Power.

'The Leviathan Ax? Where did this weapon come from? Now I'm sure that these abilities have something to do with that white figure I saw before I opened my eyes in that crater. But, I'll think about that later...'

Lei Shen turned his attention to the other two men who were slowly starting to back away from him. He squinted his eyes and gripped the ax tighter as he stomped on the ground, pushing himself off of it once again.

The leader of the masked men gritted his teeth and rushed towards Lei Shen with a strange agility technique that looked like he was running on a stream of fire. He also released his martial spirit which increased his destructive power exponentially.

'Flames Of Desolation!'

"Yu Yan!! Don't just stand there, let's kill him together!"

The other masked man, Yu Yan, shouted as the spear in his hand erupted in a blinding light, causing many illusions of the spear to appear in the sky.

'Eight Trigrams Moonlight Spear!'

The spear in his hands seemed to shine with even more brilliance as he threw it at Lei Shen, causing the ground to fissure as it moved.

Seeing the two attacks coming towards him at once, Lei Shen immediately turned towards the spears and raised the ax across his body.

'Those spears are more dangerous than the fire. Luckily, it seems like the illusions don't work on me...'

Lei Shen instantly figured out which spear was real and blocked it.

CLANG!

The sheer force the spear was thrown with caused Lei Shen to be pushed back for about 3 meters. 8100 jins of force were behind that spear attack so Lei Shen only being pushed that far back was a feat itself.

"Dammit!"

Since he was pushed back, the leader was forced to change the trajectory of his flames, which caused them to spread more than he intended to. Lei Shen was unable to dodge the wide range of the flames and just tightened his grip on the ax, blocking the flames with it.

BOOM!

When the flames collided with Lei Shen, a massive explosion occurred which caused that part of the forest to become engulfed in flames. Even Jiang Shi and Wen Yu weren't spared from the wrath of the red flames.

The leader of the men searched the flames with bloodshot eyes for any remains of the trio or any signs of life. He used his maximum in those flames so the chances of their survival were slim.

"Yu Yan, do you still sense-"

WHOOSH!

The Leviathan Ax spun out of the flames with its blade glowing in runic patterns, instantly putting out the flames with layers of ice as it passed. The leader gritted his teeth and tried to activate another martial art but the Ax flew at him so fast that before he could get into the stance for the art, it was already in front of his face.

THWACK!

The leader's head went flying as his body instantly froze over and fell, shattering into pieces. Yu Yan instantly turned around and started to run away with bloodshot eyes.

He didn't want to die here.

No, he couldn't die here. His cultivation journey had just started.

There's no way that he could die in a random forest so young.

Lei Shen raced out of the flames completely unharmed, grabbed the ax from a frozen tree it was stuck in, and chased Yu Yan like a rabid dog.

'There's no way I'm going to allow one of you to leave this place alive.'

As Yu Yan ran, he could hear a booming sound getting closer and closer to him at an incredible speed. It sounded like a raging beast rampaging through the first.

"Shit shit shit!! Someone he-"

WHOOSH!

Lei Shen suddenly appeared in front of Yu Yan and grabbed him by the mouth, lifting him in the air. Yu Yan flailed about and tried to shout but Lei Shen's grip was just too strong. Not even a sound escaped his mouth.

SHWINGG!

Yu Yan summoned his martial spirit, which was a spear to try and stab Lei Shen in the chest. Lei Shen gave him a warm smile, dropped him from his grip, and slashed downwards onto his head with the Leviathan Ax.

CLANG!

The spear shattered like a stack of biscuits and Yu Yan was split straight down the middle, ending his pitiful life immediately. Lei Shen didn't even bother looking at him as he raced back to the duo, Jiang Shi and Wen Yu.

The whole point of this was to gain information from one of the two groups and since the attackers were dead, the duo had to do. Luckily, when Lei Shen arrived a few moments later, both of them were standing under a frozen tree waiting for him.

When they saw him arrive, Wen Yu immediately hid her eyes and Jiang Shi cleared his throat. Jiang Shi closed his eyes, bowed, and said, "Ahem. Thank you for saving us, Senior Lei Shen. Please, accept this small gift from us as a sign of gratitude."

Jiang Shi pulled some clothing out of a half-destroyed sack and gave them to Lei Shen without opening his eyes. That was when Lei Shen remembered that he was still naked.

He stuck the ax in the ground and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he collected the robes.

"Thank you. So, I'm guessing you're Jiang Shi, and she is Wen Yu?"

Jiang Shi cupped his fist and responded, "Yes, Mister Shen. She is Wen Yu, the young miss from the Wen Clan in Yangzhou City. I am Jiang Shi, a lowly bodyguard assigned to guard her."

"And also her lover, interesting."

Jiang Shi's face turned red for a moment before he regained his composure but he didn't deny Lei Shen's claim. Lei Shen put on the waist black robes that also came with some black pants and boots quickly as he had enough of being exposed.

"Do you have a cloak? Ah, you can open your eyes now."

Lei Shen looked at the sack that Jiang Shi had curiously as he spoke. The duo opened their eyes and when they saw him fully clothed, it seemed to have brought forth his facial features which they barely managed to see before.

Lei Shen had a strong jawline, long, thick eyebrows, medium-sized lips, blue eyes that seemed to buzz with lightning from time to time, and skin that almost glowing in the sunlight. Even his long golden hair looked like each strand was made from the purest kind of gold in existence.

"How divine..."

The duo was starstruck as they looked at Lei Shen. The man in question wasn't someone that enjoyed being gawked at so he immediately snapped his fingers, causing them to wake up from their stupor.

"Ah!"

Jiang Shi lowered his head as he quickly shuffled around in the sack, pulling out a black cloak. Lei Shen smiled warmly as he put it on, picked up his ax, and stood to the side, extending his palm forward.

"Well, let's go, lead the way. The two can give me information on our current location as payment for saving you."

The duo then both smiled and walked with Lei Shen. They treated him as if he was an old friend but Jiang Shi didn't forget that Lei Shen wanted to let them die at first.

'Im not foolish enough to ask him about it directly but I believe he'll reveal his true character soon enough. There's something about him that's causing my instincts to go insane...'