Chapter 540: An Old Veteran and an “Old” Monster
On one side, a middle aged man dressed in armor similar to the local guardsmen, but made of a strange white metal, wielding a scholar’s sword descended from on high to block the attacks of Zhen Hai and Zhen Yue.
On the other, an old man in a simple black robe, leaped down to block the palm strike of Zhen Ren Fa.
Both of these men radiated the power of a Grandmaster or higher, so they could easily block the attacks. How they went about doing so though was another matter entirely.
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<<[Repulsing Slash!]>>
The man in white armor quickly channeled aether into his sword and slashed forward, releasing a blast of energy that didn’t cut through Zhen Hai and Zhen Yue, but had repelled them instead like a powerful gust of wind.
“Oof!”
“Bah!”
Their attacks were broken in an instant as they were launched back several feet away from the man in white armor.
It took a couple of seconds but Zhen Yue and Zhen Hai were eventually able to regain their footing and stop their momentum.
Once they settled down though, they came to a rather nasty realization.
“This guy…”
“He held back a lot…but it still hurt like crazy…”
In that quick exchange of blows, they could tell this new arrival was an Aether Lord at least, and one that had been at this level for a number of years.
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The middle aged man turned so that he could admonish Zhen Ren Fa, however…
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He was stunned by a most unbelieve sight.
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Hell, even Zhen Yue and Zhen Hai couldn’t believe what they saw.
“How…how the fuck is he doing that?”
“I…don’t know…”
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Meanwhile at the opposite end…
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The image of a great dragonic beast made of water could be seen overlaying her arm, casting an illusion that made it look as if it was carving the land beneath it with incredible force.
It made for an impressive to be sure, and the amount of power behind it more than justify its flashy appearance.
Most warriors would either move out of the way or channel their aether into a defensive art if they were careful, or an offensive if they were reckless and confident in their abilities.
However, this old man did none of those.
In fact, aside from standing there and taking on a strange fighting stance, Zhen Ren Fa couldn’t detect the faintest hint of an aether fluctuation coming from the old man.
She was even taught how to detect anima power, and she couldn’t even sense that coming off of him either.
Did this guy have a death wish or something?
Regardless, Zhen Ren Fa’s aether art was too far along its performance to be stopped at this point, so she made a mental note to try and find this old guy’s next kin.
In other words, she didn’t expect what was actually about to go down.
‘Apologies old guy, but this is where you-‘
“And…grab.”
*Grab*
‘Huh?’
In one fluid motion, with absolutely no aether, no anima, not even a hint of dragon force or even killing intent, the old man had effortlessly stopped Zhen Ren Fa’s attack by leaning his body in such a manner to avoid the initial blow and then grabbing the woman’s wrist.
From outside point of view, it looked as if the old man had grabbed a whole ass dragon by the neck and was holding it in the same manner as one would a snake to prevent it from biting and flailing.
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It was at this exact moment that Zhen Ren Fa saw her Uncle Ba Yin and the two “Shen” Aether Masters watch on in stunned silence at this turn of events.
An understandable reaction, she’d make the same one if she wasn’t the one subjected to the hold.
‘What the hell is this grip strength?! It’s like trying to escape the claws of an Adamantine Crab!’
As it would turn out though, this was only the start of their reactions of disbelief.
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‘Holy shit it actually worked…hah! And y’all thought I was crazy for wanting to practice this move. Now let’s see if that other one I’ve been practicing also works…’
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“And…pop.”
*Pop!*
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“Like a fucking bubble?!”
“Why…an I getting a sense of deja vu?”
In a moment you had to see in order to believe it, the old man then proceeded to defuse the aether art entirely by simply poking at it with his finger.
Zhen Ren Fa could’ve sworn the old man channeled some minute amount of an energy she didn’t recognize, but that observation was quickly thrown out the window the moment she saw her aether art pop.
Now she just wanted to figure out who the fuck this old guy was and how the hell he managed to defuse an aether art with what was essentially his barehands.
Granted, she wasn’t the only one who wanted to know.
Zhen Bai Yin was stunned silent for a moment, but quickly recollected himself so that he could go over and reclaim his niece from the grasp of this mysterious old man.
As he did though, he overheard the old man speak perfect Tide Tongue, lecturing Zhen Ren Fa no less.
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‘Oh of fucking course the main Zhen Clan has one of their guys in charge of the local police…dressed in what I’m assuming is a suit of armor type aether treasure. Gods above I hope he isn’t a bastard.’
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Once Zhen Ba Yin made his presence known, he proceeded to stand a bit straighter and presented himself in the light of a professional lawman and not as a doting uncle.
A change in demeanor that the old man couldn’t help but notice.
Without missing a beat, the old man decided to initiate conversation under this pretense.
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“Huh?”
“Say what?”
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The old man dragged Zhen Ren Fa briefly before placing the girl’s wrist into Zhen Ba Yin’s hands, which due to him following the rhythm of the movement, proceeded to hold onto the girl’s wrist in the old man’s stead.
As for the old man, he walked over to a visibly confused Zhen Yue and Zhen Hai and proceeded to grab the two of them into one big group hug loudly declaring he was happy that the two of them were okay in Hoof Speech while also making sure their heads were close enough to either side of his face so that he could whisper into their ears.
Just to double safe though, the old man also used a small touch of “aether” to make sure no one else heard them.”
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“Alright, at this point I’m fairly certain y’all are very confused by what’s going on, and that’s fine, just know that for all intents and purposes that I’m on your side. If you two want to get out of this situation with the slave girl in tow, and your cousins, play along or else they might not be willing to listen.”
“I…wait, why should we trust you?,” Zhen Hai asked with understandable suspicion.
“Not to be rude,” Zhen Yue added, “but we don’t know who you are.”
“Because I’m also the reason why y’all managed to cross the ocean safely on the S.S. Nemona in the first place. Also, ‘Shen’? Really?”
The moment he name-dropped that moment, and the fact that he knew they had faked their names, Zhen Hai and Zhen Yue eyes went wide as they connected the dots as to who this guy was.
He was their cousin Zhen Liu’s mysterious master!
Granted he looked remarkably different than the giant red horned demon man they saw on the ship that evening, but they just chalked that up to aether armor being weird.
But now that they knew who this guy was, they quickly agreed to play along with the ruse.
“Excellent, now then…”
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The old man proceeded to release his two disciples from his embrace before turning towards Captain Ba Yin and his niece.
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