Ed looked down at those before them and for a second, if one looked closely, they would have seen a ghost of a smile flash past his eyes. There were quite a lot of them. The entire east lands had gathered their strong and were standing before him.
"I like your numbers," he said and they look at him with dead eyes. Quite a few of them had risen into the air to match his height.
"Orders have been given that you stay put till the Three arrive. It is in your best interest to obey, young man," an old man with beards to his chest said.
"Oh, a heaven seeker. This is a very good gathering," Ed said.
"It is in your best interest to obey, boy," the man repeated.
"Okay," Ed said and descended upon the flat tip of a towering rock and sat legs crossed. The entire crowd paused. They could not believe that he just obeyed. The old man raised a brow at his relaxed form.
"Do you know who is coming for you, boy?" he asked.
"Enlighten me," he answered.
"The Three is a strike force from the central lands. For them to pay attention to you, you must have provoked them, probably by taking that tomb," the old man said.
"Really?" Ed asked,"
"It is best that you do not resist, boy. That tomb is not something you can begin to understand," he said.
"Oh?"
"It is best left in stronger hands,"
"Your hands?" Ed asked.
"When the three comes, you will spill all that you know. You have no choice in the presence of their methods," he said.
"You wish that I run?" Ed asked and the man paused and then chuckled. This boy mocks them. He had only said that opening line that he better stay as they have been ordered to stay put and he actually did. The boy let him keep speaking to reveal their hypocrisy. They wished that he'd run so that they might have a righteous reason to pursue and loot. By the time the Three get here, they would just hand over the boy. After all, they only said the boy should not be killed. They said nothing about what he had on him. If they worked well, they could get enough information about the tomb, and even get something from it. The tomb had always been in the eastern lands and for that reason; they have been at the centre of attention. If they do not even get something out of this tomb and allow the central lands to benefit from taking the boy they would go to their graves in shame. That Fu clan had been handled by the boy; this was double fortune.
"You need no righteous reason. After all, they will not know you fought," Ed said and the man's eyes darkened. He and all others there were thinking the same thing. Why is he inviting them to fight? When he had stayed put right in front of them, it made them pause but also confirmed that he has been weakened from his fight with the Fu clan. According to their information, the Fu clam marched here with the serum to fight and none of them have left the stone forest. This means they fought and the boy won.
He should have been weakened by the serum. He should have been completely taken over. Even if he resisted the effects, he will still be weak. But what is this, standing before them and egging them to fight him?
"Nti Anem," Ed called and Nti Anem's distracted eyes staring into the distance returned to the scene.
"Yes?" he answered.
"No one leaves, even by portals," he said and Nti Anem snapped his finger with a smile.
"You must be happy. You are talking a lot," he said to Ed as a barrier encased metres around the place. The cultivators looked back at the barrier formed far away from normal eyesight range and frowned.
"Yes. I am quite pleased," Ed answered with dead eyes.
"Mn, it is a good look," he answered and looked away.
When the cultivators saw Ed rise to his feet, they tensed. Most of them had heard rumours of what had happened at the tomb site. They were not sure how the rumours held up to real life. Still, fighting all of them, this was looking down on them.
"Such arrogance," the old man said and took out his sword.
"Do not worry. I will restrain my energy somewhat. This fight must be long. Be sure not to die," Ed said and appeared before the man the next instant, causing his eyes to round in shock. He put up a shield instantly.
"Heavenly shell!" he bellowed. Ed's fist descended upon it the next second, echoing for miles away.
Crack!
The old man's eyes shrunk as he swung his sword at Ed. He was fast; Ed could not see that sword coming. It descended upon his shoulder and tore through to his bone before he could retreat.
"Ah, a heaven seeker is definitely on another level," Ed said retreating slightly away. He was worried. This man was not the only heaven seeker here. If they were this strong fast, he would not even tell when he died. He was utterly impressed. It would be an easy kill if he released his deadly energy into the air, but that is why he is still unable to fight like those on his level of cultivation. He needed to learn to fight without killing. Using his energy is too dangerous. What if they died before he could take some moves from them? He was quick and could react well. But compared to those from stage four soul realization upwards, he could barely move.
At that moment, a thought crossed his mind. He needed to know when they were coming and react in time. What he needed was speed, not only in sight but in reaction. He thought back to learning about the possibilities of his energy these past months and smiled. There are times it did not kill; when he stretched into his core. And he did so that moment.
The old man saw the look in his eyes. The boy was distracted. He was sure his sword had reached his bone but the boy stood distracted, as though he could not feel the pain. He was right. He could not feel the pain. Ed's sense of pain was the first thing he lost after a few decades in the mist. It had disappeared slowly. Only in the tower after being impaled in the middle by that soul realization master did he notice that he felt no pain.
Ed stretched from his core to the surrounding. He noticed that he had formed a radius around himself. He could feel every tiny detail in that radius. At that moment, he could almost read the minds of those within the half-mile radius. It was quite distracting. He concentrated. It was not that he could read their minds. It was that they had somewhat become him. He could not understand this. Not all of them though, but a part of them were him. He stared at them with a slight frown. This was the first time he had done this since inside the Baju valley residing in his core. He did not think doing this will link him with humans so near. He could even feel Nti Anem a bit away. But something was wrong there. He could only feel his body, his physical body.
He looked up at those before him and moved. There was no need to think too hard. He was going to find out what it meant in this fight.
"Let's do this again," he said and attacked. The moment the old man felt to move; Ed raised a brow and was beside him. The old man's eyes shrunk.
'He was faster! Also, he moved before I did!' the old man thought.
"Impossible!" someone said. Ed threw a punch that landed on the old man's shield. He and the shield were one and the same. It gave way like a sponge allowing Ed's fist to reach the man, sending him tumbling away a few miles. They all paused. The cultivators could not believe it. Elder Se just got hit before he could react. The shield stood no chance! They stared at Ed hovering above with serious eyes. This is dangerous.
"Ah, I finally get it. This is the benefit of an actual fight. I must do this often," he said.
On the other side, Nti Anem rubbed the metal thread in his hands. His eyes remained closed and his mind wandered across the light realm. He stretched farther than Ed could ever dream to, covering the entire light realm, tracing till his mind paused at a small village in the mountains and at the familiar form of Ku Jian sitting before a cauldron and smiled.
"Found you,"