45 In Body And Soul

*Things like sexism and racism are purely for worldbuilding and to make it more realistic. Thank you for your understanding.*

The terrifying stature of the humongous monster crashed to the ground and rumbled the very earth. For a few hundred meters, mortals were awoken from their slumber and shuddered as they thought the earth was crumbling.

Little Jiang had a smile across his face as he saw the monster hit the floor, its gigantic wings sprawled about haphazardly and twitching from time to time.

He was not at all shocked that he, a Stage 5 cultivator, could not instantly kill the beast. After all, his eyes shone with a golden-red lustre as he passively peered through the World of Laws. He could see the true strength of the monster, and so could Boss Zheng.

A huge golden mass of the Law of Strength was what Little Jiang gazed down upon. A Law of Strength worth of an Early Stage 5 cultivator. However, looking down at his own body, he knew himself to still be stronger than the monster.

"Jiang." A stern reminder came from Zheng as he saw the amused smile on Jiang's face. Zheng knew that the monster was far from defeated. The Law of Strength within its body surged incohesively and uncontrolled. If harnessed, that strength could give even them a foe to take seriously.

"Yeah, yeah." Jiang waved his hand to Zheng, and even though he still had a smirk on his face, his limbs shook with nervousness and excitement as if he was in a real battle. He did not make it this far to underestimate anybody, no matter how small.

Jiang walked towards the monster that lay shuffling about on the ground as if it was disorientated. Smoke was rising from its upper chest, close to its neck, and ugly burnt skin showed where the explosion had hit. However, it was far from a lethal wound.

Walking forward, however, Jiang suddenly halted as he sensed the Laws abruptly shift within the monster. He took a few paces backwards and stood not far from Zheng, sending him a glance and seeing him ready himself.

They weren't so foolish as to approach it now. After all, they could feel it waking up.

"It's awake." Jiang said aloud while moving away from Zheng and encircling the monster. His veiny fingers tensed and a small speck of red was growing in the centre of his palms.

"Don't approach it yet. I can feel it looking at me." Zheng, who put his weight on his back foot, said loudly; as if to irk the beast. He saw the chalk-white skin of the monster spasm like a cat's; the similarly chalk-white, and thus indiscernible, fur-like hair of the monster standing on end.

"Right." Jiang affirmed, also feeling a bloody gaze even though the eyes of the monster were rolled back. He gazed at the huge spike of black bone protruding out of the wing's fold on the joint, the dangerous shimmer of it attracting his gaze. It was over half a meter long and definitely deadly enough to pierce his Stage 5 skin and muscles until it surfaced from his back.

The monster bared its teeth, its jaws clenching with extreme strength and showcasing a mouth full of sharp canines six inches long. Teeth like that were enough to tear into flesh like it was nothing and shred it to pieces.

However, it was at this point.

The pupils of the monster emerged from the back of its skull, staring bloodshot to the sky with focus and extreme, uncontrollable, unimaginable…anger. The black sclera of the beast encompassed its blood-red and shining irises that circles an abyssal black pupil.

And under the cold gazes of the two Captains, the monster finally moved. The huge wings that measured twenty meters each dragged along the floor, sweeping up fleets of dust and a thin and bony arm reached out.

A huge hand with fingers ten inches long dug into the soil and used the very earth itself as a pivot. The dreadfully long fingers meshed flesh with bone as they twisted into sickly black claws that were each five inches long. The natural weapons of destruction tore through the thick mud and stone as if they were nothing.

The massive torso of the body, at least three meters long itself, tensed and rippled as the monster tore itself from the floor, as if arising in a new life. The huge, but emancipated, chest let the ribcage of the monster be clearly visible to Jiang and Zheng.

Massive inverted legs that had three joints, and ended in huge clawed paw-like feet, scraped along the ground and let the monster stand thrice the size of Boss Zheng. The Captain, a hulking two-meter-tall human in his own right, gazed up at the beast; his head only reaching the mid-thigh.

'It's a lot bigger than I thought…' Zheng internally muttered as the red pupils of the seven-meter monster were cast down from him. However, what made the monster huge was not just its height, but the two muscular limbs surfacing from its back that blocked out the very moonlight itself and cast the area into darkness.

The moonlight made the monster's features encased in darkness as only a massive figure of black stared down at the inferior beings beneath it. However, within all the darkness, two eyes of burning red blazed with fury.

But as the light shifted, the large head of the monster came into view. The head itself was large, almost half a meter from top to bottom. Steam gushed out of the nostrils of the flat nose, much like a bat.

The ears were almost like an appendage as they formed from the entire length of the face into two spires that pierced the sky. The actual ear was open, like a cat's; and invoked a feeling of disgust in Zheng and Jiang.

The lipless maw opened once again to reveal rows and rows of fangs that filled even the top of its mouth. And even though the monster looked to be emancipated and starved, it invoked a primordial feeling of danger. After all, without cultivation, it would be a natural slaughterer of anything it came across, weak or not.

And just as Zheng and Jiang were about to erupt with strength, strength that could dwarf this monster's, a deep and guttural hellish voice reverberated and made their hairs stand on end.

"Ỳ̴͕̱͓̫̲̩̤͍͚̒́́͋͊̎̓̌̐͠ǫ̴͕̲̎ͅͅù̷̦͇͉̟̱̾̐̿̊̋̚ͅ ̴̩̣̭̱̭̀̐̉w̸̨͙͚͆͛̍̾̒̏̈́͘͝ḯ̴̱̤̘̓̃̀͝l̷̢̨̗͙̫̥̬̠͉̊̄̈͐̋̽͝l̶͇̻͇̞̱̰̜͍͘͜ ̴̢̝̰̝̘̯͕̲̘̩͆̉̑̑̎͗̇͋̑̀͠ḑ̶̡̪͈͕̖̳̈̃̀̔̉̓̓̕͝͝͝ĭ̸̧̡̡͈̳̲͍͈̂͐e̵̯̫̦̻̘̟̪̼̖͔͋̇̈́̐̽͂̀̂̑̚.̴͚̙͍̳̱͙͕̩̜̲͔͂̉̌̏̏̕͝ "

…

Qing Fang looked down at the ground that seemed miles away, his eyes narrowing creepily.

He felt the surging strength in his limbs, strength that he had never dreamed of. It overwhelmed him, giving him the urge to destroy everything around him. There was a raging sea within him that could only be calmed by the exertion of all this massive strength.

His eyes could see more than he ever thought possible. The distant horizon seemingly only a reach away. He could hear hearts, thousands of them. Pumping, pumping, pumping. The blood flowed through veins with a sound that scratched his brain, annoying him.

He wanted hearts to stop and veins to be torn.

He felt his wings casting torrents of wind as they gently swayed, the muscular and fleshly things wrapped in bone and claw resting behind him with no strength at all, as if there was a string holding them up for him.

It was all so natural, as if he had dreamt everything he ever knew. This body was his own, this weapon was his own.

A killer, in body and soul.

However, amongst all that strength, there was still a weakness. A tiredness and fatigue a butterfly would have after just shattering the shackles of its cocoon. And Qing Fang felt his skin cling to his bones weakly, all of his muscle and strength spread thin on a new canvas.

He was weak, emaciated, thin and hollow. His soul was injured and cracked, hiding itself away within fibres of his being. His divine sense was locked away and couldn't be used, for it might shatter his weak soul, even though it was unlocked.

He looked down upon the two humans before him, unable to instantly shatter their souls with his divine sense. Instead, he felt his skin burning, the smell of roasted pork filling his nostrils. Trailing his claws across the scalded skin and burnt hair with delicacy, a deep snarl escaped him as his lips deformed in disgust.

'I must leave this place.' Despite a wave of irrational anger gripping him, Qing Fang wanted to retreat and cater for his soul. Even if it takes a thousand years, he must heal.

After speaking their death sentence in a satanic voice, Qing Fang flexed his weightless wings and an immense force took him. The two hulks of flesh that paired to make a wingspan of forty meters swung with massive strength and instantly thrust Qing Fang a hundred meters into the sky.

The cold air could not be felt at all as Qing Fang cast a gaze over the cage of beasts, the huge city that went unto the horizon in all four directions.

'I must find the sacred garden of the Temple.' Qing Fang no longer wanted to tarry in this city for one moment longer, scouring to find the exit that he arrived through. He was no longer Qing Fang, wanted by the Qing Clan and elder Li Shan himself.

He was no longer human. He did not know what he was, however, he could feel his soul trying to reach out to him and tell him. The soul was the centre of a being himself, knowing much more about oneself than the mind can hope to comprehend. The soul was almost a culmination of every thought and every fibre of strength a being had. It could be harnessed by being merely unlocked.

Turning his head wrapped in thin white fur and subtle scarring, Qing Fang's neck tensed with power. He looked around but could not see the garden at all.

'It must be shielded by a formation that I did not notice before.' Qing Fang determined.

However, just as he was about to move to the huge Temple piercing the sky, he noticed something from the corner of his eye.

A blur was there for a hundredth of a second, and before Qing Fang could focus on it, it was too late.

Red and white veiled Qing Fang's eyes as a huge force exploded on his body! His skin blistered into nothingness, leaving blotches of bloody red all over as he hurtled toward the ground! Qing Fang's new body weighed well over six tons as he smashed toward the ground, leaving a trail of a broken sound barrier in his wake!

His back facing the ground as his wings sprawled in the air, Qing Fang gazed up as he was falling to see a hot red explosion hundreds of meters in diameter!

Immense heat seared the cold air into magma as it singed Qing Fang's hair and made his eyes dry out in pain! The moonlight was dwarfed as a small sun illuminated the city as if it was noon!

Falling through the sky at an unimaginable speed with the ground enlarging behind him immensely, Qing Fang just stared stupidly at a figure standing above the explosion in the sky. The figure was looking at him with an amused face that was betrayed by his ice-like eyes.

His new eyes penetrating the main plane and gazing unto the World of Laws, Qing Fang was shocked speechless.

A Stage 5 cultivator!

While not shocked at his own strength, Qing Fang knew that this enemy was bigger than himself. With a new sense of urgency, he felt the need to flee evermore.

Stabilising himself in the air, Qing Fang thrust himself a hundred meters to the right with a powerful movement of his wings, eager to use his wings to out-manoeuvre the enemy in the sky so he could escape.

However, as his huge wings dexterously moved and were about to flap once more, a dreadful force assaulted Qing Fang from beneath. His massive back arched in pain as he was smashed upwards with the force of a powerful fist!

Spinning and smashing through the sky uncontrollably, Fang managed to see another figure wrapped in a cloak of shimmering air, looking as if it was vibrating and layering dozens of times to form a space of layered blurry air.

The figure was tall and broad-shouldered as it looked up at him from beneath, a pair of green eyes staring between foldings of thick black hair.

'What…' Qing Fang was shocked as he realised these two were the exact same humans he had seen moments ago. The strength they omitted overpowered even him, showing the sheer strength they possessed.

'Another Stage 5! This is troublesome…' Qing Fang understood his own new strength as if he was born with it, however, a look of worry appeared within his black and red eyes as they shifted and looked at multiple things at once.

Still hurtling through the air unrestrainedly, Qing Fang suddenly felt a feeling of danger as he lowered his right arm to his flank hurriedly. And within the next second, a thin hooded man smashed his right fist into the forearm of Qing Fang that was protecting his side!

The strength of the punch was mostly blocked and Qing Fang readied the claws of his left hand to slash the man, however, his opponent suddenly smiled.

And before Qing Fang could hope to counterattack, between the hooded man's fist and his body, a tiny explosion erupted with massive strength, sending him tumbling toward the ground once again!

The world turned to a spinning blur as Qing Fang's heightened senses were rendered absolutely useless. He expected another punch from the enemy beneath him, however, what greeted him was a blast of unbelievably condensed sound that pummelled into his body.

"Kuh!!" Qing Fang spurted blood between his monstrous teeth and from his ears and eyes as the effect of the sound wave crippled him. He was completely disorientated and could not even tell how far he was from the ground anymore.

Qing Fang fell and fell, however, he suddenly stopped completely as the green-eyed Sound path cultivator grabbed his falling hulk by the neck and held him there. The man's hand could not even fit around the front of Qing Fang's thick neck, so instead, he gripped tightly and sunk his fingers into Qing Fang's neck, holding him by his throat.

Being suddenly caught like that, Qing Fang felt like his neck would snap from the weight of his own body! However, Qing Fang didn't even have the time to shout, nor even open his mouth, as the green-eyed man used his free arm to reign down tens of punches on Qing Fang's face as he held him still!

Qing Fang felt the skin on his face being cut and smashed apart gruesomely as the punches kept on raining down!

'This fucking human!!' Qing Fang felt his blood boil as strength seeped into his jaws! And before the next punch could make contact with his head, his huge maw was already opened wide enough to bite a human in half!

Realising what was happening, the green-eyed man tried to withdraw his punching arm and managed to halt it before it flew into Qing Fang's open mouth.

However, the man's eyes suddenly widened as Qing Fang jerked his veiny neck with unstoppable might and bit forward onto the man's arm!

Rows and rows of canine-like fangs that were six inches long sank into the green-eyed man's muscular arm and cut through the bone with ease! The muscles on his jaws pulsing with scary strength, Qing Fang completely severed the hand and half of the forearm before swallowing it into his gut!

"Aaaaaarrrrghh!!" A deep shout of pain came from the man as half of his entire arm was bitten off in an instant! Blood dripped endlessly as his eyes clouded with pain! The flesh of his severed muscles twitched as they were exposed to the cold open air, sending chills of pain all the way up his arm!

However, the pain clouding his eyes parted to see a huge set of claws embed itself deep into his chest and scrape down with bone-crushing force! His ribs were sliced through cleanly and his tight battle robe was torn apart by the massive claws!

At once, the man threw Qing Fang away from himself with his hand that was still clutching the throat of the monster. He clutched his handless arm and felt it start to heal at an incredible rate, however, Qing Fang had already travelled hundreds of meters away in a few seconds.

A huge explosion resounded as a light lit up the dark sky, showing the hooded man rush towards the fleeing Qing Fang with speed incomparable.

Seeing this, however, the green-eyed man bellowed.

"Jiang, no!!"

The hooded man halted and stopped chasing the fleeing Qing Fang. He appeared beside his comrade with a burst of light and heat before speaking.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! You want it to escape?! That's your rare beast right there!" The hooded Jiang was outraged but cast no sight at the green-eyed Zheng's injuries.

"Shut it, bastard! Chasing it alone is a fool's plight!" Zheng retorted viciously, hinting that Jiang lost himself within the heat of battle. Seeing Jiang scoff in response while starting to descend, Zheng shouted after him.

"We'll get that bastard later, but look at what you've done. The big boss will not be happy." As he said this, Zheng looked down at the destruction of a small part of the slums that they had caused while fighting.

With Zheng mentioning the big boss, Jiang only pursed his lips in response.

…

A few minutes later.

Within a slightly larger shack in the slums, three bodies lay drained of blood lifelessly. In the corner of the shack, a deep hole a few meters wide was carved out of the rock which made the ground crudely.

Deep within it, Qing Fang sat in an open space with blood trailing from the injuries on his face and his eyes closed in an ugly expression.

*3057/3,000 words*