Author note: No side story, weekend time and it's already 2 hours after work. Busy day today at work, but I missed last week and arrogantly declare I wont miss another!

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The sun was setting, but had yet to descend past the horizon. In the mountain range next to the city 7 men surrounded 4 others. Five of these men were focused on their surroundings alert for any external threat that could threaten the two royalty flanked by guards in the center of their formation. Two of the seven however were focused on the others in the group.

The largest of those two had just taken what appeared to be a serious wound. Blood poured out of bamboo that stuck into his side. This blood flowed from the wound in a rushing torrent and splashed on the ground. Surprisingly as the blood landed fiercely on the ground it didn't make a sound.

Slowly the blood from the wound changed from a river to a trickle. The large man was not unaffected as his fat waist shrunk by just under a third.  Despite this however he appeared none the worse for wear.

The blood that had pooled at his feet slowly rose and began to take shape. A sleek and thin greyhound appeared with a fierce look on it's face as though it was snarling. This savage look would have scared the 5 men had they seen it; even the snarling sound of the beast would have been enough to worry them had the greyhound made any noise.

The beast with a speed fitting for it's sleek body burst forward and dashed towards the guard to the right of Sun Jun. As it neared it jumped and turned into a red blur.

As the beast charged Po with a relaxed expression pointed his left hand fingers towards two of the five men and his right hand, gripping a long bamboo full of blood, pointed towards the 2nd guard to the left of Sun Qi.

Four red blurs burst out from the bamboo shoots sticking out of his fingers and tore through the air split evenly between the two targets. At the same a large red spear ejected from the long bamboo tube and flew towards the guard.

The two assassins had worked together for a long time and their experience in coordinating attacks cause this simultaneous attack to appear as though it was executed by one person.

The greyhound, now a formless spear of blood, dove through the back of the first guard just as the spear took down the second guard. Less than a breath later the four darts pierced the back of the two mercenaries who were a bit further away.

All this took time to read, but happened in less than a blink of an eye.

As the formless greyhound burst through the chest it reformed and landed lightly in front of the guard who hadn't even had time to register what was happening. He looked at the beast and then down at his chest before falling over with a look of surprise on his face.

Before the guard looked down at his chest the greyhound, without slowing its motion, lunged at the unaware mercenary in the front. He too died without making a sound. As the greyhound finished it's attack and landed on the ground it turned into a motionless puddle.

In a single breath two mercenaries on the left, two guards, and the mercenary at the front of the group all died without knowing who killed them.

As the bodies hit the ground the four remaining people, two mercenaries and the siblings, turned to see who was attacking them.

Seeing the look on Po and Fatman's face Sun Jun realized immediately what happened. He grabbed his sister's hand and backed up while the two mercenaries hesitated for a moment and then jumped in front of them.

Mercenaries are not known for their bravery, but seeing five other men die instantly made them feel as though they had no hope. They knew if they ran they'd die to the ranged attacks and thought that if they died protecting the royal siblings then perhaps the good karma would carry over to the next life.

Sun Jun knowing the mercenaries wouldn't buy much time whispered to his sister.

"Run. I can block them longer than you."

"I'm faster you should run and I'll catch up."

Ignoring her he pulled out a wooden doll from his storage ring. The doll was a faceless human shape with a single arm that ended with a spear instead of a hand.

"GO!" he yelled, but just as the doll appeared the blood puddle that had been forgotten reformed into a greyhound and lunged through the doll causing it to shatter.

This caused Sun Qi to freeze in place; not daring to move.

The Greyhound slipped between the two mercenaries and stood in front of Fatman with a soundless snarl on its face.

"Come now. Don't be like that. If you run then the bloodhound here wi-"

Po who was smiling suddenly frowned as he ducked under a fist that flew through the air where he had just been.

Unexpectedly the fist came from the Fatman.

Po's smile returned as he turned and spoke to Fatman.

"Hey hey hey. It's a hound and it's made from blood. I don't care if it looks like a greyhound. It's a blo-"

Ducking another attack Po straightened up and adjusted his collar. A smile returned to his face and he turned his attention to Sun Jun and Qi.

"Sorry 'bout that. Where was I? Right. If you run then the GREYhound here will just chase you down. Why run? You'll just be tired and dead instead of just dead."

Po then turned and addressed the mercenaries.

"You two aren't our targets. How about the two of you fight and whichever one wins gets to live?"

The mercenary on the right didn't even have a chance to reply when the one on the left stabbed him in the neck with his sword.

As the mercenary pulled out his sword a bloody dart flew threw the air and pierced his head.

"Tsk. Tsk. Kids let that be a lesson to you two. In your next life never trust your enemies ok?"

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Extending his left and right hand he fired off four bloody darts and a bloody spear.

The smaller darts reached their target first. Sun Qi managed to avoid the first dart aimed at her head, but the other three slammed into her body. Two holes appeared in her stomach and another appeared just to the right of her heart.

Sun Jun who hadn't been quick enough to protect Sun Qi was still able to react to the slower bloody spear.

A large metal doll that looked like a giant shield with three legs appeared in front of him. Surprisingly this doll under the control of a First Layer cultivator was able to stop the attack from a Second Layer cultivator.

Sun Jun coughed up a mouthful of blood. He had stopped it but was still injured. The young boy, with a mind calmer than others his age, brought out another two dolls from his ring. One, spinning rapidly and covered in blades, flew up and over the shield doll.

The other was a large barrel shaped with four arms and two legs. Two arms opened the doll's chest just as Sun Jun grabbed his sister and with her jumped into the open barrel.

The arms reversed their direction and the doll fell backwards landing on it's now six legs. With a speed rivaling that of a Second Layer cultivator it took off in the direction of the cave.

Po watched as they ran off and clicked his tongue while he casually shot a spear through the bladed doll.

Turning towards Fatman who was pulling out another thick and short piece of bamboo he frowned and spoke up in a disapproving tone.

"Always need to play with your food huh?"

Fatman who was about to plunge the bamboo into his other side paused and grunted in a questioning manner.

"You could have killed them instead of the doll with your surprise attack or when I attacked."

Fatman shrugged his shoulders and stabbed himself in the side with the bamboo, pulled out another and stabbed himself again in the front.

Two more blood colored greyhounds formed as Fatman shrunk so much that he should call himself Thinman.

Finishing that he spoke for the first time in a high pitch voice.

"They taste better if they run and I've never had royal blood before. I want to savour this."

"This or them?" Po said with a smile.

"Both."

~~Meanwhile in front of a baobab tree~~

The Silver Blade Giraffe's body collapsed. After Xu Rong was attacked Sun Jiao jumped in and began fighting it until he eventually won.

Xu Rong had managed block the attack, but still took a deep wound in her chest.

She watched from the side and healed as Sun Jiao fought the Giraffe. After getting wounded and seeing their fight she had lost all the confidence she gained throughout the day.

She watched Sun Jiao tear apart the corpse of the Giraffe and thought back to how fast he had moved. She was able to barely see them and would not have been able to keep up with either of them.

Sun Jiao, unaware of Xu Rong's thoughts, stepped on the dead Giraffe's neck, gripped the blade on it's head, and ripped it out.

The blade was straight at it's base and curved towards the end like a scimitar. At the base a silver piece of bone extended that would lock into the beast's spine when it attacked. Even though the blade was silver it was even stronger than steel and conducted ki very well.

The blade looked pretty strong and was light in Sun Jiao's hands. Xiaobo, seeing Sun Jiao pleased with himself, quickly spoiled his good mood.

Shaking his head Sun Jiao jumped up and cut the branch holding the fruit. As it fell he quickly stored it in his ring along with the blade and landed lightly on the ground.

"You okay?"

"Yes master. I'm fine now thank you."

"Good let's get back."

The two continued back towards the cave and had almost arrived without any further incidents. The sun had almost fallen below the horizon, and there was a just a few more minutes of light left.

As they were a minute or so from the cave they heard a crashing sound in the distance. Assuming it was a beast they continued on.

Arriving at the cave Sun Jiao placed an arm around Xu Rong's shoulder and turned her towards the setting sun. They stood there watching it together, happy just being near each other. They didn't have much time together when suddenly a shadowy figure burst out from the nearby bushes.

A boy that he didn't recognize, but looked familiar was carrying a girl on his shoulders. Sun Jiao immediately recognized the girl and ran forward.

Sun Jun had seen a map of the cave location, but hadn't been certain he was heading in the right direction. Seeing his brother caused a look of relief to appear on his face. He didn't have much hope in Sun Jiao protecting him, but at least he could warn him. Maybe he'll be able to get away and get revenge.

Exhausted Sun Jun collapsed just as Sun Jiao jumped forward to catch him with Xu Rong at his side. Placing them on the ground Sun Jiao started to ask what happened when Xu Rong suddenly shouted.

"Master!"

She grabbed onto him and threw the herself towards the ground while holding him. A blood red spear flew out from the woods.

Had Xu Rong been a fraction of a second quicker the spear would have scrapped her back instead of slamming into the side of her.