Zhao Fan and the others turned around and saw a group of 3 walk out of the dense forest into the clearing where the cave was.
"You guys can get lost, we'll take it from here" The leader of the group had a large hammer slung over his shoulder. His tall figure was clothed in heavy armor. Behind him, two more youths followed. One held a silver longsword while the other held a dagger. All three wore armor or tunics which were colored green, they were all sect disciples.
"2 Qi Gathering 7 and one Qi Gathering 6. Don't worry, we have a good chance of winning!" Huo Long explained and the others relaxed. People of lower cultivation couldn't accurately pinpoint the level of those above them, they could only estimate roughly. Huo Long was the only Qi Gathering level 6 cultivator so his words relaxed everyone's worries. After all, he couldn't be far off his estimation.
"We are Cloud Leaf sect disciples. Even if there were 5 more of you, you backwater trash wouldn't stand a chance against us. I'm not feeling very grateful anymore, hand everything all of you have and leave the air chick behind." The hammer-wielding student yelled out confidently. Jia Shuren shuddered as she felt the other party look her up and down and a dark expression appeared on her face.
"What a piece of trash, he probably got selected from a city just like Golden Leaf city and now he is calling it a backwater city. These sect disciples think that just because they barely managed to join a sect, they are now superior to everyone else." Zhao Fan said through gritted teeth.
"Oh, you're the kid in that classroom where I fought with that b*tch, Ruo Zhong. Cripple yourself and I'll allow you to leave." The hammer-wielding youth's reddened as he remembered the humiliation he suffered when he lost to his fellow disciple.
"Brother Fan, they are even wilder than the lightning wolf, there is no use reasoning. It's our job as weak cultivators of the city to properly receive the sect disciples."
"So you brats want to get killed? Sure, let's go" The hammer-wielding youth laughed. Although the sect disciples were only picked from last year's competition, they felt superior and elder to Zhao Fan and the rest.
__________
On a nearby cliff, a youth sat with his feet dangling off while leisurely sipping his gourd. He looked handsome and had a refined air around him, a single sword hung in a sheathe by his waist and he wore purple robes decorated with intricate patterns.
"I wonder which one of them it is? The instructions were pretty cryptic." The youth sighed as he watched the scuffle between the two groups in the distance.
__________
"Wind Hammer Armageddon!" Just like back in the classroom, the hammer-wielding youth used his ace move and gathered the wind element into his hammer. It gigantified and towered over the group like a gigantic sun. Last time, the move was performed without a hammer, but now that a mid-ranked artifact was used as the base of the move, the difference was night and day.
"Don't reveal much of your power, there is an extremely powerful person observing the fight." Hei Long warned. Ever since he could manipulate the strange energy, Hei Long's soul strengthened and he could sense things around him. The powerful person was far away but Hei Long sensed a chill in his soul and was able to faintly make out the figure sitting on top of a cliff.
"Is he on their side or ours? Can we defeat him in merged form?"
"How am I supposed to know? He is just watching while drinking wine from his gourd. As for his power, his cultivation rank is at the very top of Qi Gathering, but the aura he emanates is very weird."
"Weird as in powerful? Could he be a heavenly genius?"
"No, when we were struck by the tribulation in the cave, the lightning has the same faint aura emanating off of him. He might be a heavenly genius so don't use any trump cards unless necessary." Zhao Fan's expression dropped. The course of actions was too weird, the sect disciples stumbled into them just as they were finishing off the wolf and a potential heavenly genius came to observe.
"He baited the group here to fight us for some reason. He either is protecting the disciples or is searching for heavenly geniuses. Even if you have to strip naked and give these guys everything, don't expose the dark core. This guy might be on a mission to hunt heavenly geniuses and in that case, it would be certain death for you."
Zhao Fan stopped thinking and concentrated. The group couldn't let the wind hammer move fully form, or it might instantly wipe the whole party.
"Darkwind severing!" Liu Zhong took the lead and attacked the hammer-wielding youth.
"Fire serpent" The youth in the back with the sword dashed towards Liu Zhong who launched his attack. Bright fire gathered on the tip of the sword and exploded into a column of fire spiraling in the direction of Liu Zhong. While Darkwind severing was a ridiculously fast and sharp attack, it did not contain much power. It sliced the column in two but couldn't disperse it.
Liu Zhong dodged but the column of fire which regrouped and shot in his direction as if it was locked on. A grave expression appeared on his face and Liu Zhong transformed into a shadow just when the fire reached him.
"AAAHH" For some reason, the fire managed to lock onto the semi-transparent form of Liu Zhong and shot at him, blasting him back.
"You trash should have just run off when given the chance"
"Principle of Burning?" Liu Zhong's tunic was completely burned off and his exposed upper body was as red as a lobster. Luckily, he didn't incur any serious injuries other than severe sunburn.
"We have to attack together! Each one of them is stronger than any one of us. Zhou Da, don't use the huge attack, distract their channeling and support us from the back. Zhao Fan, stay in the center and make sure nobody ambushes Zhou Da, everyone else, use all your strongest attacks on the hammer kid! No matter what, he can't be allowed to use his ability." Huo Long issues orders hurriedly. The hammer ability was already more than halfway charged.
"Lightning Dragon Wrath!" Huo Long activated his ability with vast amounts of his qi as he dashed in the direction of the hammer-wielding youth. Thick tendrils of lightning gathered on his body and his eyes glowed like torches. Huo Long looked like a mad lightning god, each of his steps created craters and he accelerated at an unprecedented speed.
"He mastered lightning infusion! Wait no, it's his armor!" Gong Yu was trying desperately to catch up and was shocked. The impressive symbols on Huo Long's plate mail shone and the whole armor was covered in thick lightning. Element infusion was when the body was infused with lightning to give it special attributes, but the ability of Huo Long's armor simulated the effects of lightning infusion! Just from this, it was obvious that the armor was worth a small fortune.
"Taste the power of a lightning dragon! Lightning Destruction Claw!" Huo Long's spear elongated and widened, seemingly transformed to be made of pure lightning. The lightning in the spear held a ferocious and angry nature as if it was alive on its own.
"Just in time! Let's see whose ultimate move is the strongest!" The hammer-wielding youth raised his hammer above him and a huge figure made of aura appeared behind him. It carried a hammer as huge as a small mountain. Gong Yu charged at the youth with the sword and decided to let the two leaders fight each other.
The enormous hammer came crashing down and the Wind Hammer Annihilation met the Lightning Destruction Claw which was shining like a small sun.
BOOOOM
The hammer fiercely struck down onto the rising spear which was like a nail being hammered into the ground. The earth beneath Huo Long cracked and he vomited a bucketful of blood. His face was deathly pale but he held on and firmly held his shining huge spear which felt like it was holding a mountain. The hammer youth gritted his teeth and blood flowed down his nose. It wasn't easy to control that much qi and wind element, the strain on his soul was enormous. The savage lightning buffeted the howling winds in the hammer and reduced the power of the hammer by a large margin. Still, he was a tier higher than Huo Long and he charged his ability for longer which gave him a clear advantage.
"Not dead? I wonder how many hits you can take!" Huo Long felt the mountain above him lifting.
BOOM
Once more, it struck down. This time, however, it was much weaker than before. Still, Huo Long was already injured and after this hit, his vision spun and he almost blacked out. The indomitable energy around him disappeared and even his armor dimmed.
The hammer-wielding youth grinned. He also couldn't last much longer but seeing the weak appearance of his enemy who was about to fall any time, the latter was clearly in an even worse position.
"One more time should do it! Fall down and never get up again trash!"
BOOM
The hammer once more rose into the sky and crashed down on the spear. This time, the lightning completely lost the ferocious aspect and barely fought back against the sharp winds.
Huo Long fell to his knees and struggled to hold the spear. His armor completely dimmed and he focused on channeling the last bit of his power into his spear.
"If I fall, all of us will die. These beasts will loot our dead bodies like nothing happened and do even worse things to Jia Shuren! The only way this bastard will knock me down is if I die!" Huo Long swore to himself. His exhausted eyes became alert and he redoubled his grip on the lightning spear. The glint in his eyes was no longer that of ferocious and crazy lightning he imitated from the wolf. Instead, it resembled upright and immortal lightning which could hold up the heavens from falling.
"I don't believe you can last once more!" The hammer youth was now struggling to hold on and find the strength to lift his hammer. Still, his condition wasn't as miserable as Huo Long's, he believed that if he struck down just once more, he would firmly stick the unruly nail into the ground!
BOOM
For some reason, the hammer struck down but struggled to dissipate the lightning. It was as if the lightning slowly but surely grew more and more enduring.
"FALL DOWN!" Once more, the hammer lifted and the youth struggled to keep the power in check. His soul power was dissipating at a fast pace and he couldn't hold on for long.
BOOM
The huge wind hammer struck down and struck against the lightning spear once more.
"IMPOSSIBLE" The hammer youth yelled as the hammer was broken in two, it felt like striking a metal sword with a wooden one.
An indomitable and just aura surged from the kneeling Huo Long as he finally found the strength to stand up. He had more than enough strength as a qi vortex funneled energy into him like crazy. He had broken through to level 7!