For almost ten minutes, Wu Ren and Bai Qi attempted dozens of strategies, techniques, and skills - all meant to attack, surprise, and most of all grab the attention of both their known and unknown opponents.

Wu Ren's Lunar Flowers turned out to be a devastating skill, and probably one of his trump cards. If not, then he as someone far scarier than Bai Qi was ready to accept. Since their 'Bloom', they proceeded to constantly shatter and regrow on command, sending wave after wave of ice petals, sharp as an Earth level weapon each.

And by now, Wu Ren's surrounding area was filled up with ice shards and pieces of the square stone pavement. Unexpectedly, it also had drawn a bit of blood, and albeit the wound was shallow, just a small cut on the uncovered hand of one of the attackers, and even though the skill freezing effect did not take hold - it still showed that they weren't so invincible as it could appear.

As for Bai Qi, albeit he was the one behind the idea, he was restraining himself a bit, only using the already revealed skills. Not that he allowed someone to guess it, as his flames burned with even more strength than before, and the knives controlled by his aura wildly flew around, trying to surround and attack his opponent with every breath. He had no real success with either the 'Blazing Claw' or the knives, but he was definitively making his opponent, and if luck was on his side - then the qi supplier busy.

During the previous clashes, his opponent had only used skills three times, but in these minutes, he had been forced to use his strange 'Explosive Repulsion' a dozen times, in an attempt to avoid being skewered by the knives that Bai Qi controlled. And to make the former dodge or defend against them, Bai Qi randomly covered one or two of the dozen knives with qi at every attack, making it a far deadlier weapon. He already lost about twenty knives, flung out of his control zone, but regretfully for his opponents, he had more than a hundred of them.

***

Qiu Zemin knew that both of his allies were overspending their qi to allow him to get closer to the western edge of the formation.

But he also did not forget that he had to do it inconspicuously, so forbade himself from thinking about what he was meant to do, concentrating only on the two cloaked opponents in front. And just by chance, at least so it seemed from the side, his current strategy was to land stronger attacks from the east side, herding them to the opposite direction. A few attacks later, they suddenly stopped and began holding their ground, even though there was a bit of space yet, space that they could use as before to diffuse part of the strength behind the attacks.

"I will be attacking in the next breath, Senior Wu, Brother Chen!" With his objective in range, he messaged his companions and allowed himself to think about what and how he will do it.

Neither responded, but there was no need for it anyway. Wu Ren had already prepared to land his strongest attack right after Qiu Zemin, in an attempt to overpower and down at least one of the opponents. As for Bai Qi, he had deliberately held back his double 'Blazing Claw' until now, sharing the same idea.

The 'Fish Gazing Sect' was the most renowned, and powerful 2nd tier power of the entire region for a reason. And it wasn't their Headmaster, or the elders, which were actually on the same level as other similar powers. No, the reason was the enormous amount of offensive techniques and skills they taught their disciples. Something that allowed the latter to practically always come on the top in any regional competition - which in different forms took place once or even twice per year.

Probably in another situation, one where there wasn't the constant threat from outside the region, and the Overlord ban on any wars between the powers the 'Fish Gazing Sect' would have already dominated the others, or fallen into oblivion against a combined attack of them. But things were like they were, and Qiu Zemin as their disciple, even if he had just ascended to the Inner Circle was, in any case, one of theirs, and carried the same legacy.

"Path of the Raging Ocean, Flying Fish Cascade" Qiu Zemin gathered almost a fourth of his entire qi and took the air, before activating what was considered the most powerful spear skill of the Raging Ocean school.

*Swish*

It appeared as if the harpoon in his hands suddenly multiplied for dozens, but no, it was just his over-infused arm thrusting with an almost impossible speed.

*Swish* *Swish*

And from every thrust, a small water droplet, one that slightly resembled a small fish was sent out.

*Swish* *Swish* *Swish*

Continuing with the act that he was going after his two opponents, Qiu Zemin did not attack directly at the spot, no, his first 'Flying Fish' landed right before and slightly around his opponents in a torrent of extremely sharp and destructive projectiles. And then slowly began moving 'up' and 'closer' - towards them. This both cornered his opponents and allowed him to center the last, and biggest amount of them exactly on the spot that Wu Ren had indicated.

*Swish* *Swish* *Tear* *Swish* *Tear* *Drip*

His fourth barrage hit the opponents squarely and even managed to penetrate the defenses of the peak Sage Realm, leaving the latter two small but bleeding holes just below his collarbone. "So the mysterious helper or something is getting distracted from here? Then it's time to attack before he truly catches my intention!" Qiu Zemin thought and infused even more qi, risking to overexert himself but with the full intention of completing his task. After all, if the person or thing that allowed these attackers to stand against them was taken out of the equation, Senior Wu should be able to kill these two weaklings just with a single spit!

*Swish* *Swish* *Tear* *Swish* *Swish* *Tear* *Swish* *Swish* *Din* *Din*

A few projectiles landed at the opponents and this time wounded both of them, but the main amount flew over their heads and crashed into an invisible barrier, one that instantly began shining in golden light.

"A formation!" There were almost fifty feet until the formation that had enclosed them here, so...

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Both Wu Ren and Bai Qi sensed the weakening of their opponent auras, and before even checking on Qiu Zemin, they launched their prepared attacks.

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***

"Lunar Flowers, Full Moon Cycle!" If before Wu Ren's ice flowers simply shattered into 'Petals' that flew at his opponent, this time the entire flowers were the ones that flew out. Two per opponent, and each of them releasing the qi equivalent to a full-strength Peak Warrior Lord attack.

'Full Moon Cycle' was a finishing skill, and indeed one of his true trump cards. Wu Ren did not like to use it openly, as it would reveal that its shattering and scattering is part of the preparation for the true attack and allow enemies to counter, this time it was the right call. Not only the enemies did not react at all to his previous attacks, allowing him to build its strength, but they also believed in their absolute defense, or at least it seemed so. If they did not believe, why they would remain still and receive the attack now?

*Crash*

*Crash*

*Crash*

Two flowers crashed against each of the attackers from two opposite directions. Before the opponents could even feel the impact or the biting cold that began to invade their body through the pores, the flowers shattered into thousands of shards and began wildly circling them as a hailstorm. With each of the shards being as sharp as a top-level weapon, it was indeed just a more beautiful way of a death by a thousand cuts...

Wu Ren remained calmly standing, with a small amount of remaining qi infused into his fist, prepared to prevent any of the three from using the only way to survive, which was to jump through the blizzard. Not that anyone had managed to do so until now, after all, the first impact was already more than enough to heavily wound any cultivator of his level.

And neither it did happen today, as the three immaculate hailstorms slowly turned crimson... And three presences began to fade away, not having released even a single shout of pain or anger.

***

"Blazing Claw! Shivering Disruption!" Bai Qi jumped forward and launched both of his prepared claws, not forgetting to use his again knife-equipped tendril of qi as a whip, one that surrounded his opponent from behind. But this time, he wasn't just randomly attacking with the knives, no, they were his actual attack.

His opponent was a bit strange when compared to the ones that the other two had faced, as not only he had actually used skills, but he was also the only one that revealed his face - the others' aura was constantly covering the cloaks to prevent them from being destroyed.

Still, fighting with the same skill over and over again wasn't a good idea, especially not against someone as experienced as Bai Qi. It took him only two activations to figure out that it wasn't a gravity distortion skill as he first supposed, but just a simple wave of qi disguised to appear as one. It was indeed strong and hard to counter, but it was also something that the opponent could not control, and it could only cover a third of his overall surroundings. Which meant that if he used it against Bai Qi, he would miss the knives. While if he used them against the latter...

*Rip* *Rip* *Swoosh* *Swoosh* *Swoosh*

But the opponent did neither he didn't even move nor try to defend.

Bai Qi's claws ripped through the robe, skin, and flesh while the 'Ghostflame' immediately began to ravage the now practically undefended body. And at the same time, the twelve knives landed from behind, penetrating the back of the almost invincible, at least previously cultivator.

"Just what happened, why did he simply freeze and allow me to kill him?" Bai Qi could only wonder.

"You all should have been little obedient lambs and allowed yourselves to be captured after being tired" A cold voice, one that could not even be attributed to a human because of its lack of any emotion entered both Bai Qi's and Wu Ren's ears, making them instantly turn towards the west, from where it was coming... And where Qiu Zemin was supposed to be.

"Senior Wu, do you see or sense anyone apart of us two?!" Bai Qi sent a qi transmission in alarm.

"No! Who the heavens were hiding in there? Just what is going on?" Wu Ren immediately answered, before adding

"Stay put, I will move closer"

Bai Qi concentrated all of his senses and expanded his aura to the maximum, but could not find anything except for the initial dome-like formation, Wu Ren, as well the remnant presence of four dead men there was absolutely nothing to be seen or sensed.

"What happened to Brother Qiu or his opponents?!" Bai Qi went on full alarm. If someone could hide from both him and Wu Ren, and at the same time disappear someone so they could not even catch the smallest bit of remnant aura... It could not be a normal opponent!

"But you did not, and even decided to fight back. That's good, except that no one is allowed to disturb me. No one alive, that's it" The same detached and cold voice spoke up again. It was now coming from the center of the formation enclosed area.

*Swoosh*

Wu Ren immediately appeared right from where the voice was heard from and expanded his aura to enclose the space around.

"Who the demons are you? Why did you attack us? Where's the other youngster?!" Not being able to even catch a hint of a presence, Wu Ren could not do anything else but question.

"What the demons... Not only it has a nice ring to it, but it also surprisingly fitting for the situation. After all, what else except a demon, someone that transcended the so-called righteous and orthodox cultivator bunch of idiots is called?" These words were said in the same manner and did not contain any threat or even hostility. Still, not only the old and experienced Wu Ren, but even Bai Qi, who had dealt with things that could scare to death any normal cultivator felt dread.

"Stop mumbling! Reveal yourself!" Wu Ren hated what he was feeling and roared while agitating his aura intending to provoke a reaction from concealing methods - if there was one of them at play.

"It is long said that demons are misunderstood, as they just follow the wishes of the cultivators that reach them. But still, they are obliged to do so... You wish for me to reveal myself? Then I do so" It appeared as if the man, if it was one, just spoke to himself, but he answered.

An aura of death, that was the only way to describe the extremely cold, and absolutely still aura that just filled up the entire formation dome in an instant.

One moment there was nothing, and on the next one, both Bai Qi and even Wu Ren felt their auras and bodies suppressed entirely.

And for the first time in his lives, Bai Qi felt how fear began slowly taking over his mind...