Mystical Journey

Clang!!!

Yuria held up a gold stool and grudgingly deflected the silver needle flying towards him. He was rolling around and jumping about on the beach like a monkey.

The Root Doctor, on the other hand, stood firm as he twitched his fingers. He seemed quite relaxed.

“Looks like you are more agile than before.” He yawned and continued saying, “but you are still extremely weak.”

“That’s just because I haven’t shown you what I’m capable of yet!” Yuria shouted while dodging the almost invisible steel needles. “What are you conspiring?! I haven’t done anything wrong, so why are you purposely… Hu… Coming after me?!”

“Conspiring?” Root Doctor Jiatai lit up a cigarette casually, took a puff, and exhaled smoke rings. Under the scalding sun, it was almost impossible to see traces of the white smoke rings.

“I have no interest in explaining to someone who’s about to die. Instead of using this time to talk, why don’t we settle this quickly so I can go back to drink my milk? Apparently, milk strengthens chest muscles, recently I’ve been feeling that my pectoral muscles seemed to be drooping…”

(Pectoral muscles? Aren’t you sure they were not breast enhancements?)

Yuria was at a loss whether to cry or to laugh. As he was about to speak, he did a backflip just in time to avoid another attack of a row of steel needles.

The entire row of steel needles flew towards where he stood, causing a racket as it came into contact with the sand.

“Alright,” Jiatai looked around. “That’s about it, time to pack things up.”

Just like before, he reached out his right arm slowly, aiming it in the direction of where Yuria was at.

“This move again!!” Yuria’s whole body began to shake.

“Brother! Catch!” Suddenly, a voice sounded from afar.

Yuria turned around, just in time to see a long item spinning towards him. It was his sister! She had managed to make it on time and even brought along his saber!

It was as if he was on an emotional rollercoaster. He was so close to giving up all hope, but now the hope had returned.

With a leap, he dove toward the saber.

“Grab.” At this moment, Jiatai’s hand tightened up slowly.

Buzz…

The sand on the ground began to vibrate from deep within.

Boom!!!

In that instant, countless sand particles flew up. A mass amount of needles rushed upwards, all aimed at Yuria in the middle.

“It’s over.”

Jiatai said lightly.

“Winds of Four Directions!”

Almost at the same time, four rays of gold light appeared midair.

In an instant, the countless needles as fine as an ox’s hair were blocked by the golden lights, bent, broke and smashed out into all directions.

Whoosh!

One of the broken needles brushed Jiatai’s cheek, drawing blood.

He was stunned. Absolutely stunned…

His frame of mind now was probably as perplexed as Garen back then. Not everyone could relate to this feeling of seeing a bastard who took only ten or more days to crack a technique one had been pouring all of his heart on for the past several years. The mixed emotions of jealousy and grief aroused a deep, concealed feeling.

When the person first told him, he did not believe the person at all. That was why he decided to personally make a move, all to prove that the person was wrong.

“But now…” Jiatai reached out and caress the wound on his face, his fingers dabbing on the blood that was trickling down. “It really is…blood.”

One by one, droplets of blood continued dripping on to the sand, dyeing the sand blood red from its original golden.

Garen held his saber with one hand as he stared silently at the figure standing a couple of meters away.

“Still not giving way?”

Yindu had on gloves that seemed to be made of gold or iron, his hands were still intact. However, the gloves that supposed to block weapons were currently covering his mouth.

Droplets of blood continued to drip down from between his fingers.

Cough cough…

He coughed a few times.

Slowly, he tried to recall the scene that just took place.

He did manage to grab the blade, there was no hidden surprise. The saber did not get through his gloves, and neither did it touch any other parts of him. So why? Why!

“Why…!” Yindu did not expect himself to be fatally injured as the battle had just started. After all, he was Vulture No.7, ranked number seven among the tens and thousands of elite troops of human armed forces!

“Do you think I’m as silly and stupid as the others and explain to you the profound mystery of my ultimate move? Save it.” Garen said impatiently. “Alright, listen up, let me pass through, I’m in a rush.”

“Are you humiliating me?!” Yindu struggled to stand and keep his body straight, “Or are you saying that you’re definitely going to win!?”

“Well, is that not it?” Garen asked, pointing his saber towards the ground.

Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of his opponent smirking. It was not a good sign.

Boom!!!

A ball of flames suddenly exploded where Garen was at. It was a bomb!

The bomb ignited a ball of scarlet red flames on the sand, its massive impact exploding in all directions, sweeping up scorching hot air.

Among the flames, the burning smog suddenly started to spread.

A loud slam sounded.

A golden spark of saber divided the flames into two, like a golden crescent, which was orientated at Yindu.

Boom!!!

Another violent explosion broke between the saber and Yindu. The gravel rushed up into the sky along with the massive impact of the explosion turned the small grains of sand into countless hidden deadly weapons, landing on the saber smashing the tracks all over.

“Hmmph!”

Garen grunted. His body was still midair in the midst of a somersault, his saber a total miss as it was shaken by the explosion’s gigantic force of impact.

Hu hu hu hu…!

Together with his saber, he started spinning like a wheel, slowly forming a huge golden wheel saber and crashed towards Yindu.

Yindu’s expression changed swiftly and started backing down fast. After a match like this the first time, he already knew close-ranged battles with someone like Garen, a Sword Master-Level person, would be the most idiotic thing for him to do, hence why he was badly injured before he could even exert his best advantage.

However, he would not repeat the same mistake again!

“Super-miniature.”

He casually dug through his shirt pocket and scattered the items outward.

Numerous spores-like tiny bomb particles rushed over to Garen. In a flash, hundreds of super-miniature bombs formed a hemispherical shape and rushed towards Garen to cover him.

Whoosh!

Right at that moment, Garen’s figure darted to the side in midair, slanted his saber and spearing it into the beach nearby.

Boom boom boom boom!!

Countless sparks of flames blocked Yindu’s sight as continuous sounds of the super-miniature bombs exploded. He had an extremely bad feeling all of a sudden.

Just as he was turning around to leave, he saw a silver-white saber directed straight at his neck.

“What a pity.” Garen peeped out from behind the saber. “You lost.”

From the beginning to the end, he only had one hand on his saber, even right this moment.

Yindu raised his head slightly, beads of perspiration seeped down his forehead but he dare not wipe them away. As an agile sort of powerhouse, he was still tricked by the opponent and being played around like a monkey. Even his strongest point could not be exerted to try to get a hold of his enemy, and that was no doubt the biggest irony to him.

“How did you do it?” He asked dryly.

“How did I do it?” Garen was speechless. “You’re someone who uses explosives, yet here you are in a close-range battle with me competing for our speed. Wouldn’t it be ironic if I, a Sword Master, was to lose to you? Do you even know what are the main cores for Sword Techniques and Saber Techniques? Speed! Ruthless! Accuracy!”

“I can make seven shots in one second, there’s no way you can be faster than me!” Yindu was slowly losing his calm.

“I can do sixteen in one second,” Garen said lightly.

“…”

********************

On the empty beach.

Yuria both hands were on his saber, facing the Root Doctor Jiatai.

His whole body’s center of gravity was slightly sinking. He seemed like a cheetah, arching its back searching for its prey, his sharp eyes dead fixed on Jiatai, his hands continuously adjusting the silver saber to its position and angle.

Both men took small steps as they walked around in a circle, trying to find out their opponent’s flaws or loopholes.

Both parties were high-killing powerhouses, so one measly loophole that they discover would instantly determine one’s win or loss.

The scorching sun shone unrelentingly on the both of them. Whether it was Jiatai or Yuria, they sweating more and more. Jiatai was sweating so much so that his clothes were thoroughly wet.

As for Yuria, his sunburnt skin was starting to peel off. He could feel a burning sensation when his sweat trickled over the wounds.

On the other hand, Yurijie was standing far away watching the battle. She was totally hung up on Yuria, her eyes wide opened and only blinking it when they were really dry.

“Good boy… Long time no see… So… It’s actually…” Jiatai’s physical exertion was almost breaking the scale. He could not even remember how many years had he not been in such a high-intensity battle. His chest was beating so fast it seemed to be on fire. Turns out, the suit that was pretentiously used as a bragging tool had now become the heaviest burden and it was consuming his energy by the second.

Sweat continued to flow into his eyes along the strands of his hair, but still, he did not dare to wipe them away.

This highly concentrated standoff crushed people’s energy the most.

“You’re the one, last time you had me… Poorly beaten up, you don’t know anything about respecting the elders and loving the younger ones…” Yuria heaved heavily as he glared at the other person.

Suddenly, he saw a loophole and rushed forward.

Whoosh!

His golden saber lit up and almost sliced Jiatai by his side, scaring the latter to near death.

Clang clang clang!!

Three continuous needles darted out, forcing Yuria to react in defense and to not continue his attack.

Their standoff had been going on for some time already.

Once Jiatai used his large-area steel needles to break out, Yuria activated his Hydras and Savior ability, the perfect block of Winds of Four Directions, directly switching both ultimate moves into consumption.

“Well, I say… Can’t you just… Respect an elderly?” Jiatai could no longer hold himself.

With such a never-ending consumption, there was no way he could compare with this young lad. After all, he was already sixty-four years old.

“Why can’t you respect my youthful fifteen-year-old mind then!” Yuria could feel the skin on his back hurting more and more. His head was getting a little dizzy as well, a sign that he was close to falling into a heat stroke coma.

At this moment, Jiatai’s heart ached. If he had known earlier that this would happen, he would not have accepted this mission voluntarily and saved himself from all these embarrassments.

“The person behind… She’s your sister, isn’t she?” He suddenly asked, trying to divert the attention of the other party. “Seems like I’d have to be a little more despicable then…”