Jian witnessed the entire scene with his own eyes. Tian felt an intense killing intent engulfed the patriarch's entire body.
"LING! NOW THAT YOU'VE CROSSED THE LINE, I WILL TURN YOU INTO A MINCEMEAT ONCE I'VE CAPTURED YOU!"
Yao Tian wishes to capture Ling with his own hands, but Wen Jian stopped him.
"DON'T YOU DARE TAKE MY PREY!"
Tian frozed as he felt the intense killing intent that the patriarch exuded. For the first time since he served the patriarch, he witnessed how Wen Jian looked like when he's extremely furious.
"Y-Yes... Patriarch..."
(Tch! I couldn't avenge my brother's death with my own hands! I can't even disobey the patriarch due to the large gap between our powers, even though we're at the same stage...!)
Tian clenched his fists while helplessly looking at the patriarch rushing towards Ling's direction.
Suddenly, Tian heard a loud bang ahead and saw the patriarch standing. Wen Jian, who is standing there, turned around and noticed that Ling was nowhere to be seen.
"LING! WHERE ARE YOU!?"
Jian noticed that the blood that covered the entire area began to settle down, and saw that the trapdoor that leads to the treasure room was open. The patriarch knew that Ling rushed inside, heading towards the treasure room.
"LINNNNGGGG!"
Without hesitation, he rushed inside the treasure room.
...
While Jian was distracted due to the blood fog that covered the entire room, Ling managed to open the trapdoor and entered the treasure room.
(Now that I've finally entered this room, let's gather all the treasures inside of it!)
Upon glancing the treasures inside, he was disappointed and realized that the items are just trash cultivation books and low-grade herbs that can be found easily at the forest. There are bags of gold and coins at the furthest side of the room, but there's nothing special in that room.
(H-How can this be...? All my efforts, just to obtain these trash items? Even these cultivation books are just copies of the books I've read in their library!)
Ling noticed a shelf at the end of the room that has a opened sword case on it.
(A sword stand...? But, there's no sword inside of it...)
Ling noticed a strange ring inside the shelf. The ring had a red gem embedded on it.
Curious, Ling grabbed the ring and examined it.
(It seems ordinary to me...)
He picked the ring around and decided to wear it.
(The design's good though. I'll wear it.)
Ling inserted the ring to his middle finger and continued looking around, trying to search some valuable items carefully. But all he could see are some common cultivation books and herbs.
(This is bullshit! I'll just get these two bags of gold to cover up my losses!)
Ling decided to pick up when he heard a commotion outside.
(I need to get out of here fast!)
Just when Ling was about to get the two bags of gold and hide within the shelves, Jian was already there and saw him.
(It's too late...)
Jian immediately rushed towards him and grabbed Ling's clothes. He threw Ling away from the stash of gold, and was thrown several feet across the treasure room.
"GUHHHH!"
Ling groaned as he rolled slowly to the ground. He spat a mouthful of blood and wiped his mouth using his clothes.
(My strength is losing... I can't move anymore...)
He noticed that the two bags of gold which he held before was gone. He looked around and saw it beside Wen Jian's foot.
"How dare you rob us! Was this your entire goal all along!?"
Jian noticed that Ling was trembling as he approach slowly towards him. Ling raised his hand, and his eyes are filled with hopelessness as he plead the patriarch to spare him.
"I can't gather my strength anymore... S-Spare me..."
Jian laughed hard as he heard Ling pleading for his life.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA! For a mere Qi Condensation Stage, you surely gave me a hard time!"
Jian immediately stepped towards him and grabbed his left hand.
"I'll kill you slowly... So that even in your afterlife, you'd still feel the pain of killing my son and my elders!"
Suddenly, he broke one of Ling's left finger.
"Ghhhakkk...!"
Ling felt an extreme pain as the patriarch of the Wen Clan broke one of his fingers. Seconds later, Wen Jian broke his other finger, followed by the other one and so on.
"AGHHH!"
"GRAAAHK!"
"Guhh... Please stop..."
Wen Jian stared at him with satisfaction in his eyes as he break Ling's fingers slowly.
"I can do this aaaaaaaall night~"
Several minutes had passed, and five of Ling's fingers on his left hand was broken by Jian.
"Next, I'll break your wrist..."
(An opening!)
Jian believed that Ling had exhausted his strength and powerless enough to even stop him, but the truth is that his exhaustion is just near at the critical condition. He still had enough strength to escape from him, but he chose not to.
His goal was to distract the patriarch, thinking that he is powerless and unable to escape from his grasp. Now that Jian was enjoying the pleasure of torturing him, Ling would take this chance in order to deal a fatal blow to the unsuspecting patriarch.
(Tricking a fool with just words alone... Hmph, oldest trick in the book.)
Ling clenched his right hand behind him.
"THREE-DAGGER KILLING FORMATION!"
The qi daggers that was pierced around the treasure house vibrated, and immediately rushed towards him. The unsuspected Jian saw a purple qi daggers rushing towards him.
All the three qi daggers pierced on Jian's vital spots on his body, and was pushed back away from Ling.
"GUHHH!?"
(What the hell just... happened?)
He felt a tingling sensation at where the qi daggers was pierced on his body. It is not a normal tingling sensation, but he also felt that his stamina was weakening.
(These qi daggers... They're absorbing my vitality and qi!?)
Jian immediately pulled all the qi daggers and threw it away from him.
(What kind of formidable technique did Ling learned without me noticing it...?)
Suddenly, Jian noticed something unusual. He immediately raised his head and searched for Ling's whereabouts. No matter how he tried, Ling's traces are nowhere to be seen.
"He escaped...?"