Avatar - Conquering the Elements-Chapter 153

The Spirit Realm. Some meadow. Yuki-Roku-Wan-Yo.

A week. For a whole week, I've been doing God-knows-what, pretending to be busy with something important. If I weren't sure someone's watching me, I'd have abandoned this whole charade long ago.

It's been a month and a half since I activated my sixth chakra. The first thirty days were spent entirely on understanding my newfound abilities. Almost every day, I discovered something new within myself. My resistance to poisons reached a whole new level, so even Celine and Dria's creations—those plant-loving maniacs who grow monstrous plants capable of producing magical toxins—no longer scare me.

The life energy crystals I grow are no longer tiny. My full reserve can produce a stone the size of a blue jay's egg—about the average size of all crystals in the "Valley of Two Worlds."

The changes only grew over time, as if my body itself limited my enhancements to prevent harm. A day after opening the chakra, my senses started acting strangely. Only later did I realize it was a sort of "calibration" of my new abilities. Now, I'm like a living sensor... To test my limits, I played a game with Jun's pet: who could find an object or person faster. In the end, the pet won, but I simply lacked experience—my nose receptors were overwhelmed by thousands of different scents. Beyond the upgrades, my body just felt cleansed. I think these impurities really mess with our lives.

And here I am, instead of doing something useful, scrubbing the soles of my boots in some random place. There's a good reason for this, and his name is Koh. By now, he should be recovered enough to start hunting me again. I didn't want to wait for his surprise attack, so two weeks ago, I began deliberately luring him out. I even joined an inspection committee overseeing railway construction. But it seems killing just one of my bodies no longer interests him. Too bad, because on the edge of my sensitivity, I could feel his malicious attention, thanks to my improved intuition. Strangely, he's fixated on my Roku body again...

A plan quickly formed in my mind, one with a decent chance of attracting the Face Stealer. Over time, this idea seemed more worthwhile. Even if Koh attacked me in the human world, I couldn't kill him in one strike. And once he sensed danger, he'd flee to the Spirit Realm, where I'd likely never find him. In the Spirit Realm, though, he can't escape me. His energy would be amplified, and in the human world, he'd face certain death. For the plan, I needed Van Shi Tong's magical scrolls—simple props to trick the spirit into thinking preparations were underway. And one "accidentally" overheard conversation...

*

Earth King's Palace. Ba Sing Se. Roku. A week ago.

The secret underground tunnels beneath the Palace, centuries old, held countless secrets. There was a small prison for thirty to forty people, decent barracks, and even a hidden room for top-secret negotiations.

That's where Lao and I were talking. The first fifteen minutes were about matters of state importance—things we could've discussed over tea in his office. But we needed to kill time until a special guest arrived... Ah, here he is.

I slightly closed my eyes, signaling to Lao that Koh was already here. The spirit's mind, despite Vatú's energy influence, worked remarkably well. At first, I didn't even realize I was being watched. Turns out, Koh had shrunk himself into a centipede. Again, he almost outsmarted me, but even insects have a tiny "spark of life."

The bait was taken. The Face Stealer couldn't miss a secret conversation between two important figures, especially one held underground.

"I'll have to leave the human realm for a week," I began, following the prepared script. "Dark spirits are running wild," I said, without lying. "Van Shi Tong asked me to prepare a trap that'll significantly reduce the population of lesser and mid-level spirits. It won't work on stronger ones, but it's something. If it goes well, we'll place them along paths to settlements of light spirits."

"You wouldn't disturb me for such a matter," Lao said, seemingly calm. But I could see he was visibly nervous. How could he not be? Somewhere in the cracks, just meters away, was an ancient spirit! One who could casually kill him without even noticing!

"All four of my bodies will be absent," I added, causing someone to twitch their legs. "We're doing this for you, Koh. Appreciate it while you can..."

The conversation then returned to politics and ended five minutes later.

*

Spirit Realm. Present.

"Almost done," I said loudly, hoping to finally provoke a move! The fake knowledge spirit scrolls were indeed almost finished!

"Movement detected!" My brain kicked into overdrive, and life and neutral energy surged through each of my bodies. I had to lay all my cards on the table—this wasn't an opponent to play games with. In less than a second, a small Koh burst from the tall grass, quickly growing in size.

"Come on! Was spending 500 hours in a virtual room battling the Face Stealer for nothing?" What else could I do? Back then, I was powerless and tried to suppress my sense of weakness. Honestly, it didn't go well—Koh defeated me every time. But his every move was etched into my memory. I don't think I've spent that much time even on my second DOTA game in my past life...

Of course, I'm not so consumed by revenge that I've lost my head. Dria's been warned and is ready to help at a moment's notice. With her teleportation, any of my bodies can reach her. Right now, my elemental powers are useless—they can't even scratch Koh. So, it's better to have all four bodies with all the abilities granted by life energy and open chakras.

Yuki-me immediately began forming golden ribbons to restrain the centipede. That body won't engage in close combat since its pockets are filled with life energy crystals.

Roku-me stood directly in front of the charging spirit. A quick surge of earth energy, and my entire body sank into the ground, only to leap out behind Koh a moment later. I could not only see his movements but react to them in time. A long, sharp bone extended from my hand and quickly embedded itself in Koh's body.

"Rrrrr!" A genuine growl escaped his mouth—a painful one, I noted. That encouraged me—this fight wasn't one-sided!

My joy was short-lived. The lower part of his body flung me aside, jolting my organs despite my bones protecting my insides.

"He'll arch his body back to lunge forward," I thought. Most of his attacks were like that, but the problem was reacting in time.

Soon, Koh was entangled in yellow-green ribbons infused with massive amounts of positive and life energy. I gained a few seconds. Without hesitation, two of my bodies rushed in, swiftly tearing off his legs.

"I'll kill you!" Koh roared, enveloped in dark-red smoke, clearly borrowing Vatú's chaotic power. The restraining ribbons instantly vanished, and his body spun wildly.

"Crystal!" Yo-me shouted mentally, retreating and watching as my right hand disappeared into Koh's mouth. Growing a new limb would take two to three minutes, but with life energy crystals, regeneration would speed up significantly.

The next five minutes felt like hours. New, slowly healing wounds appeared on my body, though thankfully, no limbs were torn off again. Koh grabbed my body, ready to bite my head off, when I crushed a green stone in my hand, channeling all available life energy into rapidly growing bones that saved me from death. My ability to stretch my body helped immensely—I dodged nearly half his attacks thanks to it.

The crystals were consumed at an unimaginable rate, as I had to use them to dispel Vatú's dark energy shield. Only then could I inflict meaningful damage on his body. Amid all the chaos, there was one upside: Vatú's energy never added sanity—it quickly turned the spirit into a mindless, aggressive beast. Unfortunately, that didn't change the overall situation. Eventually, my crystals and reserves would run out, and I'd have to flee.

I didn't want to let Koh go—there might not be another chance. Once he recovered and realized the danger he'd faced, he'd become ten, if not a hundred times more cautious.

Without a word, one of my bodies vanished from sight, only to reappear with Dria moments later. It seemed Koh didn't even notice another spirit's arrival...

"Hold on for another thirty seconds," she said, fully focused on creating some technique. After thirty seconds, powerful trees appeared around her, exuding Dria's unique ability—"vampirism."

"My wife didn't just stand still!" She quickly adapted her ability to other forms. The tree roots slowly began entwining Koh's body. Within seconds, a tree would turn to dust. Essentially, Dria's trees absorbed the heavily diluted Vatú energy, which quickly killed them, as even a small percentage posed a serious threat to an ancient spirit. The numerous scars on my bodies proved it—closing the wounds cost one, sometimes two life energy stones.

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The "extraction" of Vatú's energy lasted a full fifteen minutes, and Koh was thoroughly "marinated" in it. By the end, his former clarity began to return, and his body language screamed his desire to flee as soon as possible.

Five minutes later...

"I'm ready to join your side! Vatú forced me to hunt you!" Once the Face Stealer realized escape was impossible, he immediately began begging for forgiveness. There was no other outcome. During our fight, he'd depleted his energy reserves, forcing him to rely on Vatú's energy. The severely weakened Koh simply couldn't handle five intelligent opponents, each with power comparable to a weak ancient spirit.

"Only an idiot would believe your sweet talk," I said. The bastard didn't even hesitate to wear the face of Tsumi, the servant he'd killed. Nodding to Dria, all four of my bodies restrained the spirit while her tree roots continued slowly killing Koh.

Soon, threats mixed with pleas began pouring from his mouth. He probably didn't even understand how absurd his behavior was. After some time, the spirit fully left this world, giving life to an entire forest of pines, spruces, linden trees, and countless other species.

"Let's go home?" Dria asked softly after a full thirty minutes of silence. My mind was completely still, as if it hadn't fully grasped that one of the most dangerous enemies no longer posed a threat.

"Yes,�� I said, marveling at how bright the world had become. No more nightmares or races for power—I could dedicate a month or two to my family...