Susu surged forward, Scourge singing in her hand. She snapped her shoulder and the distinctive snap echoed through the smoky air as she glared down the Phantom Fox Brigade. “Your tyranny ends here…”

The bandits surged forward, their weapons brandished. They grinned savagely, showing their confidence, but that was all it was. Susu skipped back and separated them with a crack of her whip.

Susu did an instantaneous step, appearing behind the mob. She pivoted to her left, then released Scourge with eviscerated anger. She hit two bandits in the back and thigh with successive strikes.

Two men appeared to her left and Susu wrapped Scourge around her, she made a step to her left, then performed an instantenous step.

She swirled the Qi within her Core Dantian, then snapped her shoulder in overarching coil. Scourge wrapped itself around the leg of a burly, bearded man. She yanked Scourge back, sending him tumbling to the ground.

“WEI ZHEN…PAY ATTENTION, THIS IS THE EVOLUTION OF THE GUIDING FIST…THIS IS…THE GUIDING STAR FIST.

Susu released Scourge, and channeled all her Qi into her left hand. “Guiding Star Fist: Seventh Strike - Galactic Spiral.”

The air crackled with Qi pulsed it into her hand. Susu’s hand mimicked the spiral of space, a vortex of air between her and the burly bearded man, lurching him towards her.

Susu’s fist reached the center of its spiral path, the gathered force compressed into a single devastating point of impact, ready to release its stored energy like a supernova.

The bandit howled out in pain, his eyes went dead in instant to the bandits horror.

“Incredible,” Luan whispered as winced, He tried to move, but only succeeded in aggravating his injured ribs. He turned to Wei Zhen, who was pale and unsteady on his feet. ”Master Susu is amazing,”

“I’m so weak, Brother Luan,” He whispered.

“We both are…”

Two more men charged her, their swords glinting from the firelight. Susu caught Scourge before it could touch the ground and delivered a flurry of strikes, Scourge turning to a blur as she deflected five successive blows aimed at her chest, side and legs.

One man stumbled back, his arm hanging limp, while the other pressed forward, his face twisted with rage.

Susu feinted left, then lashed out Scourge, the tip of the whip slicing a deep gash across the bandit's face. He reeled back, clutching at the wound, and Susu pressed her advantage, raining down blows that forced him to the ground.

It was like a scorpion dancing among ants and destroying them with effort.

“This is why is called the Scorpion Maiden,” Luan said amazed.

He continued to watch in awe. Scourge blurred into motion. She struck one bandit across the chest, then spun, deflecting a sword thrust before slamming the butt of the whip into another man's face.

Hong Quan stood there, flustered, if he could join, this would’ve been over twenty in moves. He squeezed the pommel of his sword and tried to keep himself in check.

Zhao Li huddled behind them, scared, but her veil waft in the wind. She kept her eyes on Ban Susu and felt powerless…she wanted to be like her, powerful.

“Xiao Li don’t worry, I’ll protect you.” Luan said turning around and smiling.

“Eight down,” she muttered, her eyes scanning through the chaos.

Susu cracked scourge in a wide arc, this time, imbued with Qi. The tip of Scourge hit two in the chest and one in the back of their neck. The bandits dropped like flies, bodies crumpling up like swiveled hands in water for too long.

A pair of bandits attempting to flank her, she performed an instantaneous step and cracked scourge again.

Scourge was intercepted by the woman in green and the man with the iron fan appeared in front of her, using an instantaneous step.

She released scourge and spun into the iron fan man, Susu channeled her Qi into her hands. “The Guiding Star Fist: Eighth Strike - Starfall Barrage”

Susu’s hands enshrouded with with Qi, turned into a blur, she began punching at lightning speed, each attack faster than the the last…until they seemed to multiply.

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The punches raining down like a meteor shower breaking through atmosphere. The air crackling from each impact, her punches leaving trails of energy like falling stars streaking across the night sky.

The iron fan wielder eyes widened from shock, just as Susu’s punch were about to connect he blurred out of existence, performing an instantaneous step, but that couldn’t stop Susu.

She followed him with her Starfall Barrage, leaving craters in the ground from each strike that missed.

She adjusted her punches, lessening her Qi to keep the barrage ongoing. The iron fan wielder blurred again, using his instantaneous step, which made Susu squint. He won’t be able to perform an instantaneous step again without constricting his meridians.

The woman in green appeared to Susu’s right, she cracked her whip back, which startled Susu. She’s a whip wielder as well!

Susu performed an instantaneous step and scooped up Scourge, she spun cracking her shoulder back, but the tip of the woman’s wip was already bearing down at Susu.

The Soul…Core…and Mind Dantians of Susu swirled with Qi. She opened the eighteen meridian points around them, then surged her Qi through out them.

Her eyes thrummed with Qi and the world slowed for a half second. Wisps of Qi blossomed for the woman in green’s whip and Susu saw were her whip was aimed, her chest.

Susu kicked off the ground, and fluttered back. She pivoted to her left, getting out of reach of the whips reach, then spun Scourge into a upward arc, aimed at the whip-wielder’s hand.

The Iron Fan wielder deflected Susu’s attack and the woman in green unleashed a barrage of attacks. “KILL ALL OF THEM!” the iron fan wielder roared.

The remaining bandits surged forward, their eyes filled with bloodlust. Hong Quan sneered, and drew his sword as three bandits converged on him at once, forcing him to give ground as he parried their attacks.

“Brother Wei, stay behind me!” Luan shouted, stepping in front of his injured friend. His ribs screamed in protest as he blocked a sword strike with his own blade.

The impact sent shockwaves through his injured body, making him grit his teeth against the pain. Two more bandits circled around, trying to flank them.

Wei Zhen stumbled, but he deflected a strike aimed at his throat, but the effort left him gasping. “Brother Luan... I can’t.”

“YES YOU CAN!” Luan roared.

“STAY FIRM AND PROTECT THE GIRL!” Hong Quan shouted, his blade singing through the air as he fought off his attackers.

Zhao Li

Zhao Li pressed herself against a wall, her eyes wide with terror as she watched the men struggle. Her hands trembled as she clutched her veil, wanting desperately to help but knowing she would only be a liability in the fight.

Her heart hammered in her chest as she watched the battle unfold. The clashing of steel and crack of whips filled the air, but all she could hear was the thundering of her own pulse.

She’d never experience something such as this. This was worst than when Jiang Li had her struck her in the face.

Zhao Li was scared, so scared she couldn’t move.

The smoke stung her eyes, making them water. She watched Luan fight through pain, as he winced with each assertion.

Wei Zhen defense got sloppier the longer he fought, not because he was tired, but because he couldn’t use his Qi to enhance his stamina.

A shadow moved to her left.

“Li’er!” A whispered blossomed to her right. She turned right, only for Wei Long to emerge from the smoke.

The rags her wore were smudged in ash, and soot which clung to his sweat-soaked frame.

His face was pale, almost sickly, but his eyes burned with an intense focus she had never seen before.

“Brother Long!” She shouted in surprise.

A bandit’s scream pierced the air, followed by the sickening sound of a body hitting the ground.

“Come with me Quickly!” Wei Long snapped, grabbing her arm. She tried to resist but Wei Long was stronger. “I need your help!”

She resisted for a moment, but the smoke of the fire made her feel trapped. “You’re holding me too tight,”

“You don’t know where to go through the smoke, I have to guide you!”

As they slipped away from the battle, Wei Long led her through the smoke-filled camp. She heaved heavily, unfamiliar with the scent of the smoke, making her cough incessantly.

“The woman in green,” he said, “She poisoned me. But I found her laboratory. The cure is there – and more.”

They ran towards an area that wasn’t fire, but the smoke was thick. The laboratory was one of the bigger tents. “I started the fire,” He admitted as they entered, “I don’t know where we are, but I hoped Master Susu and Master Quan would’ve seen the fire, regardless of night.”

The laboratory was filled with wild ginseng and various herbs that Zhao Li was unaware of. Dried herbs hung from the ceiling, and complex apparatus lined the tables, still bubbling with unknown concoctions.

On one part of the tent there was wood outlined and another had rows of vials that gleamed despite the darkness. their contents gleaming in various shades of green and purple.

Wei Long moved to a specific shelf, gathering vials filled with a clear liquid. “These ones are the cure,” he explained, carefully storing them in a pouch. His hands moved to another shelf, selecting vials of sickly green liquid. “Those are the poisoned vials.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“I need help bringing them back to Master Quan…I saw him get poisoned from a sword slash.”

“I’ll help…we need to help them,” she said, trailing into a whisper.

Wei Long nodded “Stay close to me.” They made their way back toward the battlefield, the only thing they could hope, that no one had died.

Hong Quan was still holding his ground against multiple attackers, his sword work keeping them at bay but unable to press any advantage.

Luan and Wei Zhen on the other hand, they were against five men, despite not attacking, they were defending each other perfectly, using the Iron Claw Formation.

Susu on the other hand, was fighting the two leaders. The woman in green and the man with the iron fan. She was holding her own, but it was clear, these two weren’t someone she could defeat, as they covered each other’s weaknesses.

“Wei Long, what are you—" Zhao Li started but before she could finish, Wei Long threw one of the vials in the air at Hong Quan.

The world seemed to slow down around Zhao Li as she watched. The vial spun through the air, end over end, its contents catching the firelight like liquid emerald as it arced toward Hong Quan's position.

“MASTER QUAN CATCH!”