When the boy and the girl heard this, their eyes widened. They now knew why Yang Zhai had brought them with him. The boy hurriedly used the Rank one Earth path technique that he was taught in the academy. But Yang Zhai easily dodged to the left and avoided the dust ball.
"We don't have much control over this technique yet, we will just waste our Essence water whilst he keeps on dodging." The boy said after understanding that the use of the earth path technique would not be able to hit Yang Zhai with their mastery of the skill.
"So, what should we do?" The girl asked.
"Simple, we will attack him physically and try to run when we have the chance. I don't think he would be able to match both of us in physical terms."
When Yang Zhai heard the boy, he smiled.
Both of them attacked Yang Zhai together, but he easily jumped back and dodged the two. The boy attacked Yang Zhai again from the left side with a punch, but Yang Zhai simply moved a little to the side and evaded the attack. But, while he evaded the boy's attack, the girl attacked him from the right side. As Yang Zhai had just evaded the boy's attack and his feet were in the air, he could not dodge, so he grabbed the girl's fist with his right hand and threw her back by kicking her in the stomach.
Since he attacked her with the kick, he was also pushed back because of the force. It was just like when a person uses force with his feet against the ground to jump. He was also pushed back when he kicked the girl in the stomach. He back-flipped in the air and landed on the ground on his feet.
They began to attack Yang Zhai again, but he kept on dodging and from time to time punched or kicked both of them. They could not capture him no matter what.
After a few minutes,
Both the girl and the boy were panting heavily whilst standing in the attacking stance. Both of them were battered.
"Why…why is he so strong? His moves are also profound. Has he been training his body?" The girl asked.
"How would I know?... but I know one thing that we are not his match, he is strong. We need to run if we want to save our lives." The boy was very anxious when he thought of not being able to match Yang Zhai.
Yang Zhai had been training his body for the past two years. His body was in a perfect tone. Because of his experience, he chose the right routine and the exercises that could help his body adapt to his moves. His moves were very profound, but his body was not suitable for them. It could not keep up with his moves, so he trained his body to best fit his moves. He did not need to train the moves that suited him. His experience was not for the show.
Right now, he was confident that with his experience and trained body, he could win against any mortal, even the Rank 1 early-stage cultivators who had proper methods would not be able to match him right now. He was confident that he could even defeat the elders if they fought him without using their methods and with only their bodies, except for the strength path cultivators and Rank two cultivators or the ones who had used some methods to make their bodies stronger. He had already reached the peak of the mortals¹(normal humans). He could only become this stronger without the use of any methods. But if he wanted to cross the limits of a mortal body, he must use some kind of a method to make himself stronger. Like the Strength Ka, he wanted to refine.
Yang Zhai smiled and began to get close to the two.
When the boy saw Yang Zhai getting closer, he hurriedly out of anxiousness— without thinking— attacked Yang Zhai with his right hand, which was clenched into a fist. Yang Zhai dodged sideways to the left. The right fist of the boy crossed Yang Zhai's face without touching it and went forward. Yang Zhai grabbed the right wrist of the boy with his right hand. After Yang Zhai grabbed the boy's right wrist and made him unable to dodge, he moved his left hand and touched the boy's right knee. Then, a knife was pierced from the boy's knee.
"Ahaaaaa, ahhhh, ahhhhhhhh" The boy began to scream out of agony. His screams were soul-wrenching.
Yang Zhai hurriedly freed the boy's right wrist and activated the Wooden-Fists KA to turn his own right hand into a wooden hand, then Yang Zhai struck the boy with his right hand, making the boy faint. As his hand had turned into a wooden hand, it was almost comparable to a wood. Yang Zhai made the boy faint so as to not let the boy die out of pain. Yang Zhai needed both the body and the soul of the boy. If the boy died, then there was no benefit to Yang Zhai.
And the knife —that pierced the boy's knee— had appeared from the Bloody-Storage Ka that was planted in Yang Zhai's left palm. This was the reason Yang Zhai considered the Bloody-Storage Ka as the best assassination weapon, even though it was a support Ka.
When the girl saw this, she tried to run with all her might. She knew that she could not face Yang Zhai and it was foolish to attack him. Therefore, she ran.
When Yang Zhai saw this, he activated the Dug-Worm Ka, and a one-meter wide pit, that was one foot deeper was dug in front of the girl in an instant.
Because the girl was too scared and tried to run with everything she got, she could not notice the pit in front of her and was caught off guard and her foot stumbled into the pit, making her fall heavily on her front and her face struck the ground heavily.
She felt dizzy. She tried to get up from the ground, but could not do it. After a few seconds, she looked back when she was not feeling dizzy anymore. Exactly at the moment, she looked back, a fist was enlarging in her eyes. The fist struck her, and she lost consciousness.
After an hour,
The girl's eyes moved a little. She was gaining consciousness. Her eyes opened slowly. Everything in front of her was blurry. She saw the shape of a boy moving here and there. After a while, her eyes began to gain clearance. What she saw was Yang Zhai, who was placing the ice cubes together in a pit that was in circular shape. This bit was only eight inches deeper and three meters in length and width. He was placing the ice cubes on the sides of the pit.
She then looked at the boy, who was still lying unconscious on the side. She tried to wake the boy up with her hands, but discovered that she was tied with a rope. Her hands and legs were also tied. Not just her body, but even the boy was tied with a rope. She tried to wake the boy up with a dim voice, so as to not let Yang Zhai discover that she was already conscious. The boy also slowly woke up because of the girl's voice.
After a while, the boy gained an understanding of their situation as well. They tried to untie the ropes, but discovered that they were tied so carefully and forcefully that there was no chance of untying the ropes without the help of something.
The boy attempted to crawl on the ground to look for something sharp, but could not do that, as they were also tied with a rock, making them unable to move as well.
Yang Zhai was a cautious man, he would not leave any chances of escape. Thus, he tied them in a way that there was no way left for the boy and the girl to escape.
Yang Zhai's glanced toward the boy and the girl and discovered that both of them were awake. He did not care for them and continued with his work.
After a while, Yang Zhai went to their side and said,
"Get ready,"
"For what?" The girl asked angrily.
"Of course, for the refinement."
"Why are you doing this? What would you get by killing us?" The boy questioned with a loud voice.
"Simple, a Ka."
"You would not be able to get away with this. Please, let us go, we promise that we won't tell anyone about you," The girl begged Yang Zhai.
Yang Zhai smiled and didn't say more. He came forward and forcefully opened their mouths, then he stuffed some kind of liquid in their mouths. He opened their ropes and then he dragged the boy and placed him in the pit. He did the same to the girl, he dragged her body as well and placed her in the pit as well. Both of them were lying on their backs in the pit, with straight bodies. They were lying straight there without moving.
"Why am I unable to move my body? What…what did you make us drink?"
The boy asked with anxiousness after discovering that they could not move. Even though they had been untied by Yang Zhai, they still could not run or move.
"It is a mixture that I concocted with a few rank 1 weeds. It can make a person unable to move their body for a few hours. But the condition is that the person must be conscious for the mixture to show its effects. If you fall unconscious, then the effects would be negated. I need you to stay still for the refinement to succeed." Yang Zhai smiled.
*****/*****
Mortals:Normal humans without cultivation.
Cultivators:The ones who have already awoken their apertures.