Being a more reserved restaurant and prioritizing customer satisfaction, the tables were spaced quite apart from each other. Luan, Ingrid, and Cristina were on the second floor, seated at the table by the window. From there, they could see the movement of the streets.
"I've never eaten a cut of roasted mullet before. Is it good?" Cristina asked, almost drooling.
On the table, there was a silver platter and on top of the platter was a 40-50 cm sliced mullet.
"Yes, take your fork and take some and try and see," Luan told her.
"Okay..." Not wanting to look hungry, Cristina took a small piece of the fish's meat and brought it to her mouth. She exclaimed, "Delicious!"
Ingrid said with a gentle smile, "Next time, put some lemon on it."
"En." Cristina nodded childishly in a cute way, and did what Ingrid suggested.
*
"Are you two sure you want to go with me?" Luan asked again.
"Yes, we are!" They nodded with determination, although they knew that Luan was likely to kill some people today.
"Okay, I'm not going to try to convince you two girls otherwise, but you must listen to me and not act rashly, okay?" Luan warned.
"Yes." Cristina and Ingrid replied in unison.
Wearing dark clothes, Luan, Ingrid, and Cristina left the Dallas Hotel.
It was almost midnight, and the streets were quiet. Getting into a taxi, they headed for the Zing Clan.
"You can stop here," Luan said to the taxi driver. There were still 2 kilometers left in order to reach the Zing Clan. After paying the driver, they got out of the taxi and started walking.
On the way, Ingrid and Cristina saw Luan go around the Zing Clan's territory and place some small shiny crystals. Not taking her curiosity anymore, Ingrid asked, "Luan, what are you doing?"
"Creating a formation." Luan explained without turning around. "This formation that I am creating, not only will they be trapped, but when I destroy their power base, I will store it in this crystal."
He turned and showed the girls a glowing crystal the size of Cristina's palm. His reason for doing so was easy to guess: Luan intended to cripple their power nuclei and steal it. In doing so, the Zing Clan could never again depend on their powers and would not be a threat to the lives of the people he cared about.
In fact, the power of the Zing Clan was inherited, but if their power core were to be destroyed, the next generation would not inherit the clan's powers. Therefore, when Luan destroys their power nucleus, he would also be ending the lineage of being able to control their fire.
"So, you don't intend to kill them?" Ingrid asked.
"No, I think leaving them without their powers is worse than death." It was a certainty that Luan had. For a clan that was willing to sacrifice its own children, it showed how much they liked to have powers that few people were privileged to have. They felt superior to other humans because of that and it gave them enormous satisfaction. So, just to imagine the impact they would receive when they lost their powers, it was easy to guess that they would be beyond shaken.
While talking and explaining these things to Ingrid and Cristina, Luan had already finished creating the first stage of the formation. He said, "It is almost done. Now, I just need to activate it."
As Luan started to walk closer and closer to the Zing Clan while he murmured some unknown words in front of the two girls, they continued to follow Luan in silence, not wanting to disturb him.
When Luan finished chanting the mantra, he threw the crystal in his hand into the sky and the crystal shone as it floated and stood high in the center of the Zing Clan. That was also when an invisible force began to cover the entire Zing Clan, alerting them.
"What is happening!?"
"Quick, let's see!"
The natives of the Zing Clan left their homes and were amazed to see a semi-transparent veil covering the sky.
"My God! What is it!?"
"Is that a formation?"
"We are under attack! Prepare yourselves!"
A disturbance was caused throughout the Zing Clan. The clan leaders were also looking at what was happening, and they felt their hearts pounding and a bad omen clouded their thoughts.
"Oh? Well, if it isn't the traitor, Cristina! Did you return to the Zing Clan in search of forgiveness?"
Luan, Ingrid, and Cristina had just entered the gate of the Zing Clan when an arrogant woman walked over and started talking to Ingrid.
With a fake discerning smile, Cristina replied, "Traitor?! Heh... Do you think I didn't find out that you guys wanted to use me as a sacrifice for yourselves?"
The expression of Tinna, Cristina's stepmother, twisted in anger, but she had to endure it. She was afraid of the young man next to Cristina and didn't dare to act hastily. Her voice filled with ridicule, she exclaimed, "What's wrong?! You're just a bastard who was raised to be a sacrifice for my baby. Don't think your life is worth more than that, stinky little girl!"
If it were before, maybe Cristina would have started to cry when she heard these harsh words, but she was no longer the same. She had tasted some of true happiness and some of the love that Ingrid and Luan gave her. With a dangerous look, Cristina said, "Don't think that with your poisonous mouth, you will be able to shake me. Tinna, I am no longer the same poor child who begged for the love of her cruel family!"
"What!?" Tinna staggered backward. She was afraid when she looked into Cristina's eyes; she felt a sense of unease as she stared at her. 'How can I fear this disgusting mongrel?'
"Mom!" Halldora, Cristina's older sister, approached Tinna and helped her to support herself. Then she gave Cristina a hateful look.
"Smelly little girl, don't think you're someone important just because you've got someone to protect you! In the end, he will die for challenging our powerful Zing Clan!" Halldora screamed venomously.
Narfi Orland was silent. He was Cristina's father, but he had no fatherly love for her. However, he felt uneasy whenever he looked at the current Cristina. He also felt that she had become stronger than his eldest daughter, Halldora, and that was incomprehensible since Cristina was not yet 15 years old.
Luan, who had been silent all this time, said the following words that made them tremble with fear when he felt his aura, "Cristina, do you want me to destroy their cores of power, or do you want to do that?"
Luan decided to let her choose. He thought that if she wanted to resolve this with her own hands, he was willing to help.
"No, Master, you can do this. I just want to be a spectator," Cristina replied.
"Okay." Luan walked towards Narfi Orland and his daughter and wife.
"Don't come any closer!" Tinna hugged her daughter and took several steps back.
Luan had already felt the presence of several leaders of the Zing Clan watching from afar, but they were not taking action. He continued to walk, not caring if they were going to act now or not. It was easy to guess that they were using Narfi Orland's family to see how strong Luan was.
However, before they could see anything, Luan had already appeared in front of the pair of mother and daughter and with two index fingers, he pierced their stomachs with Qi on the tips of his two fingers, destroying the power cores of the pair of mother and daughter. This was also when a red light came out of the mouth of the mother and daughter and flew skyward.
"No!!" Narfi Orland shouted, but it was too late. His expression distorted, and he ran towards Luan with very hot flames manifesting in his right hand. He felt immeasurable anger in his heart at seeing his wife and daughter falling to the floor, holding their bellies while whimpering.
"Idiot," Luan said nonchalantly when he saw Narfi Orland lose his mind and attack him blindly. Still calm, Luan was as quick as lightning when he countered with brute force.
*Boooom!*
When the two fists clashed, Narfi smiled victoriously, but soon his expression distorted in pain, and the bones in his arm began to make strange sounds; that was when he was sent flying away by the exchange.
"This boy is a demon!" An elder from the Zing Clan exclaimed when he saw this.
"Patriarch, I think only you can stop him!" The First Elder said. Even he did not feel confident of taking Luan's punch head-on.
The Patriarch did not answer; he frowned as perplexity filled his heart. 'How can this young guy be so powerful?' he wondered.
Because they didn't act fast, the elders didn't have time to act when Luan appeared again in front of Narfi who was now lying on the floor, moaning in pain, and that was when Luan stepped his foot on Narfi's stomach.
Although not weak, Narfi's strength was at most 20 times stronger than that of an ordinary man, which would have been easy even for Ingrid to deal with, but Luan, with his body alone, was 32 times stronger than an ordinary man.
"Dad!" Halldora saw this scene and screamed out in despair and fainted.
Narfi also could not endure the pain of having his energy core destroyed and passed out. From his mouth, red light with golden threads spewed forth.
"Patriarch, what is that light that came out of their mouths?" The First Elder asked. He felt threatened while watching this fight and was frightened to see that red light come out of the mouth of Narfi and the two women.
"I believe it is their powers." Patriarch Unnur pointed to the crystal that floated in the sky, which before, was the color of crystal glass, but now was turning red. "Look at that."
"This..." The elders were surprised to think about it and were even somewhat greedy when looking towards the crystal.
"Will any of us be able to absorb the powers that are heading towards that crystal?" One of the elders swallowed his saliva dry as he murmured.
"..."
None responded, but they started looking at Luan differently. For them, power was even more important than the family itself and seeing what this young man was capable of doing, greed clouded the hearts of these wicked people.
Even Patriarch Unnur felt nothing when he saw his son losing his powers, he was even somewhat happy from what was happening. 'Maybe this is a gift from heaven!' He felt confident he could beat Luan, so he hadn't acted yet. He decided to let this young man get tired of fighting the other members of the Clan and accumulating powers, and then he intended to capture Luan and torture him until he told all his secrets...
"Let's stay and watch. While it is tragic to let many Clan members lose their powers, it is not a good thing to underestimate this young man." Patriarch Unnur made up an excuse.
Of course, the elders understood that it was just an excuse. They all had distorted smiles while agreeing with Patriarch Unnur's statement.
_ _
- Drop some power stone, please <3
{Edited by: Azurtha}