Chapter 20:

Ming Lin and I rushed through the tunnel as fast as we could, her carrying her barely conscious friend. I tried to do as Sun Xia commanded, reaching out to the walls and using Reinforce Burrow Creation to close up the tunnel behind us. But we were running too fast. The earth I was trying to shape left my range too quickly, only really leaving minor hurdles behind us.

I tried slowing down a bit to see if I could form a complete wall without stopping. But I only managed to make the hurdles taller and not quite close up the tunnel. They were also too thin to actually stop a cultivator. So I finally stopped in my tracks, despite still feeling way too close to what was causing the earth to tremble in the distance.

Ming Lin noticed what I’d done immediately, and she came to a stop as well. She spun to face me. “What are you doing?”

I waved for her to go on ahead. “Just go, can’t close up the tunnel on the run. But I’ll catch back up in a moment.”

She hesitated for a second before nodding and turning to run. “Hurry, I doubt anything is getting past those two fighting to chase us.”

“Okay,” I said, turning around and putting my hand on the wall and activating my Skill again. I made the walls of the tunnel grow inwards, shrinking the tunnel rapidly. As I did, I also noticed we were in a section of the tunnel very close to the big cave system I found before. Should I open the tunnel up to that after closing it up so anyone following thought we went in there?

It seemed like a good idea, so I decided to do both at once. I made a hole start to appear in the side of the tunnel on the other side of the wall which was almost done. There probably was no one chasing us, but it seemed like—

A different set of vibrations reached the range of my Earth Sense. I had just a moment to register it beyond the tremors that were still coming from the fighting. Then what was causing it entered my range. Four footsteps, yet I couldn’t see anything through the ever-shrinking hole of the wall I was creating. But I could feel it. Feel the Qi of the invisible thing rushing me. It was strong too, probably stronger than me.

I cursed while activating Qi Devourer’s boost and bringing up my sword defensively. All the while, I was hoping the wall would close and hold it off.

It didn’t.

A moment later, whatever it was left the ground. Then the hole in the wall I was creating exploded into shrapnel. I tried cutting out the air at whatever this was. But I felt nothing against my blade as time seemed to slow.

A shimmer seemed to appear in front of me for a moment before something crashed into me. I had just enough time to bring up my other arm to block. Then I felt teeth biting into my arm, making me scream as I fell to the ground.

Searing pain ripped through my arm as the form above me became visible. It looked like a massive fox, but that was all I could make out before it started shaking its head. I screamed in pain as it seemed to try to rip my arm out of my socket.

Clenching my fist, I resisted as best as I could, fighting off the powerful beast with my own boosted strength. It bit down harder in response, making me curse it to hell. I wasn’t going to just let this thing savage me, though. I tried to maneuver my sword to stab at it.

But I was in an awkward position on the floor. My sword scraped the side of the tunnel at my attempt. The fox reacted blindingly quick and bit into my sword arm before I could stab it. I struggled for another moment before trying to punch it with my free hand.

I hit it several times with all the strength I could muster, which wasn’t a whole lot. On the floor and in such an awkward position, it didn’t seem to do much. Yet I continued to punch it, trying to make it let go.

That turned out to be a mistake.

As I reared my free hand back to punch as hard as I could, the fox struck. It let go of my sword arm and lunged for my throat.

I only barely managed to stop it, catching it by the muzzle with both hands, but dropping my sword in the process. Even then, its teeth snapped dangerously close to my throat. Its paws dug hard into my chest, its claws cutting through fabric and flesh. I struggled to hold off the powerful beast's strength, which really pissed me off.

Despite how strong I’d gotten, I still managed to get into a fight with something stronger than me so soon.

Just great.

I gritted my teeth and thought furiously about what I could do to stop this thing from killing me. The first thing to come to mind was the Skill that was quickly becoming my go-to when it came to avoiding death.

Earth Wader.

So I activated the Skill, and the ground beneath me became liquid. Like a rock, I sank quickly with the damned fox’s weight pushing me down. It continued to try to snap and bite at me, but then part of its muzzle and its paws entered the ground with me.

For a moment, I thought that I might be able to trap the thing in the ground, even as I lost sight of it as my head sank into the earth. But my awkward hold on its muzzle wasn’t enough for me to drag it down with me. Once it realized what was happening, it pulled back and tore itself from my grip. And despite the rock that had re-hardened around parts of its muzzle and its paws, it was able to rip itself out of the ground with little issue.

Still, at least I was safe for the mome—

I felt the ground above me get ripped away through my Earth Sense. Crap, it was digging. And with its size and strength, it was digging fast towards me. I quickly sunk deeper into the earth to avoid it before moving to the side so it wouldn’t ever find me blindly.

Only then did I relax just a bit as I considered what to do now.

I couldn’t not deal with this thing. I doubted this was a random spirit beast and was instead a pet or familiar or something. So hoping it would just stay here looking for me and not continue down the tunnel was unlikely.

The only question was how I would deal with it.

I came up with two plans quickly. One to kill it and one to get rid of it. I tried the one to kill it first since it was simpler, and I admittedly wanted to harvest this powerful beast.

So I started swimming back up to the fox, just as I felt it start to slow in its digging. Focusing on my Earth Sense, I figured out where its front and back were, and aimed to move just behind it. Then, channeling more Qi into Earth Wader, I tried rushing up as quickly as I could to grab its hind legs.

Unfortunately, either I wasn’t fast enough, or the damn thing had anticipated this. As my hands broke out into the surface, the fox jumped and left the ground. I quickly pulled my hands back after I grasped nothing but air. A second later, I felt it land again where my hands had been.

I winced as I imagined that I’d just dodge its attempt to bite my fingers off. I sank deeper into the ground, and the fox started to dig once more.

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Damn, it would have been great if that worked. But since that failed, Plan B it was.

Swimming quickly, I rushed under the fox as it stopped digging again. I emerged from the ground back on the other side of the destroyed wall I’d been making before. I was just in time to see the thing leave the hole it dug, so I started firing Earth Spears at it to get its attention.

The fox reacted almost instantly to my attacks. It spun around, dodging two of the spears before rushing me. It snapped another spear out of the air as it ran, crushing it to pieces, and shouldered through another one. Then it leaped over what was left of the wall right at me.

But that was exactly what I expected and wanted. I side-stepped it and kicked as hard as I could with the bottom of my foot. The fox somehow managed to pull back its head in time for me to miss, but that left it landing in an awkward position where I wanted it. Right in front of the hole I’d been making to the massive cave system below.

I kicked again before it could react. This time, my foot connected, and I punted it right towards the hole.

To the fox’s credit, it twisted in the air and almost caught itself before it went all the way through. But its claws failed to find purchase, and it still fell in anyway. Though not before glaring at me with what looked like pure hatred in its eyes. It was almost human-like in its intensity.

But that only lasted a second before it fell away.

I grinned at the sight, then quickly rushed to the wall and resealed the hole. Once that was done, I started sealing up the tunnel again, tense and ready for another attack. Thankfully, this time nothing came, and I managed to close off the tunnel.

So after that, I picked up my sword, then slowly started making my way back up the tunnel, sealing it further as I walked. Only when I felt that the blockage I’d built was too thick for anyone to easily break through, did I finally stop and begin running to leave the tunnel myself.

I let out a loud sigh of relief when I got out of the tunnel and wasn’t met by any more fighting, spirit beasts, or bandits. Instead, there were just a couple of huddled escapees. They looked rather terrified of their situation and… There were a lot less of them than there should be.

Did the others run off?

“Are you alright?” Ming Lin asked, having reacted fastest to my presence. She’d spun from where she was tending to her friend on the ground, her axe at the ready. When she saw it was me, she lowered her weapon and rushed over.

Her eyes looked up and down at the tears and wounds on my chest and arms.

I looked down at them, unsure myself. My wounds looked incredibly bloody and had hurt like hell when the fox dealt them to me, but now they didn’t feel so bad. Was that adrenaline? Some kind of paralytic saliva? Or did my absurd Vitality mean these were minor wounds?

“I think so,” I said as I examined my wounds and realized they’d already stopped bleeding. I could also open and close both my hands without problems, so the tendons in my arms were fine as well. “It looks bad but… I think I’m pretty tough now. Do you think I should take the healing pill Sun Xia gave me?”

Ming Lin frowned at that and took hold of one of my arms for a better look. She also pulled me away from the tunnel and over to her friend.

“I… don’t think so,” Ming Lin said after she grabbed my other arm and looked at it as well. “It would probably be best to save that pill for emergencies. Its power is potent, and your wounds are already healing.”

I nodded at that before I couldn’t help but look at her friend. She honestly looked a whole lot better than before. Her incredibly bruised-up face was already mostly healed. There was some bruising on her face, but nothing like before. I’d assume the rest of her was healed as well, but she had her eyes closed and her head leaned back against a tree.

“Is she okay?” I asked Ming Lin in concern. Maybe she needed to meditate or something to help the pill work. Or maybe it was something worse, like having to deal with the memories of what happened to her since her capture.

“She’s—” Ming Lin started to say, only to get cut off.

“Is fine,” Sun Yun said, opening her eyes. “I’m hardly some delicate flower that’s going to cry over getting beaten by thugs who can only bully others with cultivation and numbers. Especially not after taking one of Big Sis’s pills.”

“You should cultivate,” Ming Lin said, crouching down next to her friend and putting her hand on her shoulder. “To help speed up your healing. Just focus on that for now.”

Sun Yun just sighed and rolled her eyes. She moved to stand, gently pushing her friend’s hand off her shoulder. “I told you I’m fine. Besides, we might not be safe just yet. More bandits might come, and we’ll need all the fighters we can get. Especially when all those cowards ran off.”

“Now, don’t you know it's rude to not introduce yourself to a lady?” Sun Yun said, glaring at me. I didn’t think she was being serious though, as there was no heat behind it.

“Um, I’m M—Li Lan,” I said, cursing internally for stuttering again. Was I ever going to get used to not using my English name?”

“M-Li Lan?” she asked, tilting her head and taking a step towards me. “What a strange name. Are you from a strange and distant land or something, M-Li Lan.”

Each time she said my name, she emphasized my slip-up with a teasing lilt to her voice. It was honestly kinda nice, seeing her be this relaxed after the state she was in before. Hopefully, it wasn’t just a front.

“Actually, I am,” I said, deciding to cut her teasing short. “My actual given name is a bit hard to say for people here I think. So I just go by Li Lan now.”

“Really?” Sun Yun asked, looking skeptical. Then she turned to Ming Lin for confirmation.

Ming Lin just shrugged at that. “That's what he says… Though I suppose there are enough strange things about him that I believe his story.”

“Really?” Sun Yun asked again while tilting her head. “You’ll have to tell me about it some tim—”

Her words were cut off by the sound of rushing wind. We all turned toward the source and saw a familiar figure blur towards us. It was Sun Xia.

Our little resting spot in the trees and underbrush seemed to fall silent at her arrival. She had very little expression on her face as she stared at her sister.

“Hello, Big Sis…” Sun Yun said after a moment, sounding a lot more nervous than she was a couple of moments ago. “Thank you for coming to my rescue. I know I—”

Sun Yun was cut off by Sun Xia closing the distance between the two and pulling her younger sister into a hug. She held her like that for a long moment, and I turned away, feeling awkward just watching a family moment like this.

The moment was broken, though, when Sun Xia spoke again. “You are in so much trouble, Little Yun. So much trouble. You will not be leaving the compound for years to come.”

That earned a squawk of indignation from the younger girl who broke their hug. “What! But I—”

A loud boom echoed in the distance, cutting off whatever Sun Yun was about to say.

Everyone was startled at that and turned their attention in the direction that the fight had been. I did the same, but then I noticed movement in the corner of my eye. I turned and saw Sun Xia wasn’t looking that way. Instead, she was looking up.

I looked up to try and see what she was seeing, but there was a thick canopy of leaves in the way. Just what—

Something happened. Faster than I could blink, the canopy above us seemed to erupt into light. I flinched back and heard a much louder explosion this time, very close to us. I almost fell to the ground, but I just managed to keep myself upright. Still, there was a shrill ringing in my ears as I tried to regain my bearings.

When I finally saw what had happened, I couldn’t help but gape.

The area around us had been devastated. As if a bomb had gone off, leaving a crater all around us. The only things that remained intact were what was being protected by a golden dome that had surrounded us. It wasn’t big, just enough to encompass the four of us and the remaining freed captives.

It left us in a raised section of earth, surrounded by devastation. The trees that had survived inside the dome seemed to have been cut apart right where the dome appeared, leaving them lopsided.

Looking around more, I saw that the source of the dome had been Sun Xia. Specifically, it seemed to be coming from her chest. Maybe some kind of necklace? Just like before, she was looking up into the Sky, her sister held to her side, but an even more somber look on her face.

Following her gaze, I looked up at the now visible starry sky and managed to catch sight of a dark figure above. It was difficult to make out details, with the surprisingly bright night sky behind the figure. But it was definitely just a person floating, nothing holding them up.

A cold feeling welled up in my stomach at the sight.

That initial attack had already been terrifying, but seeing this made me realize just how bad of a position we were in. In cultivation stories, there was always a massive power difference between people who could fly and those who couldn’t. This must have been a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Since they attacked, this meant this was likely the Black Wind. And that Master Fang Hong guy was still not here.

This was really not good.