"Reporting."
The young man returned and bowed to the great elders. This time, he was visibly nervous.
"What is it?"
"I have done as instructed, however, the guardian formation seems to have been restored and is now acting as a barrier preventing anyone from exiting the sect."
"What?!"
"Th… That isn't all. It seems the guardian formation has disabled the teleportation formations. They are no longer operational."
"Are you sure about this?"
"Yes. Elder Han reported it himself."
"So they've caged us in… Do they really mean to eliminate us all?" The great elder's face went pale at the thought. "Tell me. Where is the centre of the bounding formation?"
"It seems to be the library, Sir."
"The library? Why there of all places?"
"Reports say that a masked individual has forcibly taken position in the library. Witnesses say he has taken all of the books and scrolls into his personal spatial artefact. Even those protected by defensive formations. He is currently…" The young man couldn't believe the reports himself. "He's… well, he's…"
"Spit it out! What is he doing?"
"They say he's flipping through a few of the books and taking notes…"
"…"
"That is all. Your instructions?"
"We must break that formation. Have all of the disciples get into ranks. We elders will channel their power into ourselves. Then we'll see if these intruders can keep us here."
"Yes sir!"
The young man disappeared to execute his orders and the three great elders exchanged troubled glances.
"I hate to say I told you so."
"This is hardly the time for that. Come, we must head for the library. Our first priority is to destroy that formation."
"I've already sent word to the others. They should be joining the battle any moment now."
"Alright, to the library!"
All of a sudden, the elders heard an explosion and when they turned to its source, they saw a cloud of dust, which quickly faded revealing a gaping hole in the wall and a young woman standing in front of it.
"Found you!"
Without a moment's delay, that young woman dashed forward, leaving a ring of scorched earth where she had been standing. In the blink of an eye she had already placed herself between two of the three great elders. When they finally adjusted to her movement, they could see her hands rapidly approaching their faces. They instinctually activated their defensive treasures, but they were slightly too late. The delay between their thoughts and the activations of their treasures proved to be deadly. Just as the thin screens of their defensive barriers manifested, the young woman's palms glowed orange and released two explosions, shattering the partially-formed shields. With nothing standing in their way, her hands clamped onto the faces of the two great elders and they found themselves flying through the air, colliding with several hard surfaces along their paths.
The third great elder watched as all of this happened. She had moved far quickly for him to respond. Before he knew it, the young woman had jumped through the new cavity she had created by throwing the bodies of his allies through the walls, and, while still in mid-air, she extended her right hand, fingers outstretched.
"Gravitation!"
From the cloud of dust that had been created by the impact, a body emerged, flying uncontrollably towards the young woman. As it reached close, she clenched her fist, cocked it back, and launched a devastating fist technique, landing squarely on the elder's face.
"Phoenix's Decent!"
With a shockwave and a blood-curdling scream, the elder was sent hurtling back towards the ground. But his troubles weren't over. Far from it. Before that young woman landed from her jump, she had executed the same sequence twice more, flinging the great elder back and forth like a yoyo made of broken bones and mangled flesh.
***
"She's a demon! How can there be such a violent woman?"
The great elder was profoundly impacted by the display he had just seen. The worst part of it all was that there was a giant smile plastered all over that young woman's face. She was taking delight in the brutality. If he lived past this, he was sure her crazed, fiendish eyes would play a starring role in his future nightmares.
"Wait, Auntie Yimin. I can't see anything if you're moving so fast!"
From out of nowhere, another young lady ran into the room from one opening and out through the other, following the path that the other had taken. She had a youthful glow to her, unlike the other one, who seemed to have more of a mature aura. The great elder had experienced a variety of different women and had come to prefer this youthful vibrancy over maturity. And on top of that, she didn't have that crazed look in her eyes. Instead, she conveyed a look of innocence.
Even now, he was thinking of how he could sate his desire, and, not willing to let her just walk past, he used his Blood Palm technique, shooting it towards her unprotected back, probing to see if she was also hiding her strength. If not, then he didn't see any reason to let a perfectly fine specimen out of his grasp. She had delivered herself to him, after all.
"Don't drop your guard, Xiaoli."
A young man's voice came and the great elder watched in shock as his Blood Palm was cut in half, dissipating harmlessly before it could hit the young lady. He turned his gaze and saw that it was the young man who had called out the elders surnamed Zhu. He had managed to accurately target the Blood Palm without taking a single step away from his original position.
***
"If it isn't Little Jing'er." Zhu Fan landed gracefully on the ground not too far from Jing'er. "You've grown."
"Mm." Zhu Ning landed silently next Zhu Fan, his arm resting on his shoulder. He had a casual smile on his face as he tilted his head and extended his arm. "You were only this tall when I last saw you."
As he examined Jing'er's aura, Zhu Fan's eyes opened wide. "Already in the minute realm? Congratulations."
Zhu Ning focused on the residual energy from the pillar of light which had now faded. "Is this sword intent? You really are a little genius, Jing'er. Neither we nor your father were able to learn this."
The two stood in silence as Jing'er did the same.
Zhu Fan frowned. "What? You're not going to say anything?"
"I'm not one to interrupt a man's last words."
"Oh?" Zhu Ning clapped his hands loudly as he chuckled. "Do you really think you're too big to get punished? What would your father say if he heard about this?"
"Dead men don't speak."
Both Zhu Ning and Zhu Fan opened their eyes wide. "He died? How?"
"You know very well. He died the day he became a demonic cultivator. It was the two of you who killed him."
"There's that Zhu Clan narrow-minded thinking."
"He was the same person, and we're the same uncles Fan and Ning that you remember."
Jing'er remained silent.
"So, your father told you about what we did? Did he tell you that it happened before we became demonic cultivators?"
"It's true that we crippled his cultivation, but that was because we were jealous of his talent and potential. Do you know what it's like to be ignored by your parents in favour of your younger brother? You wouldn't."
"We, the elder brothers, were still stuck in the transcendent realm when our younger brother, five years our junior, surpassed us, shuttling straight towards the minute realm. Out of jealousy, we stunted his growth, preventing him from reaching his potential."
"Things were great from then on. Our parents started to treat us equally, and no one in the clan saw us as any less than our brother once we caught up with him."
"But it was short-lived. With our brother crippled and Yimin in the state she was in, our generation failed to produce a minute realm cultivator, leaving us without a successor for the clan leader position."
"Regretting our choice, we went out to look for a way to help your father regain his ability. That's when we stumbled upon the inheritance of a demonic cultivator."
"In no time at all, both of us had managed to break through to the minute realm. It's unbelievable that a lifetime of effort can be surpassed by something as simple as theft."
"Of course, we didn't keep this from our brother. Why would we? It was better if we all thrived."
"We confessed our crimes and introduced him to the demonic path. And unlike what he may have told you, we didn't force him into it. He chose it of his own will."
"And even after becoming demonic cultivators, none of us turned our backs on the Zhu Clan. We aren't the traitors you think us to be."
Jing'er took a deep breath and shot a sharp glare at his two uncles.
"You say he chose it of his own will when you were the ones who pushed him to desperation."
Zhu Fan smiled. "If it's fair to say that we pushed your father to desperation, is it not also fair to say that fate did the same to us? To be born average while your younger brother is special. That would drive anyone to do certain things they otherwise wouldn't."
"The difference between your thinking and mine is that I do not try to absolve my father of his crimes. Whether he was pushed into desperation or not, ultimately, when given the choice, he chose to do evil. The same stands for the two of you. You chose to do evil. For that, you must face justice."
"What evil did we do? Taking cultivation from a few random strangers? Come on. We're family. There's no need to let something so trivial come between us."
"Be reasonable, Jing'er."
Jing'er pointed his swords at his uncles.
"We of the Zhu Clan are champions of justice. If we turn a blind eye to evil simply because of our relation to the perpetrator, then we aren't fit to judge anyone. My father has already paid the price. It's time you do the same."
Zhu Fan sighed and stepped forward. His skin started to turn dark red and the veins underneath turned black.
"It's a shame it had to come to this, Jing'er."
The same happened to Zhu Ning as he also stepped forward.
"Truly a shame."
***
"What's the situation?"
Three other elders appeared in front of the great elder who had been waiting for them.
"Good, you've come." The great elder breathed a sigh of relief internally. "Things are dire. We need to destroy the core of this formation at the library before the teleportation formations come back online."
"What's the status of the others?"
"I can't say, but it looks like we're being beaten back pretty bad. This attack is beyond what we can handle. Our only hope is to escape before it's too late."
"To think a day like this would arrive."
"That's enough talking. If we stay still too long, we may just say our last words here."
"Right. Let's hea-" The elder felt a sharp pain through his chest, causing his words to be cut off. He looked down to his chest and saw a blade sticking out of it. When he looked back up, he could see the looks of horror on the faces of the other elders, and before he could say anything else, he coughed up a mouthful of blood.
What was interesting about it was that even before it left his field of view, he saw it spontaneously combust. In fact, his entire field of view was overtaken by flames before he could even rationalise what he was seeing.
The other elders immediately took their distance when they saw what was happening, and behind the falling ashes that used to be the body their ally, they could see a young man clad in flames. He was emitting an intense heat and even the dagger in his hand started to melt away.
One of the elders sighed and shook his head.
"Well, looks like we're all going to die."
The other wasn't so pessimistic. He turned to the grand elder, urging him to leave.
"We'll handle this. You disable that formation!"
The grand elder could feel the severity of the situation weighing down on his shoulders. If he didn't manage to disable that formation, they would all die where they stood.
"Stay alive, you two."
The grand elder left and the young man did nothing to stop him. That in itself was disconcerting. No matter how hard he tried to think positively, he could only see one possible outcome for all of this.
'Is this really the end?'
Yes. Yes it is.
Ju Li followed behind Hei in silence as he walked leisurely through the walkway of the underground cells and up the stairs the building above, where some of the other captive women were being held. It seemed the building functioned as a brothel, where Crimson Moon disciples would spend merit points to choose their cultivation partners.
Ju Li wasn't able to get much more information than what was apparent on the surface because, by the time her eyes had adjusted to the higher levels of light, the place was already in chaos.
The didn't stay there long either. Hei walked past the chaos and through the crowds of scrambling disciples, steadily through the streets of the main sect, until they reached another building. It was a tall building, cylindrical in design where each floor was a smaller disk stacked on top of the one below it.
There were two guards standing outside of the main entrance, but even as Hei and Ju Li walked past, they did nothing to impede their path. Ju Li knew that this was because Hei had activated some kind of barrier which was keeping them hidden from the sight of others.
After entering the library, Hei extended his flames, causing disruption among the disciples who were studying there. In no time at all, he had taken every book from every shelf, desk and hand on the ground floor. Of course, he didn't go uncontested. Having revealed his presence, the guards outside the library rushed in to assess the situation. The elder in charge of the library also made his move.
Just as quickly as Ju Li had seen them go in for the attack, they disappeared from her view.
It took her a moment to realise that they were all on the ground, unconscious.
They didn't waste any more time on the ground floor. He continued on his way up to the stairs, effortlessly incapacitating those who tried to block him and overcoming any barriers and defensive formations in his way.
There wasn't anything anyone could do to prevent him from taking whatever caught his eye. And it seemed everything in the place fit that description.
After walking an unimpeded path to the top, he had obtained every resource within the entire building, and, to Ju Li's surprise, he returned to the ground floor and found a quiet corner behind some bookshelves. It was a study area of sorts populated with desks and chairs. There, he pulled out a chair and took a seat. Then he turned to the chair next to his and pulled it out.
"You can take a seat. We'll be here for a while."
"No thanks. I would rather stand."
"Very well."
He one was too short to use the adult-sized desk, and so he extended the legs of the chair to elevate himself. Then he pulled a book out of his sleeve and placed it on the table before taking a sheet of paper and a pen and placing them on the table. He then rested his head on his hand, opened the book and started reading it, occasionally taking notes.
Meanwhile, Ju Li could hear all manner of chaos occurring outside.
"Um… Can I ask you something?"
"Now isn't the best time." He answered while flipping to the next page.
"Why are we here?"
"Information gathering."
"Why do you need information. Can't you just leave?"
"I like to do things thoroughly."
"Hm?"
"If you want more details then look at my notes for yourself." He placed his fingers over his eyes and adjusted his mask. "My mind is currently occupied with other things."
"I see."
That was right. According to what she had heard earlier, he was currently monitoring the situations of eight different individuals simultaneously. The fact that he had moved around with such ease had caused her to forget that fact. She had no idea what kind of a strain splitting one's spiritual perception into eight parts would put on a person's mental energy. It can't have been small.
"Sorry."
"Don't worry about it."
Ju Li decided to take that seat after all. It was just that, she was also too short to see the desk from it. She was just about to stand on it when it elevated itself. When she looked down, she saw the same black extensions on her chair that were on his.
Turning her gaze to the sheet of paper in front of him, she could see that there were already several full pages. She placed her hand on one and turned to the masked one who had no reaction. With his approval or at least lack of objection, she brought the sheet of paper closer to herself and started reading it.
--
The sect-protecting formation they have used is centred in one of the underground areas. There should be two, maybe three elders placed there for repair work.
Judging from the schematics available in the book "Guardian Formation: Theory and Practice", it should be primarily metal-based. Unit two, a fire-based cultivator would be a good match for at least one of the elders. I'll send unit five as well. With her wind element base, she can act to supplement unit two's abilities.
--
Ju Li assumed that the term "unit" was referring to the eight women who were synchronised with him.
--
The sect also has teleportation formations. Most likely to be used in an escape. A high priority for disruption. Unfortunately, the schematics for those are not held in the library. Instead, they've been placed in the formation hall. Sending units one and seven would be sufficient to retrieve those.
The sect seems to be following a loose structure. There is no one leader, and instead, a group of great elders, eight in total. They act as the governing body and have the highest seniority within the sect. All of their cultivation achievements are listed in public records.
The sect also has a verity of battle formations. Some of which are large in scale. In a situation where the sect is faced with overwhelming power, the great elders are likely to make use of these to channel the power of the disciples into themselves. Units three and four will work on disrupting cohesion and preventing the disciples from converging.
--
While Ju Li was still reading, another person entered the scene, waved her hand, and left just as quickly as she had arrived. Ju Li had managed to see that it was Matriarch Radiant Jade. She had placed a stack of books on the desk before disappearing once again.
Ju Li looked at Hei who had now switched to one of the new books.
She took one of the more recent sheets of notes to read.
--
Most of the captives have now been freed. Units six and eight will soon be available to handle the external scouts. Unfortunately, the movements of the Zhu Clan have already been discovered. They unexpectedly brought a hundred extra units. Perhaps I can use them to test the battle formation I thought of after analysing those of the Crimson Moon.
Units two and five have successfully captured the guardian formation. They will now repair it and bring it under our control.
Units three and four have been more effective than expected. The large-scale battle formations have been rendered inoperable. They can be reallocated to the transport of captives.
Unit seven is now unoccupied. She will monitor the overall situation.
--
Before she could finish reading that sheet, she heard his voice speak quietly.
"The targets have been secured. Feel free to act with impunity."
Along with his announcement came a large disturbance, and after a while, he spoke again.
"Be at ease, Honghuo. She's safe and sound."
After that, Ju Li heard a very familiar voice. Her heart jolted and many images flashed past her mind.
'Brother.'
When she looked back down, she saw that Hei had completed another sheet of notes, which she grabbed and started reading. At the bottom, it said that all of the captives had been freed and were currently outside under the protection of a defensive formation.
She turned her attention to the new sheet he was actively working on.
--
The guardian formation is now under our control, freeing units two and five. According to the information delivered by unit one, the teleportation formations are integrated into the guardian formation. When they are used, they siphon energy from the guardian formation, causing it to become inoperable for a time. This cannot be allowed to occur. Units two and five will disable the teleportation formations, sealing all exit paths.
Units three and four have successfully eliminated the external scouts, cutting off the information supply. They have also made contact with the Zhu Clan, relaying my instructions.
Unit seven has intercepted an evacuation order. The situation of the guardian formation will soon be discovered. I will relocate the core of the formation to the library.
All units except unit two have been recalled. Unit two has been instructed to make contact with Honghuo.
Auntie Yimin has made her move, she has taken on two opponents. Jing'er is currently facing two opponents. Honghuo has yet to make a move. Xiaoli doesn't seem capable of contributing at this level.
Four out of eight of the great elders have joined the battle, one remains on standby and three have yet to emerge. Their likely current target is the centre of the guardian formation, the library. And they are likely to come in numbers.
Unit two has made contact with Honghuo and has relayed my instructions.
The remaining three great elders have joined the fray. Honghuo has made his move, eliminating one target. He has held two back and allowed the last to pass.
Impact imminent.
Initiating barrier.
--
From there, he stopped writing. Ju Li took a moment to realise, and when she looked up, she saw him facing the front entrance of the library.
On the other side, she could hear an angry yell.
"Break!"
The front of the library burst open. The bricks used to build it were crushed into powder, kicking up a cloud of dust. Even the shelves were obliterated. Shards of them flew past Ju Li and Hei in the cloud of dust. Not wanting to be hit, Ju Li made sure to position herself such that nothing would get to her without going through Hei first.
After the dust had settled, there was nothing left of the previous library except the floor and that one desk they were seated at. Other than that, Ju Li saw a furious old man suspended in mid-air. He was wielding a sword which was glowing with a menacing blood-red aura.
"Die!"
The old man dashed straight at them, swing his sword viciously, hoping to get rid of them and the formation in one fell swoop. As he approached, his sword seemed to grow to the size of a building, casting a shadow over Ju Li and Hei as it fell towards them.
When Ju Li turned to Hei, she couldn't see any sign that he was going to make a move. And, in fact, he didn't. Before the sword could land, a silhouette appeared in front of them, wielding a sword of its own, which it swung upwards, halting the momentum of that giant blood-red sword and even pushing it back slightly.
Just as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared again, and another took its place. This one was wielding a spear and thrust three times in quick succession before disappearing. This attack caused the sword to shrink back down to its original size.
But it wasn't over. That figure disappeared and another took its place.
This time, Ju Li could see that it was a woman dressed in familiar clothing. She had a sword, but hers glistened with an icy sheen and caused condensation in the air around it. This sword struck the blood-red sword, causing it to lose that blood-red property, reverting back to an ordinary sword, coated in a layer of ice.
After completing her attack, she disappeared and another woman took her place.
This one had a sabre which she used to strike the now icy blade, and following her, two more women each launched their own attacks.
After the fifth landed her blow, the great elder spat out a mouthful of blood to increase the strength of his blade. Unfortunately for him, the sixth knocked the sword out of the way before it could receive the benefits.
The seventh landed a blow which finally exceeded the sword's ability to withstand. It crumbled to pieces, leaving nothing but its hilt.
Finally came the eighth, who wielded a sword emitting blinding white light. She stood in a sword-drawing stance and the radiance of her sword continued to grow until the entire sect was blanketed in white light. On top of that, the guardian formation, which had previously displayed a night sky was now swirling with myriad colours. Those colours all seemed to be converging on that woman, turning her white sword into one of many colours.
The great elder knew he couldn't withstand a blow from that sword, so he relied on his prized possession, a defensive treasure he had found as part of an inheritance from an ancient demonic cultivator. To date, he had never faced an attack which could so much as scratch its defence, but it came with a caveat. The treasure had a finite number of uses before it would become a worthless trinket. Fortunately, he still had three uses to go before that would happen.
Using one of the three remaining activations, he erected a barrier around himself and prepared to sacrifice his own vital essence to launch an all-out attack. He would do it as soon as her sword was blocked. The moment she would be most vulnerable.
She stayed in her stance until the world was drowned by her sword's radiance.
"Our very own Radiant Slash and the Zhu Clan's legendary Evil Slaying. One attacks the fleshy body and the other attacks the spirit. I may not be worthy to give a name to their marriage, but if I may be so bold, then I'll call it-"
She drew her sword, swinging it in a smooth arc as she dashed forward.
The great elder smiled as her sword came ever closer to his barrier. He had already ignited his vital essence and was ready to counter immediately.
If he had been listening closely, he would have known what was coming, but alas. His smile was quickly wiped away and replaced with a look of complete and utter horror. That sword sliced through his ultimate defence like it wasn't there at all.
"Impossible!"
He watched helplessly as the sword tore through his flesh, completing its path unimpeded. As his body split into two and the upper half fell towards the floor, he noticed that his defence hadn't been broken. That attack had simply ignored it.
'She- she said it was Evil Slaying! Damn it!'
Behind him, he heard a metallic sound. A sound he knew all too well. He knew it to be the sound of a sword entering its sheath and, just before it clicked into place, he heard the last words he would ever hear.
"Demon Hunter."
Fun fact. Demon Hunter is inspired by Soul Eater's Witch Hunter/Genie Hunter/Kishin Hunter.
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