The First Peak of the Force

by Yuri Ajin

  Run.

  Yang Ling remembered his family. Hatred filled his being again, but this time it went in the right direction. Pulling himself together, he raised his weapon.

  “Die, you bastard!!!” he shouted, activating and directing the technique directly at the apprentice.

  A green flash was followed by an explosion. A technique resembling a stream of leaves instantly covered the distance between them just to crash into a cocoon made of flame.

  Dispelling the shield, the apprentice looked at the tree. Yang Ling was no longer there. However, the faint trace of his aura explained everything.

  “Why are you standing around? Find him and bring him back, quickly!” he shouted and then grinned. “I’ll personally cut him to pieces...”

  “Yes, Shin Kou!”

  Five Salamanders followed the young man. The others guarded the mutilated bodies of their enemies, even though there really was no need for that. They were alive and conscious due to the potions, yes, but it was unlikely that the pain allowed them to use ki or Force.

  Yang Ling just kept running. His eyes became blurry and he was out of breath. He put almost all of his energy into the recent attack, but he couldn’t so much as leave a scratch on his opponent. He hoped to hurt Shin Kou at least a little, but all he managed to do was buy himself a couple of seconds to run away. There was little strength left in him, and the Salamanders were already catching up. Chasing away the scenes of slaughter and the sounds of the heartbreaking screams, he tried to come up with a plan.

  Stumbling over a root, he flew forward at great speed, rolling head over heels down a small slope. Crashing into a tree, he stopped and tried to get up when he suddenly realized that what he had crashed into wasn’t a tree at all.

  Twitching, he froze, for a second even forgetting how to breathe. Before him stood a man in worn-out and very plain gray robes with a cloak, the hood of which cast a shadow over his face. The only thing Yang Ling could see were his eyes.

  Two amethysts, bright like lanterns in the middle of the night, stared down at him, sending chills down his spine. Yang Ling trembled. The fear he felt made him forget about the horrors that he had just been a witness to. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t stop shivering, feeling like prey in front of a predator.

  However, in the stranger’s cold look, all he could see was bewilderment.

  Someone dared to disturb the predator right in front of its home.

  Chapter 18

  A BEAST’S AURA

  The Salamanders quickly caught up with Yang Ling, following his aura. Jumping off the slope, they froze, noticing a stranger towering above their victim. The man’s icy gaze made their hearts beat faster and cold sweat run their spines. But with a more resilient spirit than their target, they quickly pulled themselves together, ignoring the shouts of their gut and survival instincts, and pushing away the feelings of fear and alarm.

  Unlike them, cultivators at the Soul Stage, the stranger was just at the Brain Endurance level, which meant that he was probably just pulling off some trick to make himself seem more dangerous than he actually was. Why would they be afraid of some weakling, especially when there were more of them?

  “Who are you?” one of them asked, examining the stranger’s robes and lack of any insignia on it. “Which clan do you belong to?!”

  “Look at his hand. He’s clearly with the Serpents, that’s their mark!” another Salamander said, pointed at the man’s hand.

  “Good, he’s not one of ours. Then he, too, will be fed to the animals.”

  “Guys!” the third Salamander said, sounding alarmed. He was holding an elongated glowing crystal in his hands. “Look! It’s him! It’s the guy that the elders are looking for!”

  The other Salamanders pulled out their search artifacts, tuned to the aura of only one person — Kai Arnhard ― and stared at them in confusion. The crystal was supposed to light up and send a signal to them the moment their target was a couple several miles away from it. Then why did it work now that they were just a couple of dozen feet away from him? What was wrong with his aura?

  The Salamanders exchanged glances.

  “I don’t care. The important thing is that we’ve found him. Remember, whoever delivers his Ring will get the reward. Who knows, maybe we become apprentices if we bring him alive!”

  The guys smiled and then looked back at Kai.

  “Weirdo. He isn’t even trying to run away.”

  “Maybe he’s so scared that he forgot how to move his legs?” one of them said, making the others laugh.

  “Just don’t wet your pants, boy. We still have to drag you to the clan lands.”

  “We should cripple him and deal with the other one.”

  “No. The master said he’d take care of that himself.”

  “Shit... Okay, we have to drag them both back.”

  Kai listened to them in bewilderment. This was the first time he had seen people after two years of isolation and he’d managed to run into a bunch of assholes. He hadn’t heard the human language in so long. Rune’Tan didn’t count since they communicated mentally. And the old man slept a lot, so they rarely ever talked. Which was a shame, since Kai found his presence comforting.

  Kai figured that the Salamanders found him thanks to that old man Gin. He must’ve remembered his aura and its frequency. Being a Master, he probably passed on the fragment of his memory that contained that information, allowing anyone to find Kai no matter if he changed his appearance.

  Oh, will they ever shut up?! So they finally began to look for me. Good thing that Rune’Tan taught me how to compress my aura so that it can be felt only up close. But, since they are looking for me with artifacts, this method won’t always be helpful. What if…?

  Kai chuckled. The artifacts stopped glowing, as if their target was out of their range. Looking up, the Salamanders realized that the young man’s aura changed dramatically.

  Wishing to stay very much alive, that is, as alive as a spirit could be, Rune’Tan had taught Kai a couple of useful tips about manipulating his aura. The first was how to hide it, making him detectable only up close, and the other was to imitate someone else’s, be they human or beast. However, as the old man explained, such a trick was unlikely to work on someone at the peak of the Elementalist Stage or higher. The third skill was the ability to expand the range of his aura, thanks to which he could sense someone way before they could sense him.

  It was thanks to these tricks that Kai managed to confuse the hell out of his enemies.

  ***

  “Where are those idiots? What’s taking them so long?!” Shin Kou grumbled in annoyance.

  The men that went after Yang Ling had been gone for about seven minutes now, which was odd because it shouldn’t have taken them even five to catch up and deal with the bastard.

  “Is that weakling honestly causing them so much trouble?”

  “Bastard,” the leader of the Tree of Life Clan sneered, teeth smeared with blood from his cracked lips. “Yang Ling will reach the capital and alarm the elders. We’ll be avenged and you shall be punished.”

  Shin Kou only grinned. Approaching him, he stepped on the burnt stump that had once been his leg.

  The young cultivator only bit his lip and hissed in pain.

  “That’s unlikely to happen. They’re at the Opening of the Acupuncture Points level. He can’t outrun them, let alone defeat them,” he said, continuing to press on the stump with his foot, twisting it a bit for additional discomfort. “You’ll see, they’ll bring him here any moment now… Then I’ll cut him up, after which we’ll scatter the powder that lures monsters. And by the time you’re eaten, we’ll...”

  Shin Kou stopped suddenly and looked up. He had felt the aura of some monster lurking nearby.

  “Seriously? Has our battle lured some creature here? But it’s too early! Then again... if it eats you now, it’ll be even better.” Shin Kou grinned. “Let’s back away, boys,” he ordered to the remaining Salamanders.

&
nbsp; Together with them, he moved closer to the cave, leaving his helpless victims lying on the ground to wait for death to take them and pray that the process would be quick and as painless as possible. The Salamanders lingered only because they wanted to see what kind of beast the battle had attracted. After that, they’d retreat, so as not to interfere with its dinner.

  The thickets parted, and everyone in the clearing froze in confusion. It wasn’t a monster that came out of the forest, but a man clad in gray robes. To everyone’s surprise, it was him who was giving off the bestial aura.

  Nobody understood what was happening. Was he some kind of a monster that could turn into a human? Or was it maybe the doing of some unknown artifact? Who was this guy?

  “Are these your friends?” the man asked, dropping five heads on the ground with a wave of his hands.

  Seeing the look of fear on their teammates’ pale faces, the Salamanders stared at the man.

  “Kill him...” Shin Kou hissed, taking a sword from his Ring.

  Shock and fear gave way to anger and hatred. With a roar, the cultivators rushed forward, determined to cut Kai up, and then torture him until the end of the first round of the Tournament. They didn’t care that he was alone or weaker than him. They didn’t care about rules or honor. They only cared about revenge.

  Looking at the horde running up to him, Kai only chuckled and took a step back.

  “It’s time to warm up, I suppose...” With a smile, he leaned forward and disappeared, followed by a loud booming sound and a whistle.

  He suddenly appeared in front of the group, surprising the Salamanders who jumped backward in fright, losing their momentum. In the next moment, the body of the first fighter was sent flying like a discarded, broken toy.

  Dodging the swing of someone’s sword, Kai pierced the chest of the second Salamander with his open palm, and leaped. Jumping over his enemies and dodging a couple of attacks while still in the air, he found himself behind his opponents. Two more bodies dropped to the ground.

  In less than a minute, the Salamanders were four members short. Seeing how quickly they were losing their teammates, the rest of them were quick to put some distance between themselves and Kai.

  Shin Kou, standing further away, couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The reason for his bewilderment wasn’t even the speed and simplicity with which his team was being killed, but the fact that Kai, being the level he was, didn’t use ki, any kind of Force, or weapons, just raw, physical strength.

  “You bastard!” Shin Kou shouted. “Do you understand what you’ve done?! You killed nine of my teammates! You beast! The array will remember your aura, marking you as a murderer, even if you don’t have a token! I’ll personally demand you have a very slow and painful execution! You will suffer, you bastard!”

  Shaking blood off his hands, Kai turned his head to look behind him. He didn’t seem at all worried that ten more people were standing in front of him, ready to attack at any moment.

  “So, you’re saying,” he began, casting a contemptuous glance at Shin Kou, “that this array of yours remembers even the auras of monsters? You think someone’s gonna come here looking for a beast? Don’t make me laugh!”

  Shin Kou’s blood was boiling with anger. Who did this guy think he was, looking down on him like that?! Who gave him the right to talk to him, Shin Kou, in such a manner?! However, the bastard was right — since his aura was now that of an animal, the array would see him as one. Therefore, he, technically, wasn’t breaking any rules.

  But if they killed him, neither were they.

  “Use all the techniques you know! Kill him! Since he’s a beast, there’s no need to hold back! Rules don’t apply to monsters like him!” Shin Kou ordered as he got ready to join the battle.

  Ten of the Salamanders simultaneously summoned their Forces, released their ki, and sent predominantly fire techniques toward Kai, who just laughed and jumped straight at one of them.

  A hail of flaming arrows whizzed past him without so much as even touching a loose strand of hair. Making a somersault, he spun in the air like a dervish, passing literally a hair’s width away from one of the flames.

  Before his opponent had the time to come to his senses, Kai’s fist met his face with a loud and nasty crunch, sending his deformed head flying to the side. Cracking his fingers, Kai moved on.

  The Salamanders were going crazy with panic and fear. Using technique after technique, they kept attacking, but Kai kept dodging their attacks as if they were nothing more than balls of hurriedly scrunched paper and not powerful techniques imbued with flames. Getting close to his targets, he’d kill them before they’d even have the time to cry out.

  No matter how hard the Salamanders tried, they couldn’t defend themselves or get away from Kai. Neither movement nor defensive techniques seemed to work against him.

  Approaching the last group of opponents, Kai missed his goal for the first time. The translucent veil of fire that appeared around his enemy, although covered with cracks, still withstood the blow. Wincing, Kai backed away and looked down at his leg. His trousers and robes were burnt, and a patch of skin was charred. Dusting the ash off his clothes, Kai looked up at the Salamander. The quality of this defensive technique seemed higher than that of his teammates. Many people would get confused and lose a few precious seconds thinking of a counterattack, but not Kai.

  Pushing off the ground with all his might, he backflipped onto a thick branch of a nearby tree, avoiding two flaming swords. Shin Kou had finally entered the battle.

  Swinging both of the blades, he sent two wide waves of flame at Kai. Shin Kou, much stronger than his teammates, many of whom had also reached the Opening of the Acupuncture Points level, had reached a whole new level of strength by consuming a pill made from the blood of the Alkis family.

  The tree was consumed by flames in the blink of an eye. Jumping off the branch, Kai headed straight for Shin Kou.

  “Come on, you bastard! I’ll burn you to the ground!” Shin Kou grinned, sending another attack at him.

  The air in front of Kai was filled with fire. Shin Kou laughed victoriously as the flames licked the hem of the gray robes, thinking that the battle was over. This incredibly powerful fire, enhanced by ancient blood, could melt stone and burn the air. What could cloth and skin do? Nothing!

  His laughter was interrupted by an odd gurgling sound. Turning his head to the right, Shin Kou saw his last teammate tumble to the ground, throat ripped open. At the same moment, he felt danger loom upon him. He had been outwitted.

  Turning around as fast as possible, he reflexively swung his blades without even seeing the enemy but missed. In the next second, he felt a titanium grip on both of his hands. There was a crunch followed by a wave of pain and the dull thud of two swords hitting the ground.

  Shin Kou cried out in pain. Fortunately, it was numbed by his anger.

  In his open mouth, a fireball began to form. Without letting go of his hands, Kai kicked Shin Kou in the chest. Unable to form two techniques at the same time, the latter couldn’t protect himself. Luckily for him, a timely triggered artifact saved him from a potentially deadly blow. Kai’s foot rested on a shield. However, that didn’t stop him. Without moving his foot, he pushed against Shin Kou’s chest while pulling him closer to himself.

  Just as the Ray of Torment was formed, Shin Kou’s arms were ripped off. Having lost balance, he stumbled back and fell. The dense beam of fire suddenly shot upward, passing a couple of inches above Kai’s right shoulder. The attack scorched his cloak, left a burn, and went further into the forest. Several trees caught fire and collapsed.

  Shin Kou was screaming in pain. His eyes were spinning madly in all directions and foam was gushing from his mouth. Due to the pain and emotional turmoil, he could no longer control his ki, which meant that he no longer posed a threat.

  The battle was over without Kai ever having used anything but his strength and combat skills.

  Chapter 19

  THE ACCUMULATION OF F
ORCES

  Having finished off Shin Kou, Kai looked around. In the middle of the clearing, there were fifteen corpses and five heads that he had brought here. Near the entrance to the cave, there were nineteen mauled members of two different clans. Their chopped off limbs lay scattered around them. Even he couldn’t imagine how sick one had to be to commit such an atrocious deed.

  As he was collecting valuables from the Rings of his opponents ― not like they would be needing them anymore ― he felt the presence of someone’s aura approaching the clearing. Turning around, he noticed the young man that had ran into him a little bit earlier.

  Yang Ling stared dumbfounded at Kai and the bodies scattered about. It had taken him a little over five minutes to recover and rush back over here to help. If someone had told him that Kai would’ve taken care of all the enemies of his own, he wouldn’t have believed them.

  He knew that Kai was strong, as he had gotten rid of his pursuers in a blink of an eye, but he had no idea that the man was this strong. How was it possible that someone of his level was powerful enough to deal with a whole squad and its leader on his own? What techniques did Kai know? What kind of training had he been put through? What had he done to achieve all this?

  Seeing that it was just Yang Ling, Kai headed toward the entrance to the cave. Snapping out of his thoughts, Yang Ling ran after him, heart heavy and spirits broken. What happened to his teammates tormented him deeply.

  “Help them put their limbs into their Rings,” Kai said. “As they’re technically not alive, they can be placed in them. And since time doesn’t exist within the space of the Ring, there’s no danger of them rotting.”

  Yang Ling looked at him. It took his numbed mind a couple of moments to process what it had been told and his absentminded gaze instantly became clear. Nodding, he ran over to his teammates. He spent a couple of minutes collecting and dragging over their limbs, placing them in neat little piles next to their owners. He then brought them all back to their senses with a couple of slaps and soft words so that they could use their Rings. He didn’t want to shove them all into his Ring nor did he want to try removing the marks off theirs. Putting their limbs into them on his own was way too risky.