Li Chen's revenge.

The air was cool on a large plateau above Spirit City. The cracking of metal against wood echoed out as Li Jun lifted an axe above his head and slammed it against a dark log, using all of his strength. It just barely split beneath the sharp blade, and sweat gushed out from every pore on his body.

Master Shen sat on a wooden chair with a book in one hand and a cup of cold tea in the other. He was enjoying the evening sun while Li Jun slaved away a couple of meters from his porch.

"You have to keep the axe head straight!" Master Shen demanded from the deck of his porch, and Li Jun let out a long sigh in response.

'I'm trying!' He screamed internally. 'This axe is just too damn heavy!'

The axe he was holding was longer than his arms, and the head of it resembled that of a battle axe more than it did a logging axe. How was he meant to chop wood with something designed to chop people? But he didn't question the old man and kept on splitting the logs as instructed.

Soon, his arms began to burn, and his hands felt numb from the impact of each hit. But Master Shen had no intention of telling him to stop. Soon, the sun began to set, and Master Shen stood up from his chair and walked over to watch Li Jun's chopping form.

So many hours had passed since he had begun, and the pile of logs was barely enough to heat a house for a couple of days. His body ached in places he didn't think it possible to, and it felt as though his hands would drop off at any moment.

"You can stop," said Master Shen. Li Jun let go of the axe and fell backward onto the floor. He had never worked so hard in his life. He didn't think anyone had worked so hard before, but he persevered for as long as he could; he didn't want to let Master Shen's teachings go to waste.

As he sat catching his breath, something lightly landed in his lap. He looked down to see a small white bottle, quickly took off the lid, and raised it to his mouth. He was incredibly thirsty, but something hard and spherical dropped into his mouth instead of the cold refreshment of water he had expected.

The medicinal scent reached his nose, and he knew immediately that it was some kind of profound medicine like the tendon-repairing pill his mother had given him. He swallowed the pill and a rush of energy shot through his body.

The spiritual energy around him began to spiral, and Li Jun quickly crossed his legs and closed his eyes. He began to circulate the energy within his spiritual core and found that his absorption rate was much higher than it usually was.

It must have been an effect of the pill. The fatigue in his body vanished almost immediately as he felt his spiritual core expanding and growing at an incredible rate.

Shen Guo watched with an impossible-to-read gaze. He seemed to be thinking about something as he profoundly watched Li Jun cultivate.

"This boy is strange," he whispered under his breath. "I'm not sure that I'm a capable teacher."

It was very rare that Shen Guo thought so highly of someone; he had never doubted his ability to teach before. But he saw something buried deep within Li Jun that he couldn't understand. He tried to look at his spirit core, but the more he looked, the more he felt uneasy. It was as though something was looking back at him.

Master Shen stood by Li Jun until he eventually opened his eyes.

"Master Shen, what was that?" Li Jun asked with excitement. "I've never felt so much energy before."

"Spirit-gathering pills," he said with a frown; he was still thinking something profound. "If you work hard, you will get more in the future. But for now, you can go home and rest."

Li Jun bowed with respect and quickly made his way home before it got dark. But along the way, he stopped on the dirt road that led toward the city.

A group of seven hooded figures stood in front of him, blocking his path.

"See, I told you he would come back eventually," one of them muttered.

Li Jun squinted his eyes and let out a sigh as he saw that none of them was a martial artist. In fact, their auras were very weak, like that of someone the same age as him.

"Li Chen, what do you want now?" he asked with frustration. It had been a few days since he defeated his cousin, but he could tell it was him, even beneath the hood. It seemed that he brought his friends to try to get revenge.

The hooded figure in the middle of the group flinched as he heard his name but then stepped forward and pulled down his hood.

"Good, you know it's me," he said with a smile as he pulled out his dragon-engraved sword.

"I wanted you to know that it will be me that kills you!" he screamed as he dashed forward with his sword raised and a bloodthirsty look in his eyes.

If it was two weeks ago, Li Jun would have curled up on the floor and begged for his life. But as he watched Li Chen move, it was as if he was moving in slow motion.

As the sword slashed down towards him, Li Jun stepped to the side. Li Chen's blade slammed against the floor and stuck into the dirt beneath. He stumbled and fell forward before rolling across the dirt path.

He looked up with fury and shouted, "What are you waiting for!? Kill him!"

The six others hesitantly approached with swords raised. They formed a circle around Li Jun and began to slowly close in.

"Ha! You're trapped now! Prepare to die!" Li Chen yelled once more as he rushed towards Li Jun with a satisfied smile. He swung his sword once more.

Crack!

A loud crunching sound echoed out as Li Chen stopped mid-swing. Without hesitating, his nose had crumbled under Li Jun's fist. Li Jun grabbed his cousin's wrist, took the sword from his hands, and kicked him in the chest.

Li Chen fell backward into one of the other boys, and they both tumbled to the ground. Li Chen groaned in pain.

Li Jun turned to the other five with the sword in his hand and smiled. He hadn't begun learning the sword technique from the silver ring, but for some reason, he felt confident.

He raised the sword above his head as if he were holding an axe and swung it down towards the boy closest to him.

CLANG!

The dragon-engraved blade sliced cleanly through the other boy's sword, and he quickly stumbled back, his face pale beneath his hood.

Although Li Jun couldn't see their faces, he figured it was the same group that always ambushed him.

Upon seeing Li Jun cut his sword in half, he scurried away like a rat that spotted a cat in an alleyway. The other four didn't hesitate as they quickly followed him, and they, too, ran away.

Li Jun turned and saw the remaining two boys. One of them was Li Chen, whose nose had been completely flattened and was gushing blood all over him. The other was a fat boy who often bullied Li Jun in the past.

Li Jun raised the sword towards the fat boy and rammed it between his legs. Warm liquid gushed out all over him as he let out a cry for help. Li Jun sighed as he looked at the sword he had stuck into the ground. The fat boy had urinated all over it.

"Remember this lesson," Li Jun said as he looked at the two of them with frustration. He wanted to hurt them seriously, but he felt terrible because they couldn't defend themselves.

"If you come for me again, I won't hold back."

Li Jun walked away, leaving the two of them on the floor. He then made his way back to the city.

Upon reaching the gate, five boys stood in a group behind five armored guards. Two of them held burning torches, and the others had weapons drawn.

"You!" A voice shouted out from the wall. "Put your hands up and stop right there!"