Yun Fei was moving towards the mountain, swiftly, trying to keep a low profile. Just as he was about to reach a stretch of trees, he suddenly ducked down, right before he felt a rush of wind and a swooshing sound.

SWOOSH

THUD

An arrow originally aimed at Yun Fei’s shoulder slammed into a tree trunk.

Yun Fei didn't waste any time in a disadvantageous position and briskly swung around the tree, to take cover from his unknown assailant.

This proved to be the correct decision as another arrow once again swished through the place where he would be if he had decided to make a run for the grove of trees in front.

Too Fast.

Yun Fei thought to himself as one more arrow pierced into the tree when he tried to use his own bow to shoot back at the archer.

He wasn't even able to zero in on the position of the archer to shoot his bow before an arrow came to him, this wasn't without merit though as he was atleast able to identify the general direction the archer was in.

Since his own position was exposed and he didn't know the exact position of the other archer, Yun Fei couldn't attack without wasting arrows and risk being hit as he was sure that the archer was pointing his drawn bow towards him.

This is my first fight against a skilled human if I ignore those weak bandits. It truly is fitting for the opponent to be an archer who I can compare my own skills with.

Yun Fei took out his dagger and used it as an aide to climb the sufficiently wide tree, trying his best to not make himself visible or the tree shake.

One thing that Yun Fei was quite confident was his dexterity. His optimized body was no worse than an ape at climbing the tree. With the help of his knife he clambered up, soon reaching the top. He wedged his dagger completely into the tree to its hilt.

Inching upwards, Yun Fei used the hilt of his trusty dagger as a pedestal and balanced himself on it, making sure that no part of him was visible from the front.

With his set-up now complete, Yun Fei was ready to peek over the branch covering him and start shooting his own arrows.

For this task, Yun fei took out a circular pocket mirror from his space pouch. He had bought this when he was touring Sungon city with Devanshu and it was really perfect to scout without risking his own head.

Hoping that the archer wouldn't notice the mirror for some time, Yun Fei set an arrow on his bow and then slowly raised the mirror as he watched it to assess what was behind the trunk.

Adjusting the angle of the mirror, he could properly see what was behind him. On slightly raised ground about 400 metres behind him were various boulders and Yun Fei was very sure that the archer was using one of them as a cover.

As Yun Fei was scouring the boulders using his mirror, he moved it to to the sides because he predicted that the archer would be trying to circle around him to catch him off guard and also to hide his own position being discovered.

As he tilted his mirror to get a view of the end of the boulders to his left the mirror suddenly filled up with the image of an arrow head and then shattered in his hands.

Right before the image of the arrow though, Yun Fei was able to see it. He was able to see the hands and bow of the archer as he pulled them behind the boulder.

Yun Fei smiled a little and pulled his torso above the branches and drew his string taut as he pointed the arrow towards the area he saw the archer hide in.

The situation was now effectively reversed, since his bow was drawn towards the archer and the archer was in hiding.

After some time of lying in wait, the archer finally made his move. A drawn bow along with two hands moved out from behind the boulder.

Yun Fei almost released his arrow at the slightest sight of movement but he controlled himself and didn't release it.

The archer probably suspects that his position is compromised, but he doesn't have a path to any other cover without exposing himself to danger. This is why he wants to make me release an arrow.

Yun Fei knew that the exceptional thing about this archer was his rapid draw speed. He figured that the archer wanted him to release an arrow which the archer would then return.

After that, they both would move to redraw their bow and if Yun Fei didn't want to regress to his initial position, he would have to keep his head above to monitor the archer.

Being the faster one at drawing his bow, the archer would have an advantage and might even score a hit if Yun Fei tried to compete with him.

Yun Fei knew his own shortcomings but he also knew about the thing he excelled in. He was completely confident that he would be able to dodge the arrow that the archer was going to release without looking.

No matter how accurate the archer was Yun Fei was sure that if he already knew it was coming and he could see it being shot, he could easily avoid the arrow using his superior perception and reflexes.

His own vision was definitely superior to the enemy and he trusted his body to act properly on the information he was able to receive using the eye technique he practiced.

All this took place in an instant and then, the archer's arrow was released.

Yun Fei didn't move his eyes from the arrow which rapidly drew closer and closer to his face. A little Surprised by the accuracy of the arrow, Yun Fei still very easily tilted his head slightly to the right and let the arrow pass by.

The archer's plan never came to fruition and Yun Fei's bow was still drawn taut as he waited for the archer to show his head.

The archer tried shooting 2-3 arrows more but Yun Fei waited for a clean shot in order to keep the initiative in his hands.

The archer must be one of the people competing, since he can determine my location using the talisman, he should know that I haven't moved from behind the tree.

Many fights and standoffs are resolved not because of a difference in skill or a clear advantage in strength but due to a simple moment of carelessness. A single slip-up can cause you your life.

Since he uses the token to know about my position, I'll use that against him. Though there's some risk if there are more people with searching talismans nearby, I'll definitely be receiving a talisman myself after I beat down the archer. There can be no reward with no risk.

Yun Fei took out the token he had received and placed it on a thick branch of the tree. Always keeping his eyes on the archer's position, he slowly climbed down the tree.

He started very quietly sneaking towards the boulder that the archer was behind. The string of the bow half drawn, Yun Fei moved forwards with quiet steps.

In some minutes he reached very close to the boulder. There was no movement from the side of the archer in that time.

Sitting very near to the boulder, Yun Fei kept his bow back into his space pouch and took out his dagger. At this distance, Yun Fei was confident in swiftly ending the fight using his dagger.

Since the opponent archer was much faster than him in drawing his bow, if he couldn't finish him in one arrow Yun Fei would face great danger.

Hence Yun Fei decided to close the distance between them as fast as he could while using his dagger to try and deflect the first arrow he would surely have to face as soon he was noticed.

He also had figured out quite a good trick to swiftly close the distance between them.

Although Yun Fei wasn't completely confident in dodging an arrow at such a close range, he was sure that he would be able to at least save his vitals.

This method might lead to some injuries but it was the best considering that he didn't want to stand and wait for hours to finish this fight. That might attract more people, they would be just extra factors that might lead to an unfavourable conclusion.

There were also the options of running straight through the forest and then keep running, but running just didn't sit right with Yun Fei.

So, he picked this method to be swift to end the fight and come out with a non-vital injury at most.

With his dagger grasped tightly in his hands, Yun Fei was ready to finish the fight. He took a quiet and deep breath and then moved.

A sea of black tinged with red engulfed the surroundings, a flood of blood scarabs..These creatures of lore were nigh unbeatable in the legends, often responsible for the death of entire kingdoms.

Individually they were weak creatures but a swarm was positively deadly. Their resistance to Qi and their insatiable appetite for it was a bane for cultivators worldwide.

The fearsome masters who controlled beasts such as them could fight well beyond their level and were feared by all.

Due to their demonic nature they were slowly hunted down through the ages. This spelled the end of a cultivation path as there were barely any inheritances left.

Yun Moxie paled as he looked at the wave of insects rushing at him, this wasn’t a bug inheritance, these were wild Blood Scarab, bred as a test for the inheritance candidate. Moxie had to find and capture the queen scarab in order to pass through the room.

He could not kill the bug, that would only invite a senseless attack against him, he must capture it and exit the room before taking any other actions.

So this was the reason that technique was provided as a prize in an earlier trial.

Although Yun Moxie had been trapped in this ruin, his cultivation never stopped. In fact, it was even faster than when he was outside.

Clearing each trial provided some kind of help. The prizes were usually things that were beneficial to cultivation which even led to his cultivation increasing by a level in the the last two years.

He hadn't predicted that he would have a breakthrough so fast, but greater strength was a welcome surprise in this trial where his life was constantly in jeopardy.

As a prize for an earlier trial, Moxie had received a technique to increase his perception. He was now glad that he had decided to practice it before moving forwards as it would certainly be of massive help in this situation.

Blood vessels popped and his eyes grew bloodshot as Qi rushed into them, enhancing his vision like a hawk. Using this superior vision he scanned the wriggling mass of miniscule bodies.

Then he saw a beetle slightly larger than the rest, with a single extra horn; almost entirely covered by the endless minions.

Not being the one to wait when his path was clear, Moxie acted swiftly.

Like a flash of lightening Yun Moxie moved, pushing off against the floor, blood splashing; cutting a furrow in his wake.

As he threw himself almost horizontally over the tide, time seemed to slow down for him as his hand snaked out picking a single needle from the haystack.

A miss meant death, a slightly stronger grab meant death. Surrounded by death on all sides, that was when Moxie flourished drawing out all his potential.

As soon as his hand enclosed around the scarab the insects parted around him like the sea parting for Moses. A haven between hell, life between death.

Cool as a cucumber, Yun Moxie walked out from the room. When he was safely away he opened up his hand to peek inside his hand,

You disgusting thing…. If I wasn’t afraid the swarm would flood back in behind me, I would've crushed you into pulp.

His thoughts were cut short as he noticed where he was standing. A huge door loomed in front of him as tall as the cavern itself. Moxie halted his actions and safely closed his fist again.

Engraved on the door were the words,

CONQUER THE DEMON, CONQUER THYSELF

The words gave off a pressure, the pressure of conviction.

A slot beneath the word was apparent and smaller words stated,

THE PRICE IS YOUR PRIZE

Yun Moxie understood instantly and made up his mind. He had come this far, there was no way he would back out. He placed the struggling beetle into the slot.

As soon as he placed it inside, It gave up all resistance as its essence was drawn out by some mechanism.

The cavern rumbled as the humungous door screeched open; from behind, the chitter chatter of infinite mandibles could be heard. Yun Moxie had been right. As soon as the queen died the swarm rushed into the room.

There was no way back and Moxie did not need one. He rushed into the depths past the door without so much as a glance backwards.