Demon of Dawn and Dusk

Moments after Elliot told us to show no mercy to the disciples from the Ancient Blood Sect, Cultivator Blood Petal’s intent pressed down against us. For a moment, the pressure overwhelmed me. While I was also in Foundation Establishment, Cultivator Blood Petal was in late Foundation Establishment while I was in early Foundation Establishment. In terms of strength, she stood far above me.

However, after sparring with Elliot and my other friends, I was used to facing opponents stronger than me. Her intent wasn’t enough to affect me for long. I regained my composure a moment later, though I made sure not to show it. Instead, I acted the way any Qi Condensation cultivator would when facing an unknown late Foundation Establishment cultivator: panicked and scared. The rest of our group, excluding Elliot, acted the same way.

“What’s going on?” I asked out loud.

“Cultivator Sand Fang!” Cultivator Blood Petal said, her voice filling the cave. “If you wish for your companions to live, then I suggest you come outside without a fight. Otherwise, we’ll be forced to drag you out. If that happens, I can’t guarantee your companions’ safety.”

Elliot jumped to his feet and rushed outside. The rest of us followed along. All of the disciples from the Ancient Blood Sect hovered in the air above the cave entrance. In the dark of the night, they looked demonic and sinister.

“What is the meaning of this?” He demanded, before his eyes fell on Cultivator Davina. “Cultivator Davina? What are yo-…?” His voice trailed off. “You’re one of them, aren’t you? You tricked me!”

Cultivator Davina no longer hid her true aura. Instead of the ferocious aura akin to that of an Ironwood Tiger, she had an aura of rotten blood, like the rest of her companions.

“Of course,” Cultivator Davina sneered. “It was so easy too. All I needed to do was pretend to be a damsel in distress, and you came swooping in like some hero to rescue me.” Her sneer deepened. “How typical. However, I am not an ungrateful person. If you kneel down and pledge to serve me, we will spare you and your companions.”

I resisted the urge to snort. Even if I hadn’t observed their conversation earlier, I wouldn’t have believed her. It was clear that these people had no intention of letting us go. Not that we wanted to leave in the first place.

“I would rather die.” Elliot spat, sounding furious. Once again, I was amazed by his acting skills. “I can’t defeat all of you, but I can certainly take you down with me.”

Elliot made a hand seal, as if he were about to use a mystic art. However, his face paled a moment later and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

“My internal qi!” He exclaimed.

Cultivator Blood Petal let out a mocking laugh.

“You really shouldn’t drink wine handed to you by a stranger.” She said. “Junior Sister Davina gave you some Dam The River poison. You won’t be able to circulate your internal qi for the next day or so.” She smirked. “Even if you had an antidote powerful enough to counteract it… Well, it won’t make much of a difference now, will it?”

Fear filled Elliot’s eyes.

“Brother Sand Fang,” I asked, “What are we going to do?”

“Let us fight!” Willow said. “Even if we die, it’s better than just giving up.”

Elliot clenched his fists and didn’t respond to us.

“What do you want?” He asked Cultivator Blood Petal instead. “You and your companions haven’t killed or captured us yet, so I assume you want something from us.”

Cultivator Blood Petal nodded.

“You’re a smart man, Cultivator Sand Fang.” She said. “I can see why Junior Sister Davina wants you as her pet.” She gestured to our group. “It’s simple. Let’s play a little game. The rules are thus: your companions must do their best to run away and evade my juniors. If they manage to make it…” She looked thoughtful for a moment. “… about a hundred miles from here, we’ll let them go. In fact, in the interest of fairness, we’ll even give them a head start.”

Elliot narrowed his eyes at her.

“And what about me?” He asked.

“Oh no,” Cultivator Blood Petal said, “You’re far too great a prize to let go. You and I will stay right here and watch the game play out.” She grinned at him. “Unless you’re willing to sacrifice your companions and join our Ancient Blood Sect. We could always use a cultivator of your caliber.”

Cultivator Davina opened her mouth to say something, but Cultivator Blood Petal silenced her with a raised hand. The former huffed and crossed her arms, but otherwise didn’t react.

“So?” Cultivator Blood Petal asked. “Save yourself at the expense of your companions’ lives, or sacrifice yourself and give them a chance to escape? Which is it, Cultivator Sand Fang?”

Elliot wore a conflicted expression and didn’t answer right away.

“Take their deal, Brother Sand Fang.” Cultivator Albin said. “They’re not going to let us go anyway. Save yourself. At least one of us should make it out of here alive.”

The conflicted expression on Elliot’s face cleared up at that.

“No,” he said, “You are my brothers and sisters. I could never do that to you, not even to save my own life.”

Our group acted touched by his words. Well, everyone except Cultivator Isabel, who wore a grumpy expression. She looked ready to get this farce done and over with.

“A pity.” Cultivator Blood Petal said, a disappointed expression on her face. “Well, perhaps you’ll change your mind after the game is over. Regardless, the rest of you should start running. You have five minutes before my juniors start chasing you.”

We all looked at each other, before we took off in different directions. Cultivator Rexanne and Cultivator Albin stayed together, which made sense. Unlike the rest of us, they weren’t warriors. It was better for them to stick together and help one another.

Besides, while we had the numbers advantage, they had two mid Foundation Establishment cultivators while we only had one. Everyone else was in early Foundation Establishment. In terms of overall power, they had the advantage, but not by much.

The area around the small mountain where we camped for the night was forested hills. A thick underbrush covered the forest floor. The smell of earth and vegetation filled my nose. I ran through the underbrush, while avoiding the trees and their roots. The sound of my breathing filled my ears.

It was a moonless night, so the shadows were deeper and darker than usual. For a regular mortal, running through this area without tripping was impossible. Thanks to my cultivation base, that wasn’t much of a problem for me. However, I made sure to limit my speed in order to avoid suspicion. After all, I was pretending to be at Qi Condensation.

Five minutes after Cultivator Blood Petal announced the start of the “game”, her juniors started chasing us. To my surprise, they didn’t ride atop flying magic treasures. Instead, they chased after us on foot. I guess they thought that the “game” would end too early if they flew. Cultivator Crimson Skull went after Cultivator Isabel, while his brother went after Cultivator Rexanne and Cultivator Albin. Cultivator Davina chased after Willow. This left the burly Cultivator Beast Eater to chase after me. Perfect. He was the one I wanted to fight in the first place.

Unlike our group, the Ancient Blood Sect disciples didn’t limit their speed. Thus, it took them little time to catch up to us. However, instead of capturing us right away, they held back and started hounding us. By this point, I focused on Cultivator Beast Eater, since I couldn’t afford to pay attention to the others.

“Let’s see how well you can dodge while running.” Cultivator Beast Eater said with a chuckle.

He picked up a handful of pebbles from the ground and threw them at me one by one. Backed by the strength of an early Foundation Establishment cultivator, the pebbles whistled through the air at high speed. They punched holes through whatever they impacted, be it the ground or the trees, throwing shrapnel everywhere.

I avoided the pebbles as best I could. While getting hit by one wouldn’t kill me, it would cause some injury. It wasn’t easy, since my opponent was an early Foundation Establishment cultivator, but I managed. In fact, I started to see it as a form of training. However, my opponent wasn’t happy about this. He frowned, and suspicion filled his eyes.

“Wait a moment,” he muttered, “Something isn’t right.”

I checked with my spirit sense and saw that we were close enough to the small mountain to see it, but far enough away that help wouldn’t arrive right away.

Perfect.

I stopped running and turned around, before using Wind Dash Shoulder Slam to close the distance between myself and Cultivator Beast Eater. He tried to evade my attack, but to no avail. I slammed into him and sent him flying back several hundred feet. He crashed through dozens of trees and knocked them down, before hitting the ground with explosive force. A cloud of dust rose into the air.

I stopped disguising my aura with Cloak of Dusk. With my spirit sense, I noticed the others reveal their true auras as well.

Rather than give Cultivator Beast Eater a chance to recover, I ran towards him while performing a series of hand seals. Several crimson Fireballs sprang into existence around me. I pointed to Cultivator Beast Eater and sent them flying towards him. He roared and stood up, just in time for my Fireballs to hit him. They exploded upon contact, setting the forest around us ablaze.

“I’ll kill you for that!” Cultivator Beast Eater yelled.

He emerged from the flames, his body scorched and burned in several places, before rushing towards me. He swelled and grew larger as he ran. A layer of red fur covered his body and his features became more apelike. However, his transformation was imperfect and incomplete. Some parts of his body remained human, creating a bizarre and twisted mishmash of human and ape.

I ran towards him as well. The two of us collided in a flurry of blows. However, it soon became apparent to me that Cultivator Beast Eater’s strength surpassed my own by half. Every time we clashed, it felt like his blows would break my bones. That shouldn’t have been possible, since we were both at early Foundation Establishment and I was a dual refiner. His transformation, as grotesque as it was, must have been responsible for his immense strength.

When I realized this, I changed tactics. I switched from the Frenzied Fiend fighting style to the fighting style I developed using Frenzied Fiend and Dancing Wind Blade as inspiration: Dancing Fiend. Compared to Frenzied Fiend, Dancing Fiend was less aggressive and focused more on agility and precision. Instead of trading blows with Cultivator Beast Eater and trying to match his strength, I focused on evading his attacks and striking his weak points. I also used Lighter Than Air, in order to further increase my agility.

It worked. As powerful as Cultivator Beast Eater’s attacks were, it didn’t matter if they couldn’t hit me. No matter how hard he tried, I danced away before hitting him with my own attacks. Little by little, I whittled him down. From the expression on his face, it was clear that Cultivator Beast Eater was getting more frustrated by this state of affairs.

“Stop flittering about and fight me like a real man!” He shouted, his voice as grotesque as his appearance.

Instead of answering him, I hit him in the abdomen. Cultivator Beast Eater stumbled back, knocking down a tree in the process. The forest fire I started continued to rage, bathing us in heat.

“That’s it! You're dead!”

Cultivator Beast Eater pulled a pill out of his storage ring. The sight of it filled me with a sense of foreboding. I summoned a crimson Flame Serpent to try and stop Cultivator Beast Eater from swallowing it, but it didn’t reach him in time. My Fire Serpent hit him in the chest just as he swallowed it. The attack burned his flesh, but as a physical refiner, he was much tougher than the average cultivator of the same level.

As soon as he swallowed the pill, Cultivator Beast Eater’s eyes turned red and black lines spread out all over his body like veins. He roared, before he charged right at me. He moved much faster than before, and he was almost upon me before I could react. I managed to evade his attack, though it was a near thing. Even so, as it passed me by, I felt the sheer power of his blow. If it had hit me, it would have shattered my bones.

The rhythm of our fight changed. Cultivator Beast Eater came after me like a raging beast, full of fury and violence. It was as if he had lost his mind. In fact, that was what probably happened. Pills that boosted one’s strength like this came with serious side effects.

It took all of my concentration and focus to evade Cultivator Beast Eater’s attacks, even while using Lighter Than Air. I tried to put some distance between us using Wind Dash, but he pursued me without relenting. At this rate, it would only be a matter of time before I suffered a serious blow.

I considered my options, before I pulled five talismans out of my storage pouch and slapped one onto me. They were the Shield Talismans that Second Master gave me during the feast to celebrate my breakthrough to Foundation Establishment. Cultivator Beast Easter took this opportunity to strike me and send me flying, though I managed to land on my feet. Thankfully, the Shield Talisman protected me from harm, though it lost much of its power in doing so. I estimated that it would only be able to take two or three more hits before all of its power faded away.

With that in mind, I slapped the remaining talismans onto my body, before I took on my Demon Form and let out a dragon-like roar. Cultivator Beast Easter attacked me once more as I transformed, destroying the first of my Shield Talismans. Afterwards, I switched back to the Frenzied Fiend fighting style and traded strikes with Cultivator Beast Eater once more.

The Shield Talismans protected me from his blows, while I retaliated with devastating attacks. I struck Cultivator Beast Eater in the chest over and over again, focusing on the same spot where I hit him with my Fire Serpent earlier. His grotesque transformation and the pill he took must have increased his toughness as well, because it felt like punching a mountain. Still, I persisted.

If Cultivator Beast Eater had been in his right mind, he would have realized what was going on and taken steps to avoid it. However, in his current state of mind, all he cared about was attacking me. He destroyed my Shield Talismans one after the other, until my final one was on its last legs. Despite this, I pressed forward.

Just as Cultivator Beast Eater destroyed my last Shield Talisman, I struck him in the chest one last time. It caved in and he stumbled back, coughing out a mouthful of blood. I let out a demonic laugh, before I attacked him in a frenzy, hitting him in the chest over and over again. Cultivator Beast Eater tried to fight back, but the dent in his chest must have injured him more than I realized. His movements were slow and sluggish, and evading them was child’s play. With a roar, I stabbed him in the chest with my right hand. It pierced through his body and came out the other side. His warm blood coated my arm.

Drunk off of my victory, I grew complacent. Cultivator Beast Eater took advantage of this and attacked me one final time, putting all of his remaining strength into it. I couldn’t evade it, since my right arm was still in his chest, so I blocked it with my left arm. A crunch reached my ears as Cultivator Beast Eater’s attack shattered the bones in my arm before striking me in the shoulder. My left arm fell to my side and hung there, limp and useless.

I roared in pain, before I pulled my right arm out of Cultivator Beast Eater’s chest and prepared to attack him again. However, I needn’t have bothered. As soon as I pulled my arm out of his chest, Cultivator Beast Eater toppled forward and fell to the ground, unmoving. Despite this, I struck him several more times, just in case he was playing dead. However, it became clear that he was well and truly deceased.

I retrieved his storage ring and placed it in my storage bag, before I summoned several Fire Balls to incinerate his body. It was more difficult to form the hand seals with one hand, but I managed. The entire time, I berated myself for my stupidity. Several times, when I hunted spirit beasts and demon beasts, many of them attacked me with renewed vigor when they neared death. Why did I think it would be different with a cultivator? I suffered a needless injury thanks to my carelessness.

After getting rid of Cultivator Beast Eater’s body, I took a mid-grade Healing Pill out of my storage bag and swallowed it, before turning my attention to the others. I was the only one who managed to defeat my opponent so far. The rest were all still locked in life and death battles, including Elliot. He fought with Cultivator Blood Petal in the air above the small mountain. I assumed he took an antidote of some kind to neutralize the Damn The River poison. It looked like he didn’t need my help with Cultivator Blood Petal, so I turned my attention to the others.

Cultivator Isabel and Willow were both holding their own against their respective opponents. The former wielded a black saber and thrashed Cultivator Crimson Skull with it. Meanwhile, Willow had Cultivator Davina on the back foot, even though the latter was using the tiger puppet. However, victory wasn’t guaranteed. It could go either way.

Cultivator Rexanne and Cultivator Albin, on the other hand, weren’t faring so well. The former wielded a set of flying needle magic treasures to attack, while the latter used a four-armed puppet that had the aura of an early Foundation Establishment cultivator. Unfortunately, their opponent was too powerful. Both of them were riddled with injuries, though none of them looked serious. However, it was just a matter of time before they lost.

I pulled my flying carpet magic treasure out of my storage bag and hopped onto it, before flying off to join their fight.