Draven's aura clashed with that of Kane and Aira in a tense standoff. Both sides held their positions, each observing the other for any opening they could exploit.
Suddenly, Draven's seventh sense throbbed a warning. Without even looking back, he took a step to the side before turning and whipping his leg toward the stomach of the person who had appeared behind him.
Bang!
His leg, wrapped in the power of his Dragon Tail Leg Intent, crashed into the man's midsection with overwhelming force and sent him flying backward like a football.
"Another sixth-stage Ascendent Realm cultivator with the rare Dark Element Body Refining path," Draven said, turning his head to ask Aira coldly. "So, how many of you are really here to escort me to see your commander?"
Before Aira could respond, a male voice came from behind Draven. "I did not expect you to notice me in my concealed state. This is the first time someone at the same realm as me has managed to do it." From the shadow of a decorative tree in front of the mansion, a young man slowly materialized like black smoke. He was also wearing black armor, and a pair of short daggers were in his hands.
Draven's face darkened when he saw the man unharmed. This could only mean one thing; the armor he was wearing was a top-tier treasure. Otherwise, Draven was sure a sixth-stage Ascendent Realm cultivator would not be able to stand up so casually after taking a direct kick from him.
If the young man who had received the kick knew what Draven was thinking, he would have cried on the spot. Just to block that one kick, he had sacrificed one of his self-activating dark shield formation plates. Even then, he was sent flying backward in an embarrassing way by a Mortal Realm cultivator. Was there anything more shameful than this?
"Come out, all of you!" the young man in the black armor shouted loudly. "Since we are going to gang up on him, there is no point in sneak attacks. Attacking a Mortal Realm cultivator from the shadows is embarrassing enough."
Aira's mouth twitched when she heard this. She leaned toward Kane and whispered in a low voice, "Why is Galen not following the script? We decided only we two would fight. Who asked this idiot to come out now?"
Kane frowned. "Draven's perception is too strong. Even I, a tenth-stage Ascendent Realm cultivator, have trouble sensing Galen if he hides in my shadow without moving. But Draven reacted the moment Galen tried to touch his shadow. So it was not that Galen wanted to come out; Draven forced him out. As for why he is calling the rest out, I have no idea."
After hearing what the young man, Galen, had said, Draven became even more alert and looked around him like a hunter sensing his prey.
Sure enough, three more people emerged from a blind spot at the side of the mansion. One was a girl in skintight black armor who appeared to be a dark element body cultivator like Galen. The other two were young men in red armor, who surprisingly had chaotic elemental chi circulating through their bodies.
"Two Chaos body cultivators?" Draven was even more shocked. The chaos element was considered the strongest for elemental body cultivation, and Draven had never seen such a cultivator in his entire life. It was definitely abnormal for two of such rare geniuses to appear at the 36th stronghold out of nowhere.
"We also have a little more surprise for you. I did not intend to use it, but since we are playing this game, let us play it to the maximum," Galen said with a smile. He took out a tablet from his storage ring, ran his fingers over the screen, and then showed the screen to Draven.
Draven's eyes turned cold when he saw the image. It was a picture of Jessy lying on a bed with her eyes closed. There were several wounds on her body with traces of blood still fresh on them.
"Whatever your problem is, it is with me. Let her go," Draven said icily.
Galen laughed out loud when he saw Draven's cold expression. "Our target was her from the start. You were just an eyesore who had to be removed to prevent any future trouble."
Aira and Kane exchanged blank gazes. This was definitely not part of the script.
Draven's aura became even more violent when he heard this. His ruby red eyes flickered with sparks of red lightning and the killing intent around him intensified to a terrifying degree, making even Kane feel a sense of unease.
"I raised her alone from the time she was two years old. We have no parents. It was only ever me. I fought, I bled, I collected scars all over my body just to put a roof over her head and food in her mouth. I kept her out of danger until now. But today, a bunch of bastards dare to threaten her life in front of me. Do you really think I will let you walk away that easily?"
Draven snarled like a berserk beast. The usual calmness he always had in a fight was gone; what remained was pure hatred and madness that made one's skin crawl.
The next second, Draven took out his cleavers from his storage ring. His vital chi wrapped around the two blades, radiating the sharpness unique to the Asura Blade Intent.
Everyone around him became vigilant as the blade intent weighed down on them like the stare of a vicious predator. They had a strange feeling as though the intent itself had a life of its own.
Ignoring everyone else, Draven rushed toward the two chaos cultivators first, since their cultivation was only at the sixth stage of the Ascendent Realm and they were among the weakest in the group.
The two young men showed no fear on their faces as Draven charged toward them. Both of them casually extended their palms toward Draven in unison, and ping-pong ball sized orbs of essence chi, comprising purely of space element, appeared in their palms. These orbs shot toward Draven like bullets from a machine gun.
Draven's eyes sharpened. His seventh sense activated on its own, and the trajectory of each space ball appeared in his mind like a fast-forwarded film. According to his will, the True Mountain King's form behind him moved. With its palms wrapped in Flowing Bear Palm Intent, it struck the space balls, diverting their direction toward the others who were running toward him from the side.
Kane and Aira managed to easily evade the space balls, but Galen was hit in the face by one of them and was sent flying backward once more. It was fortunate that he had enough self-activating defense formation plates on him; otherwise, his face would have been ruined by that single strike.
"Damn it, Aster, do you not even know how to fire a basic space bolt?" Galen scolded angrily as he stood up from the floor in a sorry state.
Although the rest of them managed to evade the space bolts, it still made them halt in their steps to defend, giving Draven enough time to approach the two young men without interference from anyone else.
The two young men's expressions changed when they saw Draven's cleavers appearing before them like phantoms. Without hesitation, they stopped using space spells and pulled out two swords from their storage rings. In the next second, chaos energy filled their bodies and red lightning covered the entire blades.
Clang... Clang!
Draven's cleavers clashed against their blades at high speed, the sharp clang of metal ringing out continuously. Seeing him fully engaged, the others saw their opening and unleashed a barrage of spells.
"Fire balls!"
"Dark blade!"
"Space bolts!"
"Lightning spear!"
But as the spells were about to reach Draven, the illusionary form of the True Mountain King seemed to suddenly come to life. Its form became much clearer, like a real entity, and it stood behind Draven like a wall facing the spells cast at him.
Its speed was also astonishing as it used Flowing Bear Palm Intent to redirect a fire ball into the path of a dark blade, making them explode into a beautiful firework. The White Tusk Fist Intent directly clashed with a space bolt and dissolved it with brute force. The Tiger Claw Intent lashed out, tearing the lightning spears into bits of electrical energy, and with a tornado-like kick infused with the Dragon Tail Intent, the remaining lightning energy was cast away.
It also occasionally redirected the spells toward the casters, making it hard for them to either come close to Draven or cast spells continuously.
It was not a perfect defense. Spells slipped through the gaps, forcing Draven to twist and dodge even as he fought. It was fortunate that the chaos lightning around his body helped him neutralize most of the attacks, as they were not powerful enough to overpower his vital chi, which was equivalent to a 5th stage Ascendent Realm cultivator.
Suddenly, Draven's seventh sense throbbed and a sense of danger rang in his mind. Without even thinking, he twisted his body backward at a strange angle and barely avoided a fireball that came at him from behind.
Turning around, Draven saw Kane standing there with a fireball in his hands. This was a spell from a tenth-stage cultivator, so Draven did not dare show any carelessness. He gave a kick to one of the red-armored young men and sent him flying before he threw both of his cleavers at Kane at high speed.
As soon as Draven threw the cleavers, the intent wrapping around the blades changed to Asura Spear Intent. Like two meteors, the cleavers flew toward Kane like two mighty spears threatening to pierce anything in their path until their target was killed.
Kane's expression changed and he immediately abandoned his fireball before casting an ice barrier spell in front of him. Suddenly, two thick walls of ice appeared and blocked the two cleavers.
Boom!
Cracks appeared on the ice wall, but it still managed to halt the fierce momentum of the cleavers.
Draven's expression shifted when he saw this. That throw carried all the compact power he could unleash with his spear intent, but it was still blocked by an ice barrier Kane had cast casually. This was the true difference between a 10th stage and 5th stage Ascendent Realm cultivator, a gap that could not be bridged by talent alone.
Seeing Draven's momentary distraction, the red-armored young man saw his chance and swung his blade toward Draven's neck. But before he could understand what happened, Draven turned around as though he had eyes on the back of his head, slapped away the blade with his Flowing Bear Palm Intent, and punched him in the face.
The might of the White Tusk Fist Intent crushed the defensive layer produced by the self-activating formation plate and dislocated the red armored young man's jaw in an unnatural way.
But before Draven could follow up with another strike, Aira appeared in front of him like a golden flash and a golden spear tip was stabbed toward Draven's chest at lightning speed, forcing him to move away from the red armored young man.
Clang!
An ancient spear made of Asura Spear Intent also appeared in Draven's hand and both of their spears clashed. But Draven was at a clear disadvantage as he was constantly pushed back by each strike from Aira's spear. If not for his seventh sense enabling him to see Aira's attacking trajectory, Draven was not sure he would even be able to block such a fast spear art.