Chapter 60: True Scum

Chapter 60

What… what just happened?

Callack muttered the words, his brain refusing to process what his eyes had just seen.

One moment, Sisco was smiling painfully, talking about avenging his daughter’s death. The next, his head was slipping clean off his neck.

It happened too fast. Too sudden.

All Callack caught were broken flashes. A blur of movement. A sharp glint. Then a body falling.

Just then, Ricu’s voice snapped him awake.

“Shut up already, you scum.”

The irritation in Ricu’s tone was obvious. Almost bored. Almost annoyed that things had even reached this point.

Honestly, he had not expected things to go wrong at all.

The entire village had no cultivators. None.

Overrunning it. Crushing resistance. Erasing anyone who dared fight back. It was supposed to be simple. No, easier than simple.

Every member of the Scavengers was a cultivator. Ricu had been certain he would not even need to lift a finger. He planned to stand back, watch the flow of things, and enjoy the scenery.

If one could call the destruction of an entire village and the deaths of countless people a beautiful scene.

Everything had gone according to plan.

Until these three showed up.

They ruined his mood. Completely.

Now the Scavengers were dangerously close to being wiped out, especially at the hands of that insane couple. Ricu had already decided to kill them.

But first, he needed to silence the annoying ranter.

Sisco.

Ricu stared down at Sisco’s corpse, irritation still burning in his eyes. For a brief moment, he even regretted killing him so quickly.

Maybe torturing him for a few minutes. Hearing him scream in agony. Maybe that would have lifted his ruined mood, even if just a little.

Then he heard it.

A low, animal growl.

Ricu calmly looked up.

His gaze met Callack’s.

Bloodshot eyes. Veins bulging. His hand clenched so tightly around his small sword that his knuckles had turned white. Rage poured off him in waves as a threatening growl escaped his throat.

“You damn bastard.”

Callack took a step forward.

“Sisco is not the scum,” he said.

Another step.

“He’s not the one slaughtering people and burning everything down.”

Another step.

“He’s not the one taking joy in watching others suffer.”

By the third step, his sword was trembling violently. Not from fear. From power.

Internal qi surged into the blade, flooding it until it pulsed faintly in his grip. Callack lowered his stance, sword held ready at his side.

When he spoke again, his voice was cold. Razor sharp. Filled with pure hatred.

“You are.”

And then Callack vanished.

His speed was terrifying.

In the next instant, his sword was already swinging toward Ricu’s neck, aiming to take his head clean off.

Ricu did not flinch.

With casual precision, he moved.

One circle formed as his hand flicked outward, deflecting the first thrust. A second circle followed immediately, blocking the strike aimed at his head.

The force pushed his arms back slightly.

That was all.

That was everything Callack’s rage achieved.

Ricu looked at him calmly.

“For someone in the third stage of Awakening,” he said, almost amused, “you pack quite a punch.”

There was no fear in his voice. No anger. Not even annoyance anymore.

Why would there be?

Unlike that insane couple still stuck at the initial stage, Ricu was already in the later stages of Awakening.

The gap between stage three and stage five was not something rage could bridge.

Not easily.

Not ever.

Ricu’s eyes hardened as his qi began to rise.

With unshakable confidence in his ability to win, no, to kill Callack, Ricu strolled forward.

His Sickle floated lazily at his sides, as if Callack was not even worth taking seriously.

“What’s the rush?” Ricu said calmly. “You should already be able to tell that the amount of energy in your Awakening Sphere is far less than mine.”

His smile widened, tainted with mockery.

The Awakening Realm was the first stage of cultivation. Every cultivator at this level possessed an Awakening Sphere, a core where qi or mana was gathered and refined depending on the path they chose.

The more energy one refined inside the sphere, the stronger the body became. The purer the qi, the more devastating what they could unleash. Refinement was also the key to climbing from one stage to the next.

And unlike Callack, Ricu had access to a proper cultivation technique. One designed to make the process smooth. Efficient. Easy.

Callack did not.

He had forged his own technique through trial and error. A crude thing. Imperfect. Filled with flaws.

It was the same technique Selene had learned.

Callack was not a knowledgeable cultivator. But even with a faulty method, the results could not be denied. He and Selene had pushed through stages in just a few months.

If Ricu knew that, he would have been shocked.

But none of that mattered.

Not to either of them.

Callack stared at Ricu like a dead man walking. He was going to kill him, even if it cost him everything.

It would not be the last thing he ever did. He still had a wife. A child.

But Ricu would die. No matter what.

Meanwhile, Ricu looked at Callack like a toy placed in front of him.

“This should be fun,” he said lightly. “Don’t bore me too easily.”

He charged forward.

Callack moved at the same time.

Their swords clashed violently, each strike aimed to wound, to cripple, to kill. Steel screamed as blades met again and again.

Ricu was not serious.

Callack was giving everything he had.

Every slash. Every thrust. Every movement was fueled by rage and a burning thirst for revenge.

He wanted Ricu dead.

No. He needed Ricu dead.

Ricu calmly deflected a sword aimed at his collarbone. In the same motion, he stepped in and kicked forward.

Callack barely dodged the kick.

But the next moment, something slammed into his chest.

A powerful force strike.

Pain exploded through his body. His breath vanished. His knees almost buckled, but he forced himself to stay upright and jumped back just in time to avoid a strike aimed at his spine.

“Oh?” Ricu said, voice still relaxed. “You react pretty fast.”

The first exchange had lasted nearly three minutes.

Ricu was not even breathing hard.

If anything, he looked like he was casually chatting.

“Come on,” he said. “You’ve managed to catch my interest. Don’t let me down now.”

He dashed forward again.

This time, Callack was careful.

He did not know what trick Ricu had used to injure him earlier, so he focused. Watched closely. Stayed alert.

Ricu smiled.

In that same instant, long gashes appeared across Callack’s body.

Blood sprayed out violently.

How. How is he doing that.

Before the thought could even finish forming, Ricu was already in front of him. His hand thrust forward.

A punch slammed into Callack’s cheek.

The force that followed was nearly three times stronger than the initial hit.

Callack was sent flying, crashing hard into the ground.

“You’re a disappointment,” Ricu shouted as he rushed forward to finish it.

But before he could take another step, a black whip lashed through the air.

Ricu twisted away, the strike barely missing his cheek by inches.

A female figure landed beside Callack as he struggled back to his feet.

Her eyes burned with silent rage and pure bloodlust.

“If one isn’t enough to deal with scum like you,” she said, lifting her head as qi writhed violently around her body, “then two will be more than enough to get the job done.”

To be continued…

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep