CH 41: Might of the Orbs

*Boom!*

The sound of an explosion, or what sounded like one, echoed throughout a part of the enormous forest. Or at least to as much as the menacing black and dark purple barrier invisible from the outside let it.

Inside of the enclosed space, the old husband and wife, Meng Shu and Chao Tianxiang, frantically jumped around. The old man's Soul Power guarding his granddaughter and making her fly with them as they tried to escape.

Escape from the monster in human flesh.

"Come on, come on!" Said monster laughed nonchalantly, casually walking towards the panicking three who tried to escape. "What happened?! You were oh-so-brave and dominant and whatnot just now. What happened to all that bravado, huh?!" They heard his distant shouts from behind, but simply ran as fast as they could instead of answering, trying to find a way to escape as quickly as possible :"Afraid now that someone with actual strength showed up instead of a child for you to bully?!"

(A/N: If I use exclamation marks in a paragraph, that means it's kind of like a third person POV of someone's thoughts. Other than that, I don't use those.)

The shouts were from afar, but they could feel the power like it was right next to them. Meng Shu was confused. That was just a child! But suddenly, when that black and dark purple aura, which made him shiver, started surrounding him, it was like he was fighting something out of this world.

"But I have to admit," They heard him from far away, but he suddenly showed up upside down in front of Meng Shu, smiling like the devil as he whispered :"This does feel nice." Before kicking him so hard the old man felt like everything inside of him blew up.

He was shot away immediately, crashing into giant trees that didn't manage to stop him. Each one shattered as he crashed into them, not even his own Soul Power managing to stop him for a little bit.

Chao Tianxiang, quickly replacing her husband's Soul Power surrounding their granddaughter to not let her fall, immediately backed away. Worried and panicking eyes set on the boy younger than her own granddaughter who laughed :"No wonder you old bastards like flaunting your powers so much. Watching you running like headless chickens is pretty fun."

"W-why are you doing this?" Chao Tianxiang, trying to talk their way out of this if they couldn't run. But she simply pissed Ah Li off even more. "Why? You have the balls to ask why, you old bitch?" His eyes went wide menacingly, before he suddenly showed up in front of her and grabbed her neck :"You were just trying to pull that shit just now.

Trying to make me compensate you because of fighting to save my life. And when I refused to, you wanted to cut off my arm. Tell me, why shouldn't I do this?" As he squeezed, the old woman's color changed. She struggled, trying to free herself as the fingers around her wrinkly neck squeezed harder and harder.

Oxygen wasn't a problem. Even though it was long cut off, her Soul Power had solved the problem of her suffocating. But having her neck literally crushed was scaring her. The eyes that screamed bloody murder sure as hell didn't do anything to calm her nerves.

"Grandma!" Meng Yiran screamed, punching the cocoon of Soul Power holding her to set herself free :"Let go of her! Please let go of her!" He didn't, but smirked instead :"Don't worry, I'm not gonna kill her. At least not till I've been entertained a bit. I didn't bring out this power to just kill you all straight away. I wanna have some fun."

Easing his fingers slightly, he threw her away lightly. But the speed at which she was shot away was anything but slow and light. Just like her husband, it felt like a behemoth had thrown her away.

"Damn it, don't get arrogant, little bastard!" A roar was heard as Meng Shu flew towards him. He swung his Dragon Staff Martial Soul at Ah Li, coating it with Soul Power to make it deadly. But the noiret, he simply grabbed it with one hand. Shocking the old man as he got close, whispering with a smirk :"And what if I do? Whatcha gonna do? Run away even faster?"

Chuckling to himself, he pulled on the staff, forcing Meng Shu closer as his punch landed directly in his guts. But unlike before, he wasn't shot away. Not because he prepared himself this time. Not because he guarded himself with Soul Power this time. But because Ah Li simply didn't punch him hard like that.

Which simply pissed the old man off. He knew by the punch that hit his guts and then his chin before punching his chest that the youngest was toying with them. Treating him like a toy that he didn't want to break before having his fun. And frankly, that infuriated him. Hurting him was one thing, humiliating him was another :"Bastard!!"

His 5th Soul Ring shone, illuminating the place with a dark light as a gas exited his Dragon Staff Martial Soul. He smirked, although this was only his 5th Soul Skill, it was an extremely powerful poison attack which could easily incapacitate a small army.

However, the noiret simply laughed mockingly, before sniffing and snorting the entire gas before it spread. Making the old man's eyes go wide as he let out a satisfied sigh :"Not bad for an old man. How about you try mine now?"

Meng Shu was confused, but his eyes went wide in horror at the black and dark purple ball of poison that showed up in Ah Li's hand. Even without using his Soul Power, his pure instincts screamed at him to get away from that thing. To escape and get away.

But even when he tried to let go of his staff, Ah Li stopped him from getting away :"Aww, don't be like that. I know I'm being disrespectful since this is barely a drop of what I actually have, but you would've died instantly if I used any more.

Before he could say anything, the noiret flicked the poison ball towards him. His eyes went wide, time seemed to slow down as the poison ball moved closer and closer to him. But before he could do anything, his screams of pain echoed when the poison entered him.

Ah Li snickered, Spartan kicking him to the distance as Meng Shu screamed and wailed. The poison he used wasn't regular poison. It didn't kill nor did it harm. It had only one function, inflicting pain. He barely used what he really had, but even that was enough to make him go through unimaginable pain.

"Husband! Dear, are you alright?!" Chao Tianxiang quickly came to his side, trying to help her husband roaring in pain on the ground. "Please stop this! Stop it already!" Meng Yiran cried out, now imprisoned in Ah Li's menacing Soul Power.

"Why should I? Did you try to stop them when they wanted to cut off my arm?" The red-eyed boy glared :"I'm just having fun. Like how you had fun when seeing I was going to suffer. It was pretty fun, right? Is it so fun being on the receiving end? I hope so, cause I'm not going to stop."

Meng Shu calmed down quickly, panting as the phantom sensation of the unbearable pain stayed. Ah Li could set the duration for which the poison would torture someone, and he had set his for not even a minute. Hearing the screams of agony of those who wanted to wrong him was fun, but that would always get boring and annoying really freaking fast.

Glaring daggers at Ah Li, the old couple nodded at each other :"We have to go all out." Releasing both of their Soul Rings, their Martial Souls began to intertwine as waves of overwhelming Soul Power rushed around the entire place.

Phantoms of a Chinese dragon and a snake danced around them before joining each other. And as Ah Li watched curiously, a giant golden Chinese dragon with green mane appeared in front of him, roaring in anger.

"Eh, not bad, I guess." The noiret shrugged, still nonchalant even as the dragon rushed towards him with bared fangs, ready to bite him to death. And it did manage to do so, but Ah Li simply kept his mouth open with one finger :"But still nowhere near enough- ooh! Ew, what the fuck?! Sheesh, do you two clean your mouths or does this Martial Soul Fusion Skill just stink?! Goddamn!"

Disgusted by the smell assaulting his nose, he immediately kicked the giant dragon away. He would have barfed if he stayed there for long. Waving in front of him to get rid of the smell, he scoffed at the dragon that stood up :"And I was thinking of playing around. No way in hell with that smell around!"

Guarding himself with his Soul Power simply to keep the smell away, he broke through the poison breath it let out. The dragon swung his claws at him, but he just ignored it and uppercutted the dragon into the sky. Not wasting a moment before he rushed after him, kicking and punching him around in the sky.

"Graaar!" The dragon roared, trying to swat the youngest with its tail. But Ah Li simply grabbed its tail and started swinging him around, laughing maniacally as he slammed him into the trees and the ground.

Giving it a sharp twist, he forced the dragon to fold before he punched its face with a punishing force. Sending it flying before he showed up on its head as if he teleported, before grabbing its head and dragging the dragon face first on the ground.

Forming a huge trail on the dirt before he lifted it and punched it again, causing it to drag on the ground. Rolling like a worm before coming to a stop where the old couple could no longer stay in the Martial Soul Fusion Skill state.

As the two coughed up blood, panting miserably on the ground, Ah Li landed meters away from them. Still nonchalant, as if he hadn't just destroyed the two. Raising his hand, he threw Meng Yiran at them, releasing her from his Soul Power.

Meng Shu quickly grabbed her, all of them panicking for what was to come as the old man pleaded :"Please, I'll give you whatever you want, even my own life if you want, but let the two of them go."

"No, grandpa!" The young girl cried, but seeing the cruel light in Ah Li's eyes, Chao Tianxiang also joined her husband :"You can kill me as well, but I beg of you, let our granddaughter go. She has nothing to do with this. She didn't intend to harm you."

"Grandma!" Meng Yiran grabbed her, trying to stop her. But what they received was a cold, sinister smile :"Aww, how heartwarming. I would have honestly thought about it, if you all weren't such trash. Why would I? I'm not one to leave loose ends. If I'm killing, I'm killing them all. Blame yourselves for trying to bully and hurt others when they've done nothing wrong. Rest in piss, assholes."

Raising his hand, he released another wave of poison. But this poison was different. It was the Ultimate Corrosion poison he got from Nightmare. An attribute that could destroy anything it touched. An attribute that was directly connected to the attribute of death.

As the poison mist appeared, their eyes were filled with horror. But even as Meng Shu tried to protect his family with his Soul Power and body, they both were destroyed instantly before the three of them were turned to ashes.

"The annoyances are finally solved." He groaned, but didn't deactivate his Orbs. "You were rather cruel there, Li'er." Bibi Dong hummed nonchalantly, and Ah Li just shrugged :"They had it coming, Sister Goddess. Who just tries to cut off a teenager's arm because he fought to save his life? Assholes."

"True." She nodded :"And you did the right thing. Mercy to the enemy is cruelty to yourself. I've learned that the hard way." She growled, and Ah Li, wanting to distract her, quickly smiled :"Yeah, but forget about that. Let's go and see what we got from that Man Faced Demon Spider!"

Thankfully, she did take her mind off of the past. Smiling, she nodded :"That's right. That Man Faced Demon Spider makes every annoyance we went through here worth it."