Unfortunate Transmigrator

29

Out of the Frying Pan

I

Hao Zhen made his way over to where Tian Jin was standing in front of Du Jian, who was still crying out all sorts of threats and promises of pain. Hao Zhen didn’t pay the rambling disciple’s words any attention, his mind was on other matters.

Duo Lan walked a few steps ahead of him. The physical recovry pill had had some effect—he no longer felt bone-weary—but as Duo Lan had said, it was a physical recovery pill, so its primary purpose was recovering his physical stamina, of which he hadn’t lost much. Recovering some of his mental stamina—which he had pretty much exhausted—was just a side effect.

He had ended up having to seize his opponent’s nerves two more times before Duo Lan sent him a voice transmission. At the time, he already had a fireball talisman in his hand.

His plan had turned out even better than he had hoped—his opponent had been completely incapacitated by the successive sensory overloads. Hao Zhen didn’t think the other outer disciple had been in any condition to dodge or move out of the way, so it really should have been safe to use the fireball talisman to deal the killing blow.

Hao Zhen had reasoned with himself that he shouldn’t do it because he didn’t have to, because he didn’t want to waste a talisman, because it’d be taking an unnecessary risk. Just now, however, even though he hadn’t had enough willpower and spiritual power to cause yet another sensory overload, even though he knew that he needed to use the talisman before his opponent had time to recover, he had still hesitated. And that made him realize that all those reasons he had come up with for waiting for Duo Lan or Tian Jin to finish his opponent off might have just been excuses.

What had caused him to hesitate was the Amyas in him. The modern Amyas, with modern sensibilities and modern morals, who had grown up being told over and over again that killing someone else was a terrible, awful thing.

Hao Zhen knew, rationally, that in that situation, mercy wasn’t an option. To begin with, mercy was a rarity in cultivation novels, and the same went for this world. In his current life, as Hao Zhen, he had grown up with a completely different view of killing and death.

In this world, everyone believed in reincarnation—and, to be fair, it probably really did happen, as he was someone who had undergone reincarnation himself. Dying, here, wasn’t treated as seriously as it was back on Earth. It was still a big deal depending on the circumstances, something to grieve and feel sorrow for, but death was still something commonplace, and the same went for killing.

Hao Zhen’s father, as a merchant, would often hire assassins to kill the leaders of competing businesses, and he himself had ended up being assassinated—and that was just the way things were in the mundane world. Among cultivators, life and death were treated even more lightly.

Despite that, the Amyas aspect of him was just too strong, it seemed. This hadn’t occurred to him before, as the fact that Tian Jin had killed Ke Li hadn’t affected him at all, but when the time for him to take a life came, he had found himself hesitant. Now Hao Zhen realized that he still needed to dedicate some time to properly adjusting his altered perception of the world with the world itself.

Thankfully this hesitation hadn’t gotten him in trouble just now, as Duo Lan had managed to arrive in time, but it was still something he needed to address in the future. He wouldn’t be able to get far at all in this world if he shied away from killing.

Hao Zhen shook his head, focusing on the situation at hand. He’d have to do that later, though, because right now, he had other priorities. His exhaustion made it hard to concentrate, but he didn’t have the luxury of giving in to it.

Du Jian and his lackeys were defeated, but things weren’t over yet. Not only was it possible Du Qing had a backup plan, but there was also something else Hao Zhen was concerned about—the inner elder supervising this area of the forest.

It still wasn’t clear whether he was on Du Qing’s side or not, and that was a problem.

As Hao Zhen and Duo Lan approached, Tian Jin turned away from the ranting Du Jian, looking in their direction. His expression immediately changed, going from impassive to intent. Hao Zhen felt Tian Jin’s gaze bore into him as the taller disciple looked him up and down, ascertaining his condition. Hao Zhen himself took the time to look Tian Jin over and confirmed that the other body didn’t have any wounds. In fact, Tian Jin didn’t even appear winded at all, seemingly in peak condition even though he had just fought three same-level cultivators at the same time and won.

That was a protagonist for you.

Hao Zhen then glanced at Duo Lan and saw that she was pretty much in the same state, if not better, her clothes and hair pristine as if she hadn’t been in a battle at all. Tian Jin’s clothes, at least, appeared rather wrinkled, and his hair a bit messy.

Tian Jin finished scrutinizing Hao Zhen the next moment, nodding to himself as his expression relaxed slightly.

Guessing what was going on in Tian Jin’s head, Hao Zhen felt warm. Without a doubt, whether it was in his current life or in his previous one, Tian Jin was the best friend he had ever had.

Hao Zhen blinked, before once again forcing himself to focus on the situation at hand. Right now wasn’t the time for feeling touched.

Hao Zhen and Duo Lan quickly reached Tian Jin’s side, and they turned to look at Du Jian, who was still glaring daggers at Tian Jin but had stopped running his mouth. Then his gaze fell on Hao Zhen and Duo Lan, and he blinked. “You two… Does that mean…”

Without waiting for a response, Du Jian looked wildly around the clearing, first toward the spot Duo Lan had been fighting in, then towards the one Hao Zhen had just come from, where the second spiritual beacon he activated still lingered.

Du Jian suddenly paled, and as he returned his attention to them, there was a great deal more apprehension in his eyes. “You…”

“Not so mighty now, are you?” Duo Lan said, raising an eyebrow, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she gave him a smug look.

Du Jian scowled at her, before turning back to Tian Jin. “You can’t kill me,” he promptly said, his voice distinctly more high-pitched than before, some fear creeping in. “I—”

“Let me guess, your cousin will never let us go?” Hao Zhen cut in. He was exhausted, and he wanted to rest, and more importantly, he had to get this over and done with as soon as possible.

Du Jian snapped his head in his direction, giving him a glower just like the one he gave Duo Lan, and then once again returned his attention to Tian Jin, as if Hao Zhen wasn’t worth the time. Hao Zhen could guess what Du Jian was thinking—that the only one important here was Tian Jin, and that his fate depended entirely on him.

Hao Zhen didn’t think Du Jian was wrong to overlook him—he knew he wasn’t all that important compared to Tian Jin—but ignoring Duo Lan probably wasn’t a good idea. He glanced at Duo Lan and saw that she was livid, giving Du Jian the same murderous look she had given the older disciple before fighting broke out.

“I… My cousin really won’t let you go if you do anything to me,” Du Jian said, his gaze on Tian Jin, who stared back at him impassively, stone-faced. “I’m serious—if you kill me, you’re dead.”

“Du Qing has already tried to kill me twice,” Tian Jin said, finally addressing Du Jian. His voice was apathetic, his expression stony. “I don’t think he ever intended on letting us go.”

Hearing that, Hao Zhen felt a little more at ease. Despite his trusting nature, Tian Jin really didn’t appear to be affected at all by Du Jian’s words. He also didn’t seem to have any intention of sparing Du Jian. In a world where events played out like the plot of a cultivation novel, letting an enemy go was just asking for trouble.

“You—” Du Jian glared fiercely at Tian Jin and started to say something before suddenly shaking his head and cutting himself off. “All right. I understand—my cousin is already after your life. But if you let me go…” He took in a deep breath, adopting a serious, resolute expression. “If you let me go, I promise you that I’ll convince him to let go of his grudge with you.”

Yeah, fat chance.

Du Jian looked confident in what he said, but Hao Zhen didn’t trust him as far as he could throw him—and in his current state, he probably wouldn’t even be able to lift Du Jian up.

If they let Du Jian go, the most likely outcome was that he would try to ambush them the moment they turned their backs on him. If Du Jian was a bit smarter, he would instead retreat into the forest, gather his forces again, contact Du Qing and get some help from him, before going after them again.

Hao Zhen then turned to look at Tian Jin and saw that the other boy was frowning, looking at Du Jian doubtfully. That, in turn, made Hao Zhen frown himself, because it meant that Tian Jin was actually considering Du Jian’s words. Seeing that the situation might get out of hand, Hao Zhen decided to intervene. He needed to speed things up, in any case, and this was a perfect opportunity for that.

“Do you really expect us to believe that?” Hao Zhen, drawing everyone’s attention to him—including Duo Lan, who stopped trying to murder Du Jian with her eyes for a moment. “Du Qing hasn’t even told you his plans. He clearly doesn’t value you. Why do you think he’d listen to you?”

At that, Du Jian glowered at him. Hao Zhen, however, regarded him attentively. What he had just said about Du Jian not knowing his cousin’s plans was bait, and precisely the reason why Hao Zhen had let this situation go on for so long instead of putting an end to it. There was a chance Du Jian knew what else Du Qing had in store—whether there were any backup plans.

Hao Zhen doubted Du Jian knew anything about any backup plans Du Qing might have, as Du Jian seemed to be fearing for his life, and when minor antagonists tried to stall when they knew that help was coming, they were usually far more arrogant about it.

“Don’t speak of what you know nothing of!” Du Jian snapped. “My cousin holds me in high regard! He’d definitely heed my words!”

“Really?” Hao Zhen narrowed his eyes. “Then what else does Du Qing have planned?”

Tian Jin and Duo Lan stayed silent, watching their conversation from the side.

“Du Qing…” Du Jian blinked. “He…” Du Jian reddened. “What do you mean—what else he has planned?” The man suddenly snapped. “His plan was for my group to ambush the three of you! There was nothing more to it!”

Hao Zhen sighed, figuring as much. In fact, there was even a chance Du Jian was saying the truth. Cultivation novel antagonists were usually pretty overconfident and seldom had backup plans. Still, there was one last thing that he could do to check.

“Then there’s no point in letting you live,” Hao Zhen said, plainly. He then looked at Tian Jin. “He’s just wasting our time. Let’s just kill him.”

Tian Jin frowned at him, before nodding his head. He then started raising his sword. Hao Zhen had returned his attention to Du Jian, paying close attention to what he’d do next, hoping he’d suddenly cry out that he did know something while begging for his life.

Instead, Du Jian’s eyes went wide. Then, with a cry of rage, he threw himself at Tian Jin, who swiftly stepped down to the side while swinging his sword down, drawing a long, deep cut on Du Jian’s back, right over his spine.

Du Jian let out a cry of pain before his body dropped to the ground, a large, bloody tear on his robe. He lay there unmoving, and after the initial cry, no more sound came out of him.

Hao Zhen stared at the corpse in front of him blankly, taking a moment to process the quick turn of events.

That had really not turned out as planned.

Breaking out of his daze, Hao Zhen turned to look at Tian Jin, who was also looking at Du Jian’s corpse with slightly widened eyes, also slightly taken aback by what had just happened. Most likely, he had struck Du Jian down on instinct. Duo Lan was also looking at the corpse, her expression dark. Most likely she was mad she hadn’t been the one to kill Du Jian.

Hao Zhen shook his head, forcing himself to concentrate again. Clearly, they wouldn’t be getting anything more out of the now-dead outer disciple, so it was time to get a move on.

“All right.” He clapped his hands, catching Tian Jin’s and Duo Lan’s attention. “We need to move. Let’s get their spatial rings or whatever they’re keeping their possessions in and leave.”

Personally, he’d rather they just turn around and get away from here right now, but at the same time, there might be something in the spatial ring of Du Jian and his lackeys that they might need a little further down the line, so he believed it was worth it to delay things a bit further—especially since it wasn’t clear whether an enemy was coming.

“What’s wrong?” Tian Jin said, giving him a confused look. “There aren’t any more enemies.”

Hao Zhen shook his head. “There’s still the inner elder—you know, the one that was supposed to be supervising this area. He might be on Du Jian’s side.”

Tian Jin widened his eyes, and Duo Lan had a similar reaction. Tian Jin then knelt down beside Du Jian’s corpse, grabbing the dead disciple’s hand. Duo Lan hesitated for a moment, giving the corpse next to her—one of Du Jian’s goons a look of disgust—before also kneeling down beside it.

Hao Zhen then looked around, and finding the corpse of the other outer disciple Tian Jin had killed, he knelt down beside it and grabbed its hands, looking for a spatial ring. He didn't find any, so he looked through the corpse’s robe and found a leather pouch, which he promptly stored inside his own spatial ring without bothering to check its contents.

Hao Zhen then stood up, Tian Jin and Duo Lan doing the same.

“Du Jian had a spatial ring,” Tian Jin said.

“Mine only had a pouch.” Duo Lan glanced at the corpse next to her, seemingly even more disgusted than before.

“Same for me,” Hao Zhen said, nodding in Duo Lan’s direction. “Now, let’s just search the other three corpses and get out of—”

“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that,” a deep voice suddenly rang out in the clearing, and Hao Zhen went still. Tian Jin and Duo Lan similarly froze. They all looked up and saw a red cloud descending from above.

Crap.

They had taken too long, after all.

A tall man in the golden robes of an inner elder stood on top of the cloud. Hao Zhen recognized him as one of the inner elders that had been assigned to watch over the outer disciples as they participated in the Glistening Stone Hunt.

The man in golden robes regarded them for a moment, before sighing. “I only promised Du Qing I’d turn a blind eye to his dealings, but it appears I must take action after all.”

So he had been right. The inner elder in charge of the area was on Du Qing’s side. Hao Zhen inhaled sharply, narrowing his eyes as his heart started racing.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire, huh.