We bid goodbye to the Zhou family and Lu Bian city and made our way on the two week journey back to Wongye city. I spent the time either training with Zi Fu and Jia in how to fight efficiently with my qi, cultivating, or in my own thoughts. I was still debating giving a significant amount of sealing techniques to Zi Fu. I was leaning toward giving him all of the techniques that could be usable by the people on Dou Can. There were a fair number of techniques that wouldn’t be usable until someone reached the Trancension realm or higher that I was planning on keeping myself for when I reached that realm.

We had only been traveling for about a week and it was nearing mid afternoon when a sudden downpour slowed our progress. We were moving below a large cliff facing us from the north when a loud voice resounded out from the cliff above.

“Stop right there!” the voice called out.

As a group we all looked up through the veil of rain falling down from the sky. A group of thirty or so people were standing at the edge of the cliff, one large mountain of a man standing at the fore of the group, six individuals stood behind him in a line and behind them were the remaining members of their group.

“What business do you have with us, and who are you?” Zi Fu asked, his body tense, ready to spring into action at the slightest provocation from the group.

At once the group of strangers unleashed their auras. The man at the fore was in the nascent soul realm, half of the six behind him were core formation realm cultivators while the remaining half were high foundation establishment realm cultivators. The remaining group of people behind the line of six were all somewhere in the foundation establishment realm.

Zi Fu frowned at the group unleashing their auras, making their intent clear.

“I am Zu Long, the leader of the Zodiac mercenaries and I have a bone to pick with two girls, one with blue hair and another with black, and a nascent soul realm cultivator. You’ve taken out too many of my commanders so I’ve come personally to show you the immensity between heaven and earth. Now surrender nicely and I’ll make your deaths swift!” he called out over the increasing volume of the rain falling around us.

I looked closer at the group behind him and noticed that horse looking guy was standing in the row of six people behind Zu Long.

I pointed at him and shouted.

“Hey! Horse looking guy, back for another beating huh?” He reddened at my words, but stood his ground behind his leader. This situation didn’t look good. They had many more people than we did, it was going to be a difficult fight.

Without another word, Zu Long dropped down from the cliff top and landed in front of our group with a loud crash. A crater was formed where he landed, and his entire body was coated in a silvery sheen of metal qi. He must have cultivated some strange cultivation method that allowed his body to be heavier, because the size of the crater he had created was much larger than it should have been.

He launched himself at Zi Fu, looking to end the fight early, but, light as a feather, Zi Fu dodged his attacks with ease. Zi Fu led Zu Long away from Jia and I and, but we didn’t have the good fortune to watch a fight between two nascent soul realm powerhouses. A series of softer thuds rang out from the side of the cliff in front of us as the remaining Zodiac mercenaries jumped down from the top of the cliff.

The horse faced mercenary stepped out in front of the group. Shimmer bowed down and growled at the man, and he only spared her a glance before speaking.

“I’ll handle the black haired ice girl with Dog, Snake should handle the blue haired girl with the remaining members.” He said, ordering those around him.

“Who died and made you our leader to be able to order us around?” A man dressed in black and dark green with an angular, almost triangular, face and narrow eyes asked.

“Just do as I say! We don’t have time to bicker, we must take care of these children and assist the master in his fight!” The horse faced guy shot back. The narrow-eyed man seemed to agree with horse guy’s sentiment and glared at me with a predatory grin. As one of the core formation realm cultivators in the group, fighting against him was going to be difficult, especially if those other foundation establishment realm cultivators joined in. Luckily for me, none of the foundation establishment realm cultivators should be my match, and as I learned in the hidden realm, I excel even when outnumbered.

“Please kill this blue haired menace!” The demon inside my ring yelled out impotently. Noone could hear him except for me and he knew it, but he still made his stance known.

The only indication of the battle starting was the sharp drop in temperature in the small clearing we were in. Jia appeared behind the horse-faced guy and struck out, he reacted quick enough to not be beheaded, but he was thrown off balance by the strength of her attack. She must have been increasing her physical capabilities using her body cultivation, which meant she was taking this fight seriously.

As she engaged the horse-faced guy and another mercenary who had scraggly hair and two protruding canine teeth, the narrow-eyed man who must be Snake approached me, each step intentional and measured.

“My name is Onyx Snake, It will be my pleasure to kill you today, girl.” He said. At his back, the remaining cultivators gathered before spreading out to surround me. I backed up, going further into the forest to our backs. I needed to get out of the way of Jia’s fight so none of these cultivators would get any smart ideas about disobeying the horse-faced guy and ambushing her.

To prevent them from surrounding me, I turned around and began running through the forest. I heard them following me, but before I could make it very far, movement out of the corner of my eye was the only warning I had before I needed to roll out of the way of a sharp sword thrust from Onyx Snake.

As I rolled, I summoned two of my elemental daggers to my hands. I began running again, using my swords to parry any of the strikes from Onyx Snake I could. Shimmer wouldn’t be much help while I was running so I dismissed her for the moment. He was much faster than me and stopping his sword thrusts was becoming more and more difficult. Due to his attacks, my fleeing speed was slowed significantly and the faster of the foundation establishment realm mercenaries were able to catch up.

“Look out, on your right!” A voice called out in my head. My head snapped to the right, but nothing was there. I realized I had been tricked by the demon in time to try and roll out of the danger that must be coming from behind, but I felt white hot pain blossom from my left shoulder as I rolled.

Onyx snake retracted his sword from my shoulder and brought it up to his mouth as I struggled to keep myself from crying out in pain as I stood across from him. His too-long tongue slithered out from his mouth and flicked across the flat of his blade multiple times. His eyes rolled back in his head at the same time I shivered involuntarily.

“What a marvelous taste. I can’t wait to drink even more from you.” Onyx Snake said. I shivered again.

I didn’t want this guy anywhere near me anymore. I quickly surveyed the surroundings and I was fully surrounded at this point, the trick from the demon putting me into a precarious position.

I turned from Onyx Snake and activated both halcyonic maelstrom and soft steps on the halcyonic sea to appear next to the foundation establishment realm cultivators opposite where Snake was positioned. This would be the weakest point of the encirclement and step one of surviving this incident would be breaking out from the net they had me trapped in.

The mercenaries I attacked didn’t expect me to appear so suddenly and tried to jump backwards to maintain their encirclement. I sliced out with both of my swords, but a twinge of pain from my injured shoulder caused my left sword to miss its mark. Luckily, my right sword slew the mercenary it was aimed at and I used my movement technique again to step outside of the encirclement. I turned my head around for a moment to see Onyx Snake and the other mercenaries chasing after me.

While I was running I ended halcyonic maelstrom as it consumed too much of my qi when there wasn’t anyone close enough to absorb qi from. I needed to wait until I could use it to my advantage.

I realized that my initial plan to run away to protect Jia was incorrect. We would need to work together to handle this many people all at once. I circled through the forest, continuously dodging attacks from Onyx Snake and now I was running back towards the clearing and cliff face.

“She’s trying to meet back up with her friend! She’s probably already dead, girl! Stop struggling and I promise I’ll only torture you a little bit!” Onyx Snake called out from behind me.

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“Look out on your right!” The demon called out. I ignored his words, but within a few more steps a ball of fire hit the tree next to me and exploded out. Sharp wooden shrapnel cut into my body and I was launched backwards from the explosion. I felt heat from my clothes and hair and patted myself down. There were now large open spots with charred edges on all my clothes. I didn't have time to lament my wardrobe, though, as Onyx Snake struck out at me again.

I dodged the sword thrust and got up but I was again surrounded. My head was hurting and I was feeling a little nauseous, but I pushed those feelings down and activated halcyonic maelstrom as I sliced out at Onyx Snake with a Halcyonic Abyssal Cutter. He cut the technique apart with a slice of his sword, and when he struck out again, a ghastly dark green qi coated his blade. I hadn’t seen many people in the Blooming Violet sect with the wind and metal combination of corrosion qi, but the feeling and aura it gave off made me sick to my stomach. I parried his blow and could feel the qi within my blade destabilizing. I switched my metal and wood qi sword to my right hand by controlling the swords and did my best to block the attacks from Onyx snake.

Halcyonic maelstrom kept the remaining cultivators at bay, but it was sapping my qi away due to how many people were engulfed in its effect. I was passively absorbing some from them though, so that helped offset the loss, but it was still a loss. I rushed to the right, striking out at the cultivator closest to my destination. He blocked my sword, but I mustered my strength and struck out with my remaining sword, despite the pain in my shoulder. The man fell to the ground in a wet plop after a scream that was abruptly cut off and I rushed past him before Onyx Snake could strike me with his corrosive qi.

I canceled halcyonic maelstrom as I ran and made sure to pay attention to any more errant qi attacks that looked to explode near me. A few blades of wind, strikes of lightning, and fireballs flew towards me as well as an undulating globule of corrosive qi that ate through the trunk of a tree within seconds after I dodged it.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I re-entered the clearing and found Jia alive and still engaged in fierce combat with the two core formation realm cultivators in the clearing. She was slashing out with her snow white sword, meanwhile the raindrops around her constantly froze and shimmered before launching at the two cultivators. They were clearly struggling to dodge all of the attacks Jia was throwing at them, but she was clearly using more qi than they were.

From where I entered the clearing, both of the core formation cultivators had their backs to me. I used soft steps on the halcyonic seas to appear behind the pair and halcyonic maelstrom to slow their movements in time for Jia to appear above the cultivator who must be Dog and strike him in the shoulder.

He wasn’t able to move as quickly while within the range of my technique which gave Jia the chance to injure him. I attacked him from behind using my swords but I was unable to do more than give him a minor slash on the back.

Horse-face snarled and lashed out at me after noticing my existence. I parried the blow with my swords, but I was still forced backwards. I couldn’t keep holding back if I wanted to help Jia before the remaining cultivators caught up. I only had a few seconds at most and decided that we should focus on attacking Dog. I used a full fifth of my remaining qi and launched a powerful halcyonic abyssal cutter at Dog’s back. He was still engaged with Jia, blasting out with powerful bursts of earth qi from his fists.

My halcyonic abyssal cutter sliced into Dog’s back and gave Jia the opening she needed to decapitate the man as he staggered from my blow.

As Dog was finished off, Snake and the remaining cultivators appeared on the edge of the clearing and joined in the fight. It was now Jia and I against two core formation cultivators and the group of foundation establishment realm mercenaries.

I looked over to Jia, and ignored the foundation establishment realm cultivators in lieu of assisting Jia in taking out the two core formation realm cultivators. We should be able to overwhelm them if we worked together. I used my movement technique to appear next to Jia and summoned Shimmer. We would need her help if we wanted to survive this experience.

“Shimmer, do you think you can try and hold off the group of foundation establishment realm cultivators?” I asked the little fox. She growled in assent and immediately engaged the cultivators by jumping between them, creating shields and using a smaller version of her qi beam to attack them, clearly cognizant of the draw it caused on my qi reserves. Despite Shimmer’s actions, Onyx Snake rushed out to assist horse-face guy in fighting against Jia and I.

He was smart, he knew that we might be able to take them on one at a time, but with both core formation realm cultivators fighting together, it would be difficult for us to defeat them in a short amount of time without an ambush.

I launched myself at horse-faced guy, empowering my sword strike with my body cultivation. I appeared in front of him faster than he anticipated, and he rushed to block my blow. The heavy blow brought him down to one knee and Jia appeared behind the man, and struck out with her movement technique empowered strike. Before the sword could connect, Jia was forced to jump back as Onyx Snake struck out at her.

Our sneak attack having failed, horse-face was able to get back to his feet after lashing out and causing my arm to be thrown to the side. Snake was striking out at Jia with his corrosive qi covered sword while simultaneously using a strange movement technique to appear at strange angles that she didn’t expect.

Thanks to the increase in my physical abilities, the injury on my shoulder didn’t affect me as much anymore and I was able to fight on even footing with horse-face. He snarled at me and launched an attack. His fist was covered in wind qi as he struck out at me. I used the sword of wind and earth in my left hand to block his blow, but the force of his punch was stronger than I anticipated. I was launched back and into the cliff face before falling to the ground.

I landed in the soft mud on the ground and slowly picked myself up.

Horse-face had launched himself at me and was hurtling through the air towards my position. I rolled to the side, barely managing to dodge his fist that was thrust at me. He crashed into the cliff wall eliciting a loud boom that shook the entire surrounding area. His speed and power were not to be underestimated. As I finished my roll I got to my feet and stood up, facing Chartreuse Horse. I brandished my two swords in front of myself and prepared for his next assault.

He extricated his arm out from within the hole he created within the cliff face and faced me. Wind whipped up around his legs in what I recognized as a common movement technique for wind cultivators. He launched at me again, screaming at the top of his lungs as he flew. I dodged his punch and struck out at him with my swords, the wind and earth sword leading the way. As he landed where I had been standing, he pivoted on his right foot and struck out at me again.

His fist was covered in a layer of wind qi but a light graze from my sword of earth and wind dissipated the gathered qi on his fist and left only his physical strength behind the punch. When the qi dissipated, he got a look of confusion on his face before anger bloomed.

“That’s an interesting sword there, girl. I’m going to be taking it once I kill you!” I smirked at the use of the classic bandit line and launched myself into combat with him. Whenever he tried to gather qi around his fists, I would quickly strike out with my sword and dissipate it. He would try to move his hands out of the way, but if he didn’t dodge in the right direction his chest would be open and I’d be able to slash at him. I wasn’t able to do a lot of damage, but the injuries I was causing him weren’t insubstantial.

I spared a look over to Jia and she was holding off Onyx Snake easily, though I noticed parts of her body were now covered in ice for some reason. I looked back to Chartreuse Horse when I heard a yowl of pain and I felt Shimmer appear back within my dantian in spirit form.

Within a few more exchanges with Chartreuse Horse I was starting to get harried by the foundation establishment realm cultivators that had finished off Shimmer.

An explosion to my left knocked me off balance in time for Horse to punch out and send me flying again. I landed on the ground roughly and didn’t get up quickly enough. Horse was standing over me and preparing to launch a fully qi empowered punch at my chest. I gathered my qi to prepare a last ditch counter.

Just in the nick of time, before Horse could act, the full aura of a peak nascent soul realm cultivator enveloped us. Before Horse could finish his punch, Zi Fu appeared next to him and sent him flying with a simple punch. Jia wasn’t in danger when I looked over and I breathed a sigh of relief. We had held on for long enough for Zi Fu to finish his fight and come to our rescue.

Zi Fu approached both Horse and Snake who had grouped up and in a last ditch effort to take down Zi Fu, who must have been exhausted after fighting their master by their estimations, they both unleashed their core formation techniques. Horse’s limbs were coated in a thick layer of wind qi and lifted him up in the air. The qi was so thick that I couldn’t see his limbs anymore. Across his chest, the qi coalesced into thin armor that protected his vitals.

On his head was a helmet made of green qi with long slants for his eyes. Snake on the other hand was coated in corrosive dark green qi in a large amorphous blob three times larger than Snake’s original body. It swayed this and that direction and undulated under the pressure of Zi Fu’s aura.

Zi Fu appeared in front of the armored form of Chartreuse Horse and coalesced a light green spear out of thin air. It was the same color as Horse’s armor, but was fully solid whereas Horse’s armor was mostly translucent.

Zi Fu struck out with the spear, and with a resounding crack he punched a hole directly through Horse’s chest armor, slaying him instantly. He fell down from where he was floating above the ground and thumped limply on impact. Snake’s blob trembled in fear at the death of his comrade, but he wasn’t long for this world either.

Zi Fu struck out with his spear, cleanly slicing the blob in half. One half flowed over the ground like water splashed onto the ground while the other reformed into a vaguely humanoid shape. With another thrust of his spear, Zi Fu ended Snake’s life just as abruptly as Horse’s. The dark green goo sloughed off of Snake’s lifeless body and onto the ground. The rapid slaying of enemies Jia and I struggled against moments ago was slightly scary, though I knew Zi Fu would never hurt us.

Zi Fu bent down over both of the bodies and seemed to take something off of their persons. He walked over to both Jia and I and handed us each a ring. I grabbed the ring and probed it with my aura. My eyes widened, it was a storage ring!

“Are you sure it’s alright for us to have these Zi Fu? You killed them after all.” I asked him. He shook his head.

“I don’t need anything that could be in those rings, but you two will probably benefit greatly. I took the leader’s storage ring after all.” He said, grinning.