Spare Me, Great Lord!

Courtyard, Liuhai Lane, Capital.

Shi Xuejin sat in idleness in the shade of the walnut tree, whose luxurious canopy stretched in all directions, providing coolness and comfort for those under its shelter.

Rested in his hands was a purple sand teapot and a book, which had stayed on the same page for a long while. Shi Xuejin sat with his eyes shut, as though ruminating on what he had just read.

Suddenly, Hao Zhichao trotted over in a hurry and handed a file to Shi Xuejin. “Taken by satellite one month ago.”

From the documents Shi Xuejin took out a stack of photos that showed withered trees on a Pacific island, around which countless bodies of fish and shrimp were floating on the sea surface, lifeless.

The once beautiful island was now teeming with the stench of death!

Shi Xuejin frowned. “Any other clues?”

“No. No records of incoming boats in the past six months,” Hao Zhichao replied honestly. All of the details had been verified before the report.

Shi Xuejin mused. “Hope that person is not on Koh Chang island, right now.”

The dead island was actually a signal of ascension to Class A!

Back then, during Li Xianyi’s promotion to Class A, strong beams of sword energy covered a swathe of land with diameter of ten kilometers and Luo Cheng at its epicenter. Had Li Xianyi lost control, Luo Cheng would have been a dead land by now.

The status of all things as swords only existed in legends and for a very long time, no one was able to achieve that even in Li Xianyi’s faction. In any case, it was completely impossible to shatter the shackles of Nature in the energy-scarce era.

In fact, Li Xianyi’s training in swordplay actually turned him into a special case, as more focus on self-accumulation had been placed on his internal sea of chi and his snow mountain.

Meanwhile, as for Chen Baili, no single magical tree in a radius of five kilometers in the remains survived his ascension. At that time, he could have easily wiped out all the animals in the area too.

Ascension to Class A was complete at the expense of Spirit Qi in Nature. In order to alter one’s fate, other lives had to suffer, in exchange for the betterment of oneself.

Now, although the truth remained unclear, the right attitude of a big organization was to expect the worst and strive for the best.

Besides, there was no reason for a newly promoted expert to miss his chance at the remains. However, there was no relevant information available as of now, testifying to the person’s equanimity, should the deduction be real.

A rare look of worry surfaced on Shi Xuejin’s face. “Why does he hide himself so well? What is he up to? I hope Li Yixiao does not inconvenience him accidentally…”

Hao Zhichao’s eyelid twitched in embarrassment. So you too are aware of Heavenly King Li’s unpleasant personality.

“Have you sent this file to Heavenly King Nie?” Shi Xuejin suddenly asked.

“Yes, I have. But he has not replied to me and his phone is beyond reach as well,” replied Hao Zhichao.

“I see,” Shi Xuejin nodded and said, “I’m afraid he has already reached.”

Hao Zhichao froze. “Where is he?”

Shi Xuejin picked up his thread-bound book from the stone table and sank deeper into his chair, which squeaked gently under his weight. “He’s probably out to kill.”

His voice was soft and calm, as though it was perfectly normal to associate Nie Ting with words along the line of “killing”.

As a matter of fact, Shi Xuejin and Nie Ting were brought up together, though the former was much older. Nie Ting’s master was Shi Xuejin’s father.

By right, exclusive techniques of the Shi’s should not be leaked to an outsider, but Shi Xuejin was not born with the aptitude for cultivation. This extinguished his right of inheritance. Thus, his father adopted the orphan Nie Ting, which was rarely known by the public.

Precisely due to his lack of inborn talent, since a young age Shi Xuejin had been striving to be an erudite in the three teachings so as to open up new possibilities for those like himself.

This old courtyard in Liuhai Lane was bequeathed by Shi Xuejin’s father too. Back then, he was still a young man and Nie Ting was still a child. Both of them were beside him when Shi Xuejin’s father planted the walnut tree himself.

Over the years, Nie Ting had changed. Shi Xuejin almost witnessed personally how the innocent, naive child had stained his hands with blood in the relentless pursuit of his dream. Indeed, he had too much blood on his hands.

Meanwhile, Shi Xuejin would call him in to the courtyard for a moment of peace after every killing Nie Ting committed. This helped to quell his bloodlust and keep him from going astray.

Over the course of time, Nie Ting would stay in the courtyard himself for a few days after every kill.

Honestly speaking, Shi Xuejin had never had any qualms with Nie Ting’s murderous deeds. He only harvested lives from those who deserved to die.

…

6000m campsite, southern slope of Mt Everest, Nepal.

It was a great time then for conquering Mt Everest. In the upcoming month of October, weather conditions on the mountain were relatively more stable in late autumn.

At the moment, the campsite was overcrowded. Colorful tents were erected across the land, and a gust of frosty wind often brought along the rustling of tents.

Commercialization was a serious issue here as well. Regular exercise and some money was all one needed.

Shortage of oxygen was the most severe problem for climbing world-class tall mountains. Prolonged deficiency of oxygen could lead to failures in the heart and lungs. Many climbers could not even make it to the 4000m mark.

At 6000m, everyone had to acclimate to the high altitude conditions for one to two weeks, before they were allowed to venture even further.

Conquering Mt Everest was totally different from climbing up a hill for a good view of the sunrise. It was a long and tough battle.

At 7200m, humans were tantamount to walking corpses without enough oxygen, as almost all of their thinking abilities were lost. Thus, oxygen tanks were a must for modern climbers.

Of course, the native Sherpa were willing to carry a bunch of oxygen tanks with you if you had the money…

Oxygen deficiency was non-existent in the face of money…

Many climbers at the 6000m campsite were still in the process of adjustment. Thus, most of them would return to their tents after a short session of adaptability training outside.

But one team stood out from the rest. They were totally unaffected by the high altitudes.

Judging from their dark, yellow skin and thick beards on a few faces, they looked like Middle-Easterners.

Sitting on a stone, one of them laughed. “Look, they look like they are dying when lying in their tents. I don’t understand why they still come for the climb.”

Another person shot him a glimpse. “Don’t be mean. Stay focused on your satellite phone. We need to be ready all the time.”

“We are just here to check the Heavenly Network. I don’t believe they will really send Class A’s into the remains as there are so many pairs of eyes watching them along their national boundary just like us. A single bit of negligence on their side may land them in a siege. But, hilariously, we ourselves have no courage to enter either, don’t we? We are only here as tourists.”