Chapter 0173

Never trust a man.

Tempest’s mother had always said those four words when she was drunk, depressed or in between boyfriends. Tempest had always thought that statement was merely words of a disgruntled woman beaten down by the hardship of life. She should have realized those words did have a basis in fact. Given the right conditions, a man will sacrifice things to save himself.

When the madman charged towards the group, Graden yelled, “Scatter!” He brought out his beauties and tossed them towards the man to buy them time to escape.

Everyone started running in two directions. There were only two possible exits so Graden, Starm and Li Ming ran towards one exit while Fenix and Tempest ran towards the other.

“We’ll meet back at the guild.” Bei Ting Mao yelled while charged the madman. Bei Ting Mao knew he wasn’t the madman’s opponent. He was less than an ant in front of a giant. His attack could buy at most ten seconds for his companions but he still chose to fight.

A small part of the reasons for his actions was his growing attachment to the group. They never judged him for his past, especially when he admitted he fought his inner demons and lost. They accepted him for who he is. Even after knowing his potential as the same element body and heart cultivator, it didn’t change how they treated him. It might be because he was a disabled same element body and heart cultivator but that’s what makes them more endearing. They never treated him as a waste. They treated him as a man. For that, he’d fight a madman for them.

The biggest reason why he challenged the madman was his inner demons. He fought and lost to his inner demons. If his spirits didn’t show up and gobbled up his inner demons he’d be the same as the madman.

He was grateful for their intervention but at the same time, mental oppression was formed in his mind. Bei Ting Mao feared his inner demons and he was scared he’d become a weak and pathetic man who had to rely on his spirits to fight for him instead of standing on his own two feet.

He needed to reaffirm his sense of self. He needed the self confidences, the knowledge that even though he lost against his inner demons, he will stand up and fight, that he can stand up and fight.

If he ran away from the madman now, he knew he would become the weakling he despised.

Therefore, he charged the madman.

“Spiritual Earth Sword Art: Laden Earth.”

“Astral Void Sword Art: The Emptiness of Space.”

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Bei Ting Mao’s eyes widen. The Astral Void Sword Art: The Emptiness of Space perfectly negated the gravitational pull of his Spiritual Earth Sword Art: Laden Earth.

“Spiritual Earth Sword Art: As Heavy as a Feather, As Light as a Rock.” Spiritual Earth Sword Art: As Heavy as a Feather, As Light as a Rock was one of the six Spiritual Earth Sword Art he hadn’t completely mastered but it was the only sword art in his arsenal could counteract the space attacks used by his opponent.

“Astral Void Sword Art: Space Negation.” Again, the madman’s sword art negatived Bei Ting Mao’s attack. With two attacks, Bei Ting Mao finally understood why those with space spiritual vein was heavily recruited by the sects in the Heavenly Mountains even if the quality of their spirit vein was low. Space-based attacks are overpowered.

It took only two attacks to show the differences in their fighting abilities. Bei Ting Mao knew the madman was subconsciously limiting his cultivation base to Foundation Establishment to fight with him. Bei Ting Mao would already be dead if the madman went all out against him.

Bei Ting Mao knew he had to go all out. “Body and Heart as One: Sturdy Earth, Sharp Sword.” The Body and Heart as One sword art was a technique the spirits imparted to him when he regained his consciousness after his battle with his inner demons. It was a technique used to call upon the power of the spirits to unleash their power through a sword art.

The madman showed no reaction to Bei Ting Mao’s strongest attack. “Astral Void Sword Art: Spatial Disruption.” Astral Void Sword Art: Spatial Disruption was a sword technique that ripped open space itself. It was also the same method the madman used to summon the Abyssal Chimera except for this time he used his sword technique to send Bei Ting Mao to another location along with Graden’s beauties.

Speaking of Graden, he, Li Ming and Starm didn’t get very far in the six seconds it took for the madman to handle Bei Ting Mao.

Sensing they couldn’t get away, the three change their method. Instead of running away, they chose to fight, hoping they could buy enough time for Fenix and Tempest to getaway.

“Rain of Sunlight.”

“Fireball.”

“Space Distortion.”

While Li Ming used her most powerful spell, Graden could only cast Fireball. It was his most powerful attack spell since he learned wood support spells and relied on his beauties to fight.

“If we get out of this situation, I’m going to learn some fire attack spells as Tempest told me to do,” Graden swore in his heart. He might even go so far and say Tempest was right and he was wrong. Maybe.

Starm tried to use the madman’s specialties against him but came out laughable at best. Starm is a generalist. His advantage is his versatility. His disadvantage is his proficiency. When a generalist fights with a specialist in the same elements as the specialist, the generalist will have his butt handed to him by the specialist. What a specialist lacks in versatility, they make up having a deeper understanding of the underlying theory of their elements and higher attack power.

“Astral Void Sword Art: Spatial Disruption.” The three mages were handled just like that.

Then the madman turned his attention towards the two fleeing girls. A ten seconds head start against a space cultivator who could bend space to his whim was not enough.

Fenix knew they couldn’t get away even with Tempest using multiple movement charms from three different elements and trying to stack the effects with the spells she was casting.

Fenix slapped her Propulsion charm on to Tempest and yelled, “Get out of here idiot. I’ll hold-”

Fenix didn’t get to finish her sentences when the madman sent her off as well.