Chapter 537: Underhanded ta-Hold up, who are you?
Just as the Zhen branch scions were about to make way and find somewhere safe to hide from the resulting clash, they found themselves stopped by the other two “companions” of Zhen Ren Fa.
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“Fuck you, people aren’t property,” Zhen Tai shot back.
“Don’t goad them,” Zhen Guo hissed, “we got them outnumbered, but they got us outmatched.”
Visually speaking, neither of Zhen Ren Fa’s companions looked as intimidating as the bandits and beasts the Zhen Clan scions had fought in the past, but their aether was another story altogether.
One was a foppish looking young man about their age, maybe a touch older by at least a year or two, and had a charismatically lazy grin on his face.
Meanwhile, the other companion was a young woman, dressed in dark colored clothes, that gave off a coldness that suggested she’d be right at home in cave surrounded by corpses and poisonous plants that spat acidic thorns at people.
However, in a sharp contrast to their images, the young scions could sense the faint aura of death aether radiating from the young man’s form, while the young woman radiated an aura of that seemed to be equal parts Ignati and Caligos aether.
Not like death as in “decay” mind you, it was death on a more…spiritual level.
Granted, that detail didn’t really matter to Zhen Tai, Zhen Guo, Zhen Xing and Zhen Feng, since they could sense that these two were at the Aether Master rank, same as their more talented cousins.
If only one of them had come after them, maybe the Zhen Clan scions could’ve won via their superior numbers, but since it was two against four…the odds were in the favor of the two.
That didn’t stop the scions from taking on fighting stances though, save for Zhen Feng, who was still holding on to the slave girl.
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The girl didn’t even bother saying anything further at this point, she circulated her aether throughout her body, causing her hands to take on a dark color as smoke began to emanate from her palms.
[Diabolic Immolation Hand…]
Seeing his associate getting ready to attack, the foppish young man followed suit and circulated his aether as well, manifesting a ghostly blade in one of his hands in the process.
[Phantom Dagger.]
“Oh we are fucked…,” Zhen Guo told his cousins as he stared at the aether arts being deployed.
He could tell at a glance that they were only Corporeal arts at most, but that was cold comfort due to the users of these arts being Aether Masters.
Even so…it didn’t mean the Zhen Clan scions were going to give up.
“Think we can block those attacks?,” Zhen Xing asked.
“Probably one or two at most,” Zhen Guo answered, “after that…I don’t think we’ll be conscious for long.”
“Fuck it man,” Zhen Tai added, “at least we’ll go down swinging.”
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The moment the foppish man said the words, he and the girl rushed towards the group, ready to unleash their aether arts, way before Zhen Guo and the others even had a chance to prepare their own, and take them all hostage.
At least…that was the plan.
During the whole stand-off between the two forces, a small jade-like figure had suddenly appeared in a halfway point between the two of them, unnoticed by all of them, rehearsing a script that she was given just a few moments ago.
And now, she was ready to go.
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Meanwhile, at the exact same time…
On one side, a lightning bolt that felt as if it carried the judgmental power of the heavens themselves was about to fall on a girl that seemed to embody the moon’s savagery.
On the other, a heavy mountain seal that threatened to punish whomever was on the receiving end with all of the prejudice of the underworld, was falling down on a hot headed shark.
‘I definitely don’t have the defensive ability to block something like this.’
Both Zhen Yue and Zhen Hai were on the receiving end of two very different major Ethereal aether arts that threatened to horribly injure them at minimum or rendered them crippled in some manner at worst. They didn’t have to worry about dying since the users of these aether arts were given orders to just capture them.
Not exactly good news, but it was better than dying in a foreign land…sort of.
Regardless, Zhen Yue and Zhen Hai both knew that trying to block the encroaching attacks with a defensive skill would most likely fail, due to neither of them mastering any powerful defensive arts, while evading it might lead to collateral damage that could damage the other. As such, they both came to a similar conclusion: they were going to have to overpower the attacks with their own.
‘I haven’t mastered this yet, but its better than nothing.’
Granted, the only move they had in their arsenal that was powerful enough to do such a thing was also a move that neither of them had fully mastered, but…trial by fire, bitches.
They would need total concentration in order to perform this move…
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In the split second that the two companions of Zhen Ren Fa were about to make contact with the Zhen clan scions, a powerful aura that neither side recognized appeared out of nowhere, followed by a pair of heavy hands that stopped their attacks dead in their tracks, literally grabbing the wrists of the two Aether Masters.
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“Whoa!”
“Who the fuck is that?”
“Don’t know…but I think she’s on our side…and she’s way, way stronger than those two.”
Before their very eyes, a heroic looking woman in a strange outfit had appeared out of thin and stopped the two Aether Masters from assaulting the scions.
They didn’t know who this woman was exactly, but something about her felt very familiar to the group…which in the case of Zhen Xing, caused him to flinch a little.
“You guys alright?,” the woman asked.
“Uh…yeah.”
“Good,” the woman nodded in approval.
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…luckily though, nothing strange had happened that warranted their attention, meaning they could perform this art without any issues.
As a blast of lighting came barreling down on Zhen Yue, and a heavy mountain seal flew towards Zhen Hai, both of them proceeded to perform eerily similar actions of taking a deep breath and circulating their aether in such a way that caused the area around them to suddenly grow much colder, causing even the ground to freeze up.
However, if one were to take a closer look, they would notice minute differences in art manifestation between the two.
[Echoing…]
As Zhen Yue gathered up power to perform this aether art, totems of ice began to form on the ground around her, creating a circular formation similar to that of a moon. It was if the spirits of an ancient land were descending to create a cold, winter night.
[Echoing…]
While in Zhen Hai’s case, a singular, massive shark’s head seem to form around him, mouth wide open as if it was going to devour him and everything beyond him. This beast wanted to cover the whole world in its fury, and it would make damn sure the world knew what was coming.
[FROST!]
Once the two scions were ready, both let powerful roars that seemed to herald the arrival of a fate that would befall all who would hear it: frozen death.
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‘WHAT THE FUCK?!,’ Zhen Ren Fa cursed mentally as she saw the scene unfold before her.
The moment she recognized that “Shen Yue” and “Shen Hai” were about to use an aether art that required some deep concentration, she immediately sent Ao Tang and Fan Ying to provide a distraction.
She could’ve had them intervene physically, but subterfuge such as hostages make things so much easier.
It was a perfect plan.
Unfortunately, her perfect plan had crumbled in a literal instant as, for reasons beyond her understanding, some random woman had appeared out of nowhere and stopped Ao Tang and Fan Ying from acquiring the hostages necessary to throw these two “Shen” masters off of their focus.
And now, a single question dominated her mind.
‘WHO THE HELL IS THAT?!’
