Traitor of Humanity

Each stage of cultivation in this world has 10 levels. Levels 1 to 3 can be considered the early levels, 4 to 6 can be considered the mid levels, and 7 to 9 the late levels.

As a vice-chief of the Wolfing gang, Jonn is currently at the 7th level of the heroic bearings stage.

Actually, most of the vice-chiefs of the Wolfing gang are at that exact level. Why? That is simply because the Wolfing gang's chief, Ronold Wolf, only needed 10 subordinates at the late levels of the heroic bearings stage to qualify him to create his own immortal city.

If the condition is fulfilled whether he has 10 subordinates at heroic bearings stage level 9, or 10 subordinates at heroic bearings stage level 7, then of course he would choose the option that would cost him less resources. Back when he told Jonn to tell Seth that he would help him reach the peak of the heroic bearings stage if he follows him, that was a lie, since he would only need Seth to reach heroic bearings level 7 and no higher than that.

Meanwhile, the man known as Merab Zefer is at the peak of the heroic bearings stage, at level 10.

Between martial artists of the heroic bearings stage, this difference of a mere 3 levels would greatly influence the outcome of a serious match, but it still would not be enough to guarantee Jonn a certain defeat... normally that is.

Another factor that should be taken into consideration is that Merab Zefer... could be considered a genius. At least in a mortal city, he is someone with talent greatly surpassing that of his peers. This can be seen just by looking at how old the peak heroic bearing stage experts of the other two great families of Haradur city are, and how young Merab Zefer is.

The current lord of the Zefer family had already been stuck at the peak of heroic bearings stage for several years. However, that did not mean that his strength had stop growing for all that time. Many cultivators that find themselves struck at bottlenecks would resort to strengthening themselves in different ways, and Merab Zefer was no exception to that.

Standing at almost 190 centimeters tall, Merab Zefer is still in his prime. He isn't in his armor, and is still dressed in his home clothes. His muscles bulged with power not unlike a berserk gorilla's, as he swung his saber in a horizontal slash.

Jonn raised his sword to counterattack. After his sword met Merab Zefer's saber, he found the muscles in his arms straining to hold, as his sword was pushed backwards.

Being unable to hold for long, his sword was shoved at his chest, forced into his armor. At that moment, Jonn felt his feet being lifted off the ground. He grit his teeth as he was sent flying backwards, slamming through the wooden wall behind him.

There was the sound of a crash, as Merab Zefer followed his prey through the newly made hole in the wall.

Very soon, sounds of metal clashing and furniture being destroyed could be heard from the room where the hole had led to.

Meanwhile, Seth was...

"Go, go on... Kill each other! I mean... go, father, Crush him!" He was cheering on the sidelines, waving around his fists.

"You're not going to do anything?" A drowsy voice asked.

"Oh, you're awake." Seth looked down his right leg, where there was a kitty clinging on. Apparently, it was woken up by the noise.

"There's someone else to do the work for me. So why should I make a move?"

"The stupid master finally got a little bit smarter. If only the stupid master were to do kitty's work for kitty... Kitty will go back to sleep. Meow..." Gelard yawned, before closing his sleepy pair of eyes.

Seth shook his right leg a little, but the kitty remained attached, as if it was sewed onto his pants.

"...Now that I think about it, the room to my right is mother's. The room to my left is being used by a pair of maids. To the far left is the room where Nala and her mother lives. The room on the other side of this room, the one that was just broken into, was where a pair of the soldiers were stationed. Beyond that is a hallway..."

SLAM!

There was a sound as if a door was broken down. It seemed that the intruder was trying to run away.

The layout of this mansion has hallways at its outer edges, and then the rooms in rows enclosed within.

"If they were to continue fighting down this way... then would they reach... oh, sh*t."

Seth quickly ran into the hole.

After entering into the room on the other side, and going to the hallway beyond, Seth found the door to the next room slammed open.

There was another hole in the wall in that room, and beyond there, the sounds of fighting... have stopped.

Seth went through. When he saw the scene there, he slumped his shoulders and uttered a sentence. "Ay, it really did happen after all."

His father's back stood before him, standing still with his saber at his side.

More than a dozen soldiers had entered into the room from either the hole in the wall, or from the door on the opposite side. The soldiers that were allowed to live in the mansion were all either at the late levels, or at the peak, of the unforgiving mortality stage, and the intruder was completely surrounded by them.

Although none of these soldiers had any chance of hurting this intruder, let alone defeating him one on one, a bunch of them together would not find it hard to stall him long enough for their lord to cut him down.

Chances of him escaping now were very low. That is, if he wasn't holding a 3-year old toddler by the neck...

…

Jonn was breathing heavily. Although he has yet to be injured, the fight just now was a great burden to his muscles. He was getting smacked around by his opponent's saber like a punching bag.

Luckily, he had reached this room where the youngest of Merab Zefer's sons lives.

There was a pool of blood at his feet, and a woman lying dead on the floor.

The baby boy being choked by his grasp was crying.

But Jonn did not care about any of that. He only continued staring seriously into Merab Zefer's furious eyes.

The lord of the Zefer family was never one known to care much about his children. He had sold off many of his daughters for either money or connections. There was a time when one of his children were held hostage, but instead of saving the child, he ignored the child's life to kill the perpetrator. It was even said that he did not even flinch when his eldest son had died.

Jonn knew that if Merab Zefer were to care about his descendants as much as the lord of the Bilin family cares about his, then he would have long since submitted to their chief back when their gang had tried to recruit him by using both hard and soft tactics. He would not have just drove them off by threatening to report them of trying to take over the subordinate city of an immortal city.

But now, it seems that holding a child hostage IS somewhat effective. It was at least effective enough to temporarily stop Merab Zefer's rampage. Breathing a mental sigh of relief, Jonn began talking.

"Merab Zefer, we have no grudges against each other. I only came to offer a chance to your 3rd son. Let me go now, and I'll release your brat unharmed."

Merab Zefer harrumphed. "No grudges? Don't think I don't know that your gang has been working with the Bilin family to hinder our businesses and take over our properties. You're trying to drive us out of the city so you can take it over, and you say we have no grudges?"

Jonn's mood sank. When Merab Zefer said "your gang", he made it obvious that he knew who Jonn was. "You're right. We should not have expect you to remain ignorant for long. If you know who I am, then you know that if you kill me here, then you will be utterly antagonizing our chief, and our entire Wolfing gang! You'll know that the next moment you step out of the city walls, you'll be chased down by every member of our gang!"

A vein popped on Merab Zefer forehead. He was never one that liked being threatened. He said in a low growl, "I also know that if I turn you in to the city's overseer, I'll have all the proof I'll need to get your gang hunted down. A mere grunt would not suffice, but a well-known vice-chief like you surely will. Isn't that right, Jonn Saucher!"

Intimidated, Jonn immediately put his sword at the toddler's neck. The toddler's neck was already hurting so much that he could not make anymore sounds, but Jonn was sweating cold sweat.

Merab Zefer was correct. As a vice-chief of the Wolfing gang, he certainly has done enough crimes to make his name and face fairly well-known. If he was caught and interrogated by people from an immortal city, he was sure that he would spill all the beans. There were no laws against torturing criminals after all.

It would not even take that long. Every mortal city has a overseer sent from their superior immortal city to watch over them, send reports, and collect the yearly taxes. It's a stress free and luxurious job that many people would be jealous of.

Once the overseer has the information about the Wolfing gang's whereabouts, forces, and various other information, he would send a messenger pigeon to his superiors.

It would not even take a day for the pigeon to arrive. Soon after that, a punitive force would be sent to get rid of the offenders.

That punitive force certainly wouldn't be a weak one, because not only do immortal cities have stronger cultivators than mortal cities, they also have access to stronger weapons.

Enough of those weapons would be sufficient to decimate their entire gang, with only their leaders having any chance of escaping alive.

Jonn was already regretting coming here. In his mind, all of this is that little boy, Seth's fault. If he escapes today and sees that brat in the future, then he wouldn't waste any time talking, and would surely kill him!

Facing Merab Zefer, Jonn slowly spoke. "You wouldn't have the guts. Even if our gang were destroyed, our chief will still survive. He will come for the head of the man responsible for our gang's destruction, you!"

"You think I'm scared?" Merab Zefer sneered. He knew how strong the chief of the Wolfing gang is, and the difference between them has yet to reach a point that can cause him to feel absolute despair.

"...Then, if I'll meet my end here, I'm taking your child with me!" Feeling that he had lost, Jonn grew desperate. He moved his sword to slice across the toddler's neck.

It was at that moment that he heard a shout.

"WAIT!"

"...huh?"