"EVERYONE RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"
Nearly all customers in the teashop dashed out.
"Ha, you simpletons think you can run away from me?"
Passersby took only a glimpse through the entrance to see the Demon Lord's figure.
"He's there! He's really there, in that shop!"
A mass hysteria erupted. Screams of terror engulfed the former triumphant cheers and merriment as everyone from shop and its vicinity tried to scamper. Mo Xuecheng let out a crazed laugh at the chaos his presence alone had instigated.
"M-M-M-Mo Xuecheng..." stammered Mr Lu. He tried to run but his legs, as though enchanted, were so heavy they could not move and he could only fall back onto the floor. "W-w-what do you...?"
Mo Xuecheng shot a piercing glare at him while his fingers tapped on the brim of the plate with the roasted sunflower seeds.
"You sure like to take other people's food without even asking first, don't you?"
Mr Lu, on the verge of fainting from his own fear, could neither shake his head or stutter out an explanation to save his own life. Mo Xuecheng grabbed a handful of seeds, meshing them into one with a crush of his grip. After imbuing it with dark energy seeping out of his hands he threw out the massive ball. It hit straight into Mr Lu's mouth and lodged deep into his throat. Mr Lu flopped onto the ground with his eyes lifelessly open as he slowly choked to death.
"Enjoy the seeds on your way to hell then," snorted Mo Xuecheng callously before turning to the shopkeeper. "Now then, what to do with you?"
The shopkeeper was frozen on the ground with a look of overwhelming fear smeared on his sweat-soaked face.
"You said hope, did you not?" Mo Xuecheng sneered. "Hope my fucking ass! I'll show you what happens when you pathetic lowlifes dare the have hope that I, the Demon Lord of the Killing Immortals Sect, will ever lose to anyone!"
He made an indecipherable gesture by curling his fingers so that they took the appearance of claws and waved his arms. The air around began to quickly pick up speed, turning into violent winds that formed a rapidly expanding tornado of which he stood unperturbed at the eye. A teapot smashed the side of the shopkeeper's temple, drawing blood and knocking him out. Cups, plates, chairs and tables were lifted at great heights before the entire establishment was being blown apart. In a blink of the eye almost the entire town was swept up.
The people's screams increased tenfold. Those who still managed to keep their feet on the ground dropped all possessions in their attempt to flee. Those in the air were being lacerated by an assortment of culinary knives, tailoring scissors and any other ordinary sharp objects. As they sliced and stabbed frivolously about, blood splattered everywhere. Mo Xuecheng, with his arms spread open, cackled with great pleasure at this crimson drizzle he created and stuck out his tongue to catch the droplets.
He retracted his tongue when he sensed something of great spiritual essence disturbing the airflow of his tornado. The windspeed slowed and a number of objects and bodies fell to the ground. A sword with its long blade emanating an icy blue gleam and an ornate hilt with snowflake ornaments carefully swerved around these flying obstacles as it cut through the currents and went straight towards his neck.
Mo Xuecheng took half a step back and the sword flew straight past him, leaving a small amount of frost blooming on his shoulder in six-petal patterns. The sword aimed at him again from behind. This time he caught the blade with his hand by carefully avoiding the sharp edges as he pinched onto the surfaces. Frostbite threatened to nip off his fingers and he quickly let go.
"Interesting."
With a snap of his fingers Mo Xuecheng shattered the ice and dispersed the tornado. Objects and bodies began falling everywhere when a large stag with sand-coloured fur, shining antlers of gold and airborne hooves galloped gracefully through the air, attempting to catch as many people as it could on its back before they hit the ground.
"That's the Golden Antlered Deer," Mo Xue-Cheng recognised immediately as he crushed the frost on his shoulder and brushed off the remaining particles. "And that was the Crystal Sword. Looks like they are here."
The sword returned to its master, a young boy in his mid-teens dressed in an ocean blue uniform with silver trimmings reminiscent of the stars and moonlight. He was quite tall and lanky with a small face and bright eyes burning with resolve as he brandished his sword.
"Demon Lord Mo Xuecheng!"
"So this the Moon Dragon's first disciple Meng Qi," said Mo Xuecheng. "And this is the second disciple Wu Yi."
The deer stood beside a girl in the same uniform with an equally resolute expression, having hastily tended to many of the injured before standing steadfastly with her martial brother. She wore her hair in a high ponytail that reached to her waist. Its ends carried a mahogany shade as it swayed from side to side. Instead of a sword she was armed with a translucent, cyan sash that seemed to extend infinitely as it danced in the air to her will.
"The Moon Dragon must've had a lot of free time to want to become a master of two unimpressive little runts all of a sudden," laughed Mo Xuecheng. "Where is your master? Or is the Moon Dragon going to hide like a coward behind his own disciples today?"
"Don't you insult our master!" snapped Meng Qi when he was held back by Wu Yi.
"Don't get so riled up. There's no way we can defeat him on our own."
"But no matter what, we have to stop him from killing anymore people until master gets here."
Wu Yi nodded in agreement before turning to the deer to give the quiet order, "Han Lu, quickly get master," and, with a pat on the neck, had the beast galloping off into the sky.
Before Mo Xuecheng could direct the winds to impede the deer Meng Qi had the Crystal Sword flying towards him again. Mo Xuecheng swatted it away like getting rid of a pesky bug. The sword returned to Meng Qi's hands.
"I have no interest in dealing with you small fries. You two won't amount to anything if you just stay at the Sea Dragon Sect. How about this? If the both of you surrender, I'll accept two more disciples into the Killing Immortals Sect. This is a once in a lifetime offer!"
"You dream on!" roared Meng Qi.
"Meng Qi!" called Wu Yi as her martial brother charged forward first, his sword strikes countered by a broad, black sabre bearing glaring patterns of dark red and brown like ruby and rust. Despite its enormous weight Mo Xuecheng wielded it with ease and dexterity.
The weapons clanged aggressively against each other. Mo Xuecheng gradually overpowered Meng Qi, forcing him back and to mostly evade or parry. Every blow he blocked shook his sword an inch further out of his grip until he was one strike away from being disarmed. Wu Yi sent forth her sash that could clash with metals and cut through flesh. It struck Mo Xuecheng's sabre several times while she kept her distance, giving Meng Qi a chance of respite. Mo Xuecheng grabbed the sash and yanked. Wu Yi was forcibly pulled in towards Mo Xuecheng. Borrowing momentum from the flight she landed a powerful kick on Mo Xuecheng who blocked it with his forearm. He let go of the sash and grabbed Wu Yi's ankle with a crushing grip.
"Oh no!"
Just as he was about to hurl Wu Yi, a cold flash caught his eye. He loosened his grip on Wu Yi to attend to the distraction. Leaping forward Meng Qi raised the Crystal Sword high above his head and brought it down with as much force as he could muster. Mo Xuecheng parried the strike, his force throwing Meng Qi back to where he was.
Wu Yi rushed to his side. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine," said Meng Qi, huffing a bit as he regained his balance.
Mo Xuecheng attacked again. Meng Qi stood in front of Wu Yi and fought back. In less than a minute he was brought to his knees. Wu Yi aimed for Mo Xuecheng's wrist but her sash ensnared the hilt of his sabre instead. A stream of toxic green, corrosive matter poured out of the guard and down the sash at lightning speed. Wu Yi panicked, unable to react in time but sash was promptly severed by Meng Qi just before the dark matter could touch Wu Yi. It consumed the remains of the fabric in a grizzling effect while the main partition in Wu Yi's hand promptly regenerated. They leapt back, distancing themselves from their enemy.
"What was that?" asked Wu Yi.
"Looks like some kind of acid," guessed Meng Qi. "It didn't get to you, did it?"
Wu Yi shook her head. Her unscathed hands trembled uncontrollably. She dropped her arms, her sleeves falling over her knuckles.
"Song Yehai has taught you little fries rather well, but not well enough," Mo Xuecheng shouldered his sabre. His half-lidded eyes and crooked grin exuded unrivalled hubris. "Come at me again with you're next move."
"He sure loves belittling his enemies," scorned Wu Yi.
"Losers like him only dare to flaunt over those they know are weaker than them," snarked Meng Qi.
"Well? I'm waiting! Come at me already!" challenged Mo Xuecheng. "What's taking you small fries so long?"
With one look of tacit agreement at each other, Meng Qi and Wu Yi prepared for their next move. Wu Yi cast her sash into the sky. It circled above Mo Xuecheng. Meng Qi pointed his sword up, conjuring a stream of frost from the tip that hit the centre before dispersing towards the circumference and solidifying into a plate of ice. Wu Yi raised her index and middle fingers in front of her face as she chanted in her head. Waves of dazzling light flowed into the ice from the sash like vibrant watercolours.
Mo Xuecheng idly observed them, intrigued with overconfidence. Meng Qi flipped his sword in a reverse grip and stabbed it into the earth. A pillar of sword-like icicles smashed down from above, encompassing Mo Xuecheng.
Mo Xuecheng yawned, "Is this the best you little whelps got?"
"This... this can't be," stumbled Wu Yi in disbelief as Mo Xuecheng stood there like standing under a spotlight. "That is our best move."
"I didn't expect it to defeat him, but it didn't even scratch him," said Meng Qi. He gripped his sword with both his hands. The pillar's power plunged into a lethally freezing intensity. Wu Yi closed her eyes and recited the spell again. The icicles plummeting down doubled in numbers and intensity but still only bounced off Mo Xuecheng like rain.
"Well, this is a disappointment."
With a single swing of his sabre Mo Xuecheng destroyed the pillar, shattered the ice, shredded the sash and sent an immense shockwave rippling outwards. Meng Qi and Wu Yi poured all that they had into erecting a barrier that stood no chance and they were thrown by the tremors off their feet with hardly any strength to get back up.
Standing over the fallen disciples, Mo Xuecheng pinned down the sabre near their feet, casually leaning a little onto it as though it was a walking cane. "This is your last chance to join the Killing Immortals Sect as proper disciples. Otherwise I'll have the both of you added to my personal collection of corpses."
"Corpses?" repeated Wu Yi aghast. "You even have a personal collection of that? You really are inhuman."
"Us? Join the Killing Immortals Sect?" laughed Meng Qi. "We'd rather die than be disciples of a laughable loser like you! Mo Xuecheng, you might be able to defeat us but you'll always be a loser to our master! One day, he'll defeat you for sure! Him and the Snow Phoenix Grandmaster will make you regret ever being born!"
Mo Xuecheng seized Meng Qi by the neck and lifted him above the ground.
"Meng Qi!" cried Wu Yi.
"You are not bad-looking," taunted Mo Xuecheng, "pity you're not so sweet with your words. I'm going to have to discipline you well."
"Screw... you..." Meng Qi choked through the tightening strangle.
Levitating a torn piece of her sash on the ground, Wu Yi had it rolled in the air so tightly it compressed into the shape of a rather large needle and fired it at Mo Xuecheng from behind. Sensing the ambush, Mo Xuecheng turned around and shielded himself with Meng Qi.
Wu Yi gasped, slammed her hand on the ground and stopped her projectile from hitting her martial brother in the very last minute. Relieved that she did not harm him, she tried to redirect it from another angle. Mo Xuecheng caught it in a pinch between his fingers.
"Nice try, but you've got to do better."
Colourless wisps seeped out of his palm and saturated the needle. Mo Xuecheng flicked it out, shooting it through the air at a blinding speed. Wu Yi let out a short screech as a patch of dark red stained her left shoulder. She pulled out the needle. It loosened back into a piece of cloth of murky purple on the ground.
"Wu... Yi..." Meng Qi shakily stretched out an arm at his martial sister.
Wu Yi clutched her shoulder. A tingling numbness overtook her shoulder, erasing the stinging pain as though it never got pierced. She struggled onto her knees but could not get onto her feet.
"Mo... Xuecheng... what... did you…" her speech slurred as her head was overcome with a dizziness that messed up her sense of balance. Her vision started to blur and she was forced to keep her hands firmly on the earth to avoid toppling over.
Holding out his hand Meng Qi summoned the Crystal Sword into his grasp and swung it upwards. Mo Xuecheng retracted his arm before it could get amputated. A light layer of snow blasted out from the blade. Mo Xuecheng destroyed this sheet frosting from his arm up to his shoulder and shook off the water.
"Wu Yi," Meng Qi held Wu Yi by the shoulders. "Are you alright?"
"Meng Qi, I ... I ..."
Meng Qi examined the darkening patch on Wu Yi's uniform. "The colour of your blood isn't normal!"
"What?"
With two fingers Meng Qi tapped on two pressure points on Wu Yi's shoulder blade, stiffening the area. The dark patch stopped growing and Wu Yi's heart rate slowed. He then took Wu Yi's pulse and found almost nothing unusual.
"My medical skills have always been shit though," he lamented before suggesting, "Wu Yi, try and use your spiritual energy to purge out the poison."
"I wouldn't if I were you," advised Mo Xuecheng sadistically. "It might make it worse."
"Mo Xuecheng, what did you do to her?" demanded Meng Qi.
Mo Xuecheng let out an evil laugh before answering, "I merely gave her a dose of the Colourless Poison."
"What?" cried Meng Qi in shock. "The Colourless Poison?"
"That's right. How do you like it?"