Wu Guang did not lose his calm and clashed again with the ax-wielding Wang Feng. Still, even when risking overexertion of his limbs by using qi to increase his strength, he could at max equal the opponent's strength. With the staff-wielding Wang Bo ready to attack again at any time, the situation was dire.

He could resort to his trump cards like using mindpower to quickly finish the battle, but this could lead to them being discovered by others as he would not have time to hide every trace. Stalling for time was also not an option, as the elites that had stayed behind would either capture their opponent and rush to the sect or decide to escape as instructed. In both cases, they would use the same road. Plus if he took too much time, even Elder Chen could start moving.

This left Wu Guang with only two options. Resort to trickery or to start escaping. Weighting both in his mind while breaking off from the engagement by moving backward, Wu Guang decided to go for the second. Soul realm cultivators were indeed stronger, but their speed would only receive a slight increase. As for Wu Guang, with his secondary meridians already unlocked, he could easily rival even a weak Sage realm cultivator by using a movement technique.

Still, he did want to fight against one of them, and so he decided to ask that of Elder Chen. After all, if he slightly restrained his speed, he could allow this two to follow him towards the meeting point.

"Well, it seems that the Leaf Shadow sect is indeed despicable... Albeit I have not seen your faces, I will find you later to settle it" With these words, Wu Guang darted from the spot. By using 'Counting steps towards Hell and Heaven', he could travel about half a mile with each usage. His current level of mastery allowed him to use the technique thrice per minute, thus Wu Guang could travel at a speed of 90 miles per hour with only his qi capacity as the limit.

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About 40 minutes later, Wu Guang was only a couple of miles from the spot where he was supposed to meet with Elder Chen. He had already sensed the latter's presence, and the Elder would do the same shortly. His two ambushers were still pursuing him as intended. Albeit Wu Guang had to restrain himself to only two activations per minute to allow them to follow him closely.

A minute later, Wu Guang stopped. Albeit his pursuers had not said anything during this time, inwardly both of them had reached the limits of anger towards their target. After all, the 'Counting steps towards Hell and Heaven' technique was pretty strange, with Wu Guang practically teleporting for half a mile every time he used it. Plus, his presence was concealed for the duration of the movement, and so even if they overexerted themselves to obtain a boost of speed, they could not intercept him. This came from experience as both of them had tried to do so a pair of times already.

Before approaching Wu Guang who had stopped and stood still as if waiting for them, both Wangs extended their auras to scan their surroundings. Only after confirming that there was no one in reach, they did approach.

"Why have you stopped? Tired to run more? Or tired of being a coward that can only run?" Wang Feng spoke up. He was trying to ascertain if Wu Guang had some kind of objective for stopping here, or if he was truly spent as they hoped. They had discussed it via qi transmission and concluded that he could at max maintain such a speed for an hour. Well, that would be the limits of a normal person with his cultivation. Obviously, Wu Guang did not stop and explain that he was capable of using it for almost half a day, even though he had heard all their talks.

"Oh, I just have no need to escape anymore" Wu Guang answered calmly. He had no need to escape indeed, as Elder Chen had already approached while concealing himself and could act at any time. The Elder had contacted Wu Guang to inform him of this, and Wu Guang used the opportunity to respond that he would like to fight with one of them to test his strength. His petition was denied, albeit Elder Chen said that Wu Guang would have the opportunity to battle a beginner Soul realm cultivator shortly.

"What do you mean?" With Wang Bo's cultivation, he could not detect Elder Chen if the latter recalled his aura and concealed himself like he was doing now, and so even though his intuition told him that something was not right, he could not think of the reason. They had left their Sect's territory, but this part of the road was under the control of the 'Flowing Leaves City', which was allied to their sect and their experts if present would help them and not Wu Guang.

The answer made itself apparent almost right away, an aura far stronger than theirs surrounded and suppressed them almost instantly. This aura was so strong that for them, it looked like a roaring wave of pure strength crashing on their puddle-like auras.

"Young friend Wu Guang means that he has no need to escape with myself present" Accompanying the aura a calm aged voice entered their ears.

Elder Chen slowly walked towards the light coming from the luminous orb that Wu Guang had adjusted to his belt before the ambush. Dressed in his usual plain white robes and with his gray hair descending like a waterfall, Elder Chen was the embodiment of the word 'Scholar'.

Wu Guang quickly greeted, albeit omitting Elder Chen's position after noticing that the latter was not carrying the sect's badge.

"Well, we are a bit short of time for the next part. So let me deal with this and we will set off"

"Next part?"

"I will explain on the road"

Elder Chen disliked killing and only resorted to it under extreme circumstances. Still, he could not let these two go free. After all, most of Elder Mo's plans depended on the fact of Wu Guang's disappearance. This did not mean that he had to kill them, albeit what he did could be considered even worse by some people.

Under his suppression, neither Wang Bo nor Wang Heng could move or even speak. Even so, when they saw him taking out a flask filled with some strange liquid, they both started shaking. No one could blame them for not meeting the situation with bravery, as normally anything used under these circumstances was worse than death. And in some way, it was. What Elder Chen had taken out and forcibly made them drink was a poison called 'Devouring Nightmare'. In small doses, it was used as a medicine to calm one's mind and combat internal demons, but with a dosage of half a flask... in the best case, each of them would forget what they have done for the last days. And in the worst one, they could even forget everything, even their names.

Obviously, every poison had its own antidote, but the uniqness of the 'Devouring Nightmare' was that its respective antidote needed to be taken in under three hours or the effects would become permanent.. Elder Chen did not leave them this chance, as after making them drink it, he knocked each of them out with a hit to their vitals. Using his aura to push the bodies off the road, Elder Chen only then turned towards Wu Guang.

He did not say anything, but approached and grabbed him by the hand, before activating his own movement technique. Elder Chen's speed was nothing to scoff at, as Wu Guang calculated it to be at least a hundred miles per hour! With such a speed, Elder Chen could cross the entire island in a few hours.

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At the same time of all this was taking place, Ren Ah and Liang Chin were fighting the disguised Yi He.

She was stronger than them and had an advantage of a level, but they had the numbers advantage and perfect coordination, so the fight was pretty much a stalemate.

Both sides had been using weapons since the start, and techniques soon followed.

Both of the Elites were trained in the unique techniques of the 'Three Hills Sect', but as members of the Discipline Palace, they also had access to a lot of different weapon-related techniques. Ren Ah used his sword to both clash with his opponent, and to release waves of fiery aura at range. As for Liang Chin, his weapon of choice was a club, which he used to channel his qi and continuously barrage Yi He with 'Rock Spikes' and 'Earth Spears'.

The former was a weak technique that could only distract his opponent, but the 'Earth Spears' was considered a top-tier technique, and could even penetrate most defensive techniques. Granted, they did not stand a chance against a martial skill, but, Yi He had not used one and so was forced to constantly avoid the spikes and spears shooting from below her feet.

She wasn't weak, but the coordination between her opponents made her act on the defensive most of the battle. When she suppressed Ren Ah with her better swordsmanship, she would be assaulted with even more spears, giving him time to recover. As for when she attempted to attack Liang Chin, Ren Ah would start aiming at her vitals with his aura blades.

None of them had suffered any injuries yet, but if this continued, the one to fall first would be her. With these thoughts in her head, Yi He decided to throw caution to the wind and attempt to deal with one of them while ignoring her safety. She had learnt a single martial skill, which was called 'Lighting Beak'. This skill allowed her to attack a straight line and penetrate the defenses of even Soul realm cultivators. Still, it required a few moments of preparation, and so she would be open to their attacks as soon as she decided to use it.

Regretfully her plans were seen through by the two elites. If she was a lot stronger, they would not be able do anything, but she was only a bit stronger than each of them individually, so they had a real chance to finish it right there.

As soon as He Yi assumed the stance required by the skill, both of them stopped attacking and moved near each other. The 'Two Hills Suppress One' was a special skill that they had trained for almost a year. It was a mid-grade Martial Skill, and albeit it was strong, its drawback was that it could only be learned on the 1st level of the Soul realm and that two people were required to activate it.

Thus, most of their palace companions actually avoided learning it, as it made one lose a fair amount of months that could be used for cultivation. Still, learning the skill was an extreme advantage for them when they fought together, as their coordination had reached almost perfection. Plus, the strength of the skill was enormous, having enough power to skip over a level or even two!

Both sides released their respective skills almost at the same time. He Yi's one looked like a bright streak of lighting that descended from the tip of her extended sword and flew forward. As for 'Two Hills Suppress One', it looked like both Ren Ah and Liang Chin's bodies grew dozens of times. This image stood still, but the sheer pressure it released was enough to first warp and then destroy He Yi's 'Lighting Beak'. But it did not stop there, continuing its way until it enveloped her entire body.

She tried to resist by using her aura, but the pressure was alike to a 3rd level Soul realm cultivator, and so she was slowly but surely suppressed. A disadvantage of this paired skill could be also the fact that the users could not move while it was activated and so could not utilize this moment to finish their opponent. Still, with the suppression being successful, it was only a matter of time for their opponent to lose consciousness and fall.