"Think numbers make a difference?" Xiao Heng smirked.
Pale blue Dou Zhi Qi flared around him, his figure a blur of azure as he moved. In an instant, Jia Lie Ao's dozen guards crumpled to the ground. With a wicked grin, Xiao Heng advanced step by step toward Jia Lie Ao and Liu Xi, who stood slightly behind.
"You… what are you doing? I didn't touch you!" Jia Lie Ao stammered, facing Xiao Heng's murderous aura.
"You didn't, so I won't either," Xiao Heng said, his right foot slamming backward as he lunged at Liu Xi.
Liu Xi reacted, swinging a fist at the charging Xiao Heng. Xiao Heng met it with his own, their collision unleashing a gust that lifted the skirts of nearby onlookers, drawing eager stares. Quite the show, Xiao Heng thought.
Liu Xi was no match. A sickening crack echoed as his right arm twisted grotesquely. He crashed into a rouge stall behind him. Realizing his defeat, Liu Xi fled.
Xiao Heng had no intention of killing Liu Xi publicly and let him go, but not without a trick. During their clash, he'd planted a trace of his Heavenly Flame on Liu Xi's body. Run as far as you like; I'll find you, he mused. Now, he turned to Jia Lie Ao, trembling with fear.
It took little effort to pin Jia Lie Ao underfoot. But Jia Lie Bi, Jia Lie Ao's father, arrived swiftly. Xiao Heng had barely stomped once when Jia Lie Bi appeared.
"Brat, release my son, or you'll regret it," Jia Lie Bi threatened.
"Everyone saw who started this. Trying to twist the truth?" Xiao Heng retorted, grinding his foot into Jia Lie Ao's face.
"Stop it, brat!"
"Father, save me!" Jia Lie Ao wailed from beneath Xiao Heng's boot.
"Seeing your father-son bond, I'll let you go," Xiao Heng said.
"Smart move," Jia Lie Bi sneered.
"Catch!" Xiao Heng kicked Jia Lie Ao toward Jia Lie Bi, aiming low. A sickening crunch rang out, like eggs shattering, prompting nearby men to glance at their own groins. Ouch, Xiao Heng thought, smirking.
"Aaagh!" Jia Lie Ao's pig-like scream filled the air before he fainted in Jia Lie Bi's arms.
"You're dead!" Jia Lie Bi, sensing his son's ruin, charged Xiao Heng in a frenzy.
"Dou Qi Gauze!" Xiao Heng, cautious against the higher-ranked foe, cloaked himself in pale blue liquid armor. At the Dou Shi level, Dou Qi Gauze was fluid; Da Dou Shi could solidify it.
"Low Xuan Class Dou Technique: Green Wind Spiral Fist!" Jia Lie Bi unleashed his signature move.
"Octo-Burst!" Xiao Heng, not underestimating the Da Dou Shi, poured his full Dou Zhi Qi into the High Xuan Class technique.
Their clash held briefly before Xiao Heng was blasted backward. Jia Lie Bi, a Da Dou Shi, merely staggered a few steps. But Xiao Heng's Octo-Burst carried five layers of hidden force. Jia Lie Bi clutched his chest, swallowing blood. Got him, Xiao Heng thought.
As a Nine-Star Dou Shi with a Di Class cultivation method and High Xuan Class technique, Xiao Heng's strike nearly matched Jia Lie Bi's, losing only in raw force. Though flung back, his Dou Qi Gauze shielded him from injury. Feigning death on the ground, Xiao Heng waited as Xiao Zhan, already nearby, seized the moment.
"Lion Mountain Shatter!" Xiao Zhan's Low Xuan Class technique summoned a roaring red lion's head on his fist.
"Jia Lie Bi, pay for my son's life!" Xiao Zhan bellowed, engaging Jia Lie Bi. The Xiao clan's three elders, lying in wait, swarmed in.
Four against one, with no special abilities to save him, Jia Lie Bi was beaten to death in the street. Jia Lie clan reinforcements were nowhere in sight. Pathetic response time, Xiao Heng thought.
"Dead?" Xiao Heng rose.
"Dead as can be," the third elder said with a sinister grin.
"Heng-er, are you hurt?" Xiao Zhan asked, concerned.
"Flew far, but I'm fine," Xiao Heng chuckled.
"What about the Jia Lie clan?" the great elder asked.
"Wipe them out," Xiao Heng said, snatching a spear from a stall and piercing Jia Lie Ao's chest.
"Cut the roots. We move now!" Xiao Zhan ordered.
Xiao Zhan and the great and second elders rushed to the Jia Lie clan's compound. The third elder returned to gather men. Xiao Heng incinerated Jia Lie Bi and Jia Lie Ao's corpses with his Heavenly Flame, harvesting a massive, pure energy droplet. Jackpot, he thought.
"Xiao Heng-gege, let's help!" Xiao Xun Er said. Xiao Yu, somehow, had rallied Xiao clan guards.
"Let's go!" Xiao Heng led the group, following Xiao Zhan. The third elder was swift; by the time Xiao Heng, Xiao Yu, and Xiao Xun Er arrived, his elite Xiao clan forces were already there.
Xiao Zhan and the elders battled the Jia Lie clan's two remaining Da Dou Shi elders. The Xiao clan's elites handled the rest. Xiao Yan, wielding an iron rod, clashed with a Four-Star Dou Zhe, two Jia Lie corpses nearby. Meeting Xiao Heng's gaze, Xiao Yan pressed his fight.
Xiao Heng drew his Crimson Dragon Fang, diving into the fray. A few flashes, and heads rolled.
"Perfect!" Pale blue Dou Zhi Qi coated his Crimson Dragon Fang. Lunging, he impaled a Jia Lie elder flung by the second and third elders.
"Sharp kid, great timing!" the third elder praised, joining the second to finish the last Jia Lie elder.
___
After the battle, Xiao Heng tracked Liu Xi, killing him ten kilometers outside Wu Tan City, catching him mid-debauchery in a village. Disgusting end for a disgusting man, he thought.
Xiao Heng took charge of disposing the Jia Lie clan's corpses, claiming to cremate them. Instead, he extracted vast energy droplets with his Heavenly Flame. I'll absorb these after Jia Nan Academy enrollment, he planned.
Jia Nan Academy, situated between the Black Corner Region and the three empires, including Jia Ma, was a neutral power. It valued talent over status, though money could buy entry. Who doesn't love coin? Xiao Heng mused.
Xiao Yan had been tirelessly refining healing medicines for the Xiao clan. Xiao Heng joined, easing the burden. His ninety percent success rate far outstripped Xiao Yan's sixty percent. Alchemy's my forte, he thought.
Jia Nan Academy's admission required reaching Eight-Stage Dou Zhi Qi before age eighteen—a modest bar. No sweat for us.
"Xiao Heng-gege, I heard you're leaving again?" Xiao Xun Er said, her voice tinged with sadness.
"The academy's too soft. I need to roam and grow. How can I match you just coasting by charm?" Xiao Heng teased, winking.
____
If you want to support me and read advanced chapters and other stories: patreon.com/Caluem