Bat Yun was prepared to die. He took out a vial from his pocket. There was a light blue liquid inside the vial. This was a waste product from concocting Energy Restoration Pills, known as Energy Restoration Liquid. The six fundamental steps of alchemy are refinement, purification, molding, compression, infusion, and completion. If an alchemist was insufficiently skilled or experienced, it was possible to make a mistake during the purification or molding step. This would result in a waste product, often taking a liquid form.
The failure to refine and mold the pill would limit its capacity for aether infusion. As such, waste products like this typically only had ten percent of the effect of the actual pill. In fact, some waste products were improperly purified, causing toxins to remain within and poison the consumer.
That was why most alchemists would destroy all waste products after a failed attempt. They are never supposed to see the light of day. However, some less ethical alchemists would sell the waste products to recoup some of the losses, as long as the waste product wasn’t too harmful to consume.
Even though the effects of these waste products are much weaker than the actual pill, they are often sold for much less as well. Consequently, they were always in high demand and martial artists were more than willing to purchase them.
After all, not everyone was as privileged as Wun Fan. Not everyone had a top-class alchemist by their side, providing them with a limitless supply of pills.
The Energy Restoration Liquid left a cool sensation as it flowed down Bat Yun’s throat. Aether erupted within him, stimulating the recovery of his soul energy.
Even though the effect of the liquid wasn’t as powerful as the Energy Restoration Pill, it was accelerated the rate of recovery significantly. That said, Bat Yun had only just used a powerful technique. He was burnt out and couldn’t use any martial techniques yet.
“Charge!” shouted Bat Yun. Hatred flared in the eyes of the remaining six Martial Scholars and fifteen Martial Vassals. They had suffered injuries of varying severity, but their fighting spirit burned furiously.
“Lethality: Defeated Wolf’s Withdrawing Slash!” cried the Martial Vassals. All fifteen of them unleashed the strongest martial technique they knew. A malicious red light glowed on their sabers as they attacked. Their air of determination and desperation was a sight to behold.
“Too slow,” said ‘Wun Fan’. His tone was calm and measured, but his voice was young, making an unnerving contrast that cut through the enemy’s battle cry. The blue dragon and red phoenix moved when he spoke.
The blue dragon swept forward with its tail, while the red phoenix lunged from above. All fifteen of the Martial Vassals were hit by ‘Wun Fan’’s attack before they could even land their techniques. They were swept off their feet and knocked to the ground.
Their bodies were set aflame the moment they came into contact with the creatures. The flames turned into blazing fires, both blue and red.
“Aaaaaaah!” The screams of the bandits filled the air as they scrambled about. They rolled around the ground, trying to put out the fire, but only spread the fire to the tress and grass around them. The ground itself turned into scorched earth and even their sabers were starting to melt from the heat.
It was a sight directly from hell.
In the blink of an eye, the whole place was filled with the smell of charred flesh and molten metal. Only Bat Yun and the six Martial Scholars were still alive.
“That’s impossible…” muttered Bat Yun as he stared at the scene before him. He felt as if a cold bucket of water had just been poured over his head. A terrifying chill ran from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. He felt the chill nestle in his heart as he stared in dumbfounded silence. The six Martial Scholars were completely frozen to the spot, as if a blizzard had just passed them by. Their jaws were clenched tight in fear.
Even a Martial Master would need time to kill fifteen Martial Vassals. Even the leader of the Green Wolf Gang would not have been able to do it so easily. Yet, this demon had killed all his subordinates in a matter of seconds! Yes, a demon!
How powerful was he exactly? Bat Yun did not know, but he was certain that he was several times more powerful than his leader!
“Sigh, should I call you short-sighted? Or perhaps it is better to describe you as frogs in a well?” said ‘Wun Fan’.
The young boy’s voice only humiliated Bat Yun even further.
‘Wun Fan’ casually stepped forward. Several of the Martial Vassals were still barely alive and ran past him in their panicked agony. He had a faint smile on his face as he asked, “I’ll give you one more chance. Would you like to keep your corpse intact?”
Old Lei could see that the enemies had almost turned to dust now. That would prevent Wun Fan from absorbing their death aura. He waved his hand and the flames returned to the dragon and the phoenix, as if they had minds of their own.
“Ah…!” cried Bat Yun. It was clear that the opponent would not let him live. He abandoned all hope of living as well. He forcefully conjured soul energy from within him, squeezing every last inch of soul energy out of his meridians, even extracting soul energy from his martial heart.
He was betting everything on his last attack.
Bat Yun barely managed to recover fifty percent of his soul energy. His face was contorted in pain and his internal organs had been damaged from his forceful effort. All of his meridians were burning in pain. His limbs were trembling uncontrollably. The pain was unimaginable.
“Cover me! Blood sacrifice! Wolf’s dream!” said Bat Yun, spitting these six words out of his mouth. The six Martial Scholars knew there was no longer any hope when they heard this.
Humans are not afraid of death, they are afraid of the uncertainty of it.
The six Martial Scholars had been holding onto a sliver of hope. Now that they knew their fates were sealed, they let out a breath of relief. They did not lose their will, in fact, they embraced their deaths.
Suddenly, one of them said, “I did nothing wrong in this life. My wife and daughter were raped and killed before me and there was nothing I could do. If I cannot stop the madness, then better to join it!”
“Indeed! That is life! If you don’t do wrong, others will do wrong by you!” cried another bandit. The rest of them cheered in agreement and left their last words. They had nothing to regret. They were bad people, but they were proud of it!
Bat Yun saw his six subordinates embrace their death and felt sadness creep up his heart. The six of them had accompanied him in so many battles. However, he had no strength for any more useless words. The pain alone was already too much to bear.
“Lethality: A Hundred Miles of Red Wolf Smoke,” shouted the six Martial Scholars without any hesitation. They turned around and used the same technique at once. Soul energy concentrated around their throat and they blew red smoke from their mouths in every direction. The smoke spread out quickly, instantly obscuring vision and hiding their silhouettes.
The technique claimed to be ‘A Hundred Miles’ wide, but in truth, the smoke only covered a range of around a single kilometer. Nevertheless, it was enough to obscure the vision of any opponent.
The blue dragon circled around ‘Wun Fan’’s frail body. The image of a young boy flanked by an ancient and ferocious dragon was a strange sight indeed.
All the red smoke that got close to the boy was incinerated by the flames. ‘Wun Fan’ was completely unaffected by the smoke. Moreover, Old Lei’s mental energy was immense and incredibly sensitive to all auras. He locked onto seven auras quickly fleeing from him. Their little trick was completely useless!
Old Lei could sense six of the auras vanish suddenly after a few seconds. Meanwhile, the Martial Master’s aura surged at the same time. He couldn’t help but chuckle, “So that’s their play?”
Suddenly, a girl’s voice rang out behind ‘Wun Fan’, “Boy, are you ok?”
It was Hung Yu Fei!
Fung Ching saw Wun Fan suddenly light up with blue and red flames and hurried over anxiously. He then saw red smoke blowing towards them and obscuring their vision, so he grabbed Hung Yu Fei to make sure they didn’t get lost.
This was very dangerous, as the enemy could easily locate them through Hung Yu Fei’s voice, but they were simply too worried about Wun Fan, so much so that they would risk danger to reach him.
“I’m fine. You lot leave this place now,” said ‘Wun Fan’ calmly. He paused for a second before speaking to Wun Fan in his mind, “It seems like you have met some good party members.”
“Haha, it’s all because of my natural charisma. Haven’t you heard that capable people attract the same kind?” gloated Wun Fan arrogantly. He could finally boast about something in front of Old Lei!
“Alright then. Remember to shout for us when you die!” came Hung Yu Fei’s voice from a distance, slowly fading as she moved away, “I told you he’s fine. You just had to come over.”
Old Lei’s voice rang out in Wun Fan’s mind again, “Heh, you were right. People of the same kind, indeed.”
Wun Fan was pissed off by the remark, but there was nothing he could do.
Old Lei waited for three more seconds and decided not to waste any more time.
The phoenix let out a cry, before taking to the skies. It burst through the smoke and hovered in mid-air. It then flapped its giant red wings, causing a violent gust to sweep through the woods. The red smoke was scattered, revealing seven figures beneath.
Bat Yun held his saber in front of him, the blade glistening with crimson blood. He gave off a strange aura. The other six men were all dead, with a large, gaping hole in their chests. They were not breathing. Their eyes were shut tight, as if they had died peaceful deaths. Bat Yun’s eyes, on the other hand, had turned bloody red. There wasn’t a hint of black left in his pupils. There was no sign of soul energy in his meridians either, but he did not seem weakened at all.
He seemed a little dazed, as if he wasn’t fully conscious. His eyes had no focus to them. In truth, he was concentrated on one goal alone: taking revenge. Bat Yun mattered to himself, “Good and evil are but weightless mist, pushed down sin’s path by fate’s twist. Sacrifice of blood by silver upon my wrist, a wolf’s dream for its pack to eternally persist.”
“Lethality: Blood Sacrifice, Wolf’s Dream Blade.”
ns 15.158.2.237da2