The Mohawk wearing Loan Shark plunged toward me, his dark blue qi aura turning into that of a shark. He produced a machete, which he swung in my direction, splitting the ground. I dodged to the side, though I found myself still having to evade highly pressurized jets of water that sprayed from the wake of his attack.
Skidding to a stop, Brother Long did a backhanded swing. At first, the blade only slashed through empty air, too far away from me to hit, but a geyser of water burst out to slam into me. I reflexively dove to the side, hitting the ground and rolling away. Springing back up, I drew my bow and fired several arrows that futilely detonated against the waves that he had conjured.
"Oh? Not bad."
Brother Long rested his machete on his shoulder, studying me. His Mohawk twitched for some reason, in tune with the swimming shark aura looming behind him.
"I didn't think you would be able to dodge that."
"Your gang didn't think I would be able to defeat them either," I retorted. Brother Long snorted.
"They were fools." Then he narrowed his eyes. "Even though they are morons, they are still my little brothers. I'm not shameless enough to blame you for fighting back in self-defense – I'm aware of the sort of stunts they pull, and only a deluded lunatic would yell at you for 'daring to fight back' or some nonsense like that. But I'll have to take revenge for them. Otherwise, how can I be their big brother?"
"Don't forget the reputation of our Sea Shark Gang!" The ex-pompadour guy yelled. Brother Long turned to glare at him.
"Shut up! Stop making the situation worse!"
"S…sorry, Brother Long!" The dude clamped a hand down over his mouth, no longer daring to behave audaciously.
"We have to finish this quickly before the cops come," Brother Long muttered, taking note of Mrs. Qin having called the police through the smartphone. The sirens hadn't sounded yet, the cops needing some time to actually drive here, but we probably only had minutes at best. Ten minutes? Five?
Brother Long was aware of this, and he heightened his qi aura to the maximum, the silently bellowing shark growing to gargantuan proportions. Holding out his machete and infusing the blade with swirling vortexes of dark blue qi, he concentrated all of his strength into a single strike.
"I'll fight at full strength from the start. Be careful, kid!"
Then he blasted me with a tidal wave.
It didn't reach me. Xiao Ke had appeared and froze the whole thing in ice. Brother Long's eyes widened when he saw the Shell Loch materializing by my side.
"What…?"
"I respect your strength, Mr. Long. So I'll also fight at full power from the start."
Glowing arrows bombarded his position, cratering the ground but failing to penetrate the water barrier that he conjured around him. Oh, interesting. So you could do that sort of bubble-shaped barriers with water techniques. I hadn't learned that.
However, it was only a matter of time before my barrage of azure arrows destroyed his rapidly dwindling barrier. The water appeared to evaporate into steam each time an arrow struck it, its total size shrinking swiftly until no more than a thin layer covered Brother Long. He grimaced from the reverberating impacts, his protective technique imperfect.
"Brother Long!"
"Everyone, charge!" The ex-pompadour guy yelled. "Don't let Brother Long get defeated!"
"No, you idiots!" Brother Long yelled. "Stay back, the lot of you!"
They didn't listen. Drawing their various weapons, they lunged at me with war cries as they slashed with blades or swung with pipes and an assortment of other weapons. Being ordinary cultivators, they were able to imbue their weapons with qi. Normally, I would shoot all of them down with my Azure Rain Celestial Arrows, but I was currently occupied with whittling away at Brother Long's defense. Truth to be told, it was a simple matter for me to redirect a few arrows in their direction, but if I let up the pressure, I had a feeling Brother Long would break free and charge at me to save his little brothers.
It was a stalemate for now.
Fortunately, arrows weren't the only weapons I had in my arsenal.
Xiao Huo appeared by my side, her three tails flaring brightly. Fireballs slammed into the ranks of the charging loan sharks and detonating forcibly, sending their bodies flying into the air.
"Ugh!"
"Argh!"
"What's this?!"
"Don't worry!" The ex-pompadour dude shouted, leading the charge. His face was singed and his ruined hairstyle was a little scorched, but he weaved through the fireballs with consummate skill, able to evade while many of his compatriots lagged behind. Even though five or six of the loan sharks were blown sky high, there were over thirty of them who had gathered, and more closed the distance, despite Xiao Huo's best attempts to keep them at bay.
"Wait, what's that?!" One of the loan sharks demanded when he spotted a golden glow from somewhere behind Xiao Huo. The three-tailed fox darted away, only to reveal a horde of Little Anglers and Lantern Fishes waiting behind her. The small group of angler-type deep-sea fishes smirked before they unleashed a storm of lightning at the loan sharks, catching all of them in a lethal net of electricity. The guy shrieked as he convulsed. "Argh!"
"AAAAH!"
"NOOO!"
Even the ex-pompadour guy couldn't escape the electric trap and he fell to his knees, electrocuted. His hair continued to unravel further, blackening with wisps of smoke as he sprawled on the ground.
"You guys!"
Whether it was fury or a sense of duty, Brother Long finally smashed through the arrows. Dismissing the barrier, he charged straight through my volley of arrows, scything a few of them down with each swing of his machete. Nonetheless, he was still struck by a few, the powerful projectiles impaling his body and blasting him.
Undeterred, Brother Long charged ahead, his body bloodied and battered by the numerous impacts. I was forced to parry his machete with my bow, but his blow was so violent it hurled me several paces back. With a roar, Brother Long pounced and slashed downward, his machete surging with tempestuous currents of raging water.
Clang!
"What the hell?!"
Brother Long's eyes widened when his machete blade bounced off Da Hai's shell. The water dissipated harmlessly against the War Turtle, who spun around and kicked him in the gut, tossing him across the road. He crashed onto the ground, cracking the concrete and coughing out some blood. Cursing, he wiped his mouth and leaned on his machete.
"You bastard…one little trick after the other…how many of these spirit beasts do you have?" He spat a glob of blood and frowned. "In the first place, what the hell is going on!? I've never heard of anyone being able to tame spirit beasts!"
"Well, I'm the first, I guess?" It was all thanks to the system. Pushing my glasses up my nose, I shrugged. "And don't complain about it being unfair. Your little brothers were the ones who joined the battle and tried to gang up on me while we were fighting first."
"Oh, I have no intention of blaming you. It's just that your little brothers are better than mine."
"Little brothers and sisters," I corrected. Xiao Huo and about half of my Little Anglers and Lantern Fishes were female. "But yeah, glad you understand."
Still, there was one thing that bothered me.
"Are you the boss of your loan shark group? What did that ex-pompadour dude say earlier, the Sea Shark Gang?"
"Yeah, that's right. What of it?"
"I was just wondering…" I shrugged, flanked by my spirit beasts. "If I defeat you, will I have to worry about your big brother or another boss coming to take revenge on me?"
Brother Long stared at me for a moment before he burst out laughing.
"No, you don't have to worry about that. I'm the leader of the Sea Shark Gang. There's no one above me. What, did you think this is some cultivation manhua or web novel where if you defeat me, some sect elder will show up to take revenge later? Or that my little Sea Shark Gang is part of some underground alliance who will begin sending assassins after you because you caused them to lose face? Don't be ridiculous. Even if we are, we are too insignificant for them to care about what happens to us."
"That's good to know." I sighed in relief and retracted my bow. I turned away. "I guess this battle is over now, unless you want to continue."
"Of course I do!" Brother Long hollered as he clambered back to his feet, infusing his machete with qi. "Don't look down on me! I know I have lost, but that doesn't mean I am shameless enough to ask you to spare me! Until you finish me off, I'll keep attacking!"
A whirlpool exploded beneath his feet and he surged forward, the jaws of his gigantic shark aura gaping open as if to bite me. Sensing the power behind his blow, I had Da Hai stand down instead of intercepting the blow for me.
"I'll honor his determination by taking his attack head-on myself," I told my spirit beasts. "Thanks, I appreciate your concern, but this is my battle."
They lowered their heads, understanding my intent and respecting the Sea Shark Gang boss.
Even though I said that, I knew I wouldn't be able to get away unscathed if I parry Brother Long's machete with my bow again. And I knew I wouldn't be able to evade in time. Brother Long and his shark aura were swerving about, homing in on me at a fearsome speed, just like a predatory shark in the seas when it sniffed out prey.
Recalling the moment when I first crystalized my qi into a proper spirit sword (or spirit swords), I replicated the instance. Gathering my qi in both hands, I condensed my azure qi into forming that single thin, straight sword that I used against Long Wang during the mindscape battle.
Azure Frost (Cang Bing).
"Oh? You still have a sword? You really are one of those privileged cultivator kids at that stuck-up academy!" Brother Long sneered. "Let's see if whatever you learned in school can measure up to actual combat experience!"
The dude hadn't realized that he already lost, had he? And that I was just giving him some face by not unleashing my summoned spirit beasts on him?
Whatever it was, I parried Brother Long's blow, but the Severe Shark Strike blasted me back, just like before. Fortunately, since I blocked the attack with Azure Frost instead of my bow, I didn't suffer the internal vibrations that would have severely injured me.
Skidding back but unable to halt my momentum, I looked up to see Brother Long lunging once more to deal another blow. Another violent vortex swirled around him, raging water currents swimming around his blade and the shark growing ever larger like an oceanic cloud.
Drawing my bow, I fitted Azure Frost to the bowstring and fired after infusing it with my qi. By overcharging my spirit sword with qi, I basically transformed it into a "Broken Spirit Sword." Well. I'm sure true otaku will catch the reference, but otherwise, it didn't matter.
What mattered was that my sword-turned-arrow broke through the water that was swirling around Brother Long's figure, slaying the shark aura and causing it to shatter into intangible wisps of broken qi, and slammed into his gut. An enormous explosion engulfed him and his frozen form crashed to the ground, caving in the concrete.
"Brother Long!"
"No!"
The wounded loan sharks scrambled for their fallen boss, limping or crawling or staggering, depending on their injuries. However, a single pale hand shot out, gesturing for them to stay back. Brother Long forced himself back to his feet, grimacing as he held his stomach. Mist billowed out from his semi frozen form, continuing to wreak damage upon him. He swayed once and set his steely gaze on me.
"Still want to continue?" I asked, my bow in my hand. Brother Long shook his head and grinned.
"No. With this, I'm convinced of my defeat."
Then he toppled over. And even before his body hit the cratered ground, the screams of police sirens began to fill the air.