Chapter 26 - Unwanted Guests

"That Guan Hai's a demon," Jing said as he and Sun Yi laid back on the ground, exhausted. "Two weeks, and all he's done is force us to run around the school with that accursed tiger. I swear it smiles every time it draws blood from us."

"We're better off than Yang," Lin said, pointing behind him. "Yang has to fight three magical beasts of the same cultivation at the same time."

"At least he gets to keep the magical cores from the beasts he kills," Mei sighed as she and the three others arrived. They looked back and saw Yang impale an elephant magical beast from beneath its trunk. The elephant shrieked once before Yang twirled in the air and impaled it through the side of its head. Beside them lay two tigers, one with its head bleeding a few feet from its body.

"Seeing that still scares the hell out of me. Just how can he do that?" Jing muttered as they saw Yang rip the core from the elephant's head and take a bite out of it as if it were an apple.

"I can honestly say I have never seen such a barbaric way of absorbing spirit energy from a magical core," Shen Hua agreed. "He's getting better with the spear. It seems more natural than when he fought Shen Dong."

"Mei, where did the professor train you?" Lin asked, as she was the only one not running after three days.

"I was sparring with Yang. Teacher said I have more spirit energy than all of you, save Yang. However, I lacked fighting experience. Yang beat my skin black and blue for two hours before resuming his individual training," Mei answered. "I also learned more about lightning. Lightning is fast, but it also has destructive power. Teacher has been training me to utilize the power of lightning along with its speed. I literally have to strike the dummies multiple times."

"Those can only be destroyed by someone of the Meteor Vessel Stage. Cultivation weaker than that would only make tiny scratches, which are immediately repaired with ease," Sun Yi noted. "It can repair any damage of that level, as it is not strong enough."

"I know. I was forced to keep striking the same spot over and over again. Slowly, I can feel my sword harness the power of lightning. I need to condense it into one point and make it burst wildly at the intended target," Mei agreed.

"You're not at the level to combine the fast aspect of lightning with the destructive aspect of thunder. Lightning and thunder are one and the same, but are also different. Focus on the strength aspect before you fuse them into the destructive aspect," Yang sighed as he appeared, unable to endure her ignorance.

"You know about that?" Shen Dong asked, surprised. He himself specialized in the strength aspect of thunder.

"These are the laws of the elements. I reached the level of Understanding the Elements in all elements. However, I am currently able to only use three," Yang said.

"Wait, we can gain more element attributes?" Lu Jing asked.

"Do you have a high-ranked Divine Tattoo?" Yang asked.

"No. I have the low-ranked one," Lu Jing muttered silently, with Sun Yi also nodding.

"Then my special method is impossible for you. Even if you qualified that requirement, your Spirit Realm could not endure it. Only I can do it," Yang grinned.

"It's not possible unless you drain the spirit energy of a legendary artifact," Shen Dong shook his head.

"Mei, what is the one element practitioner art I use that you hate the most?" Yang asked.

"Coiling Spirit Drain Art. That light element art drains the spirit energy from my very blood," she answered.

"Precisely that element art. You see, draining spirit arts are incredibly dangerous and more powerful than they seem. If your body is blessed by the Divine Tattoo, or my own unique method (the neidan), then you can take the element art a step further and literally drain the soul along with the spirit energy. Refine the soul in the Spirit Realm to gain the talent of the victim. Fight against Heaven's Will to possess talent above your birth and fate," Yang said.

"Draining the soul?!" they all cried, paling with fear.

"We've been fighting for a long time, me using this element art on you many times. Tell me, dear sister, do you hunger lately?" Yang grinned.

"What do you mean? Of course I get hungry. I eat my meals and... oh," Mei gasped, with Lin also stunned in shock.

"You really should thank me. Well, I thanked myself," Yang said, holding up his free right hand while the left held the spear loftily. Blue lightning crackled on his fingertips, different from Mei's black lightning.

"It's blue?" Lin frowned. "Wait, that's the lightning attribute!"

"I don't need to kill someone if their innate talent is extremely high. Mei has a high-ranked Divine Tattoo," Yang began lying about Mei's Yin Yang Divine Tattoo. "Naturally, I just need to siphon enough of her soul to make her talent mine. However, her Spirit Realm has a particularly resistant aspect."

"The Eye of Darkness," Lin and Mei thought.

"The blue lightning is due to it being unnatural, and my highest element affinity is water. After all, most poisons are like mists or liquid in nature. It is obvious that poison and water elements have a symbiotic relationship. After all, the body is mostly water, and the poison always involves the blood or organs, which is liquid or sustained by it," Yang grinned. "If I used the Coiling Spirit Drain Art on someone else, it would take many lives. Many lives. It wouldn't be a problem though. It is easy to make enemies."

"You have the potential to learn all element attributes?" Guan Hai asked as he appeared.

"No, no. That is impossible. The world is made of Yin and Yang energy. The world itself is made of fire, water, wind, and earth. In ancient times, they believed it to be made of five elements. Those five elements were fire, water, wood, earth, and metal," Yang said.

"Eh? Five elements, and metal is one of them?" Lu Jing asked.

"Yes. Wood feeds Fire, Fire creates Earth, Earth bears Metal, Metal strengthens Water, and Water nourishes Wood. Five elements that benefit each other. They can also harm each other. Wood parts Earth, Earth dams Water, Water extinguishes Fire, Fire melts Metal, and Metal chops Wood. These are the ten basic relationships between the elements that also cross with the other elements. Those elements are what breathe life on the planet. The other elements are just a result of those clashes. Nowadays, people assume it is the wind, as many dream of flight like the birds and dragons. Earth does bear metal, and people classify the ore as part of the earth. That is why people assume there are only four basic elements," Yang answered.

"It does make sense," Sun Yi said. "Since you are saying Yin and Yang energy make up the world and the world is created through five elements; then you refer to the body as the world?"

"Precisely," Yang said. "The body can only contain two types of spirit energy. Any more and it breaks. The world is made of five elements, so the practitioner can only have five element affinities at most. I now have four: earth, water, light, and lightning."

"I also plan to find a fragment of the Elemental Sovereign of Lightning to augment my power," Yang thought but did not say it aloud.

"How do you know this?" Guan Hai asked.