Two months went by quickly and the sunny summer months were gradually coming to an end. The seasonal winds of autumn were slowly moving in from the east, bringing a chill with it, and at times carrying dust and fallen leaves scurrying over the soft craggy ground.  

A secluded stretch of forest was framed in a soft golden hue, the sun sat low behind the trees, most had leaves turning reddish-amber, signalling the imminent change of season. 

Birds chirped and small animals scavenged for food in the sunshine,  a mild wind kept the multitudes of leaves dancing on their stems..

The silence of the picturesque scene was suddenly disturbed,  quick crunching footsteps ran over dried leaves and twisted twigs, making the startled animals and birds scatter to safety.

Hair whipping wildly in the autumn air. Fu Jianu jumped from a rock soaring fully ten meters, the girl dressed in a fluttering loose combat-robe, flowed as graceful as a swan over and around the clusters of trees and rocks.

She had a long bow in her outstretched left hand and a yellow glow surrounding her right, she reached back and removed an arrow from the quiver strapped to her back. 

As soon as the shaft of the metal arrow made contact with her glowing hand, the arrow got surrounded by the yellow glow, making the arrow look similar to molten steel. 

In one smooth fluid motion she notched the arrow, pulled back on the bow string and released it aiming diagonally downwards.

All before landing among the swirling dry leaves beneath her gracefully, vivid concentration etched on her sweat-covered face.

A stream of yellow whizzed through the air heading for a boulder and some greenery in the distance.

Before the arrow could hit its mark, there was movement in the shrubbery, a figure wearing a black robe with a slight brown glow surrounding his body, scampered off to the right as the arrow flew into the boulder he was taking refuge behind,  there was  a loud boom, the arrow quickly drilled all the way through, exiting the other side, spraying pebbles and dust backwards as it decimated a few hefty trees with a yellow flash.

"I got him!" said Shao Law dressed in black as he emerged from the greenery to the right. He closed in on the opponent, a middle aged man who seemed to be scared witless, putting all his concentration on outrunning the two youngsters, and making his escape from the mountain.

Shao Law was inwardly surprised at the fire arrow's power, he kept his focus on the man ahead, cutting of his route of retreat. 

A green aura surrounded his legs as he moved assisted by the wind element, stirring up breeze as he left a long trail of leaves in his wake, outflanking and closing the gap between himself and the intruder as quick as possible.

Fu Jianu kept supporting him from a distance with her graceful movements, her artillery-like arrows whizzing forward with accuracy.

Yellow arrows streaked through the air at lightening speed, Fu Jianu continued to change positions while firing in a bid to supresss the movements of the opponent.

Shao Law adeptly navigated through the obstacle course of exploding arrows, sometimes using his sword to produce scything wind-blades to knock back the cornered enemy,  all while they closed in on the flustered man rapidly.

The combination of having to defend against the arrows, plus the hounding of Shao Law constant attacks made  the battle a one-sided affair, the man soon lost concentration and was impaled through his weak earth armour by an arrow. 

His armour disintegrated with gushing sparks. Instantly his heartbeat puffed out like an extinguished candle as a huge hole was burned through his chest.

He fell face down on the forest floor with blood pooling under his lifeless body.

Silence was restored, Alrick let out a hard breath then sucked it in again, He gasped at the combat abilities of the young fighters, made possible by his elixir. He was standing sandwiched between Hartley and Qin Li as he hurriedly jotted down notes on his parchment. 

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For him, stepping into the xiantian realm was only a matter of extending his lifespan, a necessary step to continue his research of the ultimate formula. He had never been interested in fighting or martial techniques.

 Marvelling at the fighting capabilities of those youngsters. He truly understood now why in the past his clients were so desperate for medicinal dans that could improve one's cultivation....

"What do you think?" Hartley turned to face Qin Li and Alrick.

 Qin Li shrugged with nonchalance, "even though he was a 2nd layer xiantian, he was no challenge to them working together, that was too easy."

Hartley nodded in silent agreement.

Alrick had accompanied Hartley and the others to the mountains to hunt down spies. 

Hartley's awareness could now stretch out to almost 1000 kilometres. The people sending these spies to infiltrate the western hills were only sending them to their deaths. This was the sixth to meet his demise in the tranquil mountains.

Alrick had insisted on coming on this trip to ascertain the short-comings or flaws in his elixir, maybe by perfecting this elixir he could take another step in the right direction, but judging from what he was seeing, there seemed to be little to no flaws.

They were deep in the mountainous forest, Hartley was using these trips as top secret training for the two newly promoted xiantian experts of the western hills. 

The intensity of this trip was ratcheted up a level with both trainee allowed to fight the enemy without help for the first time. They were determined to impress Qin Li and Hartley who were quietly assessing their capabilities.

These two were the only ones given the xiantian elixir. For 6 weeks their training had been monitored to see if there was any side effects of the elixir that would befall them.

Hartley stood in silence and watched the impressive showing from the two youngsters, but his mind  was occupied with other matters.

Commander Genk wanted to abscond to the western hills but he had to temporarily refuse, he full well knew he couldn't go against prince Jian just yet. Ideals were honourable but without power they were nothing but air, hardly worth even thinking about.

Hartley knew better than to humiliate the prince, he had seen first hand the dirty under belly of human nature, the prince would definitely retaliate in kind.

Now with the black orbs and the potential influx of xiantian experts. The western hills were going to be a genuine powerhouse in the capital, but they still had no saint. Hartley needed time for his own breakthrough.

If a saint was sent to attack Hartley in the populated western hills, he might be able to hold his own, but the people would suffer greatly.

Publicly the prince had backed the western hills. The decree from the young prince had freed Zhi Ruo from her stresses and fear of persecution. It was now just a matter of time before the western hills could display its dominance.

The prince sent the white iron as promised, payment from the mission to the Tivoli gemstone mines.

In the public's eyes, their relationship seem to carry on as usual.

Hartley knew better.

******

A tall and thin white haired man strolled through the western hills, travelling free like a tourist sight-seeing. He had a smile plastered to his face, looking around and nodding his approval every now and then.

The elderly man moved like a spectre, workers busily going to and fro, on foot or in wagons, sometimes passed within inches of the man but none the wiser of his presence.

Hardly anyone even looked in his direction. The eccentric man dressed in white slowly walked through the bustling construction site at the entrance, unnoticed by anyone straight to the doors of the main manor.

The man fixed his robe, stood tall with a straight back then knocked.

 After waiting for a minute a fresh faced serving girl opened the door.

"Can I help you sir?" The girl asked baffled by having never seen the man before, usually guests would be escorted from the entrance by the security team. 

"Yes," the man cleared his throat and gave the girl a nod.

"I'm here to see Hartley, tell him it's Kang."

The girl wheeled on the ball of her feet and disappeared back into the manor.

Soon after.....

The rumbles of multiple feet pattered through the hall, Hartley soon anxiously appeared at the door with Zhi Ruo at his side, flanked by Fu Qian and Qin Li with the security team trailing close behind.

Sighting the familiar man calmly waiting like a normal civilian, inspecting the manor nonchalantly with his eyes roaming everywhere.

Hartley rushed up and performed a respectful bow, bending at the waist and leaning forward almost parallel to the floor.  Zhi Ruo and Qin Li caught up to him and did the same, leaving Fu Qian and the security team baffled and bewildered, they had never seen the trio so respectful.

"Welcome to the western hills elder, if I knew you were coming I would've..."

Kang cut off Hartley with a wave and an immature laugh. "No need for such formalities, I was in the neighbourhood so I came to take a look."

Kang moved off to the side, having a closer look at the wooden carvings on the main door, he shook his head slowly, obviously disappointed in the level of craftsmanship.

"Heard you had a run in with a Saint." He said with a playful smile turning back to face the crowd.

While scratching his head in shy embarrassment and smiling back awkwardly Hartley answered.

"Yeah, but I dealt with the situation and learned some lessons..

Kang cackled out loud.

Everyone had weird expressions, one..for the behaviour of Kang and two.. for Hartly saying so lightly that he dealt with a Saint.