Both the Warrior Lord and the Sage had time to avoid the slash, but while the latter chose to do so, the former was sure of his strength.

From his viewpoint, the one that sent the attack was just a peak Sage, and one weakened as well. Thus, why would he need to dodge the attack?

Granted, the seven feet tall and two feet tall crescent of roaring black-flame was impressive, but there was no heat coming from the fire, and he felt no danger either.

*Stomp*

The Warrior Lord, Quan Meng, stomped his foot on the sands of the desert while exclaiming, "Armor of the Great Sands!"

As soon as the skill activated, tendrils of sand emerged from below his foot. And in less than a moment covered his aura, which had retracted and surrounded him akin an armor.

"Come!" He bellowed, intending to take the attack head-on and then catch their target, who had not stopped running and even now continued approaching while using the fire blade as both shield and ram.

***

Although an afterthought during its creation, seeing that the cloaked man in front decided to tackle the attack made Bai Qi inwardly acknowledge it had been the right idea.

The 'Demonflame, Slash' was, in truth, an attack close to being considered a trump card and one that used most of Bai Qi's possible strength to utilize. It used close to a third of aura and a similar amount of 'Ghosflame' qi to be released, and it carried a power akin to a full-power attack of a peak 1st level Saint Beast. Even Chi, someone close to becoming a 2nd level Saint Beast, did not manage to stop Bai Qi's new skill. In fact, he wasn't wounded during the testing only because Bai Qi dispelled it as soon as it clashed with the man-tiger's aura.

Such expenditure would be noticed instantly by any opponent on the same, or higher, cultivation level than Bai Qi, except if the opponent had no idea of Bai Qi's authentic aura like it was happening now. Indeed, he had shown a weakened aura, but even if they added a considerable amount to it, it wasn't even half of his actual aura. So, how could even the peak Warrior Lord from behind conceive the thought that an attack that openly had spent close to nothing had almost the equivalent to two-thirds of a normal Sage's aura infused into it?

*ROAR*

The roaring crescent of flame clashed with the sandy aura cover of the Warrior Lord and continued forward as nothing. From the side, it had looked like it just passed through without actually inflicting any damage, but there were no bigger lies than the ones one assumed to be the truth.

*Plop* *Plop*

"Aaaaarggh!" The 2nd level Warrior Lord, a cultivator that should have been able to shrug off a half-assed attack from a Sage easily, fell on the ground while screaming. But he had been only the second thing to fall, as, before that, his severed right forearm fell.

Bai Qi did not expect the slash to be so effective. Still, if the opponent was keen to be wounded, then why would he complain? Thus, Bai Qi ran past the wailing man without even deigning to look at him.

***

"Quan Meng! Damn! All of you, attack, now!" The peak Warrior Lord, Wan Dao, roared in anger while infusing qi into his secondary meridians and taking the air. And while before he had not been slow, now his speed had doubled at least.

Every cultivator starting from the Sage Realm trained at least one ranged skill. Even if one's focus was close combat, and one's weapon was a melee one, it was impossible to fight a similar-level opponent without having any means to prevent or pursue during the escape.

And while the robbers, as they were nothing else, that formed Wan Dao's group were anything but genuine cultivators, they still knew such basics.

While Quan Meng was out of combat, the group still counted eight people, and with Wan Dao's choosing to rush ahead, seven skills should have flown after the target.

"Great arrow of the Sands!" One man roared as the sand in the air around him gathered into a ten feet long arrow, and then with a *Swoosh*, flew out.

"Snake pursuing to hell!" Almost at the same time, another man shouted. And a piece of his aura separated into what resembled a three feet long snake, which with a *Slither* sound and a speed that easily could rival a Warrior King, slithered after its prey.

"Desert Hounds!" A breath later, a third man's voice resounded, and two brown, dog-like figures emerged from the sand behind him. And after roaring, *Roar* *Roar* jumped up and began running through the air towards the target.

*Slash* Without any sound except the one of the curved blade that the figure produced, a pure aura slash was sent off, aiming at the mark's back.

An impressive array of skills, but an incomplete one, only four skills in place of the expected seven sent. And even more, all of them were from the four Warrior Lords that followed Wan Dao from behind.

{Ye Su, Shui, what the fuck are you doing? Attack or pursue.} Wan Dao sent a transmission to both, who froze on the spot they were and did neither. He could understand Fan Jia, who had been with them only for a few weeks and was young, and so could be shocked from seeing someone's losing an arm a few feet away. But that two?!

"Attack or pursue, or you will be the next after that bastard!" Wan Dao bellowed as he passed in between them. Using his utmost speed, coupled with air-waking, he was sure that the target would not be able to escape for longer than some minutes more. The robber band boss thought as he saw the four skills that were already overtaking him and would reach Pan Hui, or whatever the bastard's name was, in less than a few breaths.

***

Bai Qi's senses had caught on to all the developments even though he did not stop or even look back. The skills would reach him shortly, and the only one that he felt was dangerous was the slash. The arrow, snake, and hound-like summons weren't anything easy to deal with either, but Bai Qi knew he could defend against them.

As for the approaching peak Warrior Lord, Bai Qi had no choice to bet on the arrival of his reinforcements. Fighting such an opponent in his prime condition would be crazy, not to mention how he was currently.

{Everyone's ready. Kass Shaa'r and Gi La are five miles from the nest towards your position. Both activated the concealing talismans you left us.} As if in reassurance, Bai Rui's transmission via the link entered his mind, and Bai Qi allowed himself to smile.

Activating 'Counting Steps', Bai Qi disappeared from the spot and appeared almost half a mile ahead just a breath later. The movement technique did not increase his speed too much when compared to his current one, and any cultivator a few levels above his would sense his movements anyway. But its effect temporarily hid his presence which was the best counter against any tracing skill. And it allowed him to slightly zig-zag without affecting his overall pace, forcing the skills behind him to re-track and change course, losing speed and giving him time.

*Step*

*Step*

*Step*

A thousand feet forward and a hundred to the left.

Two thousand feet forward and three hundred to the right.

Another thousand feet forward and two hundred to the left.

Bai Qi proceeded forward while jumping from side to side. He had chosen to activate the technique for short distances, what he could do without any waiting interval, as opposed to the almost mile maximum, which would require him to wait for a few breaths.

"Don't think you can run for long, you trash!" The peak Warrior Lord was also getting dangerously close, and he wasn't affected by Bai Qi's movements as his senses followed them regardless of the technique's effect.

Not that it was strange if one considered that 'Counting steps towards Hell and Heaven' was an evolving technique that grew along with its user's cultivation, and so, was at the moment a Yellow-Realm equivalent one. And while Bai Qi had previously managed to obscure his movements from cultivators more advanced than he was, it did require time, preparation, and ideally, a difference smaller than an entire realm.

"I did not do anything to you all, and yet you pursued me! Damn you all! I will curse you even as a ghost!" Bai Qi let out a hysterical scream as he feigned losing the ability to use the technique he had been using, and the four skills immediately flew towards him.

*Swoosh* *Swoosh*

The four reached him almost at the same time, and then, the four auras intermixed and exploded, releasing aura and the respective attacks.

*BOOM*

***

"Is he done for?" Almost everyone, except for Fan Jia, who continued silently staring at the now still Quan Ming, asked either in voice or thought.

*Shiver* *Shiver* *HSSRAAR*

"Ignore him, escape, now!" Wan Dao was the first to sense that something wasn't right, but even before his words finished leaving his mouth, the surrounding air and qi shivered while a savage, hissing roar followed.

Wan Dao was the first one to change course, quickly running on the air towards the left, but only a breath later...

*Shiver* *Shiver* *GRAARH*

"Everyone, RUN!" He shouted while starting to move backward in an attempt to avoid the new aura that appeared just a mile in front of him.

But that didn't work either, as now from behind...

*Shiver* *Shiver* *GRAARH*

A slightly weaker but still powerful Saint Beast aura emerged a mile and a half to the right from the direction they were pursuing Pan Hui to.

"DAMN!! Retreat, Retreat!!" This time it wasn't just him but everyone else that screamed. Still, just as they thought about retreating, not one but two auras emerged from behind!

*ROAR* *ROAR*

And the roars that accompanied this new pair of auras made even the peak Warrior Lord tremble.

***

The auras slowly began approaching, forcing the robbers to gather together. Wan Dao's senses indicated that except for two on the 3rd level, the rest of the beasts were superior to his cultivation. Thus, he had no choice but to wait for an opportunity either to dialogue or to escape.

Although Wan Dao did think like that, he had to acknowledge he had no reason to think about such a situation.

***

"What do we do with them?" Kass Shaa'r asked Bai Qi in a low tone.

"We only need information, but leaving them go just like that doesn't seem right either." Bai Qi, who had used the chance provided by the skills clashing against the lizardman's aura, which he had spread out to protect him, to conceal himself, muttered back.

{I will speak with them, everyone, be prepared for trickery. Also, if you sense anything flying off, immediately destroy it. We do not want them to call for reinforcements after all.} Now that everyone's presence was in his range, Bai Qi sent a qi transmission.

___________________________________________________________________

Quan Meng had suffered wounds before, several times, so even though he did scream and roll on the ground for a few minutes, as soon as he felt that the situation turned dangerous, he forcefully calmed himself. His inner qi closed the wound and prevented him from bleeding, and now, although, on shaky feet and pale, he stood among the others as the Beastly auras surrounded them entirely. Still, losing an arm wasn't a light issue, and all of his thoughts were a mix of pain and resentment.

Fan Jia was still dazed, and even though unwounded, no thought except the one of, appeared.

Shui and Ye Su were both shaking. Neither wanted to die, but what else could they expect from Beasts?!

The other four Warrior Lords looked calm. It could be because they had both bodies and faces covered with cloaks and hoods, but they did not show any emotion or say anything.

Wan Dao could guess what most of his people were thinking and knew that except him, no one had any chance to leave here alive if the Beasts were hostile.

His question was a reasonable one indeed, as although the six separate auras did approach and now enclosed the nine humans, the Beasts maintained their distance, staying half a mile away and using a current of qi to cover their forms with sand.

"Now that my situation changed, maybe we can speak about how to change yours?" Suddenly a voice emerged from behind the two auras to the front, and while Wan Dao had only heard this voice once, he did not doubt that it was coming from the supposedly dead boy!

***

Stepping out from the lizardman's aura Bai Qi entered the mile-wide aura encircled region. Kass Shaa'r had been hesitant to allow Bai Qi to enter alone, but the latter had stated that there was no need. He also reasoned that "If we do leave them alive, the least we want is them knowing you are Beastmen."

"So, you are the leader, right?" Bai Qi motioned to Wan Dao, ignoring everyone else.

"I am, but who the fuck are you?! What do you want with us?!"

"If you want to live, then shut up. I did not want anything with you. It was you lot that decided to rob and probably kill me. So whatever I do now, I am in my right. Especially with how the tables turned." Bai Qi smirked, and although the bandits did not know, asked Heise Zhao and Zhua to follow his words with a roar. Both immediately did, although asked themselves why only they?