"Something's gone wrong! There's a third party in the mix!" Shuren ignored the grove for the moment. Right now, they were the ones in the most danger.
If it were just the group of smugglers having killed a beast, at least the situation would've made sense. In fact, if there was an infighting amongst them, that would still make sense. Or even just killing a bunch of mortals from some nearby village. It would be morbid, but it would be logical. They could plan around, and Shuren could continue to observe.
But with all the smugglers just dead, something was awry.
He ran back to the campfire, finding the Outer Disciples scrambling out of their tents. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. All of them were fine.
"Where's Junyu!"
"He said he went to catch up with you!" Tez yelled out, getting his weapons in order.
Shuren looked behind him, but Junyu was nowhere in in sight. Where has he gone?! Now's not the time!
"Everyone. Group u-"
A roar eclipsed across the night. A roar tinged with madness and hunger.
Right behind Shibai, an equestrian beast with flames flickering around its body leapt. Aiming to crush the boy in one fell swoop.
I can't have a death on my first damned missive!
Shuren's eyes turned red, pulsating as he siphoned every bit of Qi in his body. His right arm tensed as a storm of Qi swirled around it, and he lifted his Ruyi Staff over his shoulder.
The Ruyi Staff hummed with a buzz, raging for a fight.
"Dirty mutt! Get out the way!"
Shuren threw his staff to the point it became a blur in the sky. Faster than any arrow from a bow, stronger than a spear, it crashed perfectly into that horse-like beast's face.
Killing it in one blow.
"Get into formation!" Shuren didn't waste any time. He ran towards the camp with every force he could muster in his legs.
The roars echoed into a blazing cacophony. A dozen beasts encircled the camp, all flaming horses of some kind.
Shuren had now reached his team, but now they were the one encircled by the enemy.
No, this is a setup! When I saw those corpses, they didn't die from beasts. I'm sure of it!
Shuren waved his arm out, and the Ruyi Staff flew right back into his palm.
"Stay calm! These beasts are around Stage 5. They have the numbers, but we have the teamwork. Tez, throw those caltrops you mentioned around us. Luo and Sarya, stay behind me. Shibai and Arene, you have the most range with the spear and staff. You've got our backs."
"You got that, young master!" Tez seemingly took a pouch from out of nowhere, throwing it around the team. If the flaming horses dared to walk forward, their hooves would definitely walk into the caltrops. And they were poisoned at that, from what Tez had told Shuren at the Skyfoan Pagoda.
The flaming horses continued to push forth, like a ring of fire closing in on the group. Sweat dripped off Shuren's chin, and he sucked in his breath. He had to make this quick. All of these trash weren't even Stage 6.
He was the leader. The one responsible for everyone. Their lives were in his hand.
And if he couldn't even do this much, then he can forget about becoming a patriarch of a Rank 7 Clan.
If only I reached Stage 9 by now, I could've used the first of my grandfather's techniques!
The neigh of a horse resounded as it stepped on the caltrops. It only halted it for a mere breath. Not enough.
I'll quickly kill it and return back to formation.
Shuren cycled Qi around his arms and into his Ruyi Staff, ready to launch at his prey. The one who dared to separate from its herd.
Blitz Stride!
In a flicker, he had reached at the front of the flaming horse, crushing its head with a single overhead blow.
Only ten more left.
He looked back, only to see three flaming horses rush towards his team.
"Where's that fanned fool Junyu at?!"
Three iron feathers flashed past the sky, each stabbing into an eye of a beast. All three were stunned by the pain, allowing the group to fend it off.
"Sorry for the wait! I got caught up with these fiery horses!"
Junyu finally entered the scene, bringing out a short dagger to cleave into one of the beast's neck. Killing it in one strike.
Shuren arrived to support his team, likewise dealing with the other two encroaching on the camp. "Good! Keep up the formation and don't let up!"
"What did you see at the grove?" Junyu asked, duel wielding his fans with ranged attacks. His marksman abilities were incredible; enough to aim at the weak spots of these equestrian beasts. Eyes, hooves, joints, neck. Junyu didn't fail to hit those vital points at all.
"Our target has been massacred! Not a single survivor amongst the smugglers!"
The tense situation had simmered, with the entire team now at Shuren's beck and call.
Shuren scanned his environment. In a sudden battle in the wilds, they would be your greatest enemy or ally. He had to see if there was anything he could use to his advantage.
If we can deal with their mobility, we can ensure a strong advantage. Maybe… the soil. That's right. For now, I'll get Tez to keep the beasts at bay with his caltrops and nets that he mentioned.
"Tez! Back up here now!" Shuren called out.
But there was no response.
He looked back. His team was being held up and supported by Junyu.
Tez was missing.
Shuren remained calm. He scoped his surroundings in an instant.
Tez was floundering in the distance with a sword, in front of a hill that dropped to a lower altitude, towards the heart of the forest. A flaming horse tried to strike him down.
Why's that idiot all the way there?! Didn't I tell him to stick by with the team?! Even if he reached top ten in the sect finale, he's still only a Stage 4!
"I'm going to break apart the soil to hinder these beasts, Junyu! Make use of the advantage!"
Shuren flipped his Ruyi Staff around, deftly spinning it between his fingers. I'll have to make this quick. I can't have that brat Tez die by then!
Shuren leapt towards the flaming horses, landing right before a bunch of them. He stapped his Ruyi Staff deep into the ground, Qi pooling at its depths.
I'm going to use Blade Surge in the ground like this. I'll call it… Staff Purge!
The staff almost rattled in Shuren's hands, but he continued to gather as much Qi as possible in this one strike.
In that moment, right before the flaming horses pounced on Shuren, he acted.
The earth exploded with the thunderous boom. The soil shifted as rocks broke apart, with falling debris and clouds of dust rising.
It was a discord of the collapsed earth.
Shuren's arm shook, barely stable from the power. But, he didn't let up, even if he used up a significant amount of his Qi Reserves. Over half, in fact.
Shuren didn't have time to attack any further. He'd given the perfect opening. Now was the time to babysit the team member who fell out of the formation. He leapt out of the collapsed ground, sucking in deep air to shout.
"Junyu, hold the team for a minute! I need to grab that runt Tez back!"
"Got it! We'll handle it from here!"
Junyu and the rest took advantage of the flaming horse collapsed on top of each other in the deep crater in the earth, and Shuren ran to the north. Towards the hill that overlooked the heart of the Dezuan Forest.
Why the hell did he go all the way there?!
Tez continued to fend off the single flaming horse, just barely, but Shuren soon realised the closer he got to Tez.
That he had a crazed smile on his face. Lit up, like he'd just seen a jade beauty strip naked for him.
"Tez! Hurry back to the camp now!" Shuren yelled as he prepared to throw his staff if need be. There was no telling what could happen in the next few seconds. A Stage 4 fending off an unknown Stage 6 beast was already impressive as it was. But just one attack was enough to turn the tide.
Especially when these beasts weren't a native to the Dezuan Forest.
Shuren had made sure to check the flora and fauna of Dezuan Forest in preparation. Though he didn't know the name of these creatures, they clearly wouldn't exist in an environment such as a forest. Not when those flaming horses burnt the ecosystem with each step.
I can't waste any more time! I'm not coming back to the sect with a casualty on my first missive! The humiliation would be far too much in front of Elder Spiritweaver!
Shuren slip on the earth as he forced his dash to a stop, once more getting his staff into a javelin staff.
No, that wouldn't be enough.
Not in this case.
Staff Purge. If I can control it from a distance, it'll double my offence from a range. I'll have to take that risk to try it out!
Qi embroiled in his staff as much as it could. Shuren spooled even more Qi from his reserves, ensuring his next attack could take anything out in one strike.
This blow would have the power of sundering the earth itself.
And Qi Tether would be the key.
Shuren's biceps bulged. His foot was stuck firmly on the ground. His blue eyes were clashing with bloodied red veins in his sclera.
But his breath was a calm, rhythmic cycle.
With a throw, the staff shot out from his hands, ripping the skin off his palm. Muscle could be seen, and blood leaked out.
No matter. Just a minor wound.
A thin string of Qi reached from Shuren's hand to the staff. He pointed his right arm out, palms completely open. His left arm held his right forearm to keep balance.
"Detonate!"
The condensed Qi in the Ruyi Staff exploded. Its speed doubled, reaching the flaming horse in a second.
Piercing right through its neck, carving out a hole so large to the point its head plopped to the ground.
Shuren still held his hand out. "Come!"
The string of Qi zipped back to his arm, bringing the staff towards him, albeit far slower.
He once more continued to run towards Tez. "What were you thinking?! Hurry up and help us deal with the rest!"
Tez slouched, sword still in hand. He looked back to Shuren, with an expression that told he had an excuse prepared. It was a dumb-looking smile, with his eyes almost closed and eyebrows slanted upward.
The scroll in his inner robes, the Rank 1 Life And Death scroll, burnt in an instant.
Shuren forgot to breathe.
No. It's not that he forgot.
He couldn't.
With the death of that flaming horse, the only source of light had gone. There was only darkness on the hill Tez stood on.
There was a taste in the air. A certain sensation.
Heavy, coagulated, smell of death.
He couldn't explain it. That was the best way Shuren could put it into words.
There was utter silence.
The winds stopped blowing.
The sounds of battle disappeared.
The trees didn't sway. The leaves didn't rustle. The bugs burrowed deep into the earth.
A bipedal figure stood. Dark and grey, it had eyes squirming around every inch of its body. Each a glint of a different colour, but all a gradient of crimson, ash and violet.
That thing. It was not human. And yet, eerily enough…
No. It couldn't be human.
Am I going to falter now! In fear of this thing?!
Shuren bit his tongue. He had to yell it out. To warn him.
"RUN!"
The bipedal monster waved its hand, if you could call it that. A shadowy blur extended out, whipping at Tez.
His body fell down the hill.
Then it looked. Right at Shuren.
It had no eyes. No nose. No hair. No ears. But it had a face.
A mouth that made up half its face. A mouth in a perpetual grin, with sharp teeth best suited for tearing meat apart.
Showing to the world its unhallowed maws of voracity.
The Ruyi Staff lay on the ground between him and that creature.
Thinking any more was pointless now. Any speculation, any conjecture, any theory of what it was and how or what or why it came to be.
It was useless.
What mattered now was one thing.
It didn't matter if Shuren wasn't at Stage 9, the prerequisite to use the teachings of the Divine Sword Saint.
His fingers trembled, so he shut it tight with clenched fists, digging into his palms. And he raised them both up to his chest.
In a fighter's stance.
There was just one thought in his mind. The only one he needed to activate it.
His Qi turned into a visible silver aura, emanating off his body.
His eyes turned hollow and silver. Bleeding at its edges.
His body burnt inside, each breath now a steamy mist.
Sword Saint Style.