Chapter 23 - Sudden Ambush

The sun shined brightly in the sky, leaving the plains bathed in the sunlight and scorching heat causing warm air to constantly rise from the ground. Li Fen took in a deep breath as she scanned her surroundings, acres of green filled her vision from the furthest she could see was a seemingly endless plain.

A few days have passed since she left Yuequang City alongside Wang Jian and his entourage, since then they covered a great distance, leaving them not too far from their desired destination.

The area they were heading towards was a request from a local noble who has been having problems with magical beasts. It would have been considered a routine task for the students if the beast hadn't proved to be too formidable for most students to handle.

Luckily, Wang Jian's entourage happened to be passing through the area, so out of convenience, they decided to handle the problem for the Noble on the way.

The City Lord felt satisfied with the matter being dealt with so efficiently, but as a precaution, he still boasted the strength of the group.

Although on paper the escort Wang Jian has brought seemingly outmatched the reported capabilities of the magical beast, he still that it was a necessary move as he wasn't about to put his youngest sons life at risk.

With the capabilities of the group once again bolstered, Li Fen felt delighted after they set off, as after all, the stronger the group, then the more benefits she would reap in the end. Her whole target in this trip was to more or less see a Mage in action and to gain some experience whilst dealing with Magical Beasts.

After all, since coming to this World, most of her time was spent cultivating, and her only experience of seeing cultivators in action was her trip to the Forest outside of the Town, and that was against wild beasts, with just one low levelled magical beast.

Her experience was just too lacking, and mind you she was always an adrenaline junkie even back on her previous World, who loved doing outrageous, thrilling things.

One of the main things she enjoyed about Martial Arts tournament, was how it made her blood boil in anticipation for the contest. So why wouldn't she take every chance she gets to go on an adventure? Even if her age is a limiting factor at the moment, she would still push herself to jump at an opportunity if she found it appealing.

Although her motivation and goal for power were because she was unwilling with leaving her life as it was back in her previous World, that still doesn't mean she would not pursue exploring a World filled with mythical creatures and abilities. If she didn't do so, it would be a great waste.

Suddenly, the leading man in the party stopped causing the rest of the group to pause in confusion.

After a while past, one of the members impatiently interrupted the silence of the group and said, "Hey, why have we stopped for? Is there something wrong?"

The man in the front frowned as he had has been having an uneasy feeling after entering the region as he voiced out his thoughts, "Yes, haven't you noticed something is wrong? Since coming through here I felt that the story of the noble doesn't seem to match up at all, because if a powerful beast has made this place its territory, we should have found tracks by now to indicate its presence. At the same time, all Magical Beasts are highly territorial, if the rumoured Magical Beast is as powerful as the noble mentioned, it would have long sensed our presence by now, but it still hasn't come out to meet us? Unless it has high intelligence this does not match up with the report. And our whole surroundings make me feel tense, our location just seems like it is perfect for a..."

Before anyone could react the man's head exploded as a flying projectile pierced through the air blasting a hole through his skull. The attack was so abrupt and swift, the man's life was ended before anyone in the party could even react.

The middle aged-man dressed in a luxurious robe was the first to make a move, as he ordered, "Ambush! Get into your position, protect the young lord."

It was quickly demonstrated that Wang Jian's attendants were experienced veterans in the way they handled the situation so orderly and efficiently, swiftly organising themselves after the ambush took place.

Li Fen and Wang Jian were hidden behind a row of the guards in a defensive stance, covering them from the view of the assailant.

Breathing heavily, a guard said, "This means of attack, it isn't that person is it?"

Another guard anxiously responded, "I think it should be him, this is way too similar to his way of doing things to be a coincidence, but if it should just be him alone, shouldn't we be fine? No matter how fearsome an assassin he may be, he won't be able to easily bypass our formation to take us all down with a Mage of Brother Li's strength..."

As if foreshadowing what the guard was about to say, a cluster of footsteps sounded as from either side of the party came charging down numerous men, at the lead was a ferocious, bear-like man who appeared twice the size of the others.

A guard shrieked in shock at the sight of that person and said, "Black Bear! A rogue cultivator who is ranked highly on the bounty list for slaughtering numerous villages at the outskirts of the Yueguang City, isn't he on the run, how did he appear in the Wang Clang's territory without warning?"

The other men grew grim in response, and just as they thought things couldn't get worse a loud bang sounded when a burst of magical essence was flung into a guard as he was sent flying back from the collision.

"Blood Hand Luo! How could this be? Black Bear, Blood Hand Luo and Shadow Crane in the same place... this is impossible..." A guard murmured in fear, each of the names mentioned was formidable in their own right. Black Bear was a fearsome Master Ranked Warrior, Shadow Crane was a menacing Master Ranked Assassin and lastly Blood Hand Luo was a Mage on a similar level to Brother Li.

Even with the added reinforcements, the City Lord provided they were still outmatched by the line up of their opponents.

Brother Li's face turned gloomy, as he voicelessly said, "Brother Yao, you will have to preoccupy Black Bear. Whereas you two will have to distract Shadow Crane, if he is left alone, that will leave us to be picked off by him. Blood Hand Luo is my opponent. Brother Yan, the first time you see an opportunity to evacuate with both the Young Master and the Young Miss you take it. Your speed is the fastest among us, and their weight shouldn't impact you"

After their roles were decided, Brother Yao went out to meet Black Bear, whereas Brother Li went into the path of Blood Hand Luo.

Blood Hand Luo sniggered as he saw Brother Yao approach him as he tauntingly said, "We meet again Wang Clan dog. One of the main reasons I accepted this mission was for the chance to kill you myself, it would have been a great pity if you hadn't shown, but it looks like luck is on my side. Although Wang Gang assigning another Master Ranked expert was out of our expectations, that still won't stop you from meeting your fate."

Brother Li harumphed in response, and said, "You talk too much, whoever meets their end today is not determined. And I'm willing to bet you remain not my match."

Blood Hand Luo grinned as a bloodthirsty smile filled his face and said, "I will let your Young Master watch as I drink the blood from your corpse."

Without needing to continue spouting more useless words, the both locked into battle, collisions of condensed essence in the form of various elements filled the skies as they both recklessly launched their attacks.

Meanwhile, Brother Yao the only other Master Ranked combatant on the side of Wang Jian was preoccupied in combating Black Bear, the enemies Master Ranked opponent.

In comparison to the flashy display of the Mages, both were locked into a fearsome battle of physical strength. It was clear from the might both displayed that Black Bear had an obvious advantage, his body strength was a notch higher than Brother Yao and he was pushing his opponent back.

As a result of the disparity between both of the sides physical strength, Brother Yao had to exhaust more of his essence to keep up with Black Bear's ferocious attacks, forcing him to consume his essence at a much faster rate in contrast to Black Bear.

It was clear that if this battle continued, that Brother Yao would eventually be worn down by his troublesome opponent, but this did not deter Brother Yao in the least as he gritted his teeth in commitment to stall his foe as long as possible.

Li Fen at the moment wasn't having a good time herself, she is in the middle of a brutal conflict, with both the Wang Clan's guards and assailants battling to the death. She had already identified that the Wang Clan's guards were outmatched by these troublesome opponents, and their chances of making it out of this alive were slim.

Wang Jian beside her, who was a kid used to comfort was already shivering in fear, as he had never witnessed death before on such a large scale. Especially, to people who have been by his side since a young age, the young noble was already feeling a great deal of shock at such a turn of events, but as he felt he was about to have a nervous breakdown, the calm appearance of Li Fen beside him led to him for some reason feeling secure.

That's right! What excuse does he have to be afraid, if the girl beside him who is a similar age is dealing with this situation much better than him? Steeling his resolve, a determined look replaced his anxious appearance.

As he was thinking this the two men who were since the start of the battle had their gazes set in concentration to await the Shadow Cranes move, faced a sudden attack as one of the enemies who have attacked them alongside Black Bear had an abrupt burst of power completely untangling himself from his previous opponent, the attack was so fast one of the men couldn't even react before his head was sent flying, ending the life of a peak-ranked journeyman Warrior within an instant.

The other man barely reacted at the death of his companion and immediately launched a barrage of attacks of his own against the Assassin, fully intending on making use of the Assassin's weakness in direct combat.

A look of disdain appeared on Shadow Crane's fact as he easily deflected each of the Warriors flurries, before seemingly disappearing from view as a concentration of Dark Essence caused an instantaneous movement as he reappeared behind the flustered Warrior who rushed to defend himself.

The Warrior barely met Shadow Crane's attack, preventing a vital strike but he still ended up suffering an injury at his opponent's hands. Shadow Crane frowned in displeasure at the obvious failing of immediately killing his target who was a mere Journeyman Warrior but still sneered in response.

Noticing something odd about his foes behaviour, the Warrior had an ill-feeling, before he began to feel his body slowly becoming unresponsive, staring at the blood dripping from his injury, he suddenly realised it was black blood.

"Poison..." The Warrior voiced before collapsing.

Shadow Crane eyes remained cold as he left behind the dead body of his opponents, and began to move to other areas on the battlefield.

On the other hand, the other battles were reaching a climax, Brother Yao looked to be on the brink of defeat to Black Bear, whereas Brother Li had the upper hand against Blood Hand Luo.

Brother Li taunted, "It looks like you no longer my match old man, your previous words were just an empty boast after all."

Brother Li's words were meant to anger Blood Hand Luo into making a mistake to allow him to end the battler as quickly as possible, but contrary to his expectations Blood Hand Luo seemed completely calm.

Realising something was strange, a grave expression suddenly appeared on his face as he moved in a rush to defend himself. Out of nowhere, a strike appeared out of no were, Brother Yao moved to set up barriers to defend himself but that was were Blood Hand Luo made a move and he launched a barrage of attacks on his own.

Brother Li who previously had the advantage against Blood Hand Luo managed to block the strike on time and deal with the attacks of his rivals, but he didn't anticipate that the first move of the assassin was to draw him out, allowing the assassin to pick a gap out in his defence allowing a dagger to dig into his flesh.

Screaming in pain, he went to make a move on the troublesome assassin, but Shadow Crane had long slipped from his sight, not allowing him to even do so.

Blood Hand Luo laughed in satisfaction at the misfortune of his enemy, as he said, "You forgot about my friends, haven't you. It looks like your men in on their last legs, after the eventual death of your companion, I will ensure that the assassin provides me with the antidote to his poison so I can keep you alive when I torment that Young Master of yours."

A hint of despair filled Brother Li's eyes as he said, "It looks like I have little choice to make it out of here alive... but your supplier should want the Young Master safe and sound, right?"

"So what? Does anyone control Blood Hand Luo? I will make sure to torment you to the utmost and make you suffer the most unimaginable agony before I let you finally leave this world." Blood Hand Luo laughed as he freely tormented his hated enemy.

"I guess that leaves me little choice, Brother Yan ensure the Young Masters safety. I won't be accompanying you, make sure to tell Master that I did my best to ensure the safety of his son." Brother Yao said with a determined expression.

"What do you think you are planning? Wait... your crazy, if you do that you will never be able to reincarnate ever, your soul will scatter, you're a maniac!" Blood Hand Luo began to panic as he abruptly tried to flee.

"Hahaha. My Master was the one who saved my life, I gained everything today because of him, it is only right I repay him in the end." Brother Li said without a hint of regret in his eyes, and like that, he detonated his cultivation, obliterating his soul as a large explosion was left behind.

Despite his best efforts Blood Hand Luo was still caught in the explosion, upon following his death, the second one to make a similar move was Brother Yan also similarly self-detonated his cultivation sending Black Bear flying from the impact.

After that Brother Yan with both Li Fen and Wang Jian in his arms instantly left the battlefield, through using both of their sacrifices as a distraction to leave under the enemies noses.

However, a black figure followed them speedily and was quickly making up ground.