35

Yu Wu's deceptively calm voice did nothing to betray her anger, "You dare imply that he is not this young mistress' equal?"

"It is just the nature of our sect," Xiao Li said, making a flimsy excuse instead of apologizing.

"Can we have some time to think about it?" Onari asked quickly in an attempt to keep Yu Wu from blowing up in this woman's face.

"Very well… I suggest you decide quickly. It would be a shame if something were to happen to your family that left you with nowhere else to go…"

"And now you dare threaten this young mistress' true family directly to her face?!" Yu Wu's voice began to grow heated as she spoke. "You court death!"

"I was tasked with completing the mission given to me by my benefactor. I will go to any length to see her will done. And surely a family of… Spirit Beasts cannot compare to a sect-family of true cultivators."

Onari was just as wound up as Yu Wu at this point, but he stayed quiet. He would let his actions speak for him, and leave the cutting words to Yu Wu.

"Is that so? Your words spit in this young mistress' face, junior. You will be the reason this one spits on your benefactor's offer. In fact, this young mistress says you can take the offer and shove it so far up your own ass that you begin to choke on it!" Yu Wu's young mistress persona slipped a bit as she spoke, revealing the true rage behind her words.

"Very well… I was ordered to bring you back alive, Yu Wu," Xiao Li said as all three cultivators rose to their feet. "But I was given no such stipulation about Onari."

Several shadows leaped toward Onari and Yu Wu from the darkness. The shadowy cultivators all appeared to be women, and wore black masks to cover their faces. They seemed to just keep coming out of the darkness that painted the cave walls like a flood of pests.

The initial attacks of Xiao Li's sudden reinforcement were blocked by the pair of flying swords that floated behind Onari and Yu Wu. Before turning his attention to the sneaky cultivators now attacking him, Onari glared coldly at Xiao Li.

Xiao Li gasped and spat blood as a blazing pain manifested in her midsection. Looking down she saw a spear of foxfire that had manifested already embedded in her gut. She clutched at the spear, eventually managing to remove it at the cost of severely burnt hands.

Yu Wu turned to the attacking cultivators, intent on venting some of her rage. Her sword whirled around her in a fluid dance of death. The attacking cultivators were all at least two realms below her and Onari. Most didn't even last a second before being cut into bloody ribbons.

Even though the cultivators were weak, there were so many that neither Yu Wu or Onari could divert their attention from fighting them to watch Xiao Li die. Taking advantage of the distraction, Xiao Li hurriedly pulled out a pill gifted to her by her benefactor. She gulped the heavenly medicine down desperately, and sighed in relief as her wounds began to close.

Onari turned the area around him into a tornado of fire, burning the careless cultivators who weren't ready for an AOE attack. At least three cultivators survived the sudden whirlwind of flames. They were quickly joined by another half dozen that appeared from the shadows.

Xiao Li watched the Dao Companions fight in awe. Every one of their moves complimented their partner. They moved through the swaths of lower ranked cultivators with fatal grace. Still taking advantage of the pair's distraction, Xiao Li cloaked herself in shadows and slipped away.

Back in the cave, the waves of cannon fodder cultivators were finally beginning to thin. Onari had realized almost instantly that most of the fodder weren't actually alive. They seemed to be golems or clones of some kind, and they melted into shadows upon death.

A few of the bodies stayed though. There seemed to be only a few actual cultivators, each with a small army of clones they could call upon. Onari nonchalantly ducked under a swing of Yu Wu's sword, watching as it tore through three cultivators. Two of the cultivators dissolved into shadow, and the third lay on the ground in two pieces.

A fiery fist pierced through another real cultivator's chest. About a dozen more clones poofed from existence as that cultivator died. Yu Wu finished off the rest of the cultivators with a small storm of lightning fast sword intent.

As the last of the clones disappeared and the last of the cultivators lay dying on the floor, Onari and Yu Wu stopped their dance to catch their breath. Neither one of them was actually tired, but Yu Wu was panting.

The anger Xiao Li had caused still made her blood race through her veins. Xiao Li had seen Yu Wu's loyalty to Onari and his family and spat on it. She had really thought Yu Wu would just abandon everything she had built with them for the vague promise of a sect and more power.

Yu Wu's eyes roamed the cave, searching for Xiao Li among the bodies. She almost screamed when she didn't find Xiao Li. Onari came and wrapped his arms around Yu Wu as she held back angry tears.

"She fucking escaped… I'll make her kowtow a hundred thousand times in apology! I'll… I'll make her suffer a thousand deaths! I'll rip her cultivation from her very soul and make her watch as I beat her benefactor to death with it!" Yu Wu ranted, holding onto Onari's arms around her.

"We'll find her," Onari promised.

Yu Wu took a shuddering breath before blinking back her tears, "Now what?"

"Now, I think we should warn my mother about this. Let her make preparations to protect herself and Kunou until we get back."

"We're still doing the rest of the tour?"

"Yeah. I think the best thing for us right now is to spend some time with our friends. We can even go back to bully Sona some more…"

Despite her anger, Yu Wu couldn't contain the surprised giggle that came out of her mouth, "I think I'd like that…"