"Impermanence Five, you're seasoned experts, but we're no pushovers either. Must we do this? Push us hard enough and we'll stoop to anything!"
"Yeah, we're so ruthless that we even scare ourselves."
Elder Hu watched the enemy with tense and sweaty brow, though still talked tough in the hopes of scaring them. The other two threw in a helping hand.
The five elders sat still like before, letting these three talk to the walls.
Elder She began after a while, "Ha-ha-ha, there's a saying, all bark and no bite. I gotta say, the more you hoot, the more relieved I feel."
Pff!
Xue Qingjian giggled, "Steward Zhuo, that guy's just like you, throwing biting remarks."
"Of course, why do you think he kept his tongue and earned his nickname, Elder She? Ha-ha-ha…" Zhuo Fan chuckled.
The tiger, wolf and snake were fuming.
Like pretty much anyone else, these three were fierce believers of death before dishonor. Now that Elder She had taunted and mocked them, he was wiping the floor with their name as even Ethereal Stage experts.
It came as no surprise when Elder Hu exploded with power as a golden eyed tiger image appeared around him.
The sky darkened, the wind howled, like a tiger on the prowl.
Li Jingtian shook, the roar infecting him. It was many times stronger than the one he felt when fighting Fierce Tiger.
Only in danger would Fierce Tiger show his true power, in order to fight for his life.
Elder Lang had a mighty wolf around him, baring his claws and fangs, growling at the five elders with bloodshot eyes.
As for the runt of the litter, Obscene Snake, powering up proved a tiny bit difficult without a body. In fact, he was decaying as time went by. He'd better get a meat suit fast before a breeze blew him over.
No pressure though, as an Ethereal Stage expert's soul could survive for a long time. Then again, the weaker the soul got, the harder it would be to get a new body.
Impermanence Five just sat there, chilling, with no intent of attacking, or leaving, just… stalling.
The three elders were clamoring to get away, though none tried to leave by force, just struggling only to find themselves stuck.
Elder Hu snapped first under the pressure and flew into a rage.
Jackal and Obscene Snake followed.
The five elders acted right away as well, though only in the form of one elder.
Whoosh!
The elder who could open his mouth appeared in front of them.
The trio were exuberant. No matter how much fear they had for the five, just one elder presented them with a high chance of survival. Of course they'd take it.
Three souls joined together, the auras combining into a might that could crush mountains.
Even Li Jingtian felt fear.
Their combined power came from how well they knew each other, how perfectly in tune they were.
While the elder just stood there, opening his mouth only when the attack was on top of him to release a dreadful howl.
"Ah!"
Bam!
A ripple like a sonic boom ripped apart the attack like paper.
Hu and Lang puffed blood from the searing headache and their soul forms vanished. While Obscene Snake had it worse, his already faint form was much closer to fading away.
This attack had sapped his soul energy.
Ugh~
The three groaned, falling on the ground like bricks. While the attacking elder returned to his spot.
Li Jingtian's side was bug eyed. A mere shout routed three grand Ethereal Stage experts' combo soul attack.
No matter how great the gap in strength, it should never be this great, they were all in the Ethereal Stage at the end. Just like how Divine Dragons didn't have much of an upper hand against plain Radiant Stage experts.
Zhuo Fan smiled, "It's too soon to be shocked. That was just a warm up. Elder Kou merely opened his mouth, that's all."
"What?!" They all cried out.
[What will a full blown attack look like then?]
Zhuo Fan explained, "The greatest difference between Ethereal Stage and Radiant Stage is soul form. They all rely on their souls. Using anything less means sparring. What Elder Kou used was the power of the Vicissitudes Art trained to its peak, a skill called Demon Echo!
"The others are no different. Elder She's Beguiling, Elder Yan's Deluding Sight, Elder Er's Omnipresent Hearing, Elder Bi's Uncanny Smell, each of them is just as amazing. Together, they cover their glaring weaknesses, never waning and ever thriving, flawless. No one would take them on unless they had an unfair advantage. This is the Demon Scheming Sect's personal elders, Impermanence Five's power."
They nodded, but then asked, "Steward Zhuo, what do you mean by personal elders?"
"Ha-ha-ha, rumor has it that the High Venerables of Demon Scheming Sect are lofty positions that the disciples have endless respect for. But only the oldest are worthy of such title and can even grow to have the power to remove the Sect Leader. That makes having personal guards natural, hence they are called personal elders. People who should've been the sect's Venerables, have now become High Venerable's personal guards, thus reduced to mere elders. Even as their power goes beyond a mere Venerable."
Li Jingtian gave a thumb's up, "And you just asked for their help, Steward Zhuo? Are you sure you're going to the Demon Scheming Sect as a disciple and not as a Venerable?"
Zhuo Fan chuckled, "This is all courtesy of Demon Scheming Sect's Sect Leader, Xie Wuyue. Maybe he values me just that much. Be that as it may, by sending these five, his intentions are loud and clear. The way I see it, these five would find it a cinch to deal with thirty of these three experts."
The others were so shocked that they just bobbed their heads…
The three in question crawled to their feet at long last. No matter how much they'd heard of the five's prowess, it still topped their imagination.
Just one of them had handled the three of them like children.
Wiping the blood on his mouth, Elder Hu cupped his hands, "Impermanence Five's Vicissitudes Formation lives up to its name. I accept my defeat. Though it's not much of a contest, ganging up on the few of us."
"Ha-ha-ha, what are you spouting? Vicissitudes Formation? We haven't even used it. That was all Elder Kou. As for ganging up on you, it's your side outnumbering him. But I get it, trying to talk your way out of it. A shame that's the most useless approach when it comes to demonic cultivators like us. While righteous cultivators, like you, would go the extra mile for stuff like honor and whatever, for us the end justifies the means. A loss won't change no matter how few or many are attacking. It's all about strength!"
Elder She didn't buy into the taunt.
Fierce Tiger's face fell. [Damn unreasonable demonic cultivators! They don't give a hoot about their names, wanting our lives even in a five against one.]
Against righteous cultivators, they'd already be ashamed by now, going for a fair fight instead.
Elder She mocked, "Since you're so keen on seeing our formation, though unworthy, we're happy to make an exception, for your ignorant eyes."
"Oh no, no, no, we'd like our eyes to be ignorant, thank you." Elder Hu waved around.
The trio together couldn't even deal with one of them. While all five would kill them with a flick; it was an overkill, plain as day.
Like a nine foot tall mean thug towering a three-year-old. A slap would do him in but the thug just had to take the kid through the full course of his arsenal.
The three lamented their fates.
Impermanence Five couldn't care less. They began with hand signs, clearly deciding to torture these three bastards good.
Zhuo Fan's eyes lit up like a good audience. Impermanence Five's formation was a novelty, rarely observed. To witness it was a chance that appeared once in a blue moon.
Especially for Li Jingtian and company, the peak of the Ethereal Stage would be a good demonstration of this stage's true potential…