Homing Slap

Foam started coming out of the man's mouth. He barely managed to say, "So-Song Qing! Y-you dare do this?! Are you prepared…"

He then fell dead. Song Qing looked down with a complicated gaze. She wanted to pursue the man who took the Dawn bug, but without her strength, there was no way she could.

"Consequence? I should have done this long ago. I was just too afraid to do it. You all forced my hand... But that man, why does his presence feel familiar?"

Meanwhile, the trio had stopped, looking around to find Ryu. They were sure he had run in this direction, but they couldn't sense him at all.

"Where did he go? He shouldn't have gotten far."

"I'm sure he's around here. Let me check."

One of the trio responded, then closed his eyes.

"Looking for me?!"

The man quickly opened his eyes, wanting to turn around, but unfortunately, Ryu had already made his move.

"Slap of Justice!" Ryu slapped the man's back, exploding the man's heart in the process.

His body dropped with a heavy thud to the ground.

The other two looked on in fear. They hadn't been able to feel Ryu's presence until now.

"RUN!" the man quickly decided.

Ryu looked at them with a dangerous glint in his eyes. There was no way he would let them go. In reality, if they fought head-on, Ryu would probably lose, but now they were panicked and trying to run.

Ryu knew he would win. There was also the screen telling him he had just learned a new technique.

[You have mastered 'You are Safe as Long as You Stay a Hundred Steps Away from the Target.']

[...]

[Congratulations! You acquired the peak spirit-grade technique! Now You See Me, Now You Don't!]

This new technique was what Ryu had used to ambush the trio. It allowed him to remain completely invisible until he began his attack. Unfortunately, it had a huge Qi consumption, so he could only use it for a limited time, but the effect deserved its grade.

But that wasn't what made him feel confident.

[You gained 120x690 Experience for slapping a hypocrite thug to death!]

[You acquired and mastered Slap of Justice.]

[...]

[Congratulations! You acquired the Peak Spirit-grade palm technique! Homing Slap of Justice!]

He opened his palm, and a dazzling crimson energy burst forth, gathering around it.

"Eat this, you thugs!" Ryu screamed as he slapped twice in the air. "Homing Slap of Justice!"

The thugs didn't even dare look back. They sped up, using all their strength to run away, but it was pointless.

Ryu's palm of justice pierced through the air like a homing missile, dodging tree branches and even flying insects that blocked its path.

A loud smack resounded in the forest, followed by two more bodies hitting the ground.

The palm hit its targets, leaving a mark on their backs. Their clothes were shredded to pieces as they crashed into several branches. One unlucky thug also crashed into a sharp rock on the ground, piercing through his stomach.

"Deserved," Ryu said with a smile, then walked toward them slowly.

[You gained 80x690 Experience for slapping a hypocrite thug to death!]

[You gained 80x690 Experience for slapping a hypocrite thug to death!]

[Your Homing Slap of Justice has reached the Adept stage.]

Now that things had been taken care of, Ryu wanted to interrogate them for more information. He needed to know what they had over Teacher Song and what the situation was.

"Hmm…" Ryu frowned as he came closer.

He kicked both of them and noticed foam coming out of their mouths.

"Dead by suicide? Or is it something else? Just who are they?"

Ryu then looked around their bodies, trying to find a clue, but he didn't find anything. "Well, at least I get some weapons."

It was a pair of sharp daggers. For Ryu, it was better than nothing. If he had had these before, he would have had more options to finish off the thugs. He played around with the daggers, throwing one at a nearby tree while using the other to slash through the air.

[You gained 1x690 Experience for slashing a dagger in the air!]

[You gained a new skill: Basic Dagger Mastery!]

[You gained 1x690 Experience for throwing the dagger!]

[You gained a new skill: Basic Throwing Mastery!]

"Nice! As I expected, with this system, my goal should be reaching the peak." 

Ryu then looked down at the bodies, contemplating how to dispose of them. Based on his knowledge, strong cultivators often had ways to track their murderers. He wondered what his options were—burn them or bury them—but both methods would take too much time. Looking at the sharp dagger, an idea came to mind.

He stabbed the knife into their stomachs and began carving them up.

[You gained 1x690 Experience for desecrating a corpse with a dagger!]

[You gained a new skill: Even the Dead Cannot Rest in Peace!]

[Your Basic Dagger Mastery has reached Apprentice Mastery!]

Ryu frowned at the notification. He felt as if the system was mocking him for desecrating their corpses.

"I'm sorry, okay? But this is necessary." Ryu sighed, then put their hands together and offered a prayer.

"May both of you rest peacefully in hell and get your punishment."

He then left after turning both their corpses into a gruesome mess. Ryu didn't do this out of malice—he still remembered being hunted down by wolves in this forest.

His goal was to attract wild beasts to consume the corpses. As cultivators, their bodies would be a delicacy for the forest creatures. With how he had prepared them, it wouldn't be strange if nothing was left by morning.