Caelum’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the strange creature before him. It was humanoid in shape, but with blood red skin, bulging black veins, and a monstrous, inhuman face that had two horns protruding from its skull.

This was no beast or cultivator, but a true demon.

He couldn’t rely on righteous techniques as he did with the hawk earlier. This creature would require his full power.

“Demon,” Caelum muttered, gripping his sword tighter. The dark aura radiating from the blade intensified as he channelled his qi into it.

“Crimson Vortex!”

Bloodthorn erupted with demonic energy, enlarging until it was easily ten meters long. The massive sword sliced through the air, aimed to cleave the demon in two.

The demon leapt backwards, avoiding the worst of the strike but still losing an arm in the process. It let out an enraged howl, clutching the bleeding stump as it looked around for an escape route.

Seeing it preparing to flee, Hughie rushed forward with a fierce grin, shifting mid-leap into a wolf. He landed with a loud thud directly in the demon’s escape path, cutting off any chance of retreat.

They couldn’t let this thing get away without figuring out why it was here, and what it wanted with the Black Rose Sect.

"Going somewhere?" Hughie growled, baring his fangs. Behind the demon, Caelum strode forward, sword resting across his shoulders. His handsome features were set in a cold, calculating expression.

"I wouldn't try running just yet. We have some questions, and you have answers."

The demon's eyes darted between them warily before settling on Caelum.

"Your aura...you’re close to awakening a domain," it rasped.

It could feel the oppressive aura of a pseudo-domain pressing down on it, restricting its power. If it wasn’t for the suppression ability of the domain, it wouldn’t feel so helpless right now. It couldn’t believe its eyes, a Core Formation cultivator at the verge of awakening a domain was almost unheard of!

"Perceptive.” Caelum's let out a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. “But I'm not the one being interrogated right now."

With blinding speed, he appeared behind the demon and lashed out with Bloodthorn. The elongated sword left a deep gash across its back. Howling, the demon stumbled forward, right into the waiting jaws of the wolf.

Razor sharp teeth dug into the demon's torso as Hughie violently thrashed his head, trying to rip it apart. But with a snarl, the demon enveloped itself in flames once again, forcing Hughie to release it or be burned.

Skidding backwards, the demon rasped out a guttural incantation in a language unfamiliar to the two humans.

Dozens of fireballs materialized around it, shooting towards Caelum.

It needed to distract the sword cultivator if it wanted a chance to escape.

Caelum's blade danced as he deflected the fireballs.

"Is fire all you've got?" Caelum taunted. "Then you've already lost!"

"Nine Shadows Mirage!"

With a surge of Qi, illusory copies of himself split from his body. In the blink of an eye, nine identical Caelums now surrounded the demon.

The demon's red eyes widened in alarm. It tried to block and evade the sudden onslaught from all sides, but stood no chance against the perfectly coordinated assault.

In seconds, Caelum and his shadows had left countless more wounds across the demon's body. Snarling in pain and outrage, it slammed both palms down towards the ground.

"Inferno Purgatory!"

Flames erupted in a dome around the demon, rapidly expanding outwards. The roaring flames passed burning away the mirages.

When the flames died down, the panting demon was surrounded by scorched earth and molten rock. It stared at Caelum in disbelief, not understanding how he had weathered its strongest attack unharmed.

This youth really was no ordinary cultivator!

"Thorned Lash!" Caelum appeared before it in a blur of movement.

Bloodthorn extended impossibly long, stabbing clear through the demon's chest and out its back in one smooth motion. Howling in agony, the demon could only claw helplessly at the air as the blade lifted it up, then ruthlessly smashed it back down again.

And again.

After the third heavy impact left the demon dazed and motionless, Caelum retracted his blade.

Breathing heavily now, the demon could only watch as Hughie once again blocked its escape route.

"Last chance to answer my questions. What are you doing here, demon?" Caelum asked.

When it just spat a glob of black blood at him in response, Caelum's eyes narrowed.

"Bloodthorn Feast."

A long, bright red tongue suddenly shot from his sword, wrapping around the demon.

The demon thrashed violently but couldn’t break free as the tongue tightened around it. Helpless, it could only scream in agony as Bloodthorn greedily sucked away its precious demonic energy.

Caelum’s jaw tightened, holding in the urge to scream himself. The potency of pure demonic qi was far beyond anything he had absorbed before. It took all of his willpower not to lose control.

Eventually, the demon went limp, drained to the brink of death. Caelum severed the connection then, swaying slightly from the strain. Bloodthorn, now sated, rumbled happily.

Stepping forward, Hughie clamped his jaws around the semi-conscious demon’s body, holding it in place.

"I'll ask one final time. Why are you here?" Caelum asked.

The demon’s glassy eyes struggled to focus on him. Then the bloodied mouth twisted into a grin.

"You cannot stop...what is coming," it rasped.

Before Caelum could demand an explanation, the voice of Li Fenghao echoed urgently in Hughie’s mind. “Fall back, now!”

Trusting the immortal’s warning, Hughie immediately released the demon and shifted back to human form. “Senior brother, move!” he shouted to Caelum.

They leapt away just as the demon self-detonated in a blinding explosion. The shockwave blasted out in all directions, scouring the earth and leaving a smoking crater behind.

Caelum and Hughie landed lightly. Caelum stared at the devastation with wide eyes. He had sensed no build-up of demonic energy before the blast.

Just what was going on here? What did it mean by "what is coming"?

Clearly there were unknown forces at work plotting against the sect.

Caelum and Hughie glanced at each other.

Master needs to be informed!

----------------------------------------

Amelia strolled through the forest, humming to herself with a faint smile on her face. Trailing reluctantly behind her were the three cultivators who had become her companions.

There was Jumpy, the nervous wreck from the Black Rose Sect who flinched if you so much as looked at him. Then there was Stripes, the White Tiger disciple who fancied himself a great warrior but had gone down with barely a fight. And finally Timid, the frail little Pure Soul disciple who spent most of his time staring at the ground.

Yes, Amelia had chosen fitting names for the trio of misfits that fate had dropped into her lap. And as much as they claimed to hate their new nicknames, they were stuck with her until they could obtain a scroll.

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“Come along, my little worker bees,” Amelia called out. “We mustn't dawdle if we want to claim our prize!”

“Are you certain a scroll is even here?” Timid asked nervously, cringing a bit as Amelia turned her bright smile on him.

“Of course! Have I let you boys down yet?” She giggled at their unimpressed looks. “Oh don’t be like that. This is so much more fun than wandering around aimlessly, isn’t it?”

“Let’s just get this over with,” Stripes grumbled.

“Shhh now,” Amelia pressed a finger to her lips as they approached a rocky clearing “I hear something up ahead!”

They crept up and peered down at the skirmish below.

Two Pure Soul disciples and one Heavenly Light disciple were battling a monstrous ape-like creature easily fifteen meters tall. And in one of its massive hands was a scroll!

Amelia had to stop herself from laughing out loud at their luck. This was even easier than she'd hoped!

"Alright boys, time to earn your keep," she whispered. Before any of them could react, she gave Jumpy a shove, sending the Black Rose disciple tumbling down into the middle of the fight with a shriek.

The other two disciples quickly followed, either pushed by Amelia or leaping down of their own will.

Giggling, Amelia sat down on a nearby boulder to watch the show unfold.

The three disciples were not happy at the sudden interruption and turned their attacks on the new arrivals. For a few moments, it was a complete free-for-all brawl between all six cultivators and the hulking beast.

Jumpy got punched in the face almost immediately but managed to stay on his feet. Face pale, he retaliated with a series of fireballs that scorched the beast's fur but barely slowed its rampage.

Stripes activated some White Tiger transformation technique, sprouting claws, fangs, and fur all over his body. Roaring, he launched himself at one of the other disciples, and the two became locked in a vicious melee.

Meanwhile, Timid struggled to dodge the various techniques and bodies crashing chaotically all around him. But he managed to get close to the beast holding the scroll and landed a desperate palm strike to its leg that made it stumble.

Unfortunately, the giant creature immediately backhanded poor Timid in retaliation, sending the slim cultivator flying into a tree trunk with a sickening crunch. He collapsed in a limp heap at the base of the tree, clearly out of the fight.

Amelia watched all this with great amusement, casually throwing the occasional fireball or a soul blade into the fray whenever she felt like it, not caring who she hit.

After a few minutes, with a blow to the head, Stripes managed to knock the Heavenly Light disciple out. He then turned to face the beast, leaping onto its back.

The ape roared as it tried to shrug him off, but Stripes sunk his canines into its neck until it finally toppled over dead, the scroll falling to the ground.

Leaping down, Amelia landed in front of Jumpy and Stripes. "Thanks for the help, boys. I'll take that now," she said sweetly, picking up the scroll from the ape’s corpse.

Jumpy and Stripes stared at her, both looking like they wanted to attack her and take back the scroll. But ultimately, they stayed back, not willing to risk it.

Good choice.

Amelia hummed thoughtfully, tapping one long nail against her chin. She could keep her new pets longer, force them to get her another scroll too...

But no, Caelum and Hughie would worry if she took too long. It was better to return now. She had what she wanted anyway.

"It's been fun, boys. But I should get back to my team now. See you around!" Amelia blew them a kiss.

----------------------------------------

Caelum paced within the cave hideout, a deep frown on his normally calm features. Hughie leaned casually against the wall, watching his senior brother with a hint of amusement.

“Come on, Senior Brother, I’m sure she’s fine,” Hughie said lightly. “You know our little hellcat can handle herself.”

“That’s not the point, Hughie. We’re supposed to be a team, but she ran off on her own without any consideration for us.”

“But that’s just Amelia.”

Caelum shook his head. “What if I hadn't gotten to you so quickly against that demon? Amelia should have been there watching your back, that's what teammates do!”

Hughie opened his mouth, then closed it again, realizing he had no real counterargument. Caelum was right, it had been irresponsible of Amelia to abandon them like that.

Their master had thought that Hughie’s near-death encounter had made Amelia more of a team player but that didn’t seem to be the case.

At that moment, a silver-haired girl strolled into the cave.

“Hello boys, did you miss me?” Amelia called out. Her smile faltered a bit seeing Caelum’s stony expression.

“Where have you been?”

“Oh Senior Brother, don’t be such a worrywart! I was just having a bit of fun.” She tried to drape herself casually over his shoulder.

But Caelum shrugged her off. “Our master entrusted me with keeping everyone safe during this trial. Your carelessness could have led to Hughie’s death.”

Amelia frowned, unused to being scolded so harshly by him. She tried to think of some glib response to brush it off, but Caelum wasn’t done.

“We’re supposed to be a team, but you abandoned us for your own amusement,” he continued. “As your senior brother, I expect better from you.”

Amelia’s mouth twisted unhappily. She clearly wanted to argue back but could tell Caelum wouldn’t bend.

“You’re right, of course,” she admitted quietly. “I didn’t think through how my actions might impact you both. It was selfish of me, and…I’m sorry.”

Caelum's stern demeanour softened slightly, and he gave a nod.

Eager to break the tension, Hughie spoke up. “Check out what I nabbed us.”

He held up a scroll triumphantly. Amelia’s eyes lit up as she saw it was a Yang scroll.

“Excellent work Hughie! Now we can fina-” She broke off, smile freezing in place as she seemed to remember something.

Slowly, she reached into her ring and pulled out...another Yang scroll.

“Ugh, I can’t believe my useless servants didn’t grab a Yin scroll,” Amelia grumbled under her breath.

Hughie chose not to ask for details.

“Guess we’ll need to trade one of these for a Yin scroll,” he said.

Instantly, Amelia was shaking her head. “Oh we don’t need to bother with that! We can just take a Yin scroll from someone; it’ll be easy. I saw some nice targets earlier—”

“No,” Caelum shook his head. Despite the battle against the demon looking easy, utilising a pseudo-domain as a Core Formation cultivator was draining. “We’re not wasting time and energy fighting others for no reason. The next stage starts immediately after this one.”

“I’m with Senior Brother.” Hughie nodded. “I’ve had my fill of battle for one day.”

Seeing she was outvoted, Amelia let out a sigh. “Fiiine. I suppose we can do this the boring way.”

Suddenly she perked up.

“Oh, I know just the stick in the mud to wheedle a trade out of! Come on boys, let’s go find him!”

“Find who?” Hughie asked.

“Dentos!”