The stronger fist wins (5)

Almost everyone was surprised by the sudden appearance of this blade as well as the man who held it. Everyone except Cino,... and Shui.

"What?!"

The hand that Shui swung suddenly snapped towards the interloper and clutched his neck. With his eyes wide open in shock and fear, the man shouted.

"Impossible! How could you detect me?!"

"All I can say is that you picked the worst person to use that against."

In truth, another Sky Realm expert probably wouldn't have noticed him from the beginning like Shui had, but in addition to his sensitivity being above that of someone in the Sky Realm, the coat that the man wore was the final masterpiece of the harmony series. In other words, it was an artifact that Shui made.

'When I made those artifacts, Uncle Bartos told me that they might be used against me one day, but now that it actually happened it's a more humorous situation than I imagined.'

The man in the long coat struggled to escape from Shui's grasp, but he soon felt energy draining from his muscles.

"No! No! What are you doing to me?"

"Your resistance is futile."

Since he was in Earth Realm it was harder for Shui to dominate his soul, but they were this close so Shui could easily weaken the influence of his soul on his body, which stopped him from moving independently. As he felt his strength quickly slip away, the man was overcome by despair and helplessness until his saviour appeared.

"Let them go immediately!"

Finally, the elders showed themselves and instantly destroyed the barrier which Shui had made, but they didn't go any further. All of them were brimming with killing intent at Shui who had disgraced them, but none of them wanted to risk the lives of their young talents. As their representatives, the three supreme elders floated above them all and looked down on Shui while attempting to pressure him like he was pressuring Rizer and the two disciples.

"Since you dared to barge in here alone, you're probably not afraid of death. But if you don't let go of them right now I'll make sure to have you watch as everyone you know and love are tortured and violated right in front of you." warned the eldest supreme elder.

It was much too provocative to be called persuasion, but they were confident that they overwhelmed him in both number and strength and believed that they could rescue their men even without his cooperation.

"Let them go? Although I'm glad this bait worked, why would I let them go when they still have use?"

"What?!"

"Bait?"

"That's right. These three are the bait, you guys are the fish, and I'm the fisherman."

"You!"

"Your death won't be pleasant."

Although he should have been in the worse position, Shui sounded more arrogant than the elders who floated loftily in the air. But while the other elders erupted in fury, the three supreme elders chuckled.

"Hahaha, I didn't expect to encounter a fool of this calibre."

"Indeed. He must not realise that his fate is already sealed."

"What a rambunctious one."

Influenced by the supreme elders, the other elders also began to laugh at Shui and brushed off his arrogant remark. Shui wasn't surprised by how they treated him, and he didn't argue with their assessment either. He instead clenched his open fist and sent a jab towards them with the full power of his body. He could now manipulate divine force to a degree, but that would be overkill. Especially since just the wind generated by his jab instantly forced a group of elders to the ground.

None of them were injured, but this show of force did serious damage to their reputation. However, they no longer thought that he was merely arrogant as even the supreme elders would find it hard to do what he just did without using a spell.

"Now then," Shui threw the man he was holding towards Cino and Rizer, and bound all three of them to the ground using an earth-attribute spell before continuing, "I want to finish this quickly so you can all come at once, but if you want to die one by one I won't stop you."

Not only the elders and former disciples of the Lava Stream Sect, but also the general audience thought that Shui was being rather domineering. As if he was doing a common chore, there was not a hint of tension, only firm confidence that he would win.

"Hmph, since you're so full of yourself we'll take you up on that offer. Attack!"

When one supreme elder ordered the attack, he did so with an ugly expression on his face. Their pride would normally forbid them from ganging up on someone, but they couldn't afford to take any risks. If any of the other cities heard about this and thought they were weak, a harsh battle would be imminent.

Since they understood the circumstances, the elders charged at Shui with intense glares that only showed the desire to see him in pain. Most of them wanted to simply attack from afar with spells, but the hostages near his side made that impossible. Therefore a small group of them stayed at the back to rescue them while the others confronted Shui. However, he didn't need to watch them carefully or be wary of whatever plans they had. Everything was futile when he took out his heart flame and it caught the hem of one of the elder's clothes.

For most, the evolution of the heart flame into a heavenly flame would only occur in the King Realm, and even those who studied the laws of fire would only reach such a stage during the True Master Realm. However, due to his literally god-given talent and an excellent teacher, Shui's heart flame was close to making that qualitative change.

The flames were darker in shade but still possessed the same devilish charm that mesmerised the soul. Not all were fully mesmerised by it, but most were unable to sense its danger and so it easily landed on the first victim. From then on was nothing but a nightmare. The blaze spread faster than any wildfire and the only ones who could scream were the crowd who franticly ran away.

"What in the name of the ancestors is this?"

Tales about heavenly flames such as the everlasting flame and annihilation flame existed, but firstly, no one associated such legendary flames with the sight before them. Secondly, accounts of heavenly flames with the ability to bewitch were few, therefore, the supreme elders and disciples who weren't clumped up like the elders could only watch this in horror.

Not all elders were helpless before Shui's heart flame as it still hadn't become a heavenly flame yet, but very few were able to escape as the majority stayed in place which made it hard for them to extract themselves before the flame reached them.

"Move move! Hurry up and argh!!"

"Wake up you fools! Wak- ahh!"

"Retreat! Retreat!"

With screams and the scent of burnt flesh dominating the battlefield, all present and ugly present. Many among the spectators and former disciples of the Lava Stream Sect puked at the nauseating smell, but fortunately there were no gruesome sights as the sapphire flames left nothing but ash. By the time the spiritual flame had devoured all of its victims, everyone remained silent and stared at the pile of ash and Shui.

Spectators looked at him in fear despite him not aiming at them, so of course members of the invader force were pissing their pants and skirts. Even the supreme elders were drenched in cold sweat but they hadn't fallen into despair yet.

"You!!! We were just going to kill you before, but now we'll make sure that you suffer what you've done!" shouted the only supreme elder with brown instead of grey hair.