Frustrated by how all of them were judging and belittling him with their eyes, he stepped forward shouting, "No," He tightly gripped the man's forearm. "It's mine."

The disciple was slightly startled by that, and his eyebrows quirked up in surprise, clearly unexpecting such a turn of events. Yet, fear wasn't something that could be observed in that grinning face of his. "So what?" He said with a shrug.

Though Jing was overwhelmed by anger, fear, and anxiety. His actions were still filtered through a clear state of mind that was aware of the consequences of acting vs not acting. "You son of a bitch," He yelled. Using both his arms, he summoned every bit of strength and pulled the disciple from the Shardfiend's back.

Gasps of shock and surprise echoed from the surrounding onlookers.

The disciple fell to the side on the ground, but he quickly stopped himself before he rolled down. His demeanor quickly turned cold as his eyes flashed with anger.

Jing's heart was wildly beating in his chest. His hair was disheveled, his neck dripping with blood, a broken nose that gushed out with even more blood, bare feet, and a dirty white robe that still had tears from the last time he stabbed himself.

Fighting wasn't something Kenneth the cripple excelled in, and though the original Xie Jing fought a lot and had access to a lot of memories, they didn't amount to much. They were like watching a movie about fighting compared to knowing how to do it yourself.

He had already attempted to use the abilities he had access to before, but he wasn't able to. He concluded that it had something with the disappearance of his base of cultivation, something through which those abilities occurred, and without them they were but elusive and distant dreams. Still, he awkwardly raised both hands to shield his face and awaited the disciple's approach. Something that the other disciples found tremendously enjoyable for some reason as they softly chuckled to themselves.

The disciple steadily and calmly began to step forward in his direction, his arms resting to the side and he didn't have the slightest worry on his cold face.

At first, Jing found himself reflexively retreating a few steps back due to fear, but the continuous laughter from the others swiftly woke him up and stopped. When the disciple was but an arm's length away from him, he gritted his teeth and willed himself to step forward, throwing a punch to the man's face.

Yet, it was quickly swiped to the side and before he could even process what to do next, his vision darkened as a giant rough calloused closed fist began approaching his right eye at an astonishing speed.

The force behind the punch made him lose his balance and he immediately fell on his back. Unfortunately, there was a jotting rock where he fell that made everything a thousand times even more painful. Facing the dual onslaught of the punch and the searing pain coursing through his back, Jing felt a dam of emotions burst out within him.

The mocking chuckles and murmurs of the disciples made his eyes slightly tear up. Witnessing all of this he felt even more self-pity at himself, 'Don't you dare cry in front of all these people you little shit.' He shouted.

He willed himself to stand up as snot trickled down his upper lip without his knowledge, and glared at the man.

With an angry roar, he ran toward the disciple. Yet, all he was met with was a swift and sharp kick to the cheek that sent him sprawling to the ground in an awkward position.

As much as he wanted to stand up once again, he didn't have it in him. Angry as he was, he knew that it was pointless. He kneeled on the ground, fingers digging deep into the grassy ground, reaching the fertile rich brown earth below with endless fury, yet it was all pointless in front of their experience.

Fortunately, Xu Yun came to the rescue as he descended from the hill with his beast, "Stop." That was all he said with a stern look and the disciple merely smiled and rode on his new Shardfiend.

Xu Yun shook his head and swiftly glanced at Jing before he continued descending down the hill to help that female disciple who was still lying on the ground. Atop the hill, the sect master watched everything unfold with an indifferent look.

She Yun approached the kneeling Jing and put his hand on his shoulders asking, "What was that?"

Jing understood what he was talking about. Why did he fight in such a ridiculously bad manner even though he was from the village and he had told him many times before how he ruled that area with force?

Uncaring to explain, Jing quickly composed himself and stood up. Without saying anything else, he approached the Shardfiend that was left for him. Slender, smaller than the others, and aggressively growled when it was approached. He was aware of how this angry monster who he was so close with had the strength to easily dispose of him, and yet here he was supposed to ride him.

Distancing himself from his biting mouth that was filled with vicious fangs, he pushed himself up the stirrups and rode on it. Immediately, the Shardfiend began chaotically moving in different directions, trying to throw him off.

Xu Yun who was climbing with the girl who was now all magically healed up, approached Jing's Shardfiend and glared at him with a human growl as he shouted some words. "Kallorah!!!"

The Shardfiend's body stiffened before it stopped moving in such an angry manner. Jing's gratefully nodded in his direction and controlled the now slightly less aggressive monster to climb up the hill.

When he reached the top, the previous giant bird had already disappeared somewhere. Something Jing in his furious state of mind, didn't even bother registering. The group descended up the hill and continued advancing south with the imposing white mountain range as their destination.

The sun wasn't to be outdone in its advance, and in a matter of few hours, it had already dipped below the horizon. The sky turned pitch black, and a half-moon majestically hung overhead.

Memory Integration... 72%

His memories were getting more and more rich, but there was nothing worth noting. Just the original Xie Ring's worries, relationships, dreams, and his previous life in the village. He was waiting for more precious information about the sect or the mission he was in, but his patience proved fruitless.

Along the way, Jing's face was cold and unmoving. His previous wonder and enjoyment at every little thing had all but disappeared under the weight of the constant humiliation he had suffered. From time to time, he would hatefully glare at the disciple who had caused all of this, but he would swiftly avert his eyes. He had learned that his name was Guo Zan, a name that was now deeply etched into his mind.

As dusk gave way to nightfall, the group arrived at a pristine forest nestled at the base of the towering white mountain range. The dense canopy was dominated by a singular species: lance-like trees, toweringly tall with girth at their base and tapering to slender pointy peaks. Interestingly, a singular species of birds resided in these tall trees.

From the distance, Jing could only see thin slender shadowy figures that dashed through the air in beautiful arcs before hiding themselves on the tree's sharp foliage. However, what they lacked in size, they made up for with their high-pitched screeches that made the forest unimaginably lively.

Amidst the verdant landscape, the murmuring chorus of a gurgling stream heralded the presence of the mighty river meandering ceaselessly along the winding path in front of them.

The sect master's giant Shardfiend halted at the very edge of the river, and its impressive form sat down with a loud thud.

All of the disciples began descending from theirs, one after the other. Jing naturally followed suit and landed on the ground. The moment his bare feet landed, his face slightly grimaced for the aching pain that could be felt from the small rocks underneath his face. Because of how overwhelmed he was previously, he didn't even bother searching for his sandals. Fortunately, the original Jing had done plenty of escapades bare feet so there was a considerable layer of callousses that made it bearable.

However, all of this attention was captured by the frigid cold he was feeling at the foot of the mountain. The combination of their proximity to the icy mountains and the lack of sunlight made the temperature drop to levels he had never experienced in his life before. His jaws seemed to move on their own, quivering, and his teeth loudly clattered in response.

One of the other male disciples who he had never interacted with, began removing the saddles from all of their Shardfiends and left them to rest. Jing was worried they might run away without a rope to tie them down, but noticing how no one mentioned anything about it, he too kept quiet.

When his eyes moved to see the big Shardfiend, his mouth widened.

Beside the sleeping monster, the sect master was gently levitating as streaks of black energy danced around her in a strange but chaotic manner. Though, the more he watched the more he could discern a mystical pattern the wisps followed, captivating him.

'Goodness,' He thought, quickly averting his eyes for fear of provoking such a relatively godly figure. He was still a bit confused as to whether his reactions were the result of his own shock or something external, because whenever the sect master did something he could feel an overwhelming pressure expand with her as the center that made him feel weak, small, and helpless. There would even be physiological reactions in the form of his heart wildly beating and his hands shaking.

'It must be something outward,' He concluded after a bit of back and forth. If there was no external influence the only thing that seemed reasonable to feel at that moment was some awe, more than that was extreme after all she was just sitting, or rather in this case effortlessly levitating several meters above the ground.

It was only now that he averted his gaze did Jing noticed that at some point that same bird they had killed had already reappeared once again before the giant monster.

As he was lost in thought, Xu Yun approached him. "Xie Jing," He said, looking at him with a complicated expression. "Though I can help you so that others won't bother you anymore, it won't be good neither for you nor our plan for the long term." Seeing the other person nod, asked, "Do you understand why?"

Naturally, Jing understood why. If the leader of the group were to get involved in such small squabbles and mind plays amongst them he would immediately be deemed the bottom feeder of the whole group as he couldn't make a place on his own.

"I understand," He said, his eyes moving from the disciple beside him to the other one who had been the source of all of this and was cheerfully talking with the others.

"Alright," Xu Yun said, he tapped Jing's shoulder and joined the rest of the group who were removing the giant bird's fearthers.