The group moved to a deserted alleyway as far away from occupied buildings as possible. It wasn’t lost on Yu Di that he did something similar when he fought Vimala all those years ago. Although when they did it, it was to not cause mass destruction and devastation. Kutan cares more about his reputation than that.

  In the short distance, Yu Di made a plan. All of them involve struggling. Some more than most. He took into account that he didn’t have much Qi left in his body and the short distance they walked was not enough to refill even a pinky sized amount. The second thing was that the priests that flanked Kutan were all stronger than his own levels, despite him being a Demigod.

  So that left him only one option, play dirty. Yu Di had to play on their arrogance, ego, and most importantly, the shallowness of Kutan. He was the easiest to manipulate.

  “Drop him here,” Kutan said.

  The white bubble disappeared and Yu Di dropped to the ground, sloshing along with the mud he was carried with. All in all, he didn’t dislike the experience. He now knew why pigs liked being in it.

  “This is the great Menace of Miryana,” Kutan said. “Reduced to nothing more than scum.” He kicked Yu Di in the side. “We have orders to hand you over to Shah al-Rahman’s army, alive if possible. Before then, we’re going to repay you for everything you’ve done to us in the past.”

  Another swift kick made Yu Di roll over. He expected it, so he used his Qi to reinforce only his sides.

  “You kick like a girl,” Yu Di said.

  That set Kutan off. The high priest kicked as hard as he could against Yu Di’s ribs. He stomped with his boots so hard that they were dyed from the mud stuck to Yu Di’s robes.

  “I am stronger than girls,” Kutan screamed, following every word with a kick. “I’m stronger than women. You are nothing but the speck at the bottom of my heel. Learn your place.”

  Yu Di feigned pain, holding onto his sides after Kutan stopped. If he wasn’t an Immortal, those kicks might have killed him. As it stood, even his meager Qi couldn’t protect him enough without some internal damage.

  Yet the damage was worth it. He learned something about Kutan.

  “You’re so strong, beating a man when he’s already down,” Yu Di said. “I bet your mother would be so proud of you. Hell, I bet the Goddess would be proud of you and all her priestesses to see one of their high priests elevated so. Oh wait, you wouldn’t even be a speck on their heel if the Goddess hadn’t disappeared twenty years ago.”

  Kutan’s fury came back and he resorted to kicking and stomping again. He kept going until he was wheezing out of breath. “I don’t care anymore about the stupid Shah’s request. Kill him and say he resisted.”

  “But sir, Abbot Lokenatha needs him alive,” one priest said. “The Shah’s army is pushing hard against our defenses. If we can’t appease them until the deadline, our city will fall.”

  Kutan took a deep breath and fixed his appearance. He smoothed his hair back. One priest waved his hand over him and made the mud disappear. The only thing remaining was his scowl.

  “This foreign scum thinks he’s got the better of me.” Kutan squatted down to Yu Di. “We killed your prince and hung him like the dog he is. We’re hunting his followers as we speak. All the foreigners like you are being tortured for information for anything they might know and then eventually used as human shields should either army attack Miryana’s inner sector.”

  Yu Di wasn’t expecting them to go that far, but knowing how despicable Kutan was, Abbot Lokenatha couldn’t be far behind.

  “Yes, I like that face,” Kutan said. “The women and children are being strung up now as we speak. All it would take to stop that is if you surrender yourself willingly to the Shah. Something about a woman scorned.” Kutan shrugged. “I’ve never had to worry about the lesser gender. The whores throw themselves at me in hopes that I can help their sons or better themselves. Whatever you did, really pissed her off.”

  Fatima. If Yu Di surrendered, she would dice him up in little pieces until he became nothing more than human paste to be fed to their dogs. Beyond that reason, Yu Di had to flee to help Vimala retrieve her Goddess power and save the city. If men like Kutan and Abbot Lokenatha get it, then this city would be doomed.

  Yu Di looked to the priest. “You seem rather strong. From what I can tell, both this nut job and the abbot are mortals. Why do you listen to them?”

  The priest looked down, his brown eyes and olive skin gazed from Kutan to Yu Di. “It’s because we were raised to do this. Some of us were granted power for this position.”

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “And it’s because we put a mental lock on these minions,” Kutan said. “We aren’t weak like the women. We weren’t going to allow the sources of power to roam and do whatever they wanted.”

  “You’re okay with him doing this sick and twisted stuff?” Yu Di asked.

  The priest looked away. All of them did.

  “That is true loyalty,” Kutan said. “They know if they went against us, not only would they die, their families would perish with them. So don’t bother trying to convince them. What I really want to know is where is the former Goddess? She’s not with you so she must be somewhere else, scheming to take back her power just like those whores.”

  Yu Di did his best impression to look bored and shrugged. “I have no idea where she went. She ditched me the first chance she got and I say good riddance. If there is one thing you’re right about, these women are not worth the time.”

  Kutan smirked. “If that is true, then there’s nothing I really need from you other than to hand you over to the Shah.”

  “It is.”

  “Of course I’m not going to take your word for it. I’m going to have these guys beat you until you’re almost dead, revive you, do it again until I’m satisfied.”

  “Wait,” Yu Di said. “What if I make it more interesting for you? Prove that you are right?”

  “What did you have in mind?”

  “Let me duel one of your priests.” Yu Di pointed at the priest that answered earlier. “Prove that your western powers are stronger than the eastern powers. Show everyone that you can even beat a Demigod. Record it if you want and show the world.” The last point Yu Di hoped would happen so that maybe Yu Lin might see it and know her father was coming back to her.

  “That’s not a bad idea.” Kutan said.

  “Sir, Abbot Lokenatha said that we need to hurry before they breach the middle sector,” the priest said.

  “Are you afraid you can’t beat this weakling? I’ve already done most of the job for you. You just have to make it look good. Think about the reputation. The priests of Miryana protecting its people from foreign terrorist scum. The people would rally behind us.”

  “Sir, there would be no honor in this,” the priest said. “They would see the state that he is in.”

  “Good, we want our enemies to know this is how they’ll end up if they fight us.” Kutan kicked Yu Di for good measure. “We’ll show the people of Miryana that we, men, can protect the city. We don’t need the women to do it.”

  The priests didn’t move or say anything. They stared at the floor as if there was gold there.

  “I could order you to do it,” Kutan said.

  The priest tensed. All movement ceased as if they were statues.

  Kutan rolled his eyes. “I’ll do it myself. To think a mere mortal like me can control you powerful men. You guys are a joke. Just make sure he doesn’t fight back and hurt me in any way or I will command you four to lick some very unsavory boots.”

  Yu Di rolled his shoulders and readied himself for the strikes. In that long monologue, it gave him a chance to restore a bit of his Qi. One would expect Yu Di to defend himself, but he had a better idea. He was going to use the Qi to identify the lock on these priests. If nothing else it would be interesting to see the rabid dogs freed from their chains.

  Kutan ordered one of the priest to record using a Qi artifact. It was a crude and simple one that recorded images of whatever it was pointed at. It didn’t record video as that would be a much higher tier item. He poised for the artifact with his fists held up toward Yu Di.

  “Stand up, scum,” Kutan said.

  Yu Di did so slowly. He used that opportunity to scan the priest closest to them holding the artifact. The priest had to have felt it, but he didn’t move.

  The mental lock they put on them was a very scary and effective one. It would cripple them should they not follow the commands of the controller. Worse, the controller can make them do things even if they resist. The pain just gets progressively worse every time. This essentially made them slaves. The poison pill within the lock was that even if they removed the lock, all their power would be drained away back to the controller.

  Yu Di scanned Kutan’s body. The mortal didn’t have the controller on him, which meant that Abbot Lokenatha had it. How did a mortal gain such power to control these people? This couldn’t have been the Goddess’ people as when he visited all those years ago, he found no trace of any mental locks on the priestesses.

  Something was very wrong in Miryana and it wasn’t the Menace.

  Before Yu Di stood up to his full height, Kutan threw a hard right hook.

  Yu Di didn’t dodge the clumsy strike, but shifted his body with the momentum to take less damage. He used his Qi to protect his body. Now that he knew that there was no way for him to break the mental lock, he had to protect himself while developing a new way out.

  This left only one option. Take Kutan as a hostage. The mortal wouldn’t be fast enough to react to him. Yu Di needed to do it after he displaced Kutan’s balance so he would fall into him. The rest would be as simple as holding his neck. The priests were of a higher realm, but there was no way they’d be ready for something so close and fast.

  Kutan swung his fists and kicks over and over, barely connecting with Yu Di.

  Yu Di for his part feigned as if he was taking major damage. Even the priests rolled their eyes at the attacks.

  “How long do we need to do this?” Yu Di asked.

  “For as long as it takes to knock you down.” Kutan took a break, gasping for air.

  “Come on then. I don’t have all day.” Yu Di put up his own fists now. It was strange as he was never a martial artist of any kind. Most cultivators would learn a fighting art to protect themselves, but Yu Di only learned to lie, steal, cheat, and most importantly, run away to live another day. There was one simple move he did know that a mortal taught him many years ago.

  A priest gave Kutan some water and cleaned his clothes again.

  Kutan squared up again at Yu Di. He rushed in this time with a strong punch.

  Yu Di blocked the man’s punch on the inside, grabbed the arm, twisted it, and forced the mortal to the ground.

  “Don’t you four move or I will end his life,” Yu Di said. “I know you four are stronger than me, but I am closer. I’ll take this worthless piece of trash with me even if I have to die. Step back.”

  The four priests did as they were told.

  A stalemate. Yu Di couldn’t get up from the mud soaked ground without getting his head vaporized by very accurate Immortals and they couldn’t get to him before he snapped Kutan’s neck.

  This at least gave Yu Di time to figure a way out.