CG Chapter 148: I Tried Once, You Know…
Sun Tian wondered how many times he had held that cold dagger of his to his neck.
When was the first time? Was it when he saw his wife being raped?
Or was it when he watched his brother and mentor die in front of his eyes?
Or maybe all the way back when his village was burned while he was only a kid.
Well, it doesn't matter now, because…
From there, Sun Tian's words tangled into knots. Sounds leaked from his mouth, yet not a single true word was uttered. As if he truly had become lesser than a man, a being lost in the in-between.
His state was almost laughable to behold.
The irony of all living beings: living a mundane yet sorrowful existence, growing, thinking that you finally found a good reason to keep on fighting, only to see, in the end, that it amounted to nothing.
Only after Sun Tian had completely fallen into the pits of despair did Aretius decide to move.
Clank!
The iron-like claws of Sun Tian tried to tear through the neck of Aretius as if they were the claws of some savage beast.
It wasn't going to be a simple task to take down Aretius, as Sun Tian was met with the edge of Aretius's smoking pipe.
Having his attack stopped midair by Aretius caused Sun Tian to become even angrier and more desperate.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"
He screamed with all his might. Aretius frowned, contemplating whether that scream would draw any unwanted attention.
Clank! Clank! Clank!
Sun Tian followed that scream with continuous and relentless attacks, coming at Aretius like a never-ending thunderstorm.
"De! Dee! Dieeee!"
However, no matter how many attacks came at him, or how many times Sun Tian tried to slice his throat or stab at his body, Aretius calmly faced all of them.
He watched the attacks' movements, predicting when each attack would fall before preparing to use the least amount of energy to stop it.
To many, Sun Tian's beastly form and his ruthless attacks might seem like they gave him an advantage, especially after seeing those twin bloodthirsty eyes. Yet this was as far from the truth as it could get.
If Aretius were any common bystander or even a newly trained martial artist, then yes, these attacks might have seemed like an unstoppable force, but to Aretius, an angry opponent was a dead one.
For most people, becoming angry would cloud the mind before blinding the eyes.
If you can't channel your anger to your advantage, then you should do your best to suppress it.
For in battle your opponent would see you swinging that flimsy attack of yours from a mile away, and even with weaker might they would still be able to stop you before ripping your soul out of your body.
Still, it should be said that there was one situation in which even a blinded enemy could take you down, and that was when there was an absolute difference in strength. For even an enraged beast could take down the wisest of men.
Fortunately for Aretius, however, this wasn't the case, and the difference between him and a fourth-rate martial artist could still be bridged with technique.
Following that, the rhythm of the battle seemed to somehow shift; Aretius's bodily movements changed from defending to attacking.
His leg flicked toward the left side of Sun Tian's abdomen. Sun Tian noticed the incoming attack as his body twisted to the right trying to avoid it.
Just as his foot had barely touched down, he was met with another kick arriving from the right side this time, that struck him head-on.
For a breath, Aretius's old and aged body looked like it was flying in midair as he held Sun Tian from both sides.
Bam!
The weight of Aretius, accompanied by the sudden shift in direction, caused Sun Tian to fall backward, with Aretius holding him from both sides.
If someone passed by at that time and saw that scene, they would think of a mantis holding down its prey.
This made Sun Tian even more enraged, as his blood started to boil. He wanted to use this chance to rip at Aretius, or at the very least push him off.
Unfortunately, Aretius didn't give him that chance as he quickly used both of his hands, extending his own claws to slash at the two most vulnerable spots of Sun Tian.
Two fingers pierced through Sun Tian's pupils, causing them to explode like two sweet grapes between his hands in a twisted sense of justice; the other hand stopped a hair's breadth away from Sun Tian's neck.
Aretius, of course, wasn't doing this out of mercy, but he was truly in a strange spot, and he needed any information he could get his hands on.
So before taking him down, Aretius asked one last time.
"Do you have anything to say?"
Even with both of his eye sockets empty, now filled only with the mangled remains of his pupils, Sun Tian didn't stop as he tried to push Aretius.
But with most of his energy already drained, and with such a serious injury, he couldn't do anything.
Realizing this somehow made Sun Tian regain a bit of his humanity, as if the thing that gave him this power had been completely drained.
Lying on the ground, and having regained consciousness, Sun Tian started to laugh with his remaining breath.
"I tried once, you know."
"But…"
"The young and dying. The old and dying."
"This world is doomed. Doomed, you hear me!" he screamed.
"The purple star is here."
The words seemed to have drained the last of his energy, and he fell lifeless. Still, Aretius decided to rip his head off just to make sure.
Then he carefully searched Sun Tian's body, ensuring that he didn't miss anything.
He thought of taking back the corpse to study it, but seeing that he had lost his power, he felt that would be a pointless endeavor.
On his body, he found two things. One was the dagger Sun Tian used on the kid. Surprisingly, it was made of solid steel; if Sun Tian had used that on him, then he would have had a much harder time.
The other thing was the important one, an old, tattered book, with the title "The World Devouring Serpent Sutra," written on it using dried blood.