With a lot left to contemplate, and a lack of further, interesting information, I kept going. Hours went by, the light of day dimming before welcoming the dark azure of a passed dusk. I could see small white stars shimmering in the sky, the forest not as dense anymore.
"I walked for a long time hey? Around thirty hours I guess." Just as I jumped down from a small elevation, I found myself facing a strange tree. "What's going on here?" The tree was thick, a peculiar brown bark facing me. No, my senses didn't catch the bark, but something else. "What's this?" Getting closer, I soon widened my eyes before bending backward.
Dodging a sudden sky blue thing whistling past my face, I recovered, now met with a youth. His pale blue short hair were disheveled yet elegant. A white robe of exquisite quality and embroideries covered his pale skin of a pinkish hue. He seemed like a fair and sheltered flower of a noble man. Exactly what I would consider a young master from a prominent background.
He was of a tall stature, reaching my eyes. His full white attire was accentuated when he pulled out an icy fan. Covering his mouth with it, I saw his eyes form crescents. "Who are you?" I asked, but he only looked at me.
Frowning at the situation, I took a glance behind me, noticing the previously thrown item to be an icy blue feather. A flash of memory before my eyes, I looked back at his fan, made up of many such icy feathers. "So you're the one who attacked me? That was pretty rude, especially since that feather isn't very soft." In fact, it's more than rock solid. When I had looked back, the grey rocky wall behind from the earlier elevation was cracked open by it. Not only was it a deadly weapon, but the bastard must also be very strong.
Finally, the man closed his fan, not moving his arm an inch, before parting his glossy lips. "Senior brother, are you not going to acknowledge your thoughts?"
"Huh?" What is he on about? What thoughts? "What do you mean? Do I know you?" At this, I watched his face contort grimly. "I see... so senior brother wishes to express himself in such a way. Understood, then I won't stand on ceremony." Not letting me marinate the words in my head, I saw him jump at me at lightning speed. In an instant, he crossed the dozen meters separating us, sending a right punch my way.
Gazing at his growing figure, I also noticed his ruthless eyes as if aiming at a soon to be killed sandbag. Channeling my Qi around, I met his fist with a left palm strike glowing turquoise. After the initial impact, I checked his status, narrowing my eyes.
Freezing Charm Xue? Quite the title for a young man. Never mind, he's already in his thirties. But what's with those stats? Foundation Establishment Realm, fourth layer. He's almost on par with me!
Dirt flown around from our collision, we're both pushed back a step. Kicking the ground, I fling myself at him, clawing with an overhead right arm. Each finger glows, paying close attention to his movements.
Aiming at his left clavicle, I watch his steps turn ethereal. My pupils constrict, rotating away from a blurry uppercut almost teleported my way. I don't waste this opportunity, continuing my strike and hitting a pale blue layer of Qi after tearing apart his robe. The weight of my strike forces his knees to bend slightly, his eyes staring daggers at me. Trying to push him further down, his right uppercut transforms into a hammer doing a similar move to me. I barely had time to put my left forearm in the way, but not enough to build up Qi. As opposed to him, his right arm glowing in full.
Gritting my teeth with some rough grunting, I wince at my damaged forearm and pull my right fingers down across his torso. I tear off his robe further, leaving tatters, but only managed to scratch his left pectoral and a bit of his abdominals. "You may be my senior, but my background isn't so easy to forget!" Smiling at my predicament, he keeps pushing his hammering fist to aggravate my injury. This can't go on or I'll lose. I don't believe my forearm to be broken, but it isn't that far off either.
Deciding to forgo safety, I push myself, ignoring the pain, forcing my left arm to move fast. My left hand takes hold of his falling wrist, while my right arm trails from his torso to the arm I just grabbed. He narrows his eyes, sending his free left arm spearing toward my temple. I see his closed fan coming from the corner of my eye, but promptly decide to ignore it. With enough speed, I take hold of his right shoulder and push his entire body down to my right. His earlier strike is interrupted by the forceful twist of his body, saving me from trouble.
Using Qi, I knee his exposed head at chest height, blasting his face off it felt like. But the impact was surprisingly tough for me.
As my knee pulls back, I see his bloody nose trickling down on his fair lips, before sending another knee. I repeat the process while his left arm tries to stop me. But of course it can only mitigate the damage, not negate it.
His fan is spread open, trying to aim the icy feathers. But by being too hasty, he ended up putting it as a shield instead of a weapon. Now in the way, it, unfortunately for him, comes right back to his face, smashing it flat. "Urgh!" After five strikes, his face is bloodied, but his health stat is barely declining. "Let's see how much Qi you have!" He probably can't find or don't dare to shift his defensive Qi layers off his face for an offensive. Even I would think twice before doing it, and I'm not afraid of death in this place.
"Sto- argh! You sav-argh!" Of course I won't let him get away, so I make sure to give him some extra pummeling. At some point, I can see the glow on his pale face fade more and more. "You're done for!" Finally without an option, I see his fan turn sideways. Frowning, I halt my knee, having been careful the entire time. "What?!" Shocked by my patience, he turns a shade paler when my knee stops glowing. "What are you- argh!" Saliva flows from his open mouth and scrunched eyes. I decided to transfer all the Qi from my knee to my right arm, using it to break his defenseless shoulder. It probably turned to dust as I then moved to his rear, twisting his shoulder flat on his back.
The pain was probably considerable, since he kept screaming and hurling. "Shut up will you!" Now with a buffet in front of me, I take my freed left arm and smash the back of his skull before his Qi finally concentrates there. Now protected somewhat, I simply ignore it and hit his temples instead. "Fuck, fuck, fuck! I am the Froz-" Unable to finish his boasting, I watch him turn limp, one of my strikes probably knocking him out cold. I check his status and see both his health and maximum health having declined considerably. I look back at him and then his status. It's at this moment that I myself turn shocked. "Wasn't it..." His maximum health suddenly went down to ten while still dropping steadily. "System, what happened to him?"
[Forced unconsciousness by external trauma, inflicting him with a concussion. Due to bad luck, he suffers from severe brain hemorrhage. Without immediate medical treatment, his death will be guaranteed within the next day.]
"That's scary." His limping body doesn't do much for me though, so I keep punching him dead. "Phew, he had some skills. But ultimately, he wasn't a match for me." Throwing his soon to be rotting corpse away, I check the fan I stole from him a few seconds ago. "Decent artifact." It was an ice attribute fan of E grade. But just as the description suggested, I wasn't allowed to use it. "How did they make it like that? System, is there no other way to use this?"
[The Phantom Phoenix Ice Fan is an artifact reserved for members of the Bairun Clan. Without sufficient cultivation, only beings with the Bairun Clan's bloodline are able to use such artifacts.]
"Alright, that's a bit annoying. But apart from that System, what's that so called Bairun Clan? How do they compare with the Dual Tower?" The man seemed to know the body's original owner fairly well. Maybe that clan was part of the Dual Tower, is what I thought.
[The Bairun Clan is a Tier-2 Clan, currently coveting the Dual Tower's heritage. Due to the Tower Master's unknown whereabouts, the Bairun Clan has turned viciously aggressive in the recent years.]
"They want us dead then. System, how did the early Dual Tower compare? What tier was it?"
[Insufficient privileges for this information. Please ignite the ??? ??? to unlock related privileges.]
All is well anyway. It's a shame I don't have enough privileges, whatever they are, but it doesn't mean it's the end. The less I'm allowed to know, the more excited I become. Because that means that there is so much more to gain.
The rest of the day was uneventful. I got to sleep cozily on the ground with some bushes to keep me company. The cold at night disrupted my sleep a bit, at least I'm thinking so with how groggy I woke up.
With some stretches and flashes of memory coming back, I regained lucidity before continuing on my journey. Where was I going? Who knows. As long as I'm also losing the potential danger behind, I'm fine with anything.
But after another day, I began thinking whether or not I should've killed that young master bastard. After all, where's the danger now?
Staring blankly at my status, I saw another night flash by. "The difficulty is easy. So what did I even expect?" Since yesterday, I made myself a small snug little home in a big tree I found. I've certainly seen more discreet, but oh well. "Who's going to bother?" I take this time to contemplate this body full of vigor, craving for its secrets.
"I almost don't want to go back. It's only supposed to be a difference of around five times, but it definitely doesn't feel like it. But then again, what do I know? Maybe it's my memories of my own body with higher senses."
Time flew by, and when night peeked around the horizon, a tree branch snapped. But not at my feet, someone else's instead.
"What am I supposed to expect anymore?" Cracking my knuckles, I watch a group of tall robed men come out of the bushes around my tree house. "Foundation Establishment Realm?" There were five of them, all covered in loose robes of different shades of grey with tall hats like that of forgotten scholars, those of a much darker shade. Covering their faces from top to bottom were thick pale veils with unknown characters on them. "You guys look like jiangshis from Chinese stories. Just so you know of course, I'm not judging your tastes."
They just gaze at me, I think? Not very talkative, that I'll acknowledge. "Are we supposed to stay here forever, or will you guys make a move first?" With my DT full since a while now, I'm almost itching to blow some heads apart. All five might be at the Foundation Establishment Realm, but all five are also barely at the first layer, the Brain Pillar. "You guys got great senses, but will that be enough?" I keep talking, but they just stand there.
"Are those puppets are..." At my puzzled mumbling, I get a straightforward answer. "Those are similar to that. But I'd say they are closer to zombie slaves than anything, really." A young voice coming from in front. But opposed to those tall idiots, it's a bit higher. Raising my head for my eyes to meet the figure on a thick tree branch, I watch his short hair ignore the wind. "Took you a while to catch me. By any chance, have you seen young master Xue?"
Xue... Xue... wasn't that the guy I killed last time? "Hum, no?" To that I see his body jolt with machined excitement. But it's not a joyful kind, more like a frustrated, sarcastic intent. "Haha! You can't do that now." His slit of eyes get chilly when he suddenly shifts his focus on my hands. "After all, why do you have young master Xue's residual aura on you? The compass also says you have the artifact on you... hahaha! Now, now, now." I get a bit unnerved by his shaky attitude, but keep myself steady. However he does not, suddenly blurring. "Shit!" Cursing aloud, I jump backward, dodging an explosion where I once stood. within the crater a few meters wide, now devoid of the luscious grass, I take another glance at the straightening figure. His dark eyes are in full view, snug pale blue robes loosening near his arms.
"Now. Don't try and joke around. The Dual Tower may back you, but the Bairun Clan isn't a pushover either! Do you think I would come here without proof? There aren't many in the Dual Tower's Inner Disciples who are capable of killing off young master Xue." At the end, I heard his voice crack a bit. "You two were like rivals! But you had to go and slaughter him like a maniac! You demon!" In a fit of wild anger, he takes something from his robes and swallows it. "What did you-" "This is for the peace of the world! For the grieving soul of young master Xue, and the peace of our Clan! You will suffer from karmic retribution!"
"I, the young master's servant, will take on this role!"
Checking his status, I watch it evolve at an alarming rate. "What the fuck did you eat you lunatic?!" His body transforms alongside, getting much bigger, almost twice my height as well.
He now towers over me easily, even from our distance of a dozen meters, and wields arms thicker than tree trunks. His blood vessels seem to pop out visibly, his whole body, formerly pale, now bright red.
His face gets uglier by the minute, looking much more like a demon than me. How ironic, is what I want to say, but the pressure is palpable. His realm didn't change, but his stats sure did.
"Prepare yourself!" A maddened, distorted voice comes out from his bulging neck.
All I can think about now is how to deal with this mess.
[Bairun Gul (Berserk)]
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Age : 41 / 196↓
Immortal Cultivation : Foundation Establishment Realm (Third layer : Reversed Heart Pillar)
Immortal Title : None
HP↓ | ⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿ | (51.6 / 51.6)
DT↑ | ⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿ | (150.5 / 150.5)
STR : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ E-↑
SPD : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F↓
END : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F+↓
SEN : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F-↓
SOUL : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F+
WISD : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F↓
LUCK : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F-
Skills : Qi Manifestation - lv.7 [+], Bairun Ice Art - lv.2, Basic Fist Technique - lv.1, Night Vision - lv.1 [+], Enhanced Vision - lv.1 [+], Enhanced Reaction - lv.1 [+], Enhanced Endurance - lv.1 [+]
That's right, just like his assassin friends, the fucker has those skills as well. I couldn't pay much attention before, but I don't get why my body doesn't have them. Regardless...
HP↓ | ⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿ | (49.7 / 49.7)
HP↓ | ⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿ | (45.3 / 45.3)
HP↓ | ⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿ | (40.9 / 40.9)
HP↓ | ⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿ | (39.4 / 39.4)
His health kept declining until it stabilized around thirty to forty. However it didn't seem like his defenses were as low, judging by the glow all over his giant torso, left bare from the sudden expansion.
"Come at me!!" He shouted, almost bursting my eardrums. Qi was flown everywhere, barely depleting his own.
"Oh fuck off. I should've known. So the real boss battle was you? You big fat ugly Frankenstein!"