Boom!
The assassin's chest exploded, sending a rain of blood that crashed onto the trees behind.
Solaan moved so fast that it caught all of them off guard. By the time he was done with the first assassin, he had already appeared before a second.
Moving on instinct, the second person quickly slashed her knife at the incoming fist. However, right before they collided, Solaan's fist changed its path, leaving an afterimage.
His fist changed to a palm and then he struck the back of the woman's hand, breaking her wrist.
"Argh!" She screamed, but she wasn't helpless.
In a fluid motion, the blade in her broken wrist was caught mid-air, and then she slashed at Solaan once again, but this time, her knife and hand were coated with Qi.
Seeing her reaction, Solaan was prepared to break her other hand when the hairs in his arm flared up.
He couldn't see it, nor could he sense it directly, but he was sure that both the blade and hand he was going for were reinforced.
Is that Qi?
Rather than facing it head-on, he dodged the attack.
How would it compare against Neili?
With that thought in mind, Solaan pointed his index and middle finger out and coated them with Neili. He then struck down on the woman's arm.
As though a hot knife was going through butter, his pointed fingers cut clean through her hand and the Qi that coated her hand.
It was so fast and unexpected that she couldn't properly process the fact that her hand had been cut before Solaan punched the side of her neck.
Killing her.
From the first assassin that he killed to the second one, only a few seconds had passed.
As for the rest, they were stunned.
To them, Solaan was a mortal without any Qi, and yet, here he was, casually killing two cultivators.
The weakest cultivator could take down 100 strong mortals, imagine their shock when they witnessed a mortal deal with two cultivators who were basically in the same realm as them.
Snapping back to reality, they all brought out their weapons.
Appearing out of nowhere.
Solaan was shocked to see this, to the point where his brows shot up.
How did they do that?
Three of the assassins charged at him, wanting to overwhelm Solaan with their numbers, however, he remained calm.
He had already tested what he wanted to test. He was able to gauge the rest after fighting two of them and he could tell that they were more or less on the same level.
They are no different from people at the beginning stage of the First Pulse.
Uninterested in the fight anymore, he sought to end it quickly.
"Worldbreaker:" The moment he uttered this, the seized life force in his heart was drained completely.
It's still too much to try and use this art at this stage.
With that in mind, Solaan didn't cancel his attack, rather, he dampened it down.
"Slice,"
Running his pointed fingers through the air, a formless energy came forth and sliced through eight of them.
The ninth person was lucky enough to be far away and have his sword block the formless energy.
Nonetheless, he was still affected by the attack. His bones broke and he was thrown away.
Both the men and the trees within a radius were sliced in two.
Walking down the path to where the only survivor was, Solaan had a few questions to ask him.
The man was unable to walk as his back was bent in an unusual way.
"You," he managed to say but coughed blood afterwards. "You are no slave."
Solaan looked down at him before squatting. "I never claimed to be."
"Who are you?"
Hearing this question, a smile appeared on his face. "I am Solaan…" but soon it vanished. "Let me ask you a question in turn. How were you guys able to magically make weapons appear?"
The man was taken aback even in his injured state.
Nonetheless, he raised his hand and pointed at the ring. "It's a storage ring." Briefly explaining the use of the ring, Solaan was amazed.
There was nothing like this in the place he came from. He couldn't even fathom the engineering behind the little device.
Solaan continued to ask him questions about the storage ring and only stopped when he saw that the man didn't have much time left.
"You are one of the few who had no plans to kill me, why?"
And indeed it was so. For the man to answer his questions even when he was in this state proved that he meant no harm.
However, Solaan still wouldn't have let him go. He didn't want anyone to know of his strength. If possible, he would like to remain as mortal as he can until he decides otherwise.
"I was sent to escort you to a place. My master wanted to discuss something important with you."
"Who is your master?"
Unfortunately, the man's eyes had started losing their light. He was unable to respond anymore.
With a sigh, Solaan got up.
He was about to leave but then he paused and looked at the rings on the fingers of the people he had killed.
His eyes scanned them for a while, wondering if he should take them.
As someone from a prominent family, he had never resorted to stealing to get what he wanted. There was always enough wealth to take from.
Now, however, he wasn't sure how soon he'd be able to get his hands on one legally. And he was really curious to check them.
"I'll take them with me…" He looked down, embarrassed. "Just for research purposes only."
Soon, Solaan continued his journey with a few items heavier.
Barely 3 minutes had passed from the start to the end.
Using the little of what was left of Neili in his heart, Solaan shot forward like an arrow, covering several meters in just a few seconds.
He didn't want to be close by. Just in case anyone smells blood and decides to investigate. He also made sure to erase as many traces of himself as he moved.