Chapter 134 - Hunting the Hunter - 3
Hei was falling from the sky to impale with his spear Mok Tong-Hyo who was on the ground. The enemy had his eyesight blocked due to Hei's darkness law technique. Furthermore, thanks to the successive hits of Xing, Ye, and Lian, the spirit power layer of Mok Tong-Hyo had been temporarily reduced to the point that allowed Hei to be able to overcome the cultivation gap.
But Mok Tong-Hyo was still a third-stage spirit soldier. He had served the Red Devil Jin-Sang for years and had years of battle experience with him. The number of spirit soldiers killed by him wasn't at all low. So, even in such a situation, he wouldn't let two kids and their spirit beasts take him out.
With his eyesight still blocked, Mok Tong-Hyo tried to use his other senses to understand the situation. He could sense that something was coming from the other towards him. So he repeated the same move. The only difference was that the width covered by his feathers increased, however reducing the density since the feathers had to cover a larger area.
Seeing this, Hei stopped his advance, taken by surprise. Fortunately, Lian, who was always watching him, used her ribbons that were still close to that position to pull Hei backward, bringing him next to her. In doing so, she allowed Hei to dodge Mok Tong-Hyo's attack.
Mok Tong-Hyo then got up. He angrily peeled off the black liquid that Hei had emitted, which had become more like sticky black slime. From the slight blood coming out of his mouth and head, it was clear that he had been injured during the scuffle against the flurry of attacks from before.
"Damn brats. Enough. You pissed me off. I don't give a damn about the Captain's order any more. I swear on my name that I will tear you to pieces. Zhenniao Bloodline, Activate!"
Bringing all the spirit power available to him, the aura around Mok Tong-Hyo began to glow as it took on a purple-green color. His eyes changed to the same color as the blood coming out of his mouth stopped. The next instant, the shoes, and part of the pants that the spirit soldier was wearing exploded, revealing a pair of metal greaves. These greaves differ from regular models since they were connected to a couple of sollerets, resulting in a single piece rather than two separate pieces. Like with the gauntlets, the sollerets had a pointed end similar to claws.
"Now, I'm going to show you the true power of a spirit soldier!"
Mok Tong-Hyo screamed as he condensed his spirit power into both gauntlets and greaves. In an instant, a whistle was produced by these metal protectors as small cracks in the metal were opened.
"Law of Poison, Explosion of Poisonous Feathers!"
Boom!
With a loud roar, the greaves and gauntlets poured out a shower of poisonous feathers created with the spirit power of Mok Tong-Hyo. The quantity, density, power, and number of feathers produced by the technique were by no means comparable to before. It was true even though it was only a variant of the same technique.
"Ye, Xing!"
Noticing Mok Tong-Hyo's change in spirit power flow, Hei yelled at his two little sisters, implicitly urging them to reach him. Having reached the second rank, he could now use the spirit sense technique. However, this technique wasn't only useful in locating enemies from afar but could also be used to observe changes in the enemy's flow even though you weren't always able to react promptly.
Ye and Xing joined their big brother in the blink of an eye and climbed over his shoulders. Hei then pulled Lian to him, squeezing her tightly to his chest and quickly covered all four with his hair. At the same time, Lian maneuvered her two ribbons to create an additional barrier layer.
"Not enough, Battle Formation!" Hei exclaimed, knowing that just with those two techniques, it was impossible to stop Mok Tong-Hyo's attack.
Quickly, the spirit power of the four united, elevating their outflow. The exact moment they did this, the rain of feathers arrived. Since he didn't want them to avoid his attack as they had done before, Mok Tong-Hyo enormously enlarged the affected area. Although it would decrease the density of the feathers, he didn't care since the number of feathers of spirit power was immense.
Peng! Crash! Boom!
Everything these feathers touched would have been destroyed. Roads, buildings, and other objects, regardless of the material, were torn apart. The entire commercial area where they were fighting took on a desolate look as if a violent gust had destroyed everything. Amid that destruction, only the dome created with Lian's two silk ribbons resisted. The spirit power of the four had been raised through the Battle Formation, allowing them to resist the impact of that power entirely.
From a distance, the guards called by the fleeing citizens were watching this scene in horror. With one glance they could understand that the situation was something they absolutely couldn't do anything about. They were third to fourth stage spirit apprentices, with someone reaching the fifth stage. How could they be able to intervene in a confrontation of this magnitude? The Captain of the guards, a sixth stage spirit apprentice, also observed the scene, trembling nervously. It wasn't only because of the destruction he was witnessing, but above all because of a particular detail.
"Lord Mok Tong-Hyo!"
The Captain of the guards recognized the man in the sky who had produced this destruction. As Captain of the guards of the Blue Lobster City, a city with thick ties to the Red Devil Jin-Sang, how would he not have been able to recognize one of the spirit soldiers under the service of the Pirate General?
Mok Tong-Hyo meanwhile let out a deep sigh. The technique he had used had consumed much of his available spirit power. Not only had he utilized the four metal pieces he used as weapons in unison, but he had activated his bloodline to increase the power of his Poison Law. But despite his efforts, he had incredibly failed to annihilate the enemy.
The dome of silk ribbons was still standing, and the four that were hidden inside were still alive. It was nothing but a deep stain for the honor of Mok Tong-Hyo, who didn't expect two early first-stage spirit soldiers to be able to resist his full power. And although they had two spirit beasts at their disposal, these spirit beasts were comparable only to two first-stage spirit soldiers. Therefore, it shouldn't have been possible for them to remain unharmed at all.
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"The bloodline you activated... you said Zhenniao, right?" Hei asked while the defense of ribbons and hair dissolved, revealing the young brown-skinned man.
"Yes, and then? What's up? Are you scared?"
"No. I just wanted to know if you knew the history of the bloodline you carry."
Zhenniao, also called Poisonfeather Birds, was a bird species of divine beast. Their main feature was the poison they possessed, especially in their feathers. That poison was called Zhendu, or Zhen poison. It was a first-rate poison even among the divine beasts; birds that ate poisonous vipers in large quantities and reached the sixth level had the opportunity to transform into Zhenniao birds. However, that poison had a strong wild smell, causing these birds to use it as little as possible. Furthermore, their excrement was also poisonous and could even dissolve stones.
It should be known that Bao Bei when she was still alive, didn't only give lessons concerning the world of humans or combat techniques. No, as the Queen of the Divine Beasts, she spent a lot of time teaching her children about the different species of animals and spirit beasts. In addition to them, she also taught about the species of divine beasts that had existed a hundred thousand years ago. As the only bearer of the divine beasts' history, she wanted Hei to be aware of the various specimens that had fought for their cause.
'Zhenniao... it's the first time I face a bloodline owner. I don't know if there are other owners with this particular bloodline. But even if it is present in this aspect, it is still a living trace of this specimen of divine beast. If possible, I wish I didn't have to erase it from this world. However, I can't afford such thoughts. Even if that bloodline disappears forever today, the memory of such creatures will remain with me.'
"History? And what the fuck am I doing with knowing such a thing? It's just a useful item that my family left me, that's all."
"I understand. Alright. Did you know, though? There are species of spiders that can fly even without spirit power, and at the same time, there are spiders that hunt birds."
With a big smile, Hei thought briefly about his mother. Bao Bei, the most important being in his life. Her memory and her teachings would live forever in him, and the concrete proof of the bond was the bloodline that she had left him.
"Bloodline, Nightmare Spider, Activate!" Hei said as he activated his mother's legacy. At his side, Lian also did the same while Ye and Xing, in turn, came down from his body.
"Lotus of Love Bloodline, Activate!
'Nightmare Spider Bloodline, Activate!'
'Snake of Darkness Bloodline, Activate!'
Suddenly, the spirit power of the four, united by the Battle Formation, increased even more. Ye and Xing took on their real appearance and size as they uncovered their fangs against the enemy. Hei's pupils became dark purple while Lian's hair took on a mixed coloring of green and pink. Their expression was determined and full of energy.
Mok Tong-Hyo in the sky couldn't help but be amazed. He didn't expect such brats to have a bloodline. Furthermore, the two already dangerous spirit beasts had become even more frightening; their appearance was so terrifying that even someone like Mok Tong-Hyo, with his years of experience, was nervous. The spirit soldier of Jin-Sang noticed that the target he had been sent to capture posed a serious threat to him, and a feeling of fear began to form in his heart.
Hei flew up, his gaze fixed on Mok Tong-Hyo. Lian from behind also rose in altitude while Ye and Xing remained on the ground. The Battle Formation was still active, though it would have broken if they had spaced too far from each other. Hei didn't want his enemy to know that his little sisters could fly; after all, the second level whale was only able to do it for a few moments, and Hei didn't know if this was the norm or was due to the size of that spirit beast. So Ye and Xing would follow from the ground and launch attacks from below while Hei and Lian would attempt to force Mok Tong-Hyo to descend.
"Let's end this fight."
At those words, all four of them advanced forward - Hei and Lian from above and Ye and Xing from the ground. Hei dived first against Mok Tong-Hyo, his spear held straight by his hair so as to have his hands free, assuming the Total Combat Mode. Mok Tong-Hyo prepared to receive Hei's attack, but before he could react, a series of spiderwebs flew towards him in a threatening manner. It was Xing who was throwing her spiderwebs from the ground to block Mok Tong-Hyo and stop him from fighting back.
The pirate spirit soldier had no choice but to opt to dodge rather than respond to the attack of the young martial artist who was coming towards him. Being trapped for even a few seconds was a more unfavorable situation than losing the opportunity to fight back. Quickly dodging into the sky, Mok Tong-Hyo avoided the spiderwebs exactly just before Hei came to stand beside him.
Peng!
When Hei's spear was about to reach him, Mok Tong-Hyo used his left arm to deflect the blade of the spear's head. However, since his concentration was all directed towards Hei now, he didn't notice the stealth movement from below. Ye had, in fact, used her long tail, like a spring, to launch herself up. Using her tail, she hit Mok Tong-Hyo in the left flank since the enemy's hand was already occupied on that side.
Mok Tong-Hyo was out of breath for a few seconds. Although he had the protection of the spirit power's layer around his body, it wasn't that he didn't feel the repercussions of the attacks at all. Although there were no apparent injuries, that attack still hurt him. Hei, meanwhile, had been rejected back from the previous contact; the difference in spirit power, though bridged by the Battle Formation, was still felt as the four of them weren't perfectly aligned to unify their spirit powers. But it was a damage that he had budgeted while ordering the attack. Lian used her ribbon to pick him up as he was being pushed back. Then, spinning the ribbon, she pushed Hei back against Mok Tong-Hyo for another attack.
Peng!
Another exchange and the former situation occurred again. Xing continued to disturb from above with her spiderwebs, preventing the pirate from catching his breath and thinking clearly. Hei would act as the main attack and attract the enemy's attention. Although Mok Tong-Hyo was on the alert against Ye's attack, blocking it was a completely different matter, given the power of Ye's tail, increased by her Metal Law.
Mok Tong-Hyo found himself in a passive position as he needed time to load his feather attack, which he didn't have. But it wasn't as if he was entirely hopeless. With each exchange, Hei would have suffered an internal wound, and the strength of his attack would have gradually diminished. Furthermore, Mok Tong-Hyo was becoming more and more familiar with the attack rate of that combination of martial artists and spirit beasts.
While Hei attempted a lunge once again, Mok Tong-Hyo condensed his spirit power into his right arm. He didn't have time to use an elemental type technique, but he could still condense his spirit power and crash it against that of the enemy. In this way, he would have suffered Ye's tail attack again but would have caused even more significant injuries to Hei, hoping that such an attack would be enough to knock out the young martial artist.
Lian immediately realized the danger and, since Hei was unable to brake in time, pulled him back again. Mok Tong-Hyo failed to hit Hei; however, the fact that Hei was no longer present, allowed the pirate to parry Ye's attack and free himself from that situation. He was now free to attack again at full power. However, he hadn't taken into account the blue-haired young woman who had been supporting the others all this time.
Lian had indeed sprung forward, breaking the Battle Formation. She knew that the situation was delicate, and they couldn't give Mok Tong-Hyo time to load his techniques. Even at the cost of being seriously injured, she had to stop him.