Long Wei swiped the air at blurring speeds, snatching one of the attacking Fullreach Academy students by the neck. He dragged him downwards towards his torso. The dazzling white sword slash cut through the student with ease. And the pendant on his neck glowed. His body disappeared in sparkling lights. Meanwhile, the residue force of the slash hit Long Wei's torso with a thud.
Long Wei chose to move two steps backwards as if the attack fazed him. Joshua noticed his backward steps, realizing that he finally found a way to deal with Long Wei. Immediately, he tapped the ground with his toe, slipping into the basic Fullreach Movement art. His body blurred and whooshed all over the place, arriving behind Long Wei within a few seconds. He struck with his sword.
Long Wei craned his neck to the left, narrowly dodging the sword thrust. As he did, the Fullreach students capitalised on his perceived moment of weakness. Three slid, aiming to scissor his legs. The rest came at him from all angles with their weapons. Looking at Elrand, Long Wei gave him a smile.
"Tell your men to use their qi. Otherwise they can consider their trials failed," he chuckled.
Elrand couldn't fathom what was happening. Was he wrong this entire time? Which member of the Dragon Clans was this? Clearly, he wasn't a royal, yet his combat ability sent shivers down his spine. Even Oliver was drenched in sweat. The feeling of his plan backfiring before it even took off was awful. Alresia hid behind Oliver, worried that she might be forced to fight.
"Taking too long," Long Wei's disappointed voice haunted all in the cavern.
Time seemingly slowed down to a halt for Long Wei. The movements of every student within the academy became crystal clear to his senses. Fists that flew towards his face hung in the air, not moving an inch forward. Kicks that came flying from all directions froze in place. And the various swords and sabres that aimed to tear holes through him remained where they were.
He moved.
He arrived in front of a Fullreach Academy student, grasping gently at his throat, and snapping the windpipe with as little force as possible. The sound barely had the chance to escape his lips and Long Wei was in front of the next student. This time a leg was in trouble. He snapped one kick at the kneecaps of the student, shattering them on impact. His figure didn't register within their senses. Hands were destroyed, fingers were broken and necks snapped.
He never forgot Joshua, the wannabe swordsman. With a single step, he stood in front of him. The poor man's face, scrunched up in shock, didn't have enough time to return to its cold expression. He flicked a finger at his prized sword shattering it to a million pieces. Before the immense vibrations could snake to Joshua's hands, Long Wei wrapped a hand around his wrists. He yanked them downwards, bending Joshua's elbows in the direction they were never meant to be bent. Then he struck the man's ankles, lacerating the tendons with a whip kick for good measure. And lastly, wound around him and thrust a punch to his centremost vertebrate.
Time resumed as normal to the onlookers.
Wails, screams and the sounds of blood gushing like thick ropes of water from broken dams robbed the odd silence of the cavern. Blood spurted across the flesh walls, mixing with the oozing slime liquid. Those that were instantly killed disappeared in large masses of light. The unlucky ones remained, simply paralyzed. Joshua couldn't even scream as he disappeared. Large amounts of pain overloaded his psyche in an instant.
Oliver looked on with fear in his eyes. He barely saw what happened. Only a shadow. And everyone he knew was sprawled across the ground, holding their limbs and ankles, screaming in pain. Some of them fainted instantly. Alresia fell onto her buttocks, fear gripping her heart in a vice-like hold. Elrand shivered like a leaf constantly blown by gale-force winds. His already dark face paled countless times further. Oliver held onto his arm, preventing him from unknowingly dunking himself in the pond.
Long Wei dusted his hands, and a gentle smile proudly settled on his face. Not a single drop of blood or sweat drenched him.
He had a little fun.
It wasn't always that he baited people into battling him. Though disappointment still flashed underneath his smile. Was there ever going to be a day when he met his match at all? Feng Tian was the closest thing to him in talent and strength. A few years ago he could trade a few blows with him when they were both in the Heavenly Door Realm, but the gap between them gradually grew. Although there was a chance he could still lose to his cousin should Feng Tian play his cards right. It just wasn't Ike before.
"Forty Heavenly Step Realm cultivators and a Heavenly Door Realm cultivator failed to handle a single Heavenly Door Realm cultivator. You guys must be trash of the trash pile, huh. No wonder I couldn't recognize that insignia," Long Wei walked closer to Elrand, "You are lucky I needed an alchemist. And I am pretty interested in what you discovered. You know. About these ponds. So start speaking. "
"Elrand. Give me the pills. The recovery. And the Blood Ignition Pills. We can't let him use us as labrats," Oliver said.
His plan backfired in the worst way possible. And he planned on fixing it. Surely if he ignited his Qi and Blood essence to the utmost, he could handle a man that was simply using his physical body to fight. He would have been worried had the Qi not been harmful. But his opponent could only use qi sparingly if he still planned on winning this trial. He could capitalize on that.
Elrand's mind couldn't think straight. The shock and fear that soaked his heart were unimaginable. He couldn't place the last time he felt his stomach tumble so many times. He reached into his pocket and took out twelve pairs of pills he created during the few hours they were stuck within the 'belly of the beast'. The qi recovery pills he made from the Human Cauldron System he figured out in conjunction with the pond's liquid. The Blood Ignition Pills were the same. They weren't standard, but a variation he created using the flesh from the cavern walls, mixed with the sealed man's blood and the pond's liquid. They worked almost as good as the real ones, with a few extra side effects.
He tossed them to Oliver who took the Blood Ignition Pills and popped two into his mouth.
"Your grandstand I suppose? Why don't you just surrender? There is nothing difficult about that, is it? And your audience is currently too busy wailing in pain to applaud you," Long Wei offered.
The pill's effects showed itself instantly. Oliver's beige skin reddened like a tomato. Steam emanated from him. Next, he popped three recovery pills into his mouth and hid them in the crevice between his cheeks and teeth. He felt like he was well prepared. He churned his cultivation base. Qi travelled in streams to his arms and legs according to the Celestial Gorilla Arts. One of the strongest gorilla techniques that existed within the Imperial Expanse.
His forearms bulged to insane degrees, gaining at least ten times the previous muscle mass. Thick strands of lean muscle wrapped around his legs. He stomped the ground, launching him towards Long Wei.
"Heaven Shaker!" he chanted underbreath, aiding in the quick redirection of his qi towards his arms.
Coiling his fist backwards, he threw a devastating punch midair, not caring for the various Fullreach Academy students lying near Long Wei. The mere shockwave of punch activated the pendants of tens upon tens of the students, marking their failure of the trial.
To Long Wei, the destructive shock wave did little more than rustle his long hair. His answer to the spirit qi technique was simple.
He raised a palm.
Oliver's fist bulged once more, this time with a gush of sinister red qi that coated it. His fist came crashing into Long Wei's palm with the combined weight of two mortal continents.
The force generated should have wiped the cavern off the map. Yet it didn't. Long Wei cancelled the energy generated with his raw strength and physique, completely unfazed by it.
All energy drained from Oliver's cells the moment he noticed Long Wei's nonchalant stance. The man looked no different than earlier as if all the strength behind his attack was non-existent. He thought fast and dashed back to where Elrand was.
A question popped instantly into his mind. Should he continue?
Maybe he had a better chance if he used more Blood Ignition Pills? Was it worth it to take the risk again? Would this... Wei let him go? Was the surrender worth it? Millions upon millions of thoughts and questions followed after.
If he took too long, the side effects of the pill would show before he did much damage. But if he didn't think it through properly he was bound to lose his chance at completing the Trials. And possibly his chance at starting his future journey in the number one sect within the Imperial Expanse. He made a mistake, thinking he could use Wei to his advantage, not realizing he invited a vicious elephant tiger into a room full of mice.
"A good performance I must say. Do you still want to continue? "