Chapter 145: A Family Should Be Together and United

Liao Zhongyou clutched the sword in his neck, trying to pull it out. But he seemed to have lost all strength; his hands lay weakly on the sword as he desperately gasped for his last breaths.

At that moment, his mind was blank. Why was this person here? Had he been lying in ambush, waiting for him?

He finally understood why the Young Master had repeatedly warned them to be wary of this person's cunning and deceit.

But the Young Master hadn't mentioned he would be so despicable, killing him but not even letting him die quickly.

Looking at Zu An’s smirking, contemptible face before him, a surge of rage rushed to Liao Zhongyou’s head. Blood gushed uncontrollably from his throat.

Rage points from Liao Zhongyou +1024!

“Is that it? He’s dead already?” Zu An felt a sense of anticlimax, seeing the man’s wide, unseeing eyes, as if he died with unfinished business. He had hoped to extract more rage points from him.

Pulling the sword free, Zu An propped the body against a tree and searched him. He only found some dry rations and a few bottles of healing medicine.

The bow on his person looked decent, but Zu An didn’t know how to use it. He tested an arrow from the quiver, only for it to be snapped in half by the zombie army’s arrows, indicating its vastly inferior quality. He didn’t bother keeping it and casually tossed it aside.

“Damn it, another poor guy,” Zu An grumbled. This one was even poorer than the last; Shi Shangfei at least had some silver fragments and elemental stones.

Just as he was about to toss the body down, Zu An suddenly changed his mind. Waste not, want not.

So, holding Liao Zhongyou’s body with one hand, he pursued the person who had used the saber, heading in the direction they had left. That person seemed relatively weaker and thus easier to deal with.

Meanwhile, on the north side of the forest, Shi Zhenxiang was cautiously searching with his saber, but unfortunately found nothing along the way.

“Brother, I will definitely avenge you!” he said through gritted teeth. Indeed, he was the elder brother of Shi Shangfei, whom they had encountered outside earlier.

The two had been orphans from a young age, relying on each other, slowly growing stronger through various harsh and dangerous training regimes. Finally, they had completed their training and left the mountains. They had been looking forward to gaining their freedom upon completing Young Master Shi’s current mission, after which they could live as they pleased. Who could have known such an accident would occur?

Just yesterday, they had been together, watching the sunset, reminiscing about their lost childhood, and envisioning their future. His brother had even suggested they each find a pair of twin sisters to marry, so their families would be even closer.

But now, all of it was gone!

“You, Zu, I will tear you to pieces!” Shi Zhenxiang silently vowed.

Rage points from Shi Zhenxiang +876!

Just then, footsteps sounded behind him. A sudden alarm rose in his heart, and he spun around. He breathed a sigh of relief only after seeing Liao Zhongyou waving at him. “Didn’t I tell you to stay there and provide support? Why are you over here?”

He noticed Liao Zhongyou’s eyes were unusually wide, wondering what was wrong with the man. Had his archery practice affected his vision?

“I just saw a figure heading this way, so I came to check,” Zu An said, standing behind Liao Zhongyou and supporting his body, deliberately lowering his voice to sound somewhat muffled. While it might not have been a perfect imitation, it would be difficult to distinguish without careful attention.

“What? The guy named Zu is coming this way!” Shi Zhenxiang tightened his grip on his saber and looked around. “Good, I’ll avenge my brother!”

Zu An, who had already learned his name from the rage points he’d collected, immediately understood. So this was Shi Shangfei’s younger brother. He wondered what their parents were thinking, giving them such absurd names: "Shi Shangfei" (Shit on the Fly) and "Shi Zhenxiang" (Shit Truly Fragrant).

“Why are you always coming closer to me? We should spread out to cover more ground,” Shi Zhenxiang grumbled, noticing the other man approaching him.

Wait a minute. His walking posture was odd, and so was his voice just now.

Just then, he felt a dark shadow lunging at him. He instinctively swung his saber, splitting the figure in two. His eyes widened in disbelief when he saw Liao Zhongyou’s body lying on the ground. “How could it be you...?”

What puzzled him even more was that although Liao Zhongyou was a ranged attacker and relatively weaker in close combat, he shouldn’t have been instantly killed by a single strike from him.

At that moment, a cold glint flashed and pierced his neck.

However, this time it was Zu An who was surprised. Although his seemingly certain sword strike had hit the opponent, there seemed to be a transparent armor protecting the opponent’s neck, preventing him from piercing further.

He then remembered that after reaching the third rank, cultivators could project their elemental energy, forming a protective aura around their bodies like armor to defend against attacks.

As cultivation advanced, the range of this protective aura would expand, and its defensive power would also increase.

Of course, if your cultivation was higher than your opponent’s, your attack could, to some extent, penetrate their protective aura and harm their body. But if your cultivation was lower, your attacks might not even be able to break through their defenses.

However, activating the protective aura consumed elemental energy very quickly, so no one kept it active all the time unless necessary. This provided an opportunity for lower-ranked cultivators to challenge higher-ranked ones.

Just like when Zu An severely wounded the fifth-rank Yuan Wendong and instantly killed the fourth-rank Liao Zhongyou, it was because of the element of surprise, before their opponents had a chance to activate their protective auras.

At this moment, Shi Zhenxiang’s elemental energy erupted, and his saber struck Zu An’s sword directly. Zu An felt a massive force, lost his grip on his longsword, and hastily retreated.

Shi Zhenxiang swung his saber, striking at him. “You bastard, you almost ambushed me! But today, you’re dead for sure!”

Even from a dozen meters away, Zu An suddenly felt a blade aura cleave directly towards him. He hastily executed a clumsy somersault to the side, looking as pathetic as possible.

The large tree behind where he had just been standing was directly split in half by an invisible saber energy.

Zu An’s heart sank. A third-rank cultivator could only attach elemental energy to their body for protection. A fourth-rank, however, could project elemental energy outside their body, forming blade or sword auras like those seen in martial arts TV shows from his previous life, greatly increasing their attack range and power.

Shi Zhenxiang gave him no time to breathe, cackling as he swung his saber, chopping and pursuing him. “Now you’ve even lost your weapon! Let’s see how you’ll fight me! Today, I’ll cut your flesh piece by piece to avenge my brother!”

“So much talk for a fight,” Zu An sneered, then suddenly dashed forward, moving like a startled rabbit.

In an instant, he closed the distance to less than a foot from Shi Zhenxiang, their noses almost touching.

Shi Zhenxiang was terrified out of his wits. This charge was so strange it defied his imagination, and its speed was indescribable.

Although he had been slightly distracted by his own words, the momentum of his saber had not lessened in the slightest. He simply hadn’t seen how the opponent managed to break through his saber net.

With them so close, his long saber was now behind the opponent, making it impossible to swing around and cut their back.

Although the opponent no longer held a longsword, he was holding an arrow and thrusting it towards his wrist.

Seeing what was in his hand, a hint of disdain flashed across Shi Zhenxiang’s face. Arrows were known to be more powerful the greater the distance; what good was a short-range jab like this?

Furthermore, he had his protective aura activated. Even if he couldn’t understand what had just happened with the opponent’s move, the difference in their cultivation ranks meant he would be fine even if he stood there and let him attack.

However, just as this thought arose, a sharp pain shot through his palm. Immediately afterward, a bone-chilling cold spread throughout his body. He shivered uncontrollably, feeling as if his entire body had frozen.

In that very instant, he felt a stinging pain in both his hands and feet, and then he involuntarily collapsed to the ground, unable to get up.

“You severed my tendons!” Shi Zhenxiang instantly realized what had happened, filled with both shock and fury.

Rage points from Shi Zhenxiang +999!

Zu An looked apologetic: “I’m really sorry, but you’re too powerful. To be safe, I had no choice but to resort to this.”

Shi Zhenxiang: “…”

*Damn it, you struck so viciously because I’m too powerful?*

Rage points from Shi Zhenxiang +666!

However, having been trained as a death soldier from a young age, he quickly resigned himself to his fate, knowing there was no escape today. The only thing he didn’t understand was: “Where did you get that arrow? Why could it pierce my protective aura?”

“Picked it up on the road,” Zu An said, smiling faintly as he looked at the arrow in his hand. He had suspected earlier that these arrows were extraordinary; after all, zombies with such strong defenses were done for with just one hit. He hadn’t expected that a quick test would confirm their armor-piercing effect.

However, he noticed that the arrow in his hand had changed, losing its dark, lustrous sheen, unlike its companions. It seemed these arrows had limited uses.

Shi Zhenxiang: “…”

*I’ll believe you when pigs fly! You picked it up on the road, and it can break through a protective aura?*

Rage points from Shi Zhenxiang +250!

“How should I deal with you?” Zu An asked, squatting down as he looked at Shi Zhenxiang lying on the ground.

“If you want to kill me, just do it. Don’t expect to get anything from my mouth!” Shi Zhenxiang snorted, regretting only that he couldn’t avenge his brother.

“How about this: I’ll give you a chance. Activate your protective aura, and if you can survive one stab from my dagger, I’ll let you go. What do you say?” Zu An said, pulling out **Poison in the Dagger**.

“Is that true?” Although he knew there was likely a trick, his survival instinct made Shi Zhenxiang ask.

“Of course it’s true. I only injured your limbs; I didn’t cripple your cultivation. You should still be able to activate your protective aura, right?” Zu An smiled very kindly. He had deliberately held back earlier, planning to use this man for an experiment.

Shi Zhenxiang’s expression flickered between doubt and hope. “No, what if you use that arrow again? I can’t block that.” As he spoke, his gaze drifted to the quiver on Zu An’s back.

“Don’t worry, I won’t use that,” Zu An said, seeing his continued disbelief. “As you saw, that arrow basically loses its effect after one use, and I don’t have many left in total. Do you think I’d waste them on you?”

Shi Zhenxiang was startled. Paradoxically, this made him believe Zu An. It truly wasn’t worth wasting such precious items on a crippled man like himself. “Alright, I agree. I just hope you keep your word!”

As he spoke, he channeled his elemental energy, and a translucent armor appeared around his body. *Hmph, I just had bad luck encountering that strange arrow earlier. You think this puny dagger can hurt me?*

Zu An didn’t rush to attack. Instead, he asked, “Were you and your brother very close?”

“Of course!” Shi Zhenxiang thought to himself. *This guy is soft-hearted. If I miraculously survive, even if I can’t heal my injuries and take revenge myself, I will spend all my wealth to hire others to kill him.*

Zu An nodded, then, holding the dagger, thrust it directly forward. To the other man’s incredulous gaze, it easily penetrated his protective aura as if slicing tofu, then cut a small patch of skin on his body.

He simply wanted to test if this dagger was effective against cultivators’ protective auras, and also to assess the extent of the dagger’s “certain death” effect. He hadn’t had such an opportunity before.

Shi Zhenxiang was initially terrified, but seeing that the opponent had only cut a tiny bit of his skin, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he was about to speak, his body suddenly convulsed, and then he instantly plunged into endless darkness.

The last words he heard before dying were: “Since you two were so close, go join him. A family should always be together.”

Rage points from Shi Zhenxiang +1024!