Wu Ming took his time as he floated up in the air looking down at everyone that was in the mostly destroyed colosseum. The architecture of the area was trashed and it looked like a tornado and an earthquake went through this place.
There weren’t many people left here, there were several Dark Palm members that were mostly beaten back by the triforce alliance elders. Besides that we have the group of junior members from the three clans that were now down on the ground, their ability to stand being taken away all thanks to the nascent soul grandmaster above them.
The man in question didn’t say much, he hovered above ground and took his time to examine the situation. He looked at Yang Kai that was a bloody mess on the ground, the mace of the man in the strange black suit of armor had stopped. It wasn’t moving a muscle as Wu Ming was locking him in place.
He then gazed to the side, Yang Kai’s disciple Deng Cai’s hand was sticking out from some rubble. His own master had forgotten about him and didn’t even get him to safety before he began his battle with Zhang Jin. Not like Elder Ming cared about this useless youth, if he got abandoned by his own Master then there had to be a reason for it.
It took him only a couple of seconds to get the gist of it. His allies were mostly beaten and bruised and someone was about to murder a prominent senior member from the sect. Even though he didn’t like the man with the gem in his forehead, he still had to abide by the rules. There was also the part about him being the son of the sect leader, he couldn’t just let him die here unless he wanted to face his wrath.
“Truly a pitiful performance, I expected more from the son of that man…”
Elder Ming descended slowly, hands behind his back. He arrived between Zhang Jin and the beaten up Yang Kai. The Zhang Clan member was still infusing his Qi into his body as he was trying to get away. He could only twitch slightly, his whole body felt like it was stuck in a block of iron a constant pressure keeping him from budging.
“And this is… interesting…”
Wu Ming poked Zhang Jin’s helmet as he looked over the armor he was wearing. The man liked to collect treasures, this was also one of the reasons why he liked attending auctions in various places.
“Mysterious craftsmanship, this was made by a true master. Shame that it’s still only an earth grade treasure, even though it’s a pinnacle one.”
Zhang Jin couldn’t do much as the man picked up his mace and started looking over the craftsmanship. Apparently this man didn’t think anyone around here was worth his while as he was keeping them plastered to the ground. Even the bloodied Yang Kai wasn’t getting much of a reaction from this elder Ming.
“Mmm yes…”
The old man with the salt and pepper hair shook his head after hearing Yang Kai cough out loud. He took out a pill from his spatial ring and placed made it float into the downed man’s mouth. The medicinal effects were quite astonishing as the wounds were closing at a rapid pace.
“That was a heaven grade pill, they aren’t cheap.”
The battered and bruised man felt air going back into his previously collapsed lungs. He vomited out some blood and quickly took out various other medicinal pills to aid his recovery.
“Y-yes Elder Ming, I’ll be sure to reimburse you for this favor!”
He wobbled back to his feet, he looked like a person that had tomato juice dumped on him. His clothes were soaked along with his face. Yang Kai glared at the man in the obsidian armor suit that was still unmoving and getting held back by the elder.
“This is an embarrassment for the entire sect, how could you let some third rate clans bring you to this state?”
The man was surprised, almost everyone from his sect had been defeated by these cultivators here. He wanted to figure out what could have made them do this but he was a bit preoccupied with looking at Zhang Jin and Zhang Liu. The youth was still floating in the air giving off some strange spiritual fluctuations that this elder was curious about.
“What kind of Dao is that?”
He took his eyes off the man in the metal suit and floated forward slowly. The other people that were allied with him were slowly recovering while eating healing pills. They didn’t move a muscle though, they needed to wait for this scary nascent soul elder of theirs to be done with his research. It would be rude to act without getting ordered and no one was willing to risk offending a person in the nascent soul stage.
Wu Ming approached Zhang Liu, his finger moving towards the glowing shield as he gave it a poke. He felt a repelling force against his digit, so he increased the pressure. The glowing shield buckled under the increased strain but was holding for now. The man even felt a discharge of Qi getting sent back towards his body, this was probably some kind of defensive mechanism.
“Interesting…really pure spiritual energy… still lacking though…”
The mark that was placed by the system was at the very top of core formation, it was even edging into the half step nascent soul level. Yet it wasn’t quite there yet. Anything below the nascent soul realm wouldn’t pique this man’s interest. The Dao that was flowing out of this mark was interesting but it wasn’t something that this man could use for himself.
“E-elder Ming, please let me readdress my grievances!”
The man looked back to Yang Kai, the man had seen better days. He was just standing there after having somehow recovered, his gaze on the man in the black suit of armor. Wu Ming knew what he wanted and didn’t really care, the technique that was suspending the boy in mid-air was more interesting than what Yang Kai was up to. Still, the order needed to be kept and these people did go against the sect an example had to be made of them.
“Your grievances you say…”
He looked to Zhang Jin who was being silent, not out of his own choice. The suppressing aura forced him to submit and he was even having a hard time breathing.
“Yes, we can’t have a blemish like this be kept around.”
Elder Ming turned away from Zhang Liu and looked at the black armor. He stretched out his finger and did a slight motion forward as if he was flicking someone’s nose. A large shift in Qi energy was felt by the masters in the area, they watched on as the black metal that Zhang Jin was covered started rattling around.
“Hoh, quite the sturdy treasure…but…”
The old man flicked his finger forward causing the black armor to shake even more. Soon it started bending and showing cracks before it collapsed and shattered into many pieces. Zhang Jin’s terrified expression was seen after he got disrobed by the Nascent Soul master that just needed two flicks with his finger to do so.
“There, I think you should be able to handle the rest on your own now.”
Wu Ming turned back towards the youth once more, but before walking away he gave out an order.
“Ah yes, you will gather some elders from the sect and organize a cleansing. We must not let other sects think that we are weak, this is your mess so before you resolve it don’t even think about going back to the main sect!”
The Nascent Soul elder didn’t care that Yang Kai had backing back at the inner sect, he was still of higher status than the younger man. This whole mess was started by him and he was going to end it. He would do so by pulling out the problem by the root, which was killing anyone that was involved.
“Yes Elder Ming, this Yang Kai will not rest until every single one of these scoundrels is dead!”
Ming went back to poking the barrier and applying more pressure wondering how resistant it was to his Qi. He wasn’t expecting much from it though as it was already buckling under the pressure. Truthfully he just wanted to get out of here, the auction was over and the only reason he was still here was that he noticed the huge explosion that was caused by Zhang Jin’s attack. He wanted to give this brat Yang Kai a couple of slaps for causing this commotion, he even let himself be defeated by some weak clans that didn’t even have anyone above the core formation level.
The gem on Kai’s forehead was slightly cracked but he managed to hold onto the souls in there. He was filled with rage, this was probably the biggest loss to his face that he had suffered in his life. If it wasn’t for Elder Ming he would have been done in by some no-name cultivator.
“Damn old bastard, making a fool out of me!”
He delivered a smack to the old man’s face, he couldn’t defend himself and didn’t have the armor to protect himself anymore. The strength difference was immense as Zhang Jin felt his cheekbones breaking from the impact. Yang Kai was enraged, this anger wouldn’t go down until he eliminated every single person that was related to this old man.
“I’ll devour all of your souls and torment you for decades!”
The Dark Palm Elder had ordered him to eradicate the offending clans, this wasn’t a problem but it could take a while. He didn’t want to waste his time so he decided to finish up with this old fart. He moved his hand towards the old man’s chest and performed a grasping motion. Zhang Jin suddenly felt something getting forcefully ripped out from his very being.
“S-stop…”
The old man groaned as his soul started getting extracted from his body. He couldn’t muster up even a spark of spiritual energy, his hands and legs went limp. The man screamed out in pain, he was getting torn apart from the inside. His body started to visibly shrivel up while his soul got transferred to the man’s hand.
‘My children…I’m sorry…’
His body dropped to the ground without much of a thud. He was nothing more than a bag of skin and bones the light in his eyes slowly extinguishing. Flashes of his long life went through his mind, the good, the bad, and the mundane. This long life was finally ending, leaving this man with many regrets. The bitterness about having brought ruin to his family was engulfed by silence and the neverending darkness that followed soon after.
“This soul… isn’t bad…”
Yang Kai licked his lips, the gem in his forehead glowing in purple light as the soul entered it. The cracks that were in it started to slowly patch themselves up thanks to the boons from this battle. He looked to Elder Ming that was done with probing Zhang Liu. The barrier that was keeping the youth protected shattered in mare moments after the Nascent Soul grandmaster applied a bit more pressure.
“Mmm… be sure to clean up.”
Wu Ming looked bored as he slowly started to leave, the Zhang Clan members couldn’t even protest. Most of them had long lost consciousness and were already surrounded by the other Dark Palm members that were ready to carry out the cleansing. From the group only the core formation elders were still managing to hold on. They could only grind their teeth after seeing Zhang Jin’s lifeless body hit the ground.
Yang Kai made his way towards the youth that caused him to lose the bet.
“All because of this piece of trash… this soul isn’t to my liking… far too young.”
He snorted while picking up the boy from the ground. He still wanted to perform the deed himself a good strike to the head would do. He wanted to feel his opponent’s blood on his hands, this would extinguish his rage oh so slightly.
“Die!”
His punch with his whole cultivation realm behind it flew forward. Even if Zhang Liu was at his strongest, he would have no way of defending himself. However, right before the fist made contact with the white-haired boy’s face something appeared in front of it. It started small, like a little droplet of water floating around. The drop expanded turning into a small puddle that was hovering around vertically and in the way of that punch.
The moment Yang Kai’s fist connected with the puddle it stopped. The Dark Palm Members looked from the side, bewildered by what they were seeing. There was a hand sticking out from thin air, coming out from what looked like a small floating portal.
“Argh…! W-what is this!”
Yang Kai screamed out in pain as the hand grasped his fist tightly, he tried pushing or pulling but it felt like he was trying to pull the whole continent by himself. The floating portal started to quickly expand while the hand that was sticking out moved forward. Within moments the people could see a man emerging from within.
He had shoulder-length white hair and a well-built physique. The robe he was wearing was pure white with some golden patterns sewed in here and there. The robe had some shiny metallic parts to it, the chest area was well protected and the hand that was holding onto the other man was covered by a tight gauntlet.
Yang Kai went down to his knees while trying to exert the full extent of his cultivation, still, the person that was in front of him wasn’t budging. He didn’t even seem that interested in the man he was holding the hand of, and just looked around the area. His eyes quickly darting between the people in the area, they quickly came to a stop after he noticed a certain husk of a man on the ground. The moment he noticed him the people in the vicinity felt a spike in spiritual energy follow by two words.
“The…Fuck?”