Chapter 123

Hei looked up to the sky. At this point, the sun had almost completed its journey across the sky. It was time to head out.

He looked down to the ground and activated the eye technique he had created to be able to see the interactions of earth nodes. This way, he was able to see the structure of the formation he had placed under the Zhu Clan's residence. He grabbed his command jade from his storage space and issued it various instructions.

Not long afterword, those within the residence saw an interesting sight. The black dome that had caged them started to warp and was caving in on itself as if a giant finger were poking it from the outside. It didn't stop until it reached Hei's feet, where he further commanded it to form a rigid structure which enveloped him, forming a tunnel leading to the outside.

At this point, the others couldn't see what was happening inside, but this wasn't because Hei was trying to hide it. It was simply that the structure was pitch black and the formation it was made from naturally blocked spiritual perception.

From within the tunnel, Hei used his Unlimited Flame Works to create a new structure. He was thinking with aerodynamics in mind and the resulting shape was similar to a black fighter jet. He was seated in its cockpit.

After creating his aircraft, he instructed the tunnel to change its internal shape, creating a track for the fighter jet to launch from. Then he created restraints which clamped down on it before he started applying to concepts of his Rail Gun technique, creating a thrusting force behind him.

He sent out a message to the ten elders letting them know that the formation was now permeable to them and waited for the sun to fully set. It wasn't long before Yuying spoke up.

"It looks like the others have already left. Why are we just waiting here?"

"It's those three people from before. I can see them in my spiritual perception. They're standing some distance away and are looking this way. It's suspicious."

"Is that why you had the elders go first? You wanted to smoke them out?"

"Mm. I wanted to see what they were doing here. Since they haven't made a move after so many elders left, it's unlikely that they have business with the Zhu Clan."

"Then that means-"

"Their target is likely to be either Honghuo or me."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'll proceed as planned. If they make a move then I'll respond accordingly."

Yuying smiled mischievously. "You wouldn't be planning to hand over your partner, would you?"

"Depending on the circumstances, that is a distinct possibility."

"…"

"Relax. It was a joke."

"Why do I feel like that isn't true?"

"... Anyway, It's time to go."

Hei used his qi to reinforce his body and released the constraints that were holding the aircraft back, launching it into the sky at blazing speeds. The scenery changed so quickly that it was difficult to notice when they had left the tunnel and entered the greater world.

Behind them, the formation surrounding the Zhu clan returned to normal with the tunnel climbing back up to the dome and merging with it. Hei may have let the ten elders out, but he wouldn't be disabling the formation as a whole. There was still the possibility that some of the kidnappers within the Zhu Clan were heading back after receiving his message. When they came, they would be captured by the other members of their clan before being tested with the Evil Slaying technique.

***

Somewhere, a ways away from the Zhu Clan's residence, three men had been lying in wait. When they saw a group of people exit the formation, one of them had gone off to scout the situation. He had just returned and reported to the most dignified looking of the three. The one who emanated an air of mystery.

"He's not among them."

"Then we wait. He won't stay behind that formation forever."

"I know we agreed not to ask any questions, Ozan, but what business do you have with this boy anyway? To go so far as to call in old favours, did he kill your father or something?"

"Like I said, it's best if you don't ask any questions. This is beyond your scope. All you have to do is help me capture him."

"Well, whatever."

The three continued to wait when, all of a sudden, a green cat appeared on one of their shoulders. It started meowing at the one called Ozan.

Ozan made some strange growling sounds in response and the two continued to have their "conversation". The other two men decided to stay silent.

At some point, Ozan's brows furrowed. For all it was worth, his growls sounded a little angry. It wasn't long after that the cat disappeared again. The other two exchanged glances before one of them spoke up.

"Was that beast language?"

"It was."

"What were the two of you talking about."

"Don't ask." Ozan's fists clenched and his expression darkened. "It doesn't involve you."

-

"Not to interrupt or anything, but something just left the dome at high speed."

Ozan and the other man looked in the direction their friend was pointing. He was tracing an arc across the sky where a strange black object was moving. It was difficult to see with their eyes, so they used their spiritual perceptions to scan it. They couldn't see inside, but that alone was reason enough to believe that their target was inside it.

"We follow!"

Ozan led the way as the three of them gave chase.

***

"I'm sensing spiritual perception. Three of them. They've spotted us."

Yuying's face perked up.

"Which means!"

"There will likely be an altercation."

"Yes! -I mean, what a shame…"

"You needn't hide your excitement, Partner."

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! A three on one fight right before the rescue mission! This is exactly the kind of high-intensity scene we needed!"

"Uh…" Hei wasn't expecting Yuying to be quite so enthusiastic. "There's also the possibility that I'll be defeated, you know. I may even lose my life today."

"Mm. That's it. Say it like you really mean it. It will have people on the edge of their seats."

"…"

"Oh shoot! I've run out of snacks. Don't start without me!"

With that, Yuying ran off to parts unknown.

'Perhaps I should rethink this partnership…' While Hei may not have been feeling too tense about the situation either, he felt his partner was far too lax. 'That being said, I do want to test the limits of my current strength. Recording it will also be useful for later study.'

It didn't take Yuying long to grab a few more snacks and return to her bed.

"And… Action!"

Hei ignored her and flew until he reached a grassy plain. He had been slowing himself down so his pursuers were now close to him. As he came to a stop, he turned his aircraft around to face them and they stopped ten meters away.

After instructing Yuying to start recording, Hei inspected the three men and saw a strange sight. It was like they all had two faces which overlapped and intersected in strange ways akin to glitching graphics. He surmised that they had used some kind of disguise technique. What his eyes were showing him was but an illusion. His spiritual perception, on the other hand, was able to see the truth.

"Why are you following me?"

One of the men responded.

"So, you noticed us? I was sure we had stayed out of your range. I suppose you do have some ability."

Another stepped forward and entered a fighting stance.

"Why don't we exchange a few tips?"

The other remained silent.

"I see."

Hei activated his qi and began to make changes to the aircraft. Since he was about to enter battle, it was no longer needed, but the qi it was made from was still useful.

"Embodiment of Fire Mark One: Asura!"

The three men watched as the strange black object shifted and eventually transformed into a black suit of armour, complete with a helmet and wings. Every part of it was made of sharp angles and from it, they could feel pulses of energy shooting out in frequent bursts, making the whole thing feel dangerous.

Hei made to retrieve Onyx from his storage space but felt resistance from the latter.

[What's the matter?]

[You don't want to bring me out this time.]

[Why not?]

[The one in the middle. He's Fire Nation. You see that pendant he's wearing? That stone embedded in it-]

[It's one of those stones?]

[It is. If you bring me into this it will react.]

[I see.]

Hei crossed his arms in front of him and shot flames out of his palms. As he gripped them within his hands, they transformed into two black swords.

'Then, I go after the one in the middle first!'

He wasted no time in bringing his spiritual perception to its limits, causing the three men to feel a stifling pressure. He used Point Impact to launch himself toward the one in the middle. As his swords traced arks in the sky, they let out high pitch screams.

It was only an instant between his decision and his swords being mere inches away from the man's neck.

"Fast!"

Klang. Klang.

The other two intercepted Hei's attack with swords of their own and pushed him back.

"The two of you stall him for me."

"You got it."

"Let's see what you've got, little runt!"

Hei was thrown back after blocking a flaming sword and while he was still facing the force of the blow, another attack came down from above. It was a sword slash aimed at his own neck.

Hei used the explosive force of Point Impact to rotate himself and block the sword with his own. He didn't just block the attack. With his other sword, he went on the offensive, but his explosive sword swing was interrupted by the other person.

But that didn't stall him for too long. His attack had actually been intended for the one who blocked him. He swept his foot, landing a solid hit on the man's abdomen.

"Ugh… It looks like he's used to fighting two-on-one."

The man retreated a few steps and regrouped with his friend.

"Flame Domain!" Hei curled up into a ball before exploding out, stretching his arms and legs. From his body, hundreds of tiny black flames shot out and covered the surrounding area.

"What kind of joke is this?"

At this level of ability, Hei's flames seemed pitifully slow. He wouldn't be able to hit a minute realm cultivator, even with hundreds of them.

Hei didn't respond to the taunts of his adversaries. He entered a crouching stance as if he were about to burst out into a run, but he was fully in the air with no ground to stand on. Behind him, they could see light being distorted as if waves of heat were bending it. In front of him, they could feel pulses of energy shooting out at high frequency.

Before either could make a move, Hei blasted forth like a black bolt of lightning, his fist landing squarely on the abdomen of one of the men whose mouth was forced open causing him to leave a stream of blood as he was thrown back.

His friend came in with a downward sword strike.

"Thunderclap!"

The sword was clad in lightning and as it descended, the sounds of thunder resounded. Just as it was about to hit Hei, he disappeared, appearing again in front of the other man who had been knocked back.

"No!"

There was nothing he could do against Hei's speed. Not when he had to avoid all of these black flames floating in the sky.

"Jade Turtle!"

The other man wouldn't just wait for Hei to hit him. He activated a technique to encase himself in a green shell made of hexagons, resembling that of a turtle. Hei's sword-strike made light work of it though, smashing it to pieces, but it had already served its purpose in protecting him. He managed to put some distance between himself and Hei and sent a private message to his friend.

"Damn! He's too strong. We can't beat him like this!"

"All we have to do is stall him. Ozan will handle the rest."

"R-right. But it's just too-"

He couldn't finish his sentence before Hei appeared in front of him once more.

***

Ozan had been watching the fighting and could see that his friends were having a hard time due to the black flames. They weren't able to move as freely as their opponent.

He decided to examine the flames through various methods of testing and came to the conclusion that they were mere qi constructs with no other outstanding properties. Meaning their offensive strength was zero.

'A feint.'

He sent a private message to his friends. "You don't have to worry about the black flames. He just put them there distract you."

***

Of course, Hei had heard Ozan's message as well and realised that this particular ruse was no longer effective. But that wasn't important. It just meant that the fight wouldn't be as one-sided as it had been.

His opponents no longer feared the flames he had placed around the area, but, to Hei, that was also a desirable outcome. That was because the other one was also no longer weary of the black flames. He had come closer to the action as a result.

Hei fully engaged in his battle with the two men, coming to a stalemate. They were unable to land any significant attacks on him and he wasn't able to separate them to fight one on one.

That remained the case until Hei felt a certain fluctuation of energy.

***

'Now that I'm down to the transcendent realm, I should be able to tell if he's one of them' Ozan held his necklace out and opened his pendant, exposing the stone to the outside world.

'What's this? It's not changing. What does this-'

His thoughts were cut off when Hei appeared beside him.

'How did he… The flames! So, they were markers for this teleportation technique? I fell into his trap.'

Be that as it may, Ozan wasn't afraid of someone at Hei's level. Even with his cultivation suppressed to the transcendent realm, he would be able to deal with this much. He wasn't like his two friends.

"Bring it on."

He drew his sword to intercept Hei's attack, but found, to his shock, that Hei's strength was far beyond what he had previously let on. As soon as his sword came into contact with Hei's, he felt waves and waves of impacts striking down on him.

-Crack.

His sword cracked at the point of intersection and in the next instant, it was cleaved in two. He watched as Hei's swords continued on their path uninterrupted, emanating a sharp pressure while they did.

They stopped at his clothes, where his defensive talismans took effect, but they too were unable to withstand the continuous shockwaves coming from the black swords. He heard the sounds of them shattering one after the other before the swords landed on his body.

'How amusing.' He watched as his view drifted from Hei up to the night sky. He landed on the ground with a thud and felt the pain of falling from a decent height.

He turned his head to look at Hei, who's black armour was now glowing red and falling from his body in chunks. The sound of a sword being quenched in water resounded and Hei was panting heavily.

***

[Now, that's what I'm talking about!] Yuying still had plenty of snacks to spare for the rest of the fight. [I wish I could do things like that.]

[It won't be long before you can.]

[Thanks, Partner. That's really encouraging.]

[It's merely stating the obvious. I take it you approve of the battle.]

[Most definitely. It was much better than the previous ones. But you make it sound like it's already over.]

[That's because it is.]

[I don't understand. Even if you defeated this one, there are still two more. And it looks like you're running on empty right now. Are you sure you'll be okay.]

[If I didn't know better, I would say you had it out for me.]

[What's that supposed to mean?]

[You're still speaking as if I have no allies.]

***

While Hei and Yuying were conversing, the other two men arrived and landed next to Ozan, who picked himself up and dusted himself off. He turned to face Hei, who looked like he had used up all his energy.

"Either you're not one of them, or you're not yet in the minute realm. I'll assume it's the latter."

The other two exchanged glances. Their shock apparent.

"He's not in the minute realm and he's this strong? How is that possible?"

"That doesn't matter. What's important is that if we don't capture him today, he'll bring us no small amount of trouble in the future. You really made us kick an iron wall this time, Ozan."

Ozan waved dismissively.

"Relax. Can't you see that he's exhausted? He's probably run out of qi. All that's left to do is to capture him."

Even saying so, Ozan didn't relax his guard. He and his two friends circled around Hei, preparing to set up a formation to contain him.

"I spared you today, but don't think you can keep pushing me." Hei warned. "Take your leave before I change my mind."

"Who are you trying to fool?"

"I would like to see how you resist us."

The three weren't even the slightest bit concerned by Hei's words and proceeded in preparing to capture him. But that was when three cracks opened up in the space surrounding Hei. From them, three people appeared, two women and one man. They all had sharp glints in their eyes as they stared down their opponents.

"That- That was spatial-travel! What in the world?!"

One of the three men was scared witless. Anyone who could control spatial laws was far beyond their realm of understanding. In fact, such people shouldn't exist in the lower eastern continent.

"Calm down." Ozan waved his hand dismissively. "It's just a spatial fold."

The look of fear in his friend's eyes faded and was replaced with one of desire.

"Get that look off your face. We can't handle them in our current states."

"But what about the thing?"

"You can stay here if you want to die." Ozan pulled out a circular item from his spatial ring and injected his qi into it, opening a crack in space similar to the three that had appeared earlier. He looked back at Hei. "We'll pick this up again later." Then, he made to leave.

Auntie Yimin stepped forward and cracked her knuckles. "Who said you could just walk away?" She recognised Ozan as the strongest of the three and was ready to fight, but she was stopped by Hei.

"There's no point, Auntie Yimin. They're already gone. What's left here is just an illusion."

Auntie Yimin looked disappointed, but she stepped back.

Ozan narrowed his eyes as he looked at Hei. "Interesting."

With that, the three opponents were gone. Auntie Yimin turned to Hei.

"Were they demonic cultivators from the Crimson Moon? I didn't know they had treasures like that."

"No. I don't think they're related to the sect. This was something else. They came for me."

"Then we should finish them off while they're still weak."

"Leave it be."

"But… What will you do if they come seeking trouble again?"

"It's not a big concern. After today, I'll no longer be using this identity. Besides, if they do come, they will provide good sparring practice for my people."

Auntie Yimin smiled. This was her kind of fellow.

"I was wondering how you could have had trouble against such weaklings. So, you spared them on purpose."

"That may be the case for the other two, but not for the one who had suppressed his cultivation to the transcendent realm. For whatever reason, he was holding back. He would be a troublesome opponent at full strength."

Hei remembered the feeling of that final strike. After going through Ozan's defensive items, he felt an odd sensation. Like his Point Impact was being absorbed and redirected. He didn't know why that fellow pretended to have been hit by it.

"Oh?"

Auntie Yimin's eyes lit up at the prospect of a worthy foe. Even as someone who had just stepped into the minute realm, the other minute realm cultivators she had seen didn't quite enter her eyes. But that person who had suppressed his cultivation, he gave her a similar feeling to the one she got from Hei. That of someone who could fight well above their cultivation level.

Hei looked to Xiaoli and Jing'er who appeared to be sharpening their minds like blades. They were fully focused on the task at hand and hadn't spoken since they left the storage space.

"Come. We'll go the rest of the way on foot."

They were already close enough to the Crimson Moon Sect and Hei had used a lot of his qi facing off against those three, so he didn't want to wast more on flight.

***

The four arrived at a location in the middle of a mountain range, where they were stopped by an invisible formation.

Auntie Yimin stepped forward to examine it. "The formation responsible for protecting the entire sect. It won't be easy to get past it." She turned to Hei. "Any ideas?" He had managed to set up a formation that even the entire Zhu Clan put together couldn't break. Perhaps he would have a way to get past this one.

Hei opened up his storage space and Honghuo popped out, landing on the ground, hands full of bread. He finished chewing what was already in his mouth and after swallowing and taking a look around, he asked what was happening.

"We're here."

"Really?" Honghuo looked around and noticed the distinct lack of anything of note. "Where is everyone?"

Hei pointed in the direction of the formation and Honghuo walked over and reached his hand out. After passing through the air, it was blocked by something and the picture behind it seemed to be slightly distorted.

Before Honghuo could ask how they were going to get past it, he heard the rumbling of thunder.

"Uh… Didn't you say you would let me out once we were inside?"

"Change of plans."

"…" Honghuo walked up to Hei and placed his hand on his shoulder. He spoke with tears in his eyes. "I'm ready. Just promise me that you'll find out what happened to my sister, and if she's still alive, save her."

"Do it yourself."

Hei grabbed Honghuo's robe and removed the part covering his upper body, then placed two fingers together and started drawing black circulation paths all over him.

After he finished, he pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from his storage space and handed them to Honghuo.

"Sign here."

Honghuo raised a brow but signed it anyway.

"What's this?"

"Just your standard non-liability agreement." Hei rolled the piece of paper up and popped it back into his storage space, followed by the pen. "Since this method hasn't been tested before, you may face some… unintended consequences. This agreement states that you won't attempt to slaughter eight generations of my family should things go awry."

"Uh…"

"Relax. It was a joke."

"Which part?"

"… We should probably get back to business. Just stand near the formation and the lightning should do the rest of the work."

"No, seriously… Which part?"

"You three should probably step back."

Auntie Yimin, Xiaoli and Jing'er did as Hei said and looked at Honghuo with pity in their eyes. These tribulation clouds were the most fearsome they had ever seen. It would be a miracle if he came out of it unscathed.

Honghuo shuddered as he looked up to the roiling clouds. Before he knew it, the lightning had pooled up in a single spot and fell towards him.

"N-no, wait! D-don't do this to me!"

Everyone closed their eyes and bid their ally farewell in their hearts.

Yours was a worthy sacrifice, Honghuo.

For hundreds of meters around, the only thing that could be heard was the sound of thunder mixed with Honghuo's screams of terror.