Chapter 22

Su Meng sighed, as next to him, a random laborer was beaten by two guards. The quarry was pretty flat, with only the sides having not been excavated, so all could see what was happening, but not many paid attention, as to not get into trouble.

Su Meng leaned down, groaning as his back hurt from all the strain. Heaving a bunch of rocks into a cart, he went back to work, swinging away monotonous, thinking of the bleak and hopeless future that lay ahead of him.

"Pssst…" Suddenly, a husky voice sounded beside him and Su Meng's head whipped around. Towering above him, was what seemed to be a young man, possibly even a teenager.

He was shirtless and muscular, wearing only a pair of martial artist-style blue pants. He had about shoulder-length black hair tied into a ponytail and an arrogant smirk on his face. A large scar ran down the side of his face.

Su Meng was confused, he had never seen a guy like this before among the laborers…. Then again, there were over a thousand laborers in this camp alone so….

He shook his head, about to go back to work before the man whispered something to him. "Can you hold this for a second?" The bulky young man tossed him a bag of what seemed to be…. Dumplings? The man stretched his neck. "Don't eat any please…" Cao Xiong smiled a little, looking around.

"Hey! What are you doing! Get back to work!" One of the guards angrily yelled at 'Cao Xiong', waving a spear.

"No thanks." Cao Xiong smiled, strolling over, obviously extremely relaxed. A group of laborers watched in shock at the confrontation.

"Is he serious!"

"That is a cultivator!"

"A rebel huh?"

"Poor guy…"

The guard was taken aback. No laborer had dared talk back to him. "You dare! You think a little peasen-"

*Bam!* Cao Xiong appeared right in front of him, smashing in the guy's face, multiple guards immediately rushed over.

"When was there a cultivator among th-" One of the guards yelled, drawing his sword.

"Clap!"

"Huh?"

"What the-"

Cao Xiong appeared in the middle of the crowd of guards, smashing them left and right, sending the idiots flying left and right. Snapping one dude's neck, he smashed another's head into the ground.

"Clap!" Clapping his hands together, he swapped places with a random guard, who was promptly beheaded by an incoming ax.

"What!"

"Treason!"

"There is a traitor among us!"

The guards panicked, not knowing what was happening, due to them being cliche canon fodder no doubt….

The swap was pretty much instantaneous so even though they had decent cultivation, the guards couldn't really see him…

Cao Xiong threw a guard into a boulder, crushing his skull, neck, and pretty much every other bone in his body. Continuing on, he grinned, smashing them into oblivion.

"Void Shaking Quake Tiger Fist!" Using a classic move from Suiryu, Cao Xiong smashed his fist into a guy, sending a rippling shockwave through the whole mass of guards, which happened to number in just the hundreds. Screams echoed throughout as the sound of breaking bones and spluttering blood echoed about. The laborers were completely stunned. This one guy was completely annihilating the people who had terrorized them for years….

Soon, a few laborers started cheering Cao Xiong on….

"Go get 'em Scarface!"

"Beat those losers up!"

"Yeah!!!!"

Hope was finally in reach, and they could clearly tell that it was completely one-sided….

Cao Xiong clapped his hands, switching throughout the guards, completely confusing them. From the original eight hundred or so, there were now only about a hundred guards left, who were sort of terrified.

Two guards lunged forwards toward him, one viciously swinging his sword at him while the other tried to go for the uppercut with his copper gauntlet.

Cao Xiong smiled viciously at the pair, running towards them, he jumped above them in a high arc, before swinging his fist downwards.

"Black Flash..." As Cao Xiong's fist descended down, then, something…. changed. Around his fist, an aura of dancing black and red sparks appeared, crackling and expanding outwards as he made impact with the swordsman's back, who along with his buddy, was completely torn to pieces.

*BOOM!!!*

"Anyone else?" Cao Xiong smiled, as his body seemed to flicker with a dark aura….

Two Minutes Later…..

Cao Xiong stepped through a pile of corpses, chewing on some mochi. The laborers were completely stunned by his display

Su Meng looked, eyes wide as Cao Xiong strolled through the quarry/mine. He had completely decimated all of the guards.

"Who the hell are you!" One of the braver laborers finally said…..

Cao Xiong wiped around, scaring a few men. Then, he spoke…"The name is…. Aoi Todo! Now… Let me ask you this. What kind of girls do you like?"

(A/N: Just saying, I am not a pervert, it is just Todo's personality…..)

(WCM: Are you sure about that…?)

(A/N: Shut it, dimwit.)

"Boring."

"Boring."

"Boring."

The laborers were confused by Aoi's question, honestly, they didn't really know how to pronounce his name…

"Ai Toudou?"

"Ah Tongdu?"

"Aoi" or "Cao Xiong" sighed. It was the same situation with these people too…. Maybe he should pick characters with simpler names…..

"I like short girls that are-"

"Boring."

"I love myself."

"...."

"THOOM!"

A loud crash echoed through the quarry as the laborers ran away, panicked.

"Mr. Ai! Get away! Those are the managers, they are on a whole different level!" One of the laborers shouted. Though he did insult their tastes, Aoi Todo was their savior so they did not really want to watch them die.

"Well…. Might as well ask these three clowns too…" Aoi sighed, stretching his legs a little.

In front of him, were three men, the managers of this quarry he presumed. They were all probably Named Heroes or something with their flamboyant beards and robes.

"A mere ant stands in our way! Wishing for death!" One of the old dudes spat, dramatically waving his purple robes, white hair flickering in the wind.

Aoi got a little pissed off. Unless it was a friend of his, when someone said something on the lines of "You're Courting Death…" or things similar to that, it ticked off Yun Xie. A lot. I mean, he himself would say something like that, but it was more direct and a tiny bit less cliche….

"So…. Wanna die?" Aoi questioned them, throwing a random beaten guard to the side.