130 A Special Visitor (1/2)

Two months went by quickly and the sunny summer months were gradually coming to an end. The seasonal winds of autumn were slowly moving in from the east bringing a chill with it and at times carrying dust and fallen leaves scurrying over the soft craggy ground.

A secluded stretch of forest was framed in a soft golden hue, the sun sat low behind the trees, most had leaves turning reddish-amber signalling the imminent change of season. Birds chirped and small animals scavenged for food in the sunshine while a mild wind kept the multitudes of leaves dancing on their stems..

The silence of the picturesque scene was suddenly disturbed by quick crunching footsteps over dried leaves and twisted fallen twigs, making the startled animals and birds scatter to safety.

Hair whipping wildly in the autumn air. Fu Jianu jumped from a rock soaring fully ten meters, the girl dressed in a fluttering loose combat-robe flowed as graceful as a swan through the clusters of trees and rocks.

She had a long bow in her outstretched left hand and a yellow glow surrounding her right, she reached back and removed an arrow from the quiver strapped to her back.

As soon as the shaft of the metal arrow made contact with her glowing hand, the arrow got surrounded by the yellow glow making the arrow look similar to molten steel.

In one smooth fluid motion she notched the arrow, pulled back on the bow string and released it aiming diagonally downwards.

All before landing among the swirling dry leaves beneath her gracefullly with concentration etched on her sweat-covered face.

A stream of yellow whizzed through the air heading for a boulder and some greenery in the distance.

Before the arrow could hit its mark, there was movement in the shrubbery, a figure wearing a black robe with a slight brown glow surrounding his body, scampered off to the right as the arrow flew into the boulder he was taking refuge behind, there was a loud boom, the arrow quickly drilled all the way through, exiting the other side spraying pebbles and dust backwards as it decimated a few hefty trees with a yellow flash.

”I got him,” said Shao Law dressed in black as he emerged from the greenery to the right. He closed in on the opponent who seemed to be scared witless and putting all his concentration on making his escape.

Shao Law was inwardly surprised at the fire arrow's power, but kept his focus on the man ahead cutting of his route of retreat.

A green aura surrounded his legs as he moved assisted by the wind element, stirring up breeze as he left a long trail of leaves in his wake trying to outflank and close the gap between himself and the intruder as quick as possible.

Fu Jianu kept supporting him from a distance with her graceful movements and artillery-like arrows whizzing forward with accuracy.

Yellow arrows streaked through the air at lightening speed as Fu Jianu continued to change positions while firing in a bid to supresss the movements of the opponent.

Shao Law adeptly navigated through the obstacle course of exploding arrows, sometimes using his sword to produce scything wind-blades to knock back the cornered enemy as he closed in on the flustered man rapidly.

The combination of having to defend against the arrows and the hounding of Shao Law constant attacks made the battle a one-sided affair, the man soon lost concentration and was impaled through his weak earth armour by an arrow. His armour disintegrated with gushing sparks. Instantly his heartbeat puffed out like an extinguished candle as a huge hole was burned through his chest.

He fell face down on the forest floor with blood pooling under his lifeless body.

Silence was restored, Alrick let out a hard breath then sucked it in again, He gasped at the combat abilities of the young fighters made possible by his elixir. He was standing sandwiched between Hartley and Qin Li as he hurriedly jotted down notes on his parchment.

For him, stepping into the xiantian realm was only a matter of extending his lifespan so he could continue with his research of the ultimate formula. He had never been interested in fighting or martial techniques.

Marvelling at the fighting capabilities of those youngsters. He truly understood now why in the past his clients were so desperate for medicinal dans that could improve one's cultivation....

”What do you think?” Hartley turned to face Qin Li and Alrick.

Qin Li shrugged, ”even though he was a 2nd layer xiantian, he was no challenge to them working together, that was too essy.”

Alrick had accompanied Hartley and the others to the mountains to hunt down spies.

Hartley's awareness could now stretch out to almost 1000 kilometres. The people sending these spies to infiltrate the western hills were only sending them to their deaths. This was the sixth to meet his demise in the tranquil mountains.

Alrick had insisted on coming on this trip to ascertain the short-comings or flaws in his elixir, maybe by perfecting this elixir he could take another step in the right direction, but judging by what he was seeing, there seemed to be none.

They were deep in the mountainous forest, Hartley was using these trips as top secret training for the two newly promoted xiantian experts of the western hills.

The intensity of this trip was ratcheted up a level with both trainee allowed to fight the enemy without help for the first time. They were determined to impress Qin Li and Hartley who were quietly assessing their capabilities.