Martial God
Chapter 16 - Fugitive
The sun had set. Pressed in between the blue-stoned, horse-shaped corbel walls, the night seemed narrow and deep. However, today, He family manor’s grand hall was well lit.
When He Yiming hurriedly arrived at the main hall, he discovered that he was not the first one to arrive.
A month had passed since his breakthrough to the seventh layer. He had not informed anyone about his condition. All of his elders thought that he was still at the sixth layer.
Today, during his daily cultivation, a servant reported him that the Old Master had summoned him in the main hall.
Not daring to be neglectful, He Yiming hurried off to the main hall. However, upon arriving, he found out that he wasn’t the first person to arrive. Both his second brother and third brother had already arrived.
He Yihai faintly nodded towards him and said: “Sixth brother, you are here as well.”
“Hello, second brother.” He Yiming faintly bowed his head. Although He Yihai was the son of the eldest uncle, he treated all of his younger brothers more or less about the same. To tell the truth, setting aside He Yiming’s relationship with his fifth brother, the rest of his siblings were quite harmonious with each other.
Of course, the blood relations are always somewhat different than the normal, but in He family this was not too distinct.
He Yihai silently nodded without replying. He Yiming knew that the nature of his second brother was as such. If not for the affection between the siblings, he would not even have bothered with the greetings.
He Yiming took a few steps and shifted to his third brother’s side, before quietly saying:
“Third brother, what happened? Why are you both here?”
He Yixuan forced a bitter laugh and shrugged his shoulders, before saying:
“I don’t know. However, since grandfather has personally summoned us, it’s definitely not something small.”
He Yiming faintly nodded. He was about to speak, when he suddenly sensed something. His mouth immediately closed, and his vision turned towards the main hall’s entrance.
After a short while, from the faint illumination outside the entrance, a few people emerged.
Upon looking at these few men, He Yiming and the rest two immediately stood up. They straightened their chest and waist, displaying an extremely attentive appearance.
The first was the individual who’d single-handedly established He family estate, He Wude. Behind his body was He Yiming’s eldest uncle, He Quanxin, and the third uncle, He Quanyin. The last person was precisely the individual appraised to be the number one figure among the third generation, He Yitian.
All three inside the hall were flabbergasted. ‘What on earth has happened?’
Almost all of the dispensable power in the manor was gathered together.
He Yiming’s vision turned towards the Book Pavilion for an instant. According to his knowledge, in addition to a directly related son of the Old Master, an old servant’s cultivation had also attained the ninth layer; almost on par with the former. Apparently, this old servant had grown by the side of the Old Master and was nothing like an ordinary servant.
He’d always lived in the one of the side halls of the Book Pavilion’s courtyard alongside He Yiming’s eldest uncle. His status was not the slightest bit less than the third generation.
Today, inside the He family manor, except this special servant, all the disciples who’d attained the sixth layer were gathered together in the main hall.
He Wude entered the hall in huge strides and sat down on the middle seat. His clear and piercing eyes swept through the remaining people, and as it did, the individual faced with his gaze felt a strange burning sensation in his body and had to lower his head.
He Yiming’s heart slightly trembled. This was the Internal Energy at tenth layer’s peak. Current him was not capable of resisting it in the slightest.
He silently lowered his vision as he absolutely didn’t want to attract anybody’s attention.
“I called you all here. There is a matter that requires your attention.” Despite looking a bit old, He Wude’s powerful voice echoed in the main hall:
“Today, people from Cheng family came to our place. A feudal fugitive is in our county. They want us to help the authorities in catching or killing the fugitive.”
He Yiming exchanged a glance with his third brother. With his thoughts racing, he glanced at his elders and eldest brother. Their expressions didn’t have the slightest change. Clearly, they were already aware of this matter.
“The fugitive is from the Linqiu region. His name is Hubin, and he is a fifth layer Internal Energy cultivator. Reportedly, his skill is pretty good.”
He Yiming immediately realized.
‘No wonder grandfather agreed and gathered all of us here.’
Fifth layer of the Internal Energy was not bad, however, all the people present were at least at the sixth layer. With some helpers, arresting him could be accomplished pretty easily.
In fact, this was a hard-to-come-by opportunity for the He family manor’s disciples to temper themselves.
Always living behind closed doors and not having actual combat experience would not benefit their future cultivation.
He Wude’s vision suddenly turned a little strict as he said:
“By no means should you have any despising thoughts. This Hubin although merely has a cultivation of the fifth layer, his character is extremely vicious and merciless. Originally, in Linqiu region, he was the chief of a hundred men in the army. Due to his crimes of rape, murder, and killing the citizens under the pretext of enemies, he was detained and awaited execution. But he escaped from the army and killed countless people along the way, before coming here.” He briefly paused before continuing in a heavy voice:
“Although he’d only killed ordinary people, killing so many people has caused a natural baleful aura on his body. If you come across him, act with caution and don’t be careles.”
Everybody felt a chill in their hearts, before they all made sounds of agreement together.
He Wude had always been a swift and decisive person. He immediately moved on to allocation. He allowed each person present to take a few servants, all of whom were at the cultivation of the third layer, and a portrait of Hubin, before leaving to their respective positions.
He Yiming and the rest naturally had no objections, instead, they were actually quite thrilled.
After cultivating for many years, they finally obtained a chance to display their skills. They would naturally not miss such an opportunity.
After allocating the positions, He Wude waved his hand. Everybody, leading the servants under them, left with the envoys of Cheng family. Only leaving behind He Quanxin and He Wude.
After everybody left, He Quanxin hesitatingly said:
“Father, He Yiming has just turned thirteen this year. Furthermore, not even a year has passed since he attained the sixth layer. Allowing him to personally take charge of a section seems too early for him.”
He Wude faintly laughed, before saying: “Quanxin, you remember which section I assigned to Yiming?”
He Quanxin was surprised. He thought for a bit, before he suddenly realized and said:
“I understand. Yiming is assigned to the section which is nearest to the county town. Furthermore, it’s the main passage. Since Hubin has come here as a fugitive, he naturally would not take the main passage seeming like an honest person. He would tread desolate paths, and he would not go to the County town as well. That would just be walking right into a trap. Therefore, Yiming is going just for show.”
He Wude faintly nodded and said:
“Correct. Yiming’s talent is the best among his siblings. I have a lot of expectations from him. However, staying in the home and bitterly cultivating all the time is not necessarily a good thing. Thus, allowing him to experience such an atmosphere will certainly prove beneficial for his future. As for that Hubin, with three big clans joining hands and mobilizing personnel from every village, nothing unexpected will happen unless he has already left the county.”
He Quanxin heavily nodded and said: “Father, you have put a lot of thought in this.”
He Wude said with his face beaming:
“Apart from all this. I allowed to Yiming to lead a group so as to let Xu family and Cheng family know that He family yet again has a genius. I feel those two old foxes of Xu family and Cheng family should be clear on who is going to be the strongest family of Tai Cang county in the future.”
Two days later, a servant, carrying two letters delivered by the Xu family that contained the latest information, arrived in front of the Old Master.
Since He Quanyi was outside the manor, He Quanxin had temporarily left the Book Pavilion’s courtyard and was handling the trifling matters of the estate. When the information arrived, he was discussing some cultivation problems with the Old Master.
He took the letters and opened the seal of the first letter. His complexion slightly changed, and he said:
“Father. Xu family has sent a letter. Hubin’s whereabouts has been discovered. However, he’d injured Xu family’s third generation, Yude and Yucai, and has again escaped.”
He Wude was slightly surprised. After muttering something to himself, he said:
“Xu Yude and Xu Yucai should have already advanced to the sixth layer.”
“That’s right. They also attained the sixth layer at the age of seventeen and eighteen like Yihai and Yixuan. What a pity, none of them have been able to attain the seventh layer till now, even though they are twenty-four and twenty-five.”
As He Quanxin spoke these words, his voice had a complacent tone which he failed to conceal.
He Wude softly said:
“Two youngsters possessing the sixth layer Internal Energy couldn’t stop a fifth layer fugitive….. This Hubin is not simple.”
He Quanxin faintly nodded and opened the seal of the second letter. However, as soon as his eyes swept through the letter, his expression immediately transformed, and a cry escaped his mouth:
“Not good.”
He Wude’s brows creased, and he said:
“Quanxin, you are an elder in the family. You should possess an elder’s attitude. Don’t lose your head over some trivial matters.”
He Quanxin, without hearing the words of his father, lifted his head and hurriedly said:
“Hubin as of now is escaping towards the county town’s main passage. Xu family’s second generation expert is closely pursuing him.”
“En, Xu family’s second generation’s strength should be sufficient…..what, he is escaping towards the county town’s main passage?” He Wude suddenly stood up. His face actually turned slightly green.
He Quanxin turned around without the slightest hesitation and said
“Father, I will not let anything happen to Yiming.”
However, even before he finished talking, something flickered in front of his eyes before he saw a figure flashing past him and rushing in county town’s direction.
He Quanxin blankly stared, before smiling bitterly.
Despite being a mere fifth layer cultivator, Hubin was a fugitive who’d his hands covered in blood. He, who was capable of fleeing up to here from the distant Linqiu region and injuring two members of Xu family’s younger generation who’d attained the sixth layer many years ago, was not something Yiming could handle.
If he’d come across the other members of the younger generation, He Quanxin would not have been so worried. He Yihai and He Yixuan were already over eighteen. They had participated many times in small competitions against Xu family and Cheng family. They had abundant battle experience. Moreover, about two years were about to pass since they had attained the sixth layer, furthermore, they each had the strength of a battle skill cultivated almost to the peak with them. Even if they lacked in terms of personal battle strength, they could have at least kept their lives intact.
However, He Yiming was different. Merely half a year had passed since his breakthrough to the sixth layer. Regarding the mastery of battle skills, reaching the peak was even more impossible for him. If in his current condition, he encountered an individual like Hubin who’d an experience of hundreds of battles and had crawled up from beneath the piles of dead bodies, it would not be pleasant to say who would emerge superior. If He Yiming suffered an injury as a result, that would be a gargantuan blow to the He family.
He Quanxin quietly sighed and immediately chased after He Wude. However, his strength was far below his father’s. He was absolutely unable to catch up to the latter. Hoping that He Yiming would not encounter Hubin, he regretfully sighed. His old man, even with his deep foresight and rigorous schemes, had eventually made a mistake this time.
When He Yiming hurriedly arrived at the main hall, he discovered that he was not the first one to arrive.
A month had passed since his breakthrough to the seventh layer. He had not informed anyone about his condition. All of his elders thought that he was still at the sixth layer.
Today, during his daily cultivation, a servant reported him that the Old Master had summoned him in the main hall.
Not daring to be neglectful, He Yiming hurried off to the main hall. However, upon arriving, he found out that he wasn’t the first person to arrive. Both his second brother and third brother had already arrived.
He Yihai faintly nodded towards him and said: “Sixth brother, you are here as well.”
“Hello, second brother.” He Yiming faintly bowed his head. Although He Yihai was the son of the eldest uncle, he treated all of his younger brothers more or less about the same. To tell the truth, setting aside He Yiming’s relationship with his fifth brother, the rest of his siblings were quite harmonious with each other.
Of course, the blood relations are always somewhat different than the normal, but in He family this was not too distinct.
He Yihai silently nodded without replying. He Yiming knew that the nature of his second brother was as such. If not for the affection between the siblings, he would not even have bothered with the greetings.
He Yiming took a few steps and shifted to his third brother’s side, before quietly saying:
“Third brother, what happened? Why are you both here?”
He Yixuan forced a bitter laugh and shrugged his shoulders, before saying:
“I don’t know. However, since grandfather has personally summoned us, it’s definitely not something small.”
He Yiming faintly nodded. He was about to speak, when he suddenly sensed something. His mouth immediately closed, and his vision turned towards the main hall’s entrance.
After a short while, from the faint illumination outside the entrance, a few people emerged.
Upon looking at these few men, He Yiming and the rest two immediately stood up. They straightened their chest and waist, displaying an extremely attentive appearance.
The first was the individual who’d single-handedly established He family estate, He Wude. Behind his body was He Yiming’s eldest uncle, He Quanxin, and the third uncle, He Quanyin. The last person was precisely the individual appraised to be the number one figure among the third generation, He Yitian.
All three inside the hall were flabbergasted. ‘What on earth has happened?’
Almost all of the dispensable power in the manor was gathered together.
He Yiming’s vision turned towards the Book Pavilion for an instant. According to his knowledge, in addition to a directly related son of the Old Master, an old servant’s cultivation had also attained the ninth layer; almost on par with the former. Apparently, this old servant had grown by the side of the Old Master and was nothing like an ordinary servant.
He’d always lived in the one of the side halls of the Book Pavilion’s courtyard alongside He Yiming’s eldest uncle. His status was not the slightest bit less than the third generation.
Today, inside the He family manor, except this special servant, all the disciples who’d attained the sixth layer were gathered together in the main hall.
He Wude entered the hall in huge strides and sat down on the middle seat. His clear and piercing eyes swept through the remaining people, and as it did, the individual faced with his gaze felt a strange burning sensation in his body and had to lower his head.
He Yiming’s heart slightly trembled. This was the Internal Energy at tenth layer’s peak. Current him was not capable of resisting it in the slightest.
He silently lowered his vision as he absolutely didn’t want to attract anybody’s attention.
“I called you all here. There is a matter that requires your attention.” Despite looking a bit old, He Wude’s powerful voice echoed in the main hall:
“Today, people from Cheng family came to our place. A feudal fugitive is in our county. They want us to help the authorities in catching or killing the fugitive.”
He Yiming exchanged a glance with his third brother. With his thoughts racing, he glanced at his elders and eldest brother. Their expressions didn’t have the slightest change. Clearly, they were already aware of this matter.
“The fugitive is from the Linqiu region. His name is Hubin, and he is a fifth layer Internal Energy cultivator. Reportedly, his skill is pretty good.”
He Yiming immediately realized.
‘No wonder grandfather agreed and gathered all of us here.’
Fifth layer of the Internal Energy was not bad, however, all the people present were at least at the sixth layer. With some helpers, arresting him could be accomplished pretty easily.
In fact, this was a hard-to-come-by opportunity for the He family manor’s disciples to temper themselves.
Always living behind closed doors and not having actual combat experience would not benefit their future cultivation.
He Wude’s vision suddenly turned a little strict as he said:
“By no means should you have any despising thoughts. This Hubin although merely has a cultivation of the fifth layer, his character is extremely vicious and merciless. Originally, in Linqiu region, he was the chief of a hundred men in the army. Due to his crimes of rape, murder, and killing the citizens under the pretext of enemies, he was detained and awaited execution. But he escaped from the army and killed countless people along the way, before coming here.” He briefly paused before continuing in a heavy voice:
“Although he’d only killed ordinary people, killing so many people has caused a natural baleful aura on his body. If you come across him, act with caution and don’t be careles.”
Everybody felt a chill in their hearts, before they all made sounds of agreement together.
He Wude had always been a swift and decisive person. He immediately moved on to allocation. He allowed each person present to take a few servants, all of whom were at the cultivation of the third layer, and a portrait of Hubin, before leaving to their respective positions.
He Yiming and the rest naturally had no objections, instead, they were actually quite thrilled.
After cultivating for many years, they finally obtained a chance to display their skills. They would naturally not miss such an opportunity.
After allocating the positions, He Wude waved his hand. Everybody, leading the servants under them, left with the envoys of Cheng family. Only leaving behind He Quanxin and He Wude.
After everybody left, He Quanxin hesitatingly said:
“Father, He Yiming has just turned thirteen this year. Furthermore, not even a year has passed since he attained the sixth layer. Allowing him to personally take charge of a section seems too early for him.”
He Wude faintly laughed, before saying: “Quanxin, you remember which section I assigned to Yiming?”
He Quanxin was surprised. He thought for a bit, before he suddenly realized and said:
“I understand. Yiming is assigned to the section which is nearest to the county town. Furthermore, it’s the main passage. Since Hubin has come here as a fugitive, he naturally would not take the main passage seeming like an honest person. He would tread desolate paths, and he would not go to the County town as well. That would just be walking right into a trap. Therefore, Yiming is going just for show.”
He Wude faintly nodded and said:
“Correct. Yiming’s talent is the best among his siblings. I have a lot of expectations from him. However, staying in the home and bitterly cultivating all the time is not necessarily a good thing. Thus, allowing him to experience such an atmosphere will certainly prove beneficial for his future. As for that Hubin, with three big clans joining hands and mobilizing personnel from every village, nothing unexpected will happen unless he has already left the county.”
He Quanxin heavily nodded and said: “Father, you have put a lot of thought in this.”
He Wude said with his face beaming:
“Apart from all this. I allowed to Yiming to lead a group so as to let Xu family and Cheng family know that He family yet again has a genius. I feel those two old foxes of Xu family and Cheng family should be clear on who is going to be the strongest family of Tai Cang county in the future.”
Two days later, a servant, carrying two letters delivered by the Xu family that contained the latest information, arrived in front of the Old Master.
Since He Quanyi was outside the manor, He Quanxin had temporarily left the Book Pavilion’s courtyard and was handling the trifling matters of the estate. When the information arrived, he was discussing some cultivation problems with the Old Master.
He took the letters and opened the seal of the first letter. His complexion slightly changed, and he said:
“Father. Xu family has sent a letter. Hubin’s whereabouts has been discovered. However, he’d injured Xu family’s third generation, Yude and Yucai, and has again escaped.”
He Wude was slightly surprised. After muttering something to himself, he said:
“Xu Yude and Xu Yucai should have already advanced to the sixth layer.”
“That’s right. They also attained the sixth layer at the age of seventeen and eighteen like Yihai and Yixuan. What a pity, none of them have been able to attain the seventh layer till now, even though they are twenty-four and twenty-five.”
As He Quanxin spoke these words, his voice had a complacent tone which he failed to conceal.
He Wude softly said:
“Two youngsters possessing the sixth layer Internal Energy couldn’t stop a fifth layer fugitive….. This Hubin is not simple.”
He Quanxin faintly nodded and opened the seal of the second letter. However, as soon as his eyes swept through the letter, his expression immediately transformed, and a cry escaped his mouth:
“Not good.”
He Wude’s brows creased, and he said:
“Quanxin, you are an elder in the family. You should possess an elder’s attitude. Don’t lose your head over some trivial matters.”
He Quanxin, without hearing the words of his father, lifted his head and hurriedly said:
“Hubin as of now is escaping towards the county town’s main passage. Xu family’s second generation expert is closely pursuing him.”
“En, Xu family’s second generation’s strength should be sufficient…..what, he is escaping towards the county town’s main passage?” He Wude suddenly stood up. His face actually turned slightly green.
He Quanxin turned around without the slightest hesitation and said
“Father, I will not let anything happen to Yiming.”
However, even before he finished talking, something flickered in front of his eyes before he saw a figure flashing past him and rushing in county town’s direction.
He Quanxin blankly stared, before smiling bitterly.
Despite being a mere fifth layer cultivator, Hubin was a fugitive who’d his hands covered in blood. He, who was capable of fleeing up to here from the distant Linqiu region and injuring two members of Xu family’s younger generation who’d attained the sixth layer many years ago, was not something Yiming could handle.
If he’d come across the other members of the younger generation, He Quanxin would not have been so worried. He Yihai and He Yixuan were already over eighteen. They had participated many times in small competitions against Xu family and Cheng family. They had abundant battle experience. Moreover, about two years were about to pass since they had attained the sixth layer, furthermore, they each had the strength of a battle skill cultivated almost to the peak with them. Even if they lacked in terms of personal battle strength, they could have at least kept their lives intact.
However, He Yiming was different. Merely half a year had passed since his breakthrough to the sixth layer. Regarding the mastery of battle skills, reaching the peak was even more impossible for him. If in his current condition, he encountered an individual like Hubin who’d an experience of hundreds of battles and had crawled up from beneath the piles of dead bodies, it would not be pleasant to say who would emerge superior. If He Yiming suffered an injury as a result, that would be a gargantuan blow to the He family.
He Quanxin quietly sighed and immediately chased after He Wude. However, his strength was far below his father’s. He was absolutely unable to catch up to the latter. Hoping that He Yiming would not encounter Hubin, he regretfully sighed. His old man, even with his deep foresight and rigorous schemes, had eventually made a mistake this time.