Chapter 97: A Warm Meeting of Righteous Groups

"Make way! Young Master Eleo! Young Master! I have urgent news!" Suddenly, a plump disciple with a voice trembling from lack of air burst into the cave where the meeting had been held.

"Hm? What happened? Have the demonic forces become active again?" Sitting alone at the head of the table, Eleo May slowly turned his head toward the breathless disciple and began tapping his finger lightly on the table.

"N-no, Young Master Eleo. Outside! A group of ninety people has arrived at our camp! They claim to be from the Four Alliance, specifically the Heavenly Soul Sect and the Primordial Purity Sect!" Catching his breath, the disciple straightened up and, clasping his hands in a gesture of respect, reported everything in detail.

"And there's something else! Dego Two Strikes, the moment he learned of their arrival, immediately went to meet them! I'm afraid that, ah! What am I saying-" Catching himself before saying too much, he stopped and lowered his head.

"Hahaha! That Two Strikes and his two brain cells... He'll cause such a commotion that it'll create unnecessary problems for us... Lead the way. Before that brainless brute does something irreversible..." Reluctantly rising from the table, Eleo May tucked his hands into the pockets at his waist and slowly walked toward the cave entrance.

….

"You mountain of stiff meat! Do you even realize what you're doing?!" Standing behind Mo Fan, Mi Mili held her wrist, rubbing a red mark on it.

"Hehehe! Sweetheart! It's an honor for you to serve the great me with both your mind and body! Ooh!" Tossing both short swords in his hands, he looked at her with hungry eyes, but his real focus was on the cultivator who had stepped in front of her.

"Upon meeting you, I intended to stay calm and let your insults slide, to prevent our alliance from escalating... But you shouldn't have touched her. Now I don't care, I'll make you regret this!" Activating his Qi, Mo Fan drew his sword from his ring.

'Finally!' Seeing his plan had worked, that he'd finally provoked him, Dego Two Strikes's eyes lit up, his blood boiled, and his body trembled with anticipation.

"Phoenix Strike! Third Form!" Channeling his Qi into his sword, Mo Fan made a swift slash, creating a wave of fire that melted the ground upon contact, turning it into a glass-like substance. The wave shot toward his opponent at immense speed.

"Haha! Direct Thrust!" Concentrating Qi on his two short swords, Dego waited until the wave was close enough that the hairs on his arms began to singe.

"HA!" Using only his physical strength, shrouding his swords in Qi, he managed to deflect the attack and redirect it.

Whoosh!

Redirected, the energy melted the nearest trees and scorched the earth. After a few moments, the energy dissipated into the surroundings, leaving behind a glassy patch glinting in the torchlight.

"Bloodthirsty Slash!" With blazing eyes, Dego took a sharp step forward. His veins swelled and turned blue across his body, and with a shout of "GHA!" he made a horizontal swipe with both swords, creating a massive red wave of altered Water energy.

"Black Dragon Step!" Activating his movement technique, Mo Fan barely managed to evade the attack, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.

Dodging the attack and stopping abruptly, Mo Fan raised his sword overhead and aimed his trajectory directly at Dego. "Eternal Darkness! Second Form!" Gripping his sword tightly, he made a vertical slash, and immediately the air around began to crackle and howl.

"What the?!" Seeing the massive black wave devouring the light around it and hurtling toward him at such speed that even his movement technique wouldn't save him, Dego decided to attack head-on. After his previous attack, his arms were still spread wide.

Without hesitation. "Reverse Bloodthirsty Slash!" With a swift motion, several times faster than his previous attack, he swung his swords, creating a massive cross of crimson energy that immediately surged toward the dark wave.

Colliding, both attacks neutralized each other after a brief struggle, sending everything around them into the air and creating a massive curtain of dust and debris.

Without losing a moment, both rushed in.

"Hahaha! In physical strength, you don't stand a chance, boy!" With wide, blazing eyes inside the dust curtain, spotting Mo Fan's shadow, he swung his swords and activated his Qi. "Direct Thrust!"

With bulging veins and bloodshot eyes, he swung his swords with all his might directly at the shadow's head.

"Drughono's Flame!" The moment he said this, Mo Fan's body was completely engulfed in black flames.

"U-Ugh!" Charging full speed into him, Dego felt terrible resistance, as if he'd struck a metal cube. His arms immediately trembled, and all the energy he'd channeled into the attack rebounded back.

"N-no! AAH!"

His arm veins, unable to withstand the returning energy, began to burst. His body began to swell like a balloon from the chaotic disaster within.

"I-immortal Flame?! But how?!" Holding his breath to keep his lungs from bursting and tensing as hard as he could to avoid further injury, he stared with trembling eyes at the figure completely shrouded in black flames. With each passing moment, his fear grew, knowing full well this was the end.

"Now, you'll pay for your actions against Sister Mi!" Taking slow steps, Mo Fan concentrated the black flame on his right hand.

"Stop!"

A man's shout came from afar.

Hearing it, Mo Fan didn't even slow his pace, completely ignoring him.

"What is wrong with people these days! I said-"

Now closer, a man’s voice carried growing irritation and even anger from being directly ignored. But he wasn't allowed to finish.

"Brother Mo Fan! Enough, please!" Suddenly, Mo Fan heard a woman's voice behind him and stopped at once. The black Drughono Flame immediately calmed.

Looking at Dego, kneeling on one knee with visible fear in his eyes, Mo Fan saw nothing but a wretch not worth dirtying his hands over. He turned and began walking back to Mi Mili, who had called out to him, standing nearby and smiling as she looked into his eyes.

Suddenly, he saw surprise in her eyes. He immediately turned and activated his Qi to full power.

"How dare you look at me like that! Who gave you the right to look at me with such a gaze! I am a warrior! I deserve a warrior's respect! I'll tear your eyes out for that insult!" With bloodshot eyes, Dego, now barely half a meter from Mo Fan, concentrated all his strength into his clenched fist, ready to destroy everything in his path.

"Phoenix Strike! First Form and Drughono's Flame Union!" Instantly, his palm was covered in black flames. The moment it made contact with Dego's fist, the temperature around them spiked to its limit.

Dego's furious face went pale in an instant, and his entire back broke out in goosebumps. 'O-oh no!'

"AAAGH!"

The concentration of energy between palm and fist detonated at Mo Fan's command, directed toward his opponent, burning through Dego's entire arm down to the bone, charring all the flesh almost to the elbow.

The shockwave sent Dego flying backward. After traveling several dozen meters and collecting several trees with his back and head, he finally crashed into another tree. The brute nearly lost consciousness, but then he felt pain unlike anything he'd ever experienced.

"Ah! Aaa! Ugh-AA!!!"

Holding his charred arm before him, now nothing but clean bone, Dego nearly lost his mind.

"Hey, you, bug-eyed! Hold him and give him this pill!" Out of nowhere, a tattooed girl appeared and tossed a pill to one of the cultivators standing among the spectators. Activating her defensive technique and shrouding herself in Qi, she quickly ran to the still-screaming Dego and locked him from behind, completely immobilizing his arms and legs.

"Well, hurry up! What are you standing there for!" She shouted at the disciple she'd thrown the pill to, who was staring with wide eyes but not moving.

"Give me that!" Running to the disciple and snatching the pill from his hand, Mo Fan rushed to the pair and shoved the pill into Dego's mouth with one swift motion.

"What's this? Playing the hero all of a sudden?" Holding the brute in the lock, the tattooed girl looked at Mo Fan with suspicion.

"He insulted my close friend. Though I know I went too far, he chose this when he decided to attack me out of wounded pride." Mo Fan looked back at Mi Mili running toward him, then turned back and met the girl's eyes. "I'm Mo Fan, from the Heavenly Soul Sect."

Looking first at him, then at the running girl, her brows relaxed slightly. Exhaling, she said, "I'm Onie Alia, core disciple of the White Dragon Sect."

Mo Fan nodded and smiled slightly.

Running up to them, Mili's first action was to scan Mo Fan from head to toe. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, don't worry. By the way, Mili, do you have any pills to speed up the recovery process?" Mo Fan asked, pointing at the burned arm.

After Mo Fan had shoved the pill into his mouth, Dego's arm began slowly regenerating. The dead, charred flesh began to fall away, and new flesh grew, slowly climbing up the bare bones.

Hearing his request, Mi Mili smiled and, nodding, pulled out a pill from one of her rings. 'I was right, he truly has a pure heart.' Carefully watching Mo Fan feed the pill to the still-incoherent Dego, her cheeks flushed slightly.

….

The moment he finished feeding the pill, they heard a loud crash from above, the owner of the male voice who had tried to stop Mo Fan finally arriving, tearing through the air.

Jumping off his sword mid-flight, he landed smoothly on the ground with his hands in his robe pockets.

"Explain yourselves!" With furrowed brows and a hostile glare fixed on Mo Fan, he took a few steps forward, activating his Qi and creating pressure around himself that enveloped even the crowd of disciples.

'Peak ninth layer? And his pressure is much higher than other cultivators at the same level... I need to be careful with him!' Meeting his gaze confidently, Mo Fan was inwardly on guard.

"Dego Double Idiot played around and got what he deserved. What's there to explain?" At some point, Onie Alia had pushed the unconscious Dego aside, his mind overwhelmed by the strain. She stood so that one shoulder shielded Mo Fan.

'You're protecting an outsider? How ridiculous.' Watching her shield a cultivator from another group, another Sect, Eleo May was confused and slightly angered. Casting a dangerous glance at Mo Fan, he looked at the unconscious Dego on the ground, whose new, nearly complete arm looked smooth with fresh pink skin.

Completely ignoring the three before him, he turned and pointed at two from the crowd. "You two! Take Dego Two Swords to the alchemists' tent. Have them check his condition and patch him up if needed."

The two stepped forward, showed a gesture of respect, and quickly ran to the body on the ground. Grabbing him by the arms, they carried Dego down the path toward the main camp.

"As for you two... Follow me!" Having dealt with the immediate problem, he cast a glance at Mo Fan and Onie Alia, made a beckoning gesture, and jumped onto his flying sword, which had been hovering in the air all along, and shot into the sky, heading toward the mountain behind the camp.

Both frowned at being ordered around so casually, as if they were just his subordinates. Mo Fan especially didn't like it. 'Looks like another arrogant fool who needs to be put in his place.'

Shaking his head, Mo Fan smiled when he looked at Mi Mili. "While I deal with this local leader, let Shepor Dunt know what happened. Tell him to be ready in case anything happens. Alright, Mili?"

"Alright, I understand, Brother Mo." Looking into his eyes, Mili nodded and smiled. Pulling out an artifact from her ring and channeling Qi into it, it activated and transformed into a vessel shaped like a round white leaf.

Stepping onto it, Mili suddenly turned her head back and cast a slightly narrowed gaze at Onie Alia's back, walking beside Mo Fan.

Sighing, she activated the artifact and rose silently into the sky, heading toward the dense crimson forest where their group was waiting for their return.

….

Drawing her flying sword and tossing it into the air, Onie Alia jumped onto it and, turning her head slightly back with a grin, said, "Try to keep up!"

The moment her feet touched the hovering sword, she shot into the sky with a screech of rapid acceleration, leaving scorched marks on the ground.

Mo Fan smiled and shouted, "Drughono's Flame!"

Activating his immortal flame, he shrouded his legs in it and, leaping into the air, began flying, leaving a faint trail of black smoke behind him.

Confident in her artifact's speed, Onie Alia suddenly turned her head sharply, sensing something was off. Seeing the flames on his feet, she nearly lost her connection to the sword from surprise. 'Immortal flame? And black? Don't tell me that's a top-three flame? Where did he get it?'

Seeing her gaze, Mo Fan grinned and, increasing his speed, easily overtook her. "Try to keep up!"

Hearing her own words thrown back at her, Onie Alia suddenly burst out laughing. "Oh, no you don't! We'll see about that!" Channeling more Qi into her sword, she shot after him.