“Whoops! Looks like I won. So much for a monster in human skin. Such a simple trick and you are already dead.” Amar boasted.

I was still too shocked and as such didn’t immediately heal, instead coughing out blood. [You… tasted my blood?]

“Be careful, Senior! He’s still dangerous!”

Ignoring the warning, Amar cleared his throat and smiled. “What? Don’t tell me you have something against it? Well, too bad! As a victor, I can do whatever I want, isn’t that right? Ahem!” He cleared his throat again.

I still stared at him as if I had just seen a ghost before my mind recovered. [Yeah… Yeah, I guess you can.]

I then began healing and turned back to where Shao Lin was hiding.

“Ah! He’s regenerating!”

[Hey, can you believe this idiot drank my blood? Like, who does that? I’m not even dead yet!]

“Ahem! Who are you talking to? Ahem! And why are you- Ahem! Still standing?!” Amar began clearing his throat every other sentence and then even began to lightly cough.

[What? Did you seriously think this was over?] I already completely regenerated and took a stance. Meanwhile, Amar began coughing more and more.

“What-” He coughed. “What’s in this blood?! It burns!”

He doubled over in a coughing fit, and soon he was spitting out blood. And no, it wasn’t my blood.

“Senior!”

“Senior Amar!

“What… what did you do to him?! You monster!”

[Me? I didn’t do anything. He is getting punished by god for being a pervert.]

I beamed, showing my white teeth. What a great development. I really wasn’t expecting it, but watching Amar twist in pain on the ground while his skin kept changing color and blood flowed out of his orifices was really interesting.

So my blood was that toxic, huh? Good to know.

Don’t get me wrong, I had long since realized my body changed, but I just didn’t know how much. I saw Amar scramble for pills as he took a small vial, but we couldn’t have that, now could we?

[Tsk, tsk. What is this? More treasure for me? Why thank you, I’ll gladly accept it.] I stepped on his arm and yanked the bottle from his hands. The storage pouch too, I took that as well. And the sword. The blade looked nice and expensive.

“Poison Body… Curse… you…” Amar, the poor guy, managed to squeeze out before another coughing fit hit him and didn’t stop. All until his Soul left his corroded, decaying body.

“Senior!”

What a nasty way to die.

“He killed him!”

I looked at the other six and smiled warmly. They all took a few steps back in clear fear. Smart. Now that their guardian was gone, I felt confident I could take all six of them at once. But more likely just the two new ones. The man and the woman. The rest didn't seem all that eager to fight.

“Wait!” Fang suddenly shouted. “We’ll give you what we have, please just let us go.” He already began taking off his gear. His brain worked well. Too bad he was outnumbered by stupid people.

“Stop! What are you doing, you coward?!” The new guy shouted, enraged. “He just killed one of our own, and you want to let him go?! Shameless!”

“But Senior… He’s too stron-”

A slap that came shut him up real quick. “One more word and I’ll kill you myself! Get ready to fight! Even if he can regenerate, there must be a limit to how long he can do it. Turn him into minced meat if that’s what it takes! Just don’t let his blood touch you!”

The group of four hesitated, obviously, but they got ready to fight in the end. I just rolled my eyes. Fine, if they wished to die, I would oblige.

“Wait! Look! Doesn’t he seem familiar?” It was the other member, the new girl. “Isn’t he the one the Elders are searching for?” She took out a scroll land looked at it. The new guy took it with suspicion.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

What?

“Is he? … Wait! He is! It’s him! The one that destroyed the Nexus!”

Oh, shit…

“Contact the Elders! We need backup!” Fang suddenly shouted. “Retreat!”

I saw the new girl take something else out of her pocket. It looked like a stone tablet. Everything froze at that moment.

I felt my fear and rage bubble to the surface like never before. I was so close. So close to my goal. No way in hell I was going to let some useless people ruin it!

My black core heated up in a flash, and my vision expanded to the limit, taking in every detail as people moved in slow motion. Qi flooded every cell of my body, and my flesh began to glow.

[SHAO LIN! KILL THEM ALL!] I roared. They had to die. All of them!

My hands formed claws and I felt my leg muscles tense as I crouched down. The next instant I was in their midst, an explosion of debris behind me from instantaneous movement. My left hand swiped at the new guy, but he moved. Instead of getting split through the middle, he just carried three long marks on his stomach.

The new gal wasn’t so lucky.

My right hand swiped down and sliced off her arm at the shoulder. Then my left hand returned and separated her head from her body. Then my right hand twisted slightly and shot up, splitting her up through the middle.

She was dead, her body exploding from the insane forces my strikes delivered, in less than a split second.

[DO IT!] I roared again. An arrow came and struck Chun Ke in the chest just as she tried to deliver a fatal blow. She screamed and stumbled back.

“Retreat!” Fang shouted and pulled Mei into his embrace. Then, with one swift motion, he tossed a small, palm-sized clay tablet, into the ground. It cracked, and a vortex of energy formed around them. I madly attacked it but was slowed down by it, and a second later, they were gone. I burst through the cloud of dust they left behind, yet there was no traces of them left.

[What-?!]

I turned to the rest, yet they all threw those clay tablets on the ground at the same time, and in a torrent of energy, they were gone.

[Shit! Shit, shit, shit! Faaaaaaak!]

They were gone! Fuck! Escaped! Right in front of me! With teleport tablets!

“Gerald? What’s-”

My head snapped around. Shao Lin. He was here…

They were going to alert the Sect. We could expect Elders to come in a few short minutes! Damn it! Danger was coming and we needed to go! Now! Fuck!

I grabbed the pouch and whatever else was left of the butchered woman and then dashed to Shao Lin.

[Don’t resist!] I shouted and wrapped my hand around his waist.

“What’s going on?!”

[Hold tight!]

Gravity? What’s that? My personal transportation?

Yes, yes it was.

We blasted into the air, higher and higher. I boosted my vision and activated every single enchantment I knew, to help me see.

We flew at tremendous speeds, yet the ground below moved so slowly! We heeded to go faster! Qi poured out of me as I struggled to pierce through the air resistance. As we approached the speed of sound the energy expenditure increased sharply. I couldn’t afford to waste even more of it for little gain. Then I suddenly saw it. The circle of young growth, covered in snow, in the middle of a frozen jungle.

I landed harshly and Shao Lin groaned. I forgot he wasn’t as durable as me, but he didn’t get hurt. Much.

Anyway, I didn’t have time to bother about him. I ran toward the middle of the clearing and frantically looked around. Everything was covered in snow and ice. I had no idea where the pocket of space was.

[Damn it!]

I was short on time. Systematically searching the place was out of the question, I had to be quick.

I took a few deep breaths to steady my raging mind and then swiftly created Glyph after Glyph tearing through space.

I violently tore, and after finding nothing I moved to another, letting the space collapse back in place. It was loud and could be detected from afar, but I had no choice. My time was limited.

Massive explosions shook the land and blasted away the snow and young growth as I repeated the action over and over.

“Gerald! Stop! What are you doing?!” Shao Lin shouted over the explosions, but I ignored him. “We need to get away!”

Not until I found what I was looking for! I was so close! If I left now, the Brilliant Sword Sect would search this place again, and find my stuff, if they didn’t already!

I dreaded to even think about that possibility. Surely they didn’t think to comb the entire space here, right?

With a crack, space tore. And a black void meet my gaze. A pocket! Finally!

I swiftly moved the dirt away with a wave of my hand and created more cracks on the bottom.

Suddenly, countless golden coins, beast cores, weapons, clothes, food, potions, armor… everything began pouring out of the crack. There was so much stuff I collected, I almost forgot.

I nervously watched as some books and alchemy equipment tumbled out, as well as various herbs and medicinal extracts.

Finally, after what I thought was an eternity, white crystal spheres fell out.

[Yes!] I quickly grabbed them and stuffed them in my pouches. I also grabbed a book, as well as various herbs and potion vials that were still perfectly preserved due to being stored in a separate dimension lacking the flow of time.

A mountain of treasures lay before me, yet I could only take a fraction of it. Not that gold or weapons would do me any good, but still. It was mine!

But then the happy reunion suddenly came to a close. A loud boom came from the sky, and as I jerked my head around, I saw what I dreaded the most. A Brilliant Sword Sect Elder.

How did I recognize him? The massive trio of swords on his back was a clear giveaway. And as if that wasn’t enough, they moved on their own, one to his left, one to his right, and one above him while he himself stood on solid air.

A dark green robe, embroidered with golden motifs stretched over his large muscular body. He didn’t look old, which was good, but clearly, he was in the Spirit Realm. Something I had no hope of beating.

He slowly descended with hands behind his back, and a gaze that was all but kind.

“Trespassers. Dogs of the Myriad Beasts Sect. You dare show your face here?!” His voice boomed, despite being still so far away. The air itself shook from his voice, and I could feel doom heading my way.