Chapter 28 - Settling Loose Ends

"You're not precise enough," Yang laughed and smashed his fist into his sister's solar plexus. She doubled over and fell to the ground, coughing and rasping for air. "It's been a week, and you still rely too much on your speed. The only good thing you've done is reach the level of Understanding Darkness."

"Did you kill your fifteen magical beast quota for the day?" Guan Hai asked as he appeared.

"Those things? Too easy," Yang laughed, his mastery of the spear clearly advanced. "What is the status of the others?"

"Sun Yi and Lu Jing have entered the late Spirit Forming Stage, Guo Mei reached the peak, and Guo Lin is currently preparing to break into the Elemental Adept Stage," Guan Hai said. "Sima Qing has already reached the initial Elemental Adept stage," he added.

"No doubt she used her resources as a daughter of the imperial family. Not only that, she must be one of the emperor's children with a Yin Yang Divine Tattoo. The emperor... I forgot about him. Perhaps, in the future, the hierarchy of the palace should undergo some... changes," Yang grinned.

The next day, Yang was resting in his room when his sister burst in. Her face was pale, and she was obviously wounded, as he saw her bloodied arms. The veil that covered her face was ripped but still hid her facial features.

Yang knew Mei only wore it when she had to hunt souls. Lately, she had been killing to collect souls. It seemed she was plotting something with the souls. However, she was injured this time.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I was killing three homeless people to devour their souls and convert them into my Spirit Realm. With enough souls, I can enter the third cultivation stage. However, I did not expect to encounter a noble who was hellbent on exacting justice. It seemed he was an uncle of one of the people who were poisoned to death. He came from out of town and thought I was the perpetrator," Mei answered.

"And he's following your blood trail here. Shit," Yang cursed. "You go bandage up and rest. Leave the idiot to me. Did anyone see you?"

"Him and four others. They are all at the Elemental Adept Stage, and he is a forty-something man at the Meteor Vessel Stage. He seemed tired from racing here from another continent, from what I gleaned. He is resting with the four in a luxurious manor with red tiles in the northern district," she answered and quickly left.

"Meteor Vessel plus four. There are also servants to consider. Moon Scale and Shadow Fang, we're going hunting," Yang said, and the two hydras hissed and followed their master out. Yang willed the blood into his hand. Slowly, the blood trail formed a sphere as he followed the trail. He arrived at the spot where Mei had escaped and saw several bloodstains and cracked walls along the road.

He covered the whole area with water, saving only the space around him and his hydras. He focused lightning into his feet and stomped, causing the lightning to spread and enter the water. Sizzling sounds were heard as the whole area was electrocuted. He breathed on the water, and it froze, shattering into countless pieces as he snapped his fingers.

Whatever evidence remained only existed in the blood sphere floating above his free hand. Very few were capable of what he did due to his Understanding of the Elements. He also had his hereditary memories and his own centuries of memories.

He condensed the blood sphere, hardening it until it became a metal ball of blood. He opened his mouth, and the spirit energy seemed to drain from the blood ball. It slowly shriveled and vanished as it lost all its spirit energy. The blood from the area, before he destroyed the evidence, did not only contain her blood. It seemed his sister had wounded one of the four near the noble.

This was good because he had the man's blood. Fresh blood from a practitioner was different from that of magical beasts. They could memorize and track the spirit energy signature of the person whose blood was lost. He ran through the streets, killing a guard who saw him and left the corpse to his hydras as he arrived in front of the red-tiled house. The hydras appeared a few minutes later while he was lost in thought about how to proceed.

"Master," the hydras said as they dipped their heads and saw Yang grin.

"Take these vials and throw them into every window you see. Do not break the vials in your mouths," Yang warned.

"What do the vials do?" the hydras asked.

"Some contain itching powder, some contain gases that cause uncontrollable crying, some cause paralysis, and most are lethal," Yang answered as he made dozens of vials appear before them. "Go nuts."

Yang rushed into the front yard as the vials flew into the air. He teleported behind each guard and beheaded them before they could notice. Not even the maids and servants outside the house were spared as he watched the vials break through the windows.

Crashing and screaming began to resound, and Yang spread out his spirit energy over the house. Soon, mirrors of light appeared as sweat poured down his brow. The mirrors began to vibrate, and all sounds were cut off from the outside. The mirrors slowly merged to form an invisible dome over the house. His hydras stopped flinging vials as they ran out and quickly ran to their master's side.

"Breathe your poison inside and send your spirit energy into me to seal the dome," Yang ordered, and the hydras released toxic purple fumes from their mouths into several holes that appeared before their heads. The poison could not escape the dome and entered the house through the broken windows. The hydras began to pour their spirit energy into Yang as the dome shrank and forced the poisonous fumes inward.

"Fuck. Not lethal enough," Yang cursed as he sensed one man inside manifest spirit energy. The house shook and exploded as a bleeding man emerged from the explosion, cracking the dome with his two swords. Yang and his hydras were sent flying after the man struck the dome three more times, shattering it.

"Get rid of the poisons and the bodies. I'll handle the Meteor Vessel practitioner," Yang ordered and raced toward the man with his Moon Lotus Spear in hand.

"You runt! You challenge me at your cultivation level?" the man roared, and his two swords clashed with Yang's spear. Yang felt his arms numb as he was sent back ten steps and crashed backward.

"Hmph. Just wait until one particularly nasty vial's effect takes hold," Yang muttered as he readied his spear. He teleported around the man, stabbing and slashing with his spear. He paused momentarily as the man missed and stomped his feet, causing tiny spikes of earth to appear and pierce the bottom of the man's feet.

"Fuck," the man cursed and was about to leap back when Yang used his Paralysis Mist Breath Art. The man breathed some of the poisonous mist and felt his muscles slow down. Yang took the opportunity to use his Moon Slicer Art to create more wounds. He lowered himself into a stance, covering his spear with rock. He leapt forward, using lightning to increase his speed.

"Stone Breaker Art, explode!" Yang roared as he detonated the rock around the spear, hitting the man square in the chest. The man screamed as the rock fragments pierced his chest in multiple places. Yang tossed aside his spear and grabbed the man's arm, twisting it. The man cried out as his back was turned, and Yang put his free hand on the man's head.

"Coiling Spirit Drain Art," Yang growled and started to drain the spirit energy from the man. He quickly released his hand, only to use his other hand as the man frantically swung his arm backward. Before the man could leap back, Yang performed a push kick followed by a sweep kick to knock the man to the ground.

Yang used the Stone Breaker Art around his feet and jumped on top of the man, impaling him with his feet that had turned into two lethal spears of stone. "Impossible," the man gasped as he realized he could not recover his spirit energy over time.