Of the three Gu Di attacked, 2 died immediately. The last one managed to react in time and vanished just as Gu Di got behind him. Jay on the other hand only killed one, while the other two dodged his attacks.

As fast as Gu Di and Jay were, the assailants were hardly considered walkovers and they launched their counter attacks.

Even as the three dead assailants tumbled to the ground, one of the remaining four appeared in front of Xiaoxia. He lashed out his fist, aiming directly for the head.

Xiaoxia reacted just in time and dodged the blow, while fluidly dropping into a crouched position with a leg sweep.

“Got him!” he thought excitedly as his leg almost tripped his attacker.

However it did not turn out as he expected, and his assailant leapt clear of it. Instead the assailant got beside Xiaoxia in an instant, and kick vehemently at his midsection.

Twisting his body, while raising his arms and Ki defenses, Xiaoxia blocked the blow as it landed.

“Huh?!” he thought.

While it look like it was going to hurt, it was a feeble strike at best. He barely felt the impact on his arms, as the Ki reinforced kick connected.

Feeling something is a little out of place, he decided to test a theory forming in his mind.

“Wham! Boof! Bak! Bak! Bak!”

Xiaoxia continued blocking and dodging his assailant’s blows, allowing some of them to connect. The theory seems to be holding so far, and he was very certain it could be so.

The test solidified his suspicion, that he is somehow on a higher level than the assailant. This meant he is in the Unknown Realm now. He had amazedly skipped two tiers and entered into the realm.

Right at that moment, while he was momentarily distracted by this thought, his assailant whipped out a weapon, and lunged towards him stabbing at his abdomen.

Coming right back to his senses, it was immediately obvious to Xiaoxia that this isn’t something he could block with his bare hands. The weapon was emitting a terrible Ki, and the Ki surrounding it was rather intense. It was made to pierce, and from the looks of it, there wasn’t any doubt it could do the job efficiently.

Reacting without thought, Xiaoxia activated his own weapon by pouring Ki into it. There was an intense rush, as the weapon greedily absorbed the Ki.

The weapon Gu Di passed him, was basically a sword hilt. There wasn’t a blade or any defining features that showed what it is. Just by grasping it in his hand, it remained sufficiently hidden and out of sight.

“ZZHHLLLAAAARRRKKZZZZZ!!!”

Xiaoxia did not even see what form his weapon took, as he slashed upward diagonally to counter his assailant’s weapon.

A bright white path cut across the assailants weapon, shattering it.

“How?” a look of surprise showed in the assailant’s eyes.

He could not stop his own momentum forward, as Xiaoxia’s weapon slashed downwards this time.

“A … Ah …”

The assailant’s shocked cries were cut off, as he was split in half from the shoulder to the waist.

“What the?” it was Xiaoxia’s turn to be surprised.

He did not expect the weapon to deliver such a fatal blow. What was in his hands now, looked like a sword. It is about 3 and a half feet in length, and its width is two inches wide.

To a certain extent, it was transparent, and gave off a white glow. It emitted a vibrant feeling, that made it seem as if the weapon was happy. The most unusual thing was the streams of visible Ki, flowing through what looked like veins. The shimmering fluctuation of these Ki flows, made the sword looked almost like a living entity.

“BOOM!”

A loud explosion distracted him, and directed his attention away from the weapon. As he look towards the origin of the explosion, he could vaguely see Gu Di battling two of the assailants off to his left.

Jay was nowhere to be seen in the dense jungle, but sounds of his battle could be heard coming from another direction.

Xiaoxia made a mental note to ask Gu Di more about the weapon, and went off to find Jay. He will not be needed in Gu Di’s battle, since it looks like he have it under control.

Even if Gu Di’s opponents have special abilities which is spatial movement or communications, it was extremely dangerous for them to use it in this area. The interference field will either kill them, or stun them, either way it will prove fatal in the battle.

Jay on the other hand, had just lost his arm and plenty of blood. While he may look okay now, he is not. He would be at a distinct disadvantage, even when facing a weaker opponent.

He only managed to kill the previous one, based on the element of surprise. The same technique will not work twice.

In the meantime Xiaoxia have a plan when he finds Jay’s whereabouts. It is related to some things he discovered in the past seven years, which even Gu Di and Jay are unaware. He was also thinking of something he wanted to test out.

Part of the plan, was something he could not even achieve when he was in the Academy, as he simply didn’t have the ability.

Another part of this plan, even left him visibly drained of Ki back then. But times have changed, and he is no longer Adept Realm 9th Tier.

Finding Jay’s location was not difficult, as the direction where the sound came from was obvious. Thus Xiaoxia did not immediately approach, but carried out his plan.

It only took a few minutes, and he was almost done with the last piece of his strategy, when the unexpected happened.

“Yarghh!” Jay’s voiced screamed out.

Not even pausing to think, Xiaoxia dropped what he was doing and zipped towards the scream. It was only a matter of seconds, when he nearly arrived.

Hidden in the dense foliage, about thirty feet away from where Jay was fighting, he could see no imminent danger. He let out a breathe of relief, but it was cut short when he looked closer.

Where Jay’s left arm was, the stump have begun to bleed profusely. His face was turning pale, and he started to sway unsteadily on his feet.

“No longer cocky now are we? You should have just surrendered when told. Anyway, this will be sweet revenge for my brothers!” the assailant was saying, his voice dripping with malicious intent.

He is dual wielding weapons, similar to Xiaoxia’s opponent, albeit Xiaoxia’s opponent only had one. Moreover those on the current assailant looked more intricately designed, and was not as crude.

“Why didn’t you say that to my face when I killed three of your kind in the first round, and one just now?” jay snorted and spat on the ground.

The assailant didn’t even bother to reply, as he went on the offensive.

Numerous blows were exchanged, and it became apparent to Xiaoxia, that the assailant was constantly aiming for Jay’s left side.

In the meantime, Xiaoxia chose not to interfere, as it may cause an unwanted distraction for Jay. He needed to wait for an opening, to be absolutely certain his plan worked flawlessly.

Very soon Jay’s footwork gradually became heavier, and a moment later he lost his stamina and collapsed on the ground in a daze.

The assailant who was only about fifteen feet away, was overjoyed and said aloud, “Now why don’t you lay there nicely and wait for me to kill you!”

He started walking towards Jay, certain nothing will stand in the way of killing him now. By the looks of it, his victim didn’t even have the strength left to stand, let alone escape.

“No! You should be the one!” Xiaoxia suddenly shouted.

He burst out from his hiding place and flew straight at the assailant, while reaching out with his Ki to the surrounding area.

“Fhat the wuck?!” the assailant uttered in confusion and surprise.

He did not expect any reinforcements for Jay.

“Wham!”

Although he was caught by surprise, he still reacted sufficiently to block a kick aimed towards his chest. The impact was tremendous and drove him more than a dozen feet back.

“Ugh! How did you escape? That’s impossible!” he exclaimed.

The reports indicated Xiaoxia to be a Grandmaster Realm Lower Tier, there was no way he could have defeated and escape someone in the Unknown Realm.

Xiaoxia chose not to answer him, after all he was the enemy.

“Hah! Doesn’t matter, you picked the wrong opponent today! Do you think you can defeat me? Someone who took your Shishu Jay down?” the assailant proudly proclaimed.

At this, something clicked together in Xiaoxia’s mind, “This guy knows too much!”

“Who told you he is my Shishu? And how did you know I won’t be able to escape an Unknown Realm? How did you even know where to find us?” he blurted out a string of questions.

The assailant’s body language implied he said too much, as he instinctively stiffened after being asked these questions.

“Hahaha! Guess I said too much, the orders were to bring you back alive. But if you continue to resist, I would have to kill you,” the assailant threatened.

“I will consider going back with you, if you answer my questions,” Xiaoxia insisted, while lying.

He had no need intentions to do so, and neither was it to delay or anything, since his plan could be carried out immediately at any time.

However, he did harbor some hope that perhaps the assailant will tell him something useful.

“Boy, we make it a policy to keep what we know private and confidential. We wouldn’t want others copying us and stealing our business won’t we?” there was a twinkle in the assailant’s eyes.

“Then I guess the talk is over,” Xiaoxia said, knowing it was useless to ask further.

“Then prepare to die, you and your Shishu,” the assailant said nonchalantly, as he took up an offensive posture.

Xiaoxia didn’t even care for any posture, and attacked immediately. Using his foot technique, he tried to mimic what Gu Di and Jay had done earlier.

While he managed to create 3 after-images, they were not as solid or clear.

“Hah! You think such poor attempts will work on me?” the assailant scoffed.

On the other hand, the intended use of the after images were perfect. The assailant did not suspect what is happening at this point, and the after images effectively block the view behind them.

Hence the assailant had his back turned towards them, as he faced the actual Xiaoxia. He did not see what was coming.

“WHAM!”

“URGH!” the first hit him below his rib cage, at where his kidney is.

“WHAM! WHAM!” the other two followed shortly, one in the head, knocking him out cold, and the other at the base of his neck.

What hit the assailant, were three intense Ki energies. Together, they lifted him far off his feet, causing him to smash into a nearby tree with terrific force.

His Ki defense was shattered instantly from behind, and he was already out of commission after the first Ki energy hit. The second knocked him out, and the third was the one that killed him.

Landing in a heap at the bottom of the tree, blood can be seen flowing from all his orifices. Blank lifeless eyes stared into the crowns of the tree, clearly indicating his death.

He have died by Xiaoxia’s special skills, controlling Ki remotely, or as Xiaoxia liked to called it ‘RC Ki’.

Xiaoxia have sufficiently mastered Ki manipulation in the past seven years, and he can create free standing Ki energy globes, as well as highly dense Ki.

While the density of the Ki and the energy globes were the ones who killed the assailant, it was all thanks to ‘RC Ki’ that made it work. Without his extraordinary meridian that made ‘RC Ki’, he would not have been able to create free standing Ki energy globes.

As Ki dissipates quickly, he had to constantly feed the Ki-energy-globes Ki via the Ki trails connected to them. The higher the density of Ki in the Ki energy globes is, the less feeding is required. But if starved for too long, they would not be as powerful or effective.

He could also adjust the focus of the Ki before it impacts, which is why he was able to shatter the defense of the assailant. The only downside, was that he still couldn’t hone his Ki into razor-like sharpness.

On the other hand, it was also thanks to his preparation it all worked out. If he had blindly rushed into battle, there will be insufficient time to generate enough Ki density in the energy globes. Hence by preparing them in advance, he solved that issue.

He placed these energy globes roughly a hundred feet surrounding the battle zone, and they were connected to him via his extraordinary meridian which can connect to Ki trails.

The distance he can manage to remotely control these Ki energies have grown by leaps and bounds since his Academy days, and a hundred feet is well within his limits. Training and practicing it during his trips in the wilderness, have improved the Ki required to use it.

The final piece of the plan, was meant to be a test, as well as the coup-de-grace. He had meant to connect his extraordinary meridian to remotely control the Ki weapon, but fell just short of it before rushing to aide Jay.

Feeling a little regret he wasn't able to test the last part, he knelt beside the now unconscious Jay. He then quickly removed a first aid kit from his quantum pouch, and started applying first aid to the wound.

After cleansing the stump where Jay’s left arm was with medical disinfectant, he applied a salved that healed and cauterized the bleeding.

Next he poured the contents of a vial into Jay’s mouth, then closed it while pinching his nose. This caused Jay to subconsciously swallow the fluid. It was an elixir meant to prevent any infections.

Ensuring there was nothing he missed, he carried Jay and placed him somewhere inconspicuous, before heading to find Gu Di.

On his way, he took out and equipped the bracelet he wore for the Freshmen Competition, it indicates the wearer’s Ki Realm.

“ERROR! BEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPP ! ERROR!”

It did not help, and he took it off.

In Xiaoxia’s mind now, there was an enormous amount of questions,

“What Ki Realm am I? I killed two of the Unknown Realm easily, I should be unknown realm! But is this so?”

“Who are these people? Where are they from? How did they even find out our whereabouts after seven year?”

“What is with this weapon? It feels almost alive!”

He was in a state of chaotic questions, when he nearly walked straight into a lady standing directly in front of him.

“Huh?” Xiaoxia exclaimed.

The lady in front of him did not look dangerous, nor did she give off a threatening aura.

“What’s this?” she asked, pointing straight at his Ki weapon.