“Did you think I, Long Chen, was some sort of easy target?” He said. Although his face stayed indifferent, the pride infused into his entire being was almost palpable.
“Did you think you could simply ambush me and succeed? You truly are a fool, Long Bai.”
“D-don’t come over here!” Long Bai stuttered with fear evident on his face. He wasn’t the type to spend his time training, rather he would spend it scheming.
How he reached his current level with such a mindset was inconceivable to Long Chen, but he knew that Long Bai had no actual skill besides raw strength. After all, for a 3rd class to kill a 2nd class, raw power was usually enough.
But Long Bai had underestimated Long Chen. He didn’t even spend time crosschecking his information to prove its truth. The second he saw that Long Chen was a 2nd class, he assumed it would be an easy feat to stomp on him.
But the current situation wasn’t playing out how he expected. “You know who my father is! Do you really want the Grand Elders to turn on your Yun Branch?”
Long Chen paused briefly but continued walking as if his hesitation was never present. “Your Luo Branch turned on our Long Clan the second you decided to fight the Clan rules. You simply don’t know that you were dead a long time ago.”
Long Chen reactivated his movement technique and appeared directly in front of Long Bai, causing the latter to fall on his butt in horror.
“Let me show you why I am titled as a peak genius of this generation. Let me show you what it means to be Young Master of the Long Clan. Let me show you what power is!”
Just like before, Long Chen raised his sword into the air, taking a similar posture. But the way his mana moved was entirely different.
‘Divine Dragon Roars to the Heavens.’
The sound of thunder tumbled through the area as thick dark clouds began to gather. Any living being, whether magical beast, plant life form, or other cultivators, all scrambled away from the vicinity.
Ka-boom!
Pillars of lightning descended faster than the eye could see and impacted the earth, causing massive craters in the surroundings. Trees were charred and then reduced to dust. The lush greenery on the ground had been incinerated, making way for a barren wasteland.
A 20-kilometer radius around the duo was nothing but scorched earth, but no attack had landed near them. It was clear the amount of control Long Chen possessed.
Boom!
Lightning descended once again, this time striking Long Chen’s sword, which was still pointed skyward. A strange scene occurred, the lightning was absorbed by the sword, causing it to glow ominously.
Long Chen swung the sword, eliciting another massive roar from the sky. An eastern dragon made entirely of lightning emerged from the clouds. Its destination was directly on Long Bai’s body.
Following the path of Long Chen’s sword, the dragon descended, piercing Long Bai through his chest before entering the ground. Seeing this scene, Long Chen flew into the air, where the thunderous clouds had begun to disperse.
When the dragon entered the ground, it signified the end of this battle. A bright light shone inside the cracked earth, illuminating the already bright day. Following this light, many pillars shot out of the ground, before the entire thing erupted.
Sound seemed to have been put at a loss for what to do, as the actual sound of the explosion only rang out minutes after it had already happened. The previous 20 kilometers’ worth of scorched land had been torn to shreds, creating a large sinkhole whose depth couldn’t be seen through.
Looking at the destruction he caused, Long Chen slightly shook his head. He attached no significance to the event. Instead, he lifted his gaze to survey the land around him.
‘Now would be a good time to fight that man from earlier.’ He thought. ‘But first I should recover my mana.’
***
4 days had passed in the forest and currently, Damien could be seen seated on the massive branch of a tree. Within his mind, a careful process was taking place.
Damien sent his awareness into the black area he had titled his Mind Space. He was currently watching a formless aura trapped within an ethereal cage.
‘This is my emotions. It’s time to revert to normal.’
There were no other thoughts in his head. He simply used the exit he created to open the Mind Prison. As soon as he did, that formless aura was released and it dispersed into his Mind Space.
Damien felt a rush of emotions. Excitement, anger, intrigue, and many more wild feelings plagued his mind, causing him to grab his head in pain.
Luckily his feelings were mostly positive, or he couldn’t imagine the side effects. It took an entire half-hour before Damien’s raging headache calmed down, allowing him room to think.
‘That was…intense.’
The feeling was completely different from what he imagined. He didn’t feel trapped in his own body as logical thought took over, rather he was completely himself.
It was surreal. He could act like a completely different being, and since his emotions were sealed, he felt no guilt or dilemma from doing so. He was left without room to even question himself.
He had spent the last 4 days killing anything he came across, soliciting him an increase of 5 levels. This was barely anything, but it made sense. 3rd class was always said to be much harder to cross than the previous two.
‘This skill could be extremely dangerous if used incorrectly.’
The main problem he saw was that he had no ability to change his actions from the logical ones he took. If he felt he made a mistake, there was no turning back.
And if, for instance, the emotionless version of him decided that abandoning those close to him was the most ideal scenario…
‘I don’t even want to think about what would happen.’
He didn’t have a goal in mind while activating his Mind Prison, so the chosen goal was his deepest desire to grow in strength. After the 4-day killing spree, his rational mind decided that there was no need to use the Mind Prison to take such actions.
Due to that, Damien ended up in his current position, finally regaining his true self. If he had to judge it, he felt that overall it was a positive experience. The only problem was that he still had no idea how he managed to seal his emotions in the first place.
‘All I was doing was suppressing them as hard as I could. There’s no way it could be that easy.’
Yet, it might’ve been exactly that. Damien wanted to test it out once more when he suddenly heard rustling from the tall grass on the ground. Whoever the newcomer was, they weren’t trying to hide their presence.
Damien spread his awareness to check who it was before a smile emerged on his face. ‘Well well well, I didn’t expect this to happen any time soon.’
The figure finally exited the grass, revealing its form. It was a familiar black-haired man whose valiant and battle-hungry aura was on full display.