Stalling For Time

Elder Snowfang had seen all types of cultivators in his life; the fast ones, the strong ones, the sneaky ones, the arrogant ones, and even the stupid ones. But, it was his first time seeing all of those qualities in a single person who didn't look anything like a cultivator at all.

No, he had to be a cultivator! Otherwise, his powers wouldn't make any sense.

"I am Ray," Raymond smiled and gestured for Kael to go back to the Mist Village.

Elder Snowfang was not going to pursue a man who was brought here forcefully, so he let Kael go without any harm.

"Don't you know it's illegal to trespass?" Elder Snowfang stealthily drew his mana and started to prepare a spell to fire off at a moment's notice.

"Ohh, I know that," Raymond answered truthfully.

"Then why did you come here without permission?"

"I came here just because… I can!" Raymond shrugged. "Ohh, I am also looking for this Barhawk guy who has a son in the Mist Village."

"I see…" Elder Snowfang wanted nothing more than to beat down this brat. If not for his growing unease about the human, he would've already done so.

Was Kael being honest about Elion's death?

Elder Snowfang refrained from asking that question since the answer might trigger a fight between this human and Elder Barhawk.

Looking at the half-conscious state of Elder Barhawk who was sprawled near the World Tree, Elder Snowfang could already guess who would win that fight.

And it was the same for Elder Snowfang who was also a Martial Emperor just like Elder Barhawk.

He needed to stall for time and wait for the rest of the elders to arrive. Maybe then, they stood a chance against this guy.

"Where were you hiding? Do you specialise in stealth?" He asked.

"For your first question, I wasn't hiding. I came from up there," Raymond pointed at the blanket of clouds in the sky. "And for your second question, come now, why would I answer that question? You don't expect me to reveal my secrets, do you?"

Elder Snowfang scowled. He was dealing with a strong and arrogant fool— one of the worst lots to encounter on any day.

"Stop fooling around, boy!" Elder Snowfang was losing his cool. "What do you mean from up there?"

Then, Elder Snowfang remembered Kael's words about a man going to the top of the World Tree.

"Surely, you're not implying that you were up on the World Tree while we were down with Kael here, are you, boy?"

"I am not implying anything, old man. That is the truth!"

Elder Snowfang gnashed his teeth in anger. People always called him an old man because of his white hair and spending much of his time with Elder Ronan, who had grey hair because of his advanced age, didn't help him either.

"Don't call me an old man!" He was barely past eighty; it would be a little exaggeration to call him old.

"Then stop calling me 'boy'. Didn't I tell you my name?" Raymond crossed his arms. "Now that I think about it, you never introduced yourself. I didn't know being an old man meant you could forgo manners!"

"What gall! Not only did you come here uninvited and attack one of our elders, but you are also lecturing me on manners!" Elder Snowfang chuckled wryly. "You don't realise the situation you're in, do you? How foolish and ignorant! Let me see if your strength can back up that foolishness!"

-Ice Lance-

Elder Snowfang was really an accidental wise man as he wanted to incapacitate Raymond and didn't attack his vital part with the lance made of pure ice.

Instead, he aimed it at Raymond's legs which probably saved him from instant death.

Raymond kicked the lance to the side and beamed at Elder Snowfang.

"You are an Ice Element user? Man, that's very rare!" Raymond's eyes twinkled.

However, Elder Snowfang wasn't amused in the least. The sharp and unstoppable lance he was known for throughout the WhisperMoon forest was kicked aside so easily.

What has he been doing all these years?

Elder Snowfang felt like he had wasted away his youth instead of improving himself.

'Tch, I sound like an old man!'He quickly pushed that thought aside.

"Ahem. Did you like my magic?" He asked to keep the guy busy for the moment.

"Well, of course, I liked it! It was my first time seeing someone use Ice Element, you know? I have seen some cultivators with Water Affinity creating ice before, but that was a very slow and tedious process."

"Hmph! Those Water users can try all they want, but they will never be good enough to contend with us Ice users when it comes to lethal attacks. That's why they try so hard to mimic our Ice spells!" Elder Snowfang scoffed in contempt. "Try as they might, we will always be superior to them!"

"Boo, that wasn't nice!" said Raymond. "You shouldn't mock your parent Element. That's rude."

"You really are an ignorant person, aren't you?" Elder Snowfang felt like his brain was being damaged the more he talked with this guy. "We don't use Water to make Ice. We use our mana, so, the Water isn't considered as the parent Element. Do you understand?"

Raymond didn't take any offence when he was called an ignorant person since he knew next to nothing when it came to stuff related to cultivation.

Having spent crucial years on a mountaintop instead of learning about the ins and outs of the cultivation did him no favours in that regard.

"Really? That's something new I've heard. I should trespass restricted regions more in the future if I get to learn something new every time I do so!"

"No, don't do it!" Elder Snowfang was quick to butt in. "It's not appropriate to do that!"

'Why is this feeling more and more like a parent-child talk?' Elder Snowfang wondered how he got himself into this bizarre situation. 'And the elders! Where the hell are they? Where is the High Priestess?'

"I don't need to hear that from a dumb guy like you!" Raymond shook his head.

"Who are you calling dumb?" Elder Snowfang had to clench his fist till the blood started oozing out of his palm.

'How impudent!'

"You, who else could it be?"

"May I ask why?" He asked, trying hard to keep his composure.

"Well, it's a shame to hide this marvellous creature of nature from the rest of the world. I mean, why would you want to stop people from seeing that tree?" He pointed at the World Tree.

"You can earn a shit ton of money by turning this into a tourist spot, you know?"

"Tsk, tsk, you humans and your greed! Not everything is about money! We are not desperate to make money and we will certainly not do so using our mother!" Elder Snowfang roared. "We want to preserve what is ours!"

"Alright, calm down. If you put it that way I can't really argue," Raymond raised his hands in a placating manner. "But you could sell those leaves. They are very delicious!"

"What leaves?" Elder Snowfang asked dumbly.

"And you call me ignorant, you dumbass!"

"You! I am older than you. Give me some respect!"

"If you don't want to be treated like an old man then be prepared to get insulted when you say something stupid. You can't have both!" Raymond continued. "Anyways, what I meant is, those leaves up there are pretty tasty. I am even willing to spend one silver coin per leaf."

"Did you really pass the clouds and reach the other side?" Elder Snowfang wanted to make sure that he wasn't hearing wrong.

"Yeah,"

"That's impossible!"

"Nothing is impossible. Watch me!" Raymond jumped from the ground and passed through the clouds with ease.

"W-what?" Elder Snowfang's eyes widened before the realisation sunk in.

If he could do the same, wouldn't he be the first elf ever to do so?

What an honour that would be!

As soon as that thought occurred to his mind, a pair of icy wings appeared on his back and Elder Snowfang took off towards the clouds without wasting a second.

-Fwoosh!

Elder Snowfang entered the clouds and his vision was flooded by the vast sea of white and puffy clouds that seemed boundless.

Without a sense of direction, he flapped his wings and started flying towards what he felt was upwards.

Time seemed to pass differently here since Elder Snowfang felt like he had been flying for hours and wasn't anywhere closer to reaching his destination.

It was really frustrating for a prideful elf like him that a human could easily do what he couldn't.

"Argh! Just let me get somewhere at least! I can't be flying here all day!" He screamed in agitation.

It was really grating on his nerves and humiliating that his mana reserve was becoming thinner by the minute and he had no idea where he was at the moment.

"Mother! Please, I beg of you! I will not try this again! Please, let me go!"

Soon his irritation turned into trepidation as his wings started to slowly melt because of the mana exhaustion.

He was about to empty his core!

-Fwoosh!

"Phew!" Elder Snowfang let out a sigh of relief as he passed through the cloud.

"Huh?"

However, his relief was short-lived when he saw that he was heading for the ground, not the top of the World Tree and the human was down there munching on a handful of shining leaves.