The Legend of Min Hong

"This is just a tiny bit of what we could potentially achieve in battle…" black-robed Min Hong added as Min Hong actually thought out loud;

"Fantastic!"

The skeletons who were about to attack Min Hong froze in their steps as they looked towards each other speechlessly with an expression that explicitly read;

"This guy is nuts!"

Whoosh!

Min Hong fleeted towards the skeletons as he picked his first victim which was the same skeleton which just tried to bore a 2-foot-deep hole in Min Hong's head, using only a pair of bony knuckle braces…

Seeing it was being challenged by this intruder, the skeleton bolted towards Min Hong also and when it got they both reached a distance of about 20 feet from themselves, the skeleton jumped into the air and clenched the knuckles of its right feet as it descended with the intention to crush Min Hong into the earth… 

But the moment it jumped into the air, Min Hong blinked in a zigzag manner towards the skeleton which got disoriented seeing two different Min Hong phase in and out of reality from both corners of its eye…

Still disoriented but running out of time, the skeleton decided upon which Min Hong it was going to strike.

Then when they finally collided, the spectating skeletons saw one of Min Hong's images scatter into several motes of light, accompanied by a skeletal arm still wielding a knuckle brace which fell limply onto the ground.

Then Min Hong who didn't even look back to check the outcome of his previous collision, landed right in front of the skeleton carrying the bony [baseball bat-like] weapon…

Then the moment his feet touched the ground, the next thing Min Hong saw was a whitish bone-like weapon gradually magnifying itself in front of his eyes with breakneck speed causing Min Hong to execute his tumbling evasive move which he called the 'Slippery Step'.

Min Hong slid forward the first foot he placed on the floor, causing him to tumble like someone who had unknowingly stepped on a banana peel left on a marble floor.

The ensuing, clumsy and backward fall caused the bony bat to skid past Min Hongs face, and though he wasn't hit, the momentum of the sneak attack still brushed past his skin causing it to redden a bit, as Min Hong grunted slightly in discomfort whilst wondering how much pain he would have felt, if he was actually hit by the bat. 

Never ready to lose any chances, Min Hong placed one hand on the floor as he made some forward moving (due to his attacking momentum) but backward twisting cart wheel stunt (due to his 'slippery step') technique, as he used his free hand to dislodge one of the skeletons legs…

Screech!

The skeleton screamed in agony as the 'soul slayer blades' ensured that the pain wasn't only limited to its physical senses but also its spiritual body.

By the time Min Hong would stand on both feet, he saw a bony sword and staff approaching him from both flanks as the black-robed Daniel King once again took control of his movement, causing Min Hong to snake out one mysterious, but well calculated step, that made him easily evade the staff whilst he used one of his swords to block the incoming bony sword strike… 

The moment, their swords collided, Min Hong's lips slightly arched into a mischievous smirk as he merged the intent behind the [Willow Leaf Palm] technique into the 'Wind Blade' strike of the [Song Of The Wind Spirit] sword art.

He absorbed all the force and momentum from the skeleton's bony sword with his left ninjato, before deflecting the bony sword to the side which caused the skeleton to lose its balance and actually tumble past Min Hong.

Min Hong then added the full power of his physical body cultivation behind the ninjato on his right as he swung it with unadulterated ferocity, swiftly beheading the white skeleton wielding the bony baseball bat, as he slid to one side of the stage, before turning swiftly to face the rest of the skeletons in one fluid motion… 

"Those, just now, were utterly brilliant and condescending evasive moves… where did you learn those from?"

Min Hong mentally asked as black-robed Daniel King responded;

"Those are one of the so-called fake stunts I tried to learn in my first life…"

Though Min Hong couldn't see his face, but Daniel King's level of smugness at this point, was oozing through the tone he used in giving that reply, as Min Hong once again cracked a smile…

But this time, when the remaining skeletons (which were nine complete and two injured) saw this smile, they instantly fear instantly began to seep into their souls as they remembered that, this was the same crazy smile this human child gave earlier before killing one of them and decapitating two others in two complete and awe-inspiring moves…

"Hmm… I smell fear…" Daniel King took a mental deep breath as he alerted Min Hong to the current mental condition of the remaining skeleton.

The moment the opportunity-craving Min Hong heard that statement, He instantly activated his aura which halted any external source of power these skeleton might want to draw from…

Then he also unleashed the 'Imperial Intent' of his 'Dawn Sovereign' bloodline, which when coupled with the fear that had subconsciously seeped into these skeletons souls, caused their battle prowess to drop by one stage, plunging their power output to the 3 Star Nascent Soul level.

This one stage drop, though little, was very telling on Min Hong, as he felt all the pressure he had been put under ever since he began dueling these white versions, reduce significantly… 

"We can do that too?" Black-robed Daniel King who noticed the drop in their enemies commented in surprise as the smile on Min Hong's face widened for a separate reason instead, then he responded smugly;

"I'm not totally useless too, you know…"

He said but was still smiling happily at the black-robed Daniel King addressing him as 'we' instead of 'you' in his earlier statement…

Min Hong confirm there and then, that he would bond better with this alter ego of his during battle than any other situation.

Thus, with a new found motivation to fight and the slight drop in these skeletons battle prowess, Min Hong hungrily pounce on these unfortunate skeletons as he began to make short work of them all… 

Screech!

Croococo!

Several screeches and clicking sounds of bones echoed out through the stage as numerous bony parts of a previously human bodies began to fly all over the place.

Thus, when Min Hong finally stopped to catch his breath, there was only one skeleton left; the sword wielding one, which for some strange reason seemed to be actually using a sword technique…

"Are you thinking what I am thinking?" Min Hong asked mentally and received a likewise response;

"Of course, we share the same brain, remember?" Black-robed Daniel King responded…

"So, what shall we do about this?" he asked once again and just like earlier;

"Let's attack first, I want to confirm something…"

Daniel King replied mentally, causing Min Hong to once again show a gentle smile which to this skeleton looked like the smile the reaper gives before taking one's soul…

Min Hong then flashed over to the sword-wielding skeleton which seemed to summoned every last ounce of courage left before attacking Min Hong, but he was already at a disadvantage battling a twin sword wielding Min Hong, not to talk of one who was being controlled by two separate entities…

Thus, the moment Min Hong reached its position, he easily deflected the sword away as he saw his knee abruptly head for the groin area of the skeleton.

Bang!

Daniel King slammed his knee into the skeleton's groin and for some strange reason, our skeleton-san actually dropped its sword and clutched where his shlong would have been whilst it was still alive as Min Hong could almost swear that he saw the rest of the skeletons cringe sorely… 

"Hmm… No wonder every man cringes, when another man gets hit in the groin…"

Min Hong finally realized the theory Daniel King was trying to confirm as he beheaded the theatrical skeleton with one fluid swing of his sword before storing it into his storage ring…

But as he turned around and was about to leave, the corner of Min Hong's eye caught something that looked like a mote of white light which drifted off the-(well, corpse)- of the skeleton.

He approached the ball of light and when he picked it up, every other skeleton within the realm turned their hungry gazes to Min Hong.

But Min Hong whose skin shrunk in fear of having millions upon millions of dead skeletons land on him, quickly moved towards the spotlight that was shining down from the sky.

But the moment he took the first step, he felt the entire dimension tremble as every single skeleton left began to swarm over to Min Hong and with the way the earth occasionally trembled, Min Hong knew that there was some abominable skeletons still buried deep within this lava.

If he was slightly so unfortunate to actually meet one of them, then he would surely lose this stage and all the effort he had channeled into it would have been for naught.

So, Min Hong increased his speed and as he was about to cover the remaining ten meters to his destination;

Boom!

Roar!

Min Hong heard a loud explosion followed by a roar that could only be made by something, at least as huge as the Mount Everest! Then;

Boom!

Swoosh!

He heard the sound of something breaking the barrier of sound, followed by the cringing song of a homing projectile as he mentally yelled;

"Run!" 

Daniel King didn't even need to understand the situation, as he got the full picture from the way Min Hong interpreted the two sounds he just heard, as a giant skeleton which had actually just thrown a massive spear, clearly over 100-foot-long and most probably as thick as Min Hong himself…

Thus, he channeled every ounce of focus and energy he had into the 'Dao Realm' [Chaotic Shadow Steps], but despite blinking here and there in an erratic manner, Min Hong couldn't shake off the feeling that this incoming spear had already predicted where his final step would land.

It was more like, the attack was inevitable, or signed by destiny, or connected to his soul.

So, eliminating the possibilities of evading that attack from his mind, Min Hong could only pray that he is fast enough to reach the spotlight before the spear made contact.

But, would an attack of such magnitude, which was clearly launched by someone much more powerful than him actually be slower than his own speed?

The answer was a, Capital No!

Then just as expected, the arrow got within an inch of Min Hong in the next blink of an eye, and when everyone including Min Hong himself felt he was going to be – (well… impaled) - by this massive spear, Daniel King who had pushed the [Chaotic Shadow Steps] past its limit felt the space around him begin to ripple and gradually turn liquid…

Next, the space in front of him appeared like a wall of water and without thinking too much about it, he jumped into it and vanished as the massive spear slammed into the ground carving out a 50-feet-deep chasm into the ground…

Blink!

Min Hong appeared right in front of the spotlight slightly disoriented and exasperated at the fact that, the [Chaotic Shadow Steps] technique had just evolved, and in the next moment he vanished from the trial dimension of the fifth level of the 'Pagoda of Ascension'…

When he arrived at the familiar rewards room of the fifth level, Min Hong didn't even bother to look over in the direction of the reward pulpit, as he sat down cross-legged to catch his breath and review the evolution that just occurred with his movement technique…

So after, about ten minutes of settling his chaotic adrenaline rush and his mind, Min Hong mentally asked Daniel King;

"How did that happen?"

"I myself, am not too sure, but as we were fleeing from that spear, I had a feeling that there was more to this technique than we have actually explored, so I tried to confirm if there was an uncharted part of the technique, and luckily for us, there was!"

The pleasant surprise within Daniel King's voice at this point was impossible to mask as he recalled the sensation of threading through space through their own personal strength...

"So, that is what true speed really feels like…"

Min Hong asked himself as he was hit by a sudden bout of enlightenment causing him to shut his eye and descend into deep meditation trying to grasp the mystery behind the power of speed…

Just like that, Min Hong understood for the first time, the reason why enlightenment couldn't be sought after but only wished for…

Putting oneself in life and death situations might make you break boundaries and surpass your limits, but it can never guarantee that one would receive a bout of enlightenment.

Min Hong could now thread through space because the limits of the [Chaotic Shadow Steps] have been exceeded, but what he got an enlightenment on wasn't the movement technique itself but rather a much more mysterious and powerful ability;

SPEED!