The group of five could not move recklessly since they did not know how many enemies they were facing. They had no idea who or what they were either. Right now, they were focusing on defense and strained their senses to their limit. The first thing to do was to gather as much information as possible to then determine their best course of actions.
Even though they were all armed, they were figuring out all possible escape routes in their mind. No one tried to collect the head or the body of their friend despite their desire to offer him a proper burial. Sadly, it wasn't rare for vagrant cultivators or even regular cultivators to die without a body. And even when their corpses were intact, it wasn't rare either for them to stay in the wild during very long period of time.
Most people in the Hongchen Kingdom believed in reincarnation. A part of the soul could leave the body at death and reincarnate in another life form eons later. Some believed that this part of the soul could even transcend the universe and reincarnate in other worlds. In some cases, this part of the soul could also become a ghost. And in a Yin environment such as the Lunar Marsh, this was a very likely possibility. Ghosts were not inherently evil. However, they lacked the intellect of their human life as well as most of their memories. Indeed, if a ghost formed, then death had most likely been violent and this traumatized the soul to the point where it could not exit the body properly at death.
Being damaged while leaving the body could create this ghost. Human cultivators were particularly afraid of this as it could destroy their hope for reincarnation. If the ghost was not properly sent through to the reincarnation cycle, it would roam the living world forever. Some legends spoke about ghosts able to cultivate but this was extremely rare.
Luo Jingren was the only one in the group to have ever seen a ghost in his life. In fact, he had witnessed a Spirit Warrior exorcise such an existence. Seeing his friend slaughtered on the ground, he really wanted to send him to the reincarnation cycle, to be sure to save him from such a fate. However, he was not ready to risk his life without knowing what was going on around him. And the risk of becoming a ghost was pretty low even in the Lunar Marsh. In fact, it became higher with stronger cultivators as their soul was becoming more and more powerful. Even a small part of it could produce a great ghost.
On the other hand, they were so powerful that even in death their soul rarely got damaged. So, all things considered, ghosts were extremely rare. However, they terrified many vagrant cultivators who tended to be superstitious.
From the trees, they saw the other guard running toward them. Alone, he knew he was an easy target as he had not even seen a glimpse of the attacker. He was only a 5th-grade Mortal, the very reason why he stayed in the rear and used a bow and arrow. Despite his low cultivation, he had very sharp senses. Yet, he did not see anything, so their attacker was probably way stronger than he was.
And as he was running, a red flash pursued him and his friends got horrified. Two crimson red characters pierced his torso. A huge gush of blood spurted as his body got cut in half. His legs kept running for a few moments and his upper half fell on the ground reddened with his own blood.
The two strange characters were spinning in the air around the body. The blood on the ground started to move on its own. The faster the two characters spun, the faster the blood moved. Even the blood inside both halves of the poor guard started to get sucked outside. A big ball of blood got formed, right in the center of the circle formed by the characters' rotation.
Slowly, the ball of blood levitated. When it got to the level of the characters, it stretched into thin filaments that got absorbed by them.
The mercenaries knew exactly what was going on. Such a technique did not belong to a demonic beast. They were facing a demonic cultivator. And apparently, they were gathering blood to enhance their cultivation.
The Evil path was full of terrible techniques that could quickly enhance one's strength. But they were immoral and could also destabilize one's mind. Most of the demonic cultivators became insane as they trained. Only a few were able to keep their sanity but they were absolute monsters either way.
Faced with such an opponent, it was impossible to negotiate because they most likely wanted to drain them of all their blood for some strange cultivation method. Their best option was probably to flee. However, demonic cultivators were stronger than orthodox cultivators of the same level. Even if they were facing only one opponent, none of the vagrant cultivators would be able to flee without someone stalling for time. They all understood this, especially Luo Jingren and Ma Feiran.
Indeed, Luo Jingren was the only one strong enough to gain them the time they needed. In his mind, he quickly accepted this reality and his likely death. He had fought side by side with his comrades for a decade at least. And he really was ready to die for them. It was the only rational solution. Whether he tried to flee or to fight, he had high risks of dying. But if he stayed behind to fight, he could increase his comrades' survival chances.
Luo Jingren gripped his saber even firmer and took a big inspiration. Closing his eyes, he accepted his fate. Without turning his head, he spoke to his comrades.
"You should all be aware of the situation by now. If there's only one demonic cultivator, I'll take him on and you run. Even there are more, you'll stay to fight according to your own strength. At least one of us should flee."
He then turned toward Ma Feiran.
"Feifei, I want you to live, no matter what! I want you to know that I loved you since the first day we met."
This was the first time he got as open about their relationship in front of everyone else, but even in front of her. Ma Feiran's resolve got renewed by his confession. She walked up and went to his side.
"I won't let you die alone!" Before he could protest, she kept talking. "You want me to live?! Well, I don't want to live without you. Isn't it the same for you?! Please, let me be selfish!"
Luo Jingren was not that surprised but he was deeply moved. Even though he hated the idea of his woman dying by his side, the idea of them fighting one last battle together was not so bad. In this moment, he regretted to have never been more open with her. They could have had a family of their own by now. However, they were both proud cultivators and this wasn't the life they had chosen for themselves.
"Fine." He turned toward the others. "But I won't accept any heroic sacrifice from you lots. You run as soon as you can!"
"Yes, Leader!" With reluctance in the eyes, they all agreed.
Finally, the two characters were fully satiated with their friend's blood. However, they did not move. Instead, their master walked forward. He was covered in dried blood. Of course, he was Luduo Bu with his bloody halberd in hand.
This halberd was new. It had been gifted to him by the man in purple and black. This halberd was a 2-star Human weapon called 'Red Frenzy'. Apparently it was perfect to use with 'Blood Runes'. And perfect it was. Even though Luduo Bu was still a Mortal cultivator, his blood runes could go way farther from him thanks to this halberd. They even seemed to have a mind of their own. Of course, the runes were not intelligent but they could react to external stimuli.
For example, Luduo Bu did not need to circulate the 'Blood Runes' method in order for the runes to absorb fresh blood. If he were a Mortal Warrior, he could control them only with his mind and increase both their range and their speed. Right now, he was in the process of forging his eighth runes. The closer he got to the third layer of this method, the more freedom the runes seemed to get.
Right now, Luduo Bu had reached the 8th-grade Mortal stage. The blood runes had strengthened his vessels and meridians, coating them with the blood of the ones he had killed. This level consisted in opening his acupoints to better absorb Qi. If he opened them completely, he would even be able to absorb or let out the blood runes without cutting himself. And with this method, he seemed to be easily opening his acupoints thanks to the blood he was receiving. In fact Luduo Bu was advancing way too fast.
There were many kinds of blood in his own body and it would now be impossible to hide it to any Spirit Warrior. Even Mortal Warriors would be able to detect the trace of some demonic method on his body. But in exchange, he was becoming stronger and stronger.
In his mind, he only cared about killing Cao Yun now. And this rage was fueling his own 'Blood Runes'. His inner demon was gestating and grew stronger each time he thought about Cao Yun. But for now, it was a good thing. His hatred condensed into such an inner demon allowed his 'Blood Runes' to advance faster. Every rune contained Evil Qi and an inner demon was both fueled by and fuel for such an sinister energy.
This inner demon was growing within his mind and Luduo Bu was having more and more hateful thoughts. For now he was able to control himself, but he seemed to have failed to realize this threat in his own mind. After all, he had not been a demonic cultivator for very long. And he had had no real teacher.
As soon as they were faced with this man, the hunters saw that his eyes were completely red with blood. He was the caricature of the demonic cultivator made insane by his own methods. A terrifying grin crept on his face and Luduo Bu charged toward the group. Even though he was not a Mortal Warrior, they understood that with his strange characters of blood, even their cooperation would not be enough. They truly had to run.
Running would diminish their strength but even at full strength they had little hope to win. Their best bet was to flee away as fast as possible.
Immediately, Luo Jingren and Ma Feiran advanced and their three comrades ran into the woods. With a big swing of his halberd, three characters were sent right in front of him and collided with Luo Jingren and Ma Feiran's sabers. But at the same time, four other characters circled around them and shot toward their friends.
"Be careful!"
"Behind you!"
One of them lacked the reflexes and was beheaded on the spot. The other two were able to deflect the blood runes but still sustained some cuts on their body. Some Evil Qi present in the runes started to seep through their meridians. Gradually, as they were fending off against the assaults of the runes, more and more Evil Qi got into their system. In a matter of seconds, their movements got slowed down.
This was a vicious circle. The more Evil Qi they were infected with, the slower they moved and the more wounds they sustained, and in turn, the more Evil Qi they were infected with. These characters were a bit different from the fight with Cao Yun. During this fight, Luduo Bu had tried to hide his new demonic methods. But right there in the middle of nowhere, he did not care at all. He had changed all his characters and they now all contained human blood. As such, they were brimming with Evil Qi.
This Evil Qi would slowly try to progress through a cultivator's meridians to slowly kill him. So the cultivator infected had to use his own Qi to fend off the intruder. But by doing so, he had to slow down the flow of Qi everywhere else in his body. In fact, this Evil Qi was also inside Luduo Bu, but his 'Blood Runes' method consisted in using it to become stronger. Most of the times, this was this Evil Qi that turned demonic cultivators insane.
Luo Jingren and Ma Feiran understood that the only way to save their last two friends was to distract their opponent. If he were to retract two or three runes, they would probably be able to flee. But the longer they waited, the slower their friends would become.
Without even watching each other, they ran toward Luduo Bu. Their cooperation was perfect. Luo Jingren sent the three runes flying with powerful saber strikes as Ma Feiran protected his openings. Once they got freed from the runes for even an instant, they reached their foe.
Luduo Bu took a fighting position with his halberd and decided to do something both of them did not expect. They thought he would get the runes attacking their friends back to him as the other three had been sent pretty far away. Instead, he focused on defending with his halberd and sent the three runes toward their friends. He had not full control over them given his low cultivation. But with his 'Blood Runes' method and his 'Red Frenzy' halberd, he was able to circulate his Evil Qi to influence their trajectory. And once they were near human cultivators, the blood runes would instinctively try to kill them in order to absorb their blood. The problem was that they did not coordinate with each other that well and their attack pattern was very predictable. However, quantity could quickly take over quality.
Luo Jingren and Ma Feiran became more desperate and used all they had to fight against Luduo Bu, hoping to make him call them back. They were able to injure him several times, but he guarded his vital areas efficiently enough. None of the injuries was lethal or even dangerous for him. In fact, he did not even bleed that much since his 'Blood Runes' method had allowed him to better control his own flow of blood.
Hearing screams, the couple knew that they had failed. Another of their friends had died and when the last one got faced with the seven runes, he had no chance at all. In a desperate attempt, he still tried to flee but was reduced to pieces. The corpses were horribly mutilated. Luduo Bu seemed to enjoy the process of killing a bit too much, even compared to what he was before.
Luduo Bu started to laugh maniacally.
"You've put up quite a fight you two. It's a pity all your friends are dead. And now, they'll help me kill you two."
The blood from all three of their slain comrades got condensed into the existing runes. The process took some time but Luduo Bu was able to resist the assault of the couple. Right now, their strength was equal to a late 9th-grade Mortal despite not exceeding the 7th-grade each.
Finally, Luduo Bu called back the blood runes. The couple took some distance with Luduo Bu and looked at each other one last time. It only lasted an instant but they fully admired every detail of each other. They wanted the other to be their last memory before dying. Some superstitions stated that this could allow them to reincarnate together.
Luduo Bu saw that and an even more sinister smile crept on his face.
"Oh? You're lovers..."