Dragon's Soul Chapter 165: Demands

Typo in last chapter regarding Zhang's elite guard being level 9, fixed to level 8 :D

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Once the subject of interest was no longer worth their effort, all of the high saints gathered up their disciples and departed. Since all of the high saints departed, Old man Dan Jin also left. However, unlike the high saints who had little to gain from attacking Zhang, a pair full saints and some lesser saints chose to stick around despite the possibility of being attacked.

“Junior brother, I must congratulate you on becoming a full saint from your first ascension since not many around these parts get such a luxury.” A full saint with a crooked grin and a battle ax in hand said.

“I was simply lucky that’s all.” Zhang replied with neither a positive or negative emotions behind his words.

“Since junior brother is so lucky, you probably won’t mind sharing a bit of what you have with someone less fortunate than yourself would you?” The full saint with a crooked grin said as a few lesser saints gathered behind him.

“They’re thinking of ganging up on me…d.a.m.n pack of wolves...” Zhang thought as his brows began to crease.

“Master Xue Huo if we’re going to share things then if it is possible I would like for you to grant me that one.” A lesser saint said as he pointed his finger toward Ling as he gazed upon her with lecherous eyes, causing Little White who was walking around her to growl. 

“I would like that one if you would be as kind enough to grant her to me, master Xue Huo.” Another lesser saint said while licking his lips as he pointed toward Lingqi who was helping patch up a wounded soldier.

“Then I would like her.” Yet another less saint said pointing toward Ai who glared back at him before picking up a spear sized ballista bolt and hurtling it into the air.

“Since all of the others have been picked, if you can please grant me that one.” A fourth lesser saint said as he pointed toward Yuying.

“Since I have no interest in them you're free to decide who gets what.” The full Saint referred to as Master Xue Huo said with a smile as if everything's present was his to give away to his followers.

“I believe you have all mistaken on something because it seems like you all think I’m someone who can be easily bully… Let alone sharing my things with you, I’ve yet to even demand reparations for my injured and dead soldiers…” Zhang said in an angry tone.

“Don’t act so cheeky you brat, just because you were lucky enough to complete your ascension uninterrupted does not mean your unbeatable. The likes of you cannot be compared to our master.” The lesser saint who had looked at Ling with lecherous eyes barked.

“Little brother if you're willing to hand over those four lovely ladies, this magnificent fortress, those demonic beasts, and all of your soldiers who have reached the eight level of cultivation, we can be on our way and no longer cause you any more trouble.” The full saint with a crooked grin named Xue Huo said as he eyed Zhang’s wives, soldiers, and pets while playing with his battle ax.

“If you give me all of your interspatial rings, kowtow to me three times each while calling me daddy I’ll let you leave with your lives…” Zhang replied.

“Brother Xue Huo it seems this one needs a light beating before he realizes his place.” Another full saint said as he stood atop a puffy cloud.

At the end of his patience and without saying a word Zhang disappeared in a flash after turning off the fortress’s barrier and reappearing an instant later and plunging his hand through a lesser saint’s chest. As his hand slid out of his first victim’s chest covered in blood and gore, Zhang tossed the man’s corpse toward Yuying in a single motion before disappearing once again.

Knowing what Zhang wanted her to do Yuying grabbed the lesser saint’s body before it hit the ground and sped toward where Lingqi was. The moment she arrived beside Lingqi, Yuying pressed her hand onto the ground causing thousands of runes to appear on her hand and flow into the stone floor beneath her.

In no time at all an inscription array was constructed and golden blobs of heavenly energy began to be extracted from the dead lesser saint’s corpse and began floating into the air. 

“Absorb this and don't worry about being attacked, I've already made a miniature version of the barrier from before around you.” Yuying said as a red colored bubble formed and encased Lingqi without it as she began to absorb the blobs of floating heavenly energy.

In the meantime, in the skies battle broke out between Zhang, a pair of full saints and their lesser saint underlings. Well, actually it was just Zhang and the lesser saints who were battling while the two full saints were simply observing.

Unleas.h.i.+ng his full a.r.s.enal, Zhang’s Dragon Talon throwing knives, Voracious Eater chained daggers and dozens of other weapons danced about and circled the air as they launched themselves at his enemies.

“You think these toys can harm us?” A lesser saint laughed as a ring of fire formed around his body and melted a few beautiful golden swords that Zhang had found on one of his treasure hunts.

“Maybe those can’t but these can!” Zhang roared as the ten Dragon Talon knives all sped toward the lesser saint, pierced through his ring of fire and embedded themselves into his body.

Unlike all of Zhang’s weapons, these throwing knives were said to be made from the parts of a dragon, making them very resilient and high tier weapons.

Despite being impaled by the ten throwing knives the lesser saint was not dead and actually released a roar filled with rage as he charged toward Zhang with his sword in hand.

Of course, this lesser saint was not alone because in a fraction of a second two more lesser saints also charged at Zhang while swinging their swords.

Moments later three swords all aiming for Zhang slashed downward from three different directions. 

Slightly hopping backward in midair Zhang was able to avoid the first slash that sliced downward and was inches away from touching his nose, while using the using his two Mirage Viper Tooth swords to block the other two attacked that came from both his sides.

But that was not the end of things as a fourth sword lunged forward at Zhang from his rear, to which he was able to dodge after launching himself forward while slas.h.i.+ng the legs of the two lesser saints to his right and left, severing them. 

As if leaping through the air, Zhang pounced on the lesser saint that had nearly slashed his face. Much like how the mirage viper that his swords used to be a part of would have done, Zhang stabbed both of his swords into his opponent’s chest as he kneed the man in the stomach.

Although everything took much time to describe, all of it happened in mere seconds that showed the intensity of the battle that was happening.

As the three lesser saints watched their comrade being slain in front of them without enough time to aid him. A spear sized ballista bolt pierced through the air and brushed one of the lesser saints, leaving a thin streak of blood running down his cheek.

Looking downward, Ai could be seen venting her anger and throwing ballista bolts into the sky.

“d.a.m.n s.l.u.t you dare…” A lesser saint said as he wiped off the blood on his cheek as he turned his body toward Ai.

“f.u.c.k off!” Zhang’s voice rang into the lesser saint's ear as he felt a piercing pain that originated from his back that ran through his chest. Looking down he could see a long slightly curved blade slick with blood poking out of his chest. 

Before long this lesser saint’s corpse was tossed down toward Yuying much like with his two comrades. Like before Yuying created two inscription arrays for Ai and Ling to absorb the heavenly energy being dispersed from the corpses of the two lesser saints.

Normally lesser saints and even full saints would be like flies over ripe fruit when heavenly energy is on the line, however when the two full saints who were observing the battle recognized Yuying’s red barrier they did not bother attempting to disrupt the beauties, while the lesser saints were too preoccupied with Zhang to do anything. 

“How is this guy so strong… Even if he’s a full saint, how is he beating us so easily.” A lesser saint complained as it seemed like Zhang was one-sidedly controlling the flow of the battle. 

Actually, if one was to compare Zhang and the group of eight or so remaining lesser saints, in terms of experience and technique they vastly outstripped him. While in terms of power, as a full Saint Zhang was far superior to them if they were to fight individually, however from beginning to start there were about a dozen lesser Saint.

So how was Zhang able to kill them one after the other? The answer is actually quite simple. Although it may sound ridiculous but these lesser saints were losing because they had more experience and knew more techniques then Zhang. 

Since they knew more, they thought more while being less willing to act risky. To the lesser saints who had dozens if not hundreds of years of battle experience, every movement Zhang made had a reason and dozens of possibilities that turned into countless different scenarios in their minds. 

If he was showing an opening then it was for a reason, if he did this or that there was a reason. However, in actuality due to Zhang’s lack of proper training in the higher levels of combat, he simply fought with all he had, with his instincts and with the sword skills that he was taught by his two teachers one of which was someone who never break through the sixth level of cultivation while the other lacked enough time to properly show him the proper path of a cultivator. 

So while Zhang acted somewhat recklessly, and while the lesser saints thought too much about the situation, Zhang was able together the better of them.

“Think fast!” Zhang yelled as a bolt of lightning shot out from his hand and began to branch off.

“Surround him!” A lesser Saint bellowed to his comrades as he used his sword to redirect Zhang’s lightning bolt. But much to his misfortune as the lightning bolt was being redirected, Zhang appeared before the lesser saint and left a large gash across the man’s neck.

Much like when he was fighting amidst large groups of enemy soldiers, Zhang tried to create large showy moves that distracted his enemies when he could and move in for the kill with precise and swift movements.

“Brother Xue Huo it seems like it’s time for us to intervene.” The other full saint said as he saw how quickly Zhang was killing his underlings.

“Let’s go.” Xue Huo said he gripped his battle ax tightly in his hand.

Seeing that the two full saints were finally joining the fray, Zhang performed a series of graceful movements and sped his way toward the Sky Fortress’s main essence core. Before anyone could figure out what he was going to do, Zhang’s hand pressed against the essence core and the fortress’s barrier was reactivated and an extremely powerful gravitational force soon enveloped the lesser saints causing their movements to slightly slow.

“Maybe if I used maximum power for a bit.” Zhang said as the gravitational force exerted by the barrier increased exponentially. 

The lesser saints soon found themselves unable to move while the full saints found themselves slowly being weakened.

“Now that things are a bit more, fair I'll play with you guys a bit more.” Zhang said with an evil grin as he shot back into the air and began to wildly slash at the weakened lesser saints. 

“You can have my interspatial ring! I'll even kowtow while calling you daddy!” A lesser saint said moments before Zhang decapitated him.

Soon enough all of the lesser saints fell from the sky and Zhang set his eyes on his two remaining opponents.

“Flee!” Xue Huo yelled to the other full saint as he felt that he was now at a disadvantage when facing against Zhang.

“If I was the one who controlled this fortress…” He also said as he tried to escape.

“Come to my place, kill my men, try to take my wives and my pets and think you can just leave like that?” Zhang’s voice rang through the air as he charged after Xue Huo.

“Younger brother, it seems you have mistaken because I did not kill any of your men nor did I want your wives or pets.” The other full saint beside Xue Huo said in a hurried voice.

“Then why don’t you stay a bit longer brother Xue Huo, allow me to show you a bit of hospitality. But first, let me kill this b.a.s.t.a.r.d Xue Huo!” Zhang said as dozens of bolts of lightning crackled through the air.

“Tsk…” Xue Huo clicked his tongue as he cut apart a few of the bolts of lightning while evading the rest then waving his hand and creating dozens of blades of wind that cut through the air and headed toward Zhang.

“d.a.m.n…” Zhang cursed as he tried his best to evade the razor sharp blades of wind. Despite his attempts to evade, the sleeve of Zhang’s robe was shredded while dozens of cuts were left on his body leaving streaks of blood. Much to Zhang’s discomfort a large gash was left on the side of his stomach but due to the nature of the situation, he did not stop his pursuit and continued to charge toward Xue Huo.

“Peng Yu stop watching and help me!” Xue Huo yelled to the other full saint as Zhang closed in on him with fiery eyes.

“You’re on your own! As long as we are in this barrier we are at a disadvantage against him!” The full saint named Peng Yu retorted unhappily.

“You think you can leave the barrier but you forget that this fortress can move.” Zhang inwardly laughed as he made the Sky Fortress move moments before his two opponents made it out.