"Haha, so you have decided to come in first, Qi gathering brat! Now taste my skills!"

Raucous laughter came from the mouth beside the eye as numerous warning signs flipped up.

[Warning host, multiple attacks are coming from various sources!]

[36x Devastation Beams from every direction in coming. (Moderate)]

[24x Flesh arm is coming in from 9-3 o'clock. (Strong)]

The satellite eyeballs which lingered in the air all began to glow with an ominous purple as beams flashed out of them. Liu Xun who was in the center of all the floating eyeballs and arms were their target. The 24 fleshy tentacles also charged forth as they encircled their prey, trying to narrow his range of movement.

"Looks like our host is giving us a warm welcome, why not we respond in kind Liu boy?"

The demonic senior joked out as he continued dashing forward.

Dozens of lights beams fired out as they homed in on the black-robed youth.

"Liu Xun!"

The silver fox cried out from behind. Yet all she could see was a fading mist as all the beams and arms skewered an afterimage. The actual body had already arrived directly in front of the small eye at the peak of flesh mountain. The youth then retracted his spear arm as he prepared for a thrust.

"Boy, watch my move."

The senior spoke out as he trusted the greenish-white spear forward.

"Haha, even if you can dodge all my attacks. Haven't you learned by now that all your attack mean nothi-.....WHAAA-AAAARGH!"

The verdant jade spear pierced forward towards the pupil as it bypassed the yellowish barrier. It was as if the spear was piercing into a watery surface.

"Formless Sword Art...Silent Sparrow."

The senior muttered out in a small voice as he quickly retreated after dealing a critical blow. Copious blood bled out from the small eye which initially only had minor scratches.

[15x Flesh arm is coming in from behind. (Strong)]

The system notified Liu Xun of further attacks since all the previous attacks have already missed their intended target. The remaining flesh arms were all moving towards the white fox who was desperately trying to help him.

"Liu boy, did you see that move. It is one of the sword arts that I have gleaned upon while studying the dao. The stillness of water, and the ability to go with the flow."

"Stillness of water...flow?"

"Yes haha, the flow of qi. By following the grain, flow and signature of your opponent's qi, you can with precise timing disguise your qi as theirs and just bypass all their qi defenses. This also works on magic treasures that use qi, it is a pretty delicate art. All of the righteous sects really feared and disdained this art of mine, they call it the nefarious silent blow because they could never understand its principles. The Formless Sword Arts, that is."

"Formless Sword Arts..."

"Well, you can't call me stingy now since I have shown you some of my signature moves. This art has quite a few forms, I have already ingrained them into your memory so you can view them at a later point. Now, let us focus on the main task at hand."

CLANG!

The swear swept away once again as it deflected all the surrounding fleshy arms and eyes.

"GUAAAGH, you damn brat! Watch me crush you, attack! Throw everything at him!"

The main eye resentfully screamed out in pain as seething rage poured out from its words.

[Warning host, a new incoming barrage of attacks.]

[52x Devastation Beams from every direction in coming. (Moderate)]

[15x Flesh arm is coming in from 9-3 o'clock. (Strong)]

Even more purple beams were charging up as all the floating eyes targetted Liu Xun. Shaggaroth had rationalized that he was the greater threat and stopped holding anything back as he threw upon his entire arsenal of spells towards the youth. The fox lady was just being kept busy with a few of the tentacles while the majority of the attacks were still focused on this threat which could wound it.

"How troublesome..."

Liu Xun sighed out.

"Heh, you better get used to such fights. Though cultivators at lower levels will have less scheming strategies and flashy moves, they tend to get creative once in a while and bring you this kind of pleasurable fights."

"Pleasurable?"

"Yeah haha even though your life is at risk, can you not feel the adrenaline? Fighting someone at your level with both of your lives as wager. This is an aspect of immortal cultivation."

The senior replied to his question as he swung upon his spear again whilst flicking his wrist such that the two blue swords by his side flew forward. It seems that a single spear swipe was no longer sufficient to deal with all of Shaggaroth's blows, therefore the flying swords were also used to support him. Needless to say, that was only a fraction of the attacks since the demonic senior would dodge as many attacks with the Shadowless Steps as he can to minimize qi usage.

The dark sky was lit up with the flashes of countless beams as the black-robed youth gracefully danced while weaving his way through the oncoming barrage of attacks. Moments passed as the youth quickly made his way back to the small eye at the peak. Charging forth with the spear arm in tow, the senior prepared to launch another blow.

"Well, time for you to eat another of this!"

He shouted out as the spear thrust forward once again.

"Noooo-"

The verdant spear pierced forth with swift momentum as it pierced through the yellow barrier once again with relative ease. The spear once again gouged into the eye, causing large amounts of damage to Shaggaroth. Yet for some reason, the surrounding mouths were laughing out instead of screaming in pain. This had raised all sorts of alarm bells within both Liu Xun and the senior.

"Just kidding."

The main eye sneered as it taunted the youth.

"Crap, time to run."

The senior stated as he retracted the spear. However, the spear could only barely budge as it slowly retreated from the barrier.

"What is wrong, since you have already come in. Why not stay for a bit longer?"

The main eye taunted out as it began to glow an ominous purple.

[12x Devastation Beams in coming from behind. (Moderate)]

[1x Greater Devastation Beams incoming from the front. (Overwhelming)]

"Liu boy!"

"On to it!"

The two flying swords flew backward as they desperately tried to fend off all the beams from the floating eyeballs. Liu Xun himself swung his ax downwards as it met with the large ominous deep purple ray that launched from the small main eye.

CLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

The ax smashed down against the purple beam which was vastly stronger than what Liu Xun was as a whole. Not being able to completely deflect the blow, the beam started pouring in from the side as well. The youth which initially held the advantage was sent flying afar as the spear dislodged from the barrier.

CRASSH.

The sound of a distant collision of the earth was heard as the youth was launched far away due to the blow.

"LIU XUUUN!"

Millie cried out, but it was all too late.

"Now that is one problem down. It would have been problematic if he got another hit in, he should be honored to have pushed the great Shaggaroth to this extent! Trading a blow for a blow, how humiliating."

=========================================================================

"Uggggh-"

"You alright, boy?"

The demonic senior's voice rang out.

Liu Xun rubbed his head as he felt a wet sensation contact upon his fingers. Looking at his hand, there was red blood on it. It seemed that the previous counterattack by Shaggaroth had done quite a bit on him. His vision was also blurry and there was a slight headache. There was probably a concussion due to the massive impact he had to feel while enduring that overwhelming blow. He should be lucky that he was still alive.

"Yeah, I guess so. How is the current situation?"

Liu Xun replied to the senior.

"Not too good. I had put up the shield after I realized that sneaky bastard changed his qi signature to trap the spear inside. Even with you resisting the blow with the ax, a part of it still bypassed the ax as well as my shield to do some internal damage. Damn, I got too cocky thinking that I could repeatedly get away with this. Once the opposite side figures out this trick, it could lead to such a situation. Sorry boy, that was my bad."

The senior complained out as he admitted to his faults.

"No, you tried the best you could. And it was probably one of the better moves there. At least we also got back the Viradiance spear, so we could still launch more attacks. Now we just need to recover a bit...system qi remaining, no status."

Liu Xun changed his command at the last moment since he knew that he also needed to assess the damage received at the moment.

[Opening status...]

Cultivator:

Liu Xun (Shang Junye)

[Critically injured 68%, head, torso, left arm]

Roots:

Mortal (Heavenly Bane)

Cultivation Level:

Qi Gathering Stage 6 [459/678]↑35

Pseudo Core Inversion [87 831/560 678] (Temporary)

System Credit:

242 -

Inventory:

Cons: 1x Fireball Talisman [SSR], 1x Exemplary grade minor regeneration pill, 1x White Qi Replenishment Pill, 1x Celestial Aurorial Yin Root, 1x Yin Frost Orchid

Misc: [System Subscription Channel], [System Rulebook], [Deceiver Detective System Update], 1x Foundation Mounted Archery Mastery Book

Active:

Purple Heaven Gathering Pill (Duration: 62 days)

Weapons:

1x Woodcutting ax, 1x Twin Reprievers (Dual short blades), 1x White Viradiance (Spear)

Skills:

Passive:

Minor GuanXin Knowledge

Archaic Sun Aura Wisp [20%] (+50% to cultivation speed, minor resistance to yang elements)

Shadow Concealment Aura (87%) - ON ( Currently Qi Gathering Stage 3)

Auto Appraisal Lv 1 - ON

Intuitive Combat Lv1 - ON

Draconic Language Proficiency - Master

???

Support:

Area Scan Lv1

Appraisal Lv1

???

Movement:

Shadow Grasping Illusory Steps (93%)

???

Weapon:

Crimson Dragon Beheading Axe (Incomplete) [53.8%]

Basic Yang Divine Scorching Eyes

Formless Sword Art (Incomplete)

Talents:

Movement Cultivator Adept (+15% to efficiency of Movement arts and effects)

Intuitive Cheater - ON (Grants minor reflexes boost alongside Intuitive Combat)

"Ugh, looking at the damage enumerated to me makes me feel worse. The remaining qi is also at a rather alarming level...I guess we should eat those pills up now that we have the time. Even though they won't be able to help much in the qi department since they are mainly for Essence Foundation and Core Formation cultivators, but they should still give us some power boost. The minor regeneration pill will work wonders on healing though since the crux is that you are still a qi gathering cultivator."

The senior explain out as Liu Xun nodded in agreement.

"System withdraw the Minor Regeneration pill and White Qi Replenishment pill."

[Withdrawing pills...]

The two pills, green and white, then appeared in his palm as he gave them a short look before throwing them into his mouth. The two pills then slowly melted inside his mouth as a pleasant sweet taste spread throughout his mouth. Winter melon and mint-flavored...not too bad, were the thoughts that ran through his mind as he slowly absorbed the essence from within the pill.

"Wow, cultivators these days sure have it good. Back in my days, all pills were so bitter. Taking these candies makes me feel like my bitter and painful cultivation experience is all just a lie."

[The pills from the system are all optimized and made with welfare in mind. We have many different flavors available, you just need to draw all of them to test them out!]

The system boasted out.

Liu Xun then opened his cloth sack as he took a single golden qi burst pill and place it into his mouth as well. A quick sense of sourness and sweetness burst into his mouth as he swallowed down the pill.

"Yikes, this pill tastes a bit weird. Well, it is still much better than what I usually had."

"This is a pill Senior Gan made, it is one of the better tasting pills out there currently, I would say. Though I have not tasted that many as of yet."

"Oh I see. Right, since we are doing meditation to recover. I shall teach you another skill, this is part of my devil sect's techniques but the core concept is similar to all cultivators. It is called Dipper Meridian Circulation Stance. It is basically an improvised version of normal meditation and qi circulation routing. This is normally taught to our core disciples and helps to improve the efficiency of their cultivation by up to five times. This allows us to reduce the wastage of pill resources as well as hasten the progress of cultivation. Meditative arts are all sect's core secret techniques, so you should not spread this since it will bear a calamity for you if anyone finds out you have a treasured art without any background."

The senior continued as he noticed Liu Xun was about to enter a brief meditation to recover.

"Is it really okay to tell me all this?"

"No problem, it is an art I created anyway. Just don't spread it out too much since that will bring you trouble. I also have a request, if you have some time in the future when you become a bigshot. I...would like for you to check if my sect is still alive and whether they still have my heirloom arts there. If they are all well it is fine and dandy, but if they are facing some trouble...I would beseech you to help them out if you are able to."

The senior mentioned out in a troubled voice. It had already been centuries if not millenniums since the senior had passed away. Sects had always risen and fallen over time, and devil sects had a much faster turnover rate. Perhaps it no longer exists at this point, yet Liu Xun would have to see for himself to find out.

"Well, sure if I can ever reach the point to go to a devil sect or country."

"Much thanks, anyways here is how you use this art..."

Liu Xun responded to the senior as he slowly went into a lotus position to circulate the foreign qi and essence around his body according to the senior instructions. Distant sounds of clashing could still be heard as Millie was still fighting Shaggaroth. Liu Xun knows that he had not much time to rest before he had to go out and help her. He then quietly and quickly restored himself.

A few moments later, when the majority of the essence had been digested. He quickly got to his feet as he looked at his injuries, they have mostly healed up leaving behind vague scars. He then looked forward as he saw the flashing lights up in the sky. His ax had flew far away from him after he resisted that blow, he had also heard a cracking sound. It might have been destroyed at this point. It was already impressive enough that it managed to resist a signature move from the Inverse Core stage beast.

Liu Xun sighed as he was about to head forward. Yet by the corner of his eye, he noticed a lady with brown hair dressed in foreign clothing sitting atop a boulder. She was glancing upon the moonlight as she looked at the scenery with nonchalance. Her dressing itself was tattered and torn but that did not change her mystifying and graceful appearance. The lady gave Liu Xun one look as she smiled before disappearing into the wind as if it were all just an illusion.

"Huh, who is that?"

Liu Xun asked out worryingly, it was dangerous for other people to be around the area since the fight was deadly.

"What do you mean, I do not sense anyone else around."

The senior mentioned out in confusion.

"Well, there was this lady with torn clothing sitting on top of that boulder just one moment ago. She even looked at me."

Liu Xun responded as he scratched his head in confusion.

"Boy, did you hit your head too hard? You are better off dreaming your wet dreams while asleep, and that is after we take Shaggaroth down."

The senior replied in a mocking tone.

"But...well, let us just go to that boulder first."

"Well, if you say so."

The conversation between the two continued as Liu Xun slowly walked towards the distant boulder.

"System status."

Liu Xun called out once again since he felt the need to see the extent of his recovery before resuming his participation in the battle.

[Opening status...]

Cultivator:

Liu Xun (Shang Junye)

[Lightly injured 13%, head]

Roots:

Mortal (Heavenly Bane)

Cultivation Level:

Qi Gathering Stage 6 [459/678]↑35

Pseudo Core Inversion [97 816/560 678] (Temporary)

System Credit:

242 -

Inventory:

Cons: 1x Fireball Talisman [SSR], 1x Celestial Aurorial Yin Root, 1x Yin Frost Orchid

Misc: [System Subscription Channel], [System Rulebook], [Deceiver Detective System Update], 1x Foundation Mounted Archery Mastery Book

Active:

Purple Heaven Gathering Pill (Duration: 62 days)

Weapons:

1x Woodcutting ax, 1x Twin Reprievers (Dual short blades), 1x White Viradiance (Spear)

Skills:

Passive:

Minor GuanXin Knowledge

Archaic Sun Aura Wisp [20%] (+50% to cultivation speed, minor resistance to yang elements)

Shadow Concealment Aura (87%) - ON ( Currently Qi Gathering Stage 3)

Auto Appraisal Lv 1 - ON

Intuitive Combat Lv1 - ON

Draconic Language Proficiency - Master

Dipper Meridian Circulation Stance

Support:

Area Scan Lv1

Appraisal Lv1

???

Movement:

Shadow Grasping Illusory Steps (93%)

???

Weapon:

Crimson Dragon Beheading Axe (Incomplete) [53.8%]

Basic Yang Divine Scorching Eyes

Formless Sword Art (Incomplete)

Talents:

Movement Cultivator Adept (+15% to efficiency of Movement arts and effects)

Intuitive Cheater - ON (Grants minor reflexes boost alongside Intuitive Combat)

Overall, the pills had restored his qi by around 10 thousand which is a significant amount as a Core Formation cultivator. Yet, it still seemed like a drop in the ocean for his current level. His injuries have mostly recovered beside the slight internal injuries inside his head.

Walking up to the boulder, there was indeed no signs of the lady nor anything else for that matter as no signs of life rang out.

"Look see what I told you..."

The senior muttered out his complaint before stopping short of his words.

By the other side of the boulder lay an ax stuck onto the crevice inside of it. A thin line of a crack fissured across the blade as the worn handle showed signs of damage and fragility. Overall, it was a broken ax in severe disrepair. Yet, to Liu Xun he could never be more familiar with this ax. The one who had been with him for over seven years, his partner.