119 Brewing Tensions

A land of yellow mist laid out before Hartley's eyes. The intense heat of the this mud-thick mist sent a swirling heat haze up into the sky giving the optical illusion of the surrounding mountains being a shimmering indistinct mass of green and yellow blotches.

A fifty meter circle around Hartley was cleared of the yellow mist as he stood ram rod straight in the calm eye of the yellow storm, the sphere around his body pulsed blue once in a while as he carefully watched his surroundings with deep concentration etched on his features .

Hartley had no idea where the man was within the golden amber world and he couldn't sense any unusual fluctuations.

With his advanced state of focus active, time around him in this fifty meter diameter was slowed to one tenth of its normal speed, after a long moment of suspense standing in the complete desolation with ash falling to the barren ground around him in super slow motion, a stream of yellow light burst through the mist from his right and headed directly for Hartley. The man had finally made his move.

If not for his advanced state of focus there was no way Hartley would even glimpse the man, his speed was that quick! but with the power of time manipulation on Hartley's side the man was spotted as if he was an egg-sized black spot on a white sheet of canvas, but even so, the man still traversed 40 meters in the blink of an eye.

Hartley reacted barely in time, he stretched out his hand and brought down 200 gs of gravitational down-force onto the stream of light streaking at him, the sheer force of this disruption to the earth's natural laws caused a ball of black energy the size of a basketball to flash out as if a mini black-hole was created, the black-hole was fizzing with lightning-like black energy ruptures buzzing and crackling at its edges.

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The eruption of the black energy made a horrible booming sound that ripped through air, ringing the ears of both men before disappearing into nothingness. The man screamed, Hartley roared and the mountain around them rumbled and shook shedding pieces of its mass as if it was about to collapse into a pile of sand. A flare of yellow light erupted as the man jerked suddenly and was forced downwards.

He slammed into the earth like bomb ten meters away from Hartley, kicking up an explosion of dirt, ash and stones flying everywhere, he left a crater the size of a small pond behind as he pitched and bounced forward three times like a tennis ball. Every time the raining bits of debris hit Hartley's sphere at speeds comparable to bullets, they would be diverted harmlessly away with a blue flash.

The man was carried by his spectacular forward momentum as he slid pass Hartley face down in the earth creating an almighty trench trailing behind him, he came to a complete stop forty meters pass Hartley's position in the blink of an eye.

The yellow mist in the mountain slowly faded away leaving a piece of land that was decimated, no trees were left standing in this area and the ground had a weak reddish-yellow color like suntanned sand.

The ground was decorated with a multitude of cracks and craters spread across it like divot holes on a golf course, the scene was split from east to west by a long trench with the man still laying prone in it. The man's saint domain had been broken as he lost control of the elements in the air but even his broken domain still left a permanent stain of destruction in the forest.

It was like a parched desert had appeared in the middle of the green fertile mountains.

A gust of wind blew overhead and made the grey ash swirl through the air like clusters of swarming flies descending to the earth. Hartley stood with curious eyes glued to the opponent.

The man jumped back to his feet sustaining no significant injuries looking comical and shocked at the same time.

Grey ash and dirt covered his face and his pony-tail was loose, exposing an afro of frizzy white disheveled hair that was tangled with an assortment of debris falling from his hair that stood erect as if he had been electrocuted.

"What?" Hartley involuntarily said aloud with bulging eyes, he was shocked and surprised to see not even a scratch on the man's skin, his body must be made of reinforced steel Hartley thought to himself a bit taken aback, this must be the endurance of a saint. Hartley was sure no one below the saint realm could take that hit unscathed. Hartley steeled himself, this was going to be a hard encounter but he still thought he could protect himself with his trump cards. There was no telling how strong those had become.

The unidentified man growled as he picked up himself from the self-made trench and stared at Hartley with his mouth wide open like a fish gasping for breath on dry land, he used his right palm and tried brushing back his tangled hair in an undignified and flustered manner. His embarrassment was obvious and palpable.

He was looking at Hartley as if he was looking at a rubix cube, he didn't understand what had happened. He was relatively sure that the boy wasn't in the saint realm and was trying to teach him a lesson but the youth could actually exchange blows with him. This left him stunned.

How was the youth even able to see his approach and did this youth have anything to do with the recent phenomenon happening in the mountain?.

All these unanswered questions swirled in his mind but before he could ask them his head snapped to the north.

"We've got company." he said then all the malice on his face disappeared as he smiled and the expression looked genuine, he gave Hartley a formal bow as a marked sign of respect.

"We'll meet again, maybe you are not the weak ant that I first thought." He laughed out looking a bit silly with his messy hair, dirty face and a twisted robe.

"Things are going to be interesting in the capital soon, not as easy as some think its going to be is it young lord of the western hills?"

The man's laugh echoed out around the mountain as he blinked out of existence.

Hartley stood rooted to the spot for a moment surprised that the man knew who he was, then let out a sigh of relief when he felt no danger around, he too soon felt the fluctuations of powerful experts arriving.

Twinkling blue lines swirled around his sphere from bottom to top creating a blue spiral pattern that quickly turned into a vortex of blue particles around his body sending the falling ash scattering away. Hartley then stepped forward and disappeared from the scene of devastation leaving swirling wind and ash behind...

Soon two men popped out of the void and surveyed the destruction. one dressed in black and the other in white.

"What do you think?" the one wearing white asked.

"Saints!" the man in black replied with a bit of surprise.

"Way out here in these back mountains?" the man in white asked a little shocked

"Hmm, there is remnants of a saint domain and evidence of a hard fought battle." They walked around the barren patch in the forest investigating pieces of broken rocks and touching the ground now and again.

"Do you think it has anything to do with that blue light earlier or the lord of the western hills?" asked the man in white.

"I don't know, lets head back and make a report, this is weird, it might affect some of the boss's plans." the man answered after a moment of silence.

The day was stretching toward late evening and the western hills began falling into shadow. Hartley settled down on his cushioned chair in the lounge on the second floor of the manor.

He was greeted with relieved faces after returning to the manor earlier, especially Zhi Ruo who almost looked on the brink of tears when she saw him. There was still enough natural light left in the day to illuminate the large room making the shadows from the window frames stretch gloomily across the furniture.

She took her usual place beside him sharing his chair, Qin Li and Fu Qian sat across from the couple with straight backs and sullen faces, they were obviously nervous about the events of the day deep in the mountain.

Fu Qian had been closer to the strange phenomenon and had experienced first hand the terrible quakes and the blue column of light and he was visibly more nervous. To him the whole thing was like something from ancient folklore.

With a smile Hartley assured them there was no overwhelming danger in the deep mountain and recounted the events of the morning leaving out some bits of information.

"What? There was a saint in the deep mountains?" Zhi Ruo said in a high pitched voice with her eyes wide..

Hartley shook his head to confirm.

Qin Li and Futian looked startled at the mere mention of a legendary saint.

"Was he an enemy or a friend?" Qin Li asked looking no less nervous than Fu Qian at this point.

"I'm not sure, at first he seemed like an enemy but in the end he seemed more like a friend." Hartley's reply did not provide a modicum of comfort for the two sat across from him.

Based on Hartley's interaction with Kang, he didn't think saints would lower themselves to be involved in the petty squabbles between nobles, but one can never be too sure. Hartley thought the man might have just been investigating the events surrounding his breakthrough, but he wouldn't bet money on it.

"Based on what he said, something suspicious is brewing in the capital and we don't want to be caught off-guard by whatever is happening, send a runner to Windsor Peak castle to see if Viscount Sanzu knows what's going on." Hartley instructed Fu Qian.

"Right away." Fu Qian answered, bowed and hustled out of the room in haste.

After dismissing the meeting Hartley kissed Zhi Ruo on her forehead and headed straight to his private cultivation room, leaving strict orders to the serving staff that he wished to not be disturbed in the upcoming days unless it was an emergency of epic proportion.