"Kill!" Pei Zi Yun’s body moved past in a blur, the fighter who wanted to blow on the whistle was decapitated within seconds. The whistle fell to the ground, causing a strange sound to ring out.
The fighter who had been paralyzed by Pei Zi Yun’s spell could finally move again. His eyes full of hatred looked like those of a tiger or a wolf. Without a second thought for his own safety, he charged, "Die!"
Pei Zi Yun’s sword moved gracefully as the tip sliced open his throat, causing hot blood to drip down his body. The fighter clutched his throat, gasping for breath.
Pei Zi Yun easily killed those five. He bent down to retrieve a piece of cloth from the dead corpses and wiped the blood off himself. He gave a cold laugh, "These are just people who delivered themselves willingly to death."
He then turned around to leave.
From within the forests came several cries of pain before a flare was shot up into the sky. A pair of swordsmen were dumbfounded by this and they hurriedly dashed toward the flare.
The scent of blood filled up the entire forest as an eagle watched the scene, high up atop the trees.
"Hua!" The pair of swordsmen slashed across at the trees and vines in their way, they noticed the ground, covered in blood. Five of their own were lying on the ground lifelessly.
"Horrifying. He killed an entire group of men within seconds!"
"Eh? One of them is still alive?" The swordsman took a look and noticed the group leader was still breathing raggedly.
The pair looked at each other before one of them moved forward and checked his condition with severity. He then placed a hand on the group leader and asked, "What happened here? In which direction did he escape?"
"Sss sss" The group leader’s entire hand was covered in blood as he clutched onto his throat, his breathing was ragged as he tried to speak, but no words were spoken.
Seeing the group leader in such a manner, they knew they wouldn’t be able to get any answers from him. The swordsman then tapped the group leader’s forehead gently, causing him to groan. Blood seeped out of all his orifices instantly and he went quiet.
The swordsman then gently pushed down on the eyelids of the group leader and sighed, "All of you died for Dark Altar Sect, rest in peace."
The swordsman spoke out in sorrow. All of a sudden, he heard several movements and turned towards the forest.
The forest was dense and thick, making it hard to see anything in the distance. Up in the sky, a bird had been startled and flew into the sky, breaking the silence of the night.
"That’s not right." The swordsman was startled as well and he shot a flare up into the sky. "Xiu" The sound of the flare being fired could be heard. The flare was a sort of an order for anyone to see it to gather at the location. Following this, several groups of fighters gathered around.
Shan Shen Temple
After some time passed, the temple changed once more. The floor was swept clean but the atmosphere remained dark and gloomy. Someone rushed in hurriedly, "I have a report. Three teams of men have been killed. Only one managed to escape."
Elder Xu’s hands never stopped moving, and he didn’t reply as well. The green flames were still licking the exterior of the Fate Lantern, but hadn’t found a way in yet. The Daoist’s expression fell, "This Pei Zi Yun’s fighting techniques are superb, and his tactics are unparalleled. He’s far better than we anticipated."
Another Daoist with a lofty status asked, "Has the curse been completed? If this persists, every person we send out will keep getting killed. As of now, we’ve already sustained quite considerable losses."
"Elder Xu is still casting the curse. It seems like he has some sort of a protective screen that prevents such curses from affecting him, hence the results aren’t favorable yet. We have to take it a step further in order to affect him."
Just as they were speaking, they heard a smack sound coming from the Fate Lantern, startling everyone present.
Soon after, a strong gale of wind blew across, carrying with it the strong stench of blood.
Everyone looked across and saw black energy roiling within the Fate Lantern, but it still bore the color of blood. Layer by layer, the black mass attempted to penetrate the lantern. For several seconds, the color of the lantern seemed to have been transformed to the greenish color as intended. However, it reverted back to its original color soon after.
"This person’s willpower is too strong. Up till now we only manage to succeed for several seconds at a time after trying very hard." Elder Xu stood up and wiped the sweat off his brows. He then spoke out to the pair of Daoists, "Maintain the spell. Let me regain my strength and get some rest. I will take over from you later."
"Once there is no external force being exerted over it, we will not be able to maintain the curse. He will be able to eliminate the curse if we’re not maintaining it."
As he spoke, a bright flash of light illuminated the area before a thunder-like roar could be heard within the room. Elder Xu then ordered, "It’s true I underestimated him earlier on. I didn’t expect him to be so strong. But now, he’s already been cursed by me and is hallucinating. He wouldn’t be able to differentiate reality from illusions."
"Even a child would be able to kill him now."
"The current order is to reform your groups and hunt him down. Once you see him, finish him off. Forget about capturing him. He’s way too strong to be captured, and too terrifying to spare him additional minutes of life."
"Use the talisman to communicate among your groups. We’re onto something huge here, several lives lost don’t mean anything!"
"Yes!" Everyone around started using their talismans to relay the orders.
Several moments later, raindrops started falling in the forest. The droplets of rain splattered down on the leaves and made rustling sounds. The swordsmen carried torches but weren’t extinguished by the rain yet. A certain sort of coldness overwhelmed the entire forest.
More than ten swordsmen glanced down at the dead bodies on the ground and shouted out, "Revenge for our brothers."
"We shall kill him and have revenge for our brothers."
A pair of highly skilled swordsmen noticed their men were extremely motivated and psyched up. They nodded their heads and saw that a message had been relayed to their talismans. When they finished reading they smiled coldly, "The Elder had successfully placed the curse. Looks like he has nowhere to run now."
"Hm, I’ve always wanted to engage him in combat. This person killed An Jian. Just thinking of it makes my blood boil." A swordsman spoke out, a crazed excitement could be seen in his eyes.
A slightly older swordsman laughed, "The Sect trust us to finish him off, don’t ruin our chances by engaging him in single combat. If we fail to kill him because of you, we will face huge problems."
At the same time, several Daoists came around with swords in their hands.
Somewhere further away, a group of five men were carefully walking across. They were considered older than the average group of men at around thirty years of age.
Two of them were standing in front, cautiously walking while checking the ground. Two were standing guard behind, ensuring they didn’t get ambushed, while someone was in the middle giving instructions. They split into three different moving groups. Everytime each group took five steps, they would call out to each other. Suddenly, the men in front warned that there was something up ahead. The two men behind gripped their blades tightly and looked at the shrubs in front of them.
For a long time, no sound was heard.
All of a sudden, the man in the middle gave a grunt as he waved his left hand, "Secret throwing weapons!"
"Pu pu pu!" Small knives were thrown and several leaves were severed from their vines and dropped to the ground soundlessly. The five of them relaxed before approaching further.
A bright light flashed as the pair of fighters tensed up once more and gave a cry of courage as they raised their blades to parry the oncoming blow. A loud sound rang out, signalling that they had successfully defended themselves from the first blow.
In the next moment, an unnatural strength coursed through his sword, rendering him unable to keep it in front of him. His blade was deflected and a shadow appeared. The next thing he saw was a sword plunging into his chest, exiting from his back. Pei Zi Yun withdrew his sword and cold smiled.
The three men standing behind drew their swords simultaneously, but were a split second too late. With the gleam of his sword, the fighter on the left side had his left hand severed. Pei Zi Yun moved so quickly that immediately after delivering that blow, he disappeared into the darkness once again.
On his next attack, Pei Zi Yun’s blade penetrate his target’s chest without much resistance, rupturing his internal organs.
"Die!" The remaining two fighters took advantage of the fact that Pei Zi Yun’s sword was still lodged within the man’s chest cavity. Just before they could land any blows on Pei Zi Yun, their bodies trembled violently as they lost control of their strike.
The blade of the sword reflected light once more, as the two of them screamed out in agony before falling to the ground.
‘Ever since I’ve became Yin Master, my Dao arts became much faster as well. Even in the midst of combat I can use it without needing much effort.’
‘These five men were clearly much more experienced than the previous group of people. Even if they were to fight me alone, it would take me longer to dispatch them. But with the combination of my swords skills and Dao arts, taking them down is still too easy.’
‘I’m very satisfied with the way I used the Paralysis Spell. My killing techniques improved yet another notch.’
The last person clutched onto the flare and released it up into the sky where it exploded beneath the clouds.
Pei Zi Yun gave a cold laughter. He was very familiar with the way Dark Altar Sect planned their assault after seeing a common pattern. Just as he was about to finish him off, everything went dark. Not only could he not see anything, he felt like as if everything around him had disappeared. Several seconds later, his vision was restored.
The man threw the expanded flare down onto the ground as he drew his sword, faced Pei Zi Yun and screamed out while charging at Pei Zi Yun. He knew deep down that he would die. When he saw Pei Zi Yun freeze, he was elated and kept charging toward him.
Pei Zi Yun’s body trembled. Very instinctively, he narrowly dodged the blow, and only a single hair dropped to the ground. The scene before his eyes changed once more. He looked up and saw tall buildings in front of him, with many cars moving busily across. He was seated within one of the cars and had just fallen asleep. At this point, he froze in shock as he watched in a daze.
‘Eh? Was I dreaming?’ Pei Zi Yun shook his head as he stretched a hand out to pick up the newspapers in front of him. However, something still didn’t feel right at the back of his mind.
"Boom!" The image completely shattered as his eyes focused once again to the forest, where he was. The swordsman swung his sword over, and was almost going to strike Pei Zi Yun forehead.
"Pu!" Pei Zi Yun spun around to dodge the blow, and felt the blade sear across his back. Blood started dripping down as he felt his back burn as if it was on fire. He gritted his teeth and returned the strike.
"Pu!" The sword he held onto was sharp beyond measure as he slashed open the swordsman’s abdomen. Blood oozed out of the gash.
"To hell with you!" Pei Zi Yun knew something wasn’t right and he intended to hurry and finish him off. Just as he struck down at the swordsman, he noticed that he had a sinister, confident look on his face. Their swords met with a loud clang before their shadows broke apart. Pei Zi Yun had stabbed him in the neck immediately after. He watched as blood spurted out from his wound.
"Ah!" Pei Zi Yun felt an intense wave of dizziness sweep over him once more, causing him to lose all visibility once again. He used his hands to apply pressure on the wound at his back before dashing into the depths of the forest.
"Ding" The sound of a bell rang out as Pei Zi Yun opened his eyes.
He found himself within a classroom, with a shelf of books on his left. On his right was a desk with an open textbook placed on it. Pei Zi Yun was extremely confused.
‘I am a student?’
‘No, this doesn't feel right.’ Pei Zi Yun pushed opened the door suspiciously. The corridors were empty.
"Is anyone there?" Pei Zi Yun shouted out, but nobody replied him. In the silence, he could hear his own heart thumping wildly in his chest. All of a sudden, he could fear footsteps gradually approaching.
Pei Zi Yun was elated as he turned around, expecting to see someone. However, there was absolutely nobody behind him. A sudden wave of cold air blew onto his back.
‘What’s going on?’
Pei Zi Yun stretched out his hand and was about to continue walking when he suddenly froze. ‘No, something isn’t right.’
‘Let me think.’
"Stars Transposition!"
"Boom" Everything before his eyes crumbled like fragments of glass. Pei Zi Yun found himself sprawled before a tiny creek. A single flash of lightning lashed out in the distance. The rain hasn’t stopped as it continued showering down upon the trees and plants nearby. He could hear the sound of voices not far off.
A group of people dressed in woven clothes were around. At this point the fires around were extinguished. Pei Zi Yun kept hearing someone whispering, "Everything is alright." He paused for some time, the voices still ringing out in his head.
They were closing in on him rapidly. If this were any other times, Pei Zi Yun would treat them like pieces of paper to tear apart. In fact, he had already killed more than half of their forces at this point. At this point however, he could feel a certain gloomy dark energy descending down on him, threatening to swallow him any moment.
"It’s dangerous here, quickly surround him."
‘I should thank my lucky star that it’s raining, thus drowning out all the noise and footprints left behind by me!’ Pei Zi Yun knew that if he were to remained sprawled on the ground, he would be dead in no time. Regardless of where he was, if he continued lying here he would be surrounded and killed.
He took advantage of this moment of clarity and thought, ‘Have I been cursed?’
‘Regardless of what, it’s clear that the Stars Transposition is protecting my sanity and allowed me to return to reality for as long as possible.’
‘I just need a little more to advance. Once I reach the third level, I can protect myself to a stronger degree.’ Thinking this way, he realized that his head was extremely heavy, and was spinning. He was nauseous, but couldn’t vomit. He could see several thick reeds up ahead. Without consideration, he plunged into the reeds and rolled for some time until he gradually reached a halt. He was completely covered in mud. He remained still there.
"Boom" Everything turned dark once more as he immersed himself in another alternate reality.
The wind wrapped itself around the rain and haze as the natural elements assaulted everything. The group exposed was soaked by the rain, regardless of what they wore to protect themselves from the unrelenting storm. A swordsman pulled out a flask of wine and took several large gulps before ordering, "He’s been cursed by the Elder and shouldn’t be able to run. Hurry up and search, hunt him down."
Several people echoed his words as the message was passed around. People weren’t cautious any longer. They started charging straight into the thick bushes and forests in search for their victim. A fighter threw himself to the ground and sniffed it, smelling the unmistakable stench of blood. He then shouted out, "He’s hurt. Hurry, this direction. Chase him down."
An entire group of people headed in that direction and started looking for him. The rain made it extremely tough for them to navigate through the terrain.
…...
The doors to the elevator opened, revealing a single walkway. Lamps were hanging on the wall, a few meters away from each others, emitting a dim light. The lamps caused the corridor to appear to be very long. Past a particular point, shadows were the only thing visible.
Pei Zi Yun started walking down the corridor. After twenty meters, there was a turn for him to take. All of a sudden, a black shadow darted past him, causing his hair to stand on edge.
"It’s here again!"
"Stars Transposition!"
The images cracked and shattered before his eyes as he shut them tightly. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he noticed was the brightness. The skies were still shrouded with dark clouds, like a single large cloud looming over a mountain. Raindrops were splattering down on his face as he felt a mouthful of rainwater.
Gradually, his mind started to regain some clarity before he noticed he was lying beneath a huge boulder within the reeds. Unless a person were to pay careful attention to the boulder, it would be hard to notice anyone lying there.
‘To curse is to cause a series of terrifying visuals to appear before the victim. It is akin to being severely drunk, except the dreams are extremely vivid and scary. There are several ways of breaking past the curse. The most effective way is using pure mental strength to break through.’
‘I’ve been shattering each sequence, one after another. Up to a certain point, I was already aware that it was all an illusion and thus, it didn’t affect me as much.’
‘It’s daytime now huh?’
Just as he was thinking, he heard a loud crash. A lightning cracked in the distance, revealing the shadows of several people still searching for him.
‘System!’
A Plum Blossom appeared before his eyes as it gradually grew bigger before becoming an information interface. It bore with it faint light perception as it floated into view, displaying a series of numbers and words.
"Divine Powers: Stars Transposition Level 2 (99.9% Completed)"
‘I’m almost there. The volumes of novels which I’ve written are gradually adding to my prestige level and increasing my divine powers.’
"Hurry find him. He must be within the reeds. Use your blades and hack your way through it." A swordsman who was dressed in coarse hemp robes looked clearly fatigued as he hacked through the reeds.
The swordsman’s robes had been soaked through a long time ago. He hacked through the reeds a swing at a time. A gust of wind blew as the reeds collapsed layer by layer. When he slashed through the thickest layer, an empty space appeared as he stared right at Pei Zi Yun.
The swordsman was startled, not expecting to see anyone after an entire night of futile searching. Pei Zi Yun swung his sword at him, slitting a gash in his throat. Blood spurted out from his wound and stained the reeds. The rest of the swordsmen behind were astounded. In that split second, some of them turned bent down to get a better look, others hacked away at the reeds, and even more had whistles in their mouths ready to blow it. Pei Zi Yun had frozen them all in place with his spell.
The next second passed and someone shouted out, "We found him! Kill him now!"
Several more shouts rang out as dozens of swordsmen dove into the reeds. When they noticed Pei Zi Yun standing there, armed with his swords, nobody dared to advance.
"Die!" After staring at each others for several moments, one of the swordsman charged toward him.
Pei Zi Yun closed his eyes and saw the numbers on his information interface jump.
"Divine Powers: Stars Transformation Level 2 (100% Completed)"
Pei Zi Yun tapped on it without a second thought causing abrupt changes to take place before his eyes.
"Divine Powers : Stars Transposition Level 3"
After reaching the third level, his vision started to clear up tremendously. All the black hazy dark energy in his vision had been reduced by more than half and he saw several shadows springing up. Although he was still hallucinating, it became clear to him what was real and what wasn’t.
"Go to hell!" A swordsman hacked his way towards Pei Zi Yun.
"Hehe, that’s funny." Pei Zi Yun’s shadow turned into a blur as he moved and reappeared on the swordsman’s right. With a flash of his sword, he hacked right at the man’s hips, severing his body into two.
"Blinding Light!" A white flash of light appeared, piercing through their eyes. In that instant, Pei Zi Yun moved once again.
"Ouh!" Three of them screamed out in pain, as they dropped their blades and fell to the ground.
"Stop!" Another pair of swordsmen charged into the frey.
"Zhng, zhng zhng!" Sparks burst forth from the contact between swords as the gleam of the sword shot all across in a mad frenzy. They exchanged several more blows before both sides halted to the sound of the whistle blowing.
Pei Zi Yun darted away as he felt the point of one of their swords scrap against his ribs, causing his robes to tear.
All of a sudden, the pair stood up still, completely rigid before falling to their knees as they twitched uncontrollably. Blood dripped all around, staining the entire place red.
"Your sword techniques are pretty good, especially when you work together. You are really a match for me. Besides, you’re Daoists too, and know how to guard yourselves against my spells."
"But so what?" Pei Zi Yun observed his surroundings and grinned sinisterly, "Your endurance isn’t high enough. As long as I continue in my assault without giving you time to catch your breath, you wouldn’t be able to keep up with me after my seventh stroke. In the eighth stroke, I would claim your lives."
"To adapt to your surroundings without taking anything for granted. That was the way a military strategist thinks."
"Without knowing such things, you can never lead an army. If you don’t have experience leading an army, how can you hope to excel in combat? You are nothing!" Pei Zi Yun stormed towards them, "Now, I shall send you along your way."
"Quicksand Technique!"
Shadows flew in all directions as they scrambled towards Pei Zi Yun. The swordsmen shouted several unintelligible words as they raised their blades to strike. They knew that if they didn’t kill this man, he would take their lives.
"Pu!" The pair continued dashing forward. After three or four steps, they finally succumbed to the quicksand beneath their feet.
A sword burst forth as quick as lightning, as it struck several times in rapid succession. "Zhng" Pei Zi Yun finally managed to find a gap within the swordsman's defenses. The gleam of his sword broke apart from the other sword, as his head flew high up into the air.
"Paralysis Technique!" Pei Zi Yun took several steps back but wasn’t caught off balance. He then struck out at the remaining person, "It’s better to nip the problem in the bud rather than to keep facing all these worthless men."
"All of you shall die!"
He turned his sword to the left, and heard the soft groans of yet two more men as they collapsed to the ground, blood spurting in all directions.
At this point, the rest of the Daoists and swordsmen screamed out as they turned around and fled.
‘I shall smash the enemy ranks into pieces, even if it means chasing after them.’ Pei Zi Yun shouted to himself before he turned in hot pursuit. He had been the hunted for the past few days, and had even been ambushed. He finally lashed out in furious anger, ready to have his revenge.
"Die!" The gleam of his sword burst out, as a fleeing swordsman took the full blow of Pei Zi Yun’s strike. He gave a cry of agony before taking another two steps, finally falling to the ground, dead.
Shan Shen Temple
"Pu!" Elder Xu’s entire body turned rigid, as if he had been struck by lightning and spat out an entire mouthful of blood. The pair of Daoists seated across him gave low groans as they fell over as well.
"Elder Xu, what’s wrong?" Someone hurriedly supported him.
"I’m fine. Pei Zi Yun’s weapon has abruptly increased in power. Our Dao arts and curses have little effect on him now. We’ve been affected by the backlash."
"Quick, take a look at those two."
Elder Xu spoke loudly, and the rest of his men rushed over to help the pair of Daoists who had fallen over. They remained limp on the ground, unmoving. It seemed like their body temperatures were still warm, and their hearts and pulses were still beating. However, they were completely unresponsive. They looked exactly like dead men.
Elder Xu stretched out a hand to nudge them, but none of them reacted. His heart sank.
"Elder Xu, we’ve just received word that everyone we sent to the forest are dead. There has been no reply from the talismans." Someone anxiously reported.
Elder Xu didn’t ask for anymore information. Everything became clear to him. Pei Zi Yun managed to struggle free from the curse and turned around to kill off all the fighters and swordsmen sent out. Elder Xu truly didn’t anticipate the fact that he could break out of the curse.
A Daoist then turned to look at Elder Xu as he said in panic, "What should we do now? What’s…. What’s the best course of action…."
"Don’t panic!" Elder Xu gradually calmed himself down.
"Pei Zi Yun is experienced in battle, and has killed numerous of people. Our sect has a long standing history, and fought even more battles than Pei Zi Yun. However, these disciples which we sent out aren’t very experienced, and hadn’t dealt with someone as powerful as Pei Zi Yun before. That’s the reason we failed."
"However, we’ve managed to contain him for three days. That’s a victory in itself." Elder Xu spoke out.
The Daoist listened to him and started to calm down as well, "What Elder Xu is trying to say, is that this is a lesson learnt. When it comes to dealing with such a proficient fighter, we should not take it as capturing just another person."
Another Daoist listened to this and mumbled to himself, "When I first heard Senior Elder saying that if we fail to kill him, we should at least stall him for three days, I had my doubts. I finally understand now. If we were unable to kill him, it would be difficult to escape from him after. Now that we can still escape after three days, it is a victory of sorts, which would enable us to plan our next steps."
Elder Xu nodded his head, "Our mission was to kill him, or to stall him for three days. Now that time’s up. All of you should hurry and flee. There’s no need to remain here. I shall take the rest of the men and try and stall him further."
Elder Xu issued the command confidently. However, his heart was in ruins. He was the Elder chosen to lead in this mission. This result was nothing more than a failure. If he had fled before anyone else, he would have been severely punished. He hence decided to try and resist Pei Zi Yun at this point, to redeem himself.
"Ai, he’s only a Yin Master and not even an Earth Immortal yet. If he were to be a little stronger, we would be able to overcome everything else." Someone blurted out under his breath.
"That’s enough. No need to speak further. You should all leave now." Elder Xu ordered.
All of a sudden, a cold laughter could be heard, "Do you really think you can escape?"
"Who’s that?" The swordsman who was charged with protecting them stepped forward and drew his sword defensively.
"Is it really you?" Elder Xu looked at the door and saw a shadow emerge. His robes were torn and tattered, and he was even bleeding slightly.
Pei Zi Yun then walked through the door and laughed sinisterly, "I’ve been looking for you, and managed to find you here effortlessly. I’m extremely glad to finally be able to kill an Elder from the Dark Altar Sect."
Seeing the person before him speaking with such disrespect, Elder Xu replied him coldly, "Pei Zi Yun, you really managed to get here quickly. I have to admit, you exceeded my expectations. But do you honestly think you can kill us?"
"I’ve already killed so many people, why should I be afraid of the four of you?" Pei Zi Yun laughed. "Do you really think I would let you off? Once I kill all of you, it would be equivalent to killing another twenty more people from the sect. Your Dark Altar Sect would sustain huge losses."
The entire room was filled with killing intent, radiating out from all sides.
"Is that so? But you still can’t kill us!" Elder Xu glared at him before raising a finger. Vines started to sprout from the door and the ground, wrapping Pei Zi Yun tightly in the vines.
Pei Zi Yun dashed forward and slashed at the vines which were trapping him. A single vine burst into thousands of sparks as a vibrating sound could be heard from the strike. The vine was severed from its roots and fell to the ground. As long as a fully grown poisonous snake, it refused to die down and wrapped itself around Pei Zi Yun’s feet.
"Elder Chen." Seeing such a situation, someone spoke out. Elder Xu shook his head, signalling that he wouldn’t be able to maintain this spell for long. His hands were still moving as he upkept the spell.
Within seconds, another dozen of canes and vines emerged, as they wrapped around Pei Zi Yun, causing him to be immobilized.
Seeing that he had been restrained, Pei Zi Yun was surprised. He didn’t know that the trapping spell could be used to such an extent. He then asked, "How long do you think you can keep this up?"
Elder Xu cleared his throat, "Pei Zi Yun, you are indeed a genius, a man in a million. But how can your little worthless sect handle the might of Dark Altar Sect?"