| By King Bumis Heir | Genre | Rating | Reviews | Updates |
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Overview[]
Two weeks after the assassination of the 41st Earth King, what is happening in Ba Sing Se now?
Chapter 13: The Tale of Two Gangs[]
Book 1: Air
Chapter 13: The Tale of Two Gangs
Ba Sing Se, Eastern Earth Kingdom
The city of Ba Sing Se, miles and miles of land.
A large wind is blowing across the city of Ba Sing Se, light objects are skittering away, clothes are blowing around, a couple or two in the middle ring are huddled close cuddling to keep warm. Nobles in the upper ring are well-prepared wearing, their fur coats although the wind wasn't cold it was more of a cool wind as the sudden drops in temperatures were occurring now in the autumn season preparing for the winter season. The troops were on the training grounds training they had recruits running laps around the training grounds as per usual. The royal guards were making their rounds with the others switching positions while the other royal guards made around the outside of the palace.
Inside the palace sat Guwen on the throne eating a bowl of Ba Sing Se noodles from his favorite noodlery in the Middle Ring. Several people were inside the throne room placing up banners welcoming the next Earth King. Others began preparing for the coronation of Qiang Zhen tomorrow. An event organizer walks into the throne room with a guard and an assistant. The assistant carried a wooden board with parchment on it writing things down with a piece of charcoal. The organizer pointed at things as he spoke to his assistant while the assistant wrote down the list of things.
Before they could walk off the soldier saluted Lord Guwen and asked, "My lord, when is the coronation of the Earth King?"
"Tomorrow. You and the others will be briefed on your tasks for coronation day," Guwen answered.
"Aye, my lord. Have you received word from Captain Wei and the others? They should have been here by now from Taku," the guard commented.
The large door leading into the throne room opens the guard and Guwen looks in the direction of the doors there striding in is Captain Wei and the remaining troops from Taku. The men walk in two straight lines reaching the throne they bow before the regent lord.
"Ahh look who it is, we were just talking about you. Any reports from Taku and the surrounding areas near the city?" asked Guwen.
Captain Wei wore a large hat that gave him shade most military captains of the Ba Sing Se province wore these large hats called conical hats. Depending on their rank as well, the captains wore large hats sergeants wore smaller conical hats while lieutenants wore satgat hats and that was just the earthbenders.
"Water Tribe invaders attacked the city of Taku, on the day of the end of the war celebration. The Avatar killed them all, sir," Captain Wei reported.
"Are you certain? The Avatar was present?" Guwen asked.
"Aye, the invaders triggered the Avatar State and most of them were killed when they angered the Avatar, sir. The remaining forces have retreated, I do believe they will return to attack again, further orders?" Captain Wei responded.
"Intriguing. Speak with the Council of Five and tell them I them to send a large detachment of men to the area to clean out the invaders that remain. If they flee to the western province let them go. That's Gao Zu's problem." Guwen added.
Prison in Ba Sing Se.
Meanwhile, at the Ba Sing Se prison a jailor and a guard are walking into through a hallway escorting a prisoner in grayish bleak rags, a crow tattoo nestled on his neck, he wore his hair in a queue and had a fu manchu mustache. His hands were tied behind his back with a rope and he was being pulled to a cell. When the jailor had reached the empty cell he slid the door open, the other guard had cut the rope off the prisoner's hands and shoved the man into the cell. The jailor closed the door shut and locked it. They both gave each other high fives and strolled out of the cellblock. A guard was doing paperwork on a desk when the two men had walked by laughing about something.
He looks up at the men, "That's the twelfth Mousha Quan member this week! Our men are doing a great job out there," he said.
"Does that mean you'll finally buy us a round later?" one of them asked the guard at the desk.
"After work, of course, I don't drink cactus juice on the job alright," he replied.
"The crime rate has shot through the roof recently after the assassination of the Earth King, not sure if you boys have heard the Lower Ring was thrown into disarray," the jailor mentioned.
"Most of the crime IS in the Lower Ring, a bit worried to find out the southwestern sector of the Middle Ring has also been seeing some crime. That's where we've been capturing Mousha Quan members. We're not sure if their compound is in the southwest sector or if they're in the Lower Ring," explained one of the men.
Shan-Yu, sitting his private quarters, behind a large line of flames. A Xinxian de Rou begins to conversate with him.
Concurrently somewhere in the northern sector of the Lower Ring, a Bing approached a man hidden by shadow sitting down enjoying the fire in his firepit. The assassin tossed a green sack stained with some kind of liquid to the older man, the old man opens the sack to reveal, the head of the target. Smirking the old man tosses the sack into the firepit, and tosses a smaller blue sack at the bing containing silver coins for a job well done. He reaches into a small chest containing more contract scrolls for jobs available for Mousha Quan members. His frail grayish bony hands handed the bing a scroll.
The bing reads the scroll, closing it he begins to walk out of the room just when the grandmaster of the Mousha Quan stops him. Thinking while stroking the thin strip of hair on his chin he shouts, "Wait!"
The bing quickly turns around to eye the grandmaster, "Yes fanzui de laoban?" he questioned.
"I'm going to offer you a bonus if you see Ying Xiao kill him too. If you are proven successful your name will be written in our logs and you will be promoted to a Jijian," the man promised.
The bing bowed to the fanzui de laoban, the fanzui coming out of the shadows had bowed to the bing in return. The infamous fanzui of the Mousha Quan was old had gray fleshy skin tone, he was bony and thin, he wore a gray tunic and gray trousers. He was majorly balding but had long white hair, he wore a thin strip of white on his chin and what was unique about the fanzui was the third eye tattoo he had inked on his forehead. It was an eye with three red stripes on each side. The color of the iris of the third eye was golden matching the color of his eyes.
In the meantime within the Dixia headquarters, Qian Zei and Baotu are discussing plans for tomorrow afternoon where the whole city will be in the Upper Ring for the coronation of the new Earth King.
"The coronation of Qiang Zhen will be tomorrow, Baotu. Tomorrow afternoon is the time to invade Mousha Quan territory and attack them head-on," Qian Zei suggested.
"You're right, old friend. I've been discussing this through messenger bird with Ying Xiao, he's sending men for the assault. But we're at a dead-end right now, we don't know where in the northern sector the compound is," Baotu argued.
Perched on the roof of some apartments was an archer crouched stalking the city streets below, he was knelt on one knee aiming at something off in the distance closing one eye to make a precise shot at his target. The end of the arrow tucked between his index and middle finger he took a deep breath and exhaled the air, releasing the arrow that sounded a twang off of his bow that was painted green and yellow the colors of the Dixia gang.
The arrow whistled through the air. He rose to his feet and bounced from rooftop to rooftop after the arrow pierced a man's chest he fled the scene and back to his compound. Screaming of women in the area who had witnessed an assassination mere inches from them and guards rushing to the area. A crowd surrounded the dead man on the ground. The guards had arrived and swept his hair off to the side to reveal the crow tattoo on his neck, one of the guards glanced up at the rooftops but did not see the assassin he had hoped would still be stalking from above.
On a rooftop, a bing archer of the Dixia gang is aiming at something.
The archer had slid down a pipe that lead to the Dixia headquarters that was built into the large cistern in the sewer system of the city. Stealthily approaching the hidden door of the compound was a Kexing. A Kexing is slang for an enemy of a gang, the man wore a gray tunic and trousers and black boots. He wore no tattoos so he must've been Mousha Quan, Hei Shichang and Dixia inked their initiates as soon as possible while the Mousha Quan trialed their initiates through contract killings before inking them as one of their own. No civilian would have the guts to walk into the sewers knowing of rumors of beasts that reside within. The archer snuck up behind the intruders and held a dagger to his throat.
"You have no reason to be in here Xinxian de Rou of the Mousha Quan, talk or die!" the archer threatened.
"Please let me talk to your fanzui de laoban! I have information for him that will aid him greatly. Hold the dagger to my neck while I deliver the news to him if you'd like," the Xinxian assured.
The archer sucker-punched the Xinxian de Rou on the chin knocking him out cold, he had dragged the unconscious man to the hidden entrance where a guard stood. The guard earthbended the wall down sinking it into the ground allowing the archer to move on inside. Being provided a chair he tosses the Xinxian de Rou on the chair and tied him up.
"The job is done and the target lives no more, fanzui de laoban." the archer stated bowing to Baotu.
"Well done, Bing here!" Baotu congratulated the archer tossing him a sack of gold coins.
"It was an honor carrying out the job for you, fanzui," the archer added.
The man awoke with a minor headache Baotu looking at him and then changes his tone at the bing when he notices the man tied to the chair, "Please explain to me why there's a Kexing in my hideout?!"
"I caught him snooping around the sewer system outside of the cistern, sir. I normally would have killed him on the spot but he has information to give you, fanzui de laoban," answered the archer now frightened because he angered his boss.
The archer had kicked one of the legs of the chair breaking it the man falling over on his face his weight breaking the chair. He struggled to get onto his knees resting on his hands and knees gazing at Baotu. "What is it?! Or so help me I'll kill you where you stand!" yelled Baotu at the xinxian de rou, scared the Xinxian stutters, "The M-mousha Quan are p-planning to attack the Hei Shichang compound they found their location. The compound is in the northern Lower Ring, Shan-Yu is present at headquarters," he declared, Baotu's eyes widen.
"No, he's going for Ying Xiao! Speak up, boy. What time is Shan-Yu leaving his compound?" Baotu questioned the xinxian.
"T-tonight when everyone will leave their homes to attend the coronation of the Earth King, the perfect battleground for the daofei," the xinxian responded, "Please don't kill me, let me join your gang," he pleaded.
"For your information, I will spare your life if you swear loyalty to me you will fight alongside us if you survive the battle you may join. If you don't well that you're not going to be of any use to us dead," Baotu piped.
The xinxian nodded thanking Baotu for his judgment, he walked from the throne area to go sit in the tavern area of the cistern where the coin flowed. Gossiping got you a beat down, where xinxians, bings, and jijians got jobs to sweep homes or forge letters or business ledgers, where drunks go to get hammered and where men can get lucky with a woman. Most women in the Dixia gang did the background jobs, like cleaning, washing clothes, cooking, bartending, taking care of the children. In return, they were protected by Baotu and his men, so long as they did their jobs.
"Tonight, we will assassinate Shan-Yu and put an end to the Mousha Quan, many of our fathers dreamt of this day, let us make them proud!" announced Baotu. His booming voice was heard throughout the whole hideout everyone who was inspired by his words were Xinxian de Rous, Jijians, Bings, Gaoji renyuans, and the Fanzui's Muzhis, they all cheered to the speech.
Qian Zei, Baotu's right Muzhi turns his attention to him, "Shall I send someone to Dufan the Jijian of the Hei Shichang?" he asked.
"Yes they must be warned, we'll need their help let's see if Ying Xiao shows up tonight. It would be good to fight side by side with Shady," Baotu answered.
"Any bings or jijians up for the task?" Qian Zei announced. A young man in stained and sort of unkempt brown clothing runs up to the right muzhi bowing to him and kissing Baotu's armadillo lion ring.
"Here take this to Dufan in the lower sector of the middle ring, the scroll contains a message from the fanzui to Ying Xiao," ordered Qian Zei, the bing nodded to his orders and ran out.
The underground headquarters of Baotu's Dixia gang.
Two hours later in the lower sector of the Middle Ring, arrives the bing of the Dixia gang to Dufan's restaurant knocking on the door of his office he's invited inside he unattached the scroll from his sash and hands it to Dufan who opens the scroll. Shocked at the warning he blows a whistle and one of his bodyguards rushes into his office. "Send warning to Ying Xiao, we're in danger. Dixia has requested Hei Shichang's help to eliminate the Mousha Quan," Dufan ordered. The bodyguard rushes out of Dufan's office and sinks into the earth, some daofei are taught to travel quicker undetected underground a move that was learned by watching badger moles earthbend. It was just one of the many methods of travel by earthbenders. Certainly one of the more quieter ones, another method was known as dust stepping but that was hard for most.
Sundown arrives and the last of the civilians who chose to attend the coronation ceremony had left to the Upper Ring. The streets were dead empty, just a breeze running through with a dry cold that bites at the flesh. Baotu walked down to the middle sector of the Lower Ring just like he mentioned he'd meet the Hei Shichang in the scroll given to Dufan. Bings, jijians, xinxian de rous and Gaoji renyuans surrounded Baotu and his muzhis protecting them waiting for Ying Xiao and his men. In the distance came a group of men wearing dark green clothing or cloaks with tattoos or patches of an ostrich horse. In the middle of all those men was a tall older gentleman, his hair was grayed out and in a top knot, he adorned a large scar on his right eye. He wore a cloak with an ostrich horse design on the back. Baotu walked forward and met with the man he hasn't seen in years.
"Shady Ying Xiao, glad you got my message..a xinxian de rou from the Mousha Quan squealed. Shan-Yu hides in the northern sector, he uncovered a plot to assassinate you. Today's the day that we strike down the Mousha Quan and Shan-Yu," Baotu said. He shook Ying Xiao's hand in their secret handshake locking in at each other's wrists at the end of the handshake as a sign of allegiance to each other.
Two hours later they're all marching towards the northern sector of the Lower Ring, on their way to the Mousha Quan compound. One of the jijians of the Hei Shichang focused on listening to footsteps quickly running down the rooftops. Qian Zei had quickly turned to look behind him, the men marching behind him came to a halt and he looked up to see men wearing all black and hiding their faces with one hole black masks that only allowed the eyes to be uncovered so the assassins could see xinxian de rous and bings jumped off the roofs of the nearby builds some with daggers or swords others were benders.
Members of the Dixia and Hei Shichang gang, run towards the Mousha Quan headquarters.
"AMBUSH!" Qian Zei yelled at the top of his lungs Baotu and Ying Xiao who were up in the group ahead heard the warning and stopped in their tracks. An archer was seen in the distance Qian Zei could make out his silhouette, an earthbender of the Dixia lifted a boulder out of the ground and Qian Zei broke off some small rocks while the earthbender punched the boulder up in a diagonal angle at a bing kexing impacting him with great speed and knocking him out of the air and plummeting to the ground not enough to be fatal they were only jumping off from a roof the highest being maybe ten or fifteen feet off the ground. Five of the others rolled as soon as they touched the ground to lower the chances of pain and coming to point whereas their heels allowed them to bounce off the ground and onto Dixia and Hei Shichang daofei. They knew they were outnumbered but it was enough to slow them down so Shan-Yu could getaway or prepare, these were obvious scouts.
Qian Zei had spun three smaller rocks in his left hand and tried to make out the figure on the roof. An arrow coming from the figure on the rooftop flew at an earthbender was cut down by a swing of a sword from one of their allies. Ying Xiao had shot himself into the air and onto a rooftop with a pillar of earth. Two men landing near Baotu, one took a swing of his ax at Baotu who grabbed him by the wrist and arm barred him over Baotu and slammed him to ground. Chipping small chunk from Ying Xiao's pillar Baotu poked out two fingers and had sent tiny sharp rocks at the Mousha Quan assassins' necks tearing into the flesh watching them as their blood began to gush out and spray the floor. There must've been another archer he had seen because he had split three small plates from the pillar he used to launch himself onto a roof and threw them directly at the archer. The archer had dodged one of the plates that were flung at him but was hit by the second and third one knocking him to the roof's surface. He rolled off the roof onto the crowd below, Qian Zei aimed and shot a rock at the figure.
The figure tried to catch the rock but the moron's split decision was a mistake the rock came at a great speed injuring his hand. The second rock hit his bow so hard that he broke it in two and the third hit him right in between the eyes surely killing the archer. A kexing earthbender had shot both arms upward at an angle pulling two stalagmites out of the ground impaling two members of the Hei Shichang. The ambush was successful in slowing down the company of daofei but were quickly overwhelmed. Ying Xiao dropped to the ground knees first to crash down and cause a small quake forcing his enemies to stagger off balance giving his men a chance to kill the kexings.
The hook sword wielding bing, knocking two men to the ground before running towards Qian Zei.
A man with dual hook swords charged at Baotu while he was distracted Ying Xiao shouted at Baotu, "Baotu, watch out on your left!" Baotu had kicked a man in the chest getting him away from Baotu so that he could turn his attention to the man with a hook sword.
The hook swordsman swung one of his swords at Baotu who ducked under the sword and dug his hand into the surface of the earth shoveling up some dirt and tossing it into the swordsman face blinding him. Baotu formed an earth gauntlet around his right hand uppercutting the swordsman who was still blinded by the dirt. A Hei Shichang axman dug his ax into the swordsman's skull. Before being struck with a throwing knife to the back of his neck killing him.
After the battle had ended they remained with about a good 130 men losing at least twenty men to the ambush from the Mousha Quan assassins. After marching through a couple of streets the sun had already gone down and the night had a full moon in the sky, giving them good lighting but also making them open to another ambush from the Mousha Quan. The kexing xinxian de rou that squealed is first in line of the crowd leading the way to the compound. They finally reach a large set of buildings with apartments behind and around the larger buildings, which must be the Mousha Quan compound.
The kexing ran up a few steps signaling them that the coast was clear all of a sudden, a whistling sound was heard in the distance and an explosion that caught everyone off guard. Baotu and Ying Xiao running behind cover from whatever it was. Right where the xinxian de rou of the Mousha Quan stood was only a black splotch of soot, he was vaporized by a bomb they thought. They had known they were coming, there's no way there were any survivors from the ambush..maybe a scout was watching from a distance and he had reported back to Shan-Yu because he was now definitely prepared.
A tall elderly man stood from out of the shadows of a darkened alley with two men each on his left and right sides. One of the men takes out a small blowhorn and blows on it to signal an attack from enemy daofei. Reinforcements reveal themselves to the Dixia and Hei Shichang gangs, a squadron of Mousha Quan assassins all thirsty for armadillo lion and ostrich horse meat. Dufan and Qian Zei charge forward both slamming their fists onto the ground, large waves of earth rippling across the ground. Bricks that decorated the road pavement were flying off in different directions. Ground assassins were knocking off their feet and the ones on the roofs had dropped like death from above on Dufan and Qian Zei. The others charged all in getting ready for battle. Battle commenced when weapons and earth contacted with each other. arrows are flying back and forth and roaring of men is echoing throughout the area. No guards are around the security right now is on the upper Middle Ring and the entirety of the Upper Ring, lawlessness can occur at any moment in the guardless Lower Ring.
An earthbender from the Hei Shichang had removed the bricks from the paved road and began launching them at the archers on the roofs. Some hitting their targets and others missing and flying right past them. A horn is blown off in the distance again Baotu and Ying Xiao bend a dome of earth around the both of them. Benders from Dixia and Hei Shichang sink into the earth. Another blast of combustible fire hits the battleground, men are jumping out of the way, others are vaporized. The benders emerge from the ground encased in rock armor, a barrage of arrows rain from the skies archers of the Mousha Quan released a volley of arrows. Some non-benders raise their shields, the luckier ones are shielded by earth walls from benders and the not so lucky ones are struck with arrows, some dying from the arrows puncturing their bodies others live as the arrows do not penetrate their armor. Another blast goes overhead of some men exploding and collapsing a nearby house catching it on fire.
Ying Xiao and Baotu stood back to back inside the dome waiting then Baotu opened up first by punching pieces of the dome out. Ying Xiao followed behind doing the very same, the larger slabs of the dome striking the unsuspected men that weren't paying attention to the dome the entire time. Another blast came and hit the dome, scorch marks on the dome crumbled a bit of it. Ying Xiao rolled out of the dome in earth armor using the same earth from the dome. Half of it gone while the other half was hit again crumbling, Qian Zei jerks his head over to the pile of rubble gasps running over to Baotu. Baotu emerges from the rubble in rock armor as well, another blast blocked by Baotu's armor he stands over Qian Zei covering him from the blast. Small boulders are sent flying into the alley another blast disintegrates the boulders.
Baotu flings his gauntlets into the dark pathway hoping to hit whatever is causing the blast, he had hit two earthbenders that stood near Shan-Yu. He inhaled again and launched another blast out of his third eye. A throwing star flew towards Shan-Yu, an earth wall had risen emerged from the ground to block it. The two earthbenders that had remained had both kicked the wall to send it sliding in one direction. Baotu had suggested to Ying Xiao, "I think you should go on ahead with some men and look for Shan-Yu and his muzhis we'll deal with the assassins and the bomb guy out here." Ying Xiao nodded in agreement to the suggestion and signaled a few men to join him they had ran inside the larger compound building.
Qian Zei stomps with his right foot and begins making oval shaped movement up with his arms raising pillars of the ground at great speed fatally hitting Mousha Quan members either in the chest or in the face killing them. Dufan shifts into the He Bo stance, he balanced himself on one leg while he had the other resting across the front side of his waist. Extending and then sliding the resting leg across the ground the form of the ground near him loosened up from hard earth to loose sand. He formed a large hole that several Mousha Quan men had fallen into he quickly shut the hole up and began to make stiff arm movements. The crunching and breaking sounds of bones and blood-curdling screams were muffled by the layer of earth on top of the hole. Dufan had reopened the torturous mass grave again to find the men he had just killed mangled with bones sticking out of the flesh and shattered skulls. He sealed up the hole again, loosening up some earth near the hole he hardened the sand into stalactites and began throwing them at assassins above ground.
Meanwhile, within the Mousha Quan compound, Ying Xiao, his left muzhi and two men ran through the various halls, women shrieking as they killed more of the kexing men. They run into a study room where a man and a child are sitting down watching the fire while the noises of battle and dying men are ringing on the walls. The walls are hit by something because it had made the walls around the study room shake and release some dust. The boy was resting his head on his father's shoulder as his father sat there comforting him.
A woman hits Ying Xiao in the back of the head with a wooden kitchen utensil, one of the men with him grabs her by the throat and slams her against a wall. Holding a tight grip around her throat he smirks at her while she struggles to breathe. With his other hand, he places his palm on the flat wall shackling her wrists and ankles to it. He had let go of her throat allowing her to breathe and choke on her tears she was sobbing. Ying Xiao's other man had gagged her mouth a strip of earth bent around her head.
The boy snapped out of the comfort and yelled, "Mommy!" He scurried over to the woman shackled to the wall, the man sitting on the bench was one of Shan-Yu's muzhis he had sighed, "I knew this day would come..you got me.." Ying Xiao stood in Sanjiaoxing stance, he stood pigeon-toed, knees touching each other, one arm out in front of him and the other close to his heart both hands balled into fists ready for anything. The muzhi had gotten off the bench low kicking the bench and switching into the Ma Bo stance. Ying Xiao had quickly dug his right foot toes into the dirt rising a small mound of earth up to set the bench in an up motion, it had flown into the ceiling snapping in two and dropping back down damaging the wood floorboards. Ying Xiao had noticed the bookshelves were made of stone and not wood he had used them to his advantage dodging slabs of earth left and right his men had run up ahead when they noticed he could handle the muzhi.
The boy runs at Ying Xiao who punts the kid back, his father now bends the stairs leading up into another room and flings it at Ying Xiao. Dodging the staircase that flew in his direction he knelt and bent backward laying on the ground he swerved back up still on his knees he began to jab at the ground quickly shifting the earth causing small waves to form and stagger the muzhi. Ying Xiao stood from his spot and windmilled his arms in front of him the stone bookcases detached from the walls and crashed into the muzhi. Grabbing a blade that was decorated on the shelf above the fireplace he slowly footslogged now that the floor of the study room was uneven over to the injured muzhi under the bookshelves and jammed the blade into his exposed neck dispatching him. The boy's bawled out tears while being powerless witnessing his father being murdered, one of the men had returned to check up on Ying Xiao, a xinxian de rou, while the other two men had continued to sweep the compound. Some of the women toughened up and attacked the Hei Shichang gangsters they had no choice but to defend themselves killing them too. Ying Xiao snapped his fingers and pointed to the child, the thug had nodded to his orders signaled by his fanzui and grabbed the same sword whacking the boy with its hilt knocking him out unconscious the woman still wailing under the gag. Ying Xiao had ripped it off her face, she attempted to bite him but failed.
She spat at him he sighed closing his eyes while placing one hand on her neck and the other on her forehead he grunted and quickly but surely snapped her neck while she tried to struggle out of his grip. Suddenly she had stopped moving, exhaling one long final time. Ying Xiao had focused on the spot where the staircase once rested on, inhaling and concentrating earth shot out from underneath the floorboards breaking through he focused on shaping the stairs the best he could before his xinxian de rou and he use the newly formed stairs up to meet with the others.
At the same time, Shan-Yu reveals himself and walks out of the dark alley staring at Baotu, he inhales again small pops are heard Baotu gasps when the secret was out a stream of psychic fire is propelling towards him. One of his men shoots earth gloves at Baotu grasping his clothes and pulling him away from the blast while another sacrifices himself and jumps taking the hit and blowing up. He runs over to Qian Zei panting for air as he was near death in a matter of seconds if quick decisive moves weren't made he'd be dead right now.
Shan-Yu, shooting at Baotu.
"He's shooting fire out of his mind!" shouted Baotu at Qian Zei, who glances at Shan-Yu who continued to lumber forward and blast at his enemies cackling.
"Baotu and Ying Xiao you will rue the day when you and your men assault my compound!" he cackled continuing his floundered steps into the fighting slowly raises his arms up and out. Using his body language to tell everyone that he is untouchable.
"Earthbending is for the weak! You have never faced a bender like me!" he stated, inhaling and shooting another blast at some men over in the corner fighting killing them and his men. Baotu angered had ripped a large wall off a building and with the help of his muzhis he threw the wall at Shan-Yu.
A ray of fire shot out with a bang and the wall crumbled to a smoking pile of rubble. Qian Zei turned his attention at the puzzled look on Baotu's face, "How is he firebending with his mind?" he inquired.
"He's part of a small population of firebenders in the world who can firebend from their third eye, some are born like this others are spiritual enough to have unlocked their third eye and can shoot rays of combustible flames that cause explosions. He's a combustionbender!" Qian Zei explains.
Boulders are coming in and Shan-Yu continues to blow them up, hysterically cackling. The word 'combustionbender' rung in Baotu's mind a flashback triggered, he was several years younger he remembered himself in his late teens listening to his father's stories. His father sat down next to him on a bench near the training grounds of the Dixia headquarters, while men were training some with earthbending, others with wooden weapons.
"Baotu, did I ever tell you about the time I faced a bender from the Nensho tribe?" he looked at his son while questioning him.
"No, who are they?" Baotu asked.
"The Nensho tribe resided in the Fire Nation, apparently they were around the during the time of the first Fire Lord who united the Fire islands together into one nation. Many of the different tribes that called the islands their homes were unique in their way some used their gift differently than others. The Nensho tribe was notoriously hired by the other warlords as mercenaries because they could lay waste to twenty men in a matter seconds and were completely unstoppable," he responded.
"Wow having that kind of power is limitless but going against a Nensho tribesman would be terrifying," Baotu mentioned to his father.
"While they were quite common back thousands of years ago, now they're rare. Some are born with the ability to bend from their minds others have to go through rigorous mental exercises to master discipline and unlock their third eye chakra to do so," he replied.
"Why are you telling me this, father?" Baotu wondered.
"I'm telling you this because maybe someday this advice will save your life, the greatest weakness to a combustionbender is to block-" his father divulged, he couldn't remember the rest of it because the explosions and booms were too loud it had snapped him back into reality.
"I don't recall their weakness, he's a combustionbender!" avowed Baotu.
Baotu knew they were now definitely screwed but many of the Mousha Quan's assassins have fallen, Ying Xiao was still in the compound. Baotu wasn't sure if Ying Xiao killed the muzhis or if the muzhis overpowered Ying Xiao, his left muzhi and the other two men who followed behind to sweep the compound. They can't retreat now or else they would look and be branded as cowards and he couldn't have that, the assault would be for naught, so many men who believed in Baotu and Ying Xiao have died for them.
Miraculously Ying Xiao and his muzhi and one other man had come into view and out of the compound Dufan counted three of them, four had entered but they walked out with one less brother. They ran behind the corner where Dufan had signaled them to run to, arriving shortly Baotu had relayed all the information on Ying Xiao.
"I know how to defeat Shan-Yu, Qian Zei I need your help since Baotu's has told me years ago that you're precise at it. We'll distract Shan-Yu, all you have to do is shoot his third eye tattoo, it will block the chi flowing to his mind chakra. Greatly weakening him forcing him to firebend with his limbs. If we're lucky he's most likely unskilled in traditional firebending," Ying Xiao disclosed to Qian Zei and everyone around them.
Baotu, Ying Xiao, Shady's left muzhi, and the xinxian de rou followed leading a distraction while Qian Zei could find a good position to shoot pebbles at Shan-Yu. Along with the xinxian de rou, Shady's left muzhi began to rise pillars and sink them with force to cause tremors. Shan-Yu had paid attention to them and began to quickly shoot rays of fire at them. Dodging and ducking they had both split up he then caught on seeing Ying Xiao and Baotu skulked around the battle he shot a ray at them too. Baotu reacted quickly and bent himself a sphere of rock protecting him while Ying Xiao submerged into the ground, Baotu began to roll himself toward Shan-Yu, who missed a few blasts trying to kill Baotu inside the orb of earth. A good hard swing bent a ramp for him and he rolled up the ramp and into the air aiming at Shan-Yu. The ray of fire this time was barely absorbed by the orb slightly cracking Baotu made the split-second move to spring up out of the orb and uppercut Shan-Yu with an earthen gauntlet knocking him off his feet and sending him flying a couple feet away from where he stood.
He winced in pain, he grinned and chuckle rising back onto his feet this was enough time Qian Zei carefully lined up his shot and pointed it exactly at the third eye tattoo. Ying Xiao had emerged from the ground using his rock armor to absorb another ray of fire from Shan-Yu saving Baotu who had covered his head from the blast preparing for his death. The waves of the blast sent both Shan-Yu and Ying Xiao falling back a few feet. Shan-Yu coughing up some blood he quickly examined himself to find the source, he was just beaten and bruised at this point.
Baotu sprinted toward Ying Xiao's unconscious body, the armor receiving the blast was crumbling and was cooked. Smoke was emanating from the armor, Baotu earthbended the cuirass piece off Ying Xiao. Shan-Yu saw the window of opportunity he could kill both of them right now, he inhaled meanwhile Qian Zei blinked and exhaled shooting the pebble-sized rock. Not a sound was heard as it silently rode through the air it shattered into dust on Shan-Yu's forehead he howled in pain. Shaking off the pain the best he could he exhaled, conjuring a potent blast but instead of directly going to Baotu and Shady it blew up in front of him. Everyone around them had seen the blast devour Shan-Yu, while to him time had stopped the burning energetic sparks backfired at him slowly eating away at his face. He was gone, nothing but a smoldering scorch mark, it was over. The remaining men scattered in different directions when they had seen their leader had killed himself, the Dixia and Hei Shichang had chased those who were fleeing killing most of them.
Qian Zei, throws a rock at Shan-Yu's forehead.
Ying Xiao's muzhis had ran over to him tending to his wounds as best they could he was still unconscious. They and a few others picked up Shady and escorted him back to their hideout hopefully on the way they could steal a wagon to make the transportation easier.
"Please make sure Ying will make a full recovery," Baotu said. "We will do everything we can," Ying's right muzhi assured him, Qian Zei had returned and was swiftly surrounded and cheered on by his peers along with Baotu, they were victorious because of Qian Zei's astounding aim.
In the upper ring of Ba Sing Se, an immense crowd of Earth Kingdom citizens attended the coronation of the new Earth King. Qiang Zhen knelt before the Earth sages who were announcing the coronation. His eyes were closed while he thought of the memories he had with his grandfather, tears streaming from his eyes.
"The great 41st Earth King of the Qiangda dynasty, Ta Po who ended the Thirty Year War with the help of Avatar Ku Tei, now passed. Father of Chung-Po, now passed, father of Song-Li, father-in-law of Ting and Mang, grandfather of Shin-su, now passed. Grandfather of Baotong, grandfather of Qiang Zhen," the earth sage praised two other sages grabbed the crown of the Earth King that rested on a pillow held by Guwen who stood proudly. The crown was given to the main earth sage, he spoke further while hovering it over Qiang Zhen's head.
"As part of your last wishes, you'll be succeeded by your grandson!" he shouted raising the crown to the sky for those who are near to see. He gently placed it on Qiang Zhen's head still crying he wiped the tears from his eyes he smiled looking up into the night sky knowing that his father and grandfather were both smiling at him from the Spirit World.
"All hail the forty-second Earth King Qiang Zhen of the Qiangda dynasty! Long live the Earth King!" he yelled, the crowd roared then in silence had bowed before their new Earth King. Lifting his left arm he signaled his people to rise. He soaked in the moment and let out a small tear before wiping it, his dream had come true he was the new Earth King succeeding his grandfather. Now he would do his grandfather proud by maintaining order just like Ta Po did when he ruled.
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