Bang!

The rainbow-colored silhouette blurred out of sight and appeared in front of Hartley leaving a blurred lined of after images behind and throwing a right handed punch as fast as lightning. Hartely didn't even have time to engage advanced state of focus, out of pure reflex his whole body turned blue as he answered with a left hand counter punch, the two fists collided producing a kaleidoscope-like explosion of colors with a Boom, wind and residual energy exploded outwards flapping the robes of the rainbow colored elder making the already agitated horses behind him neigh in panic....

Hartley was sent flying backward pass Qin Li and Zhi Ruo in a flash while releasing a painful groan as he landed and rolled around like a rag doll eight meters back cracking a dozen cobble stones in the process.

The collision jarred his hands, arms and shoulders, setting his teeth on edge and ringing a throbbing pain in his aching back as though it was a bell.

The rainbow colored elder stood in place admiring his work with hands behind his back and his chin pointed towards the sky with a look of undisguised pleasure.

The anxious screams of Zhi Ruo echoed out in the orange evening, she was being held back by Qin Li as she tried to shake him off and engage the elder in battle. By now the streets were emptied of any bystanders, everyone had disappeared after witnessing and feeling the strong pulsation of power, leaving the two groups alone on the now deserted  stretch of road leading to the northern gate.

On his hands and knees Hartley looked forward with blurred vision and a groggy head, he gritted his teeth and shook his head from side to side. For the first time in battle Hartley had been stimulated, his battle intent washed over the few present on the empty stretch of road, they gasped feeling the suffocating deadly intent, it was hard to explain what this battle intent was, it was like Hartley's feelings had become something real, something others could feel jabbing at their souls like an invisible dagger.

The armored soldiers behind the elders in the pentagon formation who were looking forward to seeing a show of might from the elders, faces went pale with fright, they retreated 100 meters back,some trembling and some even began considering deserting but seeing this outspoken young man thrashed like a dog in the street was too appealing so they settled down to watch.

"Oh, Blessed Holy Matriarch," Qin Li said in exasperation as he dragged Zhi Ruo kicking and screaming backwards away from the battle zone with a feeling that this stretch of road had now sunk down into the depths of hell.

Hartley got back to his feet shakily, looking straight at the rainbow colored elder with a smile. "Give up! or you will all die here," the elder shouted with a voice of authority. Still looking confident.

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"Protect her and head for the northern gate," Hartley said to no one in particular but Qin Li knew who he was talking to. "No!!" Zhi Ruo screamed at the top of her lungs crying while being dragged away by Qin Li still kicking and screaming, there was no way she would go quietly and leave Hartley here alone....

After a while the retreating duo saw multi-colored sparks swirling high up into the orange-colored evening sky like a signal flare after a loud rumbling sound which sent tremors through the ground like an earthquake, Qin Li couldn't help but be nervous while Zhi Ruo sobbed non stop.....

The confident and conceited look was wiped from the rainbow colored elder's face when he witnessed the space around the youth wobble as he made his move from about ten meters away, the fabric of space itself broke apart like a flash of black lightning, the youth disappeared and re-appeared again like a ghost at his flank armed with a long sword in his right hand and a short sword in his left hand.....

Hartley exited from a spatial crack next to the rainbow colored elder and applied  100x gravity to his long sword in his right hand and swiped a vicious slash from low-left to high-right, the elder reacted quickly and slapped down an open palm towards the blade covered in a bright blue aura that was headed towards his ribs.

Upon contact between the palm twinkling with rainbow colors and the blue sword, the sword shattered into a million

fragments in a ground-thumping detonation of swirling lights and dust.

A furiously blossoming cloud of multi-colored sparks raced up into the sky, igniting the evening sky like lightning forks and shaking the earth with a sound like claps of thunder were descending from the heavens.

The elder screamed out in surpise with a look of shock as he was sent airborne and flew eight meters back while spewing a mouthful of blood, the cobble stones underfoot blew away like grains of sand in a gust of wind leaving the surrounding 20 meters of street looking like a sandy beach.

Hartley staggered back with a numb right hand and ejected a mouthful of blood as well, feeling like his internal organs were rattling around but this was what he expected, from their first exchange Hartley deduced that the elder enveloped in the rainbow aura had power similar to a 9th layer xanthian.

That sword strike wasn't going to eliminate or seriously injure the elder, instead Hartley set his sights on the other four elders who had retreated to a safe distance still in a neat formation watching on with glee, each one glowing a different color. Before the rainbow colored elder even touched the ground, Hartley stomped down his right foot onto the sandy floor and produced a sonic boom as he headed at mach 3 straight for the elder glowing white. In theory the water element had the least defense so he was the first target.

A vortex of swirling dark blue lines formed around Hartley's right fist and rotated counter clockwise as he moved forward leaving dust exploding outwards as he was preparing his spiral circulation technique.

The elder shrouded in rainbow colors landed and grunted in pain as he saw Hartley headed for the elders in the pentagon formation, he now regretted letting those two accomplices leave so easily, this was the perfect time to threaten the youth with hostages, he gritted his teeth regretting his over confidence at the start and flashed forward leaving multiple shadow images and a dust storm as he gave desperate chase after the youth.