RISE OF THE MARTIAL GOD

Kaiser couldn't help but continue laughing at their stupidity.

"Aigoo! I remained at the top for so long despite my young age. Did you all think that it was mere luck? You really thought that you can defeat an old fox like myself with your petty tricks? Laughable! In this world, only I, Kaiser Meyer, can hurt myself." He whispered with a smug smile on his face.

He quickly stepped on the platform and began to set up a complicated formation to call his soul shard back. Soon, the golden dome was ready with the treasures floating around it, and he stepped back to examine his work for flaws. Satisfied with the scene before him, he nodded his head and smiled. He had made preparations and countermeasures to protect his soul shards in case Anthony meets a powerful foe who tries to destroy the treasures. In a situation where the powerful enemy destroys the weapon, his soul shard would disappear to avoid endangering him. And he could also teleport to Anthony's side in an instant and call it back. He actually left many methods to protect his soul shards after imagining numerous worst case scenarios, even before he brought out the items. All he needed to do was pick out a suitable method from one of the numerous countermeasures he made after researching deeply using ancient scrolls.

"This should be enough to call back the soul shard for now. I expected that the items would get taken at some point by an enemy, but I didn't know it would be this soon— even before I found alternative ways of protecting him. Nor did I expect that my foolish sister would be used as the sword once again. But it's alright, let's do the ones before us. Anthony is stronger than others think. He will definitely come back alive." Kaiser whispered with conviction and took a deep breath.

He got onto the platform and began to recite the incantations while performing hand signals. He suddenly frowned and opened his eyes.

"Soul trapping jar? They stored the items in soul trapping jars. Not bad, I really underestimated them, they're truly meticulous. But if they think that locking it in a soul trapping jar will make them keep a tight grip on that chess piece, then they need to think again." He whispered and exhaled, going back to meditation.

"One with the world technique!" He shouted and pointed his index finger above, below, to the right, and to the left.

"Become the wind and enter all spaces, become clay and absorb all things made with it, the tree of immortality cannot get burned even if the fires of hell are let loose, you cannot cover the sky with your palm nor store the ocean in a bucket. Like a deadly flame, burn everything to ashes, and become fire!"

The moment he finished reciting those words, his eyes changed into a whirlpool with four colors revolving in them. Golden like the sun, white like the wind, light blue like the sea, and green like the forest. His eyes changed to these four colors and kept revolving without rest.

Kaiser pointed a finger towards the direction where he detected the soul shard and a white light got emitted from his fingers, passing through the walls to get to its destination. It was colorless because it was in the form of wind and was one with the world. Soon, it got to the secret room where it was kept while waiting for the top sorcerers to arrive and work on it. The room was well guarded, and was locked, in addition to the barrier set up around it, but can anything stop air from floating around?

The white wind gently wrapped around the soul trapping jar and kept revolving around it till it found a very tiny hole on the lid. The air seeped into it and curled around the bracelet and silk. After a while, the wind absorbed the soul shards and converted them to wind form, becoming one with it. Kaiser quickly pulled them out of the soul trapping jar, leaving it exactly the way it was. On the outside, it looks exactly the same, nothing has changed. The soul trapping jar was untouched, same with the bracelet and silk. However, the essence that made them awesome, which was Kaiser's soul shards were all gone, without leaving a trace. The soul shards passed through the walls and returned to Kaiser's body.

He grunted in pain and began another batch of incantations to stabilize himself. After an hour, he exhaled lightly and smiled. His eyes slowly opened, showing his golden pupil. After a while, his eyes returned to their normal color. He took an elixir to stabilize his foundation, soul, and fate wheel, before he continued his cultivation.

*****

Kaiser walked to the dining room the next morning, looking all radiant in high spirits. He sat down on the table where an array of lavish dishes were set out and quickly dug in. The maids watched him with a confused frown on their faces. Why was he still in the mood to eat despite the fact that his soul shard was stolen? He didn't look worried at all, diligently eating the full roasted chicken, steak, and crabs before him. Soon, he moved to the soup and grilled mackerel, mixing it with a bit of rice and braised vegetables which were prepared with a variety of ingredients like mushrooms, carrots, onions, celery, and pepper.

"Truly delicious!" He whispered, licking off the juice from the tender steak.

Soon, the looks on some of the maids' eyes turned to one of pity. Surely, he was eating so much because he thought it would be his last breakfast? Is he eating like a glutton because he wants to die with a full stomach? Poor thing.

Kaiser looked up that moment to drink the juice produced with special medicinal fruits filled with rejuvenating energy, making his eyes meet with one of the maids. He froze for a while and decided to ignore it, chugging down the glass of the delicious liquid. He looked again and realized that most of them had the same look of pity in their eyes, like one who met a poor, abandoned stray puppy.

"Hey! Why are you all looking at me like that?" He barked, startling their lives out of them.