Dante stared at the Draco clan members with an apprehensive look. Despite his vast experience with monsters, the cultivator still had little experience fighting other human beings.

But it was never too late to learn.

"What are you looking at, you pauper? You don't even deserve the Draco main bloodline to face you," the man said, smiling. "Zaiko, don't worry about bringing him back alive. We can say it was an accident."

Dante got into fighting stance, his arms ready to deliver quick blows. His muscles were tensed with tension. Finally, it would be time to avenge Sabrina.

Still, the advantage was clearly for those bastards. Dante needed to think of a plan. Acting on impulse alone would do no good.

As the cultivators moved toward Dante, he took a deep breath. Desperate situations call for desperate measures. Before his mouth could even open, he heard a voice echoing inside his mind.

Determined to do whatever it took, he gathered as much concentration as he could and tried to send a message to the frowning monster inside him.

"We must show them our fury. No one steals a woman from a phoenix and gets out alive!"

Along with the redness of his cheeks, Dante felt his Qi flicker. Energy took over his channels. Before long, Dante's skin was making the surrounding air boil, such was the temperature.

Dante concentrated Qi in his hands and made the shape of a claw. As he prepared for combat, he noticed he was not too nervous. The fear of pain was no longer so smouldering after going through so much suffering, perhaps.

"Don't forget my cuisine," said the Phoenix.

With a grin from the corner of his mouth, Dante leaped toward the fight.

He went first toward the cultivator carrying a spear. Since the other appeared to be unarmed, Dante feared giving space to the spear-wielding cultivator.

The Phoenix host was not sure which monster was inside the Draco core. He would deduce, from the myths and even the name, that it was some sort of reptile that was used by the clan. Dragons were out of the question because of their rarity, but everything else was possible.

When he was close to the spear-carrying cultivator, Dante made use of the element of surprise. At the last second, when the weapon was about to hit his shoulder, he didn't dodge, letting the metal tip penetrate his flesh.

Dante felt the shock coursing through his body, hurting his nerves. It seems that a direct hit was enough to hurt him. Still, Dante knew pain.

As some of the cultivator's Qi gushed into the damaged region of his body, Dante took advantage of the energy flow and grabbed the surprised cultivator with both hands.

The death of the cultivator did not distract Dante. Even though it was one of his first kills, there was no time to waste. Those bastards deserved this, and much more.

The other cultivator, unarmed, looked at him with a surprised face. Dante wasted no time and jumped again towards his enemy. With a Qi-enforcing leap, he grabbed the ground with his hands and came tearing through the air.

To Dante's misfortune, his new enemy was not that dumb. The cultivator quickly pulled himself together and assumed an instance of combat, prepared for Dante's attack.

The Draco clan member enveloped his hands in an aura of thunder Qi, which resembled his deceased enemy's spear. As Dante approached, his Qi met the Qi of thunder, causing a minor explosion to rage through the place.

Dante spared no strength and attacked with all he could muster. The cultivator tried to defend himself from Dante's onslaughts, but all it took was one slip for the phoenix's claws to find a straightforward path to the other throat.

Despite the euphoria of the victory, there was still the last confrontation. Those arrogant fools were all the same. One after another, they underestimated Dante. Death was the punishment for the reckless.

Confident that this time would be no different, Dante advanced with a horizontal jump. This time it would not be wise to go flying, for the range of the scimitars of the last cultivator could get him into trouble.

However, halfway through, Dante's propulsion met its end at an invisible wall, which threw him backwards. As he stood up, a quick punch hit his gut. Dante flew toward the wall at a speed fast enough that his body felt the pain before his mind interpreted what had happened.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Dante's claws dissipated into thin air, as the boy's Qi was desperately going to treat the injuries. Dante noticed his reflexes were slow. Perhaps the impact of a lengthy fight was beyond purely physical.

Still, he couldn't afford to fail. If not for himself, for Sabrina and all the others. What would they talk about? That again Dante couldn't take care of himself? Not this time.

"Congratulations, insect. You've proven that your bite is a little sharper than this garbage," the man said as he walked slowly toward Dante. As he walked past the bodies of his deceased companions, he made a point of kicking them. "You know, I've always preferred to work alone, but those dumb elders only think about them. Of course it would be better for those garbage to have experience. I hope they learned a lot before they died."

The enemy made a gesture with his hand, causing an orb to appear there. Perhaps that was the source of the barrier that had blocked Dante.

"To your misfortune, however, you remain just that, an insect. Let me show you how the food chain works around here."

Around the man, a purple barrier formed. The dome expanded until the stones on the ground cracked in contact with the energy, offering no resistance.

Things were not going well for Dante. His enemy seemed much stronger than the previous ones, and Dante was feeling exhausted. With a little introspection, his fear proved to be true. His Qi was less than halved.

This was a big problem, as Dante up to this point had always relied on Qi for fights. After all, in both defense and offense, he spent a significant amount of energy. The biggest problem was that he still couldn't control the flow of energy properly when he got hurt, so that it would always drain his Qi in a hurry.

Even in this hopeless situation, Dante's blood boiled even more than his meridians. The desire for revenge was so bad that it could very well grow legs and walk around.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. The fight would be hard enough using reason. If he lost control, it would be impossible to beat his opponent.

"No, Dante. Don't put out the fire that rises within you. Feed the flame," the old voice said.

While trying to understand the monster's words, Dante turned and ran off. He needed to create some distance to get himself together.

"That's it, bug. Make hunting a little more fun." The man's words echoed off the rocky walls.

"What do you mean, feeling angry will strengthen me? How is that?" Dante asked, unable to understand the previous statement.

Instead of words, this time Dante felt something inside his core. Sudden scenes took over his head. Although he couldn't discern all of it, Dante understood. Maybe this was the insight so often spoken of in the cultivation books?

Armed with precious knowledge, Dante let his feelings run freely through his mind. Anger at being weak. Anger at not being able to lift his family out of poverty, and finally anger at being a burden to his friends.

Dante felt his power echoing, renewed Qi taking over his meridians. It was as if vital energy responded to emotions, just as a snake responded to a charmer.

"Surrender or die. Kidding, just die."

Dante turned and faced the cultivator in a fighting stance. The enemy channeled purple Qi in front of him, invoking a snake-shaped technique.The cultivator then seemed to embrace the technique, as if he were now inside the mouth of a great serpent. Even with his renewed energy, Dante winced as he felt the energy of that blow. It was as if he was facing a huge wave of Qi, ready to swallow him up.

Dante was sure that this cultivator was Gold. That technique could only be an Oversoul.

At least the enemy cultivator seemed to be one of those typical arrogant ones. Taking advantage of the time he was gaining, he thought of everyone who was important. Not only the friends he had made at school, but also his family. His father, his mother, his sister. Each memory was fuel for the flame that burned in his core.

Dante invoked his technique at the apex of its power. Flames flared all over his arm, while his claws seemed more solid than ever.

"You can do it. Feel the flame, live the flame."

The enemy seemed to sense that something was wrong, and decided to stop wasting time. With a leap, the giant snake's head went forward quickly, leaving a crater in the ground where it passed.

Dante also gained momentum. As the seconds ticked by, he built up all the energy he could, pushing his Qi to the limit. Beyond the limit. He felt his core breaking, as if a basin were trying to contain too large a flow.

As Dante jumped, he tried one last thing. He ordered his Qi to seem to circulate through his body, focusing only on the meridians that carried the energy to his hands.

In a way, this technique was reminiscent of his first attempts to control his new Qi. How far he had come.

In any case, it was the moment of truth. As if twisting a cloth to the end, Dante drained his core to the last drop of Qi. His claws were stronger than ever, making even the boy's skin uncomfortable with the extreme heat.

When the blows were almost colliding, Dante released all the energy accumulated in his claws in an X shape. The blow traveled quickly across the ground, meeting the snake's mouth.

The purple Qi of the cultivator collided with Dante's blow. However, the solar energy was clearly victorious, cutting off the snake's head. The claws exploded into a great wave of energy, which pierced Qi, cultivator and rocks in the cave. It seemed that Dante's blow possessed more force but less contact area, while the snake was immense.

After seeing the damage of the blow, Dante fought back the feeling of fatigue. He could not yet surrender to unconsciousness.

If there were more enemies around, he could be an easy target. Dante swallowed the pills he had, and lay down on the ground, forcing his Qi to circulate.

He knew this procedure like the back of his hand. Destroy the body, and cultivate later. His energy slowly stabilized, and healed his body. Dante had also suffered some damage from the final blow, even if it was by accident.

After stabilizing, Dante found a safe place and got into a cultivation position. Slowly he absorbed the pills better and purified his Qi. The situation reminded him of his training with Isaac.

Dante finally heard a noise that would cheer any cultivator. A loud crack indicated a new level. The last level of silver. Although he was far from being a Slayer, he was close to finally becoming a Gold.

One step closer to becoming strong enough to think about achieving his dream.

His dream of revenge.