First Battle - Overcoming Mental Barriers

"This isn't good," Mina said as she took off her backpack and quickly started rummaging through it.

While she was doing that, Ryu quickly ran to her side.

"Sister, what do we do?"

Kai was also at a loss for what to do.

He had been prepared for a fight ever since he started following the two siblings, however, it had been smooth sailing for the last few days so he had become a little too relaxed the last few days."

Mina pulled out a tarp that slightly matches the brown earth on the plains.

"We need to hide...Ryu cover our tracks as best as you can, Kai please help me dig a hole"

Kai complied and the two quickly dug a hole while Ryu went back to erase their tracks. The hole was big enough for them to lie side by side while being covered with the tarp. The dirt-colored tarp covered with a little bit of actual dirt blended in surprisingly well into the environment.

The trio quickly jumped into the hole and lied perfectly still.

Kai was yet again surprised by Mina's decisiveness. She had prepared a tarp in case a situation like this would occur. This is probably why she was confident in her decision to follow the unknown group earlier since she had some tricks up her sleeve.

A few minutes passed and they finally heard some movements around them.

"Are you sure they followed us here?" Said a male voice.

"Yes, I'm sure of it. The tracks lead exactly here, however, they seem to have disappeared somewhere around this area"

"There is no place to hide on these flat plains and they couldn't have just vanished. This better have not been a waste of my time. Find them...now!" Said the second male voice.

"Understood... Secret Art; living vibration!". Said the first man as he put his palms on the ground

"Internal Cultivator!" Mina said softly beneath her breath. She sounded panic-stricken.

Kai was also getting nervous. Of all the people they had to run into, internal cultivators were the worst.

Body cultivators were strong physically, however, internal cultivators were in a league of their own.

"Found them. They're in a pit a few paces over there" said the first mysterious main as he started to chuckle.

"come on out now my little moles. this was an interesting ploy but hiding is useless now"

Kai knew they were discovered so there was no point in hiding anymore. They would just be sitting ducks if they stayed there. Just as he was about to jump out, the tarp was abruptly pulled off them and they were exposed.

"You were right, what a childish trick. But it was quite effective I must say" Said the second man as he eyed them with wicked eyes.

His mouth was covered with a mask and he had on blue robes that reminded Kai of a Ninja's Gi. There was armor on his chest, arms, and shins as well as a forehead protector on his forehead. On his hip was a slim sword. Kai had to admit that the guy looked rather cool.

The first guy who had used the odd skill detected them was dressed in the same armored blue Gi, however, his face was not covered, thus exposing his sinister smile.

Kai started to breathe according to the [Dragon Subduing Law] and was preparing to inject Qi into every part of his body.

Over the last few days, Kai had been able to gain [10/200 Qi] passively. He had not been able to defeat any beasts since he entered the [Second Level of Qi Condensation], so he could only rely on his daily passive of [Qi Gather Rate: [1 Qi] /day].

Kai could use 1 Qi to lightly enhance his whole body for a few hours, or he could use it to super enhance a body part for a moment. The super enhancement was temporary and faded quickly, however, it would allow Kai to exert more than 3x his normal power for that moment, while normal enhancement was equivalent to him moving to the next level Body Grade.

At this moment, Kai had decided to do both enhancements.

He quickly enhanced his entire body with Qi which would essentially push his body up by an entire grade. His body and physical power were now equivalent to that of a Mortal [Grade 3] Body cultivator.

As Kai did so, the look in the mysterious men's eyes flashed as they sensed the Qi coming from Kai.

"Internal Cultivator!?..."

The man jumped back a few meters away from Kai and stood by his partner.

"You... didn't you just say they're all ordinary mortals?"

"I can't detect this boy's spiritual root power. He must be a mortal....but this Qi..."

"Enough, you've already failed, he is obviously a cultivator. We need to change our strategy now..."

"Let's quickly kill them before any possible reinforcements show up. We can't afford to leave any traces now that we know he is an internal cultivator."

"Agreed..."

Kai was shocked at the way their conversation had taken a turn for the worst. For a while, he thought they would be afraid of offending an unknown cultivator, but now it seems they were even more determined to kill them and hide all the evidence!.

Kai decided to use [Qi Detection] on the two to see what exactly he was dealing with here.

[Human - [50 Qi] F-Rank]

[Human - [70 Qi] F-Rank]

The system classified them in a strange way. Kai figured the F-Rank was the system's classification of their internal cultivation levels. Kai still took them seriously and was getting ready to activate [Hare Leaps over Moon] if he had to run away.

The short leap could allow him to get out of their attack radius and make a run for it, but then Kai looked down at his companions.

Ryu was already distraught as he lifelessly looked at the two mysterious cultivators. It seemed his mind had completely stopped and all hope in his eyes was now gone.

As for Mina, her shocked eyes were completely focused on Kai. Her mouth was agape and she stared at him in disbelief.

"I figured you were strong, but you're actually an internal cultivator!?" She said as she ignored the situation that was quickly deteriorating around her.

"Mina... now isn't the time. Can you help me fight them?."Kai quickly asked her while he looked at the two mysterious men who were preparing their weird weapons cautiously while slowly moving around Kai.

"I'm just a mortal, what can I do against internal cultivators?... I wasn't even able to study Body cultivation..."

Kai was shocked.

Was she still going to pretend to be weak even in this desperate situation?. Or maybe she was playing dumb to lure them into thinking she was useless then she would strike when they dropped their guard?.

Kai had a million thoughts running through his mind when one of the men threw a set of darts straight at Kai and company.

Kai grabbed Mina and Ryu and jumped to the side, avoiding getting hit by the darts, however, the masked man ran to Kai sword out in a piercing motion aimed at his heart.

Kai threw Mina and Ryu to the side as he dodged the sword, however, he was not fast enough and a thick gash appeared over his chest, bleeding profusely. At that moment, Kai forgot everything else and focus only on survival.

"Dammit, it hurts!"

Kai's enhanced body had helped him mitigate the damage thus avoiding a fatal cut, however, he was still in danger.

"If you can't help, then take Ryu and run!"

Kai yelled as he stood between the two groups. This was completely uncharacteristic of Kai as he would usually avoid dangerous situations that he couldn't control. However, ever since the first deadly encounter with the vicious Hare where he almost died, Kai had a slightly higher tolerance for these types of situations.

He would only flee when he saw absolutely no hope which is why he still had [Hare Leaps over Moon]. Kai did not wait for Mina's response as he sprinted shoulder first into the masked man. However, the masked man dodged Kai's unprepared attack and rewarded it with a horizontal chop aimed at Kai's exposed back.

"Gale Art, Full Slice!" said the man as his sword began to glow and shot a stream of light at Kai's back. However, Kai who was moving forward leaned even more forward until his face was almost on the ground. His feet were still firmly planted on the ground so he was able to keep his balance using [Twig] he rose back up and stood straight.

The masked man was bewildered and slightly lost his composure after what he had seen. Never in his life had he seen someone capable of making such movements unnatural movements.

Kai noticed the masked man's moment of carelessness did not let that slip past him. He viciously kicked at the masked man's chest, using an entire [1 Qi] to super enhance his right foot for that moment.

A sickening crunch sound was heard as the man flew back for a few feet before landing on the ground on his knees, blood oozing from his mouth through his mask.

"What are you waiting for?!, come help me!. he is obviously no ordinary Second Level of Qi Condensation!".

"..." The unmasked man said nothing but his smile was now gone. He pulled out a few more darts and chucked them at Kai before yelling "Gale Art, rapid shot". Each dart began to glow and their individual power and speed were increased the unnatural levels.

Kai was impaled by all the darts without exception and felt his strength slowly start to leave his body.

==[System warning]==>[ Host has been poisoned, please find immediate treatment]

Kai looked at his body which was now peppered with holes from the small daggers. He spat out a mouth full of blood and pulled one of the daggers out of his chest painfully.

Kai dropped to his knees and started moaning in pain. The unmasked man stood up from his crouching position as the sinister smile returned to his face. He started walking over to Kai. With each step he took, he would throw another dagger aiming at Kai's vitals.

"You're a quite surprising boy. Who knows what other tricks you may have hidden so I'll just kill you from here." He said as he casually threw another dagger at Kai, this one hitting the hand he had placed in front of his heart. Kai's right hand was still painfully gripping the dagger he had pulled our first".

"Quit fooling around and finish him!, I'll go get the other two," Said the masked man who was now standing up. He seemed to still be in pain from Kai's kick, however, he had recovered fairly quickly. Before the man could leave, he noticed Kai completely disappear and a scream of complete horror coming from the unmasked man.

Kai had activated [Hare Leaps over Moon] using [1Qi].

He made a short lead at an unimaginable speed and appeared right in from of the unmasked man. Kai quickly enhanced his right arm that was gripping the dagger and swiped it across the man's neck. He felt absolutely no resistance and the man's head was half chopped off with a permanent look of utter disbelief and horror plastered on his face.

The light quickly drained from his eyes and Kai received the cold and lifeless system message advising that he had gained [3 Qi].

He ignored this and turned around to face the masked man. The masked man looked at Kai with obvious fear. The eyes he saw looking at him were not those of a boy, but those of a hunter. A hunter who saw him as nothing human but prey to be hunted and caught.

The man quickly turned around and tried to flee.

Kai wouldn't let him go that easily. he threw the dagger in the man's direction with the full force of his super-enhanced right arm. The dagger flew at speeds incomparable to when the unmasked man had used his "Gale Art, rapid shot" skill.

The dagger pierced the man's heart without being stopped by the armor on his back. He fell to the ground and was motionless.

==[Host has received [3 Qi] absorbed by [Dragon Subduing Law]==

Kai stood over the lifeless body of the masked man and realized that he felt nothing. This was the first time he had fought and killed humans in this world yet he wasn't feeling any crisis of morality. He was just happy that he was the one that survived and they were the ones who were dead.

Just as Kai wanted to look for his companions, his vision blurred and his hearing became muffled. He dropped to the ground and faded out of consciousness as the poison kicked in due to his active movements.