58.

"Screech..."

With a loud sound, the air in front of Fang Shui distorted and a giant claw pushed toward him.

"Shit." Cursing loudly, the familiar white light covered his entire body before retreating hastily. Yet even though he was fast, the claw was faster.

"Swiiish."

With a loud tearing sound, the protective layer in front of him shattered instantly before three lines of blood appeared on his chest.

If not for his quick response, he would have been torn to pieces.

"What the fuck?"

Looking at the figure of a tiger in front of him, Fang Shui was stunned. "Did you transform?"

With his nerves on edge, he carefully observed the tiger in front of him. The tiger had white spotless fur with a body that was sized above average compared to others. If not for its somewhat illusory figure, he would have believed it to be a real tiger.

"ESSENCE" With a horrified expression, he looked at the young man in front of him. Perhaps others were not clear about what it represents, but he, an elder of the Leihui sect clearly knows its meaning.

"Which esteemed royal are you?" With a dignified face, he looked at Yang Ze before asking. The strength displayed by the young man in front of him was too extreme. He hadn't heard about anyone this young being this strong.

It subverted all his understanding of the world. A boy aged sixteen not only stepped into Innate but also mastered essence. If not for seeing with his own eyes, he would have taken it as a big joke. Even if the boy was a Royal, it still didn't explain such an unfathomable strength. No one... Not a single soul had managed to step into the innate before the age of thirty... and that was a well-established fact.

Yet today, this unbroken rule was shattered in front of his eyes. For a moment, he even forgot to react.

Replying to him was the swipe of the claw.

This time however he managed to dodge it by an inch.

Yang Ze who has now covered himself with the Black Tiger Technique didn't bother to waste any words and rushed toward him.

On the top of the mountain, one could see the figure of a white tiger chasing an old man who was barely hanging on a thread. Yet no matter how fierce they fought, the battle couldn't seem to progress any further.

"This wouldn't work." Yang Ze stopped in his tracks before taking a deep breath. This was the strongest opponent that he had faced to date. Right now, both of them were in a stalemate, with neither side managing to gain any advantage.

Closing his eyes for a moment, the figure of the tiger disappeared.

"Huh?" Feng Shui narrowed his eyes before slowly backing away. Raising his hand, he punched himself in his chest before spitting out blood that slowly seeped into the white layer. With every passing moment, the white layer covering him was covered with red symbols densely.

"Let's end this." In an instant, Fang Shui disappeared from his place before appearing in front of Yang Ze.

"Good-bye." With every ounce of his strength, he punched Yang Ze.

Yet, as soon as his hand made contact with the figure, his eyes went wide with disbelief. His fist pierced the figure of Yang Ze, but he didn't feel any contact with the body. Instead, the figure in front of him twisted for a moment before disappearing slowly.

'Willow steps: Mirage'

"Heh... Hehe... Hehehehehe..."

Looking up at the sky, Fang Shui started laughing bitterly. At this moment, he couldn't maintain the red layer covering his body. He had put everything in this attack and missing it meant his defeat.

As soon as the protective layer disappeared, he kneeled on the ground panting heavily. With a pale face, he tried to look, but his eyes were slowly losing their focus.

"If... Not for my injury..."

Up in the sky, there were hundreds of Yang Ze standing in the air, every second, a few figures would twist before disappearing. And at the place they disappeared, a pink leaf would slowly float down to the ground.

In an instant, the leaves fell down like rain to the ground. To the outsiders, it was a beautiful sight, yet for Fang Shui below, he could sense the terrifying power contained in those leaves

"Ccccchhhh..."

There was no earth-shattering explosion or any loud noise. Every time a leaf touched the ground, it would silently disintegrate a small spherical area around it. Within moments, the entire mountain was disintegrated in half.

Stepping on the ground, Yang Ze's complexion wasn't any better than Fang Shui's. The consumption of Qi took a heavy toll on him.

Looking in front of him, Yang Ze's eyes blurred for a moment. If the old man Fang Shui was still in one piece, he would run away as fast as possible.

He had used all his strength and techniques, and now, he doesn't have anything else to display. Even the Qi in his body was less than ten per cent of the original. If the old man somehow came out unscathed, it would be foolishness to engage with him again.

As these thoughts were going through his head, his eyes slowly started to gain focus before the scenery in front of him became clear.

The mountain was half-destroyed, replaced by the somewhat plain ground that was devoid of any lifeforms. In the middle of the ground, was the figure of the old man lying on the ground.

Right now, half of the part below his waist was missing. His right hand, along with his chest was opened up in many places, with internal organs scattered around.

His somewhat slow breathing which was getting slower and slower was proof that he wasn't going to live for a long time.

Looking at the miserable figure of the old man in front of him, Yang Ze slowly made his way toward him carefully.

"Still alive!?"

The old man seemed to have lost his focus and was just looking at the sky above him. Yang Ze didn't feel a trace of anger or unwillingness from him. It was as if he had just accepted his fate.

"I can see you have a lot of questions... If you are going to ask, then shoot."

With great difficulty, he spoke those words.

Listening to him, Yang Ze went silent for a while. There were many questions that were going through his head, after taking a deep breath, he smiled before looking at the old man.

"Why is everyone in this world so hell-bent on sacrificing everyone and everything?"

"Oh!" After a short exclamation, the old man suddenly laughed. "Hahahahaha, so you have been in this scenario before?"

"Umm." Nodding his head Yang Ze continued, "You can say that."

"What happened to them? Are they all dead?"

"No."

"Eh! Why not?"

"Well, I didn't kill them."

"Hmph!" With a snort, the old man said gritting his teeth. "You didn't kill them, but you were more than happy to kill the two of us."

"Well." Shaking his head helplessly, Yang Ze sat beside him. "They didn't know my identity or my appearance. Not to mention my age and voice. And besides that, they didn't sacrifice hundreds of people... Not that I care about it though."

"You see, I am not a murderous person. If things could be solved peacefully, then I would be willing to do so."

"Don't tell me you forgot about how I asked you to let Yang Che go in the beginning. If you would have done that, then we wouldn't be where we are now."

"Ugh..." The old man Fang Shui was gritting his teeth in pain. Now that his mind was somewhat clear, he was able to feel the heart-wrenching pain throughout his body. Till now, he was still somehow preserving the functionality of the organs by using the Qi inside his body, but as it slowly depleted, his organs were beginning to lose their functions.

"Forget about it, You said I was a newcomer to Innate who still didn't know how to use the power of this realm. What did you mean by that?"

"Heh... Go and ask your elders."

"Sigh." Shaking his head, Yang Ze didn't bother explaining to him that there was no elder in his family stronger than him.

"Wait... Now that I think about it, you said something like..... What was that!? Oh yes... royal family."

"And... How do you guys know Cang Yue?"

"Cang Yue?" The old man's eyes were filled with confusion.

"The scent old man..."

"This Song Jia has the same familiar scent that Cang Yue had, don't tell me it's a coincidence."

With narrow eyes, Yang Ze was looking at the old man in front of him. He had his reasons for his doubts. He first smelled this scent a few weeks ago from Yang Che's body. Now that he knows the entire story, and met all three of them here, he could smell it from Song Jia.

This was the familiar scent he sniffed from Cang Yue.

"And what was that royal family you were talking about?"

"Hey..."

"Old man..."

"Speak something..."

However, no matter what questions he asked, the old man in front of him stayed motionless.

"Sigh."

Patting the dust off his clothes, Yang Ze stood up with a sigh. In front of him, the body of the old man was lying lifelessly. With all those injuries, it was already a miracle to survive till now.

Looking around him, Yang Ze saw the familiar figure of Yang Che lying on the ground in tatters. Just the aftereffects of the fight between two Innate powerhouses weren't something a Qi Condensing junior like him could survive. His body being somewhat intact was already a miracle in itself.

Standing in silence, Yang Ze slowly raised both of his hands before standing in a 'T' position. Taking a deep breath, he clenched his fist and pulled them back towards his chest.

As soon as he did that, the air in the entire radius of a mile trembled and started converting towards him. If someone observed it from the outside, they would be able to see the scene of mummified dead bodies slowly floating into the air before all converging at the top of the mountain.

By the time it took a cup of tea to finish, the bodies from the entire city were gathered in front of Yang Ze.

In front of him, was a mountain of corpses which number more than five hundred.

"May you all find peace in the afterlife."

With a bow, he raised his fist and punched the ground below him.

"BOOOOM."

With a loud sound, the mountain around him began to tremble, as the ground slowly formed a sinkhole with Yang Ze's fist as the center. Within moments, all the dead bodies sank into the ground before disappearing completely.

"Huff."

Taking deep breaths, Yang Ze looked at the ground that was now flat as a pancake. After thinking about something, the waved his hand and a stone was erected in the middle of the ground.

Covering his finger with Qi, he stepped forward and started writing something on the stone. After he finished writing, Yang Ze took one last look at the city of Darati which has now become a thing of the past before stepping into the air and disappearing.