Chapter 440: A Party Broken by a Quill

When the quill pierced the young man, the crowds reacted with shock and horror. Despite all their gasping and commentary, the cultivators weren't stupid: many of them saw the projectile and traced its path to the bottom of the hill.

Where Kai was nowhere to be seen.

He had been sorely tempted to release more quills, potentially devastating the pack of young masters and their guards, but he judged that confusion was better than a direct fight. Even if he thought he could take on the Sky Souls and all their Earth Soul guards at once, that wouldn't necessarily be in his best interest. So the instant the quill left his body, he moved into the crowd.

Moving purposefully in the opposite direction would only draw attention to him, so Kai pretended to be retreating while he stared along with everyone else. He was far from the only one, and it gave him the perfect excuse to monitor the scene atop the hill.

Based on the blood, his target would not be getting up. He took a perverse satisfaction in seeing that the women he'd been groping didn't even attempt to check on him, they just fled. Some of the other young masters did try to help, mostly uselessly.

On the other hand, Grandpa Wan had shifted almost immediately to defend Yul Wei Ren, so even if Kai had attempted another projectile, it wouldn't have landed. Which left the question of Xir Xan Khan...

Who was gone.

Kai felt the attack descend on him and was barely prepared to dodge. A column of purple qi erupted from the soil where he'd been standing, radiating an aura that struck Kai and pushed him back several paces. Cultivators all around him began coughing up blood or keeling over, which meant that just staying on his feet drew attention.

Not that it would matter: Xir Xan Khan landed in the wake of his attack with his eyes focused fully on Kai.

"This doesn't feel like a local vendetta," he said icily. "Too competent for that."

"I killed my only target." Kai began lying on instinct, hoping he'd absorbed enough from Omilaena to pull it off. "Stay out of my way and there's no reason for you to get hurt."

"No, I don't think so." Xir Xan Khan waved one hand and suddenly more purple qi flooded around him. This time it didn't appear as a column, but rather an arc that spiraled around him, faster and faster until it seemed to grow, filling a radius of several paces.

More cultivators began coughing up blood and Kai felt as though a force was pressing against him on all sides. A year ago that might have taken him off guard, but he was prepared for presence techniques now and activated Banchlain's Aura.

The fear flooded out, and more importantly, it dominated the space around him. It drove back the royal purple aura and Xir Xan Khan's eyes widened, then he smiled. His own aura seemed to control the air in the center of the vortex, so his clothes and hair weren't even moving despite the power that was tearing up plants and knocking over people.

"Not bad, but this is just the beginning."

A second purple arc joined the first, intensifying the aura. Banchlain's Aura flickered slightly but didn't give way: now that it was a competition between aura techniques, Kai wasn't going to lose so easily. He wanted to use Void Gaze, but realized that getting locked into a direct struggle would be a mistake. Every cultivator with sense had noticed their battle and was spreading out to attack, so soon he'd be taking techniques from all sides.

Instead of any other abilities, Kai simply focused on a single Manticore's Quill. He concentrated everything he could into it, drawing on his mana instead of the qi that was dominated by his opponent's technique. Then, as easily as before, he let the quill leap from his body.

At the last second his opponent's confident expression vanished. He jerked his head aside barely in time and the spike cut across his cheek.

As Xir Xan Khan stumbled a step back, his presence technique barely faltered, but his eyes were wide. Kai realized that, until the very last moment, he had truly believed that he would win easily. It was that shock, more than the pain or the poison, that had disabled him.

Instead of continuing a fight that wouldn't benefit him, Kai leapt into the air and pulled a flying sword from his spatial ring just in time to land on it. He had planned to glide away, leading them all on a chase in the opposite direction of the barrier wall, but before he could begin, presence techniques hit him from every side.

Half the young masters now had crowns of qi shining over their heads, trying to dominate the area. Some of the presence techniques clashed with one another, making cultivators cough up blood, but the competent ones were all coordinating with one another. Soon over a dozen techniques slammed into Kai from all sides to pin him in place.

And Banchlain's Aura resisted them all.

Kai knew his eyes must be burning as his monstrous essence leapt to the surface, eager to consume the competition. His aura wasn't strong enough to overwhelm the presence techniques, but it felt completely solid, as if the offensive auras were no more than water sliding harmlessly over him. How far could he train it, in a clash like this? How much stronger could he make the aura?

But there was no time for that, not when he had more practical concerns. He might be personally untouched, but the leaves around his neck were crumbling and he had to assume that the illusion was falling as well, meaning that all the young masters now knew his face. He'd created a far larger distraction than intended, so the question now was if he could pull it off.

"I recognize him!" Kan Jin Kung was using his Flowing Crown along with the others, but had enough stamina to reach out to point at him. "This barbarian was sneaking into our lands, dishonoring our women!"

Dammit, of all the reputations he could have gotten, why was that the one that stuck? In addition to all the auras flooding in his direction, Kai saw a lot of vicious glares as well. It might have irritated him, if he didn't remember everything that Zae Zin Nim had told him previously. No, he wouldn't let these cultivators try to shame him, especially over false accusations.

"You're the one dishonoring them!" Kai thrust out a finger toward the hill and was grimly satisfied to see how many flinched. "Yul Wei Ren, you dishonored my junior sister, and for that, you will pay!"

For once, Yul Wei Ren was completely speechless. His immortal body might make him superior to normal people, but in a conflict of this level, he was pinned to his couch and seemed to have lost control of his bladder. A lot of attention shifted toward him, and Kai could only hope that he'd muddied the waters enough.

Then he realized that he'd been looking at the wrong place.

Grandpa Wan slammed into him, piercing all of the auras with physical presence alone. The blow sent Kai spiraling downward, crashing through one of the garden's outer walls. He fell in a tumble of stone and was just starting to get up when the old man stomped down on his chest.

But Kai was much more durable than the old cultivator was used to and grabbed his leg with both hands. As the man's eyes widened in shock, Kai swung him back, shattering another of the walls.

He leapt up, trying to end the battle, but his opponent recovered with surprising speed. For a time they struck at one another, exchanging blows that demolished wall after wall of the sect headquarters. It took them several exchanges to realize that neither one could easily win a contest of strength, and more importantly, that they weren't doing any good slamming each other into normal stone.

Kai realized it first, and when his opponent wound up for an obvious but powerful kick, decided to take the blow head on. He blocked it on his crossed arms and didn't try to anchor himself, just let it send him backward. After crashing through another roof, he sailed far from the sect headquarters.

In midair he twisted and pulled out another flying sword to make good his escape. He had a brief moment to look back over the sect... the destroyed sections, the chaotic garden, even Nymidria's boughs. No one seemed to have reacted fast enough to catch up, not since he had put so much space between him and the sect walls.

Or so it seemed, until a blue streak of light raced after him.

Grandpa Wan materialized from it just overhead, already swinging a fist. Kai deflected the blow and tried to grapple, but the blows quickly took him off his flying sword. They tumbled into the air... then his opponent dissolved again.

The streak of light arced away and back to him, much faster and more efficiently than any of the other cultivators Kai had fought. He had just long enough to admire the technique before it slammed him toward the ground again, smashing through a hill and into a crater.

Kai got to his feet, Behemoth's Heart pounding in his chest - not to recover, but in anticipation. His Physique seemed to be resonating in response, almost as if he was reaching another breakthrough. That didn't make sense to him, but he'd never fought a qi-using opponent who was so powerful, so he just reacted on instinct.

When he set his feet, they began to transform into claws, and he could feel the rest of himself beginning to shift as well. Grandpa Wan didn't try to attack him using his flight technique again, some instinct leading him to arc down to the ground in front of him.

This wasn't the fight he should be starting. Of all the cultivators in the garden, this old man was the one he least wanted to kill. But oh, another part of him hungered for it.