Destroying the Encampment

"Lie down and don't move!" Chu Li whispered.

"Are we not getting out of here?" Zhao Ying whispered as she shook her numb arm.

Both of them stood at the entrance of the cave, unable to leave. As soon as they stuck their heads out, they would be welcomed by flashes of knives.

Chu Li smiled and shook his head. "Hold on tight, we're rushing out of here!"

Zhao Ying quickly tightened her grip on Chu Li. His tough back was warm and secure. There was nothing to be afraid of as long as she clung tight. Even if the sky had fallen, it would not have mattered.

Chu Li took a deep breath and activated two tiers of the Infinite Azure Sea. With that, Chu Li's inner energy was doubled instantly as he rushed out deflecting flashes of knives from his surroundings.

*DING, DING, DING, DING*

In between the sounds of a chain of knives and swords clashing, Chu Li shot out of the cave.

At the entrance, four bald stared daggers at him.

Chu Li simply used Light-body technique to jump away with Zhao Ying with the four bald men in pursuit. In the blink of an eye, they arrived at the entrance of the ravine. Right as they were about to leave, they were suddenly stopped by a bright flash of light. Judging by the speed and skillfulness in which this sword slash had been executed, it was obvious that this was the ring-scarred man.

Using the Omniscient Mirror, Chu Li had already foreseen the man's ambush beforehand. Skillfully, Chu Li lightly shifted his body and evaded the deadly slash. Before the ring-scarred man completed his move, Chu Li countered by thrusting his sword forward.

*DING*

The ring-scarred man's sword flew out of his hand.

Despite that, the ring-scarred man remained unfazed, he flexed his body muscles and suddenly his body grew by a few sizes. As his body started glowing a dim gold, he started waving his fists at Chu Li.

Chu Li parried with his sword, blocking the man's fists with his sword

*DING*

The moment Chu Li's sword met the man's fist, there was the sound of metal striking gold, which startled Chu Li. "The Sentient Menace?"

"Hah! I see you do you know your stuff!" The man smirked and swung his fists once more.

Chu Li was surprised because the Sentient Menace was a skill exclusively practiced by the Tempest Temple. Could it be that this man was a follower of the Tempest Temple? If that was the case, then both he and Zhao Ying were in a lot of trouble. The Tempest Temple was the head of the top four sects. Their influence was like a bunch of wild roots of a supertree seeped into every inch of the jungle.

"You sure have some guts!" Chu Li said, "a traitor of the Tempest Temple parading around like this!"

The Tempest Temple was very strict. He must have committed some major transgression to be holed up here like this. Thus, the Tempest Temple must be on his scent, which meant that if he was caught, there was no way out except certain death.

To have built a troupe so openly in his situation, his guts must have been the size of the heavens at this point!

With that in mind, Chu Li realized that the ring-scarred man did not intend to let Chu Li leave here alive. If his identity was exposed, it did not matter how strong he was, he was not slipping past the Tempest Temple a second time.

Upon realizing that, Chu Li turned to face the four men that had finally caught up with him.

As the four of them surrounded Chu Li, He reacted swiftly like a mirage, swinging his sword like bolts of lightning. Like the four men, he was an innate master now. Which meant that he had an infinite amount of inner energy that was further enhanced by the Infinite Azure Sea. Keeping the upper hand on the four men throughout the fight, he killed one of them in the blink of an eye.

"Move! I'll take him!" The ring-scarred man shouted as he barrelled towards Chu Li with his golden glow. Both his palms glowed in a dim shade of gold as he welcomed Chu Li's sword with zero fear.

Zhao Ying panicked for Chu Li. Even the ring-scarred man's eyeballs had become yellow. It was as if his entire body was coated in a layer of gold. It was weird but mesmerizing at the same time as he looked like he had been cast out of metal alloys giving no way for anything to pierce through him!

Chu Li tried to keep his distance and used Light-body technique to move behind another innate master, casually stabbing the innate master in the back.

The other two realized that the situation was not in their favor so they quickly turned and tried to run, but Chu Li continued to make chase unto them.

He slipped past the ring-scarred man to take on the other innate masters first. With two tiers of The Infinite Azure Sea, all the spiritual force from the plants within a two-meter radius rushed into his body, nourishing his meridians.

He was aware of the Sentient Menace because he had read about it in the Wisdom Tower. The Sentient Menace was a miraculous technique that made the user impenetrable for as long as it was activated. However, its length of usage was determined by the user's mastery of it.

More importantly, it consumed a large amount of inner energy. Even though innate masters had an almost infinite amount of inner energy, it was still unable to outpace the consumption of the Sentient Menace. Hence it was hard to maintain the Sentient Menace for extended periods of time. Chu Li believed that this man who had betrayed his sect was not going to last much longer.

The other two innate masters were no match for Chu Li. As they tried to outrun him in the cave, they were ultimately eliminated despite feeble attempts to take him down with them in suicidal last-ditch efforts.

Zhao Ying watched as Chu Li wiped the floor with them like animals. She was excited and surprised at the same time. She never expected Chu Li to be this skillful. No wonder Zhuo Feiyang did not stand a chance against him, the gap between their skill levels was simply too wide!

Her heart was now filled with curiosity. She wondered if he had had some fortuitous encounter!

She became more excited the more she thought about it. Everyone who trained in martial arts always hoped that they would get lucky with some unique encounter, anything from receiving a legendary scripture to consuming some magical fruit. To somehow miraculously emerge with some godlike ability to the amazement of the rest of the world and suddenly becoming the best of the best.

Finally, Chu Li was left to face the ring-scarred man alone. The light from him brandishing his sword flashed to the rhythm of metal and gold clashing as he bundled into a fight with the ring-scarred man.

Zhao Ying could not catch up to their movements. She had never thought that one could achieve this level of speed. Chu Li's sword was like bolts of lightning giving the ring-scarred man no time to dodge, which led to his clothes ripping into pieces, leaving him naked within seconds.

Zhao Ying blushed and dared not look below his torso.

When Chu Li's sword tried to pierce the body of the scarred man, it was as if he was piercing a gold block. Nothing was getting past his defense. Chu Li seemed helpless in that situation, but he did not give up and continued to press his attack.

The ring-scarred man smiled as he thrust his palms forward. He ignored Chu Li's sword and went straight for his body. However, Chu Li was too fast for him so the ring-scarred man looked like a stupid bear trying to catch a fly.

"You can't break through the Sentient Menace!" The ring-scarred man exclaimed.

"I don't buy that." Chu Li scoffed.

"Well then, let's see who dies of fatigue, then!" The man shouted.

The ring-scarred man wanted to run. As long as he was alive, he could always start another troupe. Whereas if he stayed and eventually ran out of energy, it would create a myriad of problems. It was better off if he ran.

Slowly, he began to plot his retreat. Surely he could not let Chu Li figure his intent, else he stood no chance in outrunning Chu Li.

Chu Li suddenly turned and left. He flew out of the cave and went down along the steps, landing in the ravine. He began to swing his sword around as he began his extermination.

All the men who were not even innate masters were like sheep for slaughter. They were all defenseless and Chu Li murdered all of them without hesitation or mercy. Death alone was not enough to redeem their sins. If Chu Li became soft hearted and let even one of them live, who knew what they would go on to do and how many people would die from their sins.

"Brother…" Zhao Ying felt numb as she was clinging to his back watching his insanely quick swordplay. Ten people fell onto the ground in just one second's worth of movements. Zhao Ying could not bear to see the carnage.

"They deserve to die a hundred deaths for what they've done!" Chu Li shouted.

Zhao Ying did not say a thing. He was right, but she just could not bear watching all these people being slaughtered like this. She could only stabilize herself with rational thoughts as she closed her eyes in an attempt to not look at the carnage.

The ravine was filled with screams of pain mixed with dire attempts to boost morale through shouting. All of them were fierce to their bones as they were not afraid of witnessing the slaughter of their brothers. In fact, they were motivated by renewed urges for revenge as they continued to rush towards Chu Li in an attempt to create a lose-lose situation. Some tried to grab onto Chu Li to immobilize him so their companions could have a better chance of killing him.

With his lightning-like swordplay and bizarrely quick speed, none of them stood a chance against Chu Li.

When Chu Li had killed all the men, their blood filled the ravine's floors like a river of blood. Meanwhile, the ring-scarred man was nowhere to be found, as he had seized the opportunity to run away.