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"Sorry guys, I had to leave now. Trouble just knocked at my doorstep." said Duan Li as he sighed.
Just when he was enjoying himself, someone just got to arrive and cause trouble for him!
Retracting his consciousness from his lower dantian, he was now back inside his own room.
"The direction of this disturbance.. is at the garden?" Duan Li said after he got the telepathic signal from Cucko again.
Whoosh!
He swiftly left the room and arrive at the garden within three breaths.
The garden was silent as usual, but even he could felt that this silence was off from the usual bright atmosphere. It felt stiffling and makes one uneasy to stay for too long.
Sighing, Duan Li called out towards the people that were hiding in his garden.
"Come out. I know you guys are here."
Whooshh!
Two men covering half of their face with black cloth leaped out from their hiding spot. Eventhough both of their faces were covered, their upper facial appearance were identical with each other - same short hairstyle, wide forehead, sharp brows, deep eyes and narrow upper nose. In other words, these two intruders were twins.
"How did you find us out?" asked one of them. He did not expect for this person to easily snuff them out from hiding just like that.
"I didn"t, its my chicken that had discovered you two." Duan Li replied honestly.
Pu!
The two men choked as they got caught off guard with Duan Li"s word. They did not expect him to answer like that!
"Y-You! To say that a chicken caught us infiltrating, do you mean to look down on us?!" this person shouted out, enraged.
Hearing this, Duan Li realized that the "truth" he had just spoken to them would indeed sounded like an insult.
But what could he do about it? He was really being honest here!
"It really is because of my chicken that had discovered you, I can prove-" replied Duan Li as he tried to explain before he was interjected by the furious intruder.
"Enough!" the man shouted out.
"Our goal is to find a capable Lord to lead us and make use of our skills. When you found us out, I was impressed, because this meant that you had skills of your own."
"However! To think that you would insult us immediately after. This is something that we could not accept! We challenge you to a duel!" the man said as his emotions fumed with each sentence he spoke out.
"A duel? Seems like these two are students of the academy too." Duan Li remarked inwardly.
If it were outsiders, then he definitely would do his best to escape immediately. If these two could bypa.s.s the barrier surrounding the academy, then that speaks volume of their actual capabilities and Duan Li would be an idiot to stay longer.
But now that he knew they were just students of the academy like himself, he reckoned he would be able to take care of them easily.
This was because, even though both had reined in their aura, some of it still leaked out. If he was not mistaken, these two should be at the Foundation establishment realm, which he would be able to dispatch with ease.
However, out of caution, he used the identify ability on them.
[Harmless student, middle stage of Foundation establishment realm.]
Pu!
Duan Li had to suppress himself from laughing out loud. This description of them was too dismissing! If they were to know of this, they would be fuming in indignance right now.
"Prepare yourself!" the angry man shouted out for the last time before both of their figures suddenly vanished.
Whooshh!
Eh? This art of concealment they used was far better than before.
Not bad!
Although Duan Li couldn"t locate them, the spiritual Qi fluctuations in the air still told him that they were around, and this time, they used skill arts to hide themselves.
However, what kind of person was Duan Li? If he were to not make use of his abilities that he had gained so far, then he really was a big idiot. Clasping his hands behind his back, he activated an ability.
"Tetra Unsealing: Soul Sense!"
Woongg!
Right now, his vision layout was changed entirely. It was as if he could view all 360 degrees within the range of 500 meters with absolute clarity.
Although Duan Li wasn"t someone unfamiliar with the usage of Soul Sense, he had to admit that this version of Soul Sense was far more superior than the original version.
In particular, was the filter function!
All non-essential clutters were now being filtered out, and like a sonar, he radiated out a little bit of his spiritual Qi into the surrounding, to uncover the two hidden twins inside this garden.
This was an ability he had just improvised on the spot by looking at the fundamentals of Sonar Qi, which was a technique used specifically by the pract.i.tioners of the art of medicine, the same technique he used to diagnose the internal conditions of w.a.n.g Xiolun before!
"Found you two!" Duan Li chuckled out as he swiftly kicked two pebbles in front of his feet towards the location of the two twins casually.
Pa! Pa!
The twins blocked the incoming pebbles with their bare hands, causing their concealment art to be cancelled out almost immediately.
"You! I have to admit that you have some capabilities!" the rowdy one spoke out, surprised that Duan Li had managed to easily locate them once more.
What they just used was a clan secret art, and no one outside of their clan knows of this! Furthermorw, even if one managed to identify its flaw, they would still not be able to locate them easily like this!
"Are you going to say that you found us out because of your chicken again?" he spoke out with gritted teeth.
If the other party still dared to mock them, he would risk it all and beat up this haughty guy in front of them!
Duan Li chuckled a little and shook his head.
"Nope. This time, it was because of my ability." Duan Li replied casually.
"Good! Since that"s the case, it meant that our concealment art had lost its purpose. Following which, its time for some close quarters combat!" he spoke out somewhat excitedly as he began to form a stance.
Since they were both a soph.o.m.ore, they had not come to watch the battle royale conducted for the junior"s first Combat cla.s.s. Thus, they naturally hadn"t witnessed the brutal battle between Duan Li and Shen Murong that broke the entire field apart!
However, they did keep on hearing that Duan Li"s hand to hand combat was formidable. Therefore, they were eager to test if that rumors were true at all!
"Close quarters combat?" Duan Li"s face turned a bit blank as he recalled a scene. The last time he did that with Shen Murong, all h.e.l.l had broken loose. If that were to happen again here, his residence court might really just turn to become a hiding den for bandits!
Even yelling at the heavens would not make them fix his residence court this time around if that happen.
"Wait! I don"t want to mess up my residence court! I agree to close quarters combat, but it must be purely raw strength with no skill art used! In addition, If I could hold out twenty moves from you two, then I win!" Duan Li hurriedly said.
The two of them looked at each other at this weird duel rules that Duan Li had proposed, but since they were the challenger, naturally Duan Li had the rights to chose the rules of the duel.
Thus, they nodded, but the rowdy one asked Duan Li, "Are you sure with this rules? This would be two against one. Let me warn you, our hand to hand combat is not something you see everyday. You might regret this decision!"
"Yes I am sure. In fact, I am not looking down on you both. Imagine three martial artists that practiced cultivation were to fight with full strength here, my residence court would be turned into a mess! If that happened, can you two fork out 50 high quality spirit stones for the repairs?" Duan Li replied with another question.
Hearing that number "50 high quality spirit stones" for compensation, both of them immediately broke out in sweats!
It was as if they were facing a truly horrible, devastating monster before them!
Eventhough their clan was extremely reclusive and capable, they were not rich at all. Just the thought of recalling that their allowances per month was just a meager 500 low quality spirit stones had already made them thoroughly depressed. Where would they even be able to fork out 50 high quality spirit stones then?
Even if the empire itself were to come down and loot their whole clan to the ground to look for such an amount, it would be far more easier for them to ascend the heavens than finding one or two high quality spirit stones laying around inside their clan.
They were just that poor!
In the past, being a reknown a.s.sa.s.sin clan far and wide, many had hired them for their special skillsets, and their treasury could be said to be as deep as the ocean.
But when the revolution came and laws were made, if they were to continue with their a.s.sa.s.sination business in broad daylight, they would soon find their whole nine ancestors and nine predecessors to be wiped clean from the Tian continent!
Thus, after several decades, their deep treasury eventually ran out and dry like the boundless deserts, until every single one of them had to live frugally. It was truly a tragic fate for their clan.
After all, times have changed and people could not just wantonly murder people left and right anymore.
That was why they needed to find a Lord soon, so that they would have a shelter on top of their head to rely upon and not be subjected to such vicious cycle of poverty anymore.
Furthermore, they were trained to be loyal since they were but a child, and swearing fealty to a Lord would not be a problem for them at all.
In fact, by then, their clan would be second in priority compared to their Lord!
Swallowing their saliva, the rowdy one immediately nodded his head like a chicken pecking at the ground, thoroughly afraid of having to pay up 50 high quality spirit stones.
With such a number, even if he were to sell all of his bodily organs, he would still not be able to clear such a debt.
"W-We agree!" he said quickly.
As Duan Li did not know yet of their tragic background, he found it weird for the other party to instantly agree.
Nonetheless, this works well in his favor.
Lowering himself into a unique stance, all sorts of opening from before was now thoroughly guarded.
At this moment, Duan Li"s martial art had already evolved into something that was terrifying as the result of his battle experience with Shen Murong.
Just with this stance alone, the wind had suddenly stopped blowing, insects and small creatures shut their mouth for good, and fishes by the pond submerged themselves deep into the water, afraid to be exposed to such a brutal air above them.
The two twins could sense this dreadful air being permeated by Duan Li as they too became serious. Even if there were no killing intent behind that stance by the other party, this pressure alone that they were subjected to right now feels eerily similar nonetheless.
"Come!" Duan Li spoke out.
...