The elders were startled, some even growing enraged as a middle-aged woman with a beauty mark on her lower lip exclaimed with killing intent, "You dare defy the orders of the sect?! You dare threaten us?! Treasonous spawn!" Her words fueled the anger in the hearts of the other grand elders, igniting their fury.
They were renowned Mortal Gods, their names and status far-reaching and extraordinary. Moreover, this was their sect, their homeground! To be threatened so directly, how could they be cowed?!
Even if Wei Wuyin made a recent breakthrough into the Sublime Qi Phase, he did not have the qualifications just yet to say those words! They immediately started lunging all sorts of accusations, arguments, and justifications that leaned on Wei Wuyin's immediate execution.
"Enough sophistry to justify your ill intent. We all know these are minor excuses. I've long since decided to no longer be a part of the Scarlet Solaris Sect. If you wish to treat me as an enemy, then come. If one tries to take my life, then one will die. If two try, two will die." Wei Wuyin said calmly.
The coldness of his gaze and lack of emotion in his tone caused the grand elders' hearts to tremble. Too brazen!
"Laughable!" A man stepped forward. He was older looking than others, with bronze skin, and a thin frame. His eye sockets looked compressed inward, giving one a ghastly feeling. Those black eyes contained powerful vitality and countless images.
Signs of a Mortal God!
His title of renown was the Black Sea Ghost. His name was Shu Gui. Wei Wuyin recalled that he was the ancestor of Shu Yang and Shu Yin. His status and legacy was well-known and highly-regarded.
"Die!" He punched at Wei Wuyin from a distance. A black wave of water qi formed that surged forth like a grand tsunami attempting to swallow the earth. It sped towards Wei Wuyin with the intent to crush and kill. Wei Wuyin saw the inherent water energies within, but also a unique essence.
A low-level water essence called the Black Water Essence. It was thicker and denser than normal water, often used to crush its opponents completely beneath its dense and endless waves.
Wei Wuyin coldly smiled. He stood there without any protection, allowing the black wave to smash against his body, swallowing his figure entirely.
Bam!
A resounding quaking vibration erupted as the wave collapsed atop his body. The water flooded the immediate area for up to three meters in a three hundred meter range. Wei Wuyin's body couldn't even be seen due to the black color.
"Haha! You're still just a child!" Shu Gui coldly spat, his eyes filled with triumph. He was a revered Sixth Phase expert, a Mortal God who've trained for hundreds of years. What could a child like Wei Wuyin amount to in front of him?
"Really?" The black waters began to part as a figure breached its surface and slowly rose. Wei Wuyin walked out of the flood, his clothes not even drenched as he stepped upwards on water as if he was walking on stairs. He arrived above the water qi's surface and had a mocking look on his face, a sneer on his lips.
"Walking on Water Qi Art!" The short, middle-aged man exclaimed as he witnessed Wei Wuyin walk out of the water unharmed. The art of water walking was an advanced application of water qi that required an extreme degree of control.
Even many of the grand elders here couldn't do it.
It was an expression of talent and control one had with qi. Suddenly, many of the grand elders adopted wary expressions. Not only had Wei Wuyin survived an assault from a Mortal God unharmed, but he displayed astounding talent.
"Enough! I'll show you true power!" Shu Gui shouted angrily, withdrawing his weapon. An aquamarine spear appeared. He grasped it with both hands, his body erupting with black water qi, and he shot forward with an exquisite and practiced movement art. It was as if he was flowing water as he approached.
Wei Wuyin didn't bother to strike. Instead, he stood atop the water with an expression of mocking and utter ease.
Shu Gui lanced forward with his spear. A surge of black water qi exited his meridians and entered the air, creating a manifestation of a spear several times larger than his own. It, like a missile, shot towards Wei Wuyin's heart with the intent to puncture and pierce through his entirety.
Wei Wuyin placed his hands behind his back and calmly allowed the spear to collide with his chest.
Boom!
An explosion of qi produced hundreds of gallons of water. This directly increased the water levels by several meters. However, Shu Gui didn't stop here. With a harsh grunt, he flashed and moved to Wei Wuyin's back, his spear pointing towards his spine as he engaged in close combat tactics, actually stabbing his spear forward.
The spear glowed a faint aquamarine light and its tip struck Wei Wuyin's spine. A wave of explosive force was generated, sending all the nearby water away.
"What?!" Shu Gui exclaimed as he realized his spear had struck Wei Wuyin's spinal cord but couldn't penetrate a single millimeter forward. There was a soft indent from his back and the spear, but no skin was pierced – not even the clothes were pierced. It was as if he had poked Wei Wuyin with his finger.
"Are you done?" Wei Wuyin casually asked, yawning as he turned his head to give Shu Gui a side-eye glance filled with boredom and indifference. He seemed to completely disregard Shu Gui.
This level of attack was completely incapable of harming Wei Wuyin, let alone pierce into his flesh and bone.
Shu Gui's expression changed as he became angry to the limit, his blood boiled. To be looked down upon by someone not even a fifth of his age was humiliating. He refused to accept it.
He retracted his spear, retreated a considerable distance, and plunged the spear into the water. He removed his grip from the spear, but it remained perfectly upright within the water, nor did it sink.
"Let's see if you can remain smug with this!" He started to rapidly execute double-handed seals. Handseals were an expression of focus and support. While not necessary for all qi arts, it helped lessen the mental burden of qi control and quicken the execution.
The handseal itself was a communication method, a way to communicate with your spirit to perform a set of circulation tactics without delay. They were called Communion of Spirit & Qi.
Outside of raw arts, manifestations such as a simplistic wave of water or shaping a spear, these were mostly required. However, double-handed seals were the initiation of an overly complex, powerful art that often exceeded one's degree of control.
Wei Wuyin's eyes narrowed, but he maintained his mocking expression. He wanted to see how he would fare against a true, bonafide qi art.
Elemental Water Art: Black King's Eye of Death!
Zsst!
The water that Wei Wuyin stood upon started to seethe and bubble like it was boiling. He looked downwards and realized a tremendous amount of qi was being funneled from Shu Gui into the platform of water he created.
Pussstt!!
The water beneath his feet exploded upwards like a raging fountain. It started to rise in the air, creating a circular space deprived of water where Wei Wuyin stood. In an incredibly swift fashion, walls of black water formed on all sides of him while his feet had touched the actual ground.
"Die!" Shu Gui bellowed, continuing to perform handseals. The water started to rumble and rapidly shift in a clockwise rotation. Soon, a black whirlpool was birthed, rapidly circulating and rising up about thirty meters.
Wei Wuyin remained at the center, his eyes sweeping around as he analyzed the art used. This was an entrapping art, and while it took time to describe, the wall and forming of the whirlpool took a blink of an eye. The moment Shu Gui executed the art, escaping would've been difficult for any ordinary Mortal God. It required quite a bit of preparation, however.
"That's it?" If it was just a trapping art, he felt it wasn't anything special. That was until he looked upwards. A large spherical object formed above. It was over a hundred meters in size, causing it to block out a considerable amount of sunlight.
"Is thi-"
Woosh!
As he was about to say something, the spherical ball structured from black water qi dropped like a meteor to earth. Its weight was far greater than he could imagine water could be. This was the key aspect of Black Water Qi!
Booooooom!!!
It smashed on Wei Wuyin's body without mercy, inducing an explosive sound of cataclysmic proportions. The world temporarily became flooded with black water!
Soon, everything ended with only a calm flood of black water remaining.
Shu Gui sent his spiritual sense into the black water and felt no lifeforce. Wei Wuyin must've been crushed into nothing! He chuckled in relief, satisfied with his power. How embarrassing would it have been to be outclassed by a junior a fifth his age?
"I ask again, are you done?" A voice that, to Shu Gui, was like death itself, caused his body to shiver and his eyes to become full moons. Worst of all, the sound was right next to his ears!
A sensation of deadly crisis emerged in Shu Gui's heart. He immediately grabbed his spear, and retreated to distance from Wei Wuyin. His thoughts were chaotic as a single word entered his mind: "Impossible!"
An abrupt thought of regret emerged in his mind, causing his grip to loosen on his spear, and his mind to be filled with thoughts of retreat. That attack was his strongest qi art.
It did shit all!
He suddenly recalled something: he wasn't alone!
"Everyone, we ca-"
Shiing!
Shu Gui heard a sound, similar to a blade being unsheathed, and he felt ten times lighter. His eyes focused on Wei Wuyin who's back was facing him. That back slowly slid to the side, more and more until he saw the world turn upside down.
He soon saw his body which had fallen to its knees, blood spewing out like an endless geyser, dyeing the water qi a dark crimson.
"Why is my body there?" Was his last thoughts.
The world suddenly grew darker and everything ceased.
Plop!
"…" A wave of silence was birthed as Shu Gui's decapitated head entered his personal flood of water dyeing it. Its blackness made it incapable of seeing where he was.
"You're done, " Wei Wuyin softly stated. "One tried, one died. Who's next?" Wei Wuyin's eyes were like the reaper of death, cold and without a hint of emotion.
