Chapter 12: Fleeting Wind

Yun Xie gazed out across the plains. The entrance to the Shattered Earth Temple was on rather flat lands, allowing for many to situate themselves outside. Countless camps had popped up along the side walls, some with singular elegant tents to literal moderately-sized Eastern Towns that had grown up seemingly overnight.

As it may come to many people, Yun Xie wasn't exactly a very good strategist. He'd been fed a golden spoon from the moment he'd come to this world with his powers to almost literally do anything. In a way, it both bolstered and limited his imagination, which was why he was laying here in this shrubbery for about two hours straight.

His eyes glanced over the long line.

Should he just "Katsu" the whole thing? Launch an air raid? Rush B? Throughout the years in this world, he had come up with many complementary strategies and movesets to spice things up. Still, this was one of the biggest "projects" he had embarked on….

Wait…

He'd been too embroiled in thinking of explosive fiery strategies. Perhaps he could take a more modest approach?

Sitting back on rock, he smirked a little. Discreetly, in his hand was a strange pink fruit with a stem like that of a music note.

<Sound Bullet>

Hours Later…

"My name is Kamaboko Gonpachiro. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

Master Wu of the Whirlwind Sword Sect really felt that this was getting out of hand. First of all was this line. Despite living for thousands upon thousands of years and meditating for centuries in seclusion, something about the menial fact of waiting in a line simply infuriated him.

As much as he tried to hide it in front of his juniors and disciples, a burning fire constantly raged within him as he waited. His Minor-King Physique, The Howling Maelstrom Physique did not help either, with a raging powerful storm blasting within his mind.

It gave him much power, but at the partial cost of his mental state. Meaning that in situations such as these, he didn't really think in the right mind. In his youth, he'd also been a really impatient and impetuous youth too.

Their was also that constant distant throat singing that was keeping him from meditating properly....

Despite the anger clouding his heart, his response to this apparent and upfront death threat was not straight-up slaughter. Instead, it was apprehension and complete confusion.

"Ka Ma Bu Kou? Gan Pai Qi Rou?"

What the hell was this name!? He'd never seen such an outlandish fake name before! Was this guy stupid or was this a confusion strategy? Still, something about it seemed to calm the soul. With the way that this kid said it, the name really rolled off the tongue. But who's father had he killed? Master Wu opened his eyes, sighing at the person before him.

No cultivation.

Mortal.

Mortal.

Immediately, the analytical Master Wu narrowed his eyes. Was this mortal a spy? A diversion? No… While their Sect, like most other Sects in existence, had many enemies, it simply didn't make sense to send some random mortal.

A Genius among his peers, Master Wu Songqiao had always been a cultivator of his seven senses. He hardened and refined them from dawn to dusk in the early days, to counteract the fierceness of his Howling Maelstrom Physique.

At the Star Plucking stage, he couldn't see why someone would place something like a Cultivation Draping Artifact on this random dude.

He furrowed his eyebrows in irritation.

And then a knuckle arrived in his face. Wind seemed to lash back as Master Wu stared in surprise. What!? There was no intent or anything that he could trace. It had simply just arrived.

But the surprises were not over.

<Gekishin: Severe Earthquake>

Master Wu watched as the air before him seemed to crack and rumble. Faultlines and fissures seemed to shatter the air like a broken mirror.

Pain.

In just the split of a second, him, a Star Plucking Cultivator strong enough to contend with thousands of those just a few levels below him, felt his bones shift and split. His nose seemed to crook and skull seemed to vibrate as his innards were turned inside out.

He felt his organs cave in and extend out as blood sprayed from his nose and mouth. His whole spine snapped back like a lever as he felt the back of his head smash tens of feet deep into the earth below.

At this point, his sword had just exited its scabbard.

Thousand Blades Of The Rancid Wind!

As pain bellowed through his nerves, an attack of his own lashed out. His sword spiraled in suctions of powerful wind as energy blades howled, cutting through the air toward the "mortal".

*WAFWOOM!!!!*

He heard them strike. But unlike the cutting of flesh and serrating of skin that would usually greet him, instead, it was a hollow thud.

Feeling his head drop and throb in pain unlike any other, Master Wu flashed away in the terrible wind, a mighty imperial sword causing sonic waves as he charged.

Howling Maelstrom Physique!

Tornados seemed to manifest themselves out of the air as the disciples of the Whirlwind Sword Sect flew out of their adobes, wind-cast blades drawn.

To the side, countless other camps had become alert as disciples and masters alike flickered out to the commotion.

"A Star-Plucking Cultivator!?"

"Did someone pick a fight with the Whirlwind Sword Sect?"

"So that's a King Physique…"

Wu Songqian gritted his teeth as his grey beard seemed to twirl and dance like enamored snakes, miniature whirlpools of wind surrounding each and every hair. His pupils seemed to contort and lapse like hurricanes and blood flew free from most of his upper body, white robe torn away.

He raised his sword, reaping winds tearing through all in a thousand meter diameter, the rocky ground below split and serrated as if it were a hot knife on butter.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS WU SONGQIAN!!!!???"

Countless other auras billowed outwards, a crown of emerald swan flames, a grim black-iron stele as tall as a mountain, and countless other behemoths. The weaker cultivators could only buckle as the fury of hundreds of thousands of powerhouses soared into the atmosphere.

Above, the clouds seemed to part.

Then, amidst the commotion, that voice spoke once more:

"My name is Kamaboko Gonpachiro. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

<Amplification x30>

<Kaishin: Seaquake>

The speaker, a seemingly normal figure squatted down, and rapped his knuckle against the dirt below him. The ground seemed to throw it down as the whole plain shook back and forth, dust storms exploding into existence as sinkholes and city-spanning canyons were born. Master Wu glared as his eyes flashed around, geysers of dirt, mud and rocky debris spilling out a tsunami of its own.

What the hell!? Master Wu still had no idea who's father he had killed… It was even more infuriating that he did not even know who the enemy was!

He raised his free arm as a giant dome of wind gathered, swirling about as it deflected elephant-sized boulders aside as if they were specks of dirt against a brick wall.

*Shiing!!!*

He swung his sword behind him in a flash, stance snapping into place as a wind-cutting slash severed an incoming boulder. To reveal that bastard of a figure behind him.

What was he called again? Ka Ma Bao K-

<Domain Expansion: Horizon Of The Captivating Skandha>

A tropical beach.

Lustrous green leaves vibrant and willowy cascaded across the sandy beach. Master Wu felt his silk martial slippers press into the clean white grains.

Was this paradise?

The cawing of birds and rustling of leaves were so real…. And that ocean. An azure sheen of endless depth and beauty unlike any he had seen before.

Ocean waves crashed into the flawless beach and salty sea spray flicked about in white froth. An Illusion Array? Whoever this person was, he needed to go all out. That first hit had been no joke.

Immediately, his guard was raised dramatically as his sharp sword let loose Hurricane Sword Qi, ready to slice through anything that came in his way.

But nothing happened.

A few jewel-like crabs the size of pebbles skittered around a small pile of sea conches, mandibles and claws clacking.

In the tropical forest brush behind him, a small monkey flitted through the canopy, letting out monke noises.

His attention turned to that sky now. Brilliant and blue, in a way unlike the watery depths below. Unlike the constantly shifting waves, it was a serene blue, unheeded by wind or for the most part, cloud.

It felt like a place undisturbed by Heavenly Beasts and Cultivators. A Mortal Realm touched only by the bounty of Mother Earth. It was a canvas of unfamiliarity yet also one of nostalgia.

Master Wu found the whole thing a mystery.

His senses were in overdrive, attempting to find some fault or ambush waiting for him. As he did so, another feeling washed over him. One of enlightenment.

Cultivators always searched for danger in even the most delicate and prettiest flower. Despite it at times being a necessity to survival, it was also at times a detriment to their state as humans. If only life could be more simple….

Master Wu sighed thoughtfully as a more profound aura seemed to envelop him. Troubling times were coming across the Whirlwind Sword Sect. Their Sect Leader was declining at a rapid pace from old injuries and age, Longevity Treasures and such of no use.

When the inevitable was to come, he would sadly have to take up the position of Sect Leader. Their Sect was average at best, with three cultivators at the Star-Plucking Stage including him. One of them was also suffering from many injuries, greatly weakening him, while the other was rather plain and normal.

He had the highest prowess of the three, which was probably due to his luck and temper. He'd gotten into many fights in his youth, refining his skills and somehow getting out of them for the most part unscathed.

The Whirlwind Sword Sect had come to the Southern Drowned Earth to, like the rest of the Sects, search for opportunities and treasures to raise the status and strength of their sect. Master Wu sighed. There hadn't been many good seedlings in their sect for quite some time. Perhaps their Sect was destined to fall.

He turned back to the beautiful ocean. The constant crash of waves. The shade of the moving trees. The scuttling of the crabs as they made their way across the smooth white sand. He stared at them again, his senses taking it all in.

Master Wu was filled with envy. If only he himself could live like this nature. Simple and free. But there was still the responsibility of the Sect on his shoulders. Easily infuriated and such he could be, but loyalty he held.

If only he could just find something that would rid him of all worries. Some all-powerful Heaven Defying treasure or something that could just blow away all his problems.

*Chomp*

<Shikigami: Death Swarm>

Tides of water slammed into him as the serrated teeth of grotesque aquatic beings tore into him. They were warped hundred-eyed sharks too giant soulless eels.

It really wasn't good to step too deep into contemplation.

*WASWCKOOOM!!!!*

Finally, the full power of his (Minor) King physique was unleashed upon the world. Even the eye of the storm was swallowed in the hell-breaching hurricane as Master Wu Songqian of the Whirlwind Sword Sect displayed power far above his cultivation. Something fed by his rage and anger, yet also refined through tears and sweat. His veins bulged and his eyes contorted murderously. Spittle flew out of his mouth as he boomed.

"COME AT ME!!!! YOU ARE COURTING DEATH!!!!"

---------------------

About 2000 words.