Everyone held their breath as they watched the man's hand tighten around Pang De's neck. Before his head could separate from his neck, Jing Tu spoke up again, "Wait!, since he offended you, how about he apologizes?"
Before the fat man could respond, he turned to Pang De, "Kneel and apologize."
"What! Jing Tu, watch yourself. Even the Grand commander can not make the Patriarch kne..." One of the two initial stage of heavenly origin experts said.
Pow
In the next moment, there was blood everywhere –except on the fat man, which was surprisingly considering he didn't even wait for the elder to finish speaking before moving towards him, while still holding Pang De's neck, and punching him on the face causing his head to explode. The dead elder didn't even know how he died, while the remaining elders were petrified.
"Does anyone else have a problem?" Jing Tu said, but he was looking at Pang De himself, the elders naturally won't have any objections because of the recent development plus they aren't the one going to beg. But, Pang De is a highly respected man in the Azure Alliance, the shame that it would bring him if word got out that he knelt and begged for his life.
"You can't kill me, Zhao Dijun won't let you go" Pang De struggled to say even though his voice was barely audible, if they were not cultivators with enhanced senses they wouldn't have heard him.
"What did you say? If you are sure that I can't kill you because of some old fogey, repeat what you just said." The fat man said with a slight smile on his face.
Pang De and everybody else were sure that if he opened his mouth again, he would die without doubt.
"Pang De don't be stubborn, think about what will happen to your son if you die." Jing Tu persuaded, seeing that it was working he continued "look at how many people are coveting your position, we know what they will do to the direct descendant immediately they get the post."
Hearing this, Pang De lost the rest of his resistance and was about to beg for his life, even though he could not talk due to how hard the fat man was holding his neck. Still he strained himself.
But all of a sudden the fat man released him from his grip, turned around and started walking away.
Everyone was shocked until Jing Tu realized and said "You can kill me but I won't be humiliated."
"I like fish, and I also like bear paws. If I cannot have the two together, I will let the fish go, and take the bear's paws. So if I like life, and also like dignity, if I cannot keep the two together, I will let life go, and choose dignity. For if I choose life and live with demons in my heart what life is that." The fat man's voice fading as he disappeared from their view.
The words struck their soul, several entered a state of enlightenment, some of them even broke through their bottlenecks from wisdom.
The only ones without gains were Pang De, whose dignity had shattered in a million pieces. And Jing Tu, who was in a daze. He was the one that suggested that Pang De should beg. At that time, he didn't think much about it, he just wanted to do anything to keep Pang De alive. He had not thought the fat man would take it like that. Thinking of it, if he was in the same position, he wasn't sure he would have begged –maybe if it was on Xianyan's behalf. But for himself, No. Maybe because he didn't have a family, and unless he experienced it, he couldn't be too sure. But the veneration for the fat man definitely increased in his heart.
–––
"Where are we going?" Chi Xianyan asked as she walked on a dirt road with Jing Tu, who was constantly fumbling and looking at a stone with a glowing tip.
"I told you already, we are going to meet the senior." Jing Tu answered, looking at the glowing tip.
"Yes, I meant where we're going to meet him," Chi Xianyan questioned again.
"Wherever the glowing stone leads us," Jing Tu said in a low tone, realizing how weird it sounds aloud. He got a look from Chi Xianyan, though she did not stop or turn back.
"It can't be wrong, we already passed by here when he and I parted ways. " Jing Tu tried to defend.
"Speaking of which, I think he had a problem with one Pang family or something." Chi Xianyan said absentmindedly.
Jing Tu's face darkened "you told Pang De which way we went."
"What? No. I told him the ...senior had no business with the Azure guards, which is true. Moreover that Pang De is at most an initial stage of the heavenly origin realm, if he can't beat him he has no business being mine or your master. " Chi Xianyan replied, a little taken back by his expression.
" Pang De is an early stage heavenly origin expert, he has two initial stage heavenly origin elders. But the worst part is their Grand elder." Jing Tu responded.
"Who is their Grand elder?." Chi Xianyan asked, but her thoughts were drifting, 'A force that has three heavenly realm experts is definitely a major family, but which major family is called Pang.'
"Yan Dong." Jing Tu said flatly.
"What!! Old man Yan–the peak heavenly origin realm cultivator. Did he fight with Old man Yan? Are you going to where he is buried to pay your last respects? He was not even your master yet." Chi Xianyan said solemnly, she finally understood why he had that expression.
She was murmuring "No wonder, I don't know the Pang Family, they were not called the Pang Family before"
When Jing Tu said "He is not dead."
"Did they just destroy his dantian or cripple him? Either way he can't be our master now. Are we going to say our final goodbyes and I should probably apologize for being rude earlier." Chi Xianyan ranted off, but she never even thought of the possibility of the fat man being able to exchange punches with Yan Dong, let alone defeated.
In the hundreds of thousands of people in the Azure Alliance, the number of people that can rival Yan Dong can be counted with two hands and there are only two known people that can beat him. One of the two people is not even a member of the Azure Alliance.
"Yan Dong lost, ...in one move." Jing Tu said in a low tone, he also knew how absurd he sounded. If someone had told him, he definitely wouldn't have believed it unless he saw it with his own eyes.
Chi Xianyan didn't immediately process what he said, she just continued walking. Until it clicked, she stopped, gave Jing Tu a look that said 'repeat what you just said', but he didn't repeat it and she didn't need him too because she heard him perfectly. She just needed some sort of confirmation that her ears were not playing tricks on her and she got the confirmation from the expression on his face.
She never thought he was lying, because he has never lied to her and she didn't think he would start over something so trivial.
"How?" was the only thing that managed to come out of her mouth. In fact she was taking the news very well, if it were the normal civilians of the villages in Azure Alliance, they would just blatantly ignore you. They put it in the same category as saying you can fly.
Of course the possibility of an expert from the Azure Sky kingdom coming to defeat Yan Dong existed, the chances were painfully low. Moreover, to the civilians in Azure Alliance, Azure Sky kingdom could be considered a myth.
To answer Chi Xianyan's question, Jing Tu recalled how Yan Dong had attacked first, but didn't use his full strength – since they wanted him alive. How he was sent flying with a kick, knocking him out immediately. He also told her what happened to Pang De and the initial stage heavenly origin realm elder that nobody saw how he died.
"Do you .....do you think he can ...fight the Grand commander?." Chi Xianyan asked, a bit shaken. She couldn't even bring herself to say defeat, she hadn't even accepted that he defeated Yan Dong.
Though back at the inn, he said that the Grand commander couldn't stop him if he wanted to leave, they thought it was mostly empty words, but now she was starting to think otherwise.
He immediately gained a high level of respect in her heart, due to the strength and the overbearing aura he displayed, almost as high as the grand commander. Which was a big deal, considering the Grand commander is the strongest person she knew – even stronger than her grandmother.
"I think so, he should at least be able to exchange a few moves." He said a little bit uncertainly, the Grand commander was the highest level of strength for them. Though they've heard of stronger people they haven't actually seen them so they subconsciously follow what they see.
Jing Tu suddenly stopped walking because the stone glow dimmed a little, "I think we are supposed to turn." He turned left and the stone dimmed more, before turning right —the stone brightening.
"How did he know about this place? I thought he hadn't been to the Azure Alliance before." Jing Tu asked, as he realized which way this leads to.
"Where is this? And how come I don't know about it?" Chi Xianyan asked.
"There is a lot of information that you don't know about, plus your special situation that does not let you go too far from the district." Jing Tu answered.
"This is a Qi meditation center, if people above the grandmaster realm want to cultivate, they have to come here. Since there are not a lot of Heavenly realm experts and this place is very expensive it is not common knowledge." Jing Tu said as they saw a roll of cabins ahead.
"So this place has more Qi than others, how? Is it.., is it Qi crystals?" Chi Xianyan asked, she already had an idea but wanted to confirm.
Yes." Jing Tu nodded.
"I thought those were very few and very precious, moreover I heard they were only in Shangtai city." Chi Xianyan said. She exchanged a look with Jing Tu, using their eyes to communicate.
"They are precious but they are still in other parts of the Azure Alliance but they are distributed
from Shangtai city." Jing Tu replied, they passed the guard on duty and headed to one of the cabins.