In the middle of the day.
Two young men were having a spar on a patch of grassland with spears on their hands.
They clashed with each other intensely as their spears created a series of incandescence. Superhuman martial arts were fluidly displayed as the young man parried a frontal stab with flickering reflex and abnormal strength.
The other young man issued a war cry as he lunges forward again. Bringing his spear up to stab the air only to swing it down like sword. Yet, he moves as he leaves after-shadows in his wake with his spear coming down at his opponent seemingly akin to a radiant illusion created by the Sun.
His opponent did not move to dodge nor parry. Instead, he moved to pull back his spear and spun vertically after hopping in the air. His spear managed to bring deadly force from his martial movement and its sharp tip manage to hit the other party's spear attack. Deflecting it successfully.
The other party was unperturbed and remained calm knowing his martial technique had been parried by his opponent's own martial technique. Sending him a backlash in his momentum. He changed his stance immediately as his spear dances in his hands flashily and instantly brought mirage and heat from his fluid technique.
He lunged forward again. His spear dancing ferociously around his body and while shooting out SpearQis from its blade tip to attack his opponent.
His opponent lunge forward as well. Intending to clash head on. His figure would flicker in astonishing agility speed as he dodges the incoming SpearQis while deflecting the other SpearQis that were unavoidable. In a matter of a second, he managed to appear before his opponent. Lunging a Qi-powered spear attack at the other party's spear movements.
Tsiang!
He thought that he had manage to disrupt the other party's spear dance with his attack. But to his surprise, the other party's momentum wasn't even fazed. And it even managed to push him back with his spear rebounded. He was surprised for a split-second before returning to his calm state and attack with his spear again.
But his spear was deflected from its trajectory before it could fulfill its attack and left him opened for the other party to assault.
He parried the incoming spear swing made by the other party but he was pushed back a step while the other charges. Just when he thought that another spear swing was coming, his opponent's next attack managed to shock him.
Two spear swing attacks were coming to assault him. Yes, two. They were not after-shadows nor after-images. Instead, they were legitimately two spears identical to each other, coming to attack him from different strike angles.
In his shocked state, he managed to dodge one spear swing while deflecting the other. Yet, he had to take two steps back as he fails to break his opponent's ferocious momentum.
He was about to escape from his opponent's aggro by Movement Technique but the next attack of his opponent managed to shock him even more.
3 Spear Swing strikes were coming to get him from 3 different strike angles. And he wondered how the hell did his opponent had 3 hands to carry those things.
While he was struck dumbfounded, he didn't lose his cool by too much. Instantly realizing that that 3 spears swings were coming for him, he dodged the first one, parried the second and blocked the third. All the while taking 5 steps back.
But his opponent wasn't finish. His opponent's next attack now contained 4 spear swing strikes and now he has to resort to evasive tactics and dodge the spear swings as he could. Then his opponent attacked with 6 spear swings and he had to block all of them and for the first time since the spar began, bled from a wound cut.
Then his opponent attacked with 8 spear swings and he had to step back again as he blocked.
Then came 10 spear swings strikes and now he had to dodge via Movement Technique but his opponent didn't spare him a rest as he immediately came rushing for him with a shocking 13 spear swing strikes all simultaneously shot out to attack his opponent.
Multiple metallic sounds crisply echoed as his 13 spear swing strikes had overwhelmed his opponent's defense and knocking him down to the ground as his spear left his hands.
Overwhelmed by his opponent's Spear dance and with his spear gone from his hands, he panted for air while his opponent's razor-sharp Spear tip was raised above his head.
"You win today, junior brother." Said the young man panting for air as his junior brother lend him a hand to stand up.
"You flatter me too much, senior brother." said junior brother as he bowed to him respectfully. "I only manage to win by a stroke of luck as today's spar, I manage to make a breakthrough with my '13 Mirage of the Sun Spears' by Major Accomplishment. I owe it all to you, senior brother for pushing me hard to further improvement."
Hearing his junior brother's humble reply, he couldn't help but give a hearty laugh. "Hahaha! Now this is a true Cultivator. Humble and polite with proud talent to live it up. Not a trace of arrogance in tone and manners. Master did well to teach you that first before cultivating. Otherwise, I might have beaten the living daylights out of you for being so impudent. Keep this up, junior brother. And one day you might become a Core Disciple of the Helios Dragon sect soon enough! Hahaha!"
"Hahaha! Senior brother, you joke too much. How can someone like me become a Core Disciple of the prestigious Helios Dragon sect? I don't believe that's possible." even though he said that dejectedly, he could not hide the determination flashing from his eyes as his senior brother saw it.
A Core Disciple. Who in this world didn't want to become a prestigious talent? Especially one belonging to a Famous sect like the Helios Dragon sect?
The senior brother wasn't too sure of there was one who didn't want to but he was sure that his junior brother had high hopes of becoming a Core Disciple himself and he will be here to push him hard and cheer him on as both a sect brother and good friend.
Speaking of Core Disciples, these two are actually sect disciples of the Helios Dragon sect. Although they were wearing casual tight-fitting clothes unlike the usual pious robes of normal disciples, this was part of standard procedure as they were tasked to patrol the outskirts of the Sect's territory.
The young men were both breathing the auras of Foundation Formation Realms. The senior brother was an Advance stage Foundation Formation cultivator while his junior brother was a Primary stage Foundation Formation cultivator.
Right now, they were merrily laughing as they talked about their dreams while standing over a patch of grassland. If they both look to the left, they could see the borderline between the grassy plains of the sect territory and the Barren lands expanding thousands of miles. Here they were tasked to patrol this part of the outskirts and report any activity that was worth noting until the day ends.
Suddenly, senior brother became quiet as he sensed the motion detection orbs set up far across Barren lands had lit up. Indicating that something had cross their detection range. It made him look towards the outskirts with a serious frown.
He took out a big crystal orb, which is actually a Detection Orb receiver from his storage ring and held it in his hand. Then he submerges his consciousness into the orb as he tries to assess what has been detected.
"What's wrong, senior brother." seeing the frown on his face, his junior brother couldn't help put ask.
His senior brother grunted a bit before saying. "Someone has cross our patrol range. It seems like it's 2 people. One is a 12 Gates Practitioner while the other is a 2 Gates Practitioner. Mmmm... They're both running too fast that I can't see their figures right."
"Running?" junior brother asked. Looking serious. "Are they being chased?"
It's not like they haven't experienced this before. Normally, when someone is running so fast in the middle of the Barren lands, it's usually because they were chased down by the Ferocious Beasts here or bandits were coming for them.
But his senior brother shook his head at him and said gravely. "They're not being chased down. Otherwise, I would have detected it as well. Hm? Wait, they're coming towards us?! Junior brother, prepare for battle, the other party's speed is too astonishingly fast that I can't tell his face or what Movement Technique he's executing. So, I'm not sure if they're sect members like us or even friendlies. We might need to fight if something happens." he said that as he made a grasping motion and his Spear came flying back to his hands once again.
Junior brother nodded firmly and shifted his gaze to where his senior brother also looked out.
There, they could see some tiny figures the size of a dot running towards them with a patch of dusty clouds swirling behind. The next second, the dot figures then grew clearer for them to see. After a good few seconds, the figures were then seen as two people. One was a man wearing black robes with a conical hat on his head with a girl carried on his back.
His running was seen as leaping by the two wary young men. Each step taken was fluid and strong with firm grip on the ground as it covered 15 meters each time and it could even be seen that the turbid Spiritual Energy around him was aiding his movements to ease his burdens.
"Perfect Accomplishment Movement Technique!" The brows of the two young men shot up in shock and felt enlightened why he was so fast that they couldn't see.
Normally, when talking about techniques that were mastered towards Perfect Accomplishment, they would tend to think that the art mastered was just a simple technique with nothing profound in its core. But as they could see, the fluid motion displayed by the man had to be some profound Movement Technique that was profound enough to make a solid Cultivation Foundation.
But even then, the display of mastery only made the two young men more wary and ready for battle. Even though the man was only a 12 Gates Practitioner, his speed must not be underestimated.
A few seconds passed and the man was already close to their visual range. But he didn't stop and instead rushed even faster towards them.
"Halt! Who goes here?!" the junior brother shouted with his mind-shaking voice.
As Foundation Formation Cultivators, they now attained the perk called Spiritual sense. Which was like a pulse radar that can detect a limited range of area that was emitted from the mindscape where the Virtual Consciousness of the Cultivator was housed. Using the Spiritual Sense, junior brother was able to infuse his voice with it and create an echoing voice that can shake the minds of others.
Hearing his echoing voice in his mind, the man said nothing and kept running.
Seeing that they were being ignored, senior brother's face darkened and felt the omen in his heart.
"He ignored us. Let's attack." junior brother was startled to have heard him.
"But..."
"Don't hesitate now. It may cause our lives. Since he ignored us, then it's obvious he won't answer the second time. Let's attack before he does anything funny."
"... Alright." junior brother eventually conceded and began to make his move while his senior brother backs him as support.
Junior brother lunges forward with his spear in tow. Then he spun circularly with his spear dancing around as the blade tip shot numerous SpearQis towards the man.
The man saw the SpearQis coming and raised his brows in shock. He immediately changed his movements and crossed 10 meters in an instant he stepped. Dodging the SpearQis.
He stepped again and appeared 10 more meters closer to the junior brother's position while he dodged the SpearQis with ease. Then he did one final stepped again and arrived instantly before the junior brother and launched a high kick at his face.
Junior brother was shocked at the man's instantaneous agility speed to have dodged all of his SpearQis easily and arrived before he could notice. But his shocked only lasted for a second as he launched his signature move.
13 Mirage of the Sun Spears!
In one spear swing, 13 spears emerged out from different attack angles simultaneously! All spears ready to kill!
As junior brother had made a breakthrough with his Spear arts, he was able to execute the 13 Mirages of the Sun Spears with a single movement. No longer did he had to do any of those unnecessary spear dances as he had already touched upon the profoundness of the Spear Technique.
Seeing his junior brother making no hesitations in his attack, senior brother was pleased with his growth. As he saw his junior brother executing the 13 Mirages of the Sun Spears to attack, he sneered at the man who came to be their opponent.
He wasn't shocked that the man managed to bypass the onslaught of SpearQis easily because of his speed and even if he did possess such astonishing speed, there's no way he can parry 13 powerful spear swings coming from different angles. The man would have to dodge in retreat from those spear swings and then he will jump into the fray and assault the man together with his junior brother as they corner him.
Only then will they capture him for questioning.
He was sure this was how things would work according to his calculations, but the man's next actions completely wipe off all of his expectations.
The man was confronting 13 spear swings with his kick left in the air. He saw the 13 attacks coming but with his Soul Sense, he only saw 1 spear swinging out while the rest of the attacks were seen as blurry fogs of black air. Unlike what senior brother saw as all 13 spears looked exactly alike.
Seeing only 1 real attack coming, the man retracted his leg and kicked towards the spear being swung out.
Tung!
Senior brother was dumbfounded that the man had parried only 1 spear swing. Yet, as he parried that only, all of the other spear swings had faded instantly as if they were illusions from the beginning. Completely nullifying the 13 Mirages of the Sun Spears!
The two young men were shocked beyond words. And the man used this chance to retaliate.
Immediately, he kicked again at junior brother's face and sent him flying through the air. But he wasn't finished as his figure flickered and appeared above junior brother's chest and kicked again.
Poom!
The man's foot landed on junior brother's chest and pushed him to the ground crashing. His crash had issued a boom and made a spider crack on the ground. Junior brother coughed out blood as a result.
"Stop!" the man's attacking had all happened in a second before senior brother could react. Immediately, he rushed to attack the man with his spear lunged forward.
Boom!
The aura of the Advance stage Foundation Formation cultivator was released and shook the flow Spiritual Energy in the air.
His vicious eyes emitted killing intentions as he looked at the man crushing his junior brother with his foot and wanted to tear him to pieces.
But at the next second, his mind instantly shook in disarray as his eyeballs rolled. His whole world turned upside down as he got a good look at the man before him.
Young, handsome, almost recognizable, but as he saw the Core Disciple robes the young man was wearing, his heart shuddered in fear as he knew who this young man was.
Instantly, he retracted his battle stance along with his spear and stood where he was erect. Ready to salute.
"Who dares to attack this Master?" said the young man with his calm yet arrogant tone as his gaze swept until he saw senior brother.
Hearing him talk as if he was displeased, senior brother immediately bowed with clasped hands in salutations.
"Junior brother pays respects to Elder brother Wang!"
Indeed. Who else could this young man be if not the notorious Wang Xie?