Chapter 33: Timely Rain

Chapter 33: Chapter 33: Timely Rain

What the hell?

The suddenly appearing Derived Skill left Li Ye in a momentary daze. Failing to save the next person in time, that man had his chest smashed in by Murong Kaixin’s punch, blood gushing from his mouth and nose.

Striking his teammates could increase his own strength... How did he develop such a Derived Skill? What was the logic behind it? Wasn’t the Team Emblem’s attribute supposed to be unity? Why had he fought so hard to gather these people around him? It was to unite more people, but what did striking his own teammates have to do with unity? It was more like destroying unity...

However, knowing that striking his teammates could also boost their combat power gave Li Ye a sliver of comfort. The Derived Skill came at the perfect time to save his life. Otherwise, dying pointlessly just over ten days after his transmigration would be far too unjust.

He thought, "Kicking you is to save your life! Don’t blame me!"

The Derived Skill doubled Li Ye’s Inner Strength and physique. His speed surged. Turning with the ball, he beat Murong Kaixin’s fist wind and kicked an actively participating Elder of the Profound Light Sect flying.

However, he used a bit too much force this time, and the spot he kicked was the sensitive soft ribs...

With a few crisp CRACKs, the Elder likely suffered several broken ribs. Li Ye literally kicked a scream out of him. Fortunately, thanks to that kick, the Elder narrowly dodged Murong Kaixin’s killing blow. Li Ye shot the Elder an apologetic look before hurrying to save the next person.

It had to be said, a Demon Hunter with a Derived Skill was on another level. Having "saved" just two people, his physical attributes and Inner Strength had doubled. At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before he broke through the Innate realm and became a Grandmaster.

The Profound Light Sect Elder, whose ribs had been shattered by Li Ye, wore a look of deep resentment. But he also knew he couldn’t blame Li Ye. After all, Li Ye was trying to save his life; it was normal to lose control of one’s strength in a moment of desperation. He could only blame that damned Murong Kaixin. If Murong hadn’t indiscriminately unleashed killing blows on Lord Li right from the start, why would he have ended up in such a state?

Anger filled the Elder’s heart. At this moment, he felt the circulation speed of his Inner Strength increase.

THUD!

Another scream rang out. Li Ye saved another team member. This time, as coincidence would have it, his kick landed squarely on the man’s lower back. Whether his kidney was shattered or not was unknown, but the teammate’s agonizing shriek didn’t even sound human as he clutched his back, rolling back and forth on the ground.

Seeing this, Murong Kaixin was amused. What was the difference between these guys being struck down by you versus being struck down by me? Either way, they lost their combat capabilities. Once there was no one left to pass the ball to you, let’s see how you dodge then!

He sneered inwardly, "An Immortal descended to the mortal realm? Nothing more than this."

Murong Kaixin sneered coldly and increased his speed. The lingering pain in his crotch caused the viciousness in his heart to continuously fester. Like a cat toying with a mouse, he specifically attacked those closest to Li Ye, intentionally giving him the chance to "save" them. He wanted to borrow Li Ye’s hands to wipe out his entire team.

As for Li Ye, he would cripple him personally, bring him back to the Capital City, and interrogate him strictly to extort the Spiritual Power Cultivation Method.

Thus, a very peculiar scene unfolded on the field. Murong Kaixin focused entirely on attacking Li Ye’s teammates. To save them, Li Ye had to scramble around exhaustingly like a firefighter. But haste makes waste—his teammates weren’t injured by Murong Kaixin; instead, they were kicked into severe states of injury by Li Ye.

"Lord Li is young after all. Encountering someone stronger than himself, he has lost his composure." Qingcheng Sect Leader Wenren Chuan shook his head and sighed in dismay. "The so-called sixth rank among Star Thieves is probably just a boast to make himself look good."

"Master, he made it up?" Zhong Wenhao asked in surprise.

"Whether on the orthodox or unorthodox path, anyone who can make a name for themselves must possess a resolute will. If, as he said, the Galactic Federation is even more formidable than Immortals and controls countless worlds, how could someone ranked sixth on their wanted list act so panicked because of Murong Kaixin, who is from a backward planet?" Wenren Chuan sighed and continued, "Disciple, the Martial World is treacherous. Never blindly believe everything others say. You must have your own judgment."

"Master, what about his Spiritual Power?" Zhong Wenhao asked.

"The Spiritual Power is real, but following him in Ascension is completely unnecessary." Wenren Chuan stroked his beard. "Reaching the pinnacle through Spiritual Power and living freely in this world—wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing?"

Zhu Zhirou asked in astonishment, "Master, since the Spiritual Power is real, aren’t we going to save him? If everyone on the field dies, who will teach us cultivation?"

"Don’t worry, Murong Kaixin won’t let him die," Wenren Chuan said. "Even if the Spiritual Power Cultivation Method he provides is genuine, the league involves all the sects in the Martial World. Such a massive movement would shake its very foundations.

"Regardless, such a tournament shouldn’t be in the hands of an outsider.

"Neither the Four Grandmasters nor the Imperial Court wishes to see such an outcome. Having the league led by a Grandmaster like Murong Kaixin is much more reassuring."

"Oh!" Zhu Zhirou furrowed her delicate brows, acknowledging his words, and turned her gaze back to the field.

She sighed silently in her heart. Compared to the currently battered and disheveled Li Ye, she much preferred the high-spirited youth who had toyed with Gongsun Jie in the palm of his hand...

"Master, should we go save him?" Zhao Li, the disciple of the Red Flame Sect’s Left Protector, asked with concern as he watched the situation on the field.

"How do we save him? That’s Murong Kaixin. Unless the Great Elder is here, all our people combined would just be throwing their lives away." The Left Protector, Xu Chuan, snorted, his expression rather grim.

"Master, the Spiritual Power is real. If Lord Li is taken away by Murong Kaixin, we’ll be in a passive position," Zhao Li said.

"So what if he’s taken away? Murong Kaixin has to be able to swallow it first," Xu Chuan snorted again. "He’s not the only Grandmaster in the world. If he truly dares to hoard the Spiritual Power Cultivation Method for himself, it will be the day of his doom."

"It’s all Shi Xiang’s fault. He didn’t report such an important matter to the sect, only thinking about taking advantage of it himself." Seeing Shi Xiang get kicked in the lower abdomen by Li Ye and sent flying backward while spewing blood, Zhao Li twitched his lips and mocked, "Ending up in this state is his own doing. The Spiritual Power Cultivation Method is clearly more suited for our Red Flame Sect..."

On the field, in just a short while, only three of Li Ye’s teammates were still able to stand, including the one who was barely holding himself upright after getting his ribs shattered by Li Ye.

The three standing men felt completely bewildered. For a moment, they couldn’t even tell if Lord Li was doing it on purpose. Too many coincidences ceased to be mere coincidences. But Lord Li was clearly trying to save them, and besides, he had no reason to do such a thing...

Fine! Lord Li was saving them; he had merely lost control of his strength in the heat of the moment. After all, getting hit by Murong Kaixin meant death or critical injury. Being injured by Lord Li was at least better than being killed by Murong Kaixin.

Although they felt uneasy about it, this was the only way they could comfort themselves. But if this continued, there would be no one left to pass the ball for Lord Li. Once he was defeated by Murong Kaixin, what would they do? Could their path of cultivation really be severed in such a manner?

Having severely injured five teammates, Li Ye’s own Inner Strength had quintupled. Now, even while dribbling the ball, he could completely outpace the wind of Murong Kaixin’s fists, enabling him to save people without harming them.

But Li Ye was a greedy man who didn’t fight battles he wasn’t sure of winning. He preferred to take down Murong Kaixin with an absolute advantage. Therefore, even after seeing the suspicious looks from his teammates, he still decided to inflict some pain on the remaining ones.

To achieve the optimal effect, he even constantly suppressed his speed so Murong Kaixin wouldn’t figure it out. Furthermore, every time he struck down a teammate, he maintained an expression of guilt and sorrow to make them feel a little better. Of course, as his strikes grew more and more ruthless, this expression had little effect anymore.

But Li Ye believed that once he defeated Murong Kaixin, they would understand him. Even if they didn’t, it didn’t matter. Who would care about them by then?

After all, the strength was permanently bound to him and wouldn’t vanish just because the match ended. At that time, if anyone dared to gossip about him behind his back, he would simply make them physically disappear. Since ancient times, truth has always remained exclusively within the firing range of cannons.

Still, he couldn’t let his image collapse entirely. After all, he still bore the nickname "Timely Rain."

With this in mind, Li Ye used his Inner Strength to force his eyes red. Staring at Murong Kaixin with a look of tragic heroism, he yelled, "You old bastard, come at me if you have the guts! What kind of man exclusively targets the weak?"