Chapter 421: Crowning Escalation

"That's him, that's the one!" Kai recognized the man speaking: it was the idiot from the restaurant, hovering just behind the leader of this new group. "You see, he has those women ensorcelled somehow."

"Difficult to believe," the leader said, "but what else could explain it?"

"Are we doing this again?" Omilaena threw up her hands and turned away, which made the cultivators she was ignoring bristle.

"Don't make light of me!' The leader took a step forward and cast his hand to the side, flapping his sleeve dramatically. "I am Kan Jin Kung, heir to the Heavenly River sect! Rank 16, beyond what can be attained by mere mortals! Whoever you are, whatever your methods, I will not allow you to enslave these women!"

Kai blinked, then raised his hands to try to stop a pointless fight. "Alright, this is actually a misunderstanding. I'm not enslaving anyone, I'm here to stop the slavers down there."

Kan Jin Kung glanced briefly toward the caravan, then sneered. "The slave trade may be crude, but it's profitable so long as it stays within its bounds. We-"

"Wait, you know?"

"Of course. This group may be far beneath me, but they're likely a subsidiary of a subsidiary of our sect." Kan Jin Kung thrust out a finger toward him. "But a vulgar man like you, kidnapping and enslaving such exceptional maidens? We cannot allow such beautiful flowers to be trampled into the mud!"

All at once Kai's understanding of the other man flipped on its head. He'd thought of this as a misunderstanding and hadn't wanted to start a fight against an honorable cultivator, but now he understood that this man was just another princeling who considered himself above the entire world. There was no point talking to scum like that.

"I've heard enough." Zae Zin Nim faced the group, fury behind her apparent calm. "You've cast aspersions on our-"

"Whatever is going on, I'll end it soon." Kan Jin Kung dismissed her with a wave of his hand... and then transformed.

Power flooded from him, illuminating the entire jungle. It struck the spirit so forcefully that it tried to push Kai to his knees, and he struggled to resist and stare through it. A sapphire crown had lit up over Kan Jin Kung's head, casting him in the brightest light of all, as if he was a god come to earth.

But Kai had seen real gods, and he'd actually felt worse from the elves on Rosemount. Their soul auras were more all-encompassing, giving a sense that they were superior beings in every way. This was more like a narrow, weaponized version of that effect. Potent, but nothing that he hadn't faced before. Given the power differential, Kai only needed to resist the effect for a second and he could gain the upper hand.

"You resist?" Kan Jin Kung looked shocked for a moment, then drew himself straighter. "How dare you stand before a true immortal? Bow to me, or I will increase your torment tenfold!"

Instead, Kai glanced over to the others to check on how they were doing. Omilaena was trembling in place, maintaining a defensive half-phase to resist the effect - she actually seemed to be having some trouble, so he should shield her if necessary. Zae Zin Nim looked calmer, frozen in place but circulating her qi as if moving toward something.

"I'll bind them," Kan Jin Kung said to his minions, "but they're stronger than I expected, so I need you to act. Go on, I bestow my authority on you. Take the women away from him so we can use more potent attacks."

Before they could move, Kai activated Void Gaze. Instantly the advancing cultivators coughed up blood, the weaker ones falling off their swords and the stronger shuddering in place. Yet for the first time, a cultivator managed to resist the technique: Kan Jin Kung stared back at him, sapphire crown blazing with light that shielded him.

Their eyes seemed locked together, spirits battling directly as they fought for control of the area. Kai felt no physical pain, but the conflict was weakening his soul, and Behemoth's Heart only restored a small amount of spiritual stamina. His greater overall power was giving him the upper hand, and blood soon trickled from the corner of his opponent's mouth, but the man's presence technique gave him so much leverage that he was holding on.

"This... this is some sort of brute crown?" Kan Jin Kung stared at him in horror. "I never imagined that a savage could create such a thing. So that was how you did it... you didn't control their minds, you enslaved their bodies with this carnal power."

"Stop talking about your own fantasies," Omilaena grated out.

"But no matter what has happened to you, rest assured that I will rescue you from this nightmare. A primitive technique cannot possibly stand up to one of the Masterful Crown clan's greatest techniques!"

It was doing just that, and Kai knew that he was gaining the upper hand due to the power differential. But his body felt locked in place, and the guards down in the slaving caravan had definitely noticed. They didn't have high levels of cultivation, but if they starting attacking the ship, they would bring down his footing. Since all he could move was his soul, Kai considered his monstrous essence.

<

Behemoth's Heart - IX (iota)

Thunderbird's Wings - VII (eta)

Direboar's Strength - XIII (nu)

Baleful Breath - V (epsilon)

Tyrant's Claw - XI (iota)

Void Gaze - VI (zeta)

-

Isulfr's Bite - VIII (theta)

Sahagin's Soul - X (kappa)

Mutefang's Stealth - X (kappa)

Manticore's Sting - II (beta)

Lizarkyl's Tail - V (epsilon)

Direurchin's Spikes - V (epsilon)

Wallcrawler's Feet - III (gamma)

Abominalgum - I (alpha)

Rose Piranha - III (gamma)

Cloud Piranha - III (gamma)

Bloodtrap - III (gamma)

Banchlain - V (epsilon)

Slime's Immortality - I (alpha)

Silver Demon - I (alpha)

Direcrab's Claw - III (gamma)

Voidmaw's Bite - I (alpha)

Spine Aura Urchin - I (alpha)

>

So many monsters, but how many of them were useful in this sort of purely spiritual fight? Kai's mind slid down the pieces in his soul until suddenly he saw it... the Banchlain essence. The monster had been a formidable challenge back on Rosemount, but he had never found a way to work it into another ability. Aside from the mysterious essences he hadn't truly deciphered, it was the most presence-like ability he had.

While still staring down his opponent to lock him in place, Kai moved Tyrant's Claw out of his soul and shifted in the unformed Banchlain essence. It wasn't nearly as effective as it could be in refined form, but it still carried raw power. When he activated it, he felt the aura of raw fear rise up around him, mixing with the cultivator's presence.

Several of the cultivators who had remained standing collapsed, trailing blood as they fell into the river. Beneath them, cries of terror rose, and some of the caravan guards who had been preparing attacks coughed up blood.

Only Kan Jin Kung remained, but his eyes went bloodshot and his body trembled. His crown technique gave him enough leverage to resist Kai's strength, but it failed to stop the pure fear piercing his other defenses. He was still staring at Kai, but now he stared in terror.

"This is just a gimmick." Kai had planned to speak calmly, but his voice came out as a deep growl. "You're the only one forcing anyone to obey you."

"This... this can't be..." Kan Jin Kung took a step backward on his flying sword.

"I've heard enough from you." Zae Zin Nim suddenly took a step forward. Her qi was circulating fiercely within her and he realized that it was some sort of counter-measure, the strange sort of combined half-phase that cultivators could use. She wasn't moving easily, but she was the only one able to act in the zone locked between the spiritual techniques.

Blue flames flickered around her and she leapt forward, thrusting out her arm. A Coldfire Palm rushed forward and Kan Jin Kung finally broke: his aura faltered and he shot upward, desperate to escape the palm that nearly eclipsed him.

When the pressure against him disappeared, Kai took an unintentional step forward, as if he'd been pushing against a physical force that had just vanished. He blew a cloud of Baleful Breath above the enemy, intending to block his escape so that Zae Zin Nim could finish him off.

To his surprise, the man's body began to glow, becoming so incandescent that the edges of his robe washed out. He seemed to dissolve into bright light, which shot upward in a stream that passed through the cloud of Baleful Breath. It didn't seem immune, it was just a purely spiritual entity that was untouched by anything in the physical world. In seconds the streak of light had vanished into the sky and all their opponents were gone.

"What was that?" Kai rubbed his eyes, which ached more than he'd realized.

"A higher flight technique." Zae Zin Nim folded her hands in her sleeve, clearly dissatisfied. "The greatest sects have more advanced abilities: some allow easy control in the air, such as the Pureflower sect's, but the fastest look like that. The Brightwind sect has a similar technique, though I wasn't strong enough to learn it."

"No, I mean that crown. Was that one of those presence techniques?"

"Presumably so." She went silent, staring out toward the horizon.

Meanwhile, Omilaena seemed to recover and draped herself against Kai's side. "That was a strong technique. Clearly I need to recover with your 'carnal power' that has me so ensorcelled."

Kai rubbed her back, since he thought there was some real uncertainty underneath the mocking words. "You okay?"

"In the future I can prepare a spiritual injection, but this one caught me flatfooted. I can see why the Heavenly River sect is considered one of the strongest."

"And we'll probably have to face worse, if the 'Masterful Crown' clan name is any indication." Kai groaned as he considered his own counter-measures. He definitely had options, but right now he felt spiritually bruised. All he wanted to do was grab Zae Zin Nim and relax together... and he couldn't do that, because they couldn't forget about the reason they'd done all this. "Let's go check on those slaves."

They descended to the jungle and the caravan, which had stopped in place when the presences began to hit. Burly guards had been pulling the wagons, but most of them had collapsed, mouths covered in bloody foam. The slaves inside the cages were trembling as well - Kai had tried not to harm them, but throwing out untested power like that had side effects.

When Kai landed in front of them, most of the slaves whimpered and retreated to the corners of their cages. He checked he wasn't using Banchlain's Aura, and he wasn't, but it didn't matter: when they saw a man like him, they had every reason to fear. No words of comfort came to mind, especially because he wasn't sure just how far this conflict would spread.

Just when he began to be sick of the whole thing, he saw that one woman was staring directly at him. She had been driven to her knees by the power, but didn't appear injured, and her eyes were clear. It wasn't defiance... he saw a mix of surprise and... recognition?

"Kai Clanless?" She slowly rose to her feet, and through the grime, rags, and long hair Kai finally recognized her.

"Cragrila?" He hadn't seen her since leaving Krysal. "What are you doing here?"

"It sounds like we both have stories to tell. I doubt yours can be worse than mine."