Paper seals were categorized under three categories. There were the utility seals, the attack seals, and defence seals.

Utility seals were created by formations and were used to make common folks lives easier. For example, the paper seal Relic first threw out was a flash seal used by explorers in case they got lost or to scare away weak spirit beasts. The six paper seals he used to get down were called the wind impact seals. A short yet powerful burst of air regularly used to clear the streets of leaves.

These utility seals had helped Relic on his journey in the past many times and he has long seen the value of the seals past their common usages.

The attack and defence paper seals were completely different. These seals were only created by powerful cultivators who instill their insights into them. Not only were they incredibly difficult to make, it would also drain you of a lot of energy and time just to create one! That was why only wealthy and powerful cultivators could afford these.

Relic had used two tier 3 attack paper seals which were created by Spirit realm cultivators and would attack with 30% of the cultivator’s power.

The scarred man griped the hilt of his sword tightly. He showed no signs of fear despite having seen Relic throw out two attack seals. He knew the delay of using these paper seals made it impractical for one on one fights. His only focus was on Relic’s neck which he now looked with murderous intent.

Relic immediately took up a fighting stance with a spear in both hands, and the two stared off each other for what seemed to be like minutes.

“Essence endowment!” The scarred man yelled as he finally charged towards Relic.

Relic quickly took a step back and leaned back before suddenly he jetting his arm forward. The spear launched from his hand with a torque towards the scarred man.

“Eh?” The spear came at him with a piercing intent. Confusion plastered his face as he questioned why Relic would throw away his weapon like this. He immediately held his sword in front in order to deflect the spear.

Ping!

The spear bounced off the sword and dug itself into the ground.

As he moved the sword back, he suddenly found Relic missing. His eyes darted around, eventually gazing downward where he found Relic had crouched down, looking up.

“What are you…”

Swoosh!

A spear pierced up towards the scarred man. It came right between his eyes. He quickly dodged to the right, where the spear managed to barely graze his cheek.

He hadn’t even begun to process what just happened when suddenly, another piercing attack launched towards his head.

“What!” He flayed his head back and retreated several steps back. “Impossible! How is he able to launch such a long spear so fast when he is that low to the ground?!” He just couldn’t believe it. Relic was basically launching his spear with only a few feet of room between the spear and the ground. To fire the spear so quickly and with such precision and power, wouldn’t that mean he was bending his spear?!

Within a few exchanges, Relic had managed to turn completely turn the tide of this battle. Relic didn’t have time to play games with this man, not when his sister was still in danger. He displayed the full mastery of his spearman ship and it had obviously caught the scarred man by surprise.

The man fumbled his feet as he retreated backwards, but where ever he went, Relic quickly followed with a barrage of penetrating spears. Relic had the flow of the battle; he would not let the man catch his breath even for a second.

“This can’t be happening! He’s just a kid! He’s just a kid! ” he internally screamed. He had practiced the way of the sword for over 30 years and he had yet mastered the weapon where he could attack with such fluidity as Relic did with the spear.

The scarred man had no opportunities to strike Relic with his sword. Relic hung too closely to the floor. If he even tried to attack, Relic would use that opportunity to strike in an instant! That was what his warrior instincts were telling him. The same instincts which allowed him to dodge that first blow!

The two were incredibly close to one another with Relic continuously barraging the scarred man with spear attacks. Although both of them were perspiring and panting heavily, the scarred man was far more mentally exhausted and his movements began to slow.

Puchi!

“Argggg!”

An attack managed to slip through and pierce his shoulder. However, even then, the spear did not slow down and continued to aim his head.

Another moment passed before the scarred man saw the spear coming towards him in between his eyebrows. “I-I can’t dodge!” In that moment of desperation, he let go of any thoughts, and before he knew it, he dropped his sword and swung a right hook towards Relic’s face.

Pow!

The scarred man felt his hand connect to Relic’s soft face.

Relic flew through the air several meters from the unrestrained attack of the scarred man’s fist! He landed several meters away before tumbling against the ground for another meter.

“I-I did it?” The scarred man looked at his fist before a wry smile appeared on his face.

He quickly retrieved his sword, but as he turned up, he saw Relic already moving about and running the opposite direction towards the mountain.

He looked up towards where Relic was running to and quickly realized what Relic was trying to do.

“Shiet!”

….

Relic spat out some blood from his mouth as he charged upwards the base of the mountain. “Where is it….”

He continued to scan the top side of the mountain as he ran upwards. Within a few moments, he could finally see it, the location of the mayor’s immortal cave.

He took out his finally attack seal and threw it towards the cave. “Go!” he yelled.

The paper seal shot forth with the essence of water surrounding it. A spiral of scalding water jetted from the paper seal and towards the immortal cave.

Relic breathed a sigh of Relief seeing the jet of water heading towards the immortal cave. With this, the mayor will surely come out and check what was happening.

However, after a moment, Relic realized there was no loud explosion. He turned his head upwards and his eyes constricted in that moment.

In front of the immortal cave stood an old man who had his arm extended and the water projectile was nowhere to be seen.

“Yan Mu, what do you think you are doing?!” Yan Wen angrily but softly spoke.

“Uncle,” Yan Mu appeared by his side, “I was just…”

Slap

Before he could finish his sentence Yan Wen slapped Yan Mu across the cheek. The entire area went silent and even the guards chasing Jiro and Hana had stopped mid-flight.

“How many times do I have to tell you to behave yourself properly? What do you think would have happened if the mayor had shown up?!”

“But I…”

“Enough! When we get back, I will be having a strong conversation with your father about your privileges.”

Yan Mu clenched his fist but had no choice but to hang his head low and nod.

Yan Wen then appeared in front of Relic and the scarred man. “Report!”

“Yes!” The scarred man kneeled. “Elder, we were asked to detain these two children and their spirit beasts. However….” The man had a slight bitter look on his face. “Unfortunately, inner disciple Jasmine has been killed by this boy.”

Yan Wen was immediately astonished. He could tell that Relic was no more than just a mortal boy. How could he have managed to kill someone at the Foundation realm?

The scarred man proceeded to tell Yan Wen that Relic had used tier 3 attack seals which made Yan Wen nod in understanding.

“I see… prepare to leave.” Yan Wen said, unconcerned with the fact that one of the guards had perished.

“Elder, the boy?”

Yan Wen gazed at Relic and lifted his arm. Black chains appeared out of his robe and bonded Relic so tightly he could hardly move.

“Take the boy with us. If the mayor comes after us, we shall use him as a hostage until we reach the clan. By then, the mayor would not dare tread on our grounds and we can just return the boy.” He said casually.

He then appeared before Hana and Jiro.

The entire time Relic and the scarred man were fighting, the two other guards had not yet been able to catch Jiro. Having Relic take away two of his pursuers had lifted a lot of weight from Jiro. He could not out run the two guards chasing him, but as a spirit bird beast, the sky was his domain. He had easily out maneuvered the two guards and had been able to keep a relatively safe distance until now.

“Elder!” the two guards bowed.

“Come, beast, it is time for you to return to us.” He was surprised to find the beast capable of moving after having his neck broke but he quickly surmised it must have had something to do with the mayor.

The black chains shot towards Jiro.

Jiro immediately panicked and fled at his top speed. He used all of his strength to flee those black chains but no matter what he did those chains followed him relentlessly. It didn’t take long for the black chains to completely wrap itself around Jiro.

Jiro let out ferocious roars which echoed in the sky.

Yan Wen slowly pulled Jiro back. “It’s time for you to go back.” He held a translucent disc in his right hand. When Jiro saw this disc his eyes constricted and he struggled even fiercer. Hana, who was still on his back, was struggling to stay on.

“Let Jiro go!” She yelled at Yan Wen.

However, the old man did not pay any heed to the little girl. Jiro was continued pulled towards Yan Wen. When they were about an arm’s length away from each other, Hana immediately jumped on to Yan Wen and began to punch him with all of her strength. Yan Wen completely ignored Hana’s pitiful attacks. To him, it was as if a fly was trying to attack a giant.

Jiro continued to making miserable cries as he was being pulled in. Yan Wen then lifted up the disc and touched it upon Jiro’s head. The disc activated and ribbons of light sprouted out. It loosely wrapped itself around Jiro, prohibiting any movement. It then began to compress his body. Smaller, and smaller, until the ribbons of light had completely wrapped itself over Jiro’s body. The lump of bonded light then retreated back into the disc.

By the end of it, Jiro was gone and all that remained was the disc in Yan Wen’s hands. “NO, RETURN JIRO!” Hana cried out and tried to hit Yan Wen in the head.

“Annoying brat, there is no need for us to carry two hostages, one should do” He slowly cladded his left hand with destructive qi and slowly reached over to Hana. If he even touched her slightly with this hand, her entire body would turn to dust without any chance for survival.

Hana did not even pay attention to the hand coming towards her. Her entire gaze was focused on the disc in Yan wen’s hand. “Let…. Jiro….GO!” She cried. She suddenly felt an intense energy build up inside her which propelled her to move.

She bit down on Yan Wen’s Hand.

“Argg!” He snapped back his hand, dropping the disc in the process. Hana Immediately jumped down to retrieve the disc but was quickly caught by Yan Wen. The disc fell down and entered into the thick forest.

Yan Wen had a perplexed look on his face. He stared at his hand which now had a full set of teeth marks on them and a dribble of blood. “Impossible, how could a mortal girl…” he then turned to the little girl still growling at him. “She’s in the Soulless warrior realm?! Weren’t the people of this town just regular mortal?” He couldn’t help but question.

He had completely forgotten about Jiro and immediately wrapped the girl in his black chains and brought her next to Relic.

Seeing Relic, Hana broke down in tears“Brother, Jiro is…Jiro is…”

“I know, just leave it to me.” Relic gave her an assured smile. Although he said that, he really didn’t have any other plans. There was no way to defeat the fearsome enemies in front of him without the help of the Mayor.

“Hmmm, the brother is just a regular mortal yet the sister is in the soulless warrior realm. Still… how could she possibly have injured me?” Questions began to pile up. “Forget it, we can figure it out on the way” he shook his head. “Take the children, we are all leaving now!” he immediately ordered.

“Yes!” The three guards responded.

They headed back up to heaven’s Peak where a carriage, pulled by spirit horse beasts, was waiting for them. They immediately set off, and left the quiet streets of Heaven’s peak.