[3rd POV]
When one practiced the art of cultivation, one could gain longevity by increasing thier lifeforce through mediation. And also by strengthening their body through circulating chi inside of thier body and taking in the energy of the world.
But one interesting thing about lifeforce was that not only could it lengthen your lifespan, it could also increased a person's endurance by a mile. For example, if you had a lifeforce that should last you for two hundred years, you could heal from injuries by sacrificing your lifeforce.
That was how you lose lifeforce as well. By sustaining injuries in battle, you would lose your lifeforce at the cost of healing from said injury. If you let it heal gradually, the life force you lose diminished but if you want a fast regeneration, you would have to sacrifice more of your life force.
Most practitioners often do this in battle as they could just regain the lost lifefroce by cultivating more later, after ensuring their survival.
So if someone had a huge amount of lifeforce, they could survive their head being chopped off. Like a game character who would not die from one single attack - no matter how lethal. You would have to chip down his HP first.
A similar situation happened to Samudragupta as he escaped death with a hair's breadth. His life force had plummeted to such a degree that for the first time in centuries, he felt like a mortal..
"You are like a cockroach." Tai Lung remarked as he looked at Samudragupta who was kneeling down, clutching his body which was showing his bones due to the flesh being scraped off by the revolving ball of energy called the Rasengan.
Samudraguta looked at Tai Lung with defiance in his eyes. His breath came in rapid puffs that constantly created a gust of air.
"Nevertheless, can you take two more rasengans?" Tai Lung asked with an evil smirk as he put his arms up and two resengans appeared on both of his palms.
Samudragupta took a deep breath and swallowed his ego. He was the inferior one, he finally realized. The truth was hard to swallow and it felt like he just swallowed a cactus.
But he needed to do what he could to survive this. The power of a king was not only his individual power but also his army.
So he took a deep breath that almost exploded his lungs and he trumpeted soundly. The sound echoed throughout the city and it was a signal his soldiers have been waiting for.
He had asked to be left alone to fight Tai Lung but now that the fight was concluded, it was finally time to start the real battle.
He was not here for a duel.
He was here for war.
"Calling for help?" Tai Lung said, ridicule almost ozzed out of his words.
"That's plenty of time to kill you!" Tai Lung said and leapt at Samudragupta who exploded with the last of his strength. He needed to get away from Tai Lung as quickly as possible.
*BOOOM!!!*
Tai Lung slammed one Rasengan on the place Samudragupra was previously kneeling down. He clicked his tongue at the fact that he missed and then he pounced again.
Rasengan was a complicated technique that needed constant focus. This was also the reason why he was unable to use it against Mighty Eagle.
His speed was immensely slowed down as he was also unable to use flash steps which allowed the king to run away.
He had never run away before. Samudragupta took a great leapt and got out of the crater carved on the ground before he started retreating. He gritted his teeth at the humiliation but he carried on.
But then his danger sense developed through many centuries came to life and he leapt at the side again. Tai Lung crashed on the ground like a missile and barely missed him. The shockwave sent Samudragupta to stumble but he was still on his feet.
Then an instinct he never knew he had kicked in. The instinct of a weaker animal to run away from its predator.
He ran.
"Fucking coward hahahaha!!" Tai Lung laughed as he watched Samudragupta's back. The foreigners really had absolutely no honour.
But then, as he tried to follow after Samudragupta - this time without the rasengan - he heard the familiar sound which had been quiet for a while.
*Ting-Ding-Ding*
Gravity cursed at him as he felt his body getting heavier by many times over. He was powerful enough that it looked like there was no effect but if one looked closely, they would see his feet sinking on the broken ground.
"Mei!!" Tai Lung roared, shifting his focus from the fleeing enemy as he searched for the human.
"This is getting annoying." He said.
*Ting-Ding-Ding*
He felt his body suddenly feeling fatigued as his muscles tensed up. He grabbed his head and focused on the feeling. He felt her chi commanding his and he tried to resist that command.
He won't let her affect him.
So with a great spike of his chi and a small burst of conquerors haki, he did what have been thought to be impossible for many generations.
He resisted the command of a human.
Tai Lung released a sigh and cracked his neck. He now felt free from the clutches of gravity and his body returned to normal. But he frowned deeply when he felt the amount of chi he had left.
He had already used up a quarter. The act of resisting Mei's power surprisingly costs a substantial amount of chi.
He needed to get serious or he would be in trouble.
He opened his eyes and noticed that Samudragupta was far long gone to catch up. He was annoyed but knew he would kill the king soon so he was not too worried.
He looked around for a place with high elevation but most buildings and towers had already collapsed. So he opted to fly into the air using air bending as he looked around.
They were coming at him from all sides.
The thousand-strong forces of the Gutpa Empire which were full of experienced elephants and the three thousand strong Tibetan armies were closing on him too. He also noticed the city guard on the walls, carefully maintaining the net that was made to trap him inside the city.
That net was insulting. He did not need to run away from the likes of them.
"Well then, let's get started." Tai Lung said.
Massacring armies was just the average Tuesday for him. He had done this more often than he could count. From the day he first hit puberty, he had fought armies.
*TIng-Ding-Ding*
The sound of Mei's bell rang out again but this time, Tai Lung felt no change in his body. But he definitely noticed how the sound of the bell enhanced the body of all the Tibetan armies.
So it was a race against time, Tai Lung thought to himself
He shall slaughter them all before they get too powerful and annoying.
Tai Lung used flashsepts and turned the air into a soldid foothold to bounce off at the speed of a bullet. Then he crashed straight into the western part of the city.
With black claws that seemed to swallow the light around it, Tai Lung rushed at the enemy using the dragon claw technique.
He swung his arm around at a blinding speed that made his arm completely disappear to the naked eye. But the result was devastating as everything was cut, even the soldiers of Tibet.
But the problem lies in the elephants from the Gupta Empire.
"Hoh~" Tai Lung trailed playfully while looking at his claw and then back to the remaining soldiers who were all elephants. There was not a single scratch on thier body even though the technique was supposed to cut everything.
"You are all like him."
..
..
"Interesting."
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[3rd POV]
"Are you alright?" The general of Tibet asked as he went towards Samudragupta.
"Do I look alright to you?" Samudragupta reapodes in anger as he released his exposed muscles and bones.
"I have underestimated him greatly." Samudragupta admitted.
The strongest warrior in the world.
Tai Lung might just be worthy of that title.
"So what are we going to do next?" The tiger general asked.
"We need to tire him out." Samudragutpa said, "He had a decent amount of chi but he did not have them stored inside his body like us cultivators do. He will tire out soon and at that moment, I will strike again."
"But for now, I need to heal myself and get ready for the next confrontation," Samudragupta said and sat down on top of the building where he could oversee the battle.
Then he proceeded to start cultivating. He circulated his chi inside his body in such a manner that it also slowly pulled in the chi of the surroundings. The place was not abundant with chi like the place he usually cultivates but this would have to do.
He also took a few pills and he continued, his wounds healing at a speed visible to the eye.
Next time, he would take back his honour.
.
.
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Author : I have returned!! And this time with two chapters