“Come,” he said.

They all had complicated looks on their faces. What was this? This had never happened to them before. A spirit-picking junior was acting like this?

“It looks like you have no fear,” the girl who had just killed the group said indifferently.

“You want to fight so badly? I will indulge you,” she said, pointing her sword at Ed. She saw that Ed did not flinch at her words, making her angrier. She appeared before him instantly. Ed recognised this skill. Blink? No. only those with at least soul awakening cultivation can use this skill. This was a much slower and mediocre martial skill, made to imitate the blink technique.

She arrived before him in seconds and with a swing of her sword, a wave of water qi filled the air. A normal spirit-picking junior would have felt as though he was drowning. Ed felt like he was splashed cold water. The wave formed a seal around him as though to suffocate him. With him inside the large ball of qi trying to suffocate him, she swung her sword right at the middle. The sharpness of that sword could be felt by her fellow disciples. They snorted as they thought it would cut right through with Ed in it.

Right at that moment, Ed tore his hand through the wave and grabbed her wrist.

Crack!

They heard the sound of breaking bones, and then came the yelp of their fellow disciple. What they did not know was that Ed could see right through the wave and could see all the key points of her qi. Not only did he break the wrist, but he also broke her connection to the wave of qi.

To Ed, his greatest asset was the energy inside him. He channelled an amount not smaller than a drop of water into her. His energy acted like death qi, entering her and ageing her qi points till it reached her core. She looked as though she was burning from inside out as her eyes turned white, her skin shrivelled and she fell like an empty sack.

What did he just do? The others wondered; the leader more so. All he saw was Ed hold her hand and break it. Why did she fall?

“Junior apprentice sister!” the other girl called in a panic. She could not feel her apprentice sister's life qi from where she stood. She rushed to grab her, but Ed was waiting. The flaw of his ability to use his energy was that people had to be close. He had to be capable of touching them. He wanted them to come to him. The closer they were, the greater his chances of killing them.

“You wish to die!” the girl growled but was held back by a frowning youth.

“There is something odd about this boy. We fight together,” one of them said. They now took Ed seriously. They considered the possibility that he was hiding his true cultivation and they could not really see through him.

Ed was not sure if he could take them all fighting together. He did not know any fighting styles except basic swings compared to most in this world. In his world, he was a great swordsman, but that could only be rated great amongst mortals. In the Valley, his swordsmanship horned from his world only looked like lazy swings because of his overwhelming strength. This wooden sword in his hand, he did not bring it out to look down on them, he just did not want to take out his Yhenxia sword. It was one of the few things that came with him to this world.

Looking at the wooden sword, he coated it with his energy. The sword suddenly seemed sharper. If his energy cuts someone, he wondered what would happen to them.

“He could feel the sword vibrating in his hands. This sword will not be able to take his energy that long. Looking at all of them charge at him, he suddenly felt a rush like never before.

Fight! He always loved going to battle back in the valley. This time, the opponents were much stronger than back in the valley. This excited him. it was the only few times he could feel an overwhelming descent of emotion since he came to this world. It was like he was possessed.

The sect disciples were very coordinated, a sign that they had fought side by side before. One of them swung a halberd and the smell of blood filled the air. Oh? A blood cultivator? Ed had only heard of them. Blood seals sprung up around him, caging him inside. Bloodhounds tore out from under it grabbing Ed in place. Ed suddenly felt pressure from above.

He looked up at a giant hammer descending on him.

“You dare kill my senior apprentice sister? I will make sure, even your soul is destroyed,” the girl said as she swung down her giant hammer on Ed. Trapped in the blood seal, there was nowhere to go. Ed raised his sword and increased the density of his energy coating it. Did he intend to take the giant hammer with the wooded sword? they frowned at him making a move.

“Taking a high-grade human weapon with an ordinary wooden sword? he is mad,” the leader said. Meryl could not move, but she could still see the battle. She too thought Ed was mad.

The hammer descended on the wooden sword and a tear rang through the air.

Tear! The wooden sword cut through the hammer like a knife through butter. Shock could not describe the look on their faces right now. Were they dreaming? As the sword cut through to the other side, it crumbled like biscuits to the ground. Ed moved swiftly and manifested another. The destruction of the girl's sword destabilized her, causing her to fall in the direction of the raised sword. They all saw this. Her cultivation was not high enough for her to pause mid-air.

One of the others jumped and tried to grab her back, but Ed was having none of it. He grabbed the broken handle of her hammer which was still tied by cloth to her wrist and pulled. She fell faster into the sword. The result was as expected. She felt the wooden sword stab her through to the back. She did not even have the chance to puke blood when Ed threw her with the stuck sword into the disciple who had tried to grab her.

When he turned, a halberd was swinging at his midsection. As the halberd got closer, he could feel the blood thirst from humming from it. He swayed out of the way and it missed him. They were much faster than him, but he could see their qi. He could see that seventy percent of the movements they made were unnecessary. With this, it did not matter how much slower he was. As long as he could see their next move clearly, he could counter it.

He threw the boy a punch and his fist met with steel skin. This caused him to frown. What was this boy made of? If his ordinary fist could not cause him harm... Ed circulated energy at his core to boost his speed as he swayed out of the way. his energy gathered around his fist and descended upon the boy.

His punch was one hundred times more deadly this time, as it tore through the boy's steel skin and right through his organs. Ed was ecstatic. This was what he needed, more fights like this, where he would have no choice but to think fast. These improvisations he has made would help him develop his own personal fighting style.

The rush of the fight pulsed through his veins like alcohol. He wanted more. He had completely torn through the boy's body and retracted his bloody arm, leaving behind the boy, dying in his own blood.

Finally, the leader moved.