Chapter 2: Provocation

​​He had nearly no time to think, the darkness that had surrounded him prior faded away to be replaced by a vast field at the break of dawn.

It was apparent that he was not where he was just a moment ago, for one thing it went from the dead of night to sunrise and the environment shifted entirely.

He assumed the person who had teleported him was the one speaking, this sort of power was not something he could contend with at the moment so he was left with the choice of obeying its commands.

"You have some horrible luck, fellow cultivator."

Feng Zhiming looked at the source of the voice and saw a grotesque looking creature staring at him, it had 6 eyes and 7 limbs all of which were arms, its torso seemed to be a mix of algae and grass.

He also measured its strength it was the same as him, a Quasi Ethereal Core cultivator.

"I curse the luck that let me gaze upon you." he replied before holding up a fan that he retrieved from his storage ring.

"The use of demonic phenomena has been forbidden, the use of spiritual sense has also been forbidden." the voice in the sky dictated.

The creature seemed amused.

"It seems you can only die a gruesome death." it said gleefully.

Feng Zhiming smirked at it and replied.

"I the demonic crow of the heavens have never bled in battle before, yet this ugly creature actually wants to believe it can kill me."

In terms of physical strength the two were most likely equally matched due to their realms, this battle would come down to the unique techniques they possess, it was restricted even more when their access to demonic phenomenon was revoked by the mysterious overseer.

"Empty words."

The creature commented before sinking into the ground as if it had fell into it.

The ground immediately began to change and the grass that was there started to move as if it was alive, it grabbed on to Feng Zhiming's legs and tried to drown him in dirt.

"Repulsive."

Feng Zhiming cut the grass that was attempting to drown him with his fan, it was merely a fan but it had sharpness that rivaled swords of the same quality.

"A spiritual weapon, you shouldn't possess something like that."

A spiritual weapon was something that grew alongside its user and it was exceedingly rare, no doubt Feng Zhiming had obtained it through some trick, otherwise as a Quasi Ethereal Core cultivator he wasn't qualified to compete for it.

The grass had also shifted in nature gaining properties of the creature, it seemed as if the creature had made the very ground its body.

Feng Zhiming quickly took flight but he realized that there was some sort of barrier preventing them from leaving this battlefield, he could at most remain 20 meters above the ground.

As he flew up, the ground split open to reveal a mouth of sorts with hundreds of algae like arms reaching out to him.

"How long can you fly little crow, it's only a matter of time till your spiritual energy runs out and fall into my clutches."

This was not a bad tactic, flying was an energy consuming task and it wasn't viable for him to continue this forever.

"Is hiding beneath the ground like a coward the best you can do, disgusting earthworm?"

There was no reaction from the creature.

"You said you were a demonic crow, how can you expect tricks targeted towards the orthodox doves to work on me? it seems you're a few hundred years too young."

It really looked like Feng Zhiming's provocation wasn't going to work this time but Feng Zhiming wasn't one to give up easily.

"I the demonic crow have yet to meet my match, you twisted freak of nature you want to kill me because you wish you were as handsome as me, it pains me to imagine your mother's face as she gave birth to you or could it be you were born of some abomination."

This time the ground started to shake violently.

"Even eldritch horrors look upon you and frown, I've seen disfigured clumps of flesh better looking than you, perhaps you should pursue the Dao of being so ugly your enemies die upon seeing you."

A blade of grass extended like a whip and nearly pierced Feng Zhiming before he dodged by a hair.

"An orthodox dove was it?"

Feng Zhiming spoke with a smug expression.

"I'LL DEVOUR YOU PIECE BY PIECE!"

The mouth in the ground started to scream, blades of grass started to rush at Feng Zhiming.

Feng Zhiming smiled, the opening he had been trying to create finally appeared.

"Open wide ugly bastard."

As he said this, Feng Zhiming brought out at least one hundred second order demon beast cores and imbued them all with near explosive levels of spiritual energy.

Demon beast cores were already condensed masses of spiritual energy, and by principle adding density to an already hyper-dense structure would only result in one outcome.

As the cores started to fall towards the ground, the creature tried to close its mouth.

"Too slow."

Feng Zhiming used his spiritual power to force the cores to fall at an insane speed. Spiritual energy was merely a force that could be exerted in any way as long as the user was able.

In this case, Feng Zhiming used it as a sort of telekinetic ability and forced the cores to drop faster than they would naturally.

As the cores fell into the belly of the beast, they began to explode.

BOOM! BOOM!

The sound of explosions must have gone on for a few minutes, almost non-stop.

By the end, the area looked like a war zone, it was as if a volcano had erupted rupturing the land.

Feng Zhiming landed on the ground as he saw a little piece of algae spearheaded by a face of some sort trying to crawl into the ground.

"Crawling like a true earthworm."

He picked up the creature and held it in his hands.

"A de-"

Feng Zhiming closed his hand into a fist, crushing the creature mid-plea.

"Deals are only for those who are equal."

What remained in his fist except for some flesh was a ring, but no beast core. It had truly been a person that had become that abomination.

The battle had taken longer than it should have but Feng Zhiming decided to reveal his resources and ingenuity instead of his techniques, after all resources weren't a big of a secret as one's techniques.

Feng Zhiming put away the storage ring and waited, no beast core meant that it was a human in the most basic definition but the fact that it was such a deviant physically meant that it may hold some secrets.

A familiar white light engulfed him, transporting him out of this eviscerated arena.