Uehara had long since been curious about cultivators. In fact, he'd been observing the young man since he entered the building. During this time, he finally started to grasp what makes cultivators different from shinobi and martial artists.
Unlike shinobi and martial artists, cultivators use qi, which is what they call nature energy. For humans, absorbing nature energy without significantly large reserves of chakra or ki would make it hard for them to flush it out. Even then, storing nature energy in the body is close to impossible for them as their energy cores can't contain such a pure energy.
This is where cultivators differ. Cultivators have what is called a spirit root which will allow them to convert the absorbed nature energy into something similar to nature chakra, called qi, Although the quality of this qi is more inferior than the nature chakra demons, Sakura and Chizuki use, it is still above average chakra. This flaw for cultivators though is that their method of gaining strength causes them to be much slower than shinobi or martial artists.
But the reason why cultivators are so respected and feared is because they have a chance to become immortal. All that nature energy they absorb increases their strength as well as lifespan, making them so respected everywhere.
This method of gaining strength was first discovered by the Chinese long ago. But since time passed, other countries such as Japan were able to learn how to utilise this form of gaining strength. Since then, immortal clans started appearing with patriarchs having lived centuries.
Although these types of clans rarely interacted with the public, everyone knew they existed and could wipeout the Fuma clan within a day.
Uehara was very interested in what would happen next.
Going to the balcony, he opened the glass door and grabbed the railings.
"Come watch with me Sakura."
"Yes Aoki-sama."
For all purposes, Sakura was interested as well in seeing a cultivator. Leaning on the balcony, she let out a giggle when she finally focused on the young cultivator.
[Weak. In terms of energy, even I had more when I unlocked the first path and mine was much purer.]
When the young man heard the giggle, he redirected his gaze from the Fuma clan to Sakura and in an instant, his expression of anger simmered away a bit as he asked.
"What are you laughing at?"
Sakura giggled a bit.
"Nothing~ It's just that even though you're a cultivator, you're weaker than most of the martial artists and shinobi here. That qi you so violently released in order to intimidate us has already drained your reserves by more than half. That's why I'm laughing. It's because you're stuupiid~"
The young man's expression grew colder as nervousness threatened to throttle him. Seeing how the killing intent blared down on him from all over, he knew his cover was blown.
He gazed at Sakura with pure killing intent on his face.
"Wash your neck and wait for me!"
As he was about to run, he suddenly lost balance and fell over face-first into the ground.
Then, he heard a cold, childish voice speak next to him.
"Showing killing intent against my person? That's one way to seek death."
After a while, he felt a stinging breeze on his knees.
[Knees?!]
He hesitantly turned his head back and what he saw scared him more than anything.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"
His legs were sliced off and only now did he register the pain. His calves were still standing upright like two bricks while he was on the ground, bleeding out from where his calfs were connected to his knees.
It was also only now that everyone was finally able to see what was going on. In less than a second, the young man had went from preparing to run to being completely crippled. And what scared everyone the most was that there was a boy who was looking down at the young cultivator.
Half of the boy's face was covered by the collars of his black coat and his eyes were glowing a bright golden-yellow.
The Fuma clan shinobi that were about to pounce on the cultivator immediately halted their steps, fear being reflected on their faces. They were very clear that what happened just now should've been impossible. In less than an instant, their target had their calves separated from the rest of their body and a golden-eyed boy with long hair was standing next to him.
Tachibana Hayanari looked at the sight before him with fear. He has battled many warriors and assassins. He's even fought against cultivators before and many freaks of nature. But never before had he seen such speed that he couldn't even see what happened right in front of his eyes.
Looking at his men who were ready to withdraw their weapons, he spoke quietly to them.
"Don't. Even. Think about it."
Kasuga Tsubone was afraid. Deathly afraid. She knows of the hidden clans that exist in Japan so the appearance of a cultivator didn't surprise her in the slightest. No, what scared her was this five-year-old boy.
Tsubone had a special skill that she had told no one about. She had the eyes of insight. These unique eyes of her would allow her to gauge the strength of an existence. Using these eyes, she was able to see who was a potential threat to her, who could possibly betray her amongst her confidants and how powerful a certain enemy was.
Right now, she only took a glimpse at Uehara and she felt like a heavy mountain was about to crush her. When her servants saw her suddenly go into a panic attack, they rushed to help her.
"Lady Tsubone!"
"What's wrong madam?!"
On the other side of the auction hall, Fujiwara Michinaga was standing on the balcony with his escorts and some notable people from his clan.
He looked at the spectacle below him and his hands couldn't help but tremble when he remembered how Uehara has entered his shop and demanded a scroll.
He couldn't help but praise his intuition at this moment as he wiped of some sweat off his brows.
[Thankfully, I was smart enough to swallow my pride and not offend this boy.]
Sakura looked at the scene below her with a smile.
[Aoki-sama called me his person!]
If it wasn't for the current setting and not wanting to disgrace Uehara, she would've jumped for joy right then and there.
[I'm definitely going to brag about this to nee-san!]
Uehara looked at the cultivator positioned below his feet.
"Despite disrupting the proceedings of this auction, I was willing to overlook it. But on top of wasting my time…"
He released a dense amount of killing intent that caused blood to come out of the seven orifices of the cultivator.
"...you dared to threaten my person?"
The cultivator felt pure dread at the moment. The special speed-type talismans plastered on his calves were rendered useless. He never expected that after getting permission to experience the world, he'd meet such a fate.
He couldn't even muster enough strength to utter a single word at that moment. He could only feel his lifeforce wane as he continued to lose more and more blood.
Unfortunately, before he could even embrace the arms of death, that terrifying childish voice echoed in the hall.
"I have no cares for who you are or who is behind you. They'll die all the same."