Chapter 165 - Fear

Pant! Pant!

Hei was barely standing as he took a breath of air. His face was ashen, and it was only thanks to his willpower that he could stay on his feet. But his enormous effort had been rewarded - the victory was his.

When he saw Emilia's body stop moving, only then did he look away from the woman. The poison had now run its course, poisoning the woman to the point of taking her life. Usually, the attack of a user of the Poison Law, with similar cultivation, wasn't so powerful as to be able to take the life of one's opponent with a single contact. In fact, the enemy could use their spirit power to block the advance of the poison.

However, Emilia had exhausted most of her spirit power in using that explosive talisman from before. The power of that object was undeniable, and it was, therefore, reasonable that the cost of spirit power was just as high, not to mention that she had consumed a lot of spirit power in the early stages of the fight.

Furthermore, it had to be said that blocking the advance of a poison poured directly inside was more difficult to perform. It was even more true if the user of the Poison Law had some degree of understanding towards that Elemental Law. As the owner of the Nightmare Spider Bloodline, Hei's Law of Poison was very powerful for those at his rank and stage of cultivation.

Meanwhile, his companions and allies had finished their respective fights. Spurred on by the cry of the Imperial Prince, all of them unleashed their finishing moves to end the battle quickly. At the time, in that section of the forest, there were twenty lifeless bodies that once housed the soul and spirit of young martial artists who only wanted to avenge their loved ones.

"HEI"

'Big Brother!'

The voices of Lian, Ye, and Xing quickly came. The three of them had been traumatized when Hei was engulfed by the explosion. Even now that the fight was over and Hei had won, concern and relief could be read on their face. As soon as they finished their enemy, they ran directly to Hei.

Groan!

Lian, in the throes of her emotions, threw herself on Hei, embracing him with all her strength. Brilliant tears like pearls ran down her cheeks. The sudden hug made Hei fall to the ground, groaning in pain. However, he didn't care; his focus was on the blue-haired young woman who had her face pressed to his chest.

"I'm sorry I made you worry. It won't happen again. I'll pay more attention next time."

Ye and Xing arrived shortly after that. Without hesitation, they returned to their petite form and approached their big brother's face.

'Are you okay?' (Ye)

'Please don't make us worry like that.' (Xing)

"I'm fine. I'm just hurt a bit, but it's not that bad. I'm sorry I made you worry as well."

Meanwhile, the rest of his team had rushed to Hei. Mia and Lilian immediately proceeded to medicate him while the others guarded the procedure. Before long, Hei could feel the pain in his back ease as the burns became less noticeable. It must be said that having two martial artists medics with him was useful in cases like these.

"I didn't think the enemy had such a card. You did well by protecting yourself at the last minute. Not many spirit soldiers of the younger generation would have been able to do so, including those who have a higher cultivation stage."

In addition to Hei's group, the Imperial Prince Long Tian's group had also arrived with Feng Chen and the fiery-haired woman by his side and Hu Jie. The Imperial Prince and the two members of the Eight Big Families were looking at Hei in a whole new light. Before, they were intrigued by Ye and Xing's transformation technique, but now they had been able to observe Hei's skill and had been impressed by it.

"Thanks, but I would have liked to do without it if I could," Hei commented with a note of sarcasm. He certainly would have preferred to avoid making Lian and his sisters worried like that.

"There is one thing that doesn't convince me. It's how the hell they got those talismans. From their structure, they look like talismans created by a spirit grandmaster." Feng Chen broke into the conversation, bringing attention to an important detail.

"It is so. In all, there is engraved a technique of the Law of Fire, and the power reaches the spirit grandmaster rank," added Lian. As a scholar of formations, she managed to recognize from the symbols the properties of the technique engraved and the degree of power it could achieve.

Hei, who knew nothing of these talismans, asked, "Do you know what kind of weapons are Lian?"

Lian nodded before explaining, "The Masters of Formations can infuse the spirit power tied to an Elemental Law technique into particular materials. Among these, there are specific materials that can be modeled as paper. Depending on the type of material used, there is a power limit that the technique engraved inside can reach.

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Once the talisman is finished, anyone can use the engraved technique, even if you don't have that particular Elemental Law. Only the expenditure of spirit power will be higher. Furthermore, the power generated is also linked to the rank of cultivation achieved by the user. Even though they are talismans created by a spirit grandmaster, a spirit soldier is unable to bring out all the power. Instead, it will be inferior even to the power of a spirit master. For example, the power that can be generated by a third-stage spirit soldier will be able to at most reach the final stages of the spirit soldier rank, depending on the amount of spirit power infused within."

When Lian finished explaining, Long Tian kept saying, "What you said is right. But these talismans are not something that can be commonly found. The Empire keeps the talisman market under control, and only the soldiers affiliated to the Army of the Sun can buy them. There are indeed black markets where elemental talismans are sold, but they aren't a place that can be entered without the right connections. There are talismans being sold in the Southern Royal War Academy, but only for those who are in their third year, not earlier. Considering that these people were all from common origins, it is difficult to understand where they obtained such objects, not to mention that they were made by a spirit grandmaster."

"You have something in your head, right, Long Tian?" said Feng Chen as he looked the Imperial Prince in the eye. As the son of the head of the Feng Family, one of the Eight Big Families, he didn't have to be formal in front of Long Tian.

"Yes, but they are only thoughts. Dae-Won, Hide, Xinya, William. Collect the enemy space rings and bring them to me. The things inside will go to who killed that particular person, but as by the empire law, I can't let you have access to such objects before you reach your third academic year. It is also in consideration of the test that we are conducting now. I ask you to understand it."

Since the request was from the Imperial Prince, no one objected. In any case, it was only the talismans; the rest of the objects would go to their respective new owners. While the Long Tian guards carried out their boss's order, Hei had finished the healing process. His body, although tired by combat, was woundless.

"We are finally done! I recommend, even if the wounds have healed, it is better that you avoid sudden movements for a few hours." Mia said as she wiped her forehead from the strain.

"You owe one to us. Treating such burns in a short time consumes a lot of spirit power. You are fortunate to have both of us." Lilian came out with her straightforward manner.

"Well, since you've all consumed a lot of your spirit power, I'd say it's time for a nice meal. Come here; I'll make something good." Haruno, who was the one who had consumed the least spirit power of all of them, began to bring out his kitchen tools to prepare something that could restore part of the spirit power of his companions.

By seeing this, Long Tian, Feng Chen, and Hu Jie couldn't help praising the foresight in the choice of this group. They were covered in every field, and despite the lack of a purely defensive martial artist, they had techniques that could cover that lack.

'Are you okay, Xing?' Hei asked, noticing that his little sister had moved a little apart to observe the corpse of the woman dressed in black who had almost killed her big brother before.

'Yes, it's just that I was wondering if we had to kill her. I know she tried to kill you, and that's why I can't forgive her. But the origin of her hatred is us spirit beasts. I feel partly responsible because I'm part of the same species.' the little spider revealed her tumultuous thoughts as she continued to stare at the woman.

'What are you saying, Xing? It was she who attacked us and killed innocent spirit beasts. There was no way we could leave her alive.' Ye replied. She wasn't at all pitied by Emilia's story. Her character was simple and straightforward. If you attack me, then you are my enemy!

Hearing the opinion of his little sisters, Hei took them both in his arms and gave his version, "I understand what you are feeling both, and they are both right arguments. The story of these people is undoubtedly a tragedy, and it is right that they have their revenge. But revenge on those who have nothing to do is unfair. If they had killed the spirit beasts responsible for the death of their loved ones, I wouldn't have intervened. However, there is also to be seen why such spirit beasts attacked the human villages. It may be that the loved ones of these people were on the wrong side. Despite that, the reason I killed this woman is that I was afraid."

'Afraid?' the two little divine beasts asked in unison.

"Yes, afraid. If I had left her alive, perhaps there would have been a chance to save her from the hatred that was destroying her. Perhaps we could have become friends or allies, and one day she could have forgiven the spirit beasts. But I didn't have the courage to risk everything for this slight possibility. What would have happened if I left her alive, and she hadn't been able to forgive the spirit beasts? What if she came to hurt the two of you? What if I wasn't able to protect you that day like I did today? Just because I was afraid that I didn't want to take that risk. I decided on my own initiative to take her life. If that was the right choice, I don't know it. I only know that for me, it was the option with the most possibilities to protect you."

Ye and Xing went silent after listening to Hei's speech. At his side, the others listened in silence; after all, they had just killed those who, until recently, were classmates. Even if they didn't know them directly, it was true that there was a possibility that in the future they could become comrades in arms.

"We shouldn't dwell on it too much. They made their choices, and we made ours; end of the story. The path of us martial artists is like this. Two factions collide, each one putting its future at stake. Whoever wins will live, whoever loses will die. This is how it has always been, and this is how it will always be." said Hu Jie, who didn't like to think about such things. After all, however much they discussed it, they could never go back in time. What was done was already done.

After that discussion, the martial artists present there decided to camp in that area. The fighting had exhausted them, and they had to recover their spirit power. Since Hei's team possessed two martial artist medics and a martial artist chef, Long Tian and his guards, Feng Chen and Huli Xieren, and Hu Jie took advantage of the thing and stayed with them. Hei decided to let them remain as thanks for their help. Furthermore, it was true that having such allies was comforting, given the danger of this forest.

Unfortunately, however, the much desired and deserved rest didn't come. When that clash between humans ended and night descended, it was at that moment that the curtain rose for a battle that no one had imagined would happen.