Chương 148: Battling Elder Zhou Shentong!

I had to admire Zhou Shentong's composure because here I was having just destroyed his garden, killed all his guards, and walked into his personal sanctum like it was nothing, yet he was looking mildly amused about the situation. Either he was supremely confident in his own abilities, or he was putting on one of the best performances I had ever seen.

"Negotiations?" I replied, keeping my tone light while I studied the room more, "and here I thought we were having a pleasant evening chat." The reception hall was larger than it had looked at first glance, and the high ceilings were supported by wooden pillars that had been carved to look like intertwining vines.

It was a display of Zhou Shentong's wealth, but it might prove useful because through my connection to plant life, I could feel that the carvings weren't purely decorative, they were made from the same type of wood as the roots holding Han Zhongwei up near the ceiling.

"Oh, we can talk," Zhou Shentong smiled but it didn't reach his eyes at all, "in fact, I'm curious about several things, for instance," he made a subtle gesture and the roots tightened around Han Zhongwei's chest, drawing a pained gasp from the man, "how did a supposedly talentless young master develop such interesting abilities?"

I felt Han Renyi's consciousness react to the insult, but I kept us both focused on more important things, the wooden roots suspending his father, and the fact that I could feel their hunger through my connection to them. And like everything else in this world, they were starving for energy and had been for a long time.

"The gardens are impressive," I said, changing the subject while I expanded my awareness through the plant decorations in the room, "though they seem undernourished, having trouble maintaining them?" Zhou Shentong's eyes narrowed because he was probably trying to work out why I was making small talk about his gardening habits while my father hung suspended overhead, but that was fine, I was happy for him to think I was stalling or playing some kind of game.

The truth was, I needed time to understand the network of roots he had created throughout the room.

"A common problem these days," Zhou Shentong replied, playing along with it, "the declining rouqi makes maintaining such luxuries challenging, but that's why consolidation of resources is so important, isn't it?" His expression shifted, "which brings us back to our negotiations." The roots tightened again on Han Renyi's father, and I could feel the man's confusion from where I was standing.

Here was his son apparently come to rescue him and instead of doing anything, he was standing around talking about gardens, but I just needed a little time. There it was. I could feel it now – the complex web of rouqi Zhou Shentong had woven through the roots. It was impressive work given how little energy he had to work with but there was something odd about it too.

"You know," I said taking a step forward, "there's an interesting thing about plants in a low energy environment," another step, "they become selective about their food sources." Zhou Shentong's expression didn't change but his hand tightened on the armrest, he was starting to sense that something was wrong, even if he couldn't identify what it was yet. I took another step and let a tiny trace of qi leak into the nearest root. The root shivered.

Zhou Shentong noticed it and his eyes widened slightly as he tried to push more rouqi in to reassert control, but it was too late because the roots had tasted something different from what they had been surviving on, and they wanted more of it.

"What," Zhou Shentong started rising from his throne with his composure, showing the first real crack, "what are you doing?"

"Providing a better meal option," I said and released more qi into the root network. The effect rippled through the room and roots that had been under Zhou Shentong's control started twisting and turning toward the source of this new richer energy. I could feel their hunger, and how they were after surviving so long on the thin amount of rouqi available to them in this world.

"Stop this!" Zhou Shentong snarled, coming to his feet and pushing more rouqi into the roots to try to keep control, but it wasn't working because the plants had experienced the difference now and there was no going back from that. I didn't bother responding. Instead, I opened myself to everything in the room and let the plants feel the choice between the two energy sources. They made their choice quickly; they threw themselves toward me and abandoned Zhou Shentong's control without any hesitation.

The roots holding Han Renyi's father loosened and lowered him to the ground instead of dropping him, and other roots started waving in my direction. The room's plant life seemed to wake up and respond to the presence of qi for the first time in their existence.

"What is this power?" Zhou Shentong's face was all confusion and rage mixed together, and he kept trying to reassert control by pushing more and more rouqi into techniques, only to watch as the plants ignored him in favor of pressing up against me, which I had to admit was funny to watch.

"This is impossible," Zhou Shentong muttered, staring at his own hands, "the Verdant Binding Art is unmatched in—""Your plants have discovered there's better food available," I said. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. To demonstrate the point, I had some of the smaller roots weave together into a chair shape. Zhou Shentong's face cycled through several interesting expressions before landing on pure fury, "enough of these tricks!"

He formed a series of hand seals and new roots burst out of the ground around him, "let's see how you handle fresh growth!" The new roots shot toward me and the speed was impressive but the moment they got within range of my qi they forgot what they were supposed to be doing and instead started rubbing against my legs enthusiastically.

"I don't," Zhou Shentong stared at his misbehaving plants with horror, "this isn't, they should..."

"They're not defective," I told him while patting one enthusiastic root, "plants will always grow toward the better light, it's just behavior." That seemed to be what broke Zhou Shentong's composure. With a roar of rage, he abandoned his plant techniques and launched himself at me with his palm wrapped in rouqi for a devastating strike.

He probably would have made it too, except his own plants tripped him mid lunge because they had apparently decided that protecting their new source of food was more important than obeying their old master. I had to work to keep the laugh inside, but I didn't waste the opening though. As Zhou Shentong stumbled, I activated Blink Step and channeled energy into the Phantom Strike. My fist connected with his chest in a hit that should have ended everything there. Should have.

Instead, Zhou Shentong managed to get a partial defense up in time. His rouqi hardened his body enough to turn what would have been a fatal strike into merely a devastating one and he went flying backward, crashing through his own throne before hitting the far wall hard enough to crack the stonework.

"Much stronger than Zhang Ruiyang," I noted shaking out my hand. Zhou Shentong pulled himself out of the wreckage of his throne with blood at the corner of his mouth and his eyes blazing, "you dare," he spat, his voice had a thickness to it that suggested a punctured lung, "you dare come into my home, corrupt my plants, and mock my techniques..."

"To be fair," I said, "I didn't corrupt anything, your plants just have good taste." That was not the most diplomatic thing I could have said but I was already moving as he launched himself at me again with his body now wrapped in rouqi. His speed had increased, which told me he had been holding back considerably before this point. This time when the Phantom Strike connected, he was ready for it and his defense was more solid than before.

Even though the impact still sent him sliding backward, he stayed on his feet, and he managed to land a counter strike of his own, his palm catching my shoulder with enough force that I felt the bone crack. That had hurt even with Titan's Crest active, and Zhou Shentong hadn't become a sect elder by accident, his combat experience was showing now because he had already adapted to my fighting style and found ways to counter it in the middle of a fight.

"Impressed?" Zhou Shentong asked, noticing my reaction, "did you think all my power came from formations and techniques, I was breaking bones before your grandfather was born."

"You know what I'm impressed by?" I asked while I started gathering qi, "how you've maintained this compound with so little available energy, the formations, the plants, the guards, it must cost an extraordinary amount of resources." Zhou Shentong's eyes narrowed trying to figure out where I was going with that, "your point?"

"My point is," I smiled, "you should have spent more on structural integrity." Before he could process what that meant, I activated Explosive Seed and scattered dozens of seeds throughout the room, into the walls, the floor, the ceiling, placing each one at structural points I had been mapping out through the conversation. Zhou Shentong's eyes went wide as he understood what was about to happen, "you wouldn't dare, you'll bring the building down!"

"I'm counting on it." I detonated all of them at the same time. The chamber came apart catastrophically and chunks of ceiling started falling as support beams cracked and shattered. The expensive floor tiles buckled and split as the foundation itself became compromised. Zhou Shentong moved to dodge the falling debris with movements that were still impressive despite everything he had taken in this fight, but that was when the roots decided to act.

They wrapped around his legs and arms and held him where he was as the ceiling continued to come down.

"This is madness!" he shouted over the noise, "you'll kill us all! You'll take innocent lives!" We both knew that wasn't true. Azure had already told me before I entered that aside from Zhou Shentong and his hostage, there were a handful of guards left in the building and none of them were close enough to be a problem right now.

The explosions would cover any evidence of qi use which mattered a great deal in a world, where using something like that would cause a person to be hunted down and treated like a lab specimen. Yeah, I couldn't leave Han Renyi exposed to that kind of fate.

"Han Renyi," I said internally, "would you like to do the honors?" I felt his consciousness stir with surprise, "how?"

"Don't worry about the technical details," I said, "I'll handle the control, you just need to make the decision, to will it, to take responsibility for it." I felt the hesitation come from him and the moral uncertainty of someone who had never ended a life before, but then I felt him remember everything, the threats against his family, the fear for his sister, and the sight of his father hanging helpless from the ceiling. With those thoughts at the forefront of his mind, his resolve hardened.

The roots responded to it and tightened their grip. I could feel Han Renyi's intent flowing through them, guided by my knowledge but driven by his own will. Zhou Shentong's eyes went wide as he felt it, as he understood what was happening and felt the intent behind the plants constricting around him.

"Wait," he gasped and the arrogance was gone from his voice, "we can negotiate..." The roots tightened further.

"Please, I can offer..." Tighter.

"Ple—" The sound of cracking bones disappeared into the ongoing collapse of the building around us, but I felt it clearly through the plant connection. I felt the moment Zhou Shentong's ribcage gave way, the instant his spine snapped, and the final surge of rouqi as his body tried to defend itself out of instinct. Then nothing.

The roots pulled his body down into the ground as the last of the ceiling gave way and I Blink Stepped over to Han Renyi's father and grabbed his arm, and another Blink Step took us both clear of the building. We came out just as Zhou Shentong's private chamber finished becoming an expensive pile of rubble.

The sound of the collapse would bring whatever guards remained running, but I wasn't worried about that because without Zhou Shentong and Zhang Ruiyang, they were going to be a lot more focused on securing their own futures than on avenging a dead master.

"Renyi?" Han Zhongwei's voice was a whisper as he stared at me, "is that you?" I felt Han Renyi's consciousness stir and he wasn't sure how to answer that question given the circumstances.

"It's complicated, Father," I said, "but I promise I'll explain everything once we're somewhere safe." He kept staring at me. I could see him trying to process everything he had just witnessed, the control over the plants the strange energy, the casual destruction of a sect elder's private chamber and his life, and I understood what he was feeling. This morning he had left his son as a promising but limited Tier 1 cultivator, but the person standing in front of him now was someone else, something else.