Chapter 133 - Hunting the Hunter - 2

Watching Mok Tong-Hyon avoid their combined attack and then distance himself without attacking, Hei smiled. Typically, being underestimated by their opponent in that way would have provoked the majority of martial artists. After all, each martial artist was a person who had dedicated their lives to gain power after countless hardships. Being looked down upon was therefore unbearable for them. And this was even truer the more the person had talent. Even those who were mild-tempered, though they wouldn't have lost their minds, wouldn't also have been happy with such a gesture that poured mud on their efforts.

But Hei was different. He didn't care about that at all, quite the opposite. If Mok Tong-Hyon was looking down on them, it was only positive for him. Not even Lian reacted to that provocation. Her emotions only came out when it was something related to Hei, Ye, and Xing; otherwise, she would have kept a calm attitude all the time.

Mok Tong-Hyon, who expected a reaction of some kind, looked at the two young martial artists with a surprised expression. He didn't expect such calm from two of them; after all, they had an unbelievable degree of talent, even superior to the top geniuses of the islands' big sects. However, he didn't pay much attention to it and let it go. He had a distinct cultivation advantage, why should he worry?

"Lian, let's speed up the pace. Ye, Xing, get ready to attack." Hei said quietly to the other three.

Lian and the two little divine beasts nodded their heads. Then the young blue-haired woman ran forward toward Mok Tong-Hyon, attacking alone.

"Intent of the Ribbon, Law of Water, Wave Ribbon!" Lian exclaimed loudly as the amount of spirit power emitted in her two ribbons increased.

The two silk ribbons began to shake violently as a celestial glow began to emanate from them. It was as if they had become two living streams of water, swaying at high speed in the air. Lian, therefore, began to dance, spinning quickly on herself and waving her arms. Since they were connected to her, each time Lian waved her arms, the two silky ribbons would move accordingly. The faster she danced, and the smoother the dance movements, the more speed, and elasticity the ribbons would have.

Mok Tong-Hyon sneered at that sight. For him, dancing was a useless activity, and he couldn't understand what that girl was thinking by starting dancing and waving her two ribbons. The ribbon was a capturing weapon, but you could only capture the enemy if you were stronger than them, if they were injured, or if you had the numerical advantage. Not to mention that he certainly wouldn't have let himself be captured by such a ridiculous technique. However, Mok Tong-Hyon had to change his mind immediately.

When one of the two ribbons hurled at him from above, Mok Tong-Hyon used his right arm to tear this annoying object to pieces. His metal gauntlet was infused with his spirit power, increasing the damage of his claws. But when the ribbon and gauntlet made contact, instead of tearing the ribbon, a deafening metallic noise was produced.

Mok Tong-Hyon looked surprised because he didn't think such a ribbon was so hard. He knew that such a weapon could be hardened with spirit power, but he had the advantage of spirit power in this struggle. So he should have been able to tear the ribbon apart, yet that hadn't happened. But it wasn't the time for reasoning because the second ribbon arrived quickly, taking advantage of that moment of hesitation.

Lian began to take command of the fight by dictating the pace. With the length of her two ribbons, she could attack from afar and defend herself at the same time if needed. Furthermore, her constant dancing made it difficult to catch her off guard since she didn't remain in a fixed position.

Seeing Lian set her pace, Hei smiled as he threw himself into the raging storm of those two ribbons. The spirit pact that united him, Lian, Ye, and Xing allowed the two young martial artists to be able to feel the presence of the other more clearly than normal.

Using the Spider Run, Four-legged Mode, while holding his spear with his hair, Hei skillfully moved between the ribbons. As soon as he got close to Mok Tong-Hyon, he switched from the Four-legged Mode to the Two-legged one.

"Intent of the Spear!"

Infusing even more spirit power, Hei began to deliver quick and precise blows against Mok Tong-Hyon. Jin-Sang's spirit soldier intercepted each attack using his two metal gauntlets. Sparks flew every time they collided against the ribbons or Hei's spear. However, Mok Tong-Hyon was unable to take command of the fight. Whenever he wanted to use his footwork technique to go straight to Lian, Hei would stop him by blocking his way. And when he went to attack Hei directly, Lian would intrude, using her ribbons as a shield and allowing Hei to attack undisturbed. It could be said that theirs was an incredible combination, and there weren't many martial artists capable of fighting together in such unison.

'How does he do it? The hardness of the ribbons is due to the material, and I can understand this. Yet how does a boy with lesser cultivation than mine move as quickly as I do?' Mok Tong-Hyon gritted his teeth as the situation became increasingly unfavorable for him. Even though Hei and Lian were only first-stage spirit soldiers, he didn't believe they could put him under such pressure.

It should be known that with each advancement of both stage and rank would have led to an improvement in the physical attributes of the martial artist's body. It wasn't strange that high-ranking martial artists, even if they didn't possess the Metal Lawl, could be able to resist attacks from weaker enemies even without spirit power, although that was true only in the event of an absolute power gap.

But what most martial artists were interested in was the increase in speed they would gain. Although with the footwork techniques, it was possible to increase their speed even more, with similar techniques, it was the rank, and the stage of cultivation reached that counted. Yet Hei moved like Mok Tong-Hyon; on the contrary, he was even faster, even if slightly, and his speed increased, even more, assuming the four-legged position.

"That's enough, brats. Intent of the Gauntlet!" Mok Tong-Hyon shouted with annoyance. He couldn't believe that he had to be serious against two weaker martial artists.

Quickly, his spirit power rose, and his pair of metallic gauntlets shone even more as their power increased. Now, not even Lian's two ribbons joined together could stop one of his punches. It needed Hei's contribution to block the attack. But Mok Tong-Hyon possessed two arms; therefore, in an instant, he regained control of the situation, pushing Hei and Lian to retreat more and more.

'Now!' Hei communicated to his two little sisters still hidden on his body. Despite the difficult situation he and Lian were in, Hei wasn't worried at all. After all, he hadn't played his winning cards yet.

Ye came out of Hei's robe, to be precise from the collar, and lunged forward with her mouth open, exposing her fangs. Mok Tong-Hyon was surprised to see a snake come out of his opponent's body, but he didn't get agitated. With a swift reaction, he threw a punch with his left hand against Ye, making her fly several meters in the air. But the assault wasn't over yet.

Xing immediately came out of Hei's head and swung her front legs, sharp as blades. Mok Tong-Hyon had to use his other hand to defend himself, throwing away the deadly spider that attempted to his life. However, this gesture did nothing but leave him out in the open without a guard.

"Law of Poison, Poisonous Spider Thrust."

Without missing such an opportunity, Hei launched the attack. Although he was angry with Mok Tong-Hyon for hitting his little sisters, he knew they were both fine. Ye possessed the Law of Metal, and her body was the hardest of all of them, while Xing had a strong exoskeleton capable of protecting her as well as Ye's hard skin. So all Hei had to do was to focus on his enemy.

Stab! Screech!

The point of the spear impacted Mok Tong-Hyon's defense of spirit power at the level of the heart. The spirit soldier snapped his tongue as he was pushed back. Hei's way of fighting was more insidious than expected. Instead of immediately using his spirit beasts, he had used himself as bait to create that precise moment of opportunity.

"That's enough. Don't get too cocky, brat! Poison Law, Flow of Feathers." Mok Tong-Hyon screamed again, even more, angry than before, as he poured even more spirit power into his metal gauntlets.

Suddenly, from such gauntlets, more similar to a metal arm, tiny slits were formed. The instant later, Mok Tong-Hyon's spirit power was violently thrown forward from these slits like small purple bird feathers.

Hei, sensing the danger, stopped attacking and stepped back while using Snake Hair to create a shield in front of him. Lian also was quick to move and waved her two ribbons to cover Hei and give him an additional line of defense against those feathers. From her worried expression, it was clear that she sensed the gravity of the attack Hei was about to receive.

Peng! Peng! Peng!

Like hail falling on the roofs of buildings, the feathers created by the spirit power of Mok Tong-Hyon collided against Lian's ribbons. The two ribbons, although not damaged in the least, were pushed aside due to the difference in strength between the two fighters. Lian knelt on the ground with the blood coming out of her mouth. The momentary destruction of the spirit power inside the ribbons had caused her an internal wound. Although it wasn't too serious, it prevented her from being able to help Hei right now.

Hei, therefore, had to face it alone against Mok Tong-Hyon's attack. Fortunately, Lian's ribbons had diminished the number and strength of the feathers. However, the difference in cultivation was still enough to make him fly about ten meters and make him spit blood from the clash of spirit power between the two techniques.

Mok Tong-Hyon didn't miss this opportunity. Taking advantage that the two spirit beasts and Lian were far away, he moved at high speed, following the path that Hei was following after being thrown backward. He wanted to put an end to this fighting farce that had lasted far too long for his taste.

Even though he had just been hit, Hei could notice the movement of his enemy thanks to Spider Hair. He could hear the sound of Mok Tong-Hyon's footsteps getting closer. Therefore, using Snake Hair to hit the ground below him, Hei stopped his forced advance and got up in the air. Then, he flew down to intercept the enemy who had now come.

Mok Tong-Hyon smiled at that sight. He was surprised that Hei had such quick reflexes to notice his follow-up attack instead of running away, Hei was heading towards him like a fish that hooks on the hook. Without thinking too much about that, he also flew up while waving his claws against Hei.

"Law of Darkness, Chameleon Tongue, Ink Saliva."

Before the two could make contact in midair, Hei's throat began to contract as a vast amount of pitch-black saliva came out of his mouth. Rather than a simple spit, it seemed more like he was vomiting his saliva.

Blargh! Splash!

Mok Tong-Hyon's sight was obscured by such vomiting of black saliva. His instinctive, and more than natural reaction was to stop his attack and clean his face. But unexpectedly, this black liquid had a very unusual sticky property that it was impossible to remove it quickly.

"NOW!" Stopping himself in midair, Hei screamed as he recovered his breath due to the technique he had just used. From his mouth, there was black drool that descended downwards.

Usually, Hei would use an average amount of saliva and aim precisely in the eyes of the enemy. With the poison law, he could have made his attacks even more insidious. However, this was a variant that he had recently developed, and it possessed an even more powerful diversion effect than the usual Chameleon Tongue Spit Mode.

Acmella Oleracea, also called toothache plant, was a species of flowering plant that was used for cooking thanks to its strong and particular flavor. It was also used as a medicine to treat some mouth-related ailments, including toothache. The bud of this plant produced a sense of tingling or numbness after ingestion, which gave rise to another name to the Acmella Oleracea as the tingling plant. However, the effect following this tingling sensation was an increase in saliva production. Not surprisingly, the tingling plant was classified by the alchemists among the substances known as sialogogue that induced an increase in saliva production.

Hei had fed Ye that plant. Thanks to her Concept of Digestion, the small snake, using the tingling plant as its basis, created a poison with sialogogic properties. During the fight, before sending her to the attack, Hei had ordered Ye to inject him with the poison. In that way, he could now produce more saliva than usual in an instant, appearing more like vomiting. Then, combining it with the Law of Darkness, he had created a substance similar to ink but with a stickiness rate out of the norm.

At Hei's signal, Ye and Xing, who had been hit by Mok Tong-Hyon's fists, got up from the ground. With a lightning-fast sprint, they attacked the spirit soldier, still with his sight blocked by the strange liquid produced by Hei.

'Law of Metal, Concept of Digestion, Metal Alloy - Steel.'

'Law of Poison, Concept of Toxicity, Acid Poison.'

The two little divine beasts activated their elemental laws and their concepts. Ye further increased the hardness of her body, in particular of the tail, thanks to the quantities of ingested metals. That technique allowed her to create a basic hardness equal to that of steel, to which was added the amplification effects of her spirit power. Xing instead used her Concept of Toxicity to increase the power of her Poison Law. Instead of opting for a deadly poison, the little spider opted for a poison with acidic properties so that it could dissolve the enemy's spirit power protection.

Peng! Slash! Screech!

Mok Tong-Hyo was struck to the front by Xing's sharp legs and to the back by Ye's tough tail. Both blows were violent because the two little divine beasts had had time to charge their attacks and had taken the enemy off guard. But after their turn, it was Lian's turn who moved her ribbons like whips to strike Mok Tong-Hyo from above. She sent the pirate spirit soldier to adhere to the ground. Hei's turn had now come.

Swooping down from the top as fast as he could, Hei used the accelerating factor of his falling weight to increase the power of his attack. In a few moments, his spear would reach Mok Tong-Hyo to pierce him at the height of his chest.