Chapter 88: Backup Arrives?

Chapter 3/3 of the Sponsored Chapters from my very first Patreon, Retexks! Once again, I extend my gratitude for the appreciation shown…

Azalon took a deep breath and his body tensed for battle as the lightning Spirit Energy coursed through his Spirit Veins. His arm muscles vibrated softly as they tried to get in resonance with the tendons in his arms, in preparation for the Infinite Pulse Fists. His smile was full of confidence because he knew what those motes of light he scattered into the wilderness are doing. He just have to wait until his backup arrives. Then, he can leave without worrying about Smith chasing after him as he would become very busy once the backup arrives.

He was filled with anticipation and excitement when he thought about the Spirit Core of the Demon Mountain Ape stored within his Void Ring that could help Awaken his Earth Soul Spirit. If it was successful, then he would have one less Soul Spirit to Awaken. He always had this faint feeling from the day that the nine Soul Spirits formed in his Soul Root, that he had to Awaken all his nine Soul Spirits before he reached the Spirit Core Realm. He didn’t know what the consequences would be if he was not successful in it, but it would not hurt to have more Soul Spirits!

While Azalon was thinking, Smith was also deep in his own thoughts. The first thought that came to his mind when he saw the transformation of Azalon was that he was a Demon but he then cast out that thought almost immediately. Demons don’t have Soul Spirits and this kid’s Soul Spirit, that grey tiger was visible to him clutching on to the kid’s shoulder. How could he be a Demon then?

“Right. The barbarians from the Black Lands! They practise Spirit Cultivation too but they don’t possess the Soul Spirits but inherit a Soul Imprint from their so – called Ancestral Spirits! They can transform into a demi – human state with the traits of the Ancestral Spirit’s Soul Imprint they inherited. Did this kid come across a legacy of one of the cultivators from the Black Lands? But why would a powerhouse of that level leave the Black Lands? As far as I know, that bunch are the most loyal to their homeland and never leave their homes behind and definitely not to die elsewhere. Even if they do, their people would turn the entire world upside down until they retrieve the remains of their clansmen. Then how? How could none of the people from the Black Lands know about this kid?” Questions peppered Smith’s mind.

“Well, it doesn’t matter as long as I can get the hands on the legacy seed this kid possesses. Now that I recall, this kid’s movement technique seems to be high level too. I bet that technique is also one of the legacies he should have inherited. Talk about a jackpot! A Barbarian legacy that no one knows about and the location of the grave of a powerhouse from that mysterious land!” The greed that had been suppressed by the burst of fear and confusion he felt earlier once again resurfaced in Smith’s heart.

He hefted his spear and brought it down towards Azalon’s shoulder like a streak of light. The rune formation on the spear flared into life and the entire spear seemed like a dragon surfacing from the ground with its jaws wide open. Azalon could see a faint image of a dragon envelop the spear as it shot towards him. His eyes became serious and his body blurred as he executed the unpredictable footwork of the Ghostly Illusionary Steps. He appeared dozens of feet away as Smith’s attack missed. Energy rumbled out from the spear and a large crater formed when the spear made contact with the ground.

Azalon’s eyes twitched when he saw the crater with cracks spreading across the ground. His body once again flashed as he continuously retreated but the spear kept coming after him every time. He was constantly dodging but his pupils have long since shining silver as he kept analysing the attack patterns of Smith. Within a few moments, the two exchanged dozens of attacks as the ground became riddled with craters as each and every attack from Smith’s spear missed as Azalon danced around him with his unpredictable Ghostly Illusionary Steps.

“External projection of Spirit Energy and Spirit Immersion too, huh? To think that he can produce this kind of effect with just his cultivation at the fifth level Condensation Realm. Indeed, humans are really the worst enemy to be against compared to Spirit Beasts.” Azalon smiled as excitement filled his mind. With his Beast Vision ability, he could see small streams of energy being transmitted from the ground under Smith’s feet tunnelling into his body, replenishing his own expended energy.

Even though he didn’t know what exactly the reason for this phenomenon but he ventured a guess that this was a sign of the Spirit Immersion which was said to increase the affinity of a cultivator to the maximum limit possible at their current level. With every successful breakthrough to another Realm, this affinity will keep on increasing.

Azalon had not fought against a cultivator till now if you count out the time he had fought Delius back in the Blue Wind City. But how could a scuffle between two Spirit Sense level cultivators be counted as a real fight? So, he was excited to fight with Smith where he could get a proper understanding of his own power too!

“Battle pattern analysis complete. Compiling counter patterns and countermoves based on the data collected. Master, I am transferring the data to your memory.” LILY’s timely response made his smile become even wider.

His eyelids fluttered wildly as he felt a stream of data transmitted into his brain and his body involuntarily faltered in its steps. It was just then that Smith’s spear chasing after him came down at him like a viper baring its fangs! It took just a moment for Azalon to regain his senses but it was already too late to take back his mistake. The spear shaft glowing with runes on its body enlarging in his pupils was the only thing Azalon could see at the moment.

Azalon’s body reacted instinctively and his right hand shot out to catch the spear shaft that was coming at his face. He didn’t think nor did he have the time to think as his hand came into contact with the spear shaft.

Smith’s face which was scrunched up in irritation as he watched his every attack miss till now, immediately lit up with joy when he saw Azalon’s hand move to catch his spear.

“Hahahaha… what an idiot! This kid seems to have become over confident just because he evaded my attacks previously. This spear of mine is an Earth Grade Spirit Weapon! The bones in his hand will be broken or at least fractured and then, I can get my hands on this kid. I will slowly and completely dig out all the secrets this kid possess regarding the inheritance he obtained.” He thought as his face split into a savage grin.

Pah! A small sound echoed out as the spear came into contact with the hand and the hand closed around its shaft.

“Huh? Wha…!!!” Smith’s face which broke out into a grin froze as he looked down at the length of his spear at the small hand that was holding his spear at the other end. The scene he had imagined where Azalon’s hand would be destroyed by his spear with the bones broken was not seen. Instead, Azalon’s hand caught the spear and there was absolutely no reaction from the spear like it was not a powerful Earth Grade Spirit Weapon but simply a normal spear used by mortal armies!

“How… How could it be? How is this possible?” Even Smith, with his experience of mingling with many powerful and influential figures for the past 2 years in the White Deer Academy, was dumbstruck, not willing to believe his own eyes. His eyes darted between the spear he was holding and the small hand holding the spear at the other end. If not for the spiritual connection he had with the spear as well as the sense of the flow of his Spirit Energy through the runes on the spear, he would have really believed that this spear was just a normal spear and not a Spirit Weapon!

It was not that he had seen cultivators catch weapons with bare hands. It was just that those were all people with profound cultivation bases at which stage their body itself was a weapon! But what was the cultivation base of this kid? It was three small levels beneath him and what’s more his weapon was an Earth Grade Spirit Weapon boosted by his own Spirit Energy! It was not his fault that he couldn’t react to the situation that happened before his eyes.

“That… that was close!” While Smith was shocked, Azalon couldn’t help but exclaim in his heart. If that spear had hit him in his face, he would have been definitely injured or even worse completely disabled to fight!

“LILY!!!” He shouted mentally at LILY in his mind.

“Sorry Master! I will be careful to calculate safe timing to transmit any data while in battle.” LILY giggled to cover her mistake and replied in an adoring voice that sounded like a spoilt child begging for forgiveness. “But those gloves of yours are surely tough. To think that they stopped the attack from that spear directly without any damage to your hand!”

Azalon didn’t say anything as he looked down at the faint shimmering outline of the Mountain Crushing Gloves covering his hand. Those gloves would have protected his hand from damage from the Spirit Energy induced in the spear but if not for the fact that his muscles and tendons had been vibrating in resonance in preparation for the Infinite Pulse Fists that nullified the attack, the shockwave alone could have broken the bones in his hand!

When Azalon looked down at the Mountain Crushing Gloves, Smith also looked deeply at the hands of Azalon. He also could make out the faint shimmering of the gloves and waves of shock and greed battered his mind. Those gloves were clearly a Spirit Weapon and if they could stop his Earth Grade Spirit Weapon without being damaged, they should be at least at the Heaven Grade or even higher!

Azalon faintly smiled as he looked up at Smith who still had that shocked expression on his face. “You have had your fun chasing me around waving that spear of yours, didn’t you Senior? Now, will you let this junior of yours have the same fun please?” Azalon’s free left fist shot out accompanied by a drilling sound and landed solidly on the chest of Smith.

Twelve Pulse Infinite Pulse Fists! After that fight with the Netherlake Basilisk where he threw out a Twenty Five Pulse Infinite Pulse Fists, his tendons and muscles reached resonance much easier and also vibrated at a higher frequency making him reach this number of pulses if he used just his Spirit Energy. The only downside was that this was only possible if he used the Lightning Spirit Energy to boost his muscle coordination.

Twelve pulses of fists ran through the chest of Smith, who in his shocked state couldn’t muster up any defence against the sudden attack of Azalon. Smith roared in pain and anger as he felt his chest cave-in as wild energy from Azalon’s fist ran amok in his body. His ribs cracked and his internal organs trembled making him cough up a mouthful of blood. The force of the punch made him fall back a dozen steps before he could stabilise his body, and he couldn’t even maintain his grip on his spear as he left it in Azalon’s hands.

Azalon looked down at the now dull spear in his hands and threw it away where it shot out like an arrow and embedded into a thick tree like a hammered nail. After all, with the Spirit Weapon marked by Smith’s Spirit Energy and blood, the spear wouldn’t accept his Spirit Energy and without the infusion of the Spirit Energy into the weapon it was nothing less than a long stick that was harder than normal sticks. It would be better if he prevented Smith from using it.

“Step 1, separation of the opponent from his Spirit Weapon successful. Moving onto Step 2!” LILY’s voice sounded in his mind and Azalon smiled as he called to his Soul Spirit standing on his shoulder.

“Raka… It’s your turn now. Raka… Raka?” Azalon called out in his mind but what he received was only silence as a reply. He turned his head only to see Raka curled up on his shoulder and his Soul Spirit was sleeping! Azalon stared blankly at Raka and wondered what kind of Soul Spirit he had come to possess.

“Oye, Raka… What are you doing?! Wake up! We are in a battle you know… How could you be sleeping at such a time?” Azalon shouted in his mind and Raka’s eyes opened with a drowsy look. It yawned showing two rows of small but sharp teeth.

“Huh? What are you waking me up for, you weird guy? Don’t tell me you can’t even deal with a little kid of your own age? How pathetic!” Raka yawned once again as he replied to Azalon in his usual pompous and arrogant voice.

“What are you acting so high and mighty, you dumb cat!? Go there and do something useful by suppressing that kid’s Soul Spirit so that he can’t use the Spirit Essence!” Azalon snatched Raka by his scruff and threw him towards Smith while shouting at Raka in his mind.

Raka didn’t expect that he would be thrown like this and hence his small and cute figure flew through the air with his four chubby legs flailing in the air. He landed right on top of the leopard Soul Spirit of Smith and it growled as it tried to attack the tiger cub that landed on its head. Raka was already angry being thrown like that by Azalon and now seeing the Soul Spirit of Smith attack him, he instantly grew mad. He roared and a pressure like a mountain exploded out from his small body and descended onto the leopard spirit.

The brown leopard Soul Spirit was powerful according to traditional terms with the nourishment from Smith’s Fifth Level Condensation Realm cultivation but how could it be compared to Raka, who was a semi – adolescent Soul Spirit that was equivalent to a half – step Spirit Core Realm cultivator? A formless pressure that was not detected by Smith or Azalon erupted out from Raka’s body and descended onto the brown leopard Soul Spirit of Smith like a mountain. The brown leopard that was about to attack Raka was immediately pressed down onto the ground by the pressure, with Raka standing on its head looking smug and proud like a king watching its citizen grovel before him.

Smith who was shocked as he watched at the blood leaking from his chest was once again deeply shocked when he sensed the connection between his Soul Spirit and himself cut off abruptly.

“This… this… how could this be happening? How can my Soul Spirit be suppressed by this kid?! How!??” Smith was practically driven mad as he howled in his mind. Before he had time to react, Azalon’s silhouette flashed and appeared before him like a spectre.

“Step 2, suppression of the opponent’s Soul Spirit successful. Moving onto Step 3, close combat!” With LILY’s voice reporting to him, Azalon’s fist shot out accompanied by that faint drilling sound, making Smith’s hair stand up on its end. The last time he was injured because he was distracted, but this time his Spirit Energy rumbled through his body and a thick brown earthen armour condensed on his body just as the fist descended on his chest.

After being separated from his Spirit Weapon as well as the support from his Soul Spirit, Smith now only possesses the upper hand on Azalon in the Spirit Energy. The battle now took an 180-degree turn where it was now Azalon attacking and Smith defending. Previously, Azalon relied on his Illusionary Ghostly Steps to evade the attacks from Smith but Smith was forced to rely on the defence provided by his Earth affinity to directly bear the brunt of the attacks from Azalon.

It was not that he didn’t possess any movement Spiritual Arts but how could that give him an advantage over Azalon who had already prepared various counter attacks with the help of LILY? Even if Smith moved in an unpredictable way, his Vector Vision would provide him with an instant of time where he could try and evade that move? So, Smith was finally forced to rely on his endurance and bear through Azalon’s attacks.

Boom!!!

Smith retreated ten steps and his entire body trembled as he coughed out another mouthful of blood. Even though he was not injured as his earthen armour bore most of the impact from Azalon’s fist but the earthen armour couldn’t block the wild vibrations in the fist attack as they travelled unimpeded into his body, injuring him from inside out.

“There are too many strange things with this kid! Are all these because of the inheritance he received? But how could an inheritance from a cultivator from the Barbaric Lands that relied on brute force be this strong?!” Smith’s mind was thrown into more and more chaos the more he watched and battled with Azalon. A part of him wanted to retreat but his pride wouldn’t allow him to do so. Otherwise, how could he lift his face if the people from the Academy knew that he had run away from a kid that was three small realms lower than him in cultivation? He would definitely become the laughing stock of the entire Academy!

So he gritted his teeth and continued to endure the battering from Azalon’s fists. He was waiting, waiting for the Spirit Energy of Azalon to run out. After all, compared to him, a Fifth Level Condensation cultivator, the amount of Spirit Energy that Azalon possesses was almost pathetic.

Azalon didn’t care about what Smith was thinking. His entire body was pulsing with a wild excitement as he threw his fists out again and again. The feeling of power rushing through his body and the Spirit Energy running through his Spirit Veins brought an immensely confident feeling to be filled in his heart. But he was still cool-headed and didn’t make a mistake in his attacks as he kept on suppressing Smith with his attacks. Within a few moments, the two of them have exchanged dozens of attacks.

Roooaarrr!!!

Aaaawwwooooo!!!!

Grrrrrrr!!!!

Hooowwwlllll!!!

Just when the battle almost reached a crescendo and Azalon’s lightning Spirit Energy was down to 1/4th of his capacity, waves of roars, growls and hisses reached them and the ground trembled underneath. Tens of Spirit Beasts came running from within the Wilderness and surrounded the two of them. Azalon glanced at the Spirit Beasts growling with bright red eyes and laughed loudly. He jumped abruptly and landed on the branch of a tree.

“Senior, it was fun battling with you, but I have some other small works to care of, like getting my hands on the Spirit Points the Academy will award me once I submit the corpse of the Demon Mountain Ape. How many Spirit Points would you think the Academy is willing to pay for a Class 5 Spirit Beast? Oh, you have no idea huh? Well, let me go and find out! Bye bye… huh?” Azalon’s voice got stuck in his throat when turned around and his eyes went wide filled with astonishment.

Smith was still standing on the ground and he had no idea why these many Spirit Beasts came here to surround him. Even though the Spirit Beasts were almost all Class 1 with an occasional Class 2 among them, they were not something that could hinder him for even one moment. He was a Fifth Level Condensation cultivator! What could some stupid beasts of Class 1 and Class 2 could do to him? It may be different with Azalon who was a freak but these were all Spirit Beasts!

Just as he was about to open his mouth and goad Azalon of his stupidity, he suddenly heard Azalon’s voice.

“Smith, run! Run as fast as you can! I can’t stop them!” Azalon’s voice was slightly panicky and veins could be seen popping on his forehead as though he was exerting some invisible strength.

“I said RUN, YOU IDIOT! DO YOU WANT TO DIE?” Azalon suddenly yelled at the top of his voice. But it was already too late…

It was just then, as Azalon watched with wide eyes, the entire wilderness shook around him when waves after waves of Spirit Beasts poured out. There were numerous Spirit Beasts of all sizes and shapes, wolves, tigers, apes, monkeys, snakes, serpents, spiders, alligators and there were even birds screeching and hooting from above in the skies.

Each of the Spirit Beast was roaring and growling with bright red eyes, clearly in a berserk state but slightly different from the usual berserk state they would enter when enraged. At a glance, the beast horde stretched far into the wilderness where they couldn’t see the end to them. There should be at least a thousand of them with more of them coming in from within the wilderness, swelling the numbers of the horde.

Even Azalon who knew that he was the cause for this beast horde went pale as a chill ran down his spine. The tens of Spirit Beasts that reached first were the low-level Class 1 Spirit Beasts that were in the vicinity and hence they were the first ones to reach them. The real terror was this real horde that was composed of pretty much every Spirit Beast that lived in the area!

“What the hell is going on here? What did I do? What did I do?” Azalon was panicking as he tried to explain the situation to himself. He knew that this was because of the weird energy that was collected from the drop of blood using the Capacitor Array and he was aware that he had influenced the Spirit Beasts through that red beam of light shot from his third eye but even he never expected that the count of the Spirit Beasts would reach such a high number! And the order he had given to the Spirit Beasts through the red beam of light was to help him fight his enemy! But with this number of Spirit Beasts pouncing on you at the same time, how could it be a simple help? They would tear Smith into pieces!