Azreal strikes with Calista, the white metal easily slicing through the foliage that bars their way forward, Xiara and Darian following directly behind him. Each is covered in small cuts and bruises from the previous eight hours of hunting Mortal ranked beasts, yet they move at full speed, the sounds of their disciples screaming for help igniting a desire to protect their fellow outer disciples.

Azreal, slicing through the final section of thick foliage, gets a view of a pathway that is barely wide enough for three or four people standing shoulder to shoulder. Dense underbrush and twisting trees border the trail, their branches weaving together to form a tight canopy overhead, sealing the path beneath a lush green and slightly bioluminescent roof.

As the team bursts onto the well-trodden pathway, the metallic scent of blood mingles with the earthy aroma of the grove, a nauseating combination that threatens to overwhelm their senses. Azreal looks left, the sight before him sending a shiver down his spine, his stomach twisting in revulsion. A man stands with his foot firmly planted in the skull of a dead disciple, the sickening crunch of bone echoing in the eerie silence.

Azreal assumes she must either be Nila or Nola as he notices blood and brain slowly leaking from under the boot. Azreal's eyes dart to the man with a viper-like appearance, his eyes thin, his face extremely angular, he is clad in purple outer disciple robes of the Unbound Pavilion. Holding a woman by the throat with his right hand, she is dressed in the Celestial Defense Pavilion's outer disciple robes, her feet dangling a few inches above the floor, showing no signs of life, her eyes a clouded blue.

She's long dead, he is unbelievably strong to be holding her weight as if it's nothing. Azreal's thoughts are interrupted, "He is not an outer disciple of the Unbound Pavilion, I've seen or met most of them over the last two weeks during training or lectures. And he certainly wasn't present during the meeting earlier," Darian whispers.

Azreal, activating his Celestial Gaze, sighing internally, he knows that this foe's strength will be far above his own, but he is hoping for the best.

"Please be extra careful, I know we've developed good teamwork, but that will be useless if his strength is too high. He is at least a Martial Warrior and Peak Soul Novice," Azreal whispers just loud enough for Darian and Xiara to hear. Azreal turns his Celestial Gaze to Lilith, surprised she is alive as the strength difference is immense.

System, you know I can't leave him to kill another disciple, we've got to help her.

<...>

Quick and Lethal, got it, thank you.

"Lilith, Lilith, Lilith, you dirty bitch, why didn't you accept our offer? I could've won you over naturally, now I'll have to use my strength to take what I want," Ming Yue says with his long forked tongue flicking towards Lilith.

Lilith, an imposing figure with wild, unkempt ashen grey hair falls haphazardly around her broad shoulders. A large fresh cut runs from her left eyebrow down across her cheek. Her black and gold robes are barely kept together, clear signs of the intense yet pitiful battle her team put up against Ming Yue, his robes untouched. Her powerful body, covered in small scars atop her lean muscles, shows her years of training before entering the Heavenly Root Sect.

Ming Yue stands over thirty metres from Azreal and his team, he is still holding the black-haired woman off the ground by her neck. "Ming Yue, let Nila go! She doesn't deserve this. If you want me, you can have me just let her go!" Lilith screams as her tears begin to well at the corner of her eyes.

"Lilith, I told you before, once you rejected the offer, you have nothing to offer me and I will take what I want by force," says Ming Yue, his tone cold as he gives a twisted smile before he crushes the throat of Nila, an audible cracking sound can be heard, her lifeless body shuddering as he drops her. The loud sound of her body hitting the floor of the grove, bringing Lilith to a sob, her large axe dropping to her side as she keels over and touches her forehead against the ground.

Azreal's heart breaks for her, the loss of her teammates clearly crushing her spirit, yet he must continue, Darian and Xiara are relying on him.

You know that I am the fastest, he can't take a direct hit and keep fighting. Our only hope for this plan is to dodge the first strike and hope Xiara and Darian can act in time.

Notifications continue to pop up on the periphery of Azreal's vision, he chooses to ignore them and focus entirely on the task at hand. Sneaking towards the distracted Ming Yue, who has begun approaching Lilith, notices Azreal as he gets within ten metres, Ming Yue stops moving and begins to turn.

Now! Azreal, with a surge of Qi and adrenaline fueling his movements, decides it's now or never. He shouts, charging forward, "Ming Yue, fight me you coward!"

Ming Yue's calm and cold demeanour breaks into a hateful glare as he now faces Azreal, "Another one, trying to get in my way. The last two who tried to stop me from having Lilith ended up very, very dead, do you think this is wise?" says Ming Yue, taking a step forward.

Azreal, activating his Stormblades Surge, Lightning Infusion and Tempest Venom Blade, stands wielding Calista in both hands and his eyes, focusing on Ming Yue studying his every minute move.

"Argh!" Azreal shouts, a single blink was enough of a window for Ming Yue to vanish and appear standing next to him, one of his emerald daggers deep in his shoulder. Agony flares through his body, the dagger's poison seeping into his flesh. Fuck, he's fast! Azreal's mind screams, even as he grits his teeth against the pain. I can't let him get another hit like that, or it's over.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

He can feel a pulse of foreign Qi deep in his body, causing his vision to blur momentarily as a shooting pain cascades down his arm. Thank fuck I have the Poisonous Sword Body, he thinks grimly, I can tell whatever this blade is coated in would spell the end of me if I wasn't resistant to poisons.

<+ 50 Qi>

Wait, I gained Qi from his poisonous strike? The realisation hits him like a thunderbolt, a sudden clarity amidst the chaos of battle. I'll have to test this if I survive.

"Azreal!" Darian shouts as he forces himself through a thick patch of underbrush, his Golden Body glimmering against the dim bioluminescence. "Titan Golden Body Arts, Titanic Punch!" His words and fist thunder down on Ming Yue, his rapid appearance catching him unaware, his giant fist colliding with Ming Yue's body, sending him flying towards a twisted tree. His body slams into the tree, causing it to splinter and crack as the force of Darian's punch is immense.

Darian begins to bleed from his mouth and eyes, the white of his eyes beginning to tinge with gold. He puts his hand on Azreal's shoulder, ripping the blade out and taking it into his spatial ring, "I'll hold onto this," Darian manages to say before he spits blood onto the floor.

Xiara, immediately adjusting their plan, retrieves two vials charged with her fire Qi and launches them directly at Ming Yue. He is unable to react due to Darian's punch, unexpected and powerful, causing extreme disorientation. The vials of fire Qi collide with his body, as the glass begins to crack and flame licks his body, time slows to a halt for Ming Yue.

What is happening? I am so close to tasting my beautiful prey, why have the Masters forsaken me!

Ming Yue's thoughts are broken by intense pain, his screams pierce the dense canopy of the Lingxi Grove, a mixture of agony and rage that sends a chill down Azreal's spine, and strips Lilith of her small hopeful smile. The flames from Xiara's vials engulf his body, the intense heat searing his flesh and filling the air with the acrid stench of burning skin and hair. For a moment, it seems as if the battle might be over before it truly began, the inferno consuming the treacherous disciple whole.

But as the flames begin to die down, a figure emerges from the smoking ruins of the twisted tree and surrounding undergrowth. Ming Yue, once well-kept and dressed in pristine robes, now charred and tattered, his skin blistered and blackened, stands defiantly amidst the destruction. His eyes, once cold and calculating, now blaze with a manic fury that borders on madness.

"This is far from enough to kill me! You dirty fucking rats!" his voice a guttural snarl that barely resembles human speech. "I am Ming Yue, a chosen echo, I am destined to serve the one who will become the supreme monarch of the heavens! You are nothing but dirt, if I can't enjoy my prize, no one can!"

With a speed beyond his body's grievous injuries, Ming Yue lunges forward, his remaining dagger aimed straight at Lilith's heart. Azreal, his Celestial Gaze still tracing his body, reacting on pure instinct, throws himself into the path of the blade, Calista raised to deflect the strike. The clash of metal on metal rings out through the grove, the impact sending shockwaves up Azreal's arm.

"Azreal!" Xiara shouts, her hands already reaching for more vials. But Azreal, gritting his teeth against the pain of his wounded shoulder, digs in deep, channelling his strength and Qi into his sword, increasing his speed and strength. Azreal's sword turns into a blur of motion as he meets Ming Yue's frenzied attacks.

I can't let him reach Lilith, she's lost her two teammates and the will to fight. Azreal thinks, his resolve hardening with each parried blow. I made a promise, I will no longer stand by betrayal and injustice, and I intend to keep it, no matter the cost.

Beside him, Xiara joins the battle, her explosive concoctions exploding around Ming Yue in a display of fire and light. The blasts, carefully aimed to avoid Azreal and Lilith, force the Serpent disciple back, his movements growing more erratic with each passing second.

Darian attempts to stand, his body quivering as he manages to pull himself up against a tree on the edge of the path. "Darian, focus on getting your Qi under control, if you fight anymore you will die!" Xiara shouts at him, a grim smile on his face as he slumps back down onto the tree.

Darian, leaning against the tree and still reeling from the backlash of his own technique, watches the battle with a mix of awe and concern. They're in sync, as if they've been fighting together for years.

But even as the thought crosses his mind, he sees the toll the fight is taking. Azreal's shoulder bleeding heavily, his sword arm wavering with each strike, and Xiara's face is pale, the constant use of her Qi taking its toll. I have to help them, Darian realises, but I can't move, how can I do anything? He slams his fist into the dirt, as his eyes fall on Lilith, who has managed to pull herself to her feet, her axe gripped tightly in trembling hands. That's it!

"Lilith!" Darian calls out, his voice cutting through the chaos of the battle. "You have to fight! We will all die if we do not strike now, he is at his weakest yet most dangerous!"

Lilith's eyes, previously devoid of light, filled with grief and despair, snap into focus at Darian's words. A spark of determination ignites within her depths, a fire born of loss and fueled by rage. With a roar that shakes the very trees around them, she charges forward, her axe raised high.

Ming Yue, caught off guard by this new threat, barely manages to dodge the first devastating blow, the axe colliding with a twisted tree and chopping it clean in half. Undeterred, she swings the axe back towards Ming Yue, each strike backed by the full weight of her grief and fury.

Azreal and Xiara, sensing the shift in the battle, redouble their efforts. Azreal's sword flashes with lightning, the crackling energy mingling with the flames of Xiara's concoctions to create a maelstrom of elemental fury. Azreal's sword flashes with lightning, the crackling energy mingling with the flames of Xiara's concoctions, both aiming to punish any misstep Ming Yue makes.

Under this onslaught, Ming Yue's defences begin to crumble, his charred flesh splitting and cracking with each blow.

We're winning, Azreal realises, a surge of hope rising within him. We can do this!

But even as the thought forms, Ming Yue, with a burst of desperate strength, breaks free of the barrage. His eyes, wild and desperate, lock onto Lilith, a twisted smile splitting his ruined face.

"If I can't have you," he hisses, "then no one will!"

With the last of his strength, he hurls his dagger, the jade blade glinting with a sickly green light as it flies towards Lilith's heart. Time seems to slow, each moment an eternity as Azreal watches the dagger's path, knowing with certainty that there is nothing he can do.

But Lilith, with a speed born of desperation, twists to the side, the dagger embedding into her arm. The pain, sharp and sudden, as the force of his dagger sends her backwards and onto the ground. A crunching thud as she lands, the dagger ripping from her arm and skidding along the floor.

Azreal, knowing this is the moment, speeds towards Ming Yue. "You may kill me but my Senior Brother will kill you all, he is far above my level," Ming Yue spits his words, and maniacally laughs as Azreal's blade ripples with Lightning Qi as it descends on Ming Yue's body, slicing him cleanly from shoulder to waist. He coughs a mouthful of blood, before the final crazed light in his eyes fades and his body collapses into the dirt.

It's over. The thought echoes through Azreal's mind as he stands there, his sword hanging limply at his side. The adrenaline that had sustained him through the fight begins to fade. He silently stares at the charred remains of Ming Yue, a hand falls on his uninjured shoulder. He looks up to see Xiara, her face streaked with soot and sweat, a small smile on her lips. "We did it," she whispers, her voice hoarse from the smoke.

His eyes linger on her face, "We killed him, but his last words warned me of another, more powerful disciple hidden within our ranks. I can only assume their goal is to kill certain groups of outer disciples, so anyone inside the Lingxi Grove is in extreme danger."

Xiara's expression turns grim, their condition isn't the best, and another strong enemy, let alone the beasts inside the grove, will continue to hunt them.

Azreal notices Lilith approaching Darian, who's still slumped against the tree, his body no longer golden. Yet the tinge of gold in his eyes still remains, a cause for concern as Azreal reads a message from his system.

< Master! Darian's use of his evolved cultivation technique is putting immense strain on his body. If he continues to use his technique at this rate, he risks the technique consuming his essence. >

Azreal's mind races, concerned for his friend and for the rest of the competitors, as if sensing his thoughts, Xiara squeezes his shoulder, her touch a comforting warmth against his skin. "Come on," she says, "let's get you patched up. We still have a competition to win."