Child of Destiny

...

"In a dense forest, the tallest trees are the ones that will be cut down first or swept by the storm. You have to blame yourself for being one," said Flame as the fireballs floating around him started revolving around his body before flying toward Shin with an insane speed.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Shin slightly knitted his brow when he heard those words. He started to get confused about which force sent this mercenary group to come after him. Unfortunately, he did not have enough time to think about it since the fireballs were already heading his way.

With a step forward, he waved his hands in front of him in a circular manner, creating a thick wall of mental energy in front of him. And when he pressed his palms forward, the Mental Energy Wall took a tall-looking hexagonal shield standing in front of him as a huge glowing rune appeared at its center.

'Four Symbol Scripture: Heavenly Black Tortoise – Protection of the Turtle General'

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A successive explosion erupted as the shield came in contact with the flying fireballs. The sturdy shield stood strong as it endured the bombardment of the opposing party. And because of it, none of the fireballs was able to harm Shin.

But at the same time, Shin felt the sudden change in the air. Due to repeated explosions, the air became too hot and gave him some trouble when breathing. The hot temperature was also starting to affect his senses, messing up his Spiritual Sense.

Shin controlled his Mental Energy and created another layer of protection over his skin, minimizing the effects of the surrounding temperature. He also put a screen on the holes of his nose to filter the air that he was breathing.

Swoosh!

It was at that moment when Flame suddenly broke through the cloud of smoke created by the explosions. He appeared beside Shin while ducking forward and throwing a flaming fist for a powerful hook punch.

Despite his senses being slightly distorted by the heat in the air, Shin was still able to sense that attack coming from miles away. His arms quickly move as he tried to block the incoming fist with it.

"Heh!" Flame gave Shin a mocking look when he saw those actions.

Right before Shin could even set up his defensive posture, the strong fire suddenly erupted behind the fist of his opponent, accelerating the speed of the punch greatly.

Bang!

Swoosh!

The blazing fist headed straight to Shin's face with an unstoppable force. Flame was even grinning evilly as he was waiting for the head of his opponent to get blasted by his fist.

Swoosh!

But contrary to his expectation, his blazing fist hit his target and passed through his opponent. And due to his attack missing its mark, he was suddenly thrown into an awkward posture, unable to stop the momentum of his fist.

That was when he realized that the person standing in front of him was nothing but an illusion.

'Four Symbol Scripture: Heavenly Black Tortoise – Illusionary Substitution'

Then a sudden chill run through the spine of Flame as he felt Shin standing behind him and was currently in the middle of throwing a powerful punch.

Shin's fist was glowing with white light as he threw a rotating punch at the exposed back of his opponent. There was even an illusionary image of a tiger standing behind him and pouncing forward as he threw the punch out.

'Four Symbol Scripture: Sacred White Tiger – Fist of Slaughter'

Roar!

The glowing fist drilled the spine of the mercenary as he was sent flying almost immediately, right after the punch was thrown out. The illusionary tiger even opened its mouth and devoured Flame during the process.

Shin had no intention of stopping there as he quickly stomped on the ground and planted his foot on it. A series of cracks suddenly appeared on the surface of the ground before broken pieces of rocks and small boulders were sent up in the air.

Bang!

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Strings of Mental Energy wrapped themselves around those rocks as Shin threw them toward the direction where he sent his opponent flying.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Flame was quickly hit by those rock boulders, unable to protect himself. He was also buried by them as Shin continued to send boulder after boulder without stopping.

But despite having a great advantage, the expression on Shin's face still remained serious. He just used three of his advanced techniques, yet he was already sweating bullets. It was not because he was running out of Mental Energy, but because of his internal injuries getting worse.

Since earlier, he was continuously pouring his Mental Energy into healing his injuries. But since they were caused by his conflicting Internal Qi, the effects of his Mentalism Techniques were fairly limited, especially when most of those injuries were due to his Demonic Qi.

Even though he could heal them to a certain extent, his Mental Energy was still not strong enough to fully heal them since his Demonic Qi was much denser and more powerful compared to it.

And even if letting them heal naturally would give him a good amount of benefits, his current situation forced him to heal them with his Mentalism Techniques.

This was his current problem, fighting an opponent much stronger than him while trying to heal his body was much harder than how it sounded. Shin did not only need to focus his mind in this battle to make sure not to commit any mistakes, but he also had to constantly push himself to the limits despite the current condition of his body.

Boom!

Then an explosion erupted from the pile of rock boulders where Flame was currently buried. And when Shin focused his gaze in that direction, he saw the mercenary was currently covered with his fire element superpowers which seemed to have the form of armor.

"A partial Qi Armament? This is bad. To think that he already reaches that kind of control over his superpowers? I'm in deep trouble now," muttered Shin as the expression on his face turned even darker. "Looks like this guy's position within their group was quite high."

'Qi Armament' was a skill unique to Martial Artists who reached the Void Manifestation Stage of the Ascension Realm. It was a stage where they could create weapons and armor that could aid them in battle using their Natural Force (a higher form of Internal Qi).

At the same time, these Qi Armaments could also enhance their strengths and give them special abilities during a battle.

It was also similar to 'Magic Arms' of a Mentalist in Ruler's Realm. It was a technique that a Mentalist used to create weapons and armor in a battle. Though, Mentalists leaned more on manifesting multiple weapons that could become projectiles when they were fighting.

Those weapons could also be used to form Mentalism Arrays and Formations which could give them more strength during a battle.

But this did not mean that these skills and techniques were only limited to those experts. Some people could imitate them through special means.

Just like people who wielded Superpowers.

Superpowers were said to be a manifestation of an individual's potential, desire, and ambition. It was different from the Bloodline powers of Martial Arts and Mentalists Families with a long history or Divine and Special Bodies of blessed individuals. They had some similarities but come from a different source.

Bloodline power and Special Physiques came from the blood of certain individuals that they inherited from their ancestors while Divine Bodies was a gift from Heaven. People who possessed these kinds of abilities were destined to be great and could become the pillars of their respective families or sects.

On the other hand, Superpowers were things that were awakened by people when their inner desires and state of mind reached a certain level. Even though it sounded so simple, not everyone had the ability to do it.

But if a wield of superpowers could reach a particular stage of mastery over it, they could create various skills and abilities that could rival people who were on higher attainment of martial arts and mentalism than them.

The records of history said that Superpowers were another path for the innate powers that an individual had in them. If it was nurtured properly, then it would grow into a powerful weapon that could aid their growth, but it could also become a blade that could cripple them.

Not all Superpowers were the same; they could also vary based on different wielders. And if the individual relied too much on their superpowers, they would reach a certain bottleneck that they would never be able to break in their entire lives.

And when they reached that point and were unable to overcome those challenges, then the Superpower Wielders would deviate into another path where their superpowers devoured them and became its puppet.

Great Scholars said that Superpowers were a double-edged sword. There were even others who said that it was another side of a coin where its counterpart was called Demonic Abilities. And since it came from an individual's inner desire and ambition, old scholars suspected that it was another form of 'Seed of Hatred'.

This theory was greatly supported by a lot of wise people since the outcome of the wielder who failed to control it was similar to someone who was consumed by their inner demons.

Shin learned about these during his previous training. Professor Plum and Grandmaster Benn had discussed it with him since he had not only a single 'Seed of Hatred' within him. They were studying this subject as they were looking for a way to make him control those demonic powers without losing his mind.

David, his senior brother, also gave him some material about it. Even though, it was not useful to him at the current moment since his 'Seeds of Hatred' was currently sealed alongside his dantian and Uno, the knowledge that he gained from them would still be helpful in this kind of situation.

And right now, he was standing in front of someone who mastered his Superpowers to a certain level. It was a stage where his person's strength was almost comparable to someone who was almost reaching the Void Manifestation Stage.

Even though there was still some distance before this person reached that level of strength, this opponent was still something that Shin could not face in his current state. If he was not careful, then he might lose his life, if not suffering a grievous wound.

...…