A Farmer's Journey To Immortality

Chapter 625: “Why Must I Run?”

The calm confidence in Aksai’s voice didn’t sound like someone bluffing.

Aksai looked down briefly at the small green snake curled around his arm. The creature lifted its head and flicked its tongue, as if sensing the growing tension in the air.

Then Aksai’s eyes returned to Reymon, his smile faint but unshakable. “No,” he said softly. “What I’m about to do is something much more “intense” than that.”

Reymon’s eyes narrowed until they were thin slits. For a long moment he simply looked at Aksai, watching how the man held himself—calm, almost careless—beneath the clear afternoon sky.

A thousand memories ran through Reymon’s mind in a flash: the long hunt, the bounties, the failed campaigns that had stretched his pride thin.

He had ordered whole armies, asked allies from distant kingdoms and lawless provinces, and still Aksai had vanished like a ghost.

A single thought rose up and settled in his voice when he spoke. It was a question he had to ask, even if he already guessed the answer to some extent.

“Do you have a way to leave Sharang whenever you want?” Reymon’s tone was low, grave. “Only someone with that kind of assurance would dare to sit here alone like this.”

Aksai studied Reymon for a beat, then a slow smile crossed his face—half amusement, half respect. He chuckled softly before replying. “I’m impressed, Grand Master Reymon. Sharp eyes. Yes, I have a way out.”

Reymon’s jaw tightened. He had been right.

Aksai’s smile faded a little as he continued.

“But not for now. If I leave this moment, I risk interrupting a process I started long ago. If it stops, the next chance won’t come for decades. I don’t have that kind of time. So, whether you like it or not, I’m not going anywhere today.”

Reymon held that answer like a blade and tested its edge. “Is that the truth? You are truly unable to leave the siege?”

Aksai nodded once. “I have no reason to lie.”

Relief moved across Reymon’s face. He drew a slow breath—part triumph, part calculation—and then did something unexpected: he bowed his head very slightly, the gesture sharp and formal.

“It is an honor, then,” Reymon said, voice even. He stepped forward, the aura of his authority falling into place with each measured word. “Young Master Aksai of Serenity Peak, I am Reymon Seablaze, Grand Master of the Grand Martial Hall. I have come to settle the debts between us by the proper way of warriors.”

He stopped a few paces from Aksai and fixed him with a steady stare. “I offer you a duel to the death. If you lose, I will take your belongings, and I will spare Zinnia and those under her protection. If you win, the Grand Martial Hall will never trouble you and your allies again. This is the honorable path I offer.”

Reymon’s voice hardened, and every syllable carried the weight of the Hall and his reputation.

“I accept responsibility for what I have done. I will not hide behind orders or excuses. If my methods made enemies, then let us settle it with blades. But refuse, and I will use everything the Hall has. I will break you and your allies by force. The end will be worse than the death I now offer.”

He paused, letting the threat hang in the cold air. “Choose, Aksai. A duel by honor, or annihilation by the might of the Hall. What will it be?”

Aksai did not move. He stayed sitting cross-legged, eyes calm, as if he was still deep in meditation but with his eyes open. He looked straight at Reymon and spoke in a quiet, casual voice.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t accept your death duel right now.” He sounded polite, almost apologetic. “It’s not that I don’t want to or that I’m afraid. I simply can’t get up from this position at the moment for a certain reason. You are free to take that as my refusal.”

Unseen by Reymon and most of his force, the clear afternoon sky began to change at this point. Thin light-gray clouds gathered on the edges of the blue like a curtain being pulled.

At first the change was small. A few riders shaded their eyes, surprised by the sudden dimming. Then the cloud cover grew thicker.

Reymon’s warriors felt the air cool. Some of them relaxed at the cooler light and the brief relief from the heat, but Reymon did not notice. His eyes were fixed on Aksai.

Reymon’s face darkened. He stepped forward a little, anger building in his voice. “I don’t understand your calmness then,” he said and took a step towards Aksai. He rotated his free hand’s wrist as he spoke further.

“You don’t look like a suicidal man who would sit still and wait to be crushed. Aren’t you afraid of being surrounded by thousands of Aurous Artists? Do you think it will end the same way it did the night you fought my men before?”

As Reymon spoke, the clouds above the city thickened and deepened into dark gray. A low rumble moved across the sky. The light washed out; shadows pooled along the streets. The air smelled faintly of ozone.

Reymon’s soldiers finally glanced up as the noise of the wind rose and the clouds began to roll. The whole city felt small under that gathering sky.

Aksai looked up at the clouds and smiled, then turned back to Reymon and answered in the same calm tone.

“I’m not without fear, grand master Reymon,” he said and continued further.

“I am a little scared to face so many powerful enemies at once. I admit my late-stage Foundation Establishment realm and my newly acquired Aurous body do not make me invincible against the Hall’s core force.

With the current might that you have gathered, even tens of me would not be enough to make you crease your forehead,” He spoke plainly, giving Reymon no reason to doubt his honesty.

Then Aksai grew more serious.

“But tell me this, Reymon — why must I run? Do I have to always run away like a frightened rat whenever a stronger enemy comes?”

Source: .com, updated by novlove.com