In the evening,
Yang Zhai hears a voice from behind.
He turns around and sees Qian Fa.
As it turns out, even though they had decided to meet after a week, they ended up meeting each other a day prior to their meeting time.
The reason was simple, they were going out on the day when everyone was leaving for the inheritance place. However, it happened before the anticipated day.
"Brother Yang, I thought you would not be here. Anyway, let's go." Qian Fa is in a hurry as they are already too late.
"Wait a minute, senior brother."
However, Yang Zhai is not so worried and enters the inn.
There are 24 disciples sitting on chairs across several tables. Almost everyone has reached rank 2 early stage, while three to four are still at rank 1 peak stage. They could have easily advanced to rank 2, but the fear of ruining the advancement kept them at rank 1.
"All of you, listen to me carefully. I will be back within a few hours, so you guys need to be here. Anyone who dares to run will be punished severely." Yang Zhai says this before leaving with Qian Fa.
Everyone was silent after hearing Yang Zhai. They couldn't do anything except listen to his orders. And they had grown accustomed to following his orders.
Yang Zhai was the class leader of their group, and according to the rules, everyone had to obey Yang Zhai more than even the elders. Only the clan leader and the academy leader had authority over them more than Yang Zhai. The clan rules were strict. If the higher-ups wanted these disciples to become slaves to the system, then they had to instill this slavery in their minds as did Yang Zhai.
This is how the world moves. Every system is built like this. Even on earth, kids in schools were taught nationalism more than truth and justice. The higher-ups start to instill this slavery in their minds from a very young age. Even a kid who doesn't know why they are enemies with their opposing countries will be swearing at them. A fear is instilled in them from a very young age. As long as this fear remains, they won't be able to go against society or the system. If this fear and slavery don't exist in their mind, they will be adamant enough to do whatever they want, posing a threat to those in power: Yang Zhai is thinking while running.
He knew this and used it. He was instilling exactly this in these disciples' minds. This was also one of the reasons the clan didn't remove Yang Zhai from his position.
Both Qian Fa and Yang Zhai were moving at a pace suited for a rank 2 cultivator because Qian Fa believed that Yang Zhai was a rank 2 cultivator.
They exit the village and move in the direction Yang Zhai points to.
"Huh, Yang Zhai?" A woman saw Yang Zhai and stopped him.
"Elder Eun¹, nice to meet you." Both Qian Fa and Yang Zhai greeted her respectfully.
She was also going to the inheritance place to take part in the war. As she was familiar with Yang Zhai and had even learned the red poison technique from him, she recognized him the moment she saw him.
"Where are you going?" She inquired, confused.
In these war times, where could they be going?
Yang Zhai looks at Qian Fa and sees him shake his head slightly.
"Elder, we are just going to hunt a moon bull. As you know about my ability, I hope you understand," replied Yang Zhai.
Yang Zhai, in the past, had told her that he was able to absorb just a little bit of the beasts' strength. Of course, it was not about the aperture lines, but a completely different story².
"Oh, so it's that. Should I tag along? Moon bull is not an easy target," she asked. She didn't say much about Yang Zhai having a Ka with the ability to absorb the beasts' strength, thinking that he was trying to hide it from Qian Fa.
"No, elder. I am going with Yang Zhai, so he shouldn't have any problems," said Qian Fa.
"If you say so, but don't wander far off into the forest, it's dangerous. Okay, bye," after saying this, she took off.
After this, Qian Fa and Yang Zhai continue their journey.
"Yang Zhai, what's this ability of yours that you just mentioned?"
"Senior brother, about that, I have a little secret," replied Yang Zhai and went silent.
Qian Fa didn't ask more. To a cultivator, their methods were of utmost importance. So, forcing a cultivator to reveal their methods was implicitly considered a sin. He asked once; if Yang Zhai didn't want to say it, then he understood.
About half an hour later, they came in front of a cave. They had already wandered off far from the village.
Yang Zhai didn't fear that an enemy would be hiding nearby. The reason they chose this day was because of this exact reason. The Bai clan wasn't so foolish as to open the barrier without confirming that the surroundings were free of enemies.
"Senior brother, this is the cave," said Yang Zhai.
When Qian Fa heard this, he smiled and moved forward.
On the other hand, Yang Zhai stood in his place.
"What are you waiting for?" Qian Fa noticed that Yang Zhai didn't move from his place and asked.
"Nothing, I was just wondering something. It's nothing, let's go."
Both Qian Fa and Yang Zhai walked into the cave. This was a cave he found when he was hiding from the Ma clan members.
"Senior brother, let me cast a fire path technique to light the cave." After saying this, he activated a technique.
"Senior brother, here." Yang Zhai said.
Qian Fa looked behind and saw something appear in front of his eyes.
Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!! A shout resonated through the cave.
Yang Zhai had not activated and did not cast fire, but Red Poison. He activated it from just a distance of two metres: thus, Qian Fa couldn't dodge in time.
The technique he activated was only rank 1. He didn't want any essence to go to waste. He might end up killing Qian Fa if he cast a rank 2 Red Poison, let alone rank 3.
Rank 1 should do. Anyway, I just want to blind him, and from here, nobody should be able to hear his cries: thought Yang Zhai.
After casting Red Poison, he jumped away from his position.
A person could sense a technique the moment it activates. However, Yang Zhai covered it by saying he wanted to light the cave. Even if he didn't, from this less of a distance, there was no way Qian Fa could dodge. Yang Zhai just did it to be cautious.
After that, he just needed to weaken Qian Fa to the extreme.
Ha Kun was a rank 1 cultivator, he couldn't endure the pain of Red Poison, so Yang Zhai worked with fire; but it wasn't the case for Qian Fa. He could definitely endure the Red Poison and also stay alive during the whole process Yang Zhai absorbed his essence.
Yang Zhai didn't wait and activated the Bloody Storage Ka. From there, he pulled out a knife and threw it at Qian Fa's right leg.
Ahhh!!!!
The knife struck his right leg. Qian Fa started to attack randomly as he was blinded by Yang Zhai. He shouted,
"Yang Zhai!!!!! You bastard!!! I thought you were a good boy."
He couldn't see where Yang Zhai was, so he was trying to provoke Yang Zhai into speaking. He was also venting out his anger.
Yang Zhai didn't even activate any technique, let alone speak. He had enough strength to injure Qian Fa with just the mortals' weapons. After all, he had the strength that could rival 12 bulls.
From Earth's point of view, bulls are extremely strong on an objective level, and adult bulls may weigh between 500 and 1,000 kg (1,102Ibs and 2,204 lbs), with some bulls weighing up to 3000 lbs (1360.777 kg), they are strong enough to flip cars, and is estimated that they can pull roughly their own weight: Yang Zhai thought: and that's only one bull. Whereas, I have the strength of 12 bulls.
Qian Fa was in pain so he couldn't think of activating his ire before, but he activated it right after the knife pierced his leg. Vines started to appear around Qian Fa's body and formed a armor around his body.
However, before the armor fully formed around Qian Fa, Yang Zhai activated a Ka.
The aura spread and notified Qian Fa as well. He attacked in the direction the Ka was activated from. However, Yang Zhai had already moved away from that direction.
"What method did he activate?" Qian Fa was worried. He could not see, so he couldn't tell what was happening.
However, he could also not tell the rank of the Ka activated by Yang Zhai.
Recognizing between Kas and techniques was simple: Kas were pure, whereas, techniques were corrupted. Even though they were activated with the same essence water or the void power, they differed in essence. So, with enough experience, a person could tell what was taking effect.
Qian Fa was randomly attacking from time to time but didn't attack with his full power or his essence water would end too quickly.
Even though he could tell a method was being activated, he could not tell from where it was being activated.
When a cultivation method activates, it's easy to pinpoint the location because the initial reaction is fast and noticeable. However, after that, it becomes difficult.
"What's this sensation I am feeling"
Qian Fa felt a tingling sensation.
"Uh…"
AAAAAAAAAAA!
After that, he felt a piercing pain in his right knee and fell. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't move his right knee. Even though he could stand if he tried his all, he didn't because of the pain. He also felt that if he stood forcefully, he would completely become unable to move his right knee.
…..
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