Chapter 16: Anger

Bandit’s Home, Jade Empire

Austin could care less for anything Kai had to say and before he could reach her, the kick violently landed across Teresa’s face. Kai had sprinted towards her right after the first kick but was not fast enough.

The others by Teresa’s side moved to retaliate but one of the people besides Austin released Qi around his body and took a step forward.

“Anyone who dares to move can take a worse beating from us”, he spoke with a condescending smirk. The men besides him stepped up with a similar smile but released Ki instead.

The intimidating threat behind his words immobilized them and they gritted their teeth, staying on their knees. Kai, however, was unable to hear a word.

In a matter of seconds after the second kick, Kai was kneeling besides Teresa. He quickly examined her body. Her nose was broken, her face and side were badly bruised, and she was covered in minor burns, and light cuts, from the friction of sliding across the dirt. She struggled to look at Kai and speak; the pain in her stomach affected her worse than her visible injuries and made speaking difficult.

“Idiot… should have… run”, Teresa barely lectured with long breathes in between each words, attempting to ignore the pain.

Kai held her hand and squeezed firmly. Blood rushed to his head as he vividly felt his veins pulsing. The world lost its colors except for red; everything was red. Red. His heart painfully throbbed as he saw her struggle to suppress the suffering she was in.

Anger! Raging, scorching anger!

Kai had never felt such anger in his entire two lives. His blood felt as if it was boiling, threatening to burst out of his body in undiscriminating flames to burn the world alive.

Calm down…

The tiny remainder of sane conscious he possessed reasoned with his fury. He slowly tamed enough of his anger to be able to rationally think. A strange burning sensation filled him as he unknowingly channeled his anger to his strength.

“Rest”, he delicately whispered to her.

He turned to face Austin and his party of people. In an instant, he assessed each of them.

Four young adults and Austin. Men, roughly twenty.

Kai sharpened his senses and a strange occurrence took place. A tingling sensation coursed through his eyes and he suddenly saw past their physical bodies, inside their dantians. He saw the white energy flowing inside the hazy orb and automatically knew their level of strength. He did not understand how he was suddenly able to perceive their dantian but he gladly used the information to his advantage.

One peak Novice Daoist, one peak Novice Taoist, three mid Novice Taoist. The peak Novice Daoist has the most abundant amount of Qi so I’ll subdue him first, then I’ll work my way down the rest.

The information running through his mind only took a few seconds to assess.

“What’s with this kid, I don’t like the way he’s looking at me”, one of the men complained, glowering at Kai.

“He’s just an arrogant little boy. If it weren’t for his friends helping him last time, there was no way for him to defeat me, Creek, and Bak”, Austin discontentedly explained.

Kai had moved so fast that time, he was unable to comprehend how he was knocked unconscious. He only remembered he woke up and found himself in the middle of his two snoring companions against the side of the Watcher’s house. He immediately forged a memory that Kai and the other children ganged up on him.

“So he’s just a shameless little brat”, another one of the men sneered.

“Heh, little boy, you going to come at us or did you lose the ability to speak?”

All of the men roared in laughter as Austin continued to wear his smug smile. In his mind, he formulated the perfect plan of revenge.

“Kai, ignore what they’re saying and don’t do anything rash”, Sandy spoke in a hush tone towards him. She was so angry her body was shaking but she knew she was unable to defeat all of them. Even if she did, she knew the bandits has more powerful people that would punish them for doing so, or even kill them.

Kai, however, zoned out the voices around him and solely focused his hearing on the breathing of Austin and his men. His mind currently analyzed every possible action he could make and his senses sharpened to frightening heights. His killing intent threatened to break free and he carefully decided to release a sliver of it to assist him.

An aura surrounded Kai and the people present shivered from the sudden drop in temperature. Goosebumps developed on their arms and they felt an invisible pressure from the chill. They all turned their heads but were unable to find the source of the chill.

Austin and the men were distracted by the unnatural change in the atmosphere and that was when Kai made his move!

With their heads turned, Kai easily located a path around their blind spots. A burst of Essence surged from his feet and he rocketed towards the peak Novice Daoist. Without emitting any noise, they were unable to even hear him moving towards them. The kneeling people, however, clearly saw him but before they could tell him to stop, he was already besides the Daoist.

Positioning himself perfectly, he jumped just high enough to reach the man’s head. Forming a claw with his right hand, he grabbed the back of his head. The Daoist began to turn his head upon the moment of contact but before he could completely turn, Kai already firmly gripped it.

Instantly channeling Essence to his right hand, he used the power along with the pressure of gravity and forcefully shoved his head down. Caught by surprise, the Daoist was unable to react in the slightest before he tipped forward and his head violently smashed a hole into the dirt.

-Crash-

A sickening sound echoed in the air as the man’s face was partially buried into the ground. With Kai’s Essence empowered hand, and the him being caught off guard, he was instantly knocked unconscious.

“Kai…”, Teresa astonishingly whispered, having propped herself up off the dirt.

At this moment, Austin and the men who were distracted by the chill heard the loud sound nearby and turned to see what caused it. They were all shocked as they saw their friend unconscious on the floor with half his head buried and Kai kneeling besides him with his hand on the back of it.

“What the- How did he get there?”, one of the men stuttered. Austin stared at Kai with his mouth agape. The forged memory in his head slowly started to fade.

Without answering, or waiting, for them to snap out of their shock, he continued his onslaught.

[Shadow Two Steps]

He dashed to the side with a burst of speed, perfectly manipulating Essence to each feet the moment they touched the dirt. Chaining the dash with another, he easily landed behind them.

Austin and the men were shocked once more. In their eyes, Kai dashed to the side once and vanished! The lack of footsteps from Kai caused their ears to confuse their sight and before they could concentrate on his figure, he disappeared like a ghost.

Logically, [Shadow Two Steps] was unable to work on multiple people. Given a few more seconds, they would all turn their heads in multiple directions, eventually finding Kai, but he gave them no such chance.

Moving in the seconds of confusion, he went straight for his next target. Stealthily appearing behind the peak Novice Taoist, he viciously kick the back of each knees. The man immediately buckled and knelt down.

Kai’s killing intent steadily increased, creating a deadlier pressure that began to slow their movements. Having knelt on the dirt, the man’s head was within his reach. Using his right hand he wrapped around the back of his head and grabbed his chin, and with his left hand he wrapped around the front of his head and grabbed the back of head.

Channeling Essence to his hands, Kai prepared to twist the man’s neck but before he did so, he quickly realized his intention. Forcefully changing it with an immense amount of effort, he took his hands away and swiftly used the fading Essence to grip his head, then violently smashing it into the dirt.

-Crash-

I. Will. Not. Kill!

Kai took a deep breath to calm himself and reset his mentality. He carefully reined in all of his killing intent.

The atmosphere returned to normal and the two mid Novice Taoists turned to their heads to the loud sound. Austin, on the other hand, was motionless. The memory of the day rapidly made itself perfectly apparent in his mind. His forged memory completely faded away and he eyes widened in realization.

He recalled Bak’s and Creek’s timely fall and a flash of Kai’s body twisting, then complete darkness.

Shivering, he finally understood that he provoked an unnatural monster. Kai had single handedly, with no effort, neutralized him and his two companions that day and now he knocked two peak Novice experts into unconsciousness.

“Wa-wait, we can talk about this”, Austin stuttered while shivering.

The two mid Novice did not the scenes replaying in Austin’s head nor the fall of their companions. They exchanged confused glances and cautiously stared at the little boy.

“What the hell is happeni-”, the man started.

Giving the man no time to complete his question, Kai bolted straight for him. Comparing the two peak Novice men’s strength to the wolf’s, he wasted no time and stealthily dismantled them but for the remaining men, however, he was more lax in his methods.

The moment he reached the range of the first mid Novice Taoist, he instantly jumped and executed a high kick with his right leg, straight for the man’s temple. The man was startled at his speed and silence but he still scoffed as he channeled his Ki, casually raising his arm to block.

A five year old boy injuring him? The man mentally laughed at the thought.

Kai’s kick connected with the Taoist’s arm and before he could even blink, his arm instantly broke!

-Crack-

Kai’s Essence oppressively overpowered the man’s Ki without contest. Shocked by the pain from his arm, the man was unable to react to Kai’s next move. Knowing he failed to knock the man unconscious, he immediately pressed the heel of his kicking feet against the man’s broken arm and dragged down. Using the man’s arm as a platform, he lifted his free leg off the dirt, quickly twisted his body to the right, and executed a second high kick!

-Twak-

The second kick perfectly connected against the man’s temple and he crumpled to the dirt, unconscious. Kai’s resulting position in the air was troublesome but he wisely landed with his hands then performed a backflip, landing on his feet.

Less than a minute had passed but Kai’s onslaught was already disastrous and Austin and the mid Novice Taoist were the only ones remaining.

By that moment, all reason evaporated from the minds of the people present. They could only gaze at Kai in awe and fear; Kai’s group in awe, Austin and the man in fear. Fear consuming his mind, the last man standing empowered his body with Ki and hurriedly sprinted towards the bandit’s area.

Kai casually picked a rock off the ground and imbued it with Essence. With a powerful throw, the rock grazed past Austin’s cheek and accurately smashed on the back of the man’s head. With the power of Essence, the rock exploded into pieces and the man roughly fell face first onto the dirt.

-Thump-

Having rid himself of the men, Austin was the only remaining target in Kai’s eyes. Kai slowly walked towards him, placing an intimidating amount of emphasis on each step. Austin was taller than him but he felt as if he was in the audience of a giant and he was the meal. The entire ordeal happened too quickly for him to react and when he finally did, he was already alone.

Kai steadily began to release his killing intent once more and Austin was completely overwhelmed.

“G-get away from m-me, you m-monster”, Austin whimpered. He fell flat on his bottom and pathetically crawled backwards, attempted to create as much distance between them as he possibly could. Fear devoured his mind, causing him to embarrassingly soil his pants.

Kai suddenly halted and with a burst of speed, he landed in front of Austin. Before Austin could even cry out, he viciously kicked him in the stomach, recreating the scene where he kicked Teresa.