Chapter 33

"Hoo... hoo..."

Hu Tian, lying on the stretcher, let out a desperate gasp like a dehydrated fish.

He used his last bit of strength, desperately trying to open his eyes, wanting to see that figure moving away.

That figure who had patted his shoulder and said "I treat you like my own brother."

But all that entered his eyes was Zhang Xu's soft couch, wrapped tightly, walking further and further away under the servants' carrying, becoming more and more blurred, until finally, it completely disappeared at the end of the crowd.

Only at this moment did he truly understand how stupid his decision to trust Zhang Xu and leave the academy was.

"Sister, I was wrong..."

The words his sister Hu Li once said flashed through his mind, and Hu Tian's painful face was filled with endless regret.

However, everything was too late.

"That Hu Tian is truly finished! His spine is broken; from now on, let alone practicing martial arts, it's even questionable if he can stand up and walk."

"It's a pity for such good talent, breaking through to the Bright Force Realm in half a month; who wouldn't be jealous? But what happened? He courted death himself."

"Deserved! Believing the words of someone like Zhang Xu, when he betrayed his sect, why didn't he think about the consequences?"

"Now he's miserable; without any value to be used, why would Zhang Xu care about him."

Not far away, the disciples of the Qingshi Martial Arts Academy gathered in one place, looking at this scene, their discussions very low.

In the crowd, Lin Xiaohe's expression was the most complex.

She could be considered a witness to Hu Tian's "glory" during those short half a month.

From his awkwardness when he first entered the academy, to his flattered surprise when he was brought into the "circle" by Zhang Xu, to his high spirits when he mastered his fist technique, to his triumph when he broke through to the Bright Force Realm, and finally to his miserable state like a dead dog on the stretcher.

Watching him build a high building, watching him feast guests, watching his building collapse.

It was nothing more than this.

Thinking of Hu Tian's near-humiliating rejection of her before, the complexity in Lin Xiaohe's eyes finally turned into a touch of satisfaction, and she sneered in her heart:

"Deserved!"

Then she shifted her gaze away, no longer looking at the figure who had once made her rack her brains to climb up to, but was now worthless.

Her gaze crossed the crowd and landed on the silent, mountain-like back not far away, and she whispered to herself: "Sure enough, Senior Brother Shi Lei is the one most suitable for me."

And although Shi Lei's expression was still calm at this moment, looking at Hu Tian's miserable state in the distance, he sighed in his heart.

'In the martial path, don't fight for the first; fight for the endless!'

He had a deeper understanding of this sentence.

On the grand chair, Yan Sheng's face was already so gloomy it could almost drip water.

He watched Zhang Xu's soft couch disappear at the end of the crowd without looking back, and watched more and more strange gazes cast toward him.

Finally, he could only pay for a Great Return Pill with a dark face and have it fed to the dying Hu Tian.

Three thousand taels of silver, just to buy a piece of cloth to cover his shame.

The two doctors skillfully fed Hu Tian the pill and investigated his injuries again, only then did they breathe a sigh of relief and stand up to say to Yan Sheng: "Master Yan, your disciple's life is temporarily saved. However, he still needs good rest; it's best to send him back to the martial arts hall, lie still for a hundred days, and supplement with medicinal soup..."

"Send him back to the martial arts hall?

"Not bad."

"This kid, from now on, has nothing to do with our Jiquan Martial Arts Hall."

He didn't even look at the figure gasping for breath on the stretcher, turned and walked away, leaving behind an extremely cold voice:

"Send him anywhere, just don't send him back to our martial arts hall."

The two doctors looked at each other and could only sigh helplessly.

They looked down at the young man on the stretcher who was deathly pale and unconscious.

He was a genius famous for a time before, but now he had become a burden that everyone avoided.

The struggle of martial artists is truly cruel.

"A bunch of trash, can't even walk steadily!" Zhang Xu was woken up by a jolt of the soft couch, anger rising in his heart; he was too lazy to even open his eyes and cursed: "This young master was just about to fall asleep, why did you stop!"

"Young Master, an old man is blocking our way in front..."

The servant's low voice came.

"Old man?" Zhang Xu frowned, still not opening his eyes, "Damn it, dare to block my way! Zhang Wang! Drive that old thing blocking the way away for me!"

"Yes, Young Master!"

Zhang Wang followed behind the soft couch, and upon hearing this, he immediately strode forward.

He looked up and saw that the person blocking the way was an unremarkable tall, lean old man, his body loose and slack, as if he were seriously ill.

"Old thing, if you're sick, go home and lie down! Blocking the way, are you looking for death?"

A ferocious smile appeared on Zhang Wang's face; he raised his leg and kicked, aiming fiercely at the old man's knee.

His kick was quite ruthless and carried force; once it landed, he definitely wouldn't be able to stand up for a few months.

The next instant.

That old man, who seemed to be seriously ill, suddenly erupted, instantly arriving in front of Zhang Wang like a hungry tiger catching prey, and pressed a light, floating punch onto Zhang Wang's chest.

"You—"

The ferocious smile on Zhang Wang's face froze abruptly.

That fist momentum seemed powerless, but landing on him, it was like an extremely sinister steel needle, instantly piercing skin, flesh, bones, and organs, twisting his internal organs into minced meat in an instant.

That force didn't diminish, actually bursting out from his back—

Bang!

A muffled sound, and a bloody hole exploded on Zhang Wang's back!

The bright red blood shot out like a blood arrow, splashing onto Zhang Xu's face on the soft couch behind.

"Hmm?"

With such warm and sticky blood dripping on his face, Zhang Xu naturally felt it and subconsciously opened his eyes.

What entered his eyes was a pair of aged eyes without any mercy.

"You are..."

Zhang Xu's pupils constricted violently.

The memory of the Lake Heart Pavilion that night, that punch to the chest that almost killed him, the terror of the white-haired old man's figure, at this moment, actually overlapped heavily with the eyes of the strange old man before him.

He didn't give him time to make a sound.

Jiang Ye's fist had already been pressed onto his head.

Bang!

Another light sound.

Zhang Xu's head didn't explode like a watermelon, but like a candle hit by a heavy hammer, collapsing and caving in in an instant, turning into countless fine blood foam and bone dregs.

Zhang Xu would never be able to find his head again.

In an instant, killing two people in a row, Jiang Ye's mood remained as calm as ever.

He didn't look at the two corpses again and left directly.

After a moment of silence.

"Murder!!!"

The Zhang family servants finally collapsed and screamed.

About half an hour later.

Jiang Ye's figure returned to the academy silently.

He changed his clothes, washed away the last trace of faint blood aura on his hands with prepared clean water, and turned back into that old, decrepit gatekeeper.

To his surprise, after only half an incense stick of time, the sound of messy footsteps came from the end of the long street.

The academy disciples returned in twos and threes, much earlier than the time the martial arts meet ended in previous years.

"Did the martial arts meet end so early today?"

A flash of strangeness crossed Jiang Ye's eyes.

However, he soon guessed the reason from the disciples' discussions.

"Have you heard? Something big happened to the Zhang family!"

"How could I not have heard? Zhang Xu was killed on the street! His head is gone!"

"Not just Zhang Xu, his confidant Zhang Wang also died, a big hole in his back, his internal organs all rotten..."

"Too miserable... I heard from people at the scene, blood splashed all over the ground, Zhang Xu's corpse couldn't even find his head..."

"The County Magistrate has ordered the whole city to be under martial law, searching for the murderer house by house! I heard the head of the Zhang family almost fainted on the spot and was carried back!"

"That old fox Zhang He has today too? Deserved! Who told him to raise such a beast of a son."

The disciples' discussions were mostly schadenfreude.

"Martial law in the whole city, searching for the murderer?!"

A flash of disdainful laughter crossed Jiang Ye's aged eyes.

Who would have thought that the murderer would be an old, decrepit gatekeeper.

Not long after, Liu Qingshi also returned, and the disciples behind him were carrying a stretcher, on which lay the soft-as-mud Hu Tian.

Seeing this scene, although Jiang Ye was a bit confused, he didn't ask much.

Soon, he learned the process from the disciples' discussions.

It turned out that after the two doctors used the Great Return Pill to save Hu Tian's life, they didn't know where to send him to recuperate, and finally had to beg Liu Qingshi, asking if he knew where Hu Tian's home was.

Liu Qingshi was indeed righteous; he had already sent someone to notify Hu Tian's sister to come and pick him up.

Not long after, Hu Tian's sister, Hu Li, arrived.

This should be the third time Jiang Ye had seen her.

The Hu Li of the past, although dressed simply, had bright and resilient eyes.

But at this moment, her face was deathly pale, without a trace of blood, her whole body seemed to have its bones removed, her steps stumbling, and she nearly fell several times.

Her gaze stared fixedly at the stretcher, at the motionless figure on the stretcher, her lips trembling violently, but she couldn't make any sound.

Finally, she rushed to the stretcher.

"Little Tian... my Little Tian!!!"

That cry was heart-wrenching, as if she wanted to vomit out her internal organs.

The surrounding disciples gradually quieted down, looking at this scene with complex expressions.

Jiang Ye sighed slightly, as if he had seen the appearance of Hu Li bringing Hu Tian to seek martial arts for the first time.

One can only say that the path of martial arts, one wrong step, every step wrong.