Returning to the Mysterious Era

Chapter 62 - Killing Intent

Chapter 62 - Killing Intent

Hykal stopped at an intersection. "There's something I need to deal with first so I won't be heading back."

"I need to go home too. It's been almost six months since I saw my parents," Lance said, running his fingers through his dark green hair.

The Wind Elephant Sect had four core disciples before Cassius. The first senior brother went to the East Sea County for a year-long exchange study, while the third and fourth senior brothers were at two important branches in Beiliu County. As for the second senior sister, she was at the Wind Elephant Sect headquarters and lived in seclusion most of the time so she rarely engaged in the sect’s activities. As such, it was normal for them to go about their own activities when they returned.

"I don't have much to do, so I guess I'll just go back to the main sect with Junior Brother. It's been a while since I last visited," Moses said, scratching an itch around his black eye patch.

The four went their separate ways, leaving Cassius and Moses to wait for a carriage. Five minutes later, they were in one, then a half hour later, they arrived at the gate of the Wind Elephant Sect.

Moses looked wistfully at the slightly rusty black iron gate. Back when he was in the youth training camp, he had been so hungry that, at one point, he had climbed the gate to sneak into the city to buy food.

Unfortunately, he had been caught, and in his panic, he ended up dismantling the entire gate. In the end, he got his food, but he also ended up getting punished with a month of doubled training which he had nearly died from exhaustion. Fortunately, he was stronger than the average human and always managed to finish the training before each meal. Ultimately, he never went hungry.

Cassius felt a deep affinity with him when Moses recounted his experience. In his first time-travel, he had also been punished with two weeks of double training. However, unlike Moses, he hadn't been strong enough to complete it in the beginning, so he couldn’t finish in time for meals. As a result, he had to rely on his roommate and his sister, Li Chu, to bring him supper every night.

The two continued chatting as they walked, although, it was mostly Moses who did the talking as he reminisced about the past. He seemed to be a closet chatterbox.

On the way there, Cassius made a quick stop at his house to change into more comfortable clothes.

A cobblestone path lined with trees slowly came into view and soon enough, Cassius and Moses arrived at the official student residential area. Moses was clutching a large bag that emitted a faint medicinal scent, that likely came from some body-strengthening medicine. He was going to catch up with some old friends and give them some gifts.

It seemed like this shrewd and cunning "bear" also had an unexpectedly tender side.

Of course, it was just as possible that this was all a prank.

As the Wind Elephant Sect had not yet publicly disclosed the discovery of the Lanxin Grass site, medicine was still only supplied to their core disciples. In six months' time, the artificial cultivation of Lanxin Grass would be close to completion and eventually, whether it be in a day or a month, all disciples would have access to it. But since that hadn't happened yet, any disciple not in the know would be deeply moved, possibly even brought to tears, at receiving medicine from Moses.

Core disciples were only allowed three bottles a month and yet, this man was freely and unconditionally giving out a precious commodity. How could they not be grateful to him?

They were going to have to suck those tears of gratitude back up in a few days because little did they know, the sect would announce they had a mass supply of medicine. This was surely going to be a successful prank.

But this was all guesswork on Cassius's part. Maybe Moses really did have a soft spot for old friendships.

As Cassius pondered, he heard sobbing from a nearby house, intermingled with Moses's humble reassurances. A truly touching and emotional scene.

Shortly after, he saw Moses walking out with his bag of medicine and entering another house. This cycle repeated four or five times, with continuous cries of gratitude filling the air.

Cassius was a little puzzled. Hadn't Moses mentioned earlier that he didn't have many friends in the training camp and that, on the contrary, he had many enemies? Where did all these friends come from?

When it finally dawned on him, Cassius rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache coming on. He walked a few steps down the stone-paved path and away from the residential area, to avoid being seen by the "friends" who might come out to thank Moses.

It was a little past five in the evening. A large thin ring of reddish gold clouds gradually dispersed in the wind against a twilit sky tinted a rustic brown.

Cassius glanced at the upper right corner of his vision. There were only about thirty ticks remaining on the Time Scale.

He was originally given about six months, but after "working" with Damien, he had managed to squeeze out an additional thirty days. It was about time for him to fulfill some of Li Wei's lingering attachment to gain more time.

Without warning, the Wind Elephant Tusk symbol next to the Time Scale flickered erratically. A swell of intense emotions suddenly crashed down on his mind.

Cassius quickly turned around. He could see a red-haired young man in a coat with a wooden suitcase walking down a gray stone path in the distance.

"Finn!" Cassius blurted out through gritted teeth.

If one were to ask when Li Wei felt the most pain, the answer would be right now. In this very moment.

He hated his cowardice, hated the culprit responsible for his sister's death, and hated himself for being too weak to avenge her.

It was said that reclusive people were psychologically twisted. Li Wei had a deeply ingrained hatred of Finn, not just because of his sister, but also because of his current pathetic and miserable state. Although much of the situation was due to his cowardly nature, people rarely blamed themselves.

Li Wei’s deep-seated rage was unimaginably intense. If he were to measure it in terms of days he could stay in this era, eliminating Finn would give him more than a year's time—equivalent to draining away four Damiens.

Cassius silently watched Finn from where he stood on the stone-paved path.

Finn had also noticed the somewhat familiar young man staring at him. Memories that he had almost forgotten from five years ago once again resurfaced in his mind.

I think that girl committed suicide later on. Didn't people call her brother a coward for years? Li Wei, wasn't it? Finn recalled.

Smirk on his face, he walked up to Cassius and sneered mockingly, "Out of my way, crybaby Li Wei. Oh wait, that's not right. Your nickname is Coward, isn't it? Haha."

It was the exact same tone, the exact same expression. Li Wei had run into Finn several times over the course of the past five years, and he had been provoked every single time.

Finn did all this to flaunt himself. Some people liked to oppress others for the simple reason of proving that they were stronger and better. The more the oppressed didn't speak up, the happier the bullies were. They would think, I'm so powerful!

"Why aren't you saying anything? Hehe."

Just as Finn was about to continue, a tall figure radiating a huge wave of heat appeared behind him. He felt a massive, violent aura directed right at him.

The hairs on his back stood on end, and his knees nearly buckled.

"S-Senior Brother Moses!" Finn stuttered respectfully as a fierce face appeared before him.

"Is this how you talk to your senior brother?" Moses said expressionlessly.

"Huh?" Finn was stunned. "What...?"

"I said, is this how you talk to your Fifth Senior Brother Li Wei?!" Moses's face twitched violently. His eyes had a murderous look which only added to his already imposing physique. Anybody would feel an overwhelming pressure just by glancing at him.

"Fifth senior brother? Li Wei?!" Finn's eyes almost popped out of their sockets in utter disbelief.

When did Li Wei become a core disciple? Impossible! Absolutely impossible! That coward?!

Finn turned to look and immediately locked eyes on the Wind Elephant Tusk Pendant hanging around Cassius's neck. It was not white but a beautiful cyan, identifying him as a core disciple.

"It's... it's true..." Finn was slack-jawed.

"Call him your senior brother. Now." Moses towered over him, blocking out most of the sunlight. It looked like his shadow had completely swallowed up Finn.

"..." Finn stared at Cassius. He opened his mouth but no words came out.

"I'll say it again. Call him your senior brother," Moses repeated. His domineering tone left no room for argument.

"S-Senior Brother," Finn stammered.

"Make it sound more natural."

"Senior Brother." His voice was small.

"Louder."

"Senior Brother!" Finn shouted.

"Good, now go." Moses’s "go" sounded more like "scram." But how could Finn dare to defy him? He quickly tucked his tail in and scurried away.

Under the crimson sunlight, only Moses and Cassius remained on the gray stone path. The atmosphere around them was slightly tense.

Moses broke the silence abruptly. "You wanna kill him, don't you?"

He might have said it with a questioning tone, but it seemed more like a statement.

Cassius was silent for a beat. "How did you know?"

"The killing intent is practically oozing out of you. You can barely hide it," Moses said with a smile, snapping his fingers crisply. "Don't do anything when you're still on sect grounds. Wait until he's outside. There will be plenty of chances." Moses shot a meaningful look at Li Wei. "I can help you. After all, we're brothers."

Cassius said, "Isn't Finn also your brother? You’d be punished for killing him according to sect rules." So he said, but he didn't seem particularly concerned.

"Brother? What brother? I only have two senior brothers, one senior sister, and one junior brother. Just tell me if you want to cut him down. I already know the whole story; do you think I can stand such scum?" Moses chuckled.

Cassius smiled, narrowing his eyes. "Hehehe."

Moses bared his teeth in a fierce grin. "Hehehe."

The two brothers were united as one, ready for murder and mayhem.