Chapter 18: Stop

Bandit’s Home, Jade Empire

 His light is brown?

Kai attempted to peer inside Mian’s dantian but the miraculous phenomenon from before disappeared. The tingling sensation was no more and his eyes returned to normal.

 How was I able to see their dantians before?... Forget it, I need to concentrate

Abandoning the thoughts of using the advantageous sight, he expertly assessed his current situation.

 Roughly half left… I shouldn’t have used so much Essence on Austin. If I’m correct, his light is different because he controls an element. He’s more powerful than anything I’ve ever faced and he also controls too many variables therefore… I need to make the first move!

Mian extended his brown lit hand, palm facing Kai. Kai immediately flexed his legs and prepared to dash to the side but before he could lift his feet off the ground, they were stuck! He slightly lowered his eyes, smartly keeping Mian in his line of sight, and saw that his feet were encased within a ridiculously hard dirt mound. He instantly tried to free himself but the dirt refused to budge.

 Earth! So he’s a Baron and his element is earth.

Having accurately guessed Mian’s element, he was still in the same dire immobile situation. Empowering his feet with Essence, he exerted greater effort to break free. Cracks began to appear from the bottom of the dirt mound. Mian raised an eyebrow in surprise, clearly not expecting a mere Novice to break out of his entrapment.

Recovering from his slight surprise, a small ‘Hpmh’ escaped his lips as he drew his right hand back and the dirt below him trembled. He stomped forward with his left foot and with a twist of his body, he thrusted out his right hand, it’s palm facing Kai. The trembling dirt released several hardened shard-shaped dirt as it followed the movement of his hand, flying straight at Kai!

Kai’s eyes flashed with a sense of danger. At the very last moment, before the rocks pierced his body, the dirt mound entrapment exploded and he hurriedly tumbled to the left.

 -Tak- -Tak- -Tak- -Tak-

He swiftly pushed himself out of the rolling momentum and stood on his feet. Peering behind him, he saw multiple shallow holes in the dirt.

 The force is so strong! The dirt shards embedded so deep, they are no longer visible. So this is the power of elements…

Kai’s eyes burned with yearning.

 I need to become stronger...

Pushing the thought to the back of his mind, he returned his attention back to the fight and dashed at Mian.

“Foolish”, he scoffed.

Mian formed a claw with the fingers of his left hand and pointed it towards the ground. Swiping upwards, the dirt near the approaching Kai erupted. A thick pillar of dirt launched out of it and headed straight for his body.

The new ability startled him but with his incredible reflex, he pivoted his foot and perfectly dodged the dirt pillar as it grazed his shirt. Mian, however, was not done. His right hand quickly followed his left hand and another pillar erected itself straight at Kai.

Kai dodged the new dirt pillar but was given no breathing room as Mian continued to swipe with his hands, creating several more pillars. The seemingly endless pillars hindered him from advancing forward but he slowly adapted to the pillars and proceeded forward, inch by inch.

 No good. At this rate, I’m going to run out of Essence. Unless…

A dangerous thought crossed his mind but he decided to act upon it. He heightened his hearing and empowered his ears with Essence. Carefully paying attention to the pattern of the pillars, he concentrated on the dirt. Moments later, after dodging a few pillars, he heard the dirt tremble behind him.

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 Now!

A dirt pillar erupted and targeted his back but he suddenly jumped. Jumping high into the air, his feet landed on the flat end of the pillar! Using the momentum of the pillar and channeling Essence to his feet, he rocketed towards Mian in an instant.

“What!”, the short Watcher yelped in surprise.

“Troublesome brat”, Mian grunted.

Altering his movements, he bent down and placed both hands on the dirt. He briefly waited before abruptly standing, thrusting his hands upwards. A wall of dirt erected between him and Kai as he swiftly slammed both hands on the wall. The wall detached off the dirt and, as if it was as light as a paper, it surged forward with an incredible speed towards Kai.

Unable to stop his rocketing momentum in mid-air, Kai prepared to propel off the wall by placing both hands forward. The force of the wall, however, was more than he imagined and it violently collided against him, sending him flying back onto the dirt.

 -Crash-

As Kai hit the dirt, he expertly twisted his body and rolled into a crouching position.

 I still need to be closer to use [Shadow Two Steps] but his defense is absurdly potent with the surrounding dirt. The manipulated dirt is also too hard for me to break through... It seems I have no choice but to rely on my killing intent…

He closed his eyes and tapped into his killing intent. His monstrous killing intent impatiently sat in his inner consciousness.

“Did the boy give up?”, the tall Watcher asked no one in particular.

Mian raised an eyebrow and thought, ‘What is he doing?’

Kai carefully released his killing intent, concentrating it. Gathering enough, his eyes snapped open and he directed it on Mian.

Mian instantly shivered. His calm, but annoyed, demeanor changed and he envisioned a terrifying predicament he experienced in the past. His surroundings faded away, replaced by a brilliant green forest. The boundless trees stretched as far as the eyes could see, luscious fruits and valuable herbs surrounded him, but the forest was eerily silent. He was within a group of people and each one of them were cowering in fear.

In front of him and his group of companions, was an enormous bear with a furious glint in its eyes. The bear stood on its hind legs, towering over four meters, and viciously growled, baring every one of its sharp teeth. Scorching smoke leaked from the gap between it’s teeth as it emitted a hideously intimidating aura. Upon sensing the aura, Mian froze for a moment, then sprinted away from the scene, abandoning his group of companions.

“MIAN!”, a voice called out from the distance.

The memory lasted for merely a second but to Mian, he felt like he relived the entire duration. His expression was blank and beads of sweat exuded from his forehead.

“Wh-”

Without giving him any time to recover, Kai immediately dashed towards him. Closing the distance in seconds, he pivoted his left foot forward and executed a tornado kick at his head. Still frozen in his mental stupor, Mian defenselessly received his kick and was sent roughly onto the dirt.

 It wasn’t enough, his head is so hard! He must be guarded by the Qi.

Sure enough, Mian drowsily rose to his feet. ‘What the hell happened?’, he thought as Kai returned to his view. He was unable to comprehend what happened but from the throbbing pain in his head, and his shaky vision, he knew Kai landed a blow on him.

“You! Brat!”, he bellowed, his eyes blazing with anger.

He formed two claws with his hands and pointed them straight at Kai. Kai immediately sprinted towards him the moment Mian pointed his hands but the dirt around him began to tremble. He heightened his senses and prepared to avoid the incoming pillar. To his astonishment, instead of a pillar, the dirt around him bursted high into the air. Adapting rapidly, he halted and jumped into the air, planning to leap over the surrounding dirt wall.

“[Art of Earth: Earth Prison]”, Mian scoffed and clapped his hands together.

The dirt surged forward and instantly encased Kai in the air. He attempted to channel Essence to his arms and break free but was taken aback when he realized he had none left. His dantian was completely empty.

 I must have depleted a majority of my remaining Essence while dodging…

Mian lowered his hands and Kai’s encased body dropped into the dirt in a half buried state. He approached Kai and the brown light around his body dispersed into the air with every step.

“Stinking brat”, he snarled when he reached Kai. “So small yet so freakishly strong, making me waste so much Qi. I can see how you were able to defeat my best men and my best student but did you really think you could defeat me? Know your place.”

Kai was unfazed by each word and insult. Raising his head, he casually locked eyes with Mian. Mian was stunned. Peering into his eyes, he saw an unnatural amount of maturity from such a young boy. His eyes reflected no fear, no hate, only a fierce impassiveness. The sheer conviction from his gaze caused Mian to feel intimidated. He blinked several times in an attempt to rid himself from the feeling before glaring at him.

“I don’t like the look in your eyes brat. It seems you think you still have a chance. Let me show you how wrong you are”, he sneered.

Brown light reemerged from his body as he clapped his hands together. The dirt encasing Kai slowly began to constrict him. Unwilling to surrender without a fight, Kai tried to break out of it once more but was ultimately unable to without the power of Essence.

Kai felt his muscles and bones being compressed by the dirt as he continued to futilely resist. A sickening sound echoed from his body as the compression broke his right arm. The sound caused everyone, except Mian, to cringe but his expression remained the same. The amount of pain was bearable to him unlike the incident with the marking.

“Heh, still putting up a fight?”

Kai continued to wear a deadpan face as the another sickening sound could be heard. His left arm had broken.

 Am I really going to die here?...

“You can kill me”, Kai slowly started, carefully enunciating each word, “but spare the rest, they did not participate.”

“NO!”, Teresa and the rest yelled, Teresa being the loudest.

“You think you’re in any position to negotiate brat?”

Mian hands remained in the same position and his gaze was unfazed as the dirt continued to compress on him.

“Stop!” Teresa begged.

Mian ignored her.

“Stop.”

The commanding voice of a man startled everyone present and they turned to look at him. Upon seeing him, Mian immediately dropped his hands and fell on one knee. The Watchers took more time to register the sight of the man but when they did, they also fell to one knee.

“Boss!”, the three of them called in respect.