It would have been nice if I had been able to implement my plan. Although I wasn't sure recording would do any good, I did think Elder Shadow might use it to my advantage, but I knew by now just how slippery Elder An could be. Events conspired to keep me from reaching the location I was aiming for. It wasn't that I forgot that we were in a forest that was teaming with life, beasts that would see us as dinner, so much as I had discounted the threat as secondary. Nero was a more pressing concern.

Unfortunately for Nero, he had forgotten or ignored that fact too. At least until he made the mistake of disturbing a hunting pack of Troodon. The animals, individually, weren't much of a threat, they rarely ranked above tier one, but they were pack animals. They had evolved one of the largest brain-to-body ratios for any of the dinosaurs which made them not only fierce hunters but intelligent and canny.

They had devised effective strategies at stalking and herding prey. Often employing ambush and guerilla tactics to wear down an opponent. They were not the largest dinosaur, only standing waist-high, but they were armed with serrated teeth and retractable, natural weapons that allowed them to kill larger animals. They did this by rotating in and out of attack range. Slashing and retreating they shredded their victims, leaving hundreds of slashes that could not be healed quickly.

They were relentless, fast, and agile enough that very few things could outrun or escape once they began attacking. Their coloring was striking, completely out of place for this environment. Blue and yellow striped from head to tail, feathers grouped and clustered together in sharp contrast.

I wasn't sure why Nero allowed himself to blunder into the middle of a pack. My Qi perception had identified them early enough that I had changed direction so that I would not disturb them. But my change in direction gave Nero an opportunity. It was possible to cut me off and intercept me if he refused to change course. So, either his perception had failed to warn him about the gathered Troodons, or he thought it an acceptable risk in order to capture me.

We were close to the Sect, one of the rivers that flowed away from the lake created by the falls that gave our Sect its name was in sight. My avenues of escape would become severely limited once we reached that barrier.

But Nero's ego made escape moot.

His determination to catch me before I returned to the Sect was his undoing. He blundered right into the middle of the pack of hunting Troodon, becoming the target of an indignant, meat-eating, and hungry flock. If he had managed to bull-rush his way past the flock, he would probably have been fine. Cultivators were able to outrun the lower realm beasts without much effort, but he had crashed into the animals, one after another, until they tripped him up.

I was far enough away that I hadn't been witness to his fall, but the sounds were evidence of exactly how he was faring. His scream in pain and fury had me stopping. I realized he may be setting a trap, making noises consistent with battle. A battle he seemed to be losing, or a battle he was using to bait me into stopping my run, banking on my curiosity to find out what was going on.

I reasoned as I slowed that he and his group didn't know me well enough to believe that my natural curiosity was strong enough to negate my survival instincts. I didn't need to guess whether he was laying a trap or not, the sounds of Troodon fury accent, and counterpoint to his grunting and moaning.

Nero had a Platinum Spirit Root too, so he had some idea what my capabilities would be at my rank of Body Refinement Realm. He has enjoyed duel affinities. His affinity with water and wood was strong, while I resonated with water and air.

Only people who had more than one affinity, affinities that complement each other, and spent time training, learning how to master them by merging them together into a third affinity knew how much more powerful that merged dual affinity actually was.

Water and air could be combined to create lightning, one of the first methods I'd mastered when I finally gained enlightenment about merging my elements. I'd needed to master that process before I could take the first step on the path to mastering [Lighting's Rush].

But there were other results I'd discovered while experimenting with the merging of my affinities. By using water to create a fine mist and air to control the ambient temperature, I could create fog. The Tessen was especially suited for dispersing the billowing banks of fog I could produce, the fan directing movement of air so that the fog that settled to the ground could be restrained so that an area could be filled. A fog so dense that vision was limited to arm's length.

I decided to take the chance and return to the clearing where I could hear the sounds of battle. His cries of pain layered with fear and desperation removed any lingering doubt that I may be walking into a trap. I understood the sounds of desperation he was making when I finally moved into range and could sense what was going on using Qi perception.

One of his legs was detached, either bitten or clawed off, probably done when he first went crashing and blundering into the pack. The Troodon must have been near parity to his level for them to have been able to ignore the improvements to his body that honing had produced. Even tier-one animals could be dangerous, the saying that an army of ants could slay an elephant was not sophistry.

Nero's only weapon was the sword, but he had reached Qi Gathering Realm so was able to release Qi blades, constructs of concentrated Qi, in dizzying and staggering numbers. He was spamming the attack, draining his Qi at a prodigious pace in an attempt to fend the beasts off. But their tactic of attack and retreat was a perfect counter to a wounded foe. Their strategy made his attempts at defending himself or slaughtering them pointless. He simply didn't have the maneuverability he needed to move as he attacked.

I could have left him to his fate. If the roles were reversed, I was certain that is exactly what he would do. But I wasn't that type of person. And I didn't want to be that type of person.

Still, I refused to make the same mistake he had and blunder in, only to be surrounded by what looked to be almost three dozen of the vicious creatures. My first idea was using fog to obscure the clearing where a battle was joined, obscure the Troodon's vision, and give Nero a chance to escape.

I was worried that it would take time I didn't think he had. Still, it was a chance and combined with my bow, and the advantage I had by shooting from the protection of tree branches, I might be able to harry the flock until they gave up and sought out weaker prey.

One of the techniques Elder Shadow had drilled me in, drilled relentlessly was the use of my storage ring and weapons. He had been obsessed, demanding I switch between weapons, placing them in storage and retrieving them until I could cycle my Tessen and Bow instantly. It was only because of his determination that I master this technique that I was able to put my plan in motion.

Channeling water and air, creating the billowing banks of fog, I retrieved my fan and began directing and constraining the fog, creating a bubble of increasing dense water vapors that was enlarged and anchored to remain within the open area where Nero was fighting for his life.

After each fog bank was formed and distributed, I would switch the Tessen out for my Bow. Selecting those Troodon that were in the retreating phase of their attack cycle, I would summon a water arrow and channel [Water Pierce] as I released the string's tension and sent arrow after arrow.

The process of switching between techniques, creating fog and releasing arrows, was a much higher drain on my Qi resources that simply running had been. I would have to discuss with Elder Shadow this attack sequence, show him what I was doing, and see if we could come up with a more effective method that wasn't so Qi intense.

I had no choice but to begin cultivating [Transcend the Heavenly Footpath] at the same time to restore some of the Qi I was expending. I was creating and directing fog while concurrently attacking with [Water Pierce], to add cultivation into the mix was risky. The dangers of Qi deviation if I made a mistake while cultivating while manipulating my Qi to create fog and ice very real.

I didn't have much choice, other than to leave Nero to his fate. If I paused my attacks to cultivate, the fog would disperse, and the wounds I was making to the Troodon would heal. My actions thus far would have been in vain.

This was the hardest and scariest thing I had done since becoming a cultivator and my body responded to the increased pressure, breaking past my limits. There was a knack to what I was doing, an automatic process similar to what occurred when I was honing my bones. I certainly wouldn't have chosen that moment to advance, but subconsciously I realized my body was reacting to the increased pressures I was under as an opportunity. There was a reason Cultivators used combat and duels religiously to advance. The pressure of combat was more effective for advancement than months or years of closed-door cultivation.

The truth in this maxim was a fact. Meeting Nero and Braun may have been another Heavenly opportunity. I was breaking through to the Perfected level.