"Kill him!" the order rang out from the black mask's mouth, the old man holding down Shu He was confused, wondering why his superior had suddenly changed his mind.
He wanted to ask, yet in the next second he felt a chill crawl up his spine as the froze, his eyes fixated on a silver glimmer near his superior's chest.
"Old man, why are you waiting?!" The girl shouted, shouldering the younger man that was grievously wounded, blood running down his body like a waterfall.
Flames lit up and travelled up the old man's robe like he had donned blazing gauntlets lighting up the surrounding area and increasing the temperature of the cold nights air, but he didn't direct those flames towards Shu He, in fact he realised Shu He from his grip and jumped backwards while yelling-
"Luo Qi, Lei Ya! Run! NOW!" He screamed with all his soul; pure terror invaded his eyes as his flames begin to blaze even brighter.
The girl, Lei Ya who was shouldering Luo Qi stumbled backwards on instinct, confused.
'Why?' She wanted to ask, she hadn't a single clue as to why the old man had acted they way he did, had she missed something?
Luo Qi stirred, he used his uninjured eye in an attempt to look around, but he wasn't much help either, unsure as to what was happening.
But then, it happened.
*SPLAT*
The flames grew thin, black blood splattered across the green grass and the foul smell infected flesh burst through the air.
""!!!""
The two covered in black cloaks jumped in fright, their eyes fixated on a gaping wound that had appeared in the old man's chest, it was as if someone had taken a cookie cutter and gouged right through him.
His heart, whatever was there before, was gone in its entirely.
Behind him, in the shadows of the night, emerged a figure wearing white robes trimmed with silver, their face covered by a veil with one thing written on it.
'Metal'.
The silver spear in his hand glimmering with a touch of black blood on its tip.
"Lei.. Ya…! Leave me… Run!!!" Luo Qi managed to speak despite the blood trying to clog his throat.
Ley Ya stared at the old man who stumbled as blood poured from his chest, his flames turning in to cinders and then extinguishing, he looked in their direction, his eyes telling them to get away.
"I…" She clenched the clothes of Luo Qi who she held up, indecisive.
She then looked to the 'superior' of hers, wondering what he would do.
But he was just stood there, his mouth slightly open and his eyes bloodshot.
"Why?!" She didn't understand what was going on.
Again, she would need to run away alone.
She entered this black sect for one reason, to gain strength.
She wanted revenge.
She used to be part of a smaller sect that was known as the Graceful Lily Sect, an all-women's sect with just under 50 members in total, under the administration of Iris such a sect could exist peacefully.
At least, in theory.
However one day, their sect was raided by a large number of vagrant cultivators, along with many different black sects, they were torn apart, many members were killed on the spot and others captured, taken somewhere unknown.
She was saved because her Senior Sisters allowed her to escape, but she was the only one to manage to escape successfully.
After that, she didn't know what to do anymore.
She didn't trust the sect system since it allowed such a thing to happen.
So she turned to the underworld of cultivation, as a vagrant she spent a few years trying to progress on her own, trying to find out who exactly planned the attack on her sect.
But in the end, she was a single person, she couldn't do much.
That was until she was approached by someone wanting to introduce her to an organisation.
It was a black sect, one she had heard a lot about, they were the biggest one in the country, yet no one knew much about them at all.
She was hesitant, but also saw it as her chance to get stronger.
She had no loyalty to it, and they expect no loyalty either, it was use and be used, and that suited her.
But now… she was facing the same decision as back then again.
She was too weak, she couldn't win, she knew that from a single glance of that veiled man.
So, she should run.
Right?
But the weight on her shoulder's stopped her, literally.
The old man had never told them his name, but he had looked after them like a kind older sibling.
And now he was seconds from dying before her eyes.
Luo Qi was on his way out too… if she ran, he would be dead for sure; She didn't like him at first, he was cheeky, always got on her nerves and never stopped flirting… but before long she got used to it, found it comforting somewhat.
It was weird, but she had regained some semblance of peace that she had back in the sect.
But now, she would throw it away?
"No! I won't leave!" She shouted, causing the two to stare at her with sheer surprise.
The old man's body leaned, collapsing towards the ground.
As he did, the last lights of his eyes were directed towards the two, he hoped they would be okay.
"Capture them" A calm voice came from the dark of the night, but Lei Ya didn't care.
She turned, channelling all her Qi into the ground as it ruptured, large earthen spikes rose up and surrounded her while compressing more and more.
Then, she directed them all towards the veiled man before the backs of the spikes compressed, squeezing the frontal part, and causing them to shoot out at a drastically increased speed!
Right after, she turned to run away, yet-
"Huh?!" She stopped dead in her tracks.
Right behind her, was another man in a veil, he was almost identical to the other one.
She quickly glanced behind her-
*CLANG CLANG CLANG*
The spear span, easily shattering the rocks as they came until there was none left.
'There's more than one?!' Her head turned towards the second one again, but it was too late.
He was too fast.
She felt an impact on the side of her head and her conscious went blank.
…
Shu He watched it all unfold as he laid on the floor, the Qi seal was still in effect, but he wasn't in any trouble anymore, so he didn't attempt to break out.
He was merely a spectator now.
Starting from the silver flash piercing the 'superior' black mask, to the knockout of the girl it had barely been 15 seconds, a short amount of time yet it was over.
Yes, completely.
The old man had been killed, a spear technique pierced him through from behind completely destroying his heart and that horrid being that infested it.
The girl was knocked out cleanly, then he and the young man were skilfully placed under a seal.
As for the last one….
The silver light withdrew from the black masks' chest, but he didn't move a single inch like he had been frozen in time, the only thing he could do was weakly talk from the back of his throat.
"Me..ta…l? W… hy?!"
He had been sealed, but it was a much stronger seal that was created from the thin blade that pierced his chest, a massive amount of formation symbols had become engraved on his body with his heart as the core, he wouldn't ever be able to move without it being removed again.
From the shadows behind the man stepped another man, he had a well-groomed moustache while his hair was balding in the middle of his head, he was a man Shu He recognised well.
"I must say, Junior Shu, you've managed to get yourself caught up in quite an event".
The black masked man's eyes struggled to look between the man standing behind him and Shu He, the light in his eyes giving way to his realisation.
The person they were chasing wasn't a mere vagrant, nor a minor disciple! He must have been someone important!
Is what he thought, though he wasn't fully correct.
Su Wen casually walked over and touched Shu He's shoulder, Shu He felt a burst of QI enter his body that completely erased the seal freeing his movement.
Shu He pushed himself up, brushing the dirt off his cloak before bowing.
"Thank you for saving me, Senior Su".
"It's not a problem, you were told reinforcements were being sent out in the message, no?".
Shu He lightly scratched his cheek in embarrassment "I didn't think it'd be this much though…"
It wasn't just Su Wen or the two veiled men, in fact there were six in total, the other three were securing the perimeter!
Shu He hadn't noticed them at all until they approached to strike, they must have been hiding a fair distance away and very well at that.
"You'll have to thank the Vice-Sect Master for that, originally it would just be two members, but he said something felt off, so he gathered five plus me" Su Wen explained, stroking his moustache as he stared at the black masked man "He really has taken a liking to you, even if he hasn't taken you as a disciple".
"…I'll have to thank him later then" Shu He nodded, maybe two was enough to deal with these people, but it may have been cutting it close…
Shu He then looked around, getting a better look at the four people… three and a corpse.
"Who are these people?" He asked, he knew they were part of a black sect, but not which one.
"Hmm?" Su Wen glanced at Shu He as his eyes narrowed slightly then softened "They're part of the largest black sect, the name isn't widely known but their reputation is".
"And that name is…?"
"Swarm"
Shu He frowned at the name.
"What kind of name is that?"
"Who knows? We don't even know who runs the organisation, nor their goals" Su Wen shrugged "The only thing we know is that we can't allow them to do what they want, or many innocents will die".
"Then, who is that?" Shu He asked, pointing at the sealed man, even now he felt an instinctual fear from the writhing Baleful Qi inside of him.
Su Wen chuckled slightly "I saw, you froze when you met him, you couldn't do a single thing".
Shu He's expression darkened "I did, is that funny?"
"Sorry, I didn't mean it that way, it's natural to be scared of something so vast, or incomprehensible, something way above you".
Shu He's expression relaxed slightly, but he still frowned.
"But that fear, even though it's natural, you cannot let it control you; Embrace it, but don't become it, you'll hit a brick wall on your path unless you learn to do that".
"…Right, I'll remember that" Shu He said while gripping his fists tightly.
'Another failure to overcome' He noted in his mind.
"Your performance before that was satisfactory though, you even managed to disable one of them, that should be praiseworthy" Su Wen clapped lightly.
"Wait, since when were you following me?!"
Shu He had assumed they arrived not too long before they struck, but that didn't seem to be the case!
"Since the beginning really, we were waiting near the town and once your activated your talisman we moved immediately, just before you leaped off that cliff".
"… couldn't you have helped a bit earlier?"
"I wanted to give you room to stretch your legs… and I also wanted to see if our mark would come out" Su Wen glanced at the sealed man.
"Mark? Him?"
"That's right, he's one of the higher ups in Hive and is active in this region, we wanted to catch him off guard before he got a chance to do anything, he's quite a tricky one you know?" Su Wen smiled at Shu He "Whatever it was you did to scare him gave me a perfect moment to attack".
"That…" 'Wasn't intentional' he wanted to say but then he sighed "You're welcome".
Shu He knew he was at the brink of bursting with all his Golden Qi at that very moment, it was likely that the man somehow sensed it, probably instinctively, and got scared.
Shu He then looked at the other two, their masks were off as well as their cloaks, they wore tattered clothes underneath with little else.
"What's going to happen to them?" He asked out of curiosity.
"They'll be handed over to Iris for judgement, they're just flunkies in the hierarchy of Swarm after all".
Shu He glanced at the sealed man; he could easily guess what would happen to him, so he didn't feel the need to ask.
Interrogation, Torture, Incarceration and maybe Death if they're generous.
The sky had begun to brighten as the sun peeked over the horizon causing Shu He to yawn.
"What should I do now?"
His main mission was complete, was there any need to do the rest?
"Right, there was an update about the other part of your mission" Su Wen suddenly perked up.
"An update? Is it no longer needed?"
"On the contrary, the beast as undergone its ascension".
"…What?! Isn't that really bad?!" Shu He's tired eyes shot open.
"You would think so, but it seems the beast… spirit beast is insistent on keeping to its territory, It seems some of the smaller sects have sent some of their members to investigate as well, so it's still under control".
"So is there really a need to go?" Shu He expressed his doubts, he feels worn down already, he wanted to get some sleep.
"Now, don't be like that, we don't know what will happen in the end, just think of it as a bit of a vacation after dealing with all this heavy stuff" Su Wen said.
Shu He wasn't sure whether he was joking or not.
He just turned on his foot and began to walk away.
"Whatever, I'm going to sleep then I'll set off tomorrow, you don't need me here right?"
"Of course not, you go ahead and do that" Su Wen nodded before turning to the others.
"Go ahead and take them away!".