Silence immediately fell upon the battleground when his voice echoed.
All the people fighting looked in their direction when they heard Mok-Rang's shout. Then, upon seeing him standing there, the expression from the dark robed people changed from hostility into surprise.
"Sect Leader!"
"You survived!"
The dark robed people showed obvious change in their demeanor as they raised their weapons.
"Glory to Demon Sect! Kill those bandits!" They shouted loudly before launching themselves at the enemy group who still remained silent in their place like a stone statue.
The result was quite clear from their appearance alone. The dark robed people were tired and their robes were ruined by cuts and dirt while the enemy was only slightly injured at most. However, a newfound energy was surging within them as they started to push back the enemies with their full strength.
"Benefactors, thank you for escorting me this way. I will consider your job as done." The Heavenly Demon muttered before transforming into a shadow once more and arrived at the center of the battle with his body shrouded in violent aura.
Immediately afterward, a huge pressure descended on the place like a heavy mountain. With a swing of his hand, a blast of energy shaped like an explosion blasted everyone standing there and sent them flying in every direction.
It was obvious who won here with a single glance. The survivors from the dark robed people let out a sigh of relief when they saw their sect leader join the battle.
Leo watched the fight silently. He was immersed and observed every movement with his keen eyes.
The Qi that enveloped each body was clearly visible to him. There was something like a dim purple aura that coiled around Mok-Rang's hand as he launched one attack after another to finish off the enemies in an instant.
"Leader, is that..." Jessica asked from behind him while taking a step closer. "Is that a skill called Martial Skill?"
"Yes." He nodded at her question. "Everyone should analyze this battle. We will be seeing something like this pretty often soon."
His statement caused everyone to focus more on the fight while observing everything carefully. They felt this might be useful for later. Their smart lenses recorded the fight and helped them analyze it pretty easily.
Looking at one way, it was quite educational as they witnessed how Martial Arts were being used here firsthand.
"That's destructive. Are their bodies also enhanced by Nanites?" Jack said after observing carefully for a few minutes before nodding his head in satisfaction at his own analysis. "Or something similar to that."
"They are using Qi, not Nanites." Jessica responded with a brief explanation of what Qi was. "But it has the same effect on them in terms of enhancing their body. They can also use it to send a shockwave like what Mok-Rang did. In a way, it's similar to Nanites, but they are natural."
"An organic Nanites... That sounds like an interesting thing to analyze." Shui nodded as he sheathed his sword. "I want to practice it."
"If we can extract it somehow, it should be easier to study," Chiaki commented as she smirked lightly. "I would like to know more about this Qi. Can I let Coco dissect a person to analyze it, Leader?"
"I will allow it if we have hostages." Leo answered calmly but didn't say anything further after that. He looked at the result of the fight with a quiet expression and continued to observe the fighting with his keen eyes.
Soon, it ended. There were more than thirty of them who wore black robes standing while clutching their wounds. They had a satisfied expression on their faces when they looked at Mok-Rang approaching them.
The surviving enemies had long since ceased to exist in this forest as the Heavenly Demon finished them with a swift kick that sent half of their bodies flying far away from here.
After saying something to his disciple, the old man approached Leo and his group. He had a storage ring in his hand and handed it to him.
"Thank you for protecting me. This is the reward we promised before. Everything is inside the storage ring."
Leo accepted the storage ring without saying anything and tossed it into his pocket.
"If you have any request, just tell us. We plan on staying in Sichuan for a while."
"I appreciate your offer." Mok-Rang nodded at his words and gave them a gentle smile.
Without exchanging any other words, Leo left with his group toward the forest. From the map created by scanning the surroundings while they were walking earlier, he knew his rough location and where the biggest city near them was.
Next destination was the Capital City of Sichuan – Chengdu.
***
Having met with his disciples again, the Heavenly Demon went to the village where the rest of the Demon Sect members were hiding.
He gathered all 5 Elders of the Demon Sect into a meeting and explained that the group of people the disciples saw with him had saved him from the Poison Sect.
"Can they be trusted, Sect Leader?" The First Elder, a man who had a gray beard and short height, asked worriedly after hearing what he had been through. "Will it be safe for us if we let them stay in this territory?"
"The Poison Sect will come after us again." Another Elder argued firmly in a sharp voice as she adjusted her glasses. "We should kill them before they do something bad to us. Who knows what they are planning for us? They can report this village's general location to the Tang Clan."
"Indeed."
All Elders agreed with her idea of killing them for safety. It was just a logical decision that they were all aware of. After all, no one wanted their enemies to grow stronger before they made any moves on them.
However...
"No."
Mok-Rang disagreed with them and shook his head. "We will not do that."
His voice resounded throughout the meeting room and caused everyone to look at him with doubtful expressions on their faces as they wondered why he refused to follow their opinion.
"We might be an Unorthodox Sect, but we're no Evil Sect. You are implying that I should kill my benefactor... The Demon Sect's benefactor. That's unacceptable."
"But Sect Leader—"
"Enough." The old man cut the female Elder off and raised his hand in a commanding gesture, stopping her from continuing.
'They don't know what they are facing. These guys are dangerous. When I slipped and mentioned I would kill their leaders, they already moved to kill me, even breaching my Qi defense easily. And that young man, Leo... I can't measure his strength at all. He's probably the most dangerous out of their group.'
He remembered what happened in the tunnel before continuing.
"If we harm them, then we will be the scums of society. Do you want us to be reduced to a mere scum like those from the Tang Clan who ostracized this attack toward us?"
No one was able to say anything in response to his question as they all knew the truth about him. He was once the most ruthless person among them when he was younger and never hesitated to kill anyone who he deemed as an enemy.
However, things had changed as he aged and experienced many things in his life. And that realization was more important than anything. It was a foundation that made the Demon Sect prosper for so long in this kind of world filled with treachery and backstabbing.
"We will create an amicable relationship with them. If we need help, we will hire them. Keep it like that and make them comfortable with our Sect. They are a true neutral force in this world. As long as we pay them higher than anyone else, they will become our most trusted ally. And right now we need trusted allies more than anything."
The Elders were surprised at his decision but nodded nonetheless.
"Our priority right now is rebuilding our Sect." He continued with a sharp tone in his voice before standing up from his seat and walked outside. "We will lay low for a while. Send out people to investigate how much damage our Sect suffered from this attack. And when we're ready..."
A moment of silence fell upon everyone present as they waited for him to finish his words patiently. The other four Elders glanced at each other and nodded slightly.
"... We will destroy the Tang Clan."
All Elders stood up immediately and cupped their hands, bowing in respect to their leader.
"As you wish!" They spoke in unison and left the meeting room one by one.