Chapter 168. Terrorist Attacks
The Spirit Realm. Near one of the rifts between worlds. Roku.
"How inconvenient!" I thought irritably as I approached an ancient spirit who was eerily obsessed with widening the rift to another world. And he wasn't alone in his endeavor. The problem was that these rifts were located near settlements of light spirits, and not all of them were deep within territories. Nearly half of them lay on the borders between our lands and areas controlled by the dark spirits.
"Though, in a way, it all fits..." Based on years of statistics, the dark spirits were due to attack within a year or so. It felt like a conspiracy, as all four rifts had become targets for ancient spirits. While they expanded their passages, higher and mid-level spirits slipped through to the other side. Fortunately, the nations had been warned of the attack and had already dispatched additional forces. Still, it was crucial to drive these pests away as soon as possible.
My other bodies were already engaged in battles. Van and Yuki's dominance was unquestionable, but Yo and I would have to rely on life energy. At least there were real opponents to test the techniques passed down by the ancient turtle.
"Someone's clearly overdosed on steroids!" At the edge of the spatial rift, a massive anthropomorphic spirit with incredibly impressive musculature clung to the edges with his huge hands. His face was particularly unsettling, prompting the question: "Which horror game did you escape from?!"
"Ar-r-r-r!" Noticing my arrival, he greeted me with a loud roar and a spray of saliva.
"So, you're one of the newcomers," I nodded to myself. Even as ancient spirits, they lacked a shred of intelligence. Unlike the "old-timers," who could calmly engage in dialogue and devise clever plans even under the influence of dark energy. Moreover, the ranks of the dark forces were increasingly filled with bizarre spirits with twisted elements. According to Van Shi Tong, this happened due to their rapid "mass gain." Each spirit's core was constantly bombarded with the energy of defeated foes, and if done continuously, changes were guaranteed. By the way, he mentioned this in a slightly excited tone—the great owl was always eager for new research subjects...
Before lunging at the monster, ancient armor made of life energy materialized on my body, covering its most vital areas. This defensive technique had been studied for ages by every self-respecting practitioner of life energy. Yes, different villages and settlements had their variations, but they all boiled down to the same principle. Some techniques had "springy" defenses, while others focused on covering the entire body—there were plenty of variations.
Slipping under the spirit's massive muscular arm, my two fingers, pressed together, reached his torso. Upon contact with the monster's aura, a thin beam of life energy shot from my fingertips. A tiny, unnoticed hole appeared on the steroid-enhanced monster's body, but with very noticeable consequences. The green energy's single attack sowed chaos, preventing the spirit from using its full strength. Of course, it wouldn't take long for him to "patch the hole," but who would give him the time?
"Now I'm starting to understand how life energy practitioners survived in their time!" I had just used Technique Number One among life energy cultivators. Cultivators, indeed! At least, that's how the practitioners of that era referred to themselves. I've always known this world wasn't for failed cultivators!
The technique itself resembles the Hyuga Clan's "Gentle Fist." Admittedly, there's already too much Naruto in Avatar. The sequence is as follows: you twist life energy and hold it at your fingertips, releasing the "green beam of death" upon impact. The closer you are to the spirit's body, the greater the damage. Some damage can be dealt from medium range, but it's minimal—life energy, so to speak, loves contact.