Alisha tumbled to the ground, overpowered by a combined attack from both demon elders. The first elder was on the same level as her but the addition of the second elder at the peak of the Spiritual Strengthening Realm meant that she was constantly on the backfoot. There was never a moment for her to rest or gather herself for a counterattack.

"Get away from her!" Gray roared. "Alisha!"

He swung his pickaxe wildly and forced the elders back by his sheer ferocity.

"What happened? Where's Tang and Honglie?" The first elder asked his companion.

"I don't know? They are probably done for!" The other replied heatedly, "I knew we shouldn't have trusted them!"

The two elders continued to snarl at each other. Gray ignored them and went to Alisha's side. He gave her a hand and helped her up.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." She panted.

She was feeling the effects of the drawn-out fight. Unlike Gray, she didn't have the luxury of calling upon a bottomless pool of stamina. Although she was at the Control Realm, she had to fight seriously against an equal foe.

She raised her sword again, "You take the second one. Remember the plan."

"Alright!"

The two enemy elders implicitly accepted this arrangement. The first leaped towards Alisha and renewed their fierce duel. Spiritual energy surged out of their bodies and clashed together in a mixture of colors ranging from cyan, jade, and sky blue. They kicked up clouds of dust as they met sword with fist, palm strikes with kicks. One on one, they were evenly matched.

Gray circled the second elder, looking for an opening. His opponent was strange. The man's aura and the spiritual energy swirling within his body were abnormally intense for someone at the peak of the Strengthening Realm. He was definitely stronger than someone like Harsh.

Gray decided on a probing attack. He raised his pickaxe and swung it down towards the second elder's head, still disguised by a shimmering blue layer of spiritual energy. The second elder raised his sword to meet the attack.

Clang!

The heavy gold pickaxe met the plain steel sword. Gray's attack was like a falling mountain and bent the blade backward. The elder's eyes widened as his weapon arched into a half-moon. It was almost about to break.

But then, a thin layer of colorless spiritual energy wrapped around the sword. It stopped bending backward and instead rebounded. This new spiritual energy ground against the innate energy of spiritual metal inside the pickaxe. It was enough to offset each other and the elder was able to force the pickaxe back just enough to pull back his sword without it breaking.

"What?" Gray exclaimed.

There was no way that thin piece of steel should have been able to stop a full-blown strike from a block of heavy gold. Something was going on.

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He was no longer certain of his opponent's true power or what kind of secret abilities they had. He stepped back and dug his hand into a pocket inside his shirt. He pulled out a handful of round lead balls. It was an old trick he learned from dealing with strange and deadly spiritual beasts that roamed the King's Mountains, the same one he used against Tang before.

"Look, what's that behind you?" Gray shouted, pointing to something over the bandit's shoulder.

At the same time, a lead ball that weighed at least a kilogram shot out of his hand.

The bandit didn't fall for the trick and deftly dodged aside, only to be met by another lead ball which he was forced to block with his sword.

"Fight me like a man!" He snapped.

"Are you a man?" Gray taunted and threw another ball.

He wasn't in a hurry to do anything else. The plan was for Anand to subjugate the bandit camp and free the prisoners. He would then join Alisha and Gray and they would slay the two demons together.

This was her style. Her plan was controlled and deliberate, and minimized risk as much as possible.

Gray was still tormenting the bandit when suddenly...

"Pop! Pop! Pop!"

A series of rapid bursts came from the direction of the bandit camp and made everyone pause. Puffs of black smoke appeared high in the air, directly above the area of the open-pit mine. Anand had finally started his one-man assault.

“That signal... Shit, the mine!” The second elder shouted.

“It seems we have been outplayed.” The first elder said as he shot an unnaturally calm look at Alisha and Gray, “Well done, humans. I’ll remember this. Let’s go!”

He grabbed onto the second elder’s shoulder and they fled, sprinting eastward.

“Not good!” Alisha cried out, “Chase!”

She dashed after the fleeing pair. Gray followed, lugging his pickaxe at a slower pace. Behind him, there was yet another pursuer.

“Grandfather! Grandfather! Wait!”

It was Tang. He somehow managed to stabilize his spiritual sea and was able to move. He chased after them, as quickly as his injured body could handle.

Gray sprinted over several hills until Jade Hill Town and the bandit camp were no longer visible. He was even losing sight of Alisha who had pulled far ahead.

Just as he was starting to worry, a message streamer launched high into the air in a thin pillar of green smoke. It then shot off horizontally in the direction of the town. Anybody within its path would be able to tell which direction the message came from and track it down.

Gray crested another hill and to see that the two demon elders had stopped. It was the only reason he was able to catch up.

“What’s happening?” He asked as he stopped beside Alisha.

“I don’t know.”

They both looked around apprehensively as if expecting something to pop out like a sneak attack or a trap. However, nothing happened, even after Tang also caught up.

“You humans are quite special…” The first elder finally spoke. “Especially you, the one named Gray. It’s too bad you chose to chase after us. You could have just let us go but no...”

His voice was too casual for such a serious situation. His sword was lowered and he had a strange smile on his face.

“That’s right, brother.” The other laughed ominously, “They turned our plans into shambles. We even gave them the victory but they had to follow us. They deserve to die!”

“Hey assholes, we’re not dead yet.” Gray called out, tired of the weird conversation, “But I certainly would like to smash your skull into pieces.”

He raised his pickaxe and was about to charge when Alisha pulled him back.

“Wait, something’s wrong.” She said under her breath.

“Hahaha! See, sharp!” The first said. “But not sharp enough. Brother Eric, it’s time.”

The other nodded.

Together, they chanted softly in an incoherent language. They placed their hand on their faces as the spiritual energy around their bodies became chaotic, so much so that it blurred the air around them.

Their fake faces peeled off, revealing a fair complexion that was starkly different from the people of this region. Their hair which was originally white with age turned light brown. Their wrinkles and age spots lessened. They looked just like humans except for the striking pair of short white horns on top of their heads.

The demons finally revealed their true forms!

Their reason for doing so, Gray had no idea.