Chapter 112 - Yung Tries Mind Stuff (Patreon)

[Table of Contents]

Yung planted his right foot on the ground before him mid-run and kicked back.

It was a messy move, but with a little bit of qi, he managed to throw himself back, ignoring his forward momentum.

The dagger missed Yung's throat by a wide margin, but a fang of wind extended forward from the blade.

Yung ducked, and the fang missed too.

It was a surprising martial art. Even at the Blood Refining 3rd Stage, it could cause the mugger's dagger to reach Yung before his spear could reach the mugger.

As if defying the laws of space and time.

Maybe this mugger was more competent than he looked.

"Better sleep with one eye open! I'm coming for your wife," Yung's opponent screeched. Then, with another shout of his attack name, the mugger lunged forward. Hands pulled back, a scarlet Thread of Intention pointing straight at Yung's groin.

Yung's spine chilled. He blocked the attack with the shaft of his spear just in time, both the blade and the wind fang.

Clang!

The force of the attack travelled through the shaft in ripples, and Yung felt a gust of wind pelt his torso. But it didn't break through; the spear artefact was being augmented with a hefty sum of Heart qi.

Yung gritted his teeth and stepped back with his left foot, then tried to bring the spear down like it was a club, utilising the force of the dagger that had hit the shaft.

"Long snake pounce!" The mugger deflected the spear by hitting it with pinpoint accuracy, his dagger making a slicing sound as it cut the wind. Yung almost lost his grip on the weapon.

The mugger grinned, stepping into range once more.

The Thread of Intention pointed at Yung's left eye.

He doesn't fight fair! Yung complained inwardly. Expecting honour in a fight with hoodlums was naïve. But he was still annoyed. Despite being the one who usually fought most unfairly with his Empathic abilities, having the tables flipped didn’t feel good.

I have to figure out if I can detect stealth with Link Sight.

“Long Snake Pounce!” The mugger laughed, hand pulled back despite being less than a foot away from Yung. He wanted to finish it with his signature move.

Yung brought his knee up, balancing his body on his right leg by stomping it with all the power he could muster.

"Son!" The mugger gasped, then jumped backward by forcefully snapping back his upper body right before Yung's knee crushed his family jewels, "You don't play fair!"

"That's my line!" Yung said, feeling wronged.

"Bros! I'm being bullied! Someone's bullying me," The mugger screamed like an aggrieved housewife.

Yung almost coughed up blood.

Despite being a hoodlum, the mugger's skill with his martial art was quite admirable. And despite being three minor realms higher, Yung hadn't been able to so much as scratch him yet, let alone end the fight.

What a pathetic display of martial might!

But the good thing was, Yung's defensive artefact had not been forced to activate yet.

It had been more than half a minute.

In previous fights, that would have happened by now.

So despite not winning, Yung would consider this an improvement.

But he couldn’t let his guard down yet.

Seven more scarlet Threads of Intention connected to Yung from different directions, as seven mean-looking thugs appeared, blades drawn and sleeves rolled.

"Bro, who dares bully us, the illustrious Long Snake Gang, in our own wench’s yard?" One of the thugs said.

"Him!" The mugger pointed at Yung, tears welling up in his small beady eyes, "He's after my little me! Almost kneed me there like a devil."

"He did what?!" Gasps rang out. One of the other thugs looked at Yung with shock. "Bro, is that true?"

Yung could barely stop himself from cursing. What was with these people!?

"He's not talking. Tight lips, eh? Well, your lips won't be tight when I open them up with my thick finger," The thug muttered sinisterly.

"I’m gonna stab some more holes in ya too, enough for the rest of us you madlander duck." The mugger said from behind.

Yung exhaled.

This guys were dangerous.

It was time to use Empathic Isolation.

"Get him!" With that scream, eight men of dubious intentions rushed at Yung. Each of them had a dagger, varying sizes, some serrated like fish knives and some long, almost as long as short swords.

Yung vanished from their sight.

The eight stopped, eyes popping wide.

"Where'd he go?"

"A stealth technique. Bros, huddle up, defensive manoeuvre number seven."

""Aye!"" The thugs went into a circle, backs facing the centre and daggers held before their chests.

Yung was speechless. These days, even thugs had formations.

"Come out! Stop hiding like a rat and fight like a man, you Madlander chicken!"

"Why are you targeting our Long Snake Gang? Who sent you? Was it those Snapping Fish Gang lunatics?"

"What do you want? Is it money, wenches, spirit stones? To dare and rob us Long Snake Gang in broad daylight, aren't you afraid of the Youjin Guardsmen?"

Yung walked toward the formation, carefully aiming his spear at one of the thug's jaws.

"The brat was aiming for my jaw too. Careful, bros!" The mugger said and hands in defensive postures went up.

Yung aimed for their groin.

"I knew it wasn't a coincidence," Su Haochen's voice came, filled with suspicion.

Yung wanted to cry.

Was this karma? He had stalled so much today, hoping to not do what he had to do.

Yung decided to face his fears.

It was time to visit Su Nanya…. After he beat these thugs of course!

The middle-aged merchant, who was being mugged before, tried to sneak away.

Twang!

A knife was thrown his way. It planted itself in the merchant’s path.

"Hiik! Spare me!" the merchant cried.

"Where do you think you're going? We ain't done with you yet, so stay there," one thug said.

The merchant sat down, trembling in fright. He looked at the thugs, then at Yung with pleading eyes.

A thug followed the merchant's line of sight and, without warning, threw a dagger that way.

"Long Snake Pounce!" He shouted after the dagger had already left his hand.

It spun on its long axis, the wind around it forming into the hooked shape of a fang.

Yung missed a heartbeat as the dagger hit his head with a thud. He would have been a goner if the defensive artefact hadn't activated.

The dagger bounced off, then stabbed into the ground.

But it was followed by seven more thrown daggers.

Yung managed to jump, barely dodging four, but the other three hit his shield.

The attacks weren't strong enough to break through.

Fuck, Yung cursed internally.

He didn’t see a Thread of Intention, so he couldn’t dodge.

Of course, since they can't see me, Yung thought. But is it because they can't see me, or is it because I cut their Empathic Links for Empathic Isolation?

The latter would also make sense, as the Threads of Intention seemed to be borne from the Empathic Links like offshoots.

Yung would have to test this out either way.

Because even if the Empathic Links weren't connected to Yung, the Long Snake Gang no doubt still felt malice towards him.

…can't be helped, Yung decided to cut the merchant's Empathic Link too. The scared man kept giving Yung's location away.

Yung took some distance from the Long Snake Gang formation. The thugs were still shouting nonsense.

"Did he leave?" one said.

"Ain't no way in hell," another replied.

Yung grasped one of the severed Empathic Links, the end connected to one thug, with Faith qi-coated fingers so that it would not reconnect.

I don’t like this mind stuff though… He really didn’t. It felt intrinsically evil, literally playing with people's feelings.

Thugs, bandits, criminals. No matter how bad they were, they still had their own worries, dreams, and aspirations.

Those aspirations might come at other people's expense, but they were human feelings nonetheless.

It was really easy, though, to dehumanise these sorts of people. Monsters: animals in Ren skin.

And if Yung dehumanised them, he probably wouldn’t feel that guilty messing with their psyches.

Yet, that itself was a slippery slope.

Today, it was a mugger. A few days later, Yung might not feel any guilt using this power against someone who wasn’t a mugger.

Yung sighed. If he had better mastery of Empathic Fixation and Isolated Empathic Fixation, maybe he could have done much more in the fight against Youjin Fuqiang.

No use regretting it now.

Yung injected Faith qi into the Empathic Link.

For a split second, the Link was red.

Fear.

Anger.

Lust!

The hell? Yung let the thing go as if he had touched a worm.

"I'm coming for you, little kid!" the thug, whose Link had been tampered with, shouted in a beastly manner and lunged toward a random direction, flailing his dagger.

"Fourth Bro! Did you find him?" the others asked.

"I'm gonna skin you!" Fourth Bro screamed, eyes red. “Come the fuck out!”

Yung gulped. Then touched the severed Link again, injecting some more qi.

"There!" Fourth Bro pointed in a random direction and used Long Snake Pounce.

"No one's there, Fourth Bro!" the mugger said, worried.

"S-Something is! Something was there. It was for a second, but I felt it in my guts!" Fourth Bro was panicking now. All his emotions seemed to have gone hyper.

Yung used Isolated Empathic Fixation one more time.

"Aaarghh! Where are you, who are you? Come out, stop!" Fourth Bro cried like a maniac, swinging his dagger aimlessly with one hand, the other clutching his own head as if he was in pain.

"Evil powers," Su Haochen said with conviction.

"You're not helping!" Yung replied. But he had to agree.

This lookeddamn evil.

Last time with Youjin Hong wasn't this bad.

Was it because Yung was many major realms ahead of this thug, so the Fixation was more effective?

Or was there something else?

Yung tried it again.

"There! I see you, devilman!" Fourth Bro looked directly at Yung this time, his eyes bloodshot. He snarled, ready to turn the Madlander into a corpse.

The link reconnected.

Fourth bro jumped, snarling with saliva.

Yung hit him with a Pink Heart Beam.

"Aaaarghhhhnnnnnyaaaaaaaaaaaaa~hn~." Fourth Bro's eyes rolled back and he collapsed.

The ground beneath him was damp. There was a musky scent.

"Fourth Brooooooo!!!!"

"…Evil powers!"

"You're not helping!"

Yung dripped with cold sweat.

The last Isolated Empathic Fixation had failed because the moment Yung touched the severed link, the absolute, sheer amount of confused lust mixed with murderous intent had spooked Yung out of his wits. His concentration slipped, and the Empathic Link reconnected.

Thankfully, he had the Pink Heart Beam ready. He wasn't going to experiment without some insurance.

"He's a Madlander devil! A devil!" the other thugs screamed out.

Even the middle-aged merchant seemed to be terrified now, crying, "By the heavens! Saved from wolves by a tiger!"

Yung had a headache. The situation had spiralled way out of his control.

But at least the formation was now in shambles.

Thunk!

A hit to the jaw, one thug down.

Thud! Thud!

Another one, this time with two hits.

Yung grimaced. In the stories, if Xianxia protagonists had awesome stealth powers, they would usually manage third-rate villains like gangsters without much problem.

Heck, in addition to stealth, Yung had a higher cultivation base than these guys!

In which Xianxia did the protagonist struggle against opponents weaker than him? They were usually the type who fought across levels.

Shock the crowds.

Slap many faces.

Breakthrough mid fight!

They would ‘unintentionally’ show off and knock enemies out faster than eyes could follow.

Thud. Thunk. Smash. Bam!

Yet here was Yung, having to subdue them like whacking very durable moles.

"Mercy! We were wrong, forgive us—argh!"

"I have a wife and kids. Please, mister devil, think of them and—ugh!"

After a minute, all the thugs were down.

Yung reconnected the Empathic Link with the merchant.

The middle-aged man's eyes went wide. He kneeled, then, in a panic, stood up again, stripping.

"P-Please, I'll do anything! Just spare my life!" The merchant's fearful gaze shifted between Yung and the downed Fourth Bro, who wore a look of ecstasy on his face.

Some unfortunate conclusions were drawn.

"… I'm telling Sis Yafeng," Su Haochen said. "We can use this black history against the mistress when you two get married."

Yung wanted to Pink Heart Beam Su Haochen, the tod daring to talk about blackmail in broad daylight! But Yung put his ring down, as he was unsure if firing the attack at a shadow would have any effect.

At that moment, a Youjin Guardsman rounded the corner.

He was about to speak but then stopped, taking in the scene:

A naked man standing with hands raised.

A Madlander.

A thug groaning in pleasure on the ground.

Seven more thugs collapsed around him.

The guardsman paled.

"Wait, why are you leaving?" Yung asked in a threatening tone. He brought out a Dim Gold token and said, "Tie these bandits up."

It took some time to clarify the misunderstanding, though Yung was unsure if it had been resolved at all.

By now, rumours had spread of Ziyou Yung's men conducting some kind of righteous operation in the lower town.

Crime hid for the day.

Yung was exhausted. He had learned a lot from this absurd tantrum. About the Threads of Intention, Isolated Empathic Fixation, and his own place in the cultivation hierarchy too.

He felt incredibly weak!

Yung sheathed his spear into his storage artefact, then walked away. After a while, he arrived at the Dim Gold Hotel.

The ominous clouds no longer swirled above it.

Patrons bustled all around.

Xiu Jiujiu spotted Yung and her face lit up, but Yung was preoccupied.

He could see Su Nanya glaring down from the topmost floor terrace, pouting adorably.

She was dressed in a black kimono with white ink patterns, barely revealing any skin.