"What the hell is going on?!" A young man with delicate features, demanded in panic.
A while ago, everything was so peaceful, but in a sudden burst of unidentifiable Qi, the base was left in a state of chaos...
"Focus, Tang Kun! They have a Celestial cultivator!" The man's master yelled worriedly, glancing at each and every one of the intruders that had attacked the base.
"Sir Liu, The elders have not arrived yet!" A different man informed Tang Liu, Tang Kun's master, in a hurried manner, hoping to get his inner message through to the elder.
'Darn it! Where could Lord Ye and Lord Long be?" Tang Liu's mind was in a state of disarray, the whole ordeal with a Celestial cultivator involved was enough to incite panic even among the higher ups of the Imperial Tang family...
'Could it be?' He gasped at the worst scenario he could come up with, 'No... it would be impossible, Lord Ye is one of the more powerful members of the clan.' Tang Liu's face darkened.
"Use your talismans and try to lure their group into individual battles!" Tang Liu's voice was strict, his orders were simple.
"We obey!" Tang Kun and the three other men nodded in unison and took out several pieces of coloured paper.
•••••
Tang Kun threw an olive green paper, inscribed in it some runes written in gold, at Mei and the rest.
And from the paper came a luminous light that forced the group to spread out and avoid getting caught in it.
Once the light died down, there was a long thick viridescent vine that curled to and fro, in a snake like motion, snapping towards Qiu Dong whose eyes expanded in surprise and moved away.
This action further separated the four cultivators from the Qiu clan and soon enough, noticed the tricky plan that had been composed by Tang Liu.
"I've got you now!" Tang Kun shouted dauntlessly and lunged with his sword towards Mei, who scoffed in her mind and pointed the sharp edge of her halberd at the man and bent her knees, as if she was to propel towards him.
"Humph!" She harrumphed and spun the halberd at Tang Kun that was forced to defend himself with his sword, as he could not avoid a head on collision with the momentum he threw himself at.
"White Tiger strokes; Blizzard of death!" Mei's beautiful voice enamored Tang Kun who could not help but advance further into her strike zone...
'Is this what it feels like to be in love?' Tang Kun whose head was filled with ridiculous thoughts had not realised that he was in immense danger that forced his master to action and pull him back with his arm on his disciple's waist.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?!" Tang Liu slapped the handsome young man who looked down sadly.
"I... Apologies master..." He bowed in shame, not knowing how to explain himself. Now feeling great hatred towards the woman that had 'seduced' him into committing actions that had brought shame upon himself!
Once his master had left him, Tang Kun's eyes turned to Mei and narrowed down in despise.
"You whore! How dare you seduce me?!" He bellowed, charging at her again, this time with proper vigilance.
'Just when I thought he was a decent human being...' Mei shook her head and struck her halberd forward at Tang Kun who countered with a slash in the same movement, pushing her halberd away.
She grabbed it from the very end and pulled it towards her, trying to get the edge to graze the man's torso.
Tang Kun winced when he felt the cold edge of the blade go through his body's skin so smoothly.
There was a spot of blood on the edge of his stomach, it kept spreading outward making a mess of his silk robes...
However, just as he was about to move, his legs gave up, making him fall hardly on his knees.
"What?!" Tang Kun's voice was heard by all cultivators including his own master's who rushed to help h but was stopped by a strong force.
"Let me out of here!" Tang Liu's voice was one of distress and anger, at whoever had blocked his method of reaching his student.
"Hmm... nope!" Xieren's amused voice enraged the man who with a burst of energy, struck the barrier with his fists.
It cracked, eliciting a hum of interest from Xieren, who turned to Mei performing a Qi based technique on a pale faced Tang Kun.
"NO!!" Tang Liu shouted when his disciple's head came off of his body clean, blood gushed out of his neck forming a puddle of red under him in a grotesque manner.
Xieren then waved his hand, this alerted Tang Liu who felt his hands get pushed towards him.
"What the?!" He screamed once again, feeling the space he was trapped in feel constricting him little by little until his body could no longer give into the force and pressure, his shrieks of pain and agony resounded through the base as the barrier crushed him, mortally wounding him internally...
Tang Liu fell flat on the ground, blood leaking from his orifices, his body spasmed slightly until no more movement was seen and Xieren counted him dead.
The other three were taken care of easily, however Qiu Dong had lost himself an arm and was silent throughout the whole journey to the next Armoury.
•••••
"Captain! We found an unconscious soldier stripped naked and his armour stolen!" The Captain of the base had been informed of the untimely deaths of all cultivators that had come to their base for security purposes and now this...
"What?! When will this whole thing end damnit!" He struck the table with his fist, forcing the soldier that had just entered the room, to flinch ..
"And what were our soldiers doing when the cultivators were attacked?" He asked his soldier tiredly.
"Sir... they charged at the intruders valiantly but were cut down quite easily..." The soldier informed him awkwardly, still shook over everything that happened.
"I see... that means more paperw-" Not even a few seconds into his speech, a beam of eye blinding light flashed from the window forcing the captain and the soldier to squint their eyes in pain.
An explosion had rocked the base, the building they were in a while ago was now flattened.
"GAH!!" They screamed over being thrown back by the heavy winds that blew apart nearly all the buildings, tearing them from their foundations and collapsing on the many unlucky soldiers...
•••••
Xieren who heard the explosion from afar turned to his team with a smile.
"The first base is a success!" He said happily and leaned on a tree to rest for the day, most of the group cheered and went about their day merrily...
Mei who had seen the damage it had caused to the city, stared at Xieren with a difficult look, as if she was regretting what she had done.
She took a few deep breaths and convinced herself.
'Its for the greater good...'