Chapter 724: (Un)expected Victor
∆∆Sir! We have finished quarantining the area. All citizens within three blocks of the market steer have been evacuated.∆∆
∆∆Good. With that out of the way, it’ll be much easier to apprehend Zhen Jun Yao. Soldiers, with me!∆∆
∆∆Sir, yes, sir!∆∆
Mere hours ago, the matriarch of the Zhen Clan had tasked Captain Zhen Bai Yin with capturing someone that had been identified as a traitor to not only them, but to the Empire as a whole.
The captain has initially thought the matriarch was being paranoid, until he was given an absolutely mountainous amount of evidence.
Ledgers, journals, schemes, everything that seemed to suggest that Zhen Jun Yao, a promising rising star among the younger generation, had actually been a poisonous bastard that had been screwing over everyone in the clan for years.
The matriarch had also revealed that the reason he had been able to pull this off for so many years was because he had a strange aether treasure that could manipulate people’s memories.
Once that little bit of information was shared with him, he didn’t know whether to be angrier at himself for being duped all of these years or at Zhen Jun Yao for doing it in the first place. Honestly it was both, but one was significantly easier to exact retribution on.
Under the matriarch’s orders, Zhen Bai Yin gathered up five of his best soldiers, a pair of aether suppression cuffs from the ruins of the Zhen Clan’s prison and went off to apprehend Zhen Jun Yao.
A part of Zhen Bai Yin hoped that Zhen Jun Yao would surrender himself willingly once he was caught, but the captain knew how desperate people tended to get once they were backed into a corner.
Before the prison was destroyed, there was an entire floor dedicated to zealots, suicidal crazies and those who were more than willing to lose a limb or their lives to keep their secrets safe. One would assume this would be tautology, but it’s not.
∆∆Alright, soldiers. We’re about a hundred feet away from where Zhen Jun Yao should be located. I’ll go in ahead of time and-∆∆
*BOOM!*
∆∆WHAT THE HELL?!∆∆
Before Zhen Bai Yin and his soldiers could finish settling on the plan, an explosively loud sound rocked through the area.
The soldiers were confused at this sudden noise, until they felt the aether that was responsible for this.
∆∆This feeling…a major Ethereal Art? No…two of them? Why? This area should be emptied.∆∆
∆∆I think it’s Zhen Jun Yao. I think someone got to him before we did.∆∆
∆∆Okay, but who?∆∆
∆∆This feeling…is that Xiao Liu?!∆∆
The moment they identified who was fighting, Captain Zhen Bai Yin and his men decided to pick up the pace.
‘Dammit! I will not allow another member of my family to needlessly die like this again!’
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[Abyssal Emperor’s Finger!]
[Rising Steam Dragon’s Palm!]
In the middle of an empty market street, two young warriors were about to collide into one another with their strongest attack, both hoping to overpower the other and end this thing once and for all.
On one end was Zhen Jun Yao, a manipulative bastard who had sunk his scheming claws into the main Zhen Clan for a number of years at this point.
The art he used was known as [Abyssal Emperor’s Finger], a major Ethereal aether art that was said to have been developed by a powerful cultivator known as the “Abyssal Emperor”. This art of his said to be able to channel the dark power the Abyssal Emperor once used to conquer most Roaring Tide and bits of Umbral Spider.
In the past, this move simply coated the Abyssal Emperor’s finger as he jammed it into his intended target. But now, in the hands of a new owner, this art is able to summon a giant construct of the Abyssal Emperor’s finger made of aether, and fire it as his opponents like a cannon shot.
In order for it to hit harder thought and (hopefully) obliterate Zhen Li, Zhen Jun Yao made sure to put his back into it and punch the finger construct towards Zhen Li.
On the other end though, Zhen Li was also using a major Ethereal aether art to attack. Just like Zhen Jun Yao. Unlike Zhen Jun Yao though, Zhen Li’s attack had no illustrious history. In fact, he technically made it on the spot about five seconds ago.
Zhen Li’s usual finisher was [River King’s Land Carving Palm], but thanks(?) To the unusual voice in his head, he did something unexpected and tried to enhance it using the power of [Chaos] and the Ignati aether that has been mixing into his natural circulation.
For reasons he didn’t understand, the aether art was surprisingly accommodating to adding a new type aether to it. Then again, it probably helped that the aether art Zhen Li was using was technically incomplete.
The resulting combination of Ignati, Aquarii and [Chaos] allowed Zhen Li to not only “complete” the Ethereal art in his own way, but caused it to mutate in a way thought impossible before.
Gone was the blob of water that took the form of a giant carp whenever Zhen Li used this particular aether art, replaced by a giant roaring dragon that was made form steam and carried with it the gears of rage and frustration in mind.
Granted, Zhen Li couldn’t really sit around and bask in whatever breakthrough discovery he just made due to incredible obvious reasons.
∆∆Die for me!∆∆
∆∆You first, bitch!∆∆
It took about twenty seconds for both sides tap into their respective power reserves and drum up the aether necessary for their attacks.
It took another ten seconds for both sides to set up the shields and arrays needed to actually fire off their attacks in the first place.
In the next five seconds, a winneer will be determined.
*BOOM!*
The familiar sound of two powerful aether arts colliding with one another, echoed throughout the empty market street while the shockwaves produced from this collision of attacks ended up damaging several other stalls in the area. In some cases, they were outright destroyed.
Zhen Jun Yao’s ominous finger construct crashed head on into Zhen Li’s dragon made of steam, creating a monumental amount of power that forced neither attack to be able to touch the other.
While this result would be considered normal if it was two warriors of equal rankings colliding with one another, the fact that one of the participating warriors was more or less the underdog in this bout, continued to shock Zhen Jun Yao to no end. Funnily enough, Zhen Li was also a bit shocked at his own performance.
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‘How the hell am I doing this? Actually, better question, how the hell are you doing this to me? I’m still only an Aether Master, how am I punching up my weight class so hard. Wait…why do I know those terms?’
[Don’t worry about it too much. But I do suggest you put your back into it and finish this asshole off.]
‘Good point.’
[Oh, by the way, he’s probably going to be asking you in the next few moments why you’re able to overpower him at this moment. You’ll only need about five words to respond to him.]
‘Five?’
[You’ll know.]
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That all said though, Zhen Jun Yao was the only one to verbalize his own confusion at this turn of events.
Especially when, after a couple more seconds of this collision of attacks, Zhen Li somehow dug deeper and began to empower his attack even further. This in turn, pushed Zhen Li’s attack back more than before, and more insidiously, he began to notice that there was something in Zhen Li’s attack that was eating away at the aether that made up his own.
∆∆H-how? How are you doing this? How the hell are you this strong?!∆∆
Zhen Jun Yao had made it a habit to keep track of any and all powerhouses that were among both the older and younger generations. As a spy who made it a point to regularly screw over the Zhen Clan, this information was necessary in order to set up “accidents” and “organic” conflicts. In his notes, Zhen Li was always marked as “average”, above average in regards to people outside of the Zhen Clan, but merely average amongst the martial geniuses that he called family.
When Zhen Jun Yao asked this question, he assumed he was going to be told, “because I have guts and grit on my side” or “because I’m doing this for my family” or some other chessy yet appropriately heroic line that seemed to be baked into the Zhen Clan’s blood.
Instead, he was simply told five little words that threw him off his game further and angered him further.
∆∆Because screw you, that’s why!!!∆∆
∆∆W-what?!∆∆
The moment this answer was given, Zhen Li’s attack finally overpowered Zhen Jun Yao.
A coiling dragon made of steam, then proceeded to bowl him over like a runaway cart.
The last thing Zhen Jun Yao saw before passing out was Zhen Li’s victorious form…and how he seemed to carry with him, the shadow of a demonic warrior.
‘I-impossible…,’ was his final thought.
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‘Hah! I don’t know if I should be proud or disappointed that he went for the cleaner option. Ah well. I hope Zhen Li likes the gift.’
