Hartley confiscated the space ring of the blonde lanky man then made his way back to the bandit camp.
The first rays of sunshine began cutting through the hazy dawn, making the surrounding sky bright blue supplemented by a thin yellow glow.
Hartley had made light work of the blonde haired lanky man, defeating him within a few technical exchanges of sword strikes. He returned to join the others, up until this point, he had not been pushed, he was a 4th layer xiantian after all.
A mid phase xiantian was a difference of heaven and earth when compared to an early phase xiantian, Hartley knew one should not depend on realms and sub-realms, he had continued practicing his star feet technique and increased his battle experience by not using his full strength.
From the crest of the hill he looked into the valley to see his fellow core disciples battling against the white haired earth elemental 3rd layer xiantian expert.
A sheet of brown elemental light would appear whenever an attack approached his body, it shielded him from harm as he kept moving around the valley, managing to avoid taking two simultaneous attacks at the same time.
Lou Rylai approach to the battle was that of an assassin, she was lurking around the edges of the fight, looking for the opportunity to one hit kill the middle aged man. The white haired man had keen battle awareness, so he would not give up such an opportunity.
Qin Li had the speed advantage and was constantly maneuvering to block the white hair man's retreat, swinging his battle axe that sent sparks flying when it clashed against the brown sheet of light that appeared when the man was in danger, the man wasn't attacking, just evading to the best of his abilities, gripping a white needle-like fencing sword in his right hand.
Lou Ang shouted loudly from pure frustration, "stand and fight you coward, I'm going to carve you to shreds when I get my hands on you," he dashed forward with a blood thirsty look on his face, everyone in the group knew he really would take great pleasure shredding the white haired man to bits very slowly.
Lou Tai's leadership on this mission had been abysmal, with a bit of organization they could have trapped the enemy long ago.
Through this whole mission Lou Tai's interaction with the group had been minimal, he had always chosen to pair up with the one person he knew, which was Qin Li, leaving the rest of the team to their own devices, he might have assumed that the other three being from Stella mountain would have a familiarity among themselves.
Hartley who was meeting him for the first time, upon seeing the behavior of Lou Ang had no desire to interact with him. Lou Rylai must have been equally as repulsed by the arrogant, sadistic man, she was non talkative through-out the whole mission, seldomly interacting with the others.
All of this led to fragmented tactics within a fragmented team, each person acting as an individual within the framework of a team, chasing the glory of claiming the kill.
Hartley had looked into the eyes of the merchants while listening to their story and he wholeheartedly believed them.
There was something or someone sinister in the shrine-like small building at the back, he could not sense any aura coming from the building which made him even more wary of the threat...
Hartley pushed his gravity steps to the limit down the slope to the valley, tantamount to teleporting into the valley from thin air, he shouted, "everyone back, let me deal with him, stay on guard."
Lou Ang snorted angrily replying "how dare you try and claim a kill belonging to me?"
Hartley had no time for this twerp, so he ignored him and shouted to Lou Tai. "There is something in the small building, be ready." Hartley then laid eyes on the white haired defensive specialist he pushed the power of a 4th layer xiantian to its limits, strength surged through his body like a sudden rush of wind.
Lou Tai heard Hartleys voice and could tell something was urgent, since Hartley had returned after chasing the other xiantian, Lou Tai thought Hartley had gained inside information after defeating the opponent. He then immediately ordered, "everyone fall back and take up defensive positions around the small building."
Hartley unleashed his power without restraint, he used gravity steps to flash out teleport-like to within range of the white haired man, he then immediately entered state of focus and activated a 20x gravity field around both of them.
The white haired xiantian 3rd layer expert knees buckled and his feet sunk 3 inches into the dirt. As he struggled to adjust to the gravity field, his eyes opened up as wide as saucers, he now felt a strong sense of danger he hadn't felt before. His dependable defense had been impregnable against experts at his own level and even a little higher, the confidence he gained from toying with the four xiantians for the last few minutes shattered as sweat rolled down his back like a broken pipe.
Hartley made his way towards the opponent empty handed, a dense blue aura coiled around his right hand from shoulder to wrist, roiling and writhing like a thick blue serpent, slowly oscillating like a drill.
With a stomach full of nervous energy the white haired xiantian wobbled forward and put his all into a sword thrust as he struggled with the weight of tonnes slamming his body down into the dirt, earth exploded upwards and cracks appeared under his feet, his forward thrust produced a whistling sound as it headed for the chest of Hartley.
Hartley in state of focus, saw this move as clear as day, he used minute movement dodging technique and side stepped to the right, slipping past all the gaudy commotion stirred up by the sword strike...
Bam!.....
Blue concentric circles appeared in front of Hartley's right fist as he broke the sound barrier with a rumbling sound, the brown sheet of light that protected the body of the expert splashed away in all directions like a bucket of water thrown against a wall
The fist landed in the region of his right shoulder sending the white haired man rifling backwards, his right arm separating from his body and flung out to the right as fast as a bullet.
"Star Fist level 5"...
With a wailing moan of pain the man collided with the valley wall which exploded with a dust fog, he was rebounded five meters forward, again Hartley appeared in front of the half dead man who had blood gushing out of his right shoulder like a volcano erupting, before he could hit the ground he had to bare another star fist level 5.
It was too much for one man to endure.... the right side of the top half of his body was mangled bloody like a fierce beast had chewed on it.. he thundered into the valley wall and went 10 meters in, creating a human like cavity. This would be the man's eternal tomb.
After Hartley easily dispatched the expert the other core disciples had chills running down their spine, the impregnable defense that they couldn't breach, had been shattered like eggs falling among rocks, the handsome youth stood there in a heroic pose for a couple seconds as the dust blew across his silhouette, fluttering his grey robes as the rays of sunlight emerged from the east painting him in a yellow heroic hue.
Suddenly the earth started shaking and a rumbling noise came from underground. The small building exploded, wood and wood chips flew out everywhere, when the dust settled a dark cloaked man about two meters in height stood in the center of the ruined structure.