As Mesa and Xia Qingyue walked away from the carnage where Mesa destroyed the Burning Heaven Clan and Heavenly Spear Thunderfire Sect groups just earlier, another scene played itself out at the same time. This one many, many miles away in a snowy forest. Here, the Mesa clone whose job it was to lure out the Xiao Sect and take them out, was walking through the snowy forest. When all of a sudden, a person walks from behind a tree that was 10 feet away and stops in Mesa"s path. This person turned out to be Xiao Kuangyu. Hearing rustling sounds all around him, Mesa looks around and sees that he is surrounded on all sides. On his left was Xiao Sect Elder Xiao Wuji. On his right was another Xiao Sect Elder, Xiao Yuyuan. And behind him was the last Xiao Sect Elder, Xiao Yuetian. And next to him were the three tournament partic.i.p.ants of the Xiao Sect, Xiao Kuanglei, Xiao Zhen and Xiao Nan. Not the least bit intimidated by their presence and the fact that they"ve surrounded him, Mesa just calmly speaks with them: "So, how can I help you?"
"Mesa Uchiha! Hand over the Booster Gear and the rest of your treasures! If you hurry up and surrender the Boosted Gear and the rest of your treasures to us right now, we can let you die a happy death or prepare yourself to feel the pain of a thousand blades in your heart." Said Xiao Yuetian threateningly as he and the rest of the Xiao Sect closed in on Mesa.
"If you want it, then you"ll have to take it!" Said Mesa as he turned around and looked Xiao Yuetian in the eyes: "But you already knew that."
"Fine than! A painful death it is!" Bellowed out Xiao Yuetian as he snapped his fingers. Immediately after, Xiao Kuangyu surrounded himself in green colored Profound Energy, shaped like an eagle and rushed over to Mesa.
Mesa, still looking at Xiao Yuetian, balled his right hand into a fist and made it black with Haki. Just as Xiao Kuangyu had reached Mesa, Mesa suddenly turns around and punches him straight into the snow covered ground, knocking him out cold.
Everyone watching was stunned silent. They believed that Mesa had crippled himself and couldn"t fight back. They believed that he only defied them because he wouldn"t willingly submit to them. And they believed that no matter what, they would get what they wanted. But now, out of nowhere, Mesa knocks out Xiao Kuangyu with one punch. Looking at him, Mesa stands back up and looks at them, with the same empty gaze he had since the beginning and speaks up: "Fine than. Death it is."
Putting his hands together into the "Snake" hand seal, Mesa uses his next technique to defeat them all.
WOOD STYLE: DEEP FOREST EMERGENCE
And out of the ground all around them, roots start sprouting out of the ground all around them and start attacking. Everyone was freaking out at the roots sprouting out of the ground and desperately tried to cut them. But every time they cut one root, two others would come in their place.
"WHAT IS THIS?! WHERE DID THESE ROOTS COME FROM?!"
"HE CONTROLS THE ROOTS! AAGHR!! GET AWAY FROM ME!"
"SOMEONE HELP ME!! HELP!"
Try as they might, the roots eventually overtook every one of them and to make matters even worse. The roots were also absorbing their Profound Energy, ensuring that every time they cut one of the roots that entangled them, they would use up their Profound Energy and lose some. And just after they cut one root, two others would come into its place.
Eventually, all six of them were completely entangled in roots and where held upright. The roots were coiled around their hands, elbows, shoulders, torsos, legs and their necks. And bit by bit, the roots started to squeeze tighter and tighter. Every time they exhaled, the roots would squeeze just a little tighter. In the end, the roots squeezed so hard, that they were unable inhale and suffocated to death right there.
A minute later, Xiao Kuangyu awakened and was horrified to see his entire group had been entangled in roots and strangled to death. Looking around, he saw Mesa sitting on a fallen tree trunk a few feet away. Right after Mesa saw him, he used Kotoamatsukami on him to alter his memories and erase the fact that he was the one responsible for their demise, in order to make sure that there was no ha.s.sle with that anymore.
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Meanwhile
Mesa and Xia Qingyue were walking across the vast icy plains at a leisurely pace. To Mesa, the cold didn"t affect him since he had the Phoenix Flames to keep him warm. And since Xia Qingyue practiced the Frozen Cloud Arts, the cold had little to no effect on her as well.
As they were walking, Mesa told a story about his "master".
"So, I am sure you have like a ton of questions about everything you saw. So ask away." Said Mesa.
Xia Qingyue stayed silent for a while, probably because she had a thousand questions going through her mind. And after a while, she finally managed to find the question she wanted to ask: "Who are you and where did you get all those treasures?"
"The name is Mesa Uchiha. And the question regarding the origins of those treasures. Let me tell you the tale of my master." Said Mesa as he started telling the tale of the "master" who gave him Mjolnir.
"It started back at the Hidden Leaf Village. One day I was out on a walk in the forests when I found a grey bearded old man lying there on the ground in a brown hooded cloak. This man was dehydrated, starving and near death. So I helped him out and nursed him back to health. This man was so thankful that he said he would repay me with everything he had, if only I could pa.s.s his trial." Said Mesa. Listening to his story thus far, Xia Qingyue had a look on her face that said she was really doubting his story.
"Yes, I know what you"re thinking. It sounds like complete BS. Believe me I know, but this is how it happened. And when that old man told me he would give me everything he had, if only I could pa.s.s his trial. I was thinking: "This old man is probably still delirious from being dehydrated." So, at that moment I wanted to quickly get this weird old man out of my house. But the next thing I knew, he opened this weird golden portal next to him and out of it came this hammer." Said Mesa to Xia Qingyue"s shock and she muttered.
"Mjolnir."
"Yes, Mjolnir came out of that golden portal, but back then I didn"t know it yet. The old man said that he would give me everything he had, only if I could pick up his hammer. At that point I asked him who he was and his answer was: "Someone who has been on the path for a very long time in search for a successor". I suggest you get used to it, because he kept speaking in this weird cryptic way and never making a lick of sense. But anyways, where was I? Oh right, the hammer. So he had dropped Mjolnir out of a golden portal and told me to try and pick it up. So I did, thinking that if I fulfilled this old man"s weird request, he would leave and I would go back to my normal life. So I placed my hand on Mjolnir"s handle and I picked it up. This old man started laughing like crazy, saying that he finally found his successor over and over again. So that is when he started telling me more about himself. And apparently, this weird old man was very, very old and he was searching for someone to inherit his legacy for a very, very long time. He told me that he had been to many, many, many places searching for the one who was worthy of his legacy, all to no avail. Until I found him. At that point, he had tried literally thousands of people and everyone failed. When he saw me, many, many years had gone by and he was near the end of his life and that he was very close to giving up. So he decided to try and see whether I was the one he was looking for. What that legacy was, he didn"t say. But he told me that it was the greatest legacy one could ever receive and I would know what it was once I ready. But what I do know is that he had been collecting many treasures over the years and he gave those to me and that is what you saw me use earlier." Said Mesa.
Listening so far, Xia Qingyue was silently absorbing everything Mesa said with a look on her face that said everything. She was hanging on to every word Mesa said with bated breath.
"Ok, so you don"t know what the legacy is yet in its entirety. But why are you suddenly so much stronger now than during the tournament?" Asked Xia Qingyue curiously.
"To be honest, I was always this strong. It"s just that I have an ability to regulate my level of strength. Just like this." Said Mesa as he showed Xia Qingyue his ability to regulate his strength level by scaling it downwards and then back to normal.
"But, if you were this strong from the beginning. Why did you pretend that you were weaker? And why did you go so far during our match? I honestly believed that it was my fault that you got injured so much." Said Xia Qingyue with a hint of sadness in her voice.
"I am really sorry about that. But there was a good reason why I did it. At first, I"ve limited my strength in order to make this tournament more enjoyable for myself, because everyone would have given up if I showed my real strength. But after I"ve started showing off my powers and treasures, I"ve started noticing that there were those l.u.s.ting after my treasures, which is obvious if you think about but whatever. So after that, I put a plan into motion to make it look like I had gotten injured during our match in order for them to drop their guard and walk straight into my trap. But in order for that plan to work, I"ve had to keep you and everyone else in the dark about it. And the execution of my plan was what you saw me do earlier." Said Mesa.
"And by the way, I am really grateful to you that you were so worried about me that you followed me to make sure I was ok." Said Mesa as he pulled Xia Qingyue in for a hug.
"I just happened to pa.s.s by." Said Xia Qingyue in an attempt to lie and cover up as she wriggled her way out the hug.
"Yeah, sure, let"s go with that. So, how about we go together and look for some treasures together?" Listening to his offer, Xia Qingyue nodded and they went off together in search for some treasure heading in northern direction.
Walking through the snow covered land together, Mesa and Xia Qingyue were just talking about their respective experiences they"ve had ever since they separated back at Floating Cloud City. Until the Sky Poison Pearl was reacting to something. This could only mean a treasure was nearby. Discreetly following the Sky Poison Pearl, they came upon a lotus flower. But one that was much bigger than a normal lotus flower. This one had a diameter of five-foot blooming and with a light blue color. Everything around them was covered in snow, but not this lotus flower. Looking at this lotus flower, Xia Qingyue was stunned and shocked, because in front of them was one the legendary treasures that could be found in the Heaven Secret Basin Realm: The Emperor Awakening Heart Lotus.
After some time, Xia Qingyue managed to say something, but listening to the tone of her voice, it was evident she was still shocked: "I heard my Master say that after consuming the "Emperor Awakening Heart Lotus", it could make someone without any profound strength step into the Earth Profound Realm in a day"s time. With my current strength, if I were to consume the "Emperor Awakening Heart Lotus", I could step into the Sky Profound Realm with a single step. Furthermore, the power hidden inside "Emperor Awakening Heart Lotus" is extremely gentle and wouldn"t cause the person who consumed it to become injured. But to think that we found one for real"
"So then, guess we found an amazing treasure for you." Said Mesa as he bent down to pick up the Emperor Awakening Heart Lotus. But just as he had picked it off the ground, he suddenly froze. It was not just him, but everything around him had stopped moving, like time itself was frozen.
"What the h.e.l.l is happening?! This couldn"t have been Jasmine using the Age Seal, or else I couldn"t have noticed it! But why is everything frozen in time, but not my mind?!" Thought Mesa to himself, panicked at what was happening right now. That was until the sounds of a siren went off in his head followed shortly after by JARVIS" voice
NEE-NAW!!
NEE-NAW!!
NEE-NAW!!
NEE-NAW!!
EMERGENCY QUEST INCOMING!
EMERGENCY QUEST INCOMING!
EMERGENCY QUEST INCOMING!
["SIR, WE HAVE AN EMERGENCY QUEST INCOMING!]