Leaving the tower (1)

"What do you want to do with him?" Ed asked Nti Anem.

"Let's leave the tower. When we are out, you give him to me," he said and Ed looked away and started climbing the stairs.

"Young Man, let go of the young master and I will do whatever you ask," an elderly man walked up.

"Oh? You are much stronger than the boy yet you did not come and help him out?" Nti Anem asked and the man only glanced at him.

"My job is only to interfere when the young master is about to die. It is not my job to fight his battles," the man said and Nti Anem snorted.

"Well, you will not be getting your payment then. We will be extracting the eternal fire from him," he said.

"You don't care for how the Fu clan will react?"

"Must be a great clan. Of course, I care. We must visit them to make use of their anger to horn ourselves," Nti Anem said. He did not seem to notice the righteous look on his face when he said those words.

"The eternal fire you are talking about cannot be taken just because you wish it. It is useless to take the boy, so hand him over," the man said, but Ed all the while had been acting as though this conversation had nothing to do with him, as he continued climbing the stairs without care. The man was right before him, yet Ed walked past him as those on the stairs gave way for him to pass.

"I don't care how powerful you are, boy. Don't refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit. You do not seem to be from the light realm. It is better you don't provoke those you will not be able to fight," the elder advised, but Ed walked past him without care, causing him to sigh.

"These young ones," he said and flashed before Ed, making to grab Young Master Fu Ed was dragging up the stairs by his hair. Ed slapped his hand away, but the man casually struck Ed, causing him to fly back down the stairs.

"Oho, this is the first time I've seen you struck down. This man must be a soul realization expert from my deduction," Nti Anem said gleefully. Seeing that the boy's companion did not seem alarmed by his show of strength, the man frowned. Is this just a case of a boy wet around the ears or something more? He had grabbed Young Master Fu when he struck the boy away, so he looked at the young master lying limp in his hands and sighed. He made to turn away when he felt dangerous energy coming from behind him. He dashed out of the way, but his right hand holding Young Master Fu was still struck. It was only a small cut on his arm, but he felt a foreign energy invade his body. He felt every cell in his arm start to die as the energy touched it. In a panic, he ruthlessly cut the arm off from the shoulder before the energy passed his hand. Then he looked up at Ed now standing ahead of him on the staircase with caution. He saw that he was now holding a sword with glowing inscriptions and frowned.

"So you had such a weapon and yet you kept it hidden? Is this your trump card?" he asked Ed dangerously.

"Hey, old man. I am hoping to watch this fight. So you cannot start from the beginning being stupid. Look well at what energy struck you," Nti Anem said and the man trained his eyes on Ed for a second. The next moment, his pupils shrunk. He was sure that that energy was coming from the boy and not the sword.

"Who are you?" he asked trying to stay calm.

"Old man, pay attention and fight well. You may just be an initial stage soul realized being, but you will have to do. Be good and fight well," Nti Anem said. Before the man could process his anger for Nti Anem's words, he felt Ed flash for him and panicked.

"Boy calm down, there is no need for violence," the man hurriedly retreated, but Ed did not care. This man did not mind striking him. He could not back away now.

He knew that the person before him was a soul realization expert and he had respect for these beings as he had felt how powerful the old pervert was, so he refused to be lax. The old man hurriedly made a seal with his one remaining hand and the air around Ed became sharper. The air warped around him locking him in. Ed could feel that the air was laced with the old man's energy and released his energy into it. Like a chain reaction, it spread towards the man and he snorted.

"You're still a child wet behind the ears!" he spun in the air and slapped down an invisible palm. Ed felt the staircase quake and frowned. If these were normal staircases, they would have been destroyed. But he was wrong. The man did not intend to destroy it. The next second, hands made of earth erupted from the staircase and grabbed Ed in place. With a swing of his sword, Ed slashed at them. His Yhenxia sword was laced with his energy, as such, when it came in contact with the hardened soil, it rotted away. Ed retreated as he avoided incoming wind knives and the earth hands till he was right by the half-dead Young Master Fu.

He grabbed the paralyzed body and in one motion, stabbed his sword into the staircase.

"Idiot!" Baskii's voice sounded as he saw Ed's actions. But the next second, Ed's sword sliced into the staircase like piercing into butter.

"Impossible!"Baskii and the old man said. The old man was slightly happy this boy before him was inexperienced or else, with his energy alone he would have killed him, talk more with that sword. Baskii, on the other hand, had not predicted that his heart was only going to get more broken.

Ed's energy invaded the staircase and spread down to meet the old man. The indestructible stairs started to crumble before everyone's eyes.

"Impossible!"Baskii's voice sounded, "Stop! Stop it, already! Boy, stop for this old man!" he frantically said. But to all who listened, he sounded as though he was in tears begging.

The old man took to the air with all his strength the next moment, reminding Ed that he was a soul-realized being.

"Boy, If this old man does not kill you today, I will write my name backwards," he declared to Ed and pulled a long bow out of his spatial ring.

"An ivory bow!" someone exclaimed.

"Look closer that is not just any ivory bow, that is the Dragon Scale Ivory bow!"

"This man, could he be…?" someone speculated.

"Impossible. That old man had fallen off the ox head cliff to his death. There is no way it is him," another rejected.

The next moment, the old man made signs with his only hand and the bow rose into the air and suspended in place. He swiped his hand in a long motion and one could see just barely, a bale of wind take shape and solidify in his hand.

"That arrow! Crystal wind arrow!" someone said.

"It's him!"

"Impossible, the treasure clan had announced his death,"

"How could he be here?"

"Did he escape?"

"Impossible. How can one escape a fall from the ox head," another started to say.

"Enough! Such useless spectators making half-finished statements without stop. Even though this is the way of the spectator, hurry up and go to the important point. Talking this long will not make this fight scene longer!" Nti Anem scolded the spectators on both his and Ed's staircase in anger.

"Wow, someone can't even spectate in peace anymore," someone complained.

"The narration is short because fight scenes are hard to view talk more explain,"

"We are adding length and depth. If one did not expect length why would we even offer our services to increase the length of this fight chapter?"

"Do you want to die? Hurry up and say who it is already. The old man needs to draw his bow and can't be waiting for you!" Nti Anem said.

"That is Unam of the treasure clan," someone said as he watched the old man in the sky.

"He should have died falling from the ox head cliff,"

"Did he fake his death?"

"If he was alive all this time, why did he not go back to the clan?"

"The Treasure clan will hunt him down if they know of this," At their continued chatter, Nti Anem shook his head.

"You guys are hopeless," he said.

Ed on the other hand was quite excited to fight a person on soul realization. Even though he was not at the level of the old pervert, he always wanted to know just how strong someone in the soul realization stage was. Looking at the bow being drawn, he was sure of one thing; the speed of that arrow made of wind, he may not be able to block it. Ed had no shield, so he decided to make one in a hurry. Then his eyes caught something on the bow. The wind arrow had an invincible connection between it and the bow, which was tied to the energy flowing through the old man.

Ed knew that he could not dominate this man. This man could kill him like killing a fly but was too cautious of his odd energy to fight freely. He only had one chance to win this fight, and it may kill him. He rotated his energy and watched it balefully surround him like a dark cloud. What one did not know was that he was wide open. He wanted that wind arrow to reach him.

The old man released the arrow and it tore through the air at a speed Ed could not follow. The cloudy energy around Ed helped eat away the arrow slightly, but not completely.

Tear!

It tore through the cloud and pierced Ed right in his chest. One could hear a girl's scream ring through the hall at that moment.