"Now!" Jake yelled, following the signal from Sandra. Over a thousand Guided Arrows shot by a combination of soldiers, elites, and Immortals showered the four cultivators.
The four focused on exacting vengeance on Evalyn and arrogantly ignored them until it was too late to dodge.
"Filthy vermin!" A male cultivator yelled, seeing the arrows. He waved his hand, sending a wave of raw Qi crashing to the ground, cutting through arrows like he was swatting gnats.
BOOOOM!
The impact caused two dozen soldiers and a few elites to explode on contact.
BOOM!
Another strike from a second cultivator hit a split second later, both at incomprehensible speeds.
As soon as time caught up, the Immortals turned to the area the soldiers were standing the moment before in horror, seeing a mass of blood and raw flesh. Some people got splattered with blood and organic matter. It was brutal.
However, before they could get trapped in their thoughts, the sounds from the outside caught up.
"AGgghGHhHhhhHHHhhHH!"
The same male cultivator insulting them let out a twisted groan in the sky.
All the trauma-inflicted Immortals looked up and saw the man riddled with holes, including his face and neck. It was a miracle he remained flying as long as he did.
While the attacks were weak, he got hit with dozens because he decided to block with an attack instead of dodging, and the arrows unexpectedly curved to hit him.
"Nate!" Rammy, the brunette cultivator from whom Mary requested the mountain reconnaissance, yelled as the confused cultivator fell from the sky.
Boom!
When the Immortals saw the cultivator's dead body, they focused on it instead of their dead or wounded brethren. The corpse made them chuckle in disbelief.
That man had killed their people, and now he was dead, killed by the same people. It didn't bring them happiness, but it did bring them an awkward feeling of vindication to latch onto.
One chuckled murderously, and then another, a blaze of wrath and hatred soon fueled in their hearts.
Sandra and Aaron continued their operation, pained but not deterred by the death of their fellow soldiers. They assessed the situation quickly.
"One dead, one heavily wounded, another moderately impaired, and the last with non-debilitating injuries." Sandra noted at a glance, appraising the cultivators.
The two who had attacked to block the arrows suffered significant injuries, leading both to fall to the earth, one dead.
Rammy had cuts over her legs, the result of trying to dodge but not making it fast enough. The last worse off, suffering from wounds to their stomach and a busted right arm.
All were unprepared and overconfident and had paid the price for it.
"Alpha, Charlie, keep pressure on the able-bodies." Sandra ordered, "Bravo, Echo, back up the general!"
The experienced soldiers acted instantaneously, setting up new Guided Arrows. Teams Alpha and Charlie turned their sights to Rammy and the wounded soldier with their arrows.
"Bend!" Aaron yelled.
Rammy's eyes widened in bewilderment as a hundred arrows shot at her in a large net, none aimed at her. Instead, it made it impossible to fly freely, as arrows created a fifty-foot wall on all sides.
However, it had a weakness—she could cut through one section. The brunette pulled back her hand and prepared a wind attack. However—
"What is this!?" She screamed, flying backward at full speed, twisting her body.
—all the arrows curved at the last moment, flying toward her.
They approached her slowly. However, as before, a wall of them made it difficult for her to move in any direction! She decided to cut through a strategic area and limit the damage.
"Gah!" Rammy screamed, feeling an arrow cut through her side and another through her shoulder, "My eyes didn't deceive me—this is Guided Arrow! There's a traitor from the Killian Military!"
She realized why they were so unprepared—no one expected mortals to have Guided Arrow.
It was a powerful technique only given to experienced military forces in the Sky Plane, not a technique given out on the Mortal Plane!
Qi requirements ranked techniques, not power or usefulness, so the same Guided Arrow could increase in size indefinitely. It was a savage attack heavily restricted and used by the head forces.
Moreover, they weren't prepared for the arrows to curve around their Qi attacks or bend at the last moment, both tactics Kaze had taught everyone during the retreat.
They felt like they were fighting the military, not mortals!
The soldiers and Immortals felt hope, seeing another flurry of attacks land on their enemies. Unfortunately, their surprise attacks were only that—surprises.
After the cultivators caught up, the situation reversed quickly.
"Pinpoint!" Sandra yelled to teams Bravo and Echo, releasing arrows aimed at Mary.
"Wall!" Jake yelled to a mass of Immortals, comprised of elites and random volunteers.
A wall of arrows shot across the sky at the blonde cultivator, preparing to kill Evalyn.
"Noisy!" Mary roared, turning around and waving her hand. A massive flurry of wind blades shot out, cutting through the hundreds of arrows with ease before—
"Jake!" Veronica yelled, waving her hand. A massive arc of raw Qi shot in front of the blonde-haired teen, frozen by the sight before him. Thankfully, her attack successfully cut one of the wind blades in half just in time.
BOOM! Boom, boom, BOOM! Boom! Boom, boom, boom… Boom!
"GahhhahhhHHhhHhhHHhahhhHh!"
Another fifty Immortals and soldiers gasped in pain as the wind blades cut through them, crashing into the reinforced wall and decimating it.
There was now a blood-soaked gate into Immortal Skye, with sick still approaching, albeit slowly.
"Now." Evalyn whispered inaudibly.
-
"Guuuuhhhh." Jake groaned, slowly opening his eyes.
"Don't move; you're heavily injured!" Veronica yelled, making him look down.
The black-haired pixie was using a tourniquet to tie the upper part of his left arm, as the lower half was missing.
"GahhhhHHHhhHH!" He yelled, his sight helping his body catch up. A wind blade had cut it off.
Jake looked at Veronica and saw her bleeding heavily from her side. "Heal yourself."
"Shhhh!" Veronica hushed viciously, "We'll glow red, and you're getting targeted. We need to get away from here first."
He dry-swallowed, trying to hold in his desire to groan, feeling thankful.
-
A similar scene played out elsewhere. After taking moderate damage, Rammy got through the arrows and released an attack, killing a dozen and heavily injuring Aaron, who she identified as the leader.
Similarly, the injured cultivator, bleeding heavily, waved his hand and killed another dozen with an attack. Even in his shape, he was far more powerful than the mortals.
Everything that occurred happened in less than five seconds. That was the horrific nature of Spirit Qi, turning a few seconds into twenty mentally, making it impossible for unprepared people to react.
The Immortals and soldiers' minds turned grim, assessing the situation. In less than a second, two injured Heaven Realm cultivators, one significantly wounded, cut through almost thirty people.
Combined with Mary, who killed an equal amount while destroying the wall, they thought it would be less than a minute before the cultivators began massacring everyone.
"Pointless!" Mary yelled angrily, crushing ice blades effortlessly, "What happened to that precision? Tell me!"
She was furious that the mortal somehow put her in danger and needed saving. So she wasn't trying to kill the blonde because she wanted answers.
"Stop hitting me with attacks, and I'll show you." Evalyn replied mockingly, bleeding from wind slashes. She was slowly [getting pushed back], moving further and further from her people.
Her answer was logical—I can't concentrate while you're hurting me—but the Cultivation Lord knew the blonde was taking advantage of her unwillingness to kill her.
"Enough of this!" Mary yelled, pulling her hand back, "You don't need limbs to talk!"
She waved her hand, creating a violent gust of wind that crashed from the sky onto the blonde, prepared to cut her to shreds, saving only her lungs, throat, and head.
BOOOOM!
Contrary to expectations, the woman's eyes widened in horror when the blades connected and passed through the Ice General's body, twisting her body like smoke.
"Shadow clone?" Mary whispered in shock, "How long has she been—"
The Cultivation Lord turned around just in time to dodge a massive ice blade aimed at her throat. While she dodged it, a dozen more flew from every angle, assaulting the woman.
As before, the onslaught of blades targeted the same areas, focusing on the woman's wrists to prevent her from attacking effectively.
"You!" Mary snapped, dodging as quickly as possible. However, she was unprepared for the number of blades around her. Every time she crushed one, she found another five.
They shot from the ground, sky, and behind buildings. Sometimes they materialized behind her or in front of her face. She was swimming in an icy sea of blades.
"Precision is easier when attacking from your own perspective." Evalyn smiled wickedly, "Pretending to be your clone is extremely difficult."
Mary was shocked, realizing how much skill it took to use blades from that perspective.
The skill level the Ice General was demonstrating shouldn't be possible. Her cultivation progress, attacks, strategies, and skills should have taken decades, centuries, even millennia, to hone.
Indeed, it wasn't possible. Like Crux, the blonde synced parts of herself to her past self. She was still a distinctive person with a refined personality. However, she became biased toward different actions, behaviors, and routines.
Slowly yet surely, she was obtaining the skills from the Ice Phoenix. So while she was a fledgling, the blonde wasn't a joke.
The Cultivation Lord understood that, feeling it wouldn't take long before they could fight on equal footing. For that reason, she decided to end things quickly.
"It's a pity." Mary laughed bitterly, "I want to rip so many answers from your throat. However, my team is heavily injured, and there are real threats. So it's time to kill you!"
"Real threats?" Evalyn mused with a sadistic smile, "You mean like positioning?"
The Cultivation Lord's eye trembled, and she looked around her environment. She didn't know when, but the blonde had slowly led her away from the troops—and the lights. It felt so natural, as if the blonde were doing her best to dodge, yet she managed to route her. "Where did you take—"
Massive black walls shot from the ground, oozing upward like black smoke.
"—Crux!" Mary screamed as the black walls closed in on her, blocking the light from the moonlit sky.
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