"Boss, can I have this one after you're done playing with her."

One of the hooded man asked with excitement as he used his eyes to examine Zhi Ruo's body up and down. His obvious glee could hardly be contained within his creepy lust-filled voice.

Even though Hartley and Zhi Ruo were shrouded in loose black hooded robes, the group could tell that Zhi Ruo was a female.

Her distinctive curves and elegant movement had betrayed her gender.

What her face looked like didn't matter. Out here in the barren lands, running across a good looking human woman was an unexpected rarity. Men wondering the barren lands for extended periods would rarely find the company and pleasure of a decent woman.

"Hmmm," with a throaty grunt the leader gave his approval after a short pause, watching keenly to see if his underling could subdue or kill the young man and capture the woman. There were no weaklings in the barren lands after all.

Unable to hold himself back any longer the excited hooded man trembled with joy, he was the first of the four to eagerly make his move.

The hooded man dashed forward closing the distance within a few strides, immediately a long sword glinting with pulsing flashes of green appeared in his grasp. It was unclear who his target was as he lifted the sword high above his head launching himself at the couple sending the wind whirring around and dust scattering.

Zhi Ruo was no longer the naive woman who had journeyed through dangerous situations depending on Hartley's protection. She was now battle hardened after nearly a year and a half of experience under Hartley's tutelage.

Without a word she stepped out with lithe elegant steps producing ripples of white circles under her feet, she fearlessly advanced to meet the vile attacker, under his hood Hartley smiled to himself.

The man was a third layer xiantian expert, seeing that Zhi Ruo was only in the second layer, his confidence must've been at an all time high. Hartley knew he was of no threat to Zhi Ruo however. Hartley stood his ground calmly and kept an eye on the other three.

As she moved forward Zhi Ruo's hood came undone with the fluttering wind created by her opponent, exposing her beautiful face and sending her flowing red locks sailing in the wind, bringing a vivid dose of colour and beauty to the dreary grey barren lands.

Two daggers slightly glowing white appeared in Zhi Ruo's hands. These daggers were about 8 inches in length, accented with bright white flowing lines crawling along the full length of its silver blades. These were rank 6 spirit weapons made with some of the white iron Hartley had received from Prince Jian.

The man hesitated for split second as he saw the beauty coming at him, he was even more excited at the sight of Zhi Ruo's face and a bit reluctant to damage the prize of the battle, but when he saw Zhi Ruo's right handed dagger viciously swiping towards his throat. He swung downwards with his sword at full force, hoping to overcome her with brute strength and throw her backwards.

Fight or die, that was the law of the barren lands, the man had to adhere to this rule and protect himself even though he was mesmerized by the red hair beauty.

Clang! the sword and dagger met with a deafening clash ... there was a bright and blinding white flash ... Zhi Ruo rotated her blade out to the right with precision upon contact.

The sword that was twice the size of the dagger shattered to pieces, sending metal shards flying everywhere like sparks on a christmas sparkler ... the shocked man over-rotated and stumbled back.

Rapidly blinking and screaming for help, he was trying to clear the bright after-image of the flash from his eyes, leaving himself wide open to a counter-attack.

"Trash!" Zhi Ruo snorted, how could she allow the others to come to his aid. She took a step forward then one to the right, keeping within range and manoeuvring to the mans blindside.

The blade in Zhi Ruo's left hand came whipping at the man again. Swoosh... This time his head flew through the air and fell like the loose petal of a blooming flower.

She was left standing in a pose with blades extended on the other side of the headless body, it spurted a shower of blood and ran for a couple more steps before falling to the cracked floor.

Her move was elegance and savagery in equal measure.

"Guo Jang!" The three remaining hooded figures hollered out the name of their comrade in shock, hardly believing their eyes as they watched the familiar man's head rolling like a ball across the scene.

"Trash will always be trash." Zhi Ruo turned her head and stated in contempt.

The hooded men went red with rage and anger.

"How dare you! I will beat you half to death then play with you till you exhale your final breath" Shouted the leader in a cold tone.

The three enraged men thirsty for immediate revenge drew their weapons, with a surge of different elemental powers they began swiftly advancing towards Zhi Ruo kicking up a storm of dust and pebbles with their killing intent rising to the heavens.

"That's enough." Hartley spoke sternly whilst stretching out an open palm towards the men, then he closed it into a fist.

The men rushing forward came to an instant bone crunching halt in their tracks as if they had run headlong into a brick wall. A translucent sphere surrounded the men and pressure assaulted them from all sides.

Squealing like pigs, the three panicking men were suddenly jolted down by an unseen force, they hit the ground like a bomb with an explosion that sent brown sprays of the hard ground and shattered rocks flying out.

One man hit the ground so fast that his head exploded into messy red pulp with brain matter splattering everywhere.

The sounds of broken bones echoed as the two remaining men screamed and thrashed painfully like wild animals trapped in a small cage.

They made human shaped indents into the earth as if they were trees being planted. Dust and dirt tumbled across the chaotic scene until things quieted down.

Hartley looked over to Zhi Ruo and asked, "are you ok?" as he walked forward.

Zhi Ruo admired her new blades and answered "yes," with a smile as she pulled her hood back over her head, concealing her beautiful face and flowing red hair once again.

Hartley shook his head, he released the pressure on the men and retracted his sphere.

When the dust settled, one man was headless, the other laid twisted and mangled in an unnatural position, his body kept twitching and blood flowed freely from every orifice on his face, within seconds he was lifeless.

The last was a blood-streaked man who looked older than the sand in the desert. His dried and wrinkled skin sagged across his face like old leather on a worn out bag.

He grimaced in pain and kept scooting backwards on his butt with the whites of his eyes bulging in fright as the couple approached him.

Nursing a few broken bones and several bloody wounds the durable old man did something unexpected as they got closer. He stammered out a single phrase towards Hartley....

"Master please spare my life I am willing to serve you." as he managed to bow his head in submission.

Hartley was taken aback for a bit, he half-expected to be barraged with threats and name-dropping, "seems like there was no shame or honour in the barren lands." Hartley thought to himself.

"Good, you can be our guide." Hartley said coldly.****

Even though the scorching sun was a constant fixture in the sky, the barren lands still had a gloomy grey outlook, trees were scarce and when one saw one, it was always leaf-less and withered. It was like something was sucking the life from the land.

Hartley and Zhi Ruo made their way deeper south into the barren lands with the old man hobbling twenty meters ahead. The man was visibly nervous as he kept warning that they shouldn't head into the sacred grounds of the beast-men.

After seeing the destination on Hartley's map he had tried his best to convince Hartley to turn back as sweat washed his entire body.

Pledging his loyalty to Hartley and becoming his servant was only a ploy by the wily old man to preserve his life, for the time being he had to follow orders unconditionally.

The man held hopes of recovering his strength, taking revenge, and gaining his freedom when the inexperienced young man were to let his guard down. "Those youngsters have to sleep at some point," the old man was scheming to himself.

Only to later make the dreaded discovery that Hartley was headed for the sacred grounds of the beast-men and himself was the one leading the intrusion.

The old man's head almost exploded with frustration, when one fled from society to the barren lands they tended to stay on the outskirts and vye for resources with the other outlaws.

Only the people who wanted to eradicate the beast-men or those greedy men convinced that there were hidden treasures within the beast-men tribes would ever venture into the heart of the beast-men territory, and none of them ever returned.

There was sure death ahead and a monster trailing on his heels behind. The old man glimpsed back over his shoulder at the young couple and shuddered. if he was to try and escape that would only result in a quicker death so he kept moving forward nervously.

After a while scant villages began to appear, the buildings were made from wood and had what appeared to be straw roofs. These villages had no walls or fences, just a smattering of buildings huddled together. There seemed to be people moving about but Hartley couldn't see anything specific.

After reaching within 50 meters of one of the villages, Hartley felt a strong stab of danger down his spine.

Immediately Hartley's sphere covered himself and Zhi Ruo twinkling with blue flashes of light, in an instant they floated back 20meters scattering dust everywhere.

A shadow outlined in a green glow flashed out from somewhere unknown, by the time the hobbling old man realised what was happening, he was being blasted by a huge fist outlined in a brown glow..

It was as if the old man was blasted off the planet, there was a hefty thud and pieces of him were sent flying in every direction and out of sight. His demise was so quick that he couldn't even make a sound.

A growling bare-chested beast-man toting a spear now stood at the spot the old man once occupied.

This was Hartley's first time seeing a beast-man, he was a hulking 3 meters tall and stood upright like a human. The intimidating beast-man was covered in golden fur up to his neck and had facial features similar to a lion.