First Battle with Kuafu

Chapter Sixteen: First Battle with Kuafu

Taiyi waited in the valley camp for three days.

Nothing happened during those three days. The Witch Race remained completely silent, as if the twenty-odd people who had been beaten flat did not belong to them. The scouts Fei Lian had sent out reported that all the tribes at the foot of Buzhou Mountain were carrying on as usual. Those meant to hunt hunted, those meant to train trained, and they had not even strengthened their guard.

That was a little strange.

Taiyi sat in his tent, turning the pair of mountain boar tusks over in his hands. The tusks had been cleaned and were as smooth as jade, gleaming softly in the firelight. He tossed them up and down idly, but his eyes remained fixed on the pitch-black night outside the tent.

"Your Majesty," Fei Lian said as he lifted the tent flap and entered, "there is still no movement."

"Mm." Taiyi caught a tusk. "Why do you think that is?"

Fei Lian considered it. "Two possibilities. Either they think twenty-some people are not worth making such a fuss over, or... they are holding back for something bigger."

"I'm betting on the second." Taiyi tossed the tusks onto the blanket. "The Houtu Tribe suffered a loss. There is no way they will simply let it go. Those Witch Race brutes care most about their pride. After losing so much face, they will definitely try to win it back."

"Then we..."

"Wait," Taiyi said. "They are more anxious than we are."

The moment he finished speaking, hurried footsteps suddenly sounded outside. A scout rushed in, pale-faced. "Your Majesty! To the north! Something is coming!"

Taiyi and Fei Lian exchanged a glance and rose at the same time.

Outside the tent, the moonlight was bright. Cold white light spilled across the valley, illuminating the camp clearly. Taiyi looked north, toward Buzhou Mountain.

A dark shape was moving toward them along the horizon.

At first, it did not look large, like a person. But that "person" rapidly grew larger. Every step it took made the ground tremble. All three thousand demon soldiers in the camp were alarmed and crawled from their tents, watching the giant drawing ever closer from the north.

It truly was a giant.

He stood at least thirty zhang tall, with shoulders as broad as a small mountain. His upper body was bare, his skin bronze, and muscles bulged across his frame, shining with a metallic luster under the moonlight. He wore an animal hide around his waist and held a... tree?

No, it was an enormous wooden staff. Judging by its thickness, it had been carved from the trunk of an ancient thousand-year-old tree. Leaves and branches still clung to its head, lush and green, as if it had only recently been cut down.

The giant drew nearer and nearer, his footsteps booming like muffled thunder. Boom. Boom. Boom. The demon soldiers began to stir uneasily. Some instinctively reached for their weapons, while others stepped back.

"Hold steady!" Fei Lian shouted.

Taiyi merely smiled.

"Kuafu," he said softly. "He came quickly enough."

As soon as the words fell, he leaped into the air, transforming into a golden streak as he flew toward the giant. Fei Lian wanted to follow, but Taiyi raised a hand to stop him. "Watch the camp."

Fei Lian gritted his teeth but did not move.

Taiyi landed a hundred zhang in front of the giant, hovering in midair. From this angle, the giant's face was clearer: square-faced, thick-browed, broad-mouthed, with eyes as large as bronze bells and blazing with fury.

"Eastern Emperor Taiyi!" the giant roared, his voice like thunder, making the air hum. "Come out and die!"

"Am I not right here?" Taiyi picked at his ear. "Keep it down. You're loud."

Kuafu—yes, the very Kuafu who had died chasing the sun—looked down at him. Confusion flashed through those bell-like eyes. He was probably wondering how such a tiny thing dared steal from the Houtu Tribe.

"Hand over the mountain boar tusks." Kuafu extended a hand the size of a fan. "Then sever one of your arms yourself, and I will spare your life."

Taiyi laughed. "And if I refuse?"

"Then die."

Kuafu wasted no more words. He swung the massive wooden staff down.

Before the staff even arrived, the pressure of the wind it generated had already ripped up the turf below. Taiyi did not take it head-on. His figure flashed, and he appeared a hundred zhang away. The staff smashed into the earth with a boom, blasting out a crater more than ten zhang wide as dirt and stones flew everywhere.

"You are quite strong," Taiyi commented. "Too bad you can't hit me."

Kuafu roared, twisted his wrist, and swept the giant staff sideways. The strike covered an enormous area, placing everything within a hundred zhang under attack. This time, Taiyi did not dodge—he wanted to test this big man's strength.

With a thought, the phantom of the Chaos Bell appeared behind him. The bell trembled, sending invisible ripples outward to meet the sweeping staff.

Clang!

It was not the sound of physical impact, but an explosive collision of energy. When the staff was still ten zhang away from Taiyi, it seemed to strike an invisible wall and abruptly stopped. The staff shook violently, and the flesh between Kuafu's thumb and forefinger split open on both hands, blood streaming down.

"Huh?" Kuafu looked at his hands in surprise, then at the bell behind Taiyi. "Interesting."

Not only was he unafraid, he became even more excited. He planted the wooden staff into the ground, clenched both fists, and threw back his head with a roar. "Roar!"

As he roared, his body began to expand. From thirty zhang to forty, then fifty... until he finally stopped at around sixty zhang. Complex totem patterns appeared across his skin. It was a bloodline secret art of the Witch Race, capable of greatly increasing physical strength for a short time.

"Now that's more like it." Taiyi licked his lips.

Kuafu no longer used his staff and directly threw a punch. His fist was larger than Taiyi's entire body, carrying a sonic boom as it crashed down like a mountain.

This time, Taiyi did not use the Chaos Bell to block it. He wanted to test the Chaos True Sun Fire he had recently cultivated.

He formed a hand seal. The golden-red flame in his dantian suddenly burst open, transforming into countless fine threads that surged out of his body. They intertwined and spun before him, condensing into a shield of fire. Gold and crimson interwove across its surface, while a dark red halo glowed around its edges.

The fist smashed into the shield.

Boom!

This time, it was a true collision. The fiery shield shook violently, ripples spreading across its surface, but it did not break. Kuafu's fist, however, was scorched by the flames. His skin instantly blackened, smoke rising from it.

"Hot!" Kuafu abruptly withdrew his fist and shook his hand. "Your fire... something is wrong with it!"

Taiyi's heart stirred. Kuafu had noticed? The Chaos True Sun Fire truly differed from ordinary True Sun Fire. It held more violence, more chaos. He had not expected this hulking brute to have such sharp instincts.

"If it seems wrong, then it's right." Taiyi dismissed the fiery shield. Bringing his hands together and then spreading them apart, he revealed a fireball the size of a human head gathered in his palms. Its core was pure gold, wrapped in a dark red halo. It spun, radiating a pulse that made one's heart tremble.

Go!

The fireball flew from his hand, trailing a golden-red arc through the air as it shot straight toward Kuafu's face.

Kuafu did not dare take it head-on and twisted aside. Yet the fireball seemed to have eyes. It turned in midair and continued pursuing him. Kuafu dodged three times in succession, but the fireball remained close behind, drawing nearer and nearer.

"Annoying!" Kuafu raged. He stopped dodging, turned, and punched the fireball.

At the instant his fist collided with the fireball, Taiyi willed it.

Explode!

Boom!

The fireball exploded, but it was no ordinary explosion. It carried an Annihilation Characteristic. Even the space at the center of the blast twisted. Light bent, and sound vanished. Kuafu's entire right arm was swallowed by flames in an instant. From fist to shoulder, flesh melted and carbonized at a visible rate before finally turning to ash.

"Aah!" Kuafu screamed and staggered back.

Yet he did not fall. The Witch Race's vitality was terrifyingly strong. Even after losing an entire arm, he only grew angrier. He clenched his left fist, and the totem patterns on his body suddenly shone brightly. Flesh began to writhe at the stump, showing signs of regrowing.

"Still coming?" Taiyi raised a brow. He was about to finish him off when he suddenly sensed something and looked into the distance.

Two auras were rapidly approaching from Buzhou Mountain.

One was violent, filled with the sharp sensation of space being torn apart—it was Di Jiang.

The other... cold and damp, carrying the freshness of rain, yet concealing killing intent.

Xuan Ming.

Taiyi's thoughts raced. He had tested Kuafu thoroughly enough. A Great Witch's combat strength was indeed formidable, but Kuafu was still no match for him. The true test was those two Ancestral Witches.

He deliberately slowed his movements. Only when Kuafu's arm had regrown halfway did he raise a hand and press down through the air.

The phantom of the Chaos Bell suddenly expanded, its mouth facing down toward Kuafu.

Clang!

The bell's toll stretched long and deep, bearing the majesty to suppress all things. Kuafu's half-regrown arm immediately froze. His entire body seemed crushed beneath an invisible mountain. His knees buckled, and he fell to one knee. Two huge pits formed beneath him, cracks spreading outward like a spiderweb.

"Do you submit?" Taiyi hovered in the air, looking down at him.

Kuafu gritted his teeth and tried to stand, but the Chaos Bell's suppressive force grew increasingly heavier, bending even his spine. Veins bulged from his forehead, and his eyes were bloodshot, but he could not utter a single word.

"Not talking?" Taiyi chuckled. "Then stay kneeling."

He no longer looked at Kuafu and turned toward the two rapidly approaching auras. He placed his left hand behind his back and quietly formed a hand seal—the Chaos True Sun Fire accelerated through his meridians, ready to erupt at any moment.

They were here.

First came the sound of space being torn apart, like cloth forcibly ripped open. A figure stepped out of the void, tall and lean, dressed in simple hemp clothes, with messy hair and eyes bright as blades.

Di Jiang.

The first thing he saw after landing was Kuafu kneeling on the ground. His face instantly darkened.

Then, a fine rain began to fall.

It was not real rain, but tiny droplets condensed from moisture. They glowed faintly blue under the moonlight. The droplets intertwined and spun in the air, finally gathering into a human figure. She was a woman in a blue dress, with a cold, beautiful face and eyes as if covered in ice.

Xuan Ming.

The two positioned themselves on either side of Taiyi, trapping him between them.

For a moment, the scene froze.

Di Jiang stared at Taiyi for a long while before speaking. His voice was hoarse and grating. "Eastern Emperor Taiyi, you have quite the nerve."

"Nothing special." Taiyi shrugged. "Not as impressive as your Witch Race. You cannot even guard what is on your own territory."

The words struck a sore point. Di Jiang's gaze turned colder, and the surrounding space began to ripple unstably like waves on water.

"Release him," Di Jiang said.

"Why should I?" Taiyi asked.

"Because..." Di Jiang slowly raised a hand. "This is Buzhou Mountain."

As the words fell, he clenched his five fingers.

The space around Taiyi instantly solidified, trapping him like an insect in amber. This was not a law-based restraint like Time-Space Stasis, but something far more brutal: direct compression through the power of space. The surrounding space pressed in like walls, intending to crush him alive.

Taiyi did not move.

The phantom of the Chaos Bell appeared again, and its body trembled lightly.

Hum—

The spatial restraint shattered at once. It was not broken open but vibrated into pieces. Like glass struck and shattered, the frozen space cracked apart and resumed flowing.

Di Jiang's expression changed slightly.

He knew Eastern Emperor Taiyi was strong, but he had not expected him to be this strong. The Chaos Bell's restraint over spatial laws was even more severe than he had imagined.

"Di Jiang," Xuan Ming suddenly said, her voice as cold and clear as a mountain spring. "Do not act rashly."

She stepped forward and fixed her gaze on Taiyi, examining him closely. Those ice-blue eyes seemed capable of seeing through everything. Taiyi even felt that she was not looking at him as a person, but at something deeper—such as the Chaos True Sun Fire within him, or the dark red layer along the edge of the Chaos Bell.

"Eastern Emperor Your Majesty," Xuan Ming said slowly, "can you give me an explanation for what happened today?"

"An explanation for what?" Taiyi feigned ignorance.

"Why did you injure members of my race without cause and seize our prey?"

"Oh, that." Taiyi waved a hand. "I was passing by, thought those tusks looked nice, and took them. As for injuring your people... they attacked first. I could hardly stand there and let them beat me, could I?"

Xuan Ming stared at him for a long time. So long that even Di Jiang grew impatient before she finally said, "Your Majesty seems... to have changed considerably lately."

There it was again.

Taiyi frowned inwardly, though his expression remained calm. "Is that so? How have I changed?"

"I cannot explain it." Xuan Ming shook her head. "It is only a feeling... Your Majesty's fighting style is somewhat different from before."

Taiyi's heart tightened. This woman's eyes were too sharp.

There truly had been places in his fight with Kuafu where he had seemed unnatural. For example, he was still not sufficiently skilled in using the Chaos True Sun Fire, and there were awkward pauses in its transitions. And his control over the Chaos Bell's suppression had not been precise enough—he had only intended to force Kuafu to kneel, yet he had nearly crushed the man's spine.

Di Jiang, a brute like him, might not have noticed such subtle differences. But Xuan Ming was meticulous. She had likely already noticed them.

"People always change." Taiyi brushed it aside with the old excuse. "Especially in the Great Wilderness. If you do not change, do you just wait to die?"

Xuan Ming did not respond. She merely glanced at him once more before turning to Di Jiang. "Take Kuafu back to treat his injuries."

"But..."

"Today is not the time." Xuan Ming interrupted him. "Eastern Emperor Your Majesty has personally come to Buzhou Mountain and brought three thousand demon soldiers. If we truly fight, the disturbance will be too great. Better to... speak again another day."

She put it tactfully, but her meaning was clear—they could not fight today. Taiyi was not alone. He had three thousand demon soldiers behind him, as well as Fei Lian. If they truly tore all pretenses apart, even if the Witch Race won, they would still pay a price.

Di Jiang clearly understood this as well. He gritted his teeth and waved a hand, withdrawing the suppressive force around Kuafu. Kuafu suddenly gasped for breath and staggered to his feet. His severed arm had regrown to the wrist, though the new limb looked fragile, its skin tender as a baby's.

"Go," Di Jiang said.

Kuafu shot Taiyi a vicious glare, then turned and left with Di Jiang. Xuan Ming walked last. Before leaving, she looked back at Taiyi once more.

Her gaze was complicated, holding scrutiny, vigilance, and a trace of... confusion.

The three turned into streaks of light and vanished into the night.

Taiyi remained hovering where he was, unmoving.

Only after all three auras had completely disappeared beyond the horizon did he slowly let out a breath.

His back was already soaked through.

It was not fear. That confrontation had simply drained too much of him. Facing two Ancestral Witches at once while pretending to be completely at ease had been exhausting.

Fei Lian flew over from the camp and landed beside him. "Your Majesty, are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Taiyi shook his head. "Back to camp."

The two flew back into the valley. When they landed, all three thousand demon soldiers gathered around them. Their eyes shone as they looked at Taiyi as though he were a god. They had witnessed that battle—Kuafu, a Great Witch, had been beaten to his knees by His Majesty. Even Di Jiang and Xuan Ming, two Ancestral Witches, had come in person and still did not dare attack.

Eastern Emperor Your Majesty truly was invincible.

Taiyi ignored those gazes and walked straight into the tent. Fei Lian followed and asked in a low voice, "Your Majesty, what next...?"

"Strengthen the guard." Taiyi sat on the blanket and rubbed his brow. "They did not act tonight, but that does not mean they will not act later. Especially Xuan Ming... that woman is not easy to deal with."

"Did she notice something?"

"Perhaps." Taiyi was uncertain. "But even if she did, she has no evidence. Unless..."

Unless she kept investigating.

Taiyi suddenly felt that this journey to Buzhou Mountain might be more complicated than he had imagined. He had to guard not only against the Witch Race's open blades and spears, but also against eyes hidden in the dark.

Eyes like Xuan Ming's ice-blue ones, which seemed capable of seeing through everything.

Outside the tent, the moonlight remained cold.

The immense shadow of Buzhou Mountain stretched over the entire valley like a slumbering beast.

And that beast had already awakened.