Chapter 15: I Invite You All to Die Here
The warm, genial smile on Zhang Quan's face froze in an instant. The three fierce-looking bandit cultivators beside him were equally stunned.
They had done this killing and plundering business more times than they could count. They had seen people panic and lose their heads, seen people curse and scream, even seen people drop to their knees and beg for mercy.
But they had never seen anyone question them so… calmly.
"Fellow Daoist, what do you mean by that?"
Zhang Quan recovered quickly. The cold viciousness in his eyes flashed and vanished, and he pasted that hypocritical smile back onto his face, trying to salvage the situation. "Zhang merely saw that Fellow Daoist was being set upon by villains and came to offer assistance…"
Yet before the last syllable of "assistance" had fully faded, a streak of sword light shot without warning from his sleeve, blazing straight toward Si Chen!
At the same moment, he barked a sharp command: "Move!"
The other three bandit cultivators had clearly drilled this together. Blades and swords rose in unison as they launched lethal strikes from every direction.
Yet Si Chen's figure merely swayed slightly where he stood.
Like a green leaf caught in the wind, he slipped through the gaps between the sword beams with uncanny precision — seemingly on the razor's edge of danger, yet utterly composed as he evaded them all.
All four ferocious attacks struck nothing but air.
Zhang Quan's heart clenched. That last shred of pretense crumbled entirely — this boy's movement technique was far too strange! There was no way today would end peacefully. His expression darkened in an instant.
Si Chen's gaze swept over them. He recalled Second Uncle Si Che's half-drunk advice, delivered with an arm slung around his neck:
"Chen, remember this — if someone out there truly wants you dead, don't hesitate. Beat them to death! Going soft on your enemies means you don't value your own life!"
He didn't quite understand what "going soft" meant. He only knew that he didn't like these people very much — and that they wanted to kill him.
If they wanted to kill him, then they could not be allowed to live.
But his more than ten years of mortal life had taught him that "life" seemed to matter greatly to these brief, fleeting beings.
Then perhaps ending a life ought to be… treated with some gravity.
And so, surrounded by four bandit cultivators radiating murderous intent, Si Chen did something that caught everyone completely off guard.
He raised both hands and, following the etiquette that noble family children used when meeting for the first time, faced the four figures bristling with killing intent — and with perfect composure, clasped his fists together and gave a slight, unhurried bow.
Then he lifted his eyes, and in a voice still carrying the clear, bright quality of youth, said with complete sincerity:
"In that case — I invite you all to die here."
"……"
The air seemed to freeze for a moment.
The muscles on the faces of all four men twitched. For a brief instant, none of them could tell whether this boy's mind was broken, or whether he was insulting them in some manner they simply couldn't comprehend.
"Stop playing games! Kill him!" Zhang Quan erupted in furious humiliation and bellowed the order.
All four surged forward again — this time, their assault was even more frenzied.
But this time, Si Chen did not dodge.
Because he had already decided: these people would die here.
Crackle——
A faint arc of electricity sounded. Faint, scattered white lightning began to flicker and dance across Si Chen's body.
He walked straight into the steel blade hacking down at him from the front — neither flinching nor evading. His left hand shot out, swift as lightning, and closed with precise accuracy around the wrist of the man wielding the blade.
The man felt as though his wrist had been clamped by a red-hot iron vice. The searing pain made the steel blade clatter to the ground.
He hadn't even had time to scream before Si Chen's five fingers tightened…
Crack!
A sharp sound of shattering bone rang out. The man's wrist was crushed outright, twisted into a grotesque angle. A piercing shriek tore through the sky.
All of this happened in the span of a lightning flash.
The attacks from the others only reached Si Chen in that same instant — a blade chopped into his shoulder, a sword thrust toward his back, landing with a dull thud, and the poison-laced bone-piercing spike simply bounced off and flew away!
Si Chen didn't even sway. His defenses hadn't been breached at all!
The color drained from the three men's faces in an instant, their eyes filled with raw terror. Was this boy's body made of iron?!
Zhang Quan was the most calculating of the group. Seeing this, he knew immediately that he had kicked an iron plate!
A chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his skull. This boy was no ordinary cultivator!
Retreat! He had to retreat at once!
He made his decision without hesitation. A ruthless gleam flashed in his eyes, and rather than pressing forward, he tapped his foot against the ground and shot backward — abandoning his companions entirely to save his own skin!
But fast as he was, Si Chen was faster.
Si Chen's gaze had long since locked onto him as the ringleader. After crushing one man's wrist, he didn't even glance back. His right fist, wreathed in leaping arcs of electricity, drove forward like a thunderbolt — striking first despite moving second — aimed squarely at Zhang Quan's throat!
Zhang Quan's soul nearly left his body. Survival instinct drove him to the most despicable act imaginable.
He lunged out and seized the companion beside him — the one whose wrist had just been crushed and who was still howling in agony — and wrenched him violently in front of himself as a human shield!
Boom!
The cultivator Zhang Quan had dragged in front of him exploded like an overripe watermelon struck by a sledgehammer.
Red and white burst outward into the air, then were instantly vaporized by the leaping electrical arcs, leaving not a single trace behind.
The headless corpse swayed once, then crumpled softly to the ground.
In an instant, dead silence fell over the grove.
The two remaining bandit cultivators stood rooted to the spot, their weapon-gripping hands trembling uncontrollably, their eyes filled with the most primal terror as they stared at Si Chen.
This was no youth — this was clearly an ancient fierce beast wearing human skin!
Zhang Quan was equally dumbstruck. What kind of monster was this?! How could a Foundation Establishment cultivator possess a body like that?!
But he was a ruthless man at heart. While the others were still frozen in shock, he seized the opening — he crushed a talisman between his fingers, and his figure transformed into a streak of blood-red light, fleeing into the distance at breathtaking speed!
Only then did the remaining two snap back to their senses. They let out a shout and bolted in different directions, running for their lives.
Si Chen gave them no such opportunity.
Having decided to cut the weeds and pull out the roots, he would not let a single one escape.
His figure blurred into motion, and he caught up to one of them in an instant.
He threw a single, simple punch. Around his fist, faint lightning coiled, carrying a domineering, unstoppable force — striking first despite launching second — and it slammed into the fleeing man's back.
Boom!
The man's rushing footsteps faltered. His eyes bulged in disbelief.
He looked down and saw a bowl-sized hole had appeared in his chest — its edges charred black, flesh and bone alike instantly pierced through and vaporized by the thunder-infused brute force.
He didn't even manage a scream. His entire body pitched forward and collapsed, all vitality extinguished in an instant.
The third man heard the brief, strangled cry of his companion behind him and that eerie dull thud. Terror shattered his courage; his legs buckled and he nearly fell.
He instinctively looked back — and saw the blue-grey-robed youth already standing silently behind him, clear eyes watching him with perfect calm.
"Spare m—"
The plea for mercy never left his lips. Si Chen's palm, wreathed in crackling thunder, descended upon the crown of his head with the crushing weight of a mountain.
Splat!
The man's skull burst into a crimson mist with a sickening sound, exploding outward. The headless body stood upright for a moment longer, then swayed and toppled heavily to the ground, raising a cloud of dust.
In the blink of an eye, three Foundation Establishment cultivators — annihilated.
Si Chen didn't spare the corpses on the ground a single glance. His eyes turned toward the direction Zhang Quan had fled. That streak of blood-red light was fast — it had already shrunk to a tiny red dot on the horizon.
Third Uncle had said: when cutting weeds, pull out the roots.
His figure shifted, and he rose on the wind, becoming a streak of blue-grey shadow as he gave chase.