19 Greed
Li Zhu and Hua Shu walked towards the voices, which were getting increasingly louder.
"How dare you guys?! We found the Moon-Death fruit first, yet now you want to steal it from us?!"
"In this world the strong prey on the weak, boy, now hand over the fruit and we won't kill your whole group!"
From the sound of it, this argument had stemmed from a Moon-Death fruit, which the forest was named after. Moon-Death fruits were very valuable alchemy ingredients, since they could be used to produce the Seven-Lives extreme yang pill, which had the effect of boosting cultivation speed by seven times for a day, when taken by a cultivator that used fire related techniques.
Moon-Death forest had many such fruits, but they generally grew in the inner forest, which was deadly for anyone below core consolidating realm, and even higher.
Li Zhu now perfectly understood what was happening, as he led Hua Shu into a clearing, where a group of four red-robed cultivators were facing two young men, who had their swords drawn.
"What is happening here, fellow cultivators?" asked Li Zhu, testing the waters, trying to decide whether he should interfere.
The two young men were clearly trying to rob the red-robed cultivators, who from their clothes were probably members of the Flaming Saber Sect. That said, Li Zhu would only help them if they wanted help, since being saved by another cultivator was quite shameful, and he was not sure how they would react.
The two thieves were one ninth and one eight stage Qi gathering realm, while the Flaming Saber sect members were all in the sixth stage. Because of this difference in cultivation, the numbers advantage meant nothing, and the two robbers could instantly kill the four.
"None of your business, kid, now leave before I get angry" harshly replied the eighth stage robber, pointing his sword towards Li Zhu, who was simply smiling.
"Junior brother, this is really not somewhere you should be. They will kill you if you don't leave. The only reason we are not dead yet is our status as Flaming Saber Sect members, which makes killing us so close to the sect tricky for them." one of the bullied members stood up, advising Li Zhu to leave, since the latter was only at the fourth stage.
Li Zhu, though, had no plans of leaving, since he had now established that at least one of the red-robed cultivators had a good character, and he was not willing to let the four be injured or even killed without him doing anything.
Hua Shu, who had been in a bush nearby, finally walked out, with her flaming bow drawn. The situation had yet again escalated, and there was only one way for this to be settled... fighting!
"It doesn't matter if you have a little ninth stage friend or not, I will kill you" yelled the eighth stage thief, pouncing towards Li Zhu, realizing it was his only option if he wanted to get the Moon-Death fruit.
Hua Shu quickly aimed her bow at the man, yet the ninth stage enemy appeared in her view, blocking her from helping Li Zhu, who now had to defend against an enemy four stages above himself.
Although that was the case, he had Buddy, which was as powerful as a sixth stage expert, and with shadow lurk and his fighting skills he could fend for himself against people of higher cultivation.
Li Zhu did not hesitate to fuse with Buddy, instantly placing his palm on the dog and using Shadow lurk, melding in with the shadow of his attacker.
The latter, seeing Li Zhu disappear, looked confused, as he stumbled forwards from the momentum he had gained. Although he had no idea what skill Li Zhu had used, the man was not a fool, and he knew that his enemy was still nearby, and had not died.
Li Zhu retreated a few yards, before communicating with Buddy, quickly forming a plan.
They instantly decided how they would fight against the enemy, not allowing him any time to join his friend and attack Hua Shu.
Li Zhu jumped out of the shadow, stopping his fusion with Buddy, who immediately returned into the shadow, ready to carry out their plans.
The eighth stage thief, seeing Li Zhu appear out of nowhere, jumped in surprise, though he quickly recomposed himself, and started to attack Li Zhu yet again.
While Li Zhu had been in the shadows, Hua Shu had been fighting the ninth stage enemy, who was a powerful sword user, specialized in agility.
Hua Shu knocked three arrows in her bow, instantly launching her powerful attack, which brought a sea of flames with it.
The three arrows formed a triangle around the enemy, effectively forcing him to defend the attack.
It was not that simple though, as the man jumped in the air, folding his body into a U shape and evading the first arrow.
He then performed a series of complex movements, which could only be described as not physically possible. His body bended in a myriad of ways, as he avoided all the arrows shot at him, slowly but steadily nearing Hua Shu, who was starting to get worried.
This man had practiced an agility and flexibility technique to the utmost level, and this gave him the ability to easily dodge attacks. Arrows were especially useless against him, since they were so small that there was much space to dodge, provided one had complete control over their body's shape, like him.
Hua Shu had met an enemy that perfectly countered her skills, and she had to change her strategy if she wanted to win this fight.
Realizing this, Hua Shu hastily retreated, as she shot as many arrows as she could, keeping the enemy at bay. She shot three arrows at once, yet surprisingly most of them missed the mark completely, not even nearing the thief, who was now very relaxed as he steadily advanced through the barrage of arrows.
"Are you so nervous you can't shoot?" mocked the enemy, who was now preparing to perform an attack of his own, as he raised his pitch-black sword in front of him.
The sword moved fast, as wind formed around his whole body, forcing even the accurate arrows to miss their target, and stick into the ground.
Hua Shu was not discouraged, though, as she continued to pull out arrows from her spirit ring, seemingly unwilling to stop.
One would think she was at a sever disadvantage in this clash, yet her expression stated otherwise, as she mischievously smiled, seemingly confident.
The thief did not notice this, or did not care, as he continued his attack, forming a tornado around his whole body, before launching it towards Hua Shu, with many sharp wind blades held inside.
Hua Shu stopped retreating, as she tapped her bow lightly. With this small touch, crimson flames erupted around the bow, forming into a sphere.
Hua Shu then poked the sphere, causing it to burst into thousands of strands of fire, which all flew out, seemingly knowing where to go.
All the fire strands surprisingly reached the fallen arrows, which had either missed the target or had been repelled by the wind. If one looked closely, it could be seen that the points of these arrows were lightly shining red, as though they were incandescent.
The moment the strands reached the arrows, stuck into the ground, flames erupted from each one, combining to form a massive pillar of fire, surrounding the thief.
All the arrows on the ground shockingly had a very specific shape, forming a perfect circle, which meant Hua Shu had even predicted how the arrows would be deflected by the wind tornado.
Flames continued to form from the arrows, engulfing the thief, who had no room for escape. Realizing he risked dying, the man immediately recalled the tornado he had sent Hua Shu's way, using it to defend himself from the ever-increasing flames.
Although he tried his best, Hua Shu did not stop, as she once again started a barrage of arrows, which finally managed to pierce through the man's protective wind, which had now almost faded away completely.
As this happened, the flames completely engulfed the thief, leaving no remains, before dispersing, as the fallen arrows finally cooled down, now useless.
Hua Shu had made use of her superb archery to form a Fire-Array out of powered arrows, which had allowed her to kill this thief who had an advantage over her. If the man had not underestimated her strength, he would have noticed her scheme as the arrows formed a circle, the required shape for many arrays.
He could have then escaped in time, making Hua Shu's whole strategy useless, eventually leading to her death, instead of his.
Fortunately, the man had not expected someone so young to have such means, and this, as well as his greed, had resulted in his death.
Li Zhu was still in his fight, as he charged towards the eighth stage thief, who had slashed his sword, forming a blade of wind.
These two men both used wind related techniques, possibly an indication that they may have relations with the Endless Storm sect, one of the three great sects of Crouching Tiger Kingdom, like the Flaming Saber sect.
Li Zhu, seeing the blade coming at him, jumped to the left, while sweeping his right leg, in an attempt to trip the enemy.
This did not work, though, as the thief jumped into the air, slashing his sword down at Li Zhu, who now had no means to defend himself.
Just as the sword was about to pierce through Li Zhu, the thief was suddenly flung away, having been hit by a very angry Buddy, who had just rushed out of the shadows.
Buddy was in his wolf state, as he pierced through the armor of the thief, forming a deep gash.
Li Zhu, using this opportunity, quickly stood up, as he fused with Buddy yet again, before entering the shadow of his enemy.
Having achieved his goal, he then flowed under the thief, before jumping out of the shadow at full speed, hitting the enemy straight in his back, causing it to instantly snap.
The enemy was now dead, as that last attack had managed to finish him off, considering he had been hit with the full strength of a cultivator, in such a fragile spot as his spine.
Li Zhu did not look happy, as though it was not his intention for the fight to end this way. That said, the only way he could have avoided being killed was by killing, since he was not yet strong enough to passively defend.
Li Zhu and Hua Shu turned around at the same time, having finished their fights simultaneously. As they glanced at each other, they shared a look of pity, before sitting down, recovering their exhausted energy.
One single thought rang through Li Zhu's head, as he realized, 'In this life, if I am not strong, the only way I can live is to kill. I dream of the day my power is enough to spare lives, because that day is when I will officially become the person I wish to be.'
