25 Minor accomplishment in the way of the sword

The blood-spattered sword seemed to hold a deadly glow when in the hands of the guard leader.

-The difference between those experienced and inexperienced is too great. I cannot even match up to Larch, the guard leader, with the same realm. Having taken the path in the way of the sword... I should probably hire an instructor that could teach me that.

It was hard not to admire the perfect slash that Larch had done.

I glanced at the young man's lifeless body. I clicked my tongue.

"That's what you get if you mess with the wrong person, boy."

I tried to sound as cruel and cold as possible. I know that the young man was older than me, but I couldn't help but call him 'boy' due to his lack of common sense.

There would be no family that would take in a 'mere' to be Fourth or Fifth layer Human Realm for offending the Rox family.

It was known that the Rox family was a specialist in martial arts. We had some of the strongest forces in the '1000 towns'. Even some of the '100 cities' couldn't help but admire our family's combat prowess.

Our family had thousands of martial artists that were trained with high talent and lowest grade boy constitutions. We had many Peak Mortal Realms as our foot soldiers and Human Realms as guards.

And I am the second successor of all of the above! Nobody would want to offend such a person like me and get away with it! I even think that the young man's quick death was letting him off easy, but I had no time since the beast.

"Miss, you should escape!"

Lard bowed and seemed to ask me politely. I nodded and started to move my legs.

But just as Man Proposes, God Disposes. Plans cannot keep up with reality.

"Roaaaar"

A large Lion the size of a few metres came into my view. It had long fangs and bloodthirsty-red eyes. It's aura simply made me arch my back, whenever it moved, my body would shiver and have the urge to take a leak.

-Is this a Half-step Warrior Beast?

The power that was owned father could never be so tremendous. I couldn't even imagine anybody with this kind of strength. Feeling dizzy, I started to run South, the beast was north.

-I'm sure that if I escape then father will surely use his connections to find me!

To keep myself stable, I had to leave some hope in my mind. A Half-step Warrior was enough to destroy a whole town, let alone some mere Early Human Realms. Luck was what was going to determine if I had what it took to escape.

"We got bad luck this time, boys. This fellow here is one of those beasts that lust for women!"

I heard Lard shout out to the other guards. My heart almost shattered hearing such a thing.

There were many types of beasts, so many, that each had it's own unique trait and habit. This one was a lustful beast. These were beasts that had adapted to use the opposite sex as cultivation experience. These beasts were quite common because they usually couldn't go that high up into the stairs of cultivation and could be used as torture tools.

My legs started to move more hurriedly. I could feel a glare of lust, almost penetrating through me as I ran.

"Don't let the beast get to the young lady!"

Lard shouted. If I didn't get back, then that would mean that his life would've gone to waste, it would also mean that the father, or his lord, could also think that he plotted against me which would lead to his family's end.

"What are you all scared for? It is just a little bit stronger than us?"

One experienced man shouted. Though he knew that what he said was false and the difference between it and the guards was as large as it could be, he had to raise the morale of the troops. He could see the fear and unwillingness in many's eyes when looking at the beast.

"Right! What do we have to be afraid of!"

Lard seemed to get the idea the experienced man was going for and joined in.

"Yes! Even if we die, we have the Rox family behind us, they would surely take revenge!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

Many had already begun to have less fear and more guts. Such was neccecary when facing such a monstrously strong enemy. If the troops weren't willing, how could you expect them to fight at their best?

"Build a formation!"

Lard commanded. The large group of guards, which numbered about twenty, started to form a rectangular kind of shape. It had bows at the back and spears at the front, only Lard, who stood at the front of the rectangular shape, was carrying a sword.

Why? Swords were simply too inferior to the spear. If an experienced spear and sword weilders had a match, then the spear would win around 75% of the time. This was because of the length, swords could nearly never close in on the sword. The spear carried swift and quick jabs that would kill the opponent that carried a sword many times before they could reach the spear weilder. This meant swords were nearly never carried.

But this all changed when one became able to achieve minor accomplishment at the way of the sword. Minor accomplishment was only achieved through hardwork, will and motive. It would also require talent and danger.

There wouldn't be many who had talent to even achieve minor accomplishment. Those soverigns would have minor accomplisment, it would be one of their trump cards. It could stump many and could even take down the difference in strength if the opponent was layers above.

"We are ready, now attack!"

Lard sounded dominant.

The cheers and loud battle crys sounded within the rectangular shape. Many were excited and many were stumped.

Unfortunately, the beast didn't even put the guards in his sight. The first thing that he looked for was a woman, and when he saw me it seemed as if he had nodded.

The higher cultivation the beast had, the more wise and knowledgeable it was. This beast being a Half-step Warrior, it could practically have the same intellect as a human.

The beast started to move...