I stood a few dozen meters in front of the middle-aged man. He was tall and bulky with muscles, and while his aura and power had been reduced to resemble the level of power shown by the lightning leopard, I knew he was much stronger than he showed.


    To be exact, I felt he had power beyond my scope ofprehension. The dread I felt from him alone told me how dangerous he was even though he had suppressed himself significantly. I could tell that even though his cultivation had dropped to about the same level as mine, he could probably rival the leopard''s strength, if not kill it outright.


    However, I was not scared of his disy of power. Our battle intents exploded out of our bodies and shed, and even though it immediately won out in the sh if there wasn''t a resistance in ce, I still shot forward with an earth pir and extended my fist out to punch the man in the face.


    *Boom*


    A muffled boom sounded, but nothing else happened.


    I stood there in shock at what I had just witnessed. The attack that I had put all my momentum and weight behind had dissipated like a puff of wind, bing no more as the power of my hit entered the arm of the man yet left him standing, not having flinched for a single second.


    Panic did not ovee me as I quickly searched my mind for ideas to get out of the mess I had thrown myself in. After a millisecond of thinking, I immediately used some of my mana to create five earth spikes that shot through the air and aimed to take the man''s life by piercing his throat.


    However, I felt a mighty dread ovee me before I could even release myself from his grasp. At the same time, an enormous amount of force hit the center of my chest, catapulting me into the distance while shooting me through countless rocks that happened to be in the way.


    On the other hand, the man had long stopped looking at me as his other hand raised itself into the air while his leg retracted back from its position after kicking me in the chest and flung me into the distance.


    As his hand rose, the earth spike stopped in their ce before crumbling into sand. He did not stop there, however, as he once again shot toward me at frightening speeds that would have caused any other person to shudder in terror.


    However, I could not see himing toward me since I was still tumbling and rolling, pain coursing throughout my body as if the pain was being transferred into my blood itself.


    Eventually, however, I was finally able to erect an earth pir that stopped me in my tracks; however, it still did not stop me from puking out a mouthful of blood before having to force myself to stand up and off the ground.


    My legs were visibly shaking, but I still stood up. While the pain was still there, I was confident that not a single scratch was on my body.<novelnext></novelnext>


    ''Looks like this realm immediately heals any wounds of mine.'' I mused as a fanatic smile stretched from the corner of my lips.


    "Damnit... The battle maniac side of me is being released." I muttered under my breath and tried to suppress it, but it was already toote.


    A powerful bloodlust shot out of my body once again in the form of a red aura imbued with enough killing intent to cause any creature weaker than me to fall unconscious. Of course, this is only if I speak of the creatures with average wills, as those with stronger wills might be able to neutralize the feeling and even fight back against it.


    The man paused for a second as he felt my bloodlust, but his eyes immediately glimmered with excitement as he shot himself into the air before bolting himself down right in front of me.


    The power behind hisnding shot me right through the earth pir behind me while simultaneously causing me to tumble back. Still, unlike thest time that this happened, I could gain my bnce much faster due to thebination of me having improved slightly and the hit being much weaker than thest.


    "Come on, you old man! Show me what you have. I''m not here to fight with our fists. I am here for a battle of the earth! A battle of elements!" I roared out, but the smile on the man''s face did not lower. In fact, I could tell that his smile had slightly widened, causing a feeling of unease to ovee my senses.


    "Lesson one!" His voice boomed and almost made me st back due to its power.


    ''He can speak?!'' I widened my eyes and took a step back to stabilize myself.


    "Earth is not an element that can be used individually. One needs to have the power to manipte earth and the battle IQ to back his element. One with weak bodies cannot be more powerful in the ways of earth. Earth allows us to strengthen our bodies, while our bodies allow us to strengthen our earth." The man spoke with a stern voice, but his words echoed within my mind nheless.


    "You must learn how to manipte earth." He stepped forward, and as if heeding his beck and call, the earth below my feet immediately swallowed my foot and forced me in ce.


    "You must learn how to use your body." The man spoke once again before disappearing from where he stood. An enormous surge do dread fell upon me from behind as I felt my life sh before my eyes.


    "You must learn to be earth itself!" The man roared while his fist drew closer and closer to my face by the second, and before I knew it, a fist had nted itself into my face, cracking my skull and instantlyunching my body dozens of miles into the distance.