"Don't do anything stupid. Your family already has enough to mourn today." Said Daniel while casually placing his hand on the man's shoulder.
The leader of the Egregious Mercantile Ethics was too enraged to listen to reason, so the moment he felt the power that was emanated by Daniel's body, he sent a powerful backhand punch that landed perfectly on Daniel's face, blowing his head to bits.
As Daniel's body fell limp on the ground, Leader Stein turned to look back at the old man Golden Cauldron and his son with the highest degree of rage. His march towards the two, however, was interrupted by a voice that came from the ground next to him, where Daniel's whole body was slowly lifting itself up to a standing position.
"I will let this slide.. Once." He said.
The only thought that was able to form in Leader Stein's mind, was that a lesser cultivator was trying to stop him, in his home, a place where he had full control, from killing the people connected to those who had killed his grandson. To him, it did not matter if their motive was just or not, or even if there was a reason altogether. He just wanted to kill them.
The moment Daniel stood up straight, he felt the powerful hands of Leader Stein wrap over his head, and cover his forehead and eyes. The grip was supported by all of the power that a cultivator at a level of cultivation slightly higher than Daniel possessed, as the objective of the enraged man was to slowly feel Daniel's skull crack within his fingers.
Instead of fighting back, Daniel lowered his shoulders in disappointment, and slowly wrapped his hand around the man's forearm without a single hint of urgency.
A few soft cracks were heard coming from within the man's fingers, which were accompanied by the bright white light of healing essence which constantly healed the fractures on Daniel's cranium whenever one would form. However, before long, the cracking noises turned into the grim sound of ripping flash.
What left the observing cultivators on edge, was the fact that the sounds of ripping flesh were not coming from Daniel's head, but from Leader Stein's forearm.
Blood started dripping from within Daniel's fingers, until finally, moments later, the chunk of flesh and bone which he was gripping on, exploded into a mist of blood with occasional chunks of flesh mixed in it.
This amount of damage was enough to awake Leader Stein from his crazed state, and react with haste as Daniel's other hand moved in, trying to grab his throat.
With a swift slashing motion of his remaining hand, he was able to rip Daniel's arm almost completely, however, he had also made himself vulnerable to his remaining hand, which instantly grabbed the arm he had just swung, and blew it to bits with a gentle, yet firm grip.
The power that had damaged his arms to such a state was neiher raw strength, or power obtained throuh the enhancing effects of immortal essence, but a power that had prevented his strong cultivation from offering any resistance to whatever it was that had grabbed every bit of his flesh at the same time, and ripped it to pieces.
In a fit of panic, Leader Stein immediately tried to teleport to safety. Unfortunately, the space on which he was floating had suddenly started to behave in an extremely odd way. No matter how much he tried, he could not manage to force his immortal essence into forming a path from point A to point B. The very essence of space that surrounded him felt like jelly, and made his essence, which usually would move as straight as a sword, behave like something more alike to a singular boiled noodle.
The moment he felt Daniel's fingers wrap around his neck, the man realized he had offended someone he should not have.
"I thought you were not coming here to cause trouble." Said a voice that came from outside of the planet's atmosphere.
When Daniel looked towards the direction from which the voice had come from, he immediately noticed the familiar barrage of ships, along with the floating six figures he had encountered when he had entered the ring of commerce.
"I didn't, but he tried to kill my friends." Responded Daniel. He had immediately recognized the voice of the man who had just spoken. It was the man in black armor and demonic mask, who commanded the ship-shaped pocket dimension which was inhabited by a large number of cultivators at various phases of high immortality.
"Your friends killed his grandson." Stated the man in black armor, almost as in an attempt to even things out between the two, and prevent things from escalating any further.
"He killed me." Relaunched Daniel with a serious expression.
"And you blew both of his arms off." Retorted the man in black armor with a matter-of-fact tone.
"You can have both of my arms if I die once and for all." Responded Daniel before turning to look back at Leader Stein. Then, without waiting for a response, he modified the composition of the space inside his grip, and turned it into an unstable patch of space, which paired with Daniel's power, was able to rip the pieces of flesh, bone, and skin that formed the man's neck.
Moments later, his head was making its way through the unstable space down to the ground.
"You shouldn't have done that." said the scarred old man in silver armor as he and the other five unsheathed their weapons. "I don't care that you are a chosen of Iewah. You went too far." He then added as tens of thousands of cultivators began to float out of the ordered fleet of ships.
Daniel slowly turned to look back at the figures of these six cultivators. Each of them with a cultivation that surpassed his by at least twenty phases, but without a hint of fear in his eyes.
"You are not going to ruin my reunion with my friends, and I have no problem with the lot of you. So I will give you a chance like I gave it to him.. One." Said Daniel as his eyes narrowed just enough to let out a thin layer of golden light, before adding with dead seriousness, "I am a different kind of enemy.."
"And what kind of enemy is that?" Responded the man in black armor and demonic helmet.
"The kind historians will forever admonish you for provoking." Responded Daniel as a familiar rock appeared inside his bloody palm, and began to float around his body. He then watched in silence as these six powerful cultivators decided whether to attack, or not.
Feeling the presence of the system's protectors, each of the leading figures of the conglomerates of the Ring of Commerce gave up paying attention on the One Above All, and immediately teleported in the area where Daniel was about to face these cultivators. Their intentions, however, were not to spectate.
Before Daniel entered the system, if a battle broke out, there would not have been any collateral damage. After all, even the fallout of a fight between cultivators at the hundredth phase of high immortality were not able to travel through millions of kilometers of space. But now, they were in the main planet of the system, and each serious blow could possibly destroy the entire planet.
If that was not enough, a fight against one of Iewah's children was never a good idea, as their infamous ability to escape death was known throughout the entire universe.
Unsure whether to proceed or not, the six cultivators turned to look at the conglomerate leaders in waiting for their orders, but before they could order them to stand down, a horizontal slit opened in the space next to the massive illusion, appeared.
Before long, the space under this slit was rolled down like a papyrus, revealing a door sized entrance to a world of golden light. Soon after, from the other side of this portal, walked out a well behaved man with traditional grey clothes, and a long grey salt and pepper beard, followed by ten cultivators at the peak stage of immortality. Each one of them was under fifty years of age, and if allowed to, they could have easily participated in the One Above All.
As soon as he walked out, the man ignored the presence of the most powerful merchants within the universal government and the powerful mercenaries they had hired, and instead focused on Daniel. He then said, "Brother, you are not the only one of us that has sent some of their people in this contest. Why not stop causing trouble, so that we can enjoy the show?"
The word 'brother' was all the others needed to recognize this man as one of the very few children of Iewah that could effectively control their instinct to fight. A warrior that had spent tens of thousands of years focusing on studying, and share his knowledge to the young talents he deemed worthy. A man known as 'The Teacher'.
By now, Daniel had not only shared his body with one of Iewah's children, but also saw many others, so when he saw how calm and polite the Teacher was, he couldn't help but be surprised.
"Would you not rather join them, and have a go at me?" asked Daniel as the edges of his lips curved into a smile.
After listening to Daniel's words, the observing cultivators began to worry. Nothing was worse than a battle amongst two psychopaths, and from what they knew, Daniel was one of them.
In reaction to Daniel's words, the Teacher closed his eyes, and took three deep breaths, almost as if in an attempt to calm himself from jumping at the chance that he had denied himself for so many times in the past. He then opened his eyes, and with a peaceful expression, said, "Only if you cause trouble."
"That is not up to me, brother." Responded Daniel as his eyes moved from the Teacher, to the observing merchants.
Daniel's intention was to avoid a fight, after all, the planet was filled with innocent people. Unfortunately, he also knew that he would not get out of it by asking. He needed to act the part of the one who would not care about collateral damage, and make it clear that the fallout of challenging him, was more than they were willing to pay for.
The arrival of the Teacher had been a great support to his cause, as nobody wanted two of Iewah's children to fight in the base of their operation, and homes.
Luckily, a few of the conglomerate and company leaders were smart enough to understand this, and as soon as Daniel gave them a chance, one of the two who had spectated to the entire scene, took the initiative to say, "Gen attacked first. He had no reason to want them dead, and tried to kill him as well. He went overboard despite being given a chance to stop. The Outcast acted appropriately."
"I agree, we should be enjoying the event instead." Added Dehlila's granfather, followed by the rest of the leaders, who had only now caught up on the entire situation.
The protectors of Cato's system were mercenaries, and even if one of their employers had died, as long as the others did not order them to avenge him, they would not be bothered. So instead of insisting, the scarred old man made a sign to the army that had formed in the space behind his back, which immediately reacted by boarding the ship.
"Maybe after the One Above All, you could come and see us." Said the man in black armor and demonic helmet menacingly, before disappearing with the other five, and the fleet of spaceships. One by one, the conglomerate leaders followed suit, and went back to spectating the competition.
"Your growth is impressive, but you are far from being the strongest here. Be glad I was the first one who came.. So long." Said the Teacher before walking back into the door like portal along with his students, which closed right after.
