Ambush

<<<Shin Akagawa>>>

As the group returned Shin went directly to find Ning'er but was stopped as a concerned Ziyun ran over to him.

"Shin, are you ok? I'm sorry I wasn't able to go call for help sooner I-"

Lifting his hand she stopped as she looked at him with teary eyes, seeing that he laughed a little.

Seeing him laugh while she was the only one worried she pouted while also feeling glad he was fine enough to laugh without problems.

"You shouldn't be worried for him but for the others, when we arrived we already found a silver rank and a bronze rank dead with the other sent running with his tail between his legs."

Chen Linjian took that moment to come over as he declared with a loud voice while laughing, the people that weren't present heard that as they looked at Shin in a new light.

'This guy…'

He knew Linjian did that so that he could show off even more his close relationship with Shin especially after he showed so much talent.

'...Still, why were those three here, who was their main objective?'

Now that he was safe and calmed his mind he thought back to the three men, they were wearing black robe hiding most of their faces but the biggest problem was who alerted them of their expedition, only someone that was participating could do so but none of the commoners would have a reason to do so let alone Chen Linjian, Xiao Ning'er or Ye Ziyun.

'Could it be, Shen Yue? Would he really go so far?'

Out of the people present he was the only one that had a grievance with him and not only him, looking in the distance he saw Ning'er running up to him as she didn't hesitate to hug him before checking him over for any wound.

"Ning'er I'm fine don't worry."

Saying so with a calm voice he saw Ning'er visibly calm down but she still didn't fully let go, Chen Linjian seeing that gave a smirk to Shin before starting to lead the group out of the forest, Ziyun lifted her hand as if wanting to say something but stopped as she looked at Ning'er for a couple of seconds before turning to walk with the group, the rest of the people by that point weren't looking at them anymore as they focused more in going forward while the two walked at the back of the group.

"I should've come with you.." Breaking the silence Ning'er said with a small voice as she looked down.

"And get injured because I wasn't able to protect you? Ning'er you're far stronger than before but even for you fighting a five star Bronze rank is too much, you have yet to complete the first stage of the Prime Titan Body Technique and still are a two star. I appreciate the thought but it was for the best that you stayed behind this time you'll be able to help me a lot more in the future."

Even if his words sounded harsh he still would not let her run toward danger for no reason at all, he was sure that with her talent and the techniques he gave her then she will catch up to him in no time so at least for now he will have her stand back for a little while.

"Anyway, why are we leaving early? It can't be because of the attack."

Changing the topic he saw her looking up again as she shook her head at his question.

"Apparently Nie Li found traces of a nest of Demon beasts so we are leaving to not encounter them."

Hearing that Shin couldn't help but be a little amazed, since school started Nie Li kept on amazing him as he showed how knowledgeable he was in different topics.

After that the group walked all night only stopping only once as they heard the roaring of demon beast coming from behind them.

The next morning as the group was walking Shin sense stirred, glancing at Ning'er he saw her also give him a look.

"I can't tell how many there are but aren't they too many…"

Ning said as she frowned her brow, Shin nodded his head before walking closer to Nie Li and Chen Linjian who were talking between them.

"Did you guys also feel them?"

Hearing that Linjian looked surprised at Shin, just moments before Nie Li warned him about a group that was closing in on them that he or any other silver rank present wasn't able to sense but now even Shin came with the same information as Nie Li.

'What do they feed the new generation to have such monsters..'

One seemed more knowledgeable than an elder of a noble family while the other broke any known rule with his strength, Linjian couldn't help but feel inferior to them in every other way.

"How many did you sense?"

As Linjian was thinking that Nie Li asked Shin, even he was surprised Shin was able to sense them but remembering the natural talent he showed in his previous life he couldn't help but accept it.

'Maybe if it was him with the Demon Spiritual Book then he could have had a better chance against the Sage Emperor.'

"I sense over ten people but most of them are just standing back only looking around the edges while two different groups of three each are closing in from two sides."

Nie Li nodded at his words, in reality there were far more than ten, he could sense about twenty people and while most of them were further back seemingly having no intention to approach them right now they were still a danger to them.

"We should take the initiative and attack one of them with the advantage in numbers. One is coming from the left while the other is coming from the right, so as long as we take the path on the left the group on the right will have to walk back and return here. By that time we should have already dealt with the other group."

Linjian said as he looked at a map, by that time all Silver rank were also listening to their conversation along with some other people around as they started to murmur around.

"Then let's do it, we don't have much time."

Shin said as he walked back to Ning'er to inform her while Linjian walked all the way in front to lead the group forwards, after hearing his reason for why they were hurrying up most of them agreed with him while a single one was in panic.

Shen Yue was trying to think of a way to alert the group behind them of Linjian's intention. He already lost a silver rank and a peak bronze rank yesterday due to Shin, he couldn't lose another six people or he didn't know how he would explain it to his father when he comes back.

'My only hope is that they at least kill Shin…'

After he saw both Shin and Nie Li joining the expedition he sent someone to call for a bigger group from the dark guild as he hoped to kill two bird with one stone and even get some merit form the family as he would kill one of the biggest thorn of the Sacred family as without him the Akagawa would lost way too much power.

The group took the path on the left before stopping right after a curve that led to a small hill, whoever came from behind them would have their vision limited from the hill as they would see them only after turning the corner while their group would be already waiting for them ready to attack them.

They didn't have to wait much as suddenly five people arrived in front of them.

'They are more than we thought.. Well, it doesn't matter.' Thinking that Linjian motioned for his group of silver rank to surround them as Shin also moved, getting ready to join in the attack at a moment's notice.

"Speak! Where are you from and what do you want from us!?"

As the leader of the group he couldn't simply kill them without at least asking as that would ruin his image and in case they weren't actually the same group of yesterday then they had to make sure they weren't about to attack people that weren't involved in them.

The group of five put themselves back to back as they hid their faces under their robe looking at the other silver rank in slight panic.

Suddenly they seemed to have come to a decision as the one that seemed the leader of the group took out an inscription scroll.

From the scroll several black lightning came out as they targeted the five silver rank form Linjian Group along with Linjian himself.

"Black Abyssal Lightning Inscription? So you are really from the Sacred guild!"

Right before one of the lightning hit Linjian, one of the Silver ranks moved using his armguard, which was a gold ranked treasure, to block the attack as it didn't leave a scratch on both of them. In all of this Linjian didn't move a single step as he coldly looked at the group.

"Kill them all!"

Without hesitating he gave that order as the battle began, the bronze rank behind held a crossbow as they waited for the right moment to shoot their arrow as their task was to be a support for the five silver rank.

Various light shone in the battlefield as they all merged with their own demon spirits, seeing the scene Shin lamented the fact that a demon spirit would be destroyed the moment one killed the Demon Spiritualist or her would have taken both of the Demon spirit from the men yesterday even if he wouldn't be able to merge with it, it would still be a good reward for risking his life.

Moving to the side he observed the battle, of the five enemies three were fighter type demon spirit while two remained in the back giving support, from their movement he deduced that they had been companions for a couple of years as they were able to coordinate their attack without speaking.

'Well not like that will save them.'

Taking his sword he pointed it to one of the supporters as that man was busily launching an orb of fire toward the Linjian group.

'First Moon, release.'

As the two group were fighting they suddenly stopped as they felt an stream of Soul energy appear from nothing as it rushed toward one of the demon spiritualist, Linjian looked stunned as he saw something like a crimson river ravaging through the enemy lines going at full speed toward a single one of them, looking closely inside the river he saw four arrow like objects as they shoot to his body, suddenly he remembered the condition of the man from yesterday.

Under everyone's eyes the man wasn't able to even scream as the four petals pierced his body creating palm sized holes in it. A chill passed through Linjian as he thought back to the attack, coming from nothing Shin made a single move and killed a Silver ranked Demon Spiritualist it was simply too terrific! Thinking back to the sensation of the soul energy he felt he was sure he couldn't be more than a three star bronze rank but the quantity alone was enough to rival a five star let alone the quality that went against all known rules as it was even purer than that of his father.

'That's the attack of a fourteen year old!'

After Shin's attack the formation of the enemy silver rank fell apart in seconds as they all went on guard against the anonymous attacker, because of that Linjian's group was able to seize that opportunity to divide them. Losing that single silver rank meant losing by numbers of combatants.

Shin recovered while hiding behind a tree, that attack while powerful still took a big toll on him but that was enough to change the fate of the battle. Taking a recovery pill he started gathering soul force preparing in case the other group would still attack.

Soon the battle became one sided as Linjian easily fought back the enemy killing one in the process, unfortunately they didn't manage to kill the others as they took the second death as an opportunity to escape.

'We had to fight in six to kill the second one while Shin was able to kill a single one with a single attack… The difference is way too big, is this what the rumored son of Legend rank is like.'

Thinking that Linjian remembered the time Ye Mo told them about Shin parents, if he thought that he was the son of such people then his emotion calmed a little, after all people would calm down the moment they came to a conclusion.

"They will surely warn the other group we should be safe for the moment, Let's rush to Orchid City!"

Declaring that Linjian looked at his group of Silver rank, thankfully they all had small injuries and none of them were too exhausted so they could resume their expedition without problem, looking at Nie Li and Shin he gave them a nod, while Nie Li contribution may been less than Shin this time he still was very helpful he was thankful he followed his gut feeling and decided to bring him along.