They got prepared to attack the beast which lunged forward at them with immense speed, claws ready to shred them apart.
Zhulong's eyes caught Ying holding a sword in his grasp as he prepared to attack, fingers coiling tightly around the hilt of the sword.
His gaze shifted to Azure who's gaze was fixed intently on the beast but uneasiness overwhelmed him, so he moved closer to her, half shielding her with his body. He couldn't allow her get hurt.
She opened her mouth to speak but he was glad she closed it shut when the beast was only less than five meters away from them.
The next moment transpired in a blink of an eye. The creature sprung on its feet to land in front of Xuanming. It lunged its claws at him, ready to shred him to bloody bits.
Xuanming swiftly dodged the attack and grasped its fleshy arm. An ice crust gradually manifested on its arm but in a blink of an eye, it inflated as it rapidly dispersed to its upper arm before Xuanming pummeled his fist with immense force into the iced arm.
The iced arm shattered into fragments of bloody ice from the effect, leaving the creature with a decapitated arm with blood seeping out of it and the creature growled loudly in pain, rage burning in its red eyes more than before as it snarled revealing its hideous fangs.
It lunged its good arm with long claws at Xuanming in a crooked position to avoid the same fate.
Xuanming dodged it yet again as he leapt from the position to land farther away from it but unaware that the creature followed behind and was soon next to him.
He veered around when he felt the dark presence hovering behind him but the creature's claws were barely away from his neck ready to dissect his head from his shoulders.
In the slightest moment, the creature was flung away from him to collide against the water fountain which shattered into fragments of ceramic from the effect of the hit.
"I thought you'd be able to get rid of it." Wenglei muttered before averting his gaze to the creature who was rising up slowly from beneath the shards of the broken fountain burying it.
Zhulong bit the inside of his cheek when Wenglei saved Xuanming. It was so close, he would have been gone with his head rolling off if Wenglei hadn't interrupted, but if he were to be logical, he wouldn't have died after all, anyone would have saved him if not Wenglei.
None of them looked in the least tense, the beast didn't seem to be a match for Xuanming but he saw Phoenix's face turn a bit pale when the creature almost took his head off, although he couldn't understand why she stayed behind and didn't proceed to help.
The creature snarled heavier than before with slobber dripping from its clenched pointy fangs as it bared it to view, eyes glowering darkly with rage as it arose from beneath the broken fountain and blood oozing nonstop from its decapitated arm yet it didn't seem to care about the pain and like a mindless beast, it charged at them.
Five meters away from them, the earth evoked spikes which pummeled out of the ground encircling the beast with a ground vibrating effect in an instant.
It occurred to him that it was Gai's powers. He could manipulate and control earth.
The creature snarled angrily at them with gleaming red eyes as it was being trapped in the spiky earth coop.
It slashed against the earth spikes with its claws ferociously as it growled, sending splinters of earth flying in the air.
Gai outstretched his hand and more spikes plunged out of the ground to enclose the beast but it relentlessly slashed through the earth spikes like a crazed beast, its scales on its back stood erect and rattled as it struck the earth with its claws employing elevated force, making more earth splinters fly.
"It won't hold it for long. Destroy it!" Gai cried out between gritted teeth, heavy huffs of breath releasing from him as he employed more spikes to ascend from the earth.
Ying charged forward like the moving wind towards the beast, as he reeled his sword and descended it down on the beast who was half entrapped in the cage of spikes.
The spikes split into huge chunks of splinters as the sword collided against it with brute force. The creature was free but only for a split second when Ying moved with remarkable speed, spinning his sword in the air and plummeted it across its abdomen, splitting it into two neat halves.
The body divided neatly with blood spraying out of it before it dropped to the floor with a loud thud, making the earth underneath them rumble slightly.
Ying's sword dripped with blood and he took out a kerchief and wiped it clean with clenched jaws.
"We need to clean this place up and do something about the victims corpses." Ying spoke in a clipped tone.
"The creature was quite fierce, wasn't it?" Gai asked rhetorically with an edgy chuckle.
"Yes it was. I would have easily taken it out but it almost had me. Damn!" Xuanming muttered angrily beneath his breath.
"I doubt that." Zhulong taunted with a sardonic smirk playing on his lips.
"Well, if you were so competent enough, why stand around like a coward then?" Xuanming hissed.
"It's not a worthy kill and definitely not something worth wasting my time on, its too trivial for a creature like me." Zhulong taunted more and Xuanming's silver eyes burned with anger.
"None of us expected it to be that powerful. We were too laid back." Phoenix comforted as she chipped in but Xuanming didn't say anymore and marched into the palace.
"We should take care of the deaths here, since it was done in the palace it would be more discreet. As for the survivors, kill them." Wenglei spoke with a cold menacing aura as he commanded with an air of authority before proceeding to disperse out of their sight without a reply.
"We don't have to kill them!" Azure almost yelled with her high pitched voice, losing her composed demeanour at the moment and He halted when he heard her speak.
"You don't, I do." He said with a cold tone as he held his forbidding gaze with her before leaving.
Lei shrugged his shoulders and proceeded off to the west wing of the palace where the survivors had ran off to, presumably to get rid of them.
Zhulong saw a frown of displeasure etched on Azure's face before she veered around and stormed back into the palace.
He was about to go after her when he heard Ying's blank voice echo behind him.
"Let's clean up, you don't expect me to do it alone. Phoenix will help too." Ying said with a bored expression as he dragged a decapitated corpse heaping them up to form a pile and Zhulong sighed in exasperation before joining him.
Eventually the corpses were piled up to form a heap before Phoenix moved closer, wriggling her nose at the putrid smell emanating from the corpses before she outstretched her hand.
A flaming mist engulfed her hand and in a blink of an eye, the heap of corpses went up in a guttural flame leaving nothing but a pile of ash as the aftermath.
A discussion ensued as they were all summoned to the meeting room by Wenglei.
"The creature attacked us in broad daylight in the palace because the four clans of the guardian are together. It might attack again." Azure spoke.
"That is why we have to proceed quickly before another unexpected attack transpires." Zhulong chipped in this time. Ever since Wenglei saw him as nothing but a burden, he wanted to change his mind about him. He wanted to prove to him that he was more than just a womanizing fuck.
"Why are you even here Zhulong? You've never interested yourself in our business." Wenglei spoke nonchalantly with lazy black eyes peering at him.
"I've changed and I want to aid my brothers alongside the fight." He replied and he could hear Xuanming scoff.
"You're coming along? You'll do more than just say you've changed. I don't want a dead weight holding us back." Wenglei drawled as he lazily rested his chin with his palm.
"It's also my fight, we're brothers after all and I realised that you were right, its time for me to take on real commitments." Zhulong said. Helping his brothers was a priority but the obscure journey could pave a way to strengthen the bond he and Azure once shared.
Wenglei nodded his head, but he didn't seem moved by his speech, in fact he wasn't in the least smitten.
"Well, don't disappoint me Zhulong. Fail me and I'll decapitate you with my own hands. I hate dead weights." Wenglei said with a low growl, his aura switching from a blank one to a brewing melancholy of darkness. His threats were no joke.
"I won't disappoint you Lord Wenglei." He replied with an unwavering voice.
"I hope Azure isn't the reason you're tagging along because If it is..." He trailed off, letting dark whispers of melancholy complete his words.
"I assure you it isn't." He replied almost instantly and Wenglei nodded again with a dreary smile.
"We'll be leaving for the Mage domain tonight." He declared.