Chapter 15: Go Again Anyway
An immense pressure crashed down on Shura from the sky. His body became very heavy and he almost knelt down. He circulated his wrathfire energy to full strength and resisted the pressure with great difficulty. Shura looked up at the sky.
A large middle-aged man in green robe stood high in the air with his hands clasped behind his back. There was an aloof and noble aura about this man. His sharp gazed rested on Shura.
There was something familiar about this man to Shura, but he couldn't figure out what it was. Shura activated his mystic eye technique to find out what it was.
"Ugh!"
Pain immediately shot through his eyes. He couldn't see anything and he was forced to close his eyes. This man was just too strong. Now he knew from first-hand experience that he couldn't see anything if the other was more powerful than him. The pain made sure that he would never repeat today's mistake again in the future.
This man's aura was stronger than any cultivators that he had seen before. Stronger than his senior brother and sister, and even the Spirit King that he had killed before. But this aura was still in the level of a Spirit King.
If this large man was a Spirit Emperor, he would already be dead. So he must be a third layer or even a peak Spirit King then. If a Spirit King was making a move himself, then was he from the Long Stream Sect? Shura was sure that he didn't have any other enemies. Would a Spirit King be interested in bounty-hounting him?
Shura opened his eyes again with difficulty. "Are you from the Long Stream Sect?" Shura asked.
"I am a Peak Master of the Long Stream Sect, Boran." The voice of the large man filled the entire sky and reverberated in all directions.
"You killed my son, and for that, you will die," Peak Master Boran declared coldly.
Shura widened his eyes. So that's why this Peak Master felt familiar to him. This was the father of the Spirit King he had killed in Violetwood City, and maybe even the source of his suffering from endless pursuers after his escape.
Whoever he was, Shura couldn't fight him, not now.
With a thought, innumerable symbols instantly appeared around Shura and burst into bright lights over and over that covered him. Green, red, yellow, white, black, purple, orange, pink, many bright lights flashed on top of each other on Shura's body. The light then vanished. Shura had disappeared with the light.
Moments later hundreds of swords crashed down on the spot where he stood and the ground exploded. Each sword caused an explosion. Over one hundred explosions occurred in a short period of time. Smokes shot up into the sky and the previous pave road was now a large crater deep into the ground.
Peak Master Boran scanned the surrounding 20 kilometers with his mental awareness. Nothing was amiss. He couldn't find a trace of Shura anywhere. It was as if he just disappeared. After waiting and observing for another half an hour he flew away. A moment later the dot that was him had already disappeared beyond the horizon.
Shura hadn't gone anywhere. He was here the entire time. The spells he had cast on himself wasn't a teleportation spell. But a whole bunch of spells. There were optical camouflage, spiritual aura camouflage, strengthening spells, speed spells, and many more spells.
He had cast them all on himself and immediately evaded the lethal barrage of sword explosions. After that he had hidden away in plain sight and waited for Peak Master Boran to leave.
If he was not as prepared as he was today, he would definitely die. A second layer Spirit Lord was nothing to a third layer or higher Spirit King. A slap from such Spirit Kings was enough to kill a mere Spirit Lord.
But although he wasn't a mere Spirit Lord and a slap or ten wouldn't do him in, he couldn't kill the other party and so fighting would be pointless. He was nevertheless in great danger. If he wasn't outright killed he'd have to be forced to pay the price in wasted cultivation time and resource like he did the last time in Violetwood City. Time was not something he could waste anymore. The longer the was away from Aggradise Continent, the more uncertain Claira's fate was.
As Shura thought of the close call he was in this his killing intent soared. Anyone would be dead if they weren't him. If he didn't have the heritage and knowledge from a much broader cultivation civilization, then he would be dead today. Someone wanted his life again, and now wanted theirs in return.
'I really must report on this enmity. If I don't root out the Long Stream Sect, then the life I've lived would be in vain,' Shura thought.
Once again it was a simple matter. As long as he possessed a certain degree of strength enough to overwhelm his enemies, then he would be able to do it. It was just that the target of his enmity was too high for him to topple in a day or a month.
He was far from a Spirit King. The Peak Lord was already a third layer Spirit King. How many peaks did the Long Stream Sect have? That was easily half a dozen third layer Spirit Kings or peak Spirit Kings. Then there was the Sect Master and other hidden figures of the sect. They would at least be half-step Spirit Emperors.
By the time Shura became a Spirit Emperor and could easily wipe them all out, he would want to leave this continent and return to his continent right away. He didn't even have a moment to waste.
He needed to destroy the Long Stream Sect, but he can't do it with his own personal power. He would need to scheme. Killing Peak Master Boran and destroying the sect was the same thing. If he killed a Peak Master, no matter the reason the whole sect would still come after him. As long as he remained passive and do nothing, Peak Master Boran will keep coming after him, and before long he might really lose his life.
While Shura painstakingly pursued a higher peak of strength through cultivation, he needed to scheme on the side and bring about his revenge. Strength was good, but if one lacked strength, then the intellect could compensate.
…
The travel back to the sect took twice as long on foot. Shura had much to do. He first went to see his master.
Shura entered his master's home. He found his master sitting with his eyes crossed under a huge tree in the large front courtyard.
"Peak Master Boran tried to kill me as I left the city. He wanted revenge for his son," Shura said.
"You're unharmed," his master said with his eyes closed.
"Yes," Shura replied.
"There was no danger, nor were there any fighting at all by you. You are still stuck in the second layer of the Spirit Lord level," his master said.
"Yes," Shura admitted.
"It's my fault," his master said. "I've given you too easy of a task. You will go out again, but this time you will go alone. You will not come back until you are finished with this task."
"What would you have me do, master?" Shura asked.
"The Long Stream Sect had already acted against us in secret. It won't be long before the conflict comes out in the open. Since that's the case, and since you're already on their hit list, I'm sending you as a vanguard of our retaliation," his master said.
Just like the last time his master told him to go on a mission, Shura felt slightly reluctant. It would be good if one could just sit down with their eyes closed and become all-powerful. Why did he have to go and fight people to become stronger? Strength referred to the ability to defeat and kill others, so it made sense that if one wanted to be able to better fight and kill others then one had to be doing the fighting and killing.
"I am just a second layer Spirit Lord. There are countless people stronger than me in the sect, why don't you send them instead?" Shura asked.
"Are you trying to talk your way out of this? I'm sending you because I am your master, it is my responsibility to broaden your horizon and make you reach greater heights. You may be a 'mere' Spirit Lord, but a Spirit King has fallen in your hands before."
"But at a great price," Shura said.
"I don't doubt that. But go again anyway. Your new task is to infiltrate the Long Stream Sect and disable their shielding formation so that our sect can launch an attack on them. We must take them by surprise in one go."
Shura left after receiving his master's instruction and receiving the relevant tools he needed for the task.
He finally remembered what he had felt he had forgotten: he was supposed to scheme the downfall of the Long Stream Sect with intellect, but now he was going in person and infiltrating the enemy. Not all plans come true.
Weekly Power Status
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