"Life Ddee, although your power is indeed great and can affect a massive amount of enemies, concentrate it more so it doesn't leave such a grand display. There are people who are capable of tracking you based on residual energy left at a scene. It was our first appearance so others won't tie this to us to follow." Akata suddenly spoke out while on the journey towards Cemetery Hills.
Akata was the number one disciple within the sect. His performance during the Cabin Trials a testament to this. Akata wasn't named the best killer for nothing. His abnormal calmness, patience, speed, strength, and decisiveness are just some of the traits that shaped him into an unstoppable force.
Life Ddee nodded his head, "Noted."
The group barely spoke words to each other. Maybe it was because of the secrecy the Sect Leader made them go by, or the fact that they were still unfamiliar with each other. Either way, it was a boring journey.
After the first mishap with the teleportation array, Akata led his team through forests, jungles, plains, canyons and other sorts of environments. With his Nature Sense and Plant Realm Power, traversing wildlands was like walking through his own backyard. Beasts of various strengths and sizes could be seen roaming around as they approached the Holy Beast Kingdom, but they were mostly easily avoided.
Just like this, almost 2 months went by.
During this time, the group had gotten to know each other much better. Since they all came from the same sect, the four Cloud Corps members finally figured out the identities of "Nolife" and "Mindlife". Though they would never actually say or show that they knew.
Akata barely did any fighting during this trip, mostly letting the others handle the light work. It wasn't that he was getting lazy or bored of fighting, his mind was focused on other things. But due to him not fighting, Akata saw that he actually liked observing others just as much as he liked being involved. Because of this, he would often train his Nature Sense and Soul Foresight to increase his own awareness and also his knowledge of the surroundings.
Although Foresight was much better than simple sensing abilities, such as Nature Sense or Divine Sense, sensing was much more natural; especially Nature Sense. With Plant Realm Power, using Nature Sense was also a way for Akata to increase his knowledge of the Plant Realm and also cultivate its power.
By now, Akata and his group had left the Mystic Empire and entered the Holy Beast Kingdom, their Red Cloud Sect located in the former, but they were still a bit of distance away from reaching Cemetery Hills.
"Hmm?" Akata had his Nature Sense and Soul Foresight spread out and was observing the changes in nature when he sensed a rather strong aura approaching from behind. Since he could detect this aura, that meant the being it belonged to was within 299 meters of Akata.
This was Akata's absolute limit in terms of sensing. His soul definitely had the strength to stretch out further but his own level of strength was too weak to power his soul to reach that far. Akata felt ashamed because his senses hadn't been able to go further out. But what he didn't know was that 299 meters was the limit of Second Rankers.
Akata didn't pause or slow his pace as he observed this person. The person, on the other hand, seemed to also sense the group ahead and slowed their pace, keeping a safe distance from the group yet also following behind.
Through Soul Foresight, Akata could passively communicate a bit with souls he could sense around him. Because of this, he could "read their intentions" before they act upon anything. Thus, Akata could confirm that the person following behind wasn't there to harm them… at least for now.
It was at this time that two energy blasts in the shape of hands came rushing towards the group of 6.
The Bludhaven Scythe appeared and Akata swung the blade toward the attacks, easily slicing them in half. As the attacks slowly dissipated Akata stopped his movements and looked ahead at the 3 people in front of his group.
The 3 people each wore different clothing. A man had on pants with no shirt. A young adult male had on a blacked out outfit with a jacket to match, and the woman wore a simple pink jumpsuit. The young adult male had his hands up so he was clearly the one who had fired off the attacks earlier. A smile on his face.
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"Are you the one who killed our lowly brother disciple?" Asked the young man. He still wore a smile on his face so it could be seen that he truly didn't care about this "brother" of his.
"These must be disciples of the Blood Saint, but how did they find me? There shouldn't be any tracks to lead them here." Akata was surprised. His group had traveled a good distance within this month and a half, yet somehow these people had directly found him.
Looking at the people, Akata could sense their power. The young man and woman gave off the energy of a Low Second Ranker while the shirtless man had a strength higher than them. Akata couldn't tell what his strength was.
Seeing as how the masked group was silent even after he asked his question, the young man started losing his patience.
"Heh. Don't wanna answer I see. That proves you're guilty. Well then receive your punishment on behalf of our master." With that the young man sent out another palm blast directed at the group. He planned to eliminate everyone in one move.
Akata furrowed his brows. He could handle the young man by himself and have the rest of the group take on the woman, but that left the shirtless man open to cause havoc.
But suddenly…
"You, back there. You think you can hide behind your group? The whole Rock Bottom Sect was annihilated, you think we're dumb enough to think a group of Mortal Ranked people can do this by themselves? Hahaha! Think again." The shirtless man laughed hysterically then vanished.
Boom. Bang. Bow.
Akata could feel through his Nature Sense and Soul Foresight that the shirtless man and person trailing behind his group started fighting.
"Alas, I happened to drag someone into our problems. Luckily their strength is capable of contending against the shirtless man."
"You all take on pinky over there, I'll handle nighttime over here." Akata already took out his Bludhaven Scythe and let out a strike while he was speaking, dispersing the young man's attack.
After that, Akata sent waves of black light toward the young man with a few strikes from his scythe while dashing off.
The young man was irritated. This was the second time his attack was stopped by Akata, and so easily at that.
"This trifling Mortal Ranker, I'm already at the Earthly Rank but he can still resist me?" The young man took in a slow breath to calm down as he waved his hand instantly obliterating the attacks Akata sent his way. "Blood Sister Holly, take care of this group of trash. I'll play with that black masked fool." Without waiting for the woman to respond the young man went in pursuit of Akata.
Blood Sister Holly rolled her eyes at his departing figure. "Blood Brother Crush, you owe me for having my hands dirtied."
"Humph. I should say the same thing." Mindlife stepped forward. As he did, his aura started to transform and a fog started to waft from his body filling the area. His lower body seemed as if it were becoming incorporeal.
Blood Sister Holly turned her attention to Mindlife and the group around him. Her brows slightly raised.
"Kid! Come here and receive your death willingly! If I have to chase any further I'll dismember your body piece by piece." Blood Brother Crush was enraged. Akata's speed wasn't inferior to his own so he couldn't catch up to him.
All of a sudden, Akata stopped running and turned toward Crush. Akata unleashed his power and struck out with his scythe once more.
"Tch. Measly 10th Grade. I don't know how you're so fast or strong but your resistance is futile in front of me." Stretching out his hand, Crush attempted to crush the incoming scythe waves but then his eyes enlarged and he quickly darted to the side, successfully evading the attack.
"That attack just now… it already had the strength of a 2nd Grade Second Ranker. Could he be hiding his power level?" Crush was at a loss.
Akata on the other hand was just getting started. He had reached the 10th Grade a month ago and needed a worthy opponent to test his strength on. The 10th Grade for Akata meant that his combined bases had all reached the 10th Grade at the same time. His Infinite Realms Power thus had a great boost in strength.
Stepping forward, Akata's aura took on an abrupt change. He instantly activated his Bloodline Form as strength poured through him. Rotating his crimson rune, Akata was just about to attack again when he noticed something.
"Huh? My crimson rune seems to be changing. Almost like it's evolving." Through his Bloodline Form, Akata could feel more of a connection to his crimson rune.
Ever since Akata took the Ancestral Awakening Pill, his crimson rune seemed to be the most affected out of anything. Although the changes weren't world shocking, Akata could definitely notice these changes.
Right now however, wasn't the time to focus on the changes of the crimson rune so Akata put this matter to the back of his mind for now.
While in his Bloodline Form, Akata could unleash his full power. Gathering his Infinite Realms Power, Akata struck out again with his scythe. This time a black wave 5 meters wide launched toward Crush.
Crush could sense the strength within this attack and unleashed his full power, 3rd Grade Second Ranker. Using utter force he crushed the wave of scythe energy with his hands. He brought out a silver staff and twirled it around.
"Seems like you have skill kid. I'm gonna tear it out of you."
Woosh! The two launched at each other and began exchanging blows. Surprisingly, Akata was able to go toe-to-toe with Crush.
"But how? He's only at the 10th Grade of the Mortal Rank and hasn't even reached the peak yet!" Crush was going crazy at this point. He couldn't understand how someone so young and weak could be so powerful.
Akata was matching Crush blow for blow and on the surface it looked as if he was having an easy time but in truth he was struggling to keep up. After all, he was still in the First Rank and was facing an opponent almost at the Mid Second Rank by himself. It was already astounding that Akata could display this level of strength at his level. Even Swordlife wasn’t this strong when he was at the 10th Grade of the First Rank.