Chapter 12: Earth Fight

Zhing Yin continued to stare down at the smirking man in front of him. Around him, his men and the other bandits were engaged in heated battles, leaving the two Earth users to face each other.

Zhing Yin raised his hand and above his hand, rocks began coalescing into a small boulder. “This is your last chance,” Zhing Yin said as the boulder grew larger, half the height of a man and even thicker, “return the young master and I will spare you and your men.”

“Hmpf, like I’d fall for such a bluff,” the other man said.

“Earth Boulder!” Zhing Yin threw the boulder at the bandit.

The bandit crouched onto the ground, “Earth Wall!” A wall of earth rose from the ground, colliding with the boulder. A web of cracks grew on the wall from the point of impact.

Zhing Yin watched in disappointment as his attack failed to penetrate the barrier. The ground before him opened up and the bandit came out, with his thin bladed sword ready to strike. Zhing Yin leapt back, avoiding getting his head cut off but his forearm was slashed.

He grimaced as he leapt back a few more times. He thrust his hand out and called forth a bunch of Earth Pikes that stabbed either way. The bandit leapt high into the air to avoid being impaled by the pikes.

The bandit coaxed the earth into forming a ramp which he safely slid down onto the ground on. He too thrust his hands out and earth pikes shot from the ground, one after the other.

Zhing Yin kept jumping around as he avoided the earthen pikes that kept trying to impale him. While dodging, he looked toward where the bandit was and saw that he had disappeared.

He’s tunnelling! Zhing Yin realised. A moment later, the bandit exited from the ground, stabbing his sword toward Zhing Yin. Zhing Yin tried to block the blade but it was too late as a little of it had entered his abdomen. His hand wrapped around the blade, stopping it from entering him any further. He gritted his teeth as he tried to push the bandit off.

The bandit withdrew his blade and Zhing Yin jumped back to create some distance between them.

Zhing Yin looked at the bleeding hand he used to grab the blade before using it to place pressure on the wound at his side.

“I’m impressed,” Zhing Yin said, “While I thought I was successfully dodging your earth pikes, you were actually leading me to where you wanted me to be so that you could use your sword on me.”

“Well, I don’t actually care whether your impressed with me or not. You are beneath me and my respect.” The bandit bent his neck side to side. “It’s time I end this.”

A hole appeared beneath the bandit and he disappeared below ground.

Zhing Yin looked around frantically before he leapt into the air. He raised his arms over his head and allowed earth to gather there. A boulder many times bigger than the previous one began taking form above him. He hurled it down and it violently smashed into the ground, fragmenting it and also sending dusty debris into the air. Zhing Yin landed on the boulder, breathing heavily. He had little elemental energy left and he knew he had to make it count.

A short distance away from the boulder half embedded into the cracked, the bandit burst out of the ground. He crawled away from the spot on the ground where he had come out. “Bloody bastard,” the bandit said as he got to his feet.

He was heavily bruised and blood was streaming from the corner of his lips. He looked the debris fog and could see the half of the boulder above the ground and his opponent standing on it.

He smirked before he raised his hands. “Earth Pikes!” The bandit screamed. Pikes of earth burst from the ground and stabbed into the boulder, smashing it apart and thickening the debris fog.

The bandit cursed at the decrease of visibility. To his shock, the brown debris fog was sucked in front of him, allowing him to see clearly again and his eyes widened at what he saw… A boulder, which was smaller than the one his enemy had just made but bigger than the initial one, rolled at him through the air.

“Earth Wall!” The bandit summoned a wall of earth.

The boulder hit the wall and continued spinning. A crack appeared in the earthen wall, followed by another and then more cracks began appearing.

What? How is his attack breaking through? The bandit raised his hand, “Earth Pillar!” A pillar of earth rose from the ground behind him. The boulder finally smashed through the wall the same time as the bandit gestured for the floating pillar of stone to lean forward.

The boulder and pillar collided and both broke into pieces. To the bandit’s surprise, when the boulder broke apart, Zhing Yin was revealed to have been inside, spinning along with the momentum of the boulder.

Ki began to swirl around Zhing Yin’s palm. “Savage Strike!” Zhing Yin shouted as he thrust his attack at the bandit.

The bandit crossed his hands before him to try and defend against the attack but he was sent hurling away, while roughly skidding onto the ground.

Zhing Yin breathed heavily as he looked at the bandit. He hoped that the bandit was down for good for he could not perform anymore elemental techniques. To his disappointment, the bandit began to stir before he got onto his feet. However, Zhing Yin could see that he was really hurt as he held his side as blood streamed from his mouth.

Zhing Yin began walking towards the bandit as he allowed his ki to flow through his meridians for his next attack.

The bandit opened a hole in the ground, which he disappeared into the ground.

Zhing Yin waited to see if the bandit would burst out of the ground but after some time, he realised that he had ran away. He gathered whatever men he could and began following the trail into the forest of trees.