Child of Destiny

As the katana descended, Shin instantly recognized the danger coming from the evolution puppet. He knew that it was already too late to dodge, so he could only put more strength into his arms, increasing the force accompanying his attack.

The mechanical puppet knew that it was in danger, so it quickly swung its left arm forward, throwing a punch straight into Shin’s abdomen.

Swoosh!

Bang!

Screech!

The speed of the punch was a little too fast as it already arrived at its target within an instant. The metal fist implanted itself on the abdomen of its opponent, creating a loud sound alongside a strong ripple that pushed the air outwards.

Shin had the urge to vomit as he felt that his innards were currently being flipped by the shockwave that was produced upon contact. But he held it back and continued swinging the white katana down as it descended almost at the same time as the punch of the mechanical puppet.

The katana dug deep into the body of the evolution puppet. It created a high-pitched screeching sound of metal and burning sparks that were being thrown in the air as the katana cut through the shoulder of the mechanical puppet and made its way to its chest diagonally.

When the screeching stopped, a sonic boom quickly followed as Shin was suddenly sent flying by the delayed force of the punch.

Boom!

But despite that being the chase, he did not let go of his sword and even held it tightly, making its blade dig deeper into the body of the mechanical puppet and destroying its body even further.

Swoosh!

Shin flew straight to the end of the field, clashing against multiple trees in the process and only stopping when he collided against the wall enclosing the entire field. He left a devastated group behind with fallen tree trunks on the path that he took.

The entire class was attracted by the commission and were forced to pause what they were doing to look. Then they saw the strange puppet standing alone in the distance while maintaining its previous posture, slightly squatting, and extending its arm forward.

Most of the students were furrowing their brows, thinking about what had happened. But the ones who remembered that this mechanical puppet was supposedly fighting Shin could not help but wear a solemn looks on their faces.

Shin’s group quickly dropped what they were doing and started sprinting toward the place where Shin was sent flying.

But someone was much faster than them. Old Man Lin, who was giving orders to the other mechanical puppets and clay golems to fight with the students, already made his move at that moment.

He was a little late because everything happened way too fast. The final exchange between Shin and the evolution puppet only happened for a brief moment, making it impossible for the old man to respond.

He had miscalculated. He had to admit that he underestimated Shin and did not expect that he would be able to push the mechanical puppet into a corner where it found itself in extreme danger and forced it to trigger the emergency protection mode.

That special puppet was designed by the old researchers within the World Research Center, and it was set to be on the same level as peak Ethereal Stage Experts in terms of combat strength. That meant that the ones who could force it to activate its emergency protection mode were Martial Artists or Mentalists that were in similar stages, or even stronger.

This could only mean that whatever Shin did earlier before the emergency feature of the evolution puppet was activated, was on the same level that exceeded its restricted limit.

This was very surprising since Shin’s strength was supposedly restricted by the restriction cuffs that Old Man Lin had given them.

Those restriction cuffs were not only meant to disrupt their energy circulation and help them train but also to make sure that they would not be able to trigger the emergency features of the mechanical puppets.

The academy knew that this batch of students had the ability to improve their strengths and surpass their current limits temporarily through special means, especially with their backgrounds. The old man was already expecting it, which was why he chose those restriction cuffs to avoid any accidents from happening.

But who would have thought that there was a monster within the class who could still emit enough threat to the mechanical puppets, making him be identified as a serious threat and forcing it to activate its emergency protection system?

As Old Man Lin was flying past the evolution puppet, he gave it a sidelong glance, after noticing that it suddenly stopped moving. That was when he noticed the two cuts that it had suffered.

One was quite shallow as it only managed to cut its outer shell, but the other cut was quite serious. That cut was so deep that it made its way from the shoulder of the puppet up to the center of its chest, where its core was located.

The second cut was almost severing the arm of the mechanical puppet.

Old Man Lin could also see the electric sparks from the gap created by that cut, which also revealed the destroyed components within it. There was also a huge crack in its core, which explained why the mechanical puppet suddenly stopped moving.

“That kind destroyed an advanced evolution puppet? He is indeed a monster among monsters,” muttered the Old Man as he continued to head over to where Shin was sent flying.

He was quite worried about what happened to that kid after suffering a direct blow from the evolution puppet that had the physical strength of a peak Ethereal Opening Stage Martial Artist.

But when he arrived at that place, he could not help but halt in his tracks and stood a few meters away from Shin.

What he saw was Shin slightly standing while supporting himself with the white katana. Behind him was the wall that enclosed the entire field, which currently had a huge cobweb crack with a deep crater at the center. Shin must have fallen from that crater earlier.

The young man was currently covered by a violent flame that seemed to be burning him. But at the same time, that flame did not harm him in any way, and head his wounds instead.

At a single glance, Old Man Lin could tell that it was the innate properties of Shin’s mental energy. The old man was surprised that Shin had fully awakened his attribute and even utilized it with great familiarity.

But upon closer inspection, the old man noticed that it was not the full capability of the Mental Energy that Shin possessed. He could sense it was only a part of the real attribute that Shin was supposed to have – it was just a fraction of his real powers.

But that was still not the real reason why Old Man Lin halted. It was because of the other form of energy that managed to leak out due to the cuffs around Shin’s wrists being broken.

The old man squinted his eyes as he looked at the black Qi leaking out from Shin’s body. From what he could see, he could tell that it was Demonic Qi, which had a high density.

Given the current era, everyone was not looking too unfavorably at Demonic Partitioners, unlike the previous eras. That was as long as they followed the rules and maintained their morality.

It was the same for practitioners, who let their inner demons consume them but managed to retain their consciousness. If they did not harm the public and innocent people, then the World Government and the other factions would not bother them.

In the eyes of the people, it was just another unorthodox path in the field of Martial Arts, Mentalism, and Swordsmanship.

Though, it was a completely different case when it came to Evil Practitioners and Unforgiven Ones, who performed hideous deeds. Those two types of practitioners not only cast away everything and stopped being humane.

And given the eerie vibe and dangerous feeling that Old Man Lin was getting from the Demonic Qi that was coming from Shin, the old man was suspecting that it might be a type of power that could make its host lose their minds and turn into a real Demon.

The old man was about to take action when another form of energy came out from Shin’s body. This time, it was a white Qi that could put anyone in a state of serenity – it was his Sacred Qi.

The two Qi intervene with each other, forming a state of absolute balance.

It was at that moment when the blazing flame made from Mental Energy subdued and was retracted within Shin’s body.

Old Man Lin could not help but squint his eyes even further as he sensed a sudden change. He felt that the air and aura surrounding Shin took a massive change. It was as if the young man turned into a whole other person.

The body of the old man suddenly tensed and was about to make his move. He was planning to subdue ‘Shin’ if he suddenly went out of control and entered a berserk state – like a demon. ℴ𝓿ℯ𝓵.𝓬ℴ𝓶

Sensing the intention of Old Man Lin, ‘Shin’ slowly raised his head and looked at the old man with sharp and cold eyes.

Those eyes were completely different from what the old man had remembered. He recalled that Shin was supposed to have grey pupils, but right now, he saw that ‘Shin’ had a pair of purple pupils with slightly slit irises.

Swoosh!

It was at that moment when Old Man Lin finally stopped holding himself back. He disappeared from his current position and instantly reappeared right in front of ‘Shin’. He also extended his and as he was planning to subdue the latter with it.

But when his hand was about to touch the young man, he suddenly stopped himself once again as he stared into the eyes of the latter.

Given his age, achievements, and experience, Old Man Lin had already met countless practitioners who were either possessed by their inner demons, demonized person, or even people who lost their sanity.

The old man could tell that the current Shin was different from those people.

What he saw from those cold, yet unfazed eyes was intelligence that could only be seen from a sane person.

Moreover, the old man could also see strong determination, unbreakable will, and extreme courage despite facing the immense pressure that he had.

Old Man Lin stared at ‘Shin’ confusedly and observe the young man a little more. Then the latter slowly closed his eyes and slightly leaned over but remained standing with the support of the katana.

The old man stayed still for a moment before retracting his extended hand and stroking his goatee. “It seems like this kid is hiding more secrets than what I can imagine.”

……