I refuse to be a dog.
"We cannot let him warn the other people inside the town about what is going on here. This fight will need to be finished as fast as possible. Right after he arrives, I will create an opportunity for all of us to attack him. Brother Ren. your souls can hide in the ground, so hide it in the ground over there until the time is right."
Yao Jun kept a close eye on the approaching Li Quan as he spoke. Thanks to his improved vision, he could clearly see every move that Li Quan made. From Li Quan's facial expression, Yao Jun was able to guess that he wasn't able to hear them.
"Sister Yi, you and Brother Ren hide in the shadows at the side. Brother Yantian, you can hide over there. I will have Ba-Shei keep you hidden inside the darkness, bringing you out right before we attack."
They would have to finish this as fast as possible, not giving Li Quan a single chance at escape. If he noticed how many people there were here, Yao Jun was afraid that he would flee and alert the others, rather than do it on his own.
Wan Yi, Lin Ren, and Yun Yantian each gave a quick nod, heading to their respective sides and getting dragged down into the darkness by Ba-Shei. Yao Jun could bring them out of the darkness in less than a second, so he was confident in bringing them out in time to ambush Li Quan.
With the three of them disappearing, only Yao Jun, Guo Luo, and the Yang siblings that remained. Guo Luo was crouched next to Yang Yuhuan, ready to use her illusions at any moment. Yao Jun and Yang Long stood side by side, with their weapons in hand, silently waiting.
"There you are!"
As Li Quan got closer, he finally spotted them. He slightly hesitated when he saw that there were two other people with the Yang siblings, but he relaxed upon sensing their cultivation level. Yang Yuhuan was injured, so she could not fight. There was one kid there at the 2nd Mortal Earth, but the two others had yet to reach the 2nd Mortal Earth, they were no threat.
"I don't know how you managed to escape from the prison, but as long as I am around, you will never be able to escape."
Li Quan stepped closer towards Yao Jun and the others. Each of his steps was slow and careful, his eyes sweeping over the surroundings as he walked. He did not fear the four of them, but he did not know if they had more people hiding nearby. It was night, and the trees blocked out the light of the stars, so his vision within the forest was severely limited.
Li Quan was very satisfied when he saw how the four people tensed up with every step he took closer, he enjoyed this sensation of power very much. After a few more steps, he was within 30 meters of the group of four people, but he still proceeded very slowly and carefully.
Just as he took another step, he heard a faint swooshing sound coming from his side. He did not even stop to think, immediately bending his body forwards, his lips curling into a sneer. The swooshing sound passed over his crouched body, turning into a breeze that hit a tree to his right. When the breeze hit the tree, it passed right through the tree, leaving behind a faint line. Li Quan did not even need to push the tree to know that the breeze had cut straight through it.
"Half a meter to his right, next to that broken branch!"
Li Quan did not want to wait and see who was lying in ambush, immediately stepping backwards to flee. He wanted to catch the Yang siblings on his own so that he could get rewarded, but he was not willing to risk his life. Just as Li Quan raised his leg to step backward, Yang Long shouted out and dashed towards Li Quan.
Yao Jun immediately reacted upon hearing Yang Long's shout. The darkness that covered the ground half a meter to Li Quan's right changed slightly, turning viscous. Li Quan's raised foot landed right next to the branch, exactly where Yang Long had said, sinking into the viscous darkness and tripping him.
Just as he tripped over, Yun Yantian shot out from the darkness right next to him. Lin Ren and Wan Yi both also shout out from the darkness, but they were a few meters away from Li Quan.
The soul that Lin Ren had hidden inside the ground floated upwards, appearing beneath Li Quan and sinking into his chest. Li Quan also reacted quickly, the moment his foot sank into the darkness, he took out a small jade from his interspatial ring, filling it with Qi as well as a few words.
He was just about to crush the jade when a dark green flame fell onto the small jade. When the fire touched the jade, the jade immediately began sizzling and melting, scorching Li Quan's hand. Li Quan shook his hand, throwing away the melting jade.
Yun Yantian who had appeared next to Li Quan, swung down with his sword, aiming to separate Li Quan's head from his body. When Yun Yantian swung his sword, a strange energy left the sword and entered the air around him. With the energy entering the air, nearly invisible swords that moved like the wind appeared, falling down upon Li Quan.
Li Quan twisted his body, dodging Yun Yantian's sword, but failed to dodge the invisible swords, which fell upon his body and carved several bloody streaks into him. Li Quan twisted his body once more, slipping out of his shoes and escaping the viscous darkness.
"Fuck off!"
After he slipped out of the darkness, he roared out and swung his fist at Yun Yantian, hoping to crush his head. As he threw the punch, he suddenly felt a terrible pain assault his head, even blinding him for a short second.
When his vision returned, he saw the body of Yun Yantian move to the right, so he swiftly altered the path of his fist to match Yun Yantian's movement. His fist collided with the head of Yun Yantian, but the only result was that the Yun Yantian he hit suddenly dissipated, vanishing into thin air.
He was shocked to see Yun Yantian's body vanish, but even more shocked when he noticed that Yun Yantian still stood in the same position he had been in when Li Quan threw the punch. Li Quan quickly realized what had happened, illusions.
Right as he realized this, Yang Long and Yao Jun reached him. Yang Long raised his sword with both hands and brought it crashing down, it's great weight causing it to descend even faster. Seeing the sword descend towards his head, Li Quan could see his own death approaching.
Li Quan furiously channeled his Qi, bursting open several blood vessels and even sacrificing some blood to increase his strength for a short second. Using this burst of strength, he stomped the ground and shot to the side at high speed, dodging the descending sword, which hit the ground with a loud crash. It took time to describe, but only a few short seconds had passed since the attack began.
That single stomp caused Li Quan's body to shoot almost 40 meters to the side, building up a short distance between him and Yao Jun's group. Just as he was about to let out a sigh of relief and start moving back to the town, he was once more assaulted by that terrible pain in the head.
Just as the pain in his head appeared, he heard a swooshing sound approach him once more. He hurriedly bent his body forwards, interrupting his movement but dodging the slight breeze that once more blew over his head. Just as he bent his body and dodged the wind, he felt a stinging pain in his foot.
Looking down, he saw the head of a Demonic serpent extend out from the darkness, it's three pronged jaw biting down on his foot. The serpent's eyes gleamed with a hunger that sent a shiver down Li Quan's back.
He quickly sent out a punch, but not towards the serpent, towards his own leg. His punch hit right above the area where the serpent bit him, completely breaking off his foot. Once his foot separated from his leg, the serpent vanished into the darkness, taking his foot with it.
Li Quan ignored the pain in his head and from his wounds, using his remaining foot to shoot forwards once more. He did not care that he lost his foot or was riddled with injuries, he simply wanted to leave this forest and return to the town, to call for help.
After only moving forwards for a few meters, the darkness in front of him suddenly materialized, a youth with violet hair and mostly covered in armor walking out of it. Li Quan quickly scanned the surroundings, and was overjoyed when he realized that his youth was all alone.
If he could just kill this youth, there would no longer be anything standing between him and the town, he would be able to escape safely. With this thought in mind, Li Quan sent out a punch with the hand that had not been burned by the melting jade, putting all his strength behind the attack.
Yao Jun did not dodge Li Quan's punch, moving forwards to welcome it. As he took the first step towards Li Quan, his mind touched upon that channel he had carved into his left arm, it's stored energy bursting forward and filling his entire body.
With the energy of the channel filling his body, his aura quickly rose. His aura instantly surpassed the early and middle stage of the 2nd Mortal Earth, only stopping when it reached the peak of the 2nd Mortal Earth. Li Quan was shocked at Yao Jun's sudden increase in strength, but he still did not stop his attack.
Yao Jun raised his right and left arms. His left arm he used to defend against Li Quan's attack, and his right arm held his sword, stabbing out with it. As he stabbed out with his sword, he channeled all his Qi into it and gave it a slight twist.
The attack he was using now was the attack he learned upon carving the first channel into his arm, One Sword To Free The Heart. Li Quan's fist hit Yao Jun's left arm, and Yao Jun's sword hit Li Quan's chest.
Yao Jun heard a sickening crunch as Li Quan's punch hit his arm, a burning pain quickly engulfing his left arm. But his sword hit it's mark. The tip of his sword hit Li Quan's chest, and all the Qi he had channeled into it was unleashed, turning into a small pitch black vortex that pierced through Li Quan's body and shot into the forest, piercing through all the trees in it's path.
As the black vortex pierced through his chest, Li Quan's body stopped moving. He slightly lowered his head and looked at his chest, a disbelieving and unwilling look in his eyes.
He could not believe that he had died at the hands of a few children, and he was unwilling because he had died even though he was stronger than them. Had it not been for the fact that they had ambushed him, he could have used his superior strength and speed to take them down one by one.
"I was weak...and died...but this...is a dog eat dog...world...you will die...an even worse death."
Blood ran down the sides of Li Quan's mouth, his strength and consciousness quickly fading, but he still managed to stammer out a few words, his finger weakly pointing at the now crouching Yao Jun.
"This is a dog eat dog world? I refuse to be a dog, I will be a man."
Yao Jun stood up, his lips curling up into a sneer upon hearing Li Quan's words. His left arm hung down limply at his side, but his right arm could still be used. He stepped towards Li Quan, speaking with a confident and determined tone. Once he finished his words, he raised his sword and slashed down at Li Quan's neck, beheading him.