Killing their way to the top (4)

"Oho, that old man is funny," Ku Jian said and disappeared from her spot. Sounds of killing could be heard from afar the next second.

"Get them!" someone roared from nowhere and they were immediately besieged. Ignoring the coming crowd, Ed turned to Nti Anem and frowned.

"You know that old man, don't you?" he asked.

"No, I do not," Nti Anem quickly denied, then flicked his wrist as he whispered a spell. A barrier formed between himself and the incoming people, and then he did the same on Ed's stairs.

"Apteil, no cheating!" the voice of the tower bellowed. But this time, it did not sound like an almighty being, it sounded like a child who had his toy taken away.

"He knows you," Ed said, completely ignoring the carnage Ku Jian was making on her stairs.

"No, I do not. We must only keep our end of the bargain and kill people" Nti Anem could feel the dangerous air around Ed and hurriedly denied, "I have only heard he was a vengeful old man. He lost his land and is taking it out on everybody,"

"Apteil, you dare?" the voice came again. This time, he sounded wronged.

"Clear the way," Ed ordered and those on the other side of the barrier, Nti Anem and Baskii went silent. No one was quite sure who Ed was speaking to.

Those on the other side of the barrier were angry at first, but the barrier seemed to be eating away suddenly. Excited that it could no more hold and the young man could not hide behind it anymore, they geared to rush in the moment it collapsed. Their excited faces did not last when they felt a dangerous energy sip from the other side of the barrier towards them.

This man was dangerous.

They backed away quickly, but only one man stood without moving. His eyes flashed a savage light as he stood cold-faced before Ed without moving.

"Did you kill Lady Fu?" he asked.

Ed turned and looked at him coldly, then looked to Nti Anem for answers.

"I don't know who that is," he answered. As the two debated this, the third staircase was completely filled with blood and gore, Ku Jian going completely on the rampage. The barrier before Ed had by now eaten away and the man before Ed felt the full brunt of Ed's energy. It was like a baleful aura surrounding Ed.

"You will die by my hands," he declared. Taking a step forward, he immediately activated a shield of fire around his body and a brow-raising scream tore through the air.

"The Fu clan screeching fire!" someone exclaimed just as the man vanished from his spot.

"An eternal fire. Ed, you must not kill him," Nti Anem panicked. Ed swayed out of the way but did not forget to kick his body down the stairs as it passed him. He only looked for a second as the man fell down the stairs and looked back at Nti Anem with a raised brow.

The man coughed up blood in shock. Many had not seen Ed move, but he had. That casual hit on his ribs with his elbow was very precise. The screeching fire had many weak points. When one was fighting, one could not protect the entire body as the fire did not have a 360-degree range around a person. This depended on one's cultivation level. One had to learn to control the parts which he wished protected. Still, this weakness could not be seen by just anybody. Even those on the soul realization cannot truly see this true form. Who was this man?

"Why?" Ed asked Nti Anem.

"We need that fire. Just weaken him to the point of death and leave the rest to me," Nti Anem said. At this, Ed looked at him blankly.

"It is not that I wish to use you or anything. This is important for you to return," he said and no one but him saw the light that flashed through Ed's s eyes at his words before he vanished from his spot the next second. Young Master Fu was no fool. He had heard their words. He moved immediately. His body flashed out of the way, but could not beat Ed's speed. He felt his legs grabbed and his body spun through the air the next second.

He could not activate his shield in time and felt his organs shift as he slammed into the staircase.

No, this was not the way he had seen this going. The screeching fire was still activated, yet he still felt his organs shift. He had a fair understanding of how powerful that hit was.

He looked at the form of Ed on the stairs.

"Demon eyes!" he bellowed and his eyes turned a dark shade of red that Ed clearly saw. He raised a brow at this skill. He was sure this did not belong to the light realm as the light realm could not manifest colours.

Young Master Fu looked at Ed's form trying to find a weakness and was shocked still. He was not using his cultivation, this was pure physical strength.

"Impossible," he found himself saying. Ed's figure flashed again and threw a punch from above that landed on his midsection, causing him to spew blood.

Young Master Fu did not care for his quaking bones and immediately dashed up and manifested a sword.

"Heaven's might!" someone recognised the sword.

"Oho, this boy has a lot of treasures on him. Good, good, he is sure to be from a large clan in the light realm and his death will definitely spell trouble. Let us go over to his place and practise once we achieve our goal. It will be a good pass time," Nti Anem said and many from the boy's clan almost died in anger. What kind of shameless talk is this?

What they did not understand was that the cold Nti Anem had spent too much time with the old pervert and that Ku clan girl that he had picked up their shameless way of talking.

Young Master Fu attacked Ed with his sword, knowing full well that he would have to draw his weapon. He was right. No matter how much physical strength Ed now had, he could not stop the incoming sword with his hand. His cultivation had not reached such a stage.

Waving his hand, Ed pulled a sword from his spatial ring and accepted Young Master Fu's blow.

Clank!

Sure enough, Ed's sword was of lower quality than that of Young Master Fu and broke upon contact. But Ed did not care, as he kept pulling out more swords that kept getting broken. He was a swordsman in his world and knew much about physical combat. It helped that he had spent time in the Great Spill fighting with pure physical strength or else, with the skill this man before him was displaying, he would not have been able to beat him.

Ed decided to coat the swords with his internal energy and they would turn to dust. At this sight, Young Master Fu panicked. If this person uses his energy, things will become difficult. He needed to hurriedly beat him while he is not using his internal energy. His movements were nimble. He moved through the air like a dragon hunting its prey; slashing at Ed with his sword frantically. One could not tell why, but they could see that Young Master Fu was panicking.

Nti Anem sighed at the sight. In his eyes, Ed seemed to be using the boy to find out how much of his energy those swords could take. He was right. Though Ed had practised how much energy he could inject into these swords, it did not change the fact that he could not accomplish this instinctively in a fight. He frowned at this situation. He was so used to fighting people easily. He had never struggled so much in a fight like this. This made him quite irritated.

When the last sword broke, he no more cared to try with another, he immediately dashed for Young Master Fu without mercy and released unending punches on those weak points of the screeching fire.

Young Master Fu retreated in a hurry. He tried to defend against Ed by changing the radius of the screeching fire at random, but Ed saw through it with ease. He could not tell what he had done wrong, but the man before him no more seemed to be sparing without care. He seemed irritated by him. Something in him told him that if this man had not been told to not kill him, he would already be dead.

"Oh? I see where your weakness is at last, Ed," Nti Anem said and many watching paused. What kind of comrade was this, spilling his companion's secrets that openly? They waited with anticipation. Was he really going to stab his companion in the back at such a time?

"You don't know how to fight without killing someone," he said and many around almost fainted in anger.

Ed did not bother to respond as he slapped Young Master Fu's daitan, a spot around the navel where energy concentrated and watched as the screeching fire crumbled. He could not maintain any of the skills he had anymore. Ed grabbed his disabled body by the neck, lifting it into the air and squeezing shut his throat.

"Let go of our young master!" many of the Fu clan disciples shouted, their eyes red with anger and heart filled with unwillingness.