The whole place was smoking a bit, so the people around couldn’t see what happened just yet. Zhang dong looked at his bloodied hand then back to the dead corps of the cultivator he killed. He jumped back, his heart pounding as he looked on in horror at the man that he killed. He felt all kinds of emotions right now sadness for the fact that he took a life, anger for the fact that the man left him no choice as it was a do or die situation, fear for not knowing what he should do now also a bit of relief as the battle was over.
He shook his hand, the man’s blood still dripping down from them. He started rubbing them, shaking his palms around as he tried to get the red liquid off. He had to get a grip, he might have defeated the strongest cultivator from the bunch but there were still others around. He closed his eyes while breathing in slowly as he tried to calm down his heart rate, somehow getting a grip on himself. He tossed his emotions to the back of his head while looking away from the spot he defeated the man, fatigue washing over him as he finally felt a backlash from using his skills too much.
About this time the area became clear off all the smoke and debris, the people could finally see what transpired. They spotted the cultivator in white standing upright, with his back turned to where someone laid on the ground. On closer inspection, they noticed that the person there was just a headless body, by the robes it was the Tsai Clan Patriarch dead and unmoving.
“Oh no! The Patriarch is dead!”
The Tsai Clan members shouted as they looked at the body in horror.
“Everyone look, those Tsai Clan elders have lost!”
The Zhang Clansmen shouted so everyone could hear them as they looked at the person that was standing next to the body. Their so-called clan member had defeated the core formation experts single-handedly. About at the same time, Zhang Jin flew back on his sword, he looked a bit beaten up but he was still standing. He had a cultivators head in his hand that he tossed down, it belonging to the elder he pulled away previously. He looked around while holding onto his bloodied saber then pointed it at the passed out cultivators that Zhang Dong knocked out.
“Zhang Clan members hear me, Attack!”
The elder went after the defeated core formation cultivators, he didn’t want to risk them getting back up. He could feel that Zhang Dong was quite drained, so he thought that this would be the least he could do after the younger man defeated the strongest fighters on his own.
The invading people looked on in horror as all of their leaders were slain before their eyes, the enemy core formation seniors were still out there and one was powerful enough to defeat five of their best fighters on his own. The cultivators that were next in the leadership role quickly shouted out, ordering people to quickly retreat to their own cities.
“Everyone fall back! The elders are dead, retreat towards our domains!”
They didn’t come here with all of their resources, they still had some powerful cultivators back home to protect them. So they turned tail and escaped while the Zhang Clan people continued firing arrows and cannons at them constantly, they even left the protection of their city walls invigorated and out for blood after they witnessed the huge battle that the cultivator in white had with the Tsai clan elders.
Zhang Dong gave out a sigh, his hands finally stopped shaking as he looked to the corps on the ground once more. He walked up to it, thinking that the whole thing was a bit surreal. Just about a month ago he was back in his own apartment playing some video games while now he had punched a man’s head clean off.
*Not sure how I should feel about this, it was him or me… he didn’t give me much choice…*
He explained to himself while the bearded cultivator elder showed up behind him. The person looked like a grizzled fighter, with that scar on his face, the beard only adding to his looks. He slowly moved next to Zhang Dong and also looked at the dead Tsai Clan Patriarch with disdain in his eyes.
“He got what was coming to him, well done Dong’er”
Matt almost tripped after the man called him donger again, he had no idea who he was but by the way he was calling him he had to be someone from his family. Both his parents were dead, or so said the system window that he read before. His mother Zhang Biyu and father Zhang Peng, this guy was called Zhang Jin and looked old. He was either his grandfather or an uncle from either side of the family, he didn’t have any nifty family tree anywhere to help him out though.
“Ah yes, I haven’t been to the clan for a long time, surprised that you recognized me.”
He said while trying to prod for the man’s identity a bit.
“How could I have not recognized my own grandson! You have turned into a fine young lad.”
He placed his hand on Zhang Dong’s shoulder and nodded while looking at him, with praise in his eyes. He was really proud that his grandson managed to return and save the clan in its darkest hour. Plus he was an expert that greatly exceeded him as well, he was just the person that this clan needed now.
“It’s just a shame that your parents couldn’t be here to see you grow up, such a shame.”
The whole thing was kind of awkward as the old man started reminiscing about the old days while the person next to him had no idea what he was talking about. It would have been great if he had the memories of this Zhang Dong but there was nothing besides the short bio in the system.
“Ah yes, a shame… During my travels, I suffered a bit of a setback, so my memory from my childhood is a bit hazy… I don’t remember much about the clan after I left for my journey.”
He tried thinking out an excuse for him not recognizing people in the clan too well, he didn’t really want people to start popping up left and right that he couldn’t recognize.
“Ah is that so… Well, at least you remember your old gramps!”
The man chuckled and pulled Matt into a bearhug, making his caught as he was still a bit injured from the previous fight.
“Ah yes, sure grandpa…”
Zhang Jin squatted down and removed the Tsai Clan leader’s storage ring handing it to Zhang Dong with a smile on his face.
“I’ll collect the rest of the storage rings from those bastards you defeated, how about I let the juniors sort the stuff out in them, we’ll see if there is some good stuff in there for you later.”
Matt called his flying sword to himself, as Zhang Jin took a glance at it his eyes sparkled as it was quite the nice looking flying sword it was a lot better than the one he had. But there were also all the flying swords that he retrieved from the fallen core formation cultivators, this old man was quite swift with looting the corpses.
“Well, don’t think there is a reason to chase after them though… Also, there was a pair of kids I met on the way here, those guys are escaping in another direction so they should be fine though.”
Zhang Dong said as he looked at the retreating cultivators and also at the ones that were running out of spirit spring city, ready to slaughter everything in sight. The escaping invaders had a head start though, so it would be hard to catch up unless he or his grandpa helped out on their swords. Zhang Dong had enough of fighting for one day though, he just wanted to lay down and stare at the ceiling.
“Oh? If that’s what you want.”
Zhang Jin’s booming voice filled the area, ordering everyone to stand down and just salvage the siege weapons for resources. This old man was quite materialistic as he also ordered everyone to retrieve any usable arrows, nothing was to be left on the battlefield. He also informed some foundation establishment cultivators to go pick up the kids. Afterward, he turned towards the city and flew ahead of Matt that was trailing behind, he wobbled in the air before deciding to use one of his healing pills. This somewhat refreshed his tired body but didn’t really do anything for his spirit. His clothes had mended themselves once more, he wished he could add that enhancement to his aching body.
*Well, I guess I don’t need to worry about ever looking like a hobo.*
He was finally here, the city that he was supposed to go too. But what was he supposed to do here now? He didn’t really know but first, he needed to take a bath, to wash off this stench of blood.