Chapter 232: I Cannot Stand You

~~~

Liu Jin walks into Rainstorm City, and the city grows darker and colder in his wake.

Lei Kong and Ten Zichun are with the soldiers outside. Soaring Feather has left to carry a message to the Brotherhood of Thunder. Considering the eagle’s speed, Leader Liu has surely read the letter by now and is panicking about it.

There are more soldiers in the city than usual. None look like the lazy, drunken fools City Lord Lei kept around his manor. From the quality of their Qi to their bearing, they are completely different. Some have similar features to Lei Kong and the City Lord. They are probably members of the Lei Clan sent from Thunder Blade Fortress. They might even be the ones who killed the citizens of Drizzle Town.

They are not Liu Jin’s concern right now. Even City Lord Lei matters little.

Liu Jin understood who his real target should be the moment he got close to the city. He walks through the streets of Rainstorm City, and none dares stop him. Even the soldiers of the Lei Clan hide away from him. When Liu Jin enters one of the overly bright, alcohol-scented casinos, the people start fleeing the place by the dozen.

All but one.

Han waits for him on the other side of a casino table. There is a roulette wheel still spinning there. Han waits until it stops to look up and wave at him.

“I was wondering how long it’d take you to get here,” Han says.

“You had the people of Drizzle Town killed.”

The lights in the room dim as Liu Jin speaks. Had his aura not already made everyone but him and Han flee the premises, someone would have fainted right there and then.

“I did,” Han replies, not showing even an ounce of fear. “I figured that would get your attention. City Lord Lei was not so sure. You have him convinced you’re just a coward, but I knew better. You fought against me in the Eastern Port City Tournament despite knowing I was looking for an excuse to maim you. Cowardice has never been a flaw of yours.”

Liu Jin tilts his head slightly as he looks at Han.

The last time they met, Han had unsuccessfully tried to murder him. However, the Han that had easily been fought off by him and Lei Kong is not the same as the creature that sits before him. He is at ease with himself. Confident. Almost smug. He is even bringing up Eastern Port City, whereas the mere mention of his past would have annoyed him before.

Curious.

“The Lei Clan broke you out. I already figured out that much,”

“Correct, but if asked about it, they will deny it and say I broke out on my own.” Han snorts. “As if the general cared about something as stupid as plausible deniability. Idiots, but they are useful idiots right now.”

Liu Jin frowns. His Qi thirsts for violence, yet he forces himself to take a seat in front of Han.

“If we fight and you win, the City Lord will be rid of me, leaving the Lei Clan free to go after Lei Kong,” Liu Jin surmises. “If we fight and you lose, the City Lord will say I started a brawl in his city and killed his people, leaving him no choice but to put me down. Is that the plan?”

“Correct,” Han says, giving the wheel a spin. “It is impossible for people like us to fight in a place like this and not get others caught in it. That’s why you have been flaring your aura so menacingly all this time, isn’t it? You’re trying to scare away everyone in the city.”

Liu Jin nods. If the City Lord’s soldiers try to stop the people from fleeing, his men have orders to intervene. That’s why he left them in front of the city gates.

“Even if that works, it won’t matter. The City Lord will claim you went crazy regardless.” Han snorts. “Of course, that is only if you win. I have no intention of losing.”

“I never imagined you would.”

“I’m supposed to tell you there are twenty members of the Lei Clan in the City Lord’s house right now,” Han says. “They’re prepared to take your woman hostage the moment our fight starts. Should you win, they are the ones who will attack you.”

“I am aware,” Liu Jin says. “I sensed them the moment I entered the city.”

Han hums. “You do not care?”

“I believe the Lei Clan will have twenty fewer members should they try anything. Mei is nowhere near as merciful or forgiving as I.”

“I figured.”

The wheel stops spinning. It lands on zero.

“Why are you here?” Liu Jin asks. “Why this?”

Han’s face twists with rage. His aura flares like jagged knives.

“You dare to ask that after wounding the very core of my very being?!” He shouts. “I am here to kill you! Once I do, once you no longer exist, the wound will be gone, and I will become a more perfect version of myself.”

“I see.” Liu Jin’s frown deepens. The logic behind Han’s words is not wrong, yet… “So that’s the answer you arrived at.”

“You speak as if there could be another one!” The knives around Han howl and cut into the table, spilling the tokens to the floor. “Every day after you let me go, it hurt! When I walked. When I breathed. When I slept. It all hurt!”

Han stops and takes a deep breath. His aura relaxes. The knives stop screeching.

“But when I think of ending you, it all becomes better,” Han says, his voice almost a hiss. “I think clearly. I see clearly. I know once I kill you, I’ll go beyond.”

There is an almost maddened zeal in Han’s eyes. It focuses his anger and gives it a goal. A purpose.

“Do you want to know how Xiao Nan died?”

Liu Jin’s expression does not change, yet the air around him stills.

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author’s preferred platform and support their work!

“What?”

“You were always pathetically following him everywhere,” Han says, reaching to pick the small white ball from roulette and crushing it. “I figured you would be curious about how he died. You must have thought about it once or twice.”

Liu Jin says nothing. A table cracks next to them.

“The general once had three Heaven Realm cultivators at his side, all soldiers handpicked by him. One of them was the son of Lei Leji, the Lei Clan’s leader. The night Eastern Port City fell, Xiao Nan fought all three and killed two. Well, what else can you expect from the prodigy of Eastern Port City?” Han shrugs his shoulders, a mocking smirk on his face. “But the third one, that one killed him. He tore him apart so savagely that there wasn’t a body left to show the general. I think you already met him.”

One face appears in Liu Jin’s mind. He instantly knows the name Han is about to utter.

“Bright Sword,” Han says. He leans in, putting his elbows on the table. “Tell me, how does it feel knowing you were face to face with the person who killed Xiao Nan?”

Liu Jin takes a deep breath.

His fist smashes into Han’s face, shattering the room around them and sending Han flying into the wall. As he crashes into it, Han twists his body in midair, his leg drawing an arc that fires off a blade of Qi toward Liu Jin. Just by taking shape, it breaks the entire casino in half, exposing them to the light of day as the ceiling cracks like an egg.