Chapter Thirty-Three: Chaos in the Alley

“Damn, Yao, you’re amazing! That was badass!” Li Zijian exclaimed in his usual dramatic way, even mimicking my moves a couple of times after he spoke. I ran my fingers over the Snowblade in my hand, thinking to myself, “If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have this kind of confidence. Thank you…”

The Snowblade flashed a few times as usual, as if responding to me. Its appearance seemed less like a coincidence with each passing day, more like someone had orchestrated it. But as for who was helping me from the shadows, I had no idea.

Lost in thought, Li Zijian and I soon arrived at the school gate, waiting for Chen Chen to join us. This game seemed simple enough—just survive three days in the school—but knowing the Ghost King, it wouldn’t be that easy. Besides, there was that idiot Jiang Yuan eyeing me like prey.

“What’s up? Why the long face?” Chen Chen had already come out, backpack slung over his shoulder, giving me a pat.

“I’m worried about Jiang Yuan…” There was no need to keep it a secret from Chen Chen, so I told him.

He nodded silently, as if plotting something.

“We should go buy some supplies. We can’t starve to death, can we?” Li Zijian, cigarette dangling from his mouth, said to me with his usual idiotic grin.

“It’s not even nine yet. Let’s check out the department store first.”

The department store was the largest in our city, a towering fourteen stories with anything you could possibly want for sale.

Chen Chen and I agreed immediately, and of course Li Zijian didn’t object. So we hailed a cab and were at the department store in under twenty minutes.

I rarely came here, but Li Zijian, who spent money like water, was a frequent visitor, so he naturally became our guide.

First, we bought three large travel backpacks. Then, we wandered into a snack shop and loaded up on compressed biscuits, Snickers, and anything else that could stave off hunger. We grabbed several big bottles of mineral water before heading out.

But even then, it was barely eleven.

“Yao, look at those guys up ahead,” Li Zijian squinted and pointed.

“They’re the ones who tried to kidnap me earlier.”

I couldn’t help but sigh. These guys were nothing if not persistent.

Before I could come up with a plan, Chen Chen had already drawn his knife, eyes cold as he watched the group approach.

“We need to lure them into an alley. Can’t do anything on this busy street,” I whispered, mostly for Chen Chen’s benefit, to keep him from doing anything rash.

I grabbed both of them and quickly jogged toward the nearest alleyway. Our pursuers must have realized we’d spotted them, because they gave up all pretense and charged after us.

Once we turned into the alley, we discovered it was a dead end. So much the better—we could wipe them out all at once.

I slowly took off my backpack and stood at the far end of the alley, hand on the Snowblade. If they were just ordinary people, I wouldn’t have bothered with the blade. But I could sense spiritual energy from each of them—this was no time to be careless.

Soon, I heard footsteps outside the alley, and five men burst in together.

Seeing the situation, Chen Chen was ready to charge, but I pulled him back and said confidently, “It’s fine. I’ll handle this.”

I wasn’t showing off. The truth was, Chen Chen couldn’t take them—there’s a world of difference between an ordinary person and a cultivator, as I’ve explained before.

“Well, not running anymore? And you, kid in front, don’t think you’ll walk away alive either.” By now, they’d all changed into plain clothes, but their killing intent was unmistakable.

Each drew a weapon from somewhere, but the man in front seemed to conjure his weapon out of thin air. I’d seen this trick before, but never knew how they did it.

Chen Chen explained in a low voice, “That’s a storage ring. Ordinary people can’t buy one, and even cultivators need connections; money alone isn’t enough. I hear they’ve been around for years, but I don’t know how they work…”

A storage ring? The name said it all. But today, it was going to be mine.

“Go get ’em, Yao! Finish them!” Li Zijian was already squatting on the ground playing his game, totally unconcerned that these men were after him. And now I had to deal with them for him…

Never mind—this was a good chance to test my strength.

Without another word, I channeled spiritual energy and summoned the Snowblade.

“Hah!”

With a low shout, I charged into the group without reservation. My speed caught them completely off guard; the man in front barely had time to raise his machete in a panic.

But I’d long since witnessed the Snowblade’s sharpness—it was no ordinary weapon.

Sure enough, his blade shattered on contact.

He reacted quickly, twisting his body to avoid a fatal blow, knowing he couldn’t dodge completely. But my blade cut through iron like mud; in a single breath, I sliced off his right arm.

I had no time to listen to his anguished wails and turned my blade on the next man.

They finally realized what they were up against. Dodging my first slash, they quickly circled around to surround me.

I let out a cold laugh and went on the offensive.

I don’t know why, but as I moved among them using Bajiquan footwork, they couldn’t lay a finger on me.

So I stopped playing around. Deliberately exposing my back to two of them, I saw them take the bait—sharing a glance, they both swung at me from behind.

This was the chance I’d been waiting for. I dodged one attack with a sidestep, then suddenly countered, forcing the other’s blade back with sheer force.

With a clang and a shower of sparks, his weapon snapped in two.

He was defenseless, and I drove my blade through his chest.

The last three tried to resist, but each fell beneath my blade.

The entire fight lasted less than ten minutes—four corpses lay neatly in the alley.

Then I remembered something: the man with the severed arm, still writhing and moaning on the ground.

“Please, spare me… I didn’t know who I was up against… Have mercy…”

Seeing me approach, he thought I was going to finish him off, but I wasn’t a cold-blooded killer.

“Give me your storage ring, and you can go,” I said coldly, pressing my blade to his chest.

He trembled, glancing at his severed hand.

I understood, so I crouched to remove the ring from his hand.

“Go,” I said, sheathing the blade.

He looked disbelieving, but after I put my weapon away, he got up cautiously, bowed several times, and fled.

“You really have gotten stronger,” Chen Chen murmured beside me, as if he’d just witnessed his idol.

“To stay alive,” I said, lifting the Snowblade and meeting his gaze with determination.

Li Zijian didn’t seem to care about the fight at all, still absorbed in his phone.

I held the storage ring in my hand, but had no idea how to use it.

“You need spiritual energy to use it. We can’t,” Chen Chen said, the implication clear—he was leaving the ring to me.