Chapter 90: Clash with Demonic Cultivators

"Ah! I'll try to hold them off! Run! Hurry!"

"HA!" The young man stopped abruptly and turned back, activating his Qi and creating an energy shield before him, covering both himself and the girl who continued running forward without looking back.

The moment his shield formed, several techniques crashed into it, pushing him backward.

Withstanding the attacks, his face pale, he turned his head and looked at the girl who had stopped not far from him.

"Miss Ru! Y-you must hurry! Deliver the hammer to Young Master Mo!" Looking at the girl, his eyes showed both resignation and a reluctance to remain here forever. But feeling his chest already growing cold from his previous wounds, he understood that the only thing still within his power was to help this girl escape.

Breathing deeply, she stood directly behind the disciple's broad back, holding a hammer made entirely of metal, covered in golden runes. Ru Meng bit her lower lip and, nodding, dashed forward, leaving him to cover her retreat.

"I see them! They're here! Faster! Faster!"

Watching her go, he took a deep breath, trying to calm his trembling hands. Turning toward the voices emerging from the dense forest, growing closer and closer, he pulled a massive case from his spatial pouch and drew his sword. Dropping into a stance, he began to wait.

"Stop!"

The moment he saw the first enemy emerge from the forest alone, he lunged forward, his eyes fixed on the target, swinging his sword shrouded in Qi.

"AH! A-a Qi Sword! Wa-" Before he could finish, half of his head vaporized from the wave of energy released by a single sword swing.

Holding his pose, pointing the tip of his sword at the cultivator he had just killed, he took a deep breath. "Not over yet!"

"UGH-AAH!" Before he could even fill his lungs with air, he abruptly raised his massive sword in a block, managing to deflect most of an attack that came from behind the trees.

"Hmph. Impressive... Such a deep and refined Qi Sword... But alas, you've met me, which means today is your last day!" Stepping out from the shadows of the trees, a cultivator in black robes with white inlays smiled broadly at the pale, bloodied cultivator who was barely staying on his feet.

Scanning him from all sides, the cultivator in black waved his hand slightly and said in a calm voice, "Bring me his head."

Before he could even finish his sentence, dozens of cultivators, like locusts, burst from the dark forest straight at the cultivator with the massive sword.

Seeing the huge crowd drawing closer and closer, he gripped his sword with both hands, squeezing so tightly that the skin on his hands began to split. Raising his sword above his head, he activated all his remaining Qi, and with burning eyes and a piercing cry, he charged forward to meet them.

….

"AAAAAH!"

Continuing to run forward, Ru Meng suddenly heard a blood-curdling scream from behind her. Turning her head, her face paled as she saw a massive skull projection emerging through the dense forest.

"Damn! Those are Yin Claws! What is he doing here?! I didn't think a core disciple would suddenly decide to pursue personally!" Recognizing that skull and knowing who it belonged to, Ru Meng began using all her Qi, completely ignoring the cost, driven solely by the desire to get away as quickly as possible.

Maneuvering between trees, she pulled an artifact in the shape of a plush toad from her spatial ring. 'Sister Mi said this second-rank artifact can duplicate not only an object's appearance but also its energy...'

Pressing the artifact against the metal hammer, she channeled her Qi into the plush creature.

Fwoosh!

The artifact dissolved, turning into a gel-like substance. In the next moment, it began to change shape, becoming identical in both appearance and energy to the original hammer. Ru Meng exhaled. 'If they catch me and I have no other option, I just need to throw the copy as far as possible, buying myself a chance!'

'Damn this artifact, why can't I store it in my ring!' Hiding the real hammer beneath her robes and holding the copy in her hand, she continued running, pushing herself relentlessly.

"Hey, beautiful... Wait up... In such a scary, dark forest, it's easy to get lost..."

Suddenly, she heard a whisper behind her, accompanied by laughter echoing through the area.

Her face immediately paled. 'H-how did they catch up so quickly?!' Turning her head, she saw more than forty people pursuing her, just a few dozen meters away. It even seemed to her that all their eyes burned like a pack of wolves, anticipating the coming feast.

"Ah!" Seeing them, she nearly stumbled. 'I-I have to su-survive! I have to survive! I have to!'

….

"Young Master, should we stop her?"

"No... Fresh meat, saturated with fear down to the last cell, it's the most perfect..." With burning eyes, Yin Claws, within that massive group, didn't take his gaze off his new prey, running with her last strength.

"Soft, rich, tender red meat... Hahaha!" He whispered this, licking his lips several times.

Some cultivators in his group paled upon hearing his words. Others pretended not to have heard, but they all shared roughly the same thought: 'Better not provoke this psychopath, or I might become the next thing on his plate.'

….

"I can feel your fear, dear lady... We're getting closer and closer! Hahaha!"

Hearing yet another voice behind her, she wanted to stop and simply surrender at one point, realizing that way she might at least have a chance to survive. But then she suddenly saw something resembling a large clearing ahead. 'Th-this is my chance! Finally! Please! I need something to be on that clearing, something that will shift their att-attention! And I can hi-hide! I can survive! Please!'

Slightly changing direction, she ran straight for the clearing.

….

"Young Master, there's someone ahead of us."

"How many?" Turning his head slightly and looking at the black shadow flying beside him, Yin Claws frowned slightly.

"Only one, and judging by the signs, he's wounded after a fight with several spiny rats." The black shadow hissed in a hoarse voice.

"Not bad! One more piece of meat... Interesting, interesting!" Smiling, baring his sharpened teeth, he raised his hand and made several gestures.

Seeing these gestures, the pursuing cultivators slowed slightly, staying only fifteen meters behind Ru Meng, whose eyes burned with new hope. She had no idea how close they actually were.

….

"Ugh!" Bursting through the thick undergrowth with her body, she ran out onto a small clearing.

'Th-there it is! My chance!' Finding herself in the open, she immediately spotted a lone cultivator bent over the bodies of several beasts, curiously digging through them.

Seeing the outline of his robes, her eyes lit up even more. 'He's from the Heavenly Soul Sect! He definitely knows who I am! That makes it even easier! But his cultivation... What's with that? One moment it's peak eighth layer, the next it's early ninth? It must be from his injuries... Who cares! The important thing is that this is my chance, sent by the heavens!'

"Ah! Ju-junior brother!" She shouted with all her might, running closer and closer.

Hearing this, the cultivator sitting over the carcasses turned toward the sound. "Hmm?"

"Junior brother! I need your help! No time to explain! Hold this tight!" Running up to him with a pale, sweaty face, Ru Meng threw the metal hammer into his hands.

While the cultivator stared at the hammer in his hands with surprised, bewildered eyes, she stood shoulder to shoulder with him and turned toward the forest, from which a crowd of cultivators slowly emerged, weapons drawn, ready to tear them both apart at any moment.

"Junior brother... My strength is almost gone. This hammer... you must deliver it to our group! Deliver it to Core Disciple Mo Fan! This is the most important thing right now!" She looked into his eyes, showing with her whole demeanor that she was entrusting him with the mission of a lifetime.

'Wow... Her face is so sincere. I almost believed her eyes for a second.' Looking at her face, those beautiful, kind, but already tired blue eyes, the cultivator put on a foolish, surprised expression. "B-but what about you, Senior Sister? I can't leave you!"

"No! You must survive, Junior Brother! I'll do everything to lead them away from you. They want me first and foremost, not the artifact!" With tears welling in her eyes, she stepped forward and shielded him with her back. "Run! I'll hold them off! For as long as I can!"

"Morning Waves! Raging Ocean!" A water-droplet-shaped artifact appeared in her palm. She raised her sword above her head and, activating one of her strongest techniques, began drawing energy from it.

"Watch out!"

"To the side!"

Swinging her sword, a massive clump of energy burst forth, transforming into a projection of waves that instantly spread across the area around Ru Meng, sweeping away everything in its path.

"Ugh!"

"Damn you!"

The closest cultivators to her, having managed to activate their defenses, were stunned when they realized the waves passed through their shields without any issue.

"Junior brother, run! And most importantly! Deliver! This! Hammer!" Waiting until the noise from her attack subsided, she turned back and, looking at the cultivator behind her, shouted.

But as she began shouting the second part about the hammer, she turned her head forward again, shouting toward the enemies.

'She didn't even recognize me... though again, all her attention is occupied with other things. Besides, I've visually aged and my face has changed...' Behind her, the cultivator shook his head but still shouted, "Alright!" and immediately began running into the forest.

Seeing him reach the undergrowth and disappear into it, Ru Meng quickly put away her sword and pulled a yellow talisman from her pocket. "This is the last one... If not now, then never!"

Attaching it to her thigh, she instantly disappeared into the undergrowth at her newfound speed, choosing the opposite direction from her Junior Brother.

….

Walking slowly toward the beast carcasses, beside which the two had been standing moments ago, Yin Claws clasped his hands behind his back. "Hmm... interesting, isn't it? First Squad!"

"Here!" A girl with straight black hair and red eyes appeared beside him, already dropping to one knee.

"Bring me the artifact... As for the cultivator... too ordinary, not to my taste... Feel free to have some fun with him. Just not for too long!" Yin Claws looked at the undergrowth where the cultivator with the hammer had disappeared but quickly lost interest.

Hearing this, especially the second part, her eyes lit up with greed, and she involuntarily bit her lower lip slightly. "As you command, Young Master! First Squad, follow me!"

Straightening up, she pulled two axes from her hips and, waving her hand, took nearly half the group, just over twenty people.

"Hmm, the rest of you, follow me... I'm sure her meat is already ripe! Ooh!" With a wide smile, baring his sharp teeth, Yin Claws dashed off in pursuit of Ru Meng.

….

'I think that's enough.' After running for just a few minutes, An stopped and turned around.

"Heh, giving up so quickly?" Immediately, more than twenty people around him, surrounding him in a semicircle.

A girl emerged from the center of the group, swaying her hips.

Approaching slowly, she scrutinized An. "Sigh... Though you don't compare to my Young Master, you're not completely hideous... You'll do!"

Stopping not far from him, she smiled and began running her finger along her slightly parted lower lip. "Hmm, you know, I like it when boys surrender without a fight, showing their submission! Hahaha~" With her large red eyes, she focused on the lower part of his body.

"Ah! Their powerless eyes, covered in darkness, when I don't let them rest all night... Taking their essence to the last drop... Ooh, just the memory stirs my blood." Staring at An's belt, saliva began dripping from her mouth, slowly running down the finger she kept on her lower lip.

"You know... I- UGH!" Suddenly, along with her saliva, blood burst from her mouth. With wide eyes, she briefly felt the energy that the cultivator before her had suddenly released.

"N-no! F-foundation Establishment! H-how?!"

Whoosh!

In an instant, all twenty cultivators fell to the ground with thin, clean cuts through their foreheads. Most of them never even realized what had happened.

Taking a step forward, An approached the girl who, moments ago, had been passionately licking her finger. 'Sigh... So beautiful, yet so rotten inside... Though I'm curious what you were going to say next, forgive me, I'm tired of reading your emotions.'

At one point, he had even considered leaving them alive, merely wasting their time and then escaping without issue. But after reading her Qi flows, he was simply exhausted and decided to end it as quickly as possible.

Stepping over the body, An waved his hand and drew in all the spatial pouches.

'I didn't expect they wouldn't even notice me creating and directing Qi Blades at them... Foundation Establishment and Qi Condensation, there truly is an enormous gap between the two realms...' Emptying all the pouches at once onto the ground, he began collecting spirit stones, as well as some second-rank plants and fruits.

'Why doesn't anyone have a spatial ring... Oh! A third-rank fruit?' Drawing in a fruit shaped like a pear but with small hair-like protrusions at the bottom, he smiled. 'A Crimson Radiance fruit... Helps calm Qi during Qi deviation in cultivators or beasts. Very useful. Maybe I can come up with something from it.'

Putting everything he liked into his pouch, not forgetting about Baldi, he tossed a few fruits inside that would be beneficial for the bird.

Drawing in the metal hammer, An wasn't even interested in what it was. He simply tossed it beside the items from the pouches. 'I'd better hurry.'

Casting one last glance at the pile of items and confirming he had taken everything interesting, he rose from the ground and flew in the direction Ru Meng had disappeared.