The dancing axe.

Lan Yun huffed slightly at Yin Long's rare teasing smile, puffing out her chest as if to say that she would never get ambushed like that a second time. Yin Long didn't comment on her non-verbal claim, turning his gaze onto Jin Wang, who was licking away the last few drops of blood around his snout.

"Can you find them?"

The two assailants probably left behind a few traces in the surrounding area that they could use to track the path they had taken, but if Jin Wang was able to pick up on their scent then it would be able to save them at least a few minutes. Jin Wang immediately nodded his head somewhat eagerly, keenly aware of what the man who managed to subdue him would do to his enemies.

He started to sniff at the air, running his nose across the trees that the two assailants had been nailed to so that he could latch onto the lingering scent of their bodies. And while his nose might not be as strong as a wolf or dog-type Demonic beast, it was still far superior to a human's nose, allowing him to quickly pick up the scents.

And with the scents locked on to, he started to swiftly move through the forest, his path ending up following a somewhat serpentine pattern. The pattern coincidentally took them around some of the trees whose barbs had already turned into large thorns, these trees had likely already absorbed enough blood and Qi to acquire a very faint demonic consciousness, moving too close to them might actually cause them to attack.

Yin Long kept his senses stretched out as they moved, Lan Yun joining him in keeping an eye out for any traces of either their assailants or other people. Xue Qiuling followed at their side, her demeanour far more casual than theirs as she observed their slightly narrowed eyes. The current demeanour and aura of the two were quite different from what she had gotten used to seeing in the dojo, it was almost as if they were completely different people.

Especially the previous attacks that Yin Long had launched, nailing the two people to the trees with nothing more than a cold remark. It seemed less like the excited and diligent Yin Long she had seen in the sect and was more similar to the Yin Long she had seen first, when he beheaded a group of marauders without using an ounce of Qi.

The calmness and sharpness intrigued her a fair bit, especially what sort of life he had led to carry such a personality while still being able to seem like an excited child in front of the dojo's martial library. Her gaze also slid over to Lan Yun, who had shed her bubbling and enticing personality and replaced it with a colder one, her eyes vigilantly and meticulously sweeping the surroundings to discover even the smallest trace of their enemies.

One turned calm and sharp while the other turned cold and meticulous, instantly shedding their disciple-like appearance and adopting a far more mature visage. Xue Qiuling's interest in the duo couldn't help but be even further aroused once she saw this, a sliver of desire for Lan Yun popping up in her heart next to her desire for Yin Long. They were talented, strong, and strange, they would be excellent allies if they ended up on her side.

"What do you think, were they assassins that someone sent after us to deal with us? Or at least the scouting party belonging to a group of assassins?"

Xue Qiuling had moved a bit closer as she spoke, squeezing herself in between Lan Yun and Yin Long. Yin Long might not have made any mortal enemies, only small rivalries, but jealousy was oftentimes more than enough to make others do some truly crazy things. But while Xue Qiuling felt that there was at least a sliver of a chance for her theory to be correct, Yin Long treated it so casually that he might as well be disregarding it.

"It would be great if they were assassins, that way we could just immediately find out where they came from and eradicate all those idiots, which is what they would have to be to send assassins like those two."

His blunt dismissal caught Xue Qiuling somewhat off-guard, the way he didn't even look at her made her feel as if he was implying that she too was an idiot for thinking that those two were assassins. Yin Long didn't pay much attention to Xue Qiuling's feelings on his gaze, giving a casual explanation of his thought process.

"The two people had matching tattoos, in the same place even, a three-eyed stag beneath their armpits. Think about it, if any organization branded their assassins in such a blatant manner then they would be found out the moment one of their operatives was killed, or when that particular brand was seen. So no proper organization will brand any assassins like that, nor would their allow any of their assassins to get tattoos like that as it would be fairly easy to find out who made it and who they gave it to."

His explanation laid everything out for Xue Qiuling, allowing her to understand why he was so sure of his theory. But at the same time, it spawned another question in her mind, just how did Yin Long know all this? How could a mere 'wanderer' really know how organizations would treat their assassins?

The corners of her lips curved up faintly as she looked at the focused Yin Long, she felt like she was starting to learn a bit more about him and who he was. Sooner or later she would manage to pry out all his secrets and learn the full truth, then she would finally see the full scope of his worth. She opened her mouth to speak again, but Yin Long raised his hand and cut her off in a quiet manner.

"We're here."

Jin Wang had stopped and was staring at the ground right in front of them, a patch of unassuming earth surrounded by forest that looked practically the same as everywhere else. Xue Qiuling focused her senses slightly but still couldn't pick up anything, curiously waiting for Yin Long and Lan Yun to prove that they were right. Lan Yun was actually the first one to speak up, crouching down and running one of her fingers along the earth.

"Seems to be only around six or seven, and at least one of them has to cultivate the law of the earth so we shouldn't move closer, lest they maybe discover us if that cultivator focuses on sensing the earth. Collapse it in on them? I should be able to take out two of them right away if I do that, after that we can rush them before they can recover their senses. What do you think, Young Master?"

Yin Long pondered over Lan Yun's suggestion with slightly narrowed eyes for a bit. But he then suddenly seemed to remember something, softly slapping his forehead before shaking his head, the sharpness pervading his being receding slightly.

"Wow, old habits are harder to get rid of than you'd think huh? Yeah, it's a good plan but that's not what we came here for was it? If we do that, how am I supposed to see your improvements? Force them out and then engage them."

Lan Yun seemed to also realize something as Yin Long's demeanour changed, a slightly sheepish smile surfacing on her face. Right, they were no longer Yin Long and Lan Yun of the Lang clan, they were no longer serving as that darkness, those shackles had vanished with their death. Now they were just Lan Yun and Yin Long, two wanderers just trying to improve their own skills while one tried to sway the emotions of the other.

The sudden flip once again caught Xue Qiuling off-guard, but it also told her that their earlier change wasn't entirely voluntary but purely instinctual. Lan Yun didn't bother with Xue Qiuling and placed both of her hands on the ground, her Qi bursting forth and sinking into the earth. The ground a bit of a distance ahead of them started to quiver and shake, a nearly 100-metre wide section of it suddenly bursting open as a hole leading into a small underground cavern was revealed.

Six people were huddled within the cavern, all of them quickly hopping up when they realized that their hiding spot had been sniffed out. One of them immediately made the earth beneath them rise up and brought them out of the hole, the six of them not even bothering to remove the earth that now stained their brownish-green robes, which seemed to be reinforced with flexible leather.

"Attackers, formation!"

The six people quickly took up a small formation, two people at the front, three in the middle, and one at the very back who pulled out a bow and prepared an arrow. The six people swept Yin Long's group with narrowed and wary gazes, seemingly studying them to figure out who they were. Yin Long tilted his head slightly while observing the six people, four men and two women, in front of him, their studying gazes giving him a bit of information.

"Seems like they don't know us. Makes it a bit more unlikely that the two women attacked us because this group had plans of taking us down. If I had to guess then they probably just saw us while scouting the area and hoped to earn a quick penny by looting us. In that case, marauders rather than sect or clan disciples?"

Yin Long openly stated his own guesses, not really expecting a response from anyone. The six people ahead of them had only reached the 9th Mortal Door, only the one in the very back seeming to have taken at least half a step into the realm of the Immortal Doors. They weren't a great threat at all, which was why Yin Long could speak so casually despite facing a group of enemies. He wasn't expecting any form of response, but his words certainly riled up the six people, the black-haired woman serving as one of the front-liners practically growling at them.

"So you're the reason we haven't heard anything from Hing'er and Little Yatju..."

The eyes of the six people practically burned as they glared at Yin Long's group. They might be marauders like he said, but they were still just people, they had friends and loved ones, people they cared for and wished dearly to protect. And now, Yin Long had robbed them all of two such people, deeply hurting every one of them. Yin Long and his group could see the groups thoughts from their expressions, but he would be lying if he said he cared too much,

Everyone had something or someone that they cared about, even the vilest and cruellest of all had things they held dear. And it was an inevitable truth of battle that every enemy you slew was someone's precious person, everyone you slew would cut a scar into someone else.

But if you wanted to retain those close to you, if you wanted to prevent yourself from being one of those who got a scar cut into them, then you had to raise your blade and continue to cut down others, you had to scar others to prevent yourself from getting scarred. And Yin Long had long since come to terms with this fact, he had accepted it and would not shy from it, he would scar an endless sea of people to prevent himself from getting scarred. So when the group of six took their first step forward, his own expression didn't change much as he gave the order.

"Alright, let's see your skills."

Lan Yun shot forward the moment Yin Long's words dropped, her greataxe appearing in her grasp as she charged at the enemies. But her charge was far faster than Yin Long had expected, his eyes opening in surprise as he traced Lan Yun. And as he observed her for a bit, especially the Qi that she was now no longer hiding, the corners of his lips curled up slightly, a chuckle escaping his lips.

"Alright, I see what you're trying to do. Fine, consider me sufficiently surprised, speedy bugger."

When he had last seen Lan Yun, she had only been at the 8th Mortal Door, and while he expected her to have some improvements after a month in the dojo, he only expected her to reach the 9th Mortal Door. But she had blown those expectations out of the water and had clearly worked hard on studying and understanding the cultivation manual he had bought for her, already managing to reach the 1st Immortal Door while he wasn't looking.

He thought that he had been training pretty hard, but now it was clear that Lan Yun was unwilling to lose to him when it came to how hard they worked. She evidently picked up his chuckle, the corners of her mouth curving up enchantingly, a pleased smile forming on her face now that she knew that she had managed to catch Yin Long off-guard.

Yin Long thought that while the battle wouldn't hold any suspense, it would at least push Lan Yun slightly. But now that he knew that she had reached the 1st Immortal Door then it was clear that the battle wouldn't push her in the slightest, the enemy wouldn't even be able to touch the hem of her robe.

The difference between the various cultivation realms was greater than the difference between the various sub-realms, and the chasm only grew vaster with each cultivation realm. Under normal circumstances, someone at the Mortal Door realm wouldn't even be able to wound someone at the Immortal Door realm.

For them to achieve something like that they would either need a strong bloodline, like one from a Primordial Man, a powerful cultivation technique, an overpowering law, a special weapon, or a skill that could bridge the gap. As for the group of six Lan Yun was facing now, they evidently didn't have any of the prerequisites, falling one by one.

Lan Yun showed her skills in a clear and smooth manner, actually slowing her speed a little to make sure that Yin Long could properly see how she swung her axe, rolling her joints to guide its momentum without wasting any power. She wielded a mighty and destructive greataxe, decimating her opponents with her law of crushing and her law of tearing, but there was only one word Yin Long could use to describe her movements, beautiful.

She had full control over her strength and didn't allow a single ounce of it to leave her grasp, her joints and muscles constantly moving and shifting the position of her axe to retain power and momentum. It was one thing to see her fight against a single person, but only now that she was fighting against an entire group did Yin Long see the full extent of her skills, which had clearly been honed more than just a fair bit.

She was teaching him how to move when using a heavy weapon, but it looked more as if she was dancing, the sound of pained grunts and shattering bones her music while the splattering of blood was her applause. It was macabre, but Yin Long wasn't able to pull his eyes away, intently studying even her smallest movements and imprinting them into his mind so that he could try them out the next time he trained with a greatsword.

But with the difference in strength being what it was, it ended far too soon for Yin Long's liking, the last of the six marauders falling to the ground. He hadn't tried to flee in the end, all of them gave up on fleeing after the first person of their group had died. They had already lost three friends, and trying to flee would definitely cause them to lose at least three more. Even if they managed to flee and survive, everything would feel hollow afterwards, it would be a life not worth living.

Lan Yun quickly searched the bodies for everything valuable before allowing Jin Wang to snatch them up. She herself walked over to Yin Long, a radiant smile on her face as she hefted the axe over her shoulder and placed her other hand on her hip.

"Surprised you, didn't I? Did it make your jaw drop, maybe make your heart pound a few times and make you fall for me?"

She unashamedly spoke while puffing out her chest, making sure that she showed off as much as she could now that she had the chance. But while she expected Yin Long to roll his eyes in his usual manner, he did the opposite and actually praised her.

"Yeah, you sure surprised me, I really hadn't expected you to reach the realm of the Immortal Doors already. You must have worked hard and tirelessly to reach the realm so quickly, it must have been exhausting. And yeah, my jaw dropped slightly, I can't deny that. Watching you fight like that was definitely quite beautiful, you clearly have a knack for fighting groups at a time, you perfectly utilized everything you've told me about while we trained."

Lan Yun wasn't expecting Yin Long to heap praise onto her, a charming blush starting to spread on her face while her eyes blazed slightly. It almost looked like she was about to jump him and assault him then and there, but an unknown voice sounded out from far closer than they were comfortable with, instantly sharpening their demeanour.

"So they are your knights, Elder Sister Xueling. They seem a bit older than the ones you previously took in, have you given up on rearing them into loyal pawns from a young age?"