Chapter 225: The Seventh Companion?

They started flying higher to cross over the mountains when Yang suddenly saw Senior Brother Qing An swerve to his left as a large bolt of grey mist shot past him.

Before Yang had even fully processed the situation, six more solidified grey mist bolts tore through the sky. Three at Senior Brother Fan Xiao and three at Senior Brother Qing An again.

One would think such a sudden attack out of nowhere would cause chaos to erupt, but as if in synchronization, Senior Brothers Qing An and Fan Xiao went on the offensive while Senior Brother Weilong herded the three of them behind himself.

Senior Brother Fan Xiao summoned a sword of pure energy that spun behind him in a blinding circle, multiplying again and again, until he had over a hundred phantom swords spinning behind him, all pointed downward. With a simple flick of his finger, they shot straight down in a devastating rain of swords towards whatever was attacking them from below. 

Senior Brother Qing An’s contribution was even more lively. He summoned a massive eastern dragon made of fire that coiled its serpentine body through the air around all of them, with the middle of its body coming to rest near Yang. Its head was near Senior Brother Qing An, where it unleashed a torrent of flames downward. Even from a distance, he could feel the scorching heat of its flames.

At the same time, Senior Brother Weilong activated some kind of translucent shield that encased all four of them while their eldest brothers unleashed their attacks.

They were high enough in the sky that Yang was unable to see below to what was attacking them, but his Senior Brothers were not hindered by the limits of their sight.

Yang, by pure reflex, summoned the two flying needles he had managed to master in his hand, held tightly between his knuckles, as well as a handful of fireball talismans. As he looked through the remaining talismans, he realized he really needed to restock. They had been very useful, making him extremely liberal with their use in the secret realm. 

He observed as more bolts were shot towards them that were intercepted by the flaming dragon as it circled around them with a grace and fluidity he would have thought impossible for something so large. He noticed the areas struck by the grey bolts became darkened for half a minute, the flames withering for several seconds before the area recovered and was replaced by more flame. 

Others seemed to have noticed as well and made the connection to what the attack was capable of inflicting.

“All of you, be careful of the bolts,” Senior Brother Yuan Shen called out, his expression dark. “They have corrosive properties.”

Senior Brother Fan Xiao unleashed another barrage of swords, while Senior Brother Qing An struck out with one of his palms, a technique that formed an array in the front that pushed downward with a devastating force that wiped all clouds as it went down. Yang even saw the peak of the mountain it hit below flatten, triggering a massive avalanche.

It was then, amidst the storm of snow and debris on the peak, that Yang spotted them.

Four figures clad in sweeping black robes stood, unbothered by the destruction being rained upon them.

Yang’s eyes widened as one of them merely raised a hand and the array that Senior Brother Qing An sent to crush them simply dispersed. Even the rain of swords Senior Brother Fan Xiao was showering them with didn’t seem to bother them much. Instead of dodging the sword attack, they stood motionless, taking the continuous sword attacks directly on individual shields flickering around their bodies.

Looking around, Yang could see the worry he felt mirrored in the faces of his Senior Brothers. The black-robed cultivators were able to take his Senior Brother Fan Xiao’s attack head-on. 

Senior Brother Fan Xiao was the strongest of them. 

They were in serious trouble.

“How are there such strong cultivators here?” Senior Brother Weilong questioned. “Wasn’t the entrance blocked to anyone above Foundation Establishment in the other world? They certainly aren't one of our own”

“They don’t necessarily have to be from that world.” Senior Brother Yuan Shen replied grimly.

“If there can be gates to two worlds, why not more?” Senior Brother Qing An said as he made rapid seals with his hand, and the avalanche of snow on the peak sharpened into razor-sharp shards that formed a swirling blizzard trapping the four of them at its center. 

The swords from Senior Brother Fan Xiao kept coming down. He also took out a large flask and poured out some kind of green liquid that slithered through the air towards the whirlwind of ice shards, hidden between his sword attacks. 

As soon as it entered the blizzard, Yang saw the air shift to a sickly green that spread through the ice shards, as the storm began closing in around the four. 

They finally seemed to be having trouble breaking through the combined assault, and Yang saw one of the cultivators jerk back as the liquid ate through the shield, finally allowing the ice shrapnel to enter and tear into his flesh. A few of Senior Brother’s continuously raining swords also nearly sliced off the cultivator's hand, but one of the others used some technique to reinforce the broken shield.

Senior Brother Fan Xiao formed a flat shield under them as he made a hand seal that made the swords light up brighter, accelerating both their regeneration and attacks.

Suddenly, Yang found the reason for the shield as he spotted a black sphere getting closer to them, increasing in size as it flew higher and higher towards them.

Senior Brother Fan Xiao and Qing An immediately moved to stand in front of the rest of them, continuously making seals to create barrier after barrier.

And then they were hit.

Yang almost fell off his carpet as the black ball swelled to the size of a house by the time it struck the multiple shields protecting them, triggering a deafening explosion as it broke through almost half the shield layers, leaving grey smoke billowing outwards and clinging to the remaining barriers. 

It seemed to be the same thing the initial bolts were made with because now that Yang was able to see it more closely, he could see the grey mist attempting to eat through the outermost remaining layer of shield.

With Senior Brothers Fan Xiao and Qing An still stuck piling on the attacks, it was Senior Brother Weilong who made seals to disperse the corrosive smoke away from them, allowing them to relax.

The cultivators, making use of the slight lapse while they braced for the attack, got away from the encircling whirlwind and rose unaided into the air.

They flew up with terrifying speed and took position, surrounding them on all four sides, with Senior Brother Fan Xiao, Qing An, and Weilong taking watch on one side each, leaving the remaining side mostly undefended, with Senior Brothers Yuan Shen and Zhen Hao along with Yang to cover it. 

The flame dragon shifted as a result of their closer proximity, swirling around them until its head was covering the least defended area in front of them,

“May I ask why fellow Daoists are attacking us?” Senior Brother Fan Xiao asked calmly, as if they hadn't just tried to kill each other a minute ago.

“Fellow Daoists?” One of them let out a snort, with others following in his footsteps by giving a background score of disdainful noises. “You have some nerve, presuming yourself our equal.”

Senior Brother Qing An looked furious and let out a sarcastic laugh. “Yes. My Senior Brother has the bad habit of treating every insect he comes across as his peer,” he then turned to Senior Brother Fan Xiao and asked in mock wonder. “Do tell, Senior Brother. What reason do you have to refer to these lowly scum as fellow Daoists?”

Yang noticed Senior Brother Fan Xiao let out a tired sigh just as one of the other cultivators, the one facing Senior Brother, snapped at the insult and threw a gourd-shaped treasure at Senior Brother Qing An, who immediately took out his sword and met it with his blade raised.

Both were at a standstill, neither being able to budge the other.

Senior Brother Fan Xiao, seeing the stalemate, used his own power to swat the gourd away from Senior Brother Qing An.

“Where is your other companion?” The man who seemed to be the leader spoke again.

“Companion?” Senior Brother Fan Xiao raised an eyebrow. “I am afraid there has been some misunderstanding, Senior.”

“There has been no misunderstanding.” The man growled out. “Either I get the one I want, or I will torture my way through you all until you are nothing more than empty shells.” 

And with that, these people proved themselves unable to be reasoned with as one of the black-robed men threw a large, red, glowing net towards them.

The dragon immediately raised its head in a roar and rose higher to get between the net and them, sparks flying as it came in contact with the net, not allowing it to touch any of them.

“Weilong, get them away. Now.”

Before Yang could even react, a powerful gust of Qi wrapped around him, Senior Brothers Zhen Hao and Yuan Shen, driving them back, as Senior Brother Weilong caught the ice-blue token that Senior Brother Fan Xiao tossed at him.

“Follow me. Full speed.” Senior Brother Weilong yelled over his shoulder.

Yang forced his carpet to its limits, stealing a brief glance back over his shoulder.

He saw Senior Brother Fan Xiao holding those four back at the same time as Senior Brother Qing An fiddled around in the air behind him.  Activating or making some kind of formation in the air.

The four of them pushed forward at breakneck speed. Soon, the blinding lights and thunderous explosions of the battle vanished behind them.

Yang pulled his carpet alongside Senior Brother Weilong. “What about our Senior Brothers?” he yelled over the rush of the wind.

“They have their ways.” Senior Brother Weilong replied and tried to give him a reassuring smile that fell completely flat. “They will be able to fight better without having to keep an eye on us.”

Yang didn’t know if he was trying to reassure Yang or himself, so he just nodded and kept flying. They crossed over the entire mountain range, finding a barren plain on the other side.

Then they felt it.

A sudden thunderous boom followed by aftershocks rippling through the air.

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