Chapter 45: Drowned Beast

Tian Yu's expression was radiating disbelief as he looked to find that the two elders Lu and Bu had been grabbing both his hands, stopping his shield from reaching its goal.

"Greedy traitorous bastards." he said as his shield vanished and he was brought to his knees by the two elders.

"Sect leader, we've made it clear we'd always go where wine was plenty."

The two elders spoke as their grip on his shoulder tightened.

Feng Zhiming turned to face him.

"From the beginning I've known all about you, your ambition and ability to subdue your rage."

He chuckled.

"These two elders were openly hostile to me, but you, you attempted to appear civilized, akin to a proper snake."

He retrieved his fan from his storage ring and held its tip against Tian Yu's forehead.

"If it was possible I would have had Anissa kill you, but of course I would become a villain in the sect's eyes, but now, now you should be happy. I'll grant you a place in history books as a hero of the Hiding Demon sect who died in battle alongside sect leader Li."

Tian Yu's expression darkened.

"Isn't this what you've wanted all along? All you needed was a reason." he spoke in a grim tone.

Feng Zhiming smirked.

"Maybe I expected you to hold your fangs back a little longer, but seeing me without my subordinate made you brave."

He knelt down to see eye to eye with Tian Yu.

"You thought that the elders would cheat the vow like you, and they did."

The fan began to slowly burrow into Tian Yu's head.

"Of course I already knew that you all made faulty vows, that's why I met them the morning before my speech and had them redo their vows, this time with Anissa's sword hanging above their neck."

Tian Yu gritted his teeth as pain radiated from his forehead.

"Ironically, a traitorous snake like you lost, because you had trust. You believed the elders would remain loyal to you."

The fan began to burrow into his skull now.

Feng Zhiming leaned into his ear.

"Bravery and idiocy are a fine line, and unfortunately for you, you could not walk it."

The fan completely pierced his skull and Tian Yu began to scream out in pain.

The battle with Li had left him nearly drained, at this point despite the fact that Feng Zhiming was weaker than him, he was at his mercy.

"Leave." Feng Zhiming told the two elders to leave him alone with sect Leader Li and Tian Yu.

Feng Zhiming stood back up and gazed upon the Tian Yu who was clutching his head in pain and screaming, on the other hand Sect Leader Li had eyes that were dead, his Dao heart had broken and he had lost purpose.

"Ashes to ashes."

…

*CLANG*

The two blades clashed sending shockwaves through the entirety of the sect.

If they didn't know better they would have assumed it was an earthquake.

"I didn't expect someone of this realm to be so powerful." Krimin Spoke as he flew back from the sword clash.

The impact had sent both of them back nearly twenty steps.

"Don't be surprised yet, we haven't even used our sword forms yet." Anissa began to slowly inhale.

"Take pride, for you will witness the glory of the Claw sword stance, passed down through my noble Kallen clan."

Anissa was surprised, despite her extensive knowledge she had never heard of this Kallen clan.

Any true wielder of the sword knew that the essence of one's strength was in their sword forms, there were even ancient records of a great sword cultivator that cut someone three major realms above him, just with his sword forms.

"Ocean splitting sword second form, drowned god's wrath." Anissa spoke slowly while exhaling.

"Saber of the Claw, second stance, Bite of the beast king." Krimin responded with a technique of his own.

Both blades had a shadow of their sword forms, a drowned man in a blind fold and a ferocious lion emanating from them.

As both blades clashed a shockwave even more powerful than before had been generated.

While trading blows with Anissa, Krimin felt water dripping from his eyes, nose and mouth.

"drowning on dry land!" he thought to himself.

He quickly deflected her latest attack and made some distance between the two of them.

At the same time Anissa had to back up as she threw up blood, she looked inward and found that an entire piece of her liver had gone missing, as if some phantom force had bit it.

They looked at each other with weary eyes, neither one wanted to concede the first move and became stuck in a stalemate.

"Are you sure you want this place to be your grave?" he asked.

"Are you?" Another presence appeared in the main hall, familiar red eyes and black hair.

"My lord?" Anissa, instantly arrived to his side, still keeping her sword unsheathed in case she had to defend him.

He was circulating the art of demonic suppression and hiding his cultivation at the moment.

"Red haired fiend I presume, I heard about you from the babbling sect leader before I killed him, claiming you were after a beast."

Krimin carefully looked Feng Zhiming up and down.

"You know." he spoke simply after surveying him.

"Leave or die, while I'm being generous enough to give the offer."

Krimin grunted and sheathed his sword, it was true when he swept his divine sense over the sect, the River Flowing sect was no more, and if this man was who he thought he was it meant that he would have to best more than just that swordswoman.

Not to mention this person who was lord to that swordswoman was no doubt stronger than her.

He didn't respond but instead quickly vanished.

Anissa quietly sheathed her sword, despite the fact that she was still craving combat.

Feng Zhiming noticed her dilemma and addressed it.

"I know you may have possibly killed him, however it would not leave me enough time to paint my picture."