Chapter 120: Chapter 111: Acting on Impulse (Part 2)

There’s an old saying that fists fear the youth. How could this old geezer, already at his age, dare to compete with him in strength?

Even before he learned wrestling, he never lost a fight barehanded.

"You..."

Seeing the confident look on the monster’s face, Xiang Rong suddenly realized something.

He hadn’t failed to change reality; at one point, he even succeeded. Driven by a forceful will, his body had already unleashed power of impossible magnitude.

But this forceful will that could change reality collided with another reality.

His hesitation, his confusion, his doubts, his reluctance, his greed, his perseverance, his plans, his decisions... From the moment he needed to devise a way to deal with this monster, he had already lost completely.

With his strength, it’s not just Ruan Shantao’s disciple, even Ruan Shantao himself, he could kill without a second thought—yet this time, just this once, he thought too much.

One misstep, and it becomes an eternal regret.

"Ugh!"

Just then, a sharp pain suddenly struck Xiang Rong in his chest and abdomen.

Indeed, Bok wrestling was modeled after armored warriors’ battlefield combat; those broad-shouldered, wide-waisted prairie warriors would pull out a small knife from their waist and stab it through the gaps in their armor after throwing the enemy to the ground.

One, two, three, five... Twenty-five assorted short blades stabbed into Xiang Rong, turning him into a pincushion, full of holes.

Only after confirming Xiang Rong was breathing in but not out, did Du Chengfeng climb off him.

He actually did it.

But accomplishing such a thing was normal; he practically risked his life for this close combat encounter—whether with blade against spear or barehanded, any mistake would leave him dead on the spot. After all, this was Xiang Rong, the prairie State Preceptor, a terrifying monster no different from Ruan Shantao!

But it was precisely because of Ruan Shantao’s existence that he took such a risky move.

"Why..."

Just as Du Chengfeng got up, Xiang Rong on the ground uttered weakly.

"Why would someone as talented as you willingly become a dog for the Southern Chen... Is it just because I killed your mentor? Is it because of Ruan Shantao?"

"...Actually, no."

Hearing the dying Xiang Rong ask that, Du Chengfeng couldn’t help but scratch his head.

That wasn’t the reason; he wasn’t familiar with old Ruan, though Ruan did invite him to attend his lectures in the mountains. But even before he attended a single class, the old Ruan was dead.

It was just a brief encounter, so how could revenge be part of it?

"Okay, you’re about to die, so I’ll just speak frankly."

Sighing, Du Chengfeng crouched down, looking at Xiang Rong not far away.

"Firstly, I’m not a Chen native, nor is this about revenge... Don’t open your mouth, I know what you’re going to ask. I know about the virtues Ruan taught, but I didn’t attend his lectures and it’s not because of that either."

With this, Du Chengfeng looked into Xiang Rong’s eyes.

"I simply wanted to see if I could kill all of you."

"Just... this?"

Xiang Rong, lying on the ground, was dumbfounded.

He had imagined countless possibilities for the monster’s motives: revenge for the mentor, fighting for righteousness, for the Southern Chen court, or for his own advancement... But never could he imagine that this was the absurd reason for their battle.

Because of such a ridiculous reason, they ended up fighting like this?

Because of this ridiculous reason, the great plan for the revival of Great Chu was interrupted?

"Just this."

Du Chengfeng nodded.

"Though I know I should leave, if I don’t try, I can’t sleep at night."

Perhaps this was the most important lesson Ruan taught him, even though the old man hadn’t really taught him anything formally, he made him understand something with his life.

That is, if you want to do something, just do it.

If you want to do something, go ahead and do it. Don’t wait until you’re old to regret for a lifetime. Many things, once missed the time, even if remedied, are just self-consolation—of course, such freedom is not without cost; it requires ability, strength, and the courage to take responsibility, even at the cost of one’s life.

So, in this large Yanzhou City, only he is left.

Just like the young Ruan Shantao, who single-handedly fought against the state students in the Capital City.

Indeed, such action may seem meaningless, even foolish, but as he said, if he didn’t stay to test himself, later at midnight, thinking of how he cowardly fled the fight, he truly wouldn’t be able to sleep while Xiang Rong’s mighty presence would become his lifelong nightmare, making it impossible to find peace wherever he went. He would be anxious, fearful, dreading that Xiang Rong would someday bring the prairie cavalry.

With just two strikes, Ruan Shantao was killed; this man called Xiang Rong was too powerful. Du Chengfeng had often imagined the scenario if he were to fight Xiang Rong—yet every imagined outcome was him being instantaneously killed, his entire body wiped out by the overwhelming sword aura.

He could not fight Xiang Rong, could not directly confront Xiang Rong; he had warned himself many times, hesitating again and again—yet when he hesitated, Xiang Rong took the initiative to start swinging the lance, slaughtering those prairie armored warriors.