Mystical Journey

Holy Fist Palace.

Garen suddenly opened his eyes.

“It’s time.”

He looked towards Tu Lan, who was sitting in the same position beside him.

“Go. I will compensate you for what you’re worth.”

“Are you sure?” Tu Lan let out a breath, shook his head in annoyance, and stood up, “Forget it, I’ll be generous this time.”

She slowly walked out of the quiet room and towards the direction of her residence.

Garen sat alone in the quiet room. His expression was indifferent. His gently stroked the chessboard, thinking.

“It’s getting closer, and closer now,” BlacK Sethe’s voice was low. His voice seldom came up lately. He was not like before, where he was very chatty. Instead, he had become more and more silent, as if his every word was like gold.

“The Old Generation Blood Breed have joined forces to attack you, and they are sending out men with strengths who aren’t those with typical power. Are you sure that you’re not worried at all? The five big Holy Technique Family at least have around ten Upper-level Blood Breed. At first, the Wellington Family only had three Upper levels. But if they add the Holy Weapon, your people will suffer heavy losses.”

Garen shook his head.

“Everything has been arranged. If there’s a problem, there is nothing else I can do. Just as I’ve said before, for Holy First Palace to battle against the entire Old Generation Blood Breed, our strengths are still considered very weak. That is why we cannot leave this place even if they ambush us.”

“I have this sixth sense lately that it’s best if you and your men don’t attack,” Black Sethe reminded.

“Oh? Why?” Garen was slightly taken aback.

“There’s no reason why, because I have no idea too. It’s just a feeling,” Black Sethe’s voice slowly faded into the air, and it no longer rang.

Garen stood alone in the quiet room, with a flash of doubt in his eyes.

*********************

The strong winds blew against the inner walls of the Underground Palace’s Hall. The whole Underground Palace trembled and swayed violently.

Buss!

Dahm’s eyes looked lost. His whole body couldn’t help but be carried upwards by his wings. The transparent wings continuously fluttered. Beside him, the red spear that was like a red rifle floated beside him and he caught it in his hands. The rifle opened up circles and circles of transparent ripples — that was the powerful effect from the vibration in the air.

However, Beard was immediately held in mid-air by the violent surge of air. He could not move at all, and in the blink of an eye, it was as if his whole body was tied around with an invisible rope.

“What… Is this move…?” All of a sudden, Beard’s expression calmed down, as he looked downwards at Dahm.

Chi!

The red rifle impressively shot out a red line.

Chi chi! Chi chi chi chi chi!”

Within seconds, a big piece of red wire burst out from the rifle and aimed towards Beard from all directions.

With one puff, and just with a blink of an eye, Beard was suspended in mid-air. His body was penetrated into a bloody mess by countless of wires.

“This time, you win,” Beard said in a deep voice.

With a thump, he turned into a cloud of blood mist, disappearing completely. Countless bloody wires also fell to the ground, returning to its original invisible, yet transparent color.

All the dust settled.

Only then did the hazy look in Dahm’s eyes slowly cleared. He absentmindedly looked at both his hands and then at the broken wires that had fallen everywhere on the hall’s floor. He took a deep breath in.

“This was the strength that master has hid in my body…” He muttered. Suddenly, he felt his whole body weakened. The energy he felt in his body just now suddenly faded away.

He struggled his way to the location in which Beard exploded, but he could not find any of the things he left behind; only found some shreds of his shirt.

“Didn’t I kill him? But at least he is heavily injured.” Holding the mask tightly in his hand, he could suddenly feel the fine sand falling from above his head.

“This place is going to collapse soon. I must leave quickly.”

He clenched his teeth and mustered the last strength in his body. Dahm quickly formed an afterimage and rushed out towards the direction of the exit.

Not long after he left, on the left side of where Beard disappeared and in one of the dark corners, Beard’s shadow appeared once again. His whole body was covered in holes from the penetration of the wires. Only his brain was not pierced through but other parts, including his heart, was no exception.

At this moment, he seemed unusually weak. He was using the red spear to hold his body up.

“I miscalculated… That burst of strength was completely different from that of Dahm before. That is definitely not him. Holy Fist Palace…” He felt slight chills in his heart. To be able to influence his disciple even through such long distance, and made him much stronger in an instant, this method was unimaginable.

This time, before he could use his strongest Holy Technique move, he was defeated by that powerful and terrifying move.

“Next time… Next time, I will win, Dahm of Holy Fist Palace. Next time, you will not be so lucky…” His low voice echoed the hall but he instantly disappeared on the spot.

*********************

On the coastline.

Hochman was like a gigantic black lizard, speeding in a zig-zag manner along the reefs by the sea. He was extremely fast. His body was as light as the waterbird. By the looks of it, it seemed like he was as light and effortless as if he was weightless.

Suddenly, he raised his head, looking far away at a distant beach that was cluttered with dead bodies. The blood was flowing into the sea, faintly dying the sea water red. He did not know how much blood there was.

“It should be here…” Hochman tried to adjust his earpiece. “Group five, is anyone there? Answer me! Group six, and group seven to group twelve, if you’re alive, say something!”

His earpiece gave out a fizzle sound. After a while, there was a faint sound coming from beside his ears.

“Marshall, we are here.”

Hochman was slightly stunned because the sound did not come from his earpiece but from the waters on his left.

He quickly got closer to the sea surface and saw the shallow part of the sea. In the sea water between the reefs and the bloodied bodies, the water was stained red. The people here were all covered in injuries of an infant’s bite mark. Their faces looked pale and weak, as if they did not have the energy to move.

“You’re the team leader for group nine?” Hochman frowned as he walked over. Suddenly, he stopped, “How did you end up here alone? What about the mask?”

“The mask… It’s with me, Marshall. I have a heavy injury… on my back. I can’t move…” The man had no expression in his eyes. It looked like he was moments from dying. He forcefully lifted his hand up, as if wanting Hochman to save him. “Save me, Marshall… Save…”

He trembled as he used his other hand to take out the mask from his arms. Surprisingly, it was two masks; the densely packed eyes on the forehead was the biggest prove.

As Hochman looked at it, his eyes moved around left and right, alert of his surroundings. Unconsciously, his palm gently grazed a piece of gravel on the reefs at the side.

Only then, he slowly walked towards that wounded person.

Roar!

In a flash, a cloud of violent flames exploded and spread outwards without indication, taking that wounded person as the center. The red flames were like the most beautiful fireworks. Instantly, it wounded person was covered by the sea and then, it rolled towards Hochman’s direction.

Hochman did not react in time and was quickly swept in by the flames. He only managed to raise both his hands in front to block his body.

Bang!

He could feel himself being violently tossed outwards by a huge impact. Immediately after, he had hit the corners of the sharp reefs that were behind him.

With a low humph, he opened his palms. With the notion that the rock was on the right side, he hit the rock behind him. Then, he rolled onto the ground.

Clank!

Bullet-like stones hit the right side of the air where it originally looked empty — there wasn’t a single person. But after the stone hit, a transparent invisible figure emerged out of nowhere.

“You can’t run, Hochman!” The figure laughed grimly as he flew towards Hochman, who rolled away. The silver flashes in his hand seemed like some metal weapon.

However, when he saw Hochman, the invisible figure was suddenly shocked. He had now returned to the center of the explosion and found the two masks. There were slight damages on the marks, but it wasn’t destroyed in the explosion. Only the sharp edges that bulged out were blown off.

“I am sick of using these explosive traps.” Hochman got up from the water in slight dismay. He looked to the left and right of his surroundings but no one else appeared, “more than ten of my teams are lost… I will note down this fight.”

He looked intensely at the invisible figure who was standing in front of him. Out of the blue, a fish dived into the crashing waves of the sea. With a plop, he quickly jumped into the sea. After a few strokes, he was nowhere to be found.

The invisible figure did not go after him. He or she only looked at the direction in which Hochman left at and frowned slightly.

Minutes after, two of them who attacked Hochman before this appeared beside him — one female and one male Upper-level Blood Breed. The red-haired man held a red longsword in his hands, as always; the girl was dressed in black, like ink, from head to toe.

“Should we go after him?” The red-haired man asked. It seemed like the both of them who rushed forwards took this invisible figure as their leader.

“No need.” The invisible figure raised his hand, ‘Hochman… He is very cautious and cunning. If he had hesitated for a while more, he would have been walking any more. This bastard is quite something.”

“How should we explain this to the Chief?” The black-shirt girl asked quietly.

“I’ll go and explain it myself. This was not our original purpose this time, it’s just a cover-up. Where are the real masks?” The invisible figure asked.

“They are already aboard Halda’s ship. I believe no one will know it’s there?” The red-haired man laughed, “I don’t think that Hochman would know that he brought back the fake version. But since that thing looked like it survived the explosion, he might think that it’s real.”

“If it was the real masks, forget the explosion, even the lightly force could ruin it.” The invisible figure shook his head, “once Hochman brings those things back, we would have more or less achieved our aim. I think the items have arrived at Blood Union’s HQ.”

“Thank goodness for Lord’s arrangements. If not, how else would the fifth Holy Technique Chief obey your arrangements?” The black-shirt girl praised her leader.

The invisible man smiled and said nothing more.

“Let’s go. Everything has been arranged. Now, let’s just wait for Chief’s news.”

“Understood.” They slowly walked away from where they stood, and towards the deep coastal land. There were already people waiting for them there.