned at his speed, even Jiayi himself, as he offered no resistance to Ryker slamming the rod down on his head, knocking him out cold.

"G-get him!" Jinhai shouted, but before any of them could even move, Ryker was gone, dashing through the dense forest underbrush.

"Damn it!"

"Don't let him get away!"

The Execution Squad ran in after him, and so the chase was on.

--

Meanwhile, back at the Crimson Viper King's lair...

"Shit!"

Chen Liwei cursed as Luo Shuchang's sword managed to find a way past his defenses and nicked him on the arm.

Instead of throwing around big attacks with sword qi like most cultivators, Luo Shuchang had condensed the sword qi around the blade of his sword, letting the weapon even penetrate the defenses of a Nascent Soul cultivator like Chen Liwei.

He was also using the tricky movements of the Cold Viper Sword technique to make it harder for him to defend himself, leaving Chen Liwei bleeding like a pig from multiple cuts on his body, the rampaging sword qi making them more difficult to heal from.

Even though Luo Shuchang disdained using such tactics, in his previous life, he was simply too weak to be taking a Nascent Soul expert head on, right now. However, the artifact Chen Liwei should be carrying was too tempting to pass on, thus his current situation.

"Come on, you brat," Liwei roared, flailing his mace around and sending bursts of qi, everywhere, "Face me!"

However, he was unable to even graze Luo Shuchang with any of his attacks, frustrating him to no end. He was certain that as long as one good hit landed, this brat who was still in the early Soul Wandering realm would be as good as dead!

"I've been facing you this whole time, though?" Luo Shuchang answered back with a smile, though sweat was staring to form on his forehead, the strain of maintaining his condensed sword qi and movement techniques starting to take it's tolll.

He knew he'd be in trouble if he took a hit from that mace, and so he danced around nimbly while cutting away at his opponent.

Chen Liwei roared again as blood spurted from his body, and he jumped high into the air, slamming back down with a resounding crash. A terrifying shockwave of qi spread out from all around him, blasting away the surrounding trees and shrubbery.

Luo Shuchang quickly jumped up onto a tree to avoid the attack, letting the shockwave blow it away before jumping back onto the ground, panting slightly.

"Heh, it seems you're almost out of energy, brat!" Chen Liwei observed with a smirk.

Luo Shuchang just shook his head with a rueful smile, raising his sword in front of him.

"That would seem to be the case. I'd better finish this quickly, then," he said confidently, a calm expression on his face.

"Tch, still bluffing until the end?"

Chen Liwei clicked his tongue before charging forward to press the attack, swinging his mace high in the air above him.

Luo Shuchang just sighed and quickly popped a pill from his storage space into his mouth. He'd been wanting to save these, but it seemed like he had no choice but to splurge if he wanted to defeat a Nascent Soul realm expert.

"Repay me with your life!" he shouted, a bright, pink aura enveloping his sword.

When he then raised his sword to the sky, Chen Liwei felt the premonition of death!