Lu Zheng facial features drooped slightly at the male's voice before he answered: "Lu Zheng"
"Hmm" The man replied. "My name is An Kang. Lu Zheng, let us fight"
Spikes jutted out from An Kang's body, stabbing the Fire Dragons in the process. The spikes would appear and disappear in a random pattern, killing multiple Fire Dragons in the process.
Lu Zheng squinted his eyes as he raised his right arm up with his palm spread open. A huge fiery mass formed from his Qi on his palm, taking the form of a ball.
"This…" Lu Yang who watched from a safe distance was tongue-tied by the size of the flame ball.
Under Lu Zheng's control, the flame ball crashed towards An Kang who was still dealing with the numerous Fire Dragons.
"Hmph!" An Kang snorted as a wall of metal appeared between him and the flame ball, defending himself.
"Now!" The Vermillion Bird from before flew from An Kang's back as it spat out another flame ball many times larger than Lu Zheng's own.
"Fuck!" An Kang focused his Qi solely on defending himself as the flame ball struck him, creating a large crater in the ground.
"Huff, huff" Lu Zheng panted heavily. Using so many techniques was a burden on his feeble body.
"Is he dead?" Lu Yang muttered quizzically but soon, the battle hearted cry from An Kang answered her question.
An Lan took a quick glance at Lu Yang and noticed that most of her battle induced injuries had already become scabs.
"Bitch!" An Lan cussed. Lu Yang had taken advantage of Lu Zheng's distraction to heal herself.
"Hahahaha! To think a foe like you exists. Too bad you're from another clan, I'd have loved to spar with you!" An Kang laughed maniacally as he rose from the crater.
His joints made popping sounds as he flexed them, his golden veil reappearing on him again.
An Kang suddenly punched the air before him and a large fist projection appeared that flew towards Lu Zheng. The fist projection was very strong and even the air was destroyed by it.
Within two breaths of time, the fist projection was already closing up on Lu Zheng without any room for dodging.
Lu Zheng revealed a rare smile as he returned the punch, creating a fiery fist projection. Both fist projections slammed into themselves and destroyed one another.
"Again!" An Kang roared in excitement as he punched the air again, a bigger fist projection appearing this time.
"Hmph!" Lu Zheng spread open his palms and a sea of crimson flames appeared that easily devoured An Kang's fist projection.
Before An Kang could react, Lu Zheng concentrated his soul power to create a powerful soul attack.
Thud~!
An Kang's brain exploded within the confines of his skull as blood poured out of his orifices. His body collapsed to the ground and his defensive technique wore out at once.
"What the…?" Lu Yang was stunned by the sudden development.
"An Kang!" An Lan screamed in horror as she ran towards An Kang's corpse.
However, when she took just a few steps, she suddenly stopped. Her instincts were roaring with danger signals that if she took another step, she would surely die.
"Y-You… you killed him" An Lan voice became frail as she began to retrace her steps, walking backwards.
"Yes, and you're next" Lu Zheng said with a casual smile. The Vermillion Bird mid-air dove downwards and it consumed her in one swoop.
An Lan was caught off guard and was unable to defend herself quickly before she succumbed to the intense heat of Lu Zheng's Vermillion Bird.
"Come" Lu Zheng muttered with a tired expression as he tugged at something.
An invisible figure which only Lu Zheng could see flew at him before entering his forehead.
The invisible figure was An Lan's soul and Lu Zheng had used his soul path abilities to consume it.
It was because of their souls that Lu Zheng had refused to destroy An Kang's soul earlier – because he wanted to devour them.
However, An Kang was too much trouble for Lu Zheng to handle, he had to use that method to ensure victory. But with An Lan's soul, reverse was the case.
Lu Zheng immediately sat cross-legged and closed his eyes. An Lan's soul contained many impurities which he had to refine before they contaminated his own soul.
"What are you doing?" Lu Yang asked curiously but Lu Zheng had begun to cultivate, he couldn't respond to her.
"Hmm" Lu Yang slowly nodded in understanding. "You are only at the first tier of Refinement realm, your Dantian Sea must have run out of Qi"
Lu Yang didn't bother him anymore as she went about her own business. She revealed a small artifact which she threw onto the ground some distance from Lu Zheng.
The artifact sunk into the earth at once as wooden walls grew around the duo before transforming into a wooden hut.
Lu Yang had an expression of surprise: "[gasps], Third Uncle is awesome. To think a rank 1 Simple grade artifact could transform into a hut without me instilling my own Qi"
Although the individual realm didn't have a sense of time, the fatigue that bore upon Lu Yang made her understand that it was already night time.
"Monster" Lu Yang commented at Lu Zheng who was still cultivating as she tucked herself to sleep. "Absolute monster"