Pillars as huge as a two story building stood and imposed their presence. On the ground, numerous people walked forth and back as they continued their busy days. It can be seen that all of these people wore extravagant clothing. Some of them where even followed by people that looked like their servants.

Luxurious designs and intricate patterns of different symbols were plastered on the walls. The tiles on the ground were pure gold and the buildings inside this area were made with different kinds of high grade stones that would survive the test of time for hundreds of years.

Of course, this area was an area intended for the nobility. The extravagant atmosphere alone made it clear that people from the slums were not allowed. A huge door made from cipres stood tall and evoked an imposing aura. This huge door alone had reached a height of twenty meters.

A jade plaque hang over the huge door which said. 'Imperial Palace.'

Though this area was a sacred ground only available for those with noble statuses. That doesn't mean that normal people were not allowed to get inside. However, there was a fee for everytime you enter and exit. The fee was a deposit of two hundred gold coins. Of which normal people with their ample income would not be able to afford.

One must know that the family expenses of a family composed of five people was only ten gold coins per year. Which means. That meager deposit of two hundred gold coins was the whole family expenses of a family of five people for twenty whole years!

The expensiveness of the deposits alone made these area a forbidden zone for normal people. Currently, a woman with fairness like a fairy walked with steady paces. Behind her were two female attendants who revealed a small smile as they walked with the same airs of a noble with the woman.

Seeing this, the surrounding nobles were quite irritated.

'Thorn Goddess is here again?! Ugh...' A noble young man uttered, his voice carried deep pain with it.

'Thorn Goddess is here! Hide!'

'Oh, sh*t! Here she goes again!'

Soft voices of curses rang around the area, however. All of them didn't dare to utter such words out loud. These arrogant youths of nobility hung their heads low as they thought of the punishment that they will greet if they ever evoked the wrath of this woman.

The woman who wore a red chang-ao walked in a nonchalant manner. It was as if for her, this walk was like a walk in a park. But in that instance, she turned her head towards the nearby store. The displayed clothes barred by fine glass was enough to deduce that this place was a clothing store.

The woman beamed with a smile as she happily walked towards the store. Her attendants also beamed with the same type of smile. For everytime their mistress came here in the Imperial Palace Market. She would buy tons of clothes and she would even give them, mere attendants such high end clothes just for accompanying her here.

To wear high end clothes made from the finest fabric was enough to entice their woman hearts. So each time their mistress would summon them to shop in the Imperial Palace Market. They would immediately threw all their tasks in hand to the drain and move towards their mistress.

Inside the clothing store, they were greeted by a female attendant who immediately sized them up. Confirming their statuses by their apparels alone was a small task for this attendant. So she immediately beamed with an amiable smile as she maintained a warm tone and said. "Young mistress, welcome to Jaded Clothing Store. May I know by what means can I help you?" She even clasped her hands together and bowed.

In response to this, the woman called 'Thorn Goddess' slightly nodded her head as she walked past the attendant. Not minding her existence.

With this, the female attendant's eyelids twitched. However, she didn't dare to act arrogant in front of this woman. She was after all nicknamed 'Thorn Goddess' just because of her low patience.

Shrugging the woman's arrogant air. The female attendant once again snuggled up to the woman and introduced her to the countless variations of clothes available inside the store. Of course, all of the clothes that she offered were high end clothes made from the finest of fabrics. And they were also the clothes with the highest price tags.

The woman who looked like in her twenties didn't even nod in response to the female attendant's babbling and just moved her hand towards a certain cloth. This cloth had the color of a jade, it was a one piece which emphasized a woman's curvaceous body.

This 'Thorn Goddess' hand moved and rubbed her index finger and thumb with the fabric. Displaying a conflicted expression, and despite the excited eyes of the attendants behind her. The Thorn Goddess lightly said. "Wrap this up for me."

She waved her hand as a purple card materialized in the air before her. She immediately clutched it in mid-air and handed it over to the babbling attendant.

Seeing the purple card, the attendant's eyes gleamed with excitement. This purple card was a symbol of status, and wealth! To acquire this purple card, one must have a net worth of at least fifty million gold coins. Each purple card was unique to their owner so one couldn't use a stolen purple card without the owner's handprints.

On the surface of the purple card. A small jaded lettered words read. 'Imperial National Bank'. And around the purple card were countless inscription patterns that seemed to wriggle around as if they were alive.

The female attendant fell on a small daze. Though she had encountered rich nobles in a daily basis. This was the first time that she encountered such a rich woman! Of all the customers that she had, this woman alone was the first customer that she encountered who wield a purple card!

The female attendant slowly moved her hands towards the purple card. But seeing the woman's irritated expression. The female attendant quickened her movements and clutched the purple card on her palm.

Feeling the warmth of the purple card. The woman didn't dare to loosen her grip. If she were to lose this purple card symbol of status. Thousand counts of her life wouldn't be enough to pay all of the purple card's worth.

After the attendant received the purple card. The woman once again strode around the store, checking different kinds of clothings. Followed by her beaming attendants, she didn't seem to mind their greedy appearances as she just walked around the area nonchalantly.

Suddenly, her footsteps came to a halt as a burst of Mana surged inside the room, sending the startled female attendants towards the wall.

Uttering a miserable cry. They held their heads low as they looked at the place where their master was supposed to be. But just as they moved their glance towards the direction. Their master seemingly disappeared into thin air.

...

John flicked his wrist as a purple red streak of light came to revolved around his body. With an intent of his mind. The purple red blade became a stream of purple blood as it shot off towards his navel, assimilating once again inside his blood pool.

On the surface, John revealed a satisfied smile. However, it was noticeable that his visage was deathly pale and thick beaded sweat covered his forehead as numbness took over his body.

Glancing back, John saw the hazy figure of the previous middle aged man who wielded a strange dagger. But right now, he was unable to see the man's visage in a clear way as a black visible miasma revolved around him in a constant manner.

Staring at him. John couldn't help but gulped a mouthful of saliva as his instincts desperately said to run as far as possible away from that certain transforming entity. However, John decided not to run towarsd the woods but instead towards the body of the dead man who wielded the strange saber that seemed to be capable of controlling lightning.

With small nimble steps, John crudely imitated the 'Golden Roc Shattering the Void' technique of a certain protagonist in a certain novel that he had read. Thanks to the author's popularity, the author of the certain book had released the way on how to imitate the 'Golden Roc Shattering the Void'. And John was awed to find that it was the same as the Judo basic footsteps on keeping balance. However, in a much more quicker pace.

With those ghastly crude movements. John arrived near the body of the gored man.

There, the man laid with his eyes widened. On his face was an expression that did not accept death as an answer. His four limbs were missing due to John's discriminate attacks. If this scene was seen in John's previous world. Many people would have already vomited their breakfast's out.

The blue armor of the middle aged man was wretched all over. The breastplate was missing and myriads of deep scratches could be seen around the armor. John deduced the armor as useless and threw all notions of recovering it. After all, he didn't want to strip a man just to acquire his rekted armor.

Clicking his tongue, John didn't find the object that he was looking for and stood up while scanning the surroundings. His eyes suddenly lit up as he saw a semblance of a human arm laying there on the grassy ground. Seeing that, John swiftly strode towards the arm, and there. His eyes greedily lit up as he removed a small ring with a color of a cyan.

However, since the right arm of the man wore several kinds of rings. John didn't know what to choose and so, he pillaged all of the rings.

After that, he once again stood up and surveyed the surroundings. Squinting his eyes to enhance his focus, John finally caught a glimpse of a reflected light and inwardly shouted. 'That's it!!' Moving with quick steps, John arrived next to the object and found the saber that the middle aged man previously wielded to activate such a terrifying attack!!!

A clear glint appeared in his eyes as he swiftly clutched the saber. However, he suddenly froze in place as a feeling of being chilled in absolute zero shook his spine. 'T-t-this feeling... He awakened?!!!' John inwardly cursed, as he didn't dare to look back.

An intense feeling of crisis surged up inside his mind as his instincts loudly rebelled. His mind reeled in and he felt extremely dizzy. It was as if his body was involuntarily giving up under this intense pressure of death.

Biting his tongue. A scarlet red liquid dripped on his lips as he madly revolved the ten percent remaining blood inside his blood pool and imagined a pair of boots similar to what he used when he followed the strange expert.

After two blinks of an eye. The boots materialized on his feet as he rushed towards the west without any hesitation! The aura of death neared him as sweat continuously poured like river from his body. He didn't dare to turn his head back as he desperately shot off as far as possible from that entity.

After soaring in the skies for about five minutes. John finally felt the slow dissipation of the intense crisis of death that swarmed all over his mind. Now, John decided to retract the materialized boots and walked towards a nearest tree to lean.

There, his breathing came in pants and his visage was deathly pale. He was as pale as a sheet of paper as he relaxed his body and mind. Though it was written in the 'Hemomancer Arts' that exhaustion of the blood pool doesn't cause any physical or mental side effects. Forcefully utilizing the ability to soar in the skies for about five minutes had greatly overtaxed his mental strength.

Now he felt extremely lethargic. However, John forced himself to resurface his dizzy mind to reality by biting his tongue. The sharp pain made his mind steady as he stuffed the sheathed saber inside the ragged backpack along with the mysterious rings.

John retrieved a small canteen from his backpack and chugged the water inside as he once again sighed in relief. This time, his profits was unprecedentedly high. Though he had only come here to follow that strange expert who had the symbol of ravens. The symbol of the Whalls Kingdom.

John deduced that the aim of that strange expert was to retrieve the Third Princess, just judging from his expensive looking armor and the ridiculously strong dagger was enough proof to back this thought up.

Never did he expect that the fight was that intense. This was the first time that he saw such an exciting fight and John couldn't help but feel his fighting spirit rousing up. However, no matter how strong his fleshly body was. In front of a high cultivation base cultivator and with their strange weapons. He was as small as an ant.

The only reason why John was able to kill that previous elder was because, he had consumed all of his Mana reserves. As a cultivator, one's body would be passively protected by a sheet of barrier made by mana. This barrier of protection was enough to fend off any shaking of the internals caused by outside force.

However, if one had consumed all of their mana reserves. This meant that they had also consumed the mana needed to supply the passive sheet of barrier. The sheet of barrier that encompassed the vital internal organs and the bone would disappear if the mana supply disappeared.

Which means, even a small tempered kitchen knife would be enough to slice off their necks if precise enough. This was common knowledge in any cultivation world that John had read.

Because of this and deducing the elder's strange desperateness. John deduced that he must've lost all of his mana reserves, and was pretending to act high and aloof. At first, John didn't believe his theory but seeing that the elder had escaped with his full power, John's theory was confirmed. The elder had consumed all of his mana and was trying to desperately retreat from the threat of death.

But since the elder still possessed the ability to fly. That meant that he didn't literally consumed all of his mana reserves, but instead. Lost all the mana needed to fight in an optimum battle state. Which means, if he had fought earlier. He would have surely died.

So when John killed the elder earlier. He didn't dare to act nice and had utilized almost all of the remaining blood inside his blood pool to create a small sharp blade that eventually killed the elder making him lose all of his four limbs.

In exchange to the treasures that John had obtained. He had overtaxed his mental strength. Because of that, John decided to keep a low key starting from now and keep a certain distance away from the shockwaves of the incoming battle. Since the smallest mana undulation would kill him if he was not ready.

~BAM BAM BAM BAM

Heavy exploding footsteps resounded as the awakened Riven stormed towards the earthen barrier. With every descent of his steps, the ground below would be scorched black and when the revolving black miasma touched the grasses below. They turned to fine dusts.

His eyes filled with ferocity as he ran towards the earthen barrier. His steps reached at least seven meters in one pace. However, if one looked closely. It was actually tens of meters that in several blinks of an eye. He had reached the area around the earthen barrier.

There, with a low growl. Riven raised his hand outwards and descended a fist.

~BAM!

Unexpectedly, the earthen barrier only rippled for a moment before becoming calm. Because of the loud sound that erupted. The thieves who were previously calm due to the protection of the barrier were now shaking in fear just by the sight of Riven alone.

There, they raised their longbows and shot their mana infused arrows towards Riven. This earthen barrier permits mana attacks from the inside to outside but not the other way around. So with a whistling sound, the arrows came raining down towards Riven.

Not minding the arrows. Riven once again raised his hands and furiously punched towards the barrier. But before his fist could descend. The arrows had struck. However, they were blocked by the circulating miasma around his body.

His eyes looked green, completely demonic as he fiercely plummeted his fist towards the barrier.

~Peng!

The earthen barrier rippled once again. This time, Riven didn't prepare to rest as he struck the barrier with his fist in a continuous pace.

~Peng! Peng! Peng! Peng! Peng!

In each time his fist descended. The earthen barrier would emit a distorting ripple that fought back against the pressure. However, as time goes by. It was noticeable that the ripples sent by the earthen barrier became increasingly weak and the sheet of brown membrane became fainter and fainter.

~Peng! Peng! Peng! Peng!

The sheet of membrane became as pale as a paper as it tried its best to withstand Riven's pressure. The bandits on the other side desperately raised their bows towards Riven as innumerable arrows continuously descended. But before they could reach Riven's flesh. The revolving black miasma would block them, turning the arrows to dusts.

~PENG!

A brittle sound akin to a glass breaking resounded. A hole about the size of Riven's fist appeared on the earthen barrier. And as if a fuse was lit. The earthen barrier starting from Riven's fist print cracked. Riven stood there and awaited the disappearance of the earthen barrier.

"Run! That's monster that we cannot defeat!" A bandit howled. His face deathly pale as he threw his weapons aside and ran towards the bandit castle. The morale of the other bandits also plummeted and they tightly gripped their weapons as they trembled in fear.

If they ran, the supreme expert inside the bandit castle would kill them. If they didn't run. This damned monster before them would slaughter them.

As mental dispute appeared in their minds. The answer they were looking for surfaced. Accompanied with a miserable cry. A head flew towards the sky with blood spurting from its neck.

The bandits turned their head behind and saw the man who beheaded the bandit who ran. It was a youth who looked to be seventeen years old. His eyes filled with coldness of the abyss that one casual glance would turn a spectator to an ice block.

The visage of the youth was grim and killing intent flickered on his face. The bandits who were about to run heaved a sigh of relief. It was good that they did not decided to run until the last second or else, they would be beheaded like their mate.

"Cowards! Is this how we work?! Turning your back against an enemy?!" The youth furiously howl. His voice pierced through their eardrums as it echoed around the surroundings.

The surrounding bandits endlessly trembled. They wanted to say something in excuse. However, they found out that their lips were even trembling. No words would come out. They became mute.

"Reorganize and prepare the poisoned arrows! I will take care of this bastard." The youth howled as he unsheathed his longsword.

The bandits on the other hand didn't dare to delay as they ran towards the bandit castle and prepared their customized formation. They scavenged all the usable arrows and desperately ran towards the castle.

The youth prepared a thrust stance. The surface of the blade of his longsword flickered with a blue light and the carved inscriptions wriggled as if they were alive.

John almost exclaimed in the sight of this. The sight of that weapon was the same as this saber that the middle aged man wielded. Looking down at the saber on his palm. The inscriptions were almost the same.

John felt a burning fighting spirit in his chest as he took a small gourd and popped it open. When the small gourd opened. An assaulting smell attacked his nostrils. There, inside the small gourd was a sticky green liquid.

His eyes revealed a cold glint as he took his slightly curved dagger and dipped it on the mixture.

...

A whistling sound resounded in the air as a figure flew in a blur. If one looked closely this woman who wore a red chang-ao was the same person who flew from the Imperial Palace Market.

Currently, the visage of the woman was distorted in a frown. On her palm was a jade slip that emanated a red light. Carved on the jade slip was a name 'Riven Windseeker'

This jade slip on her hand was only used in emergency situations. Such as a life and death battle. A civil war or any battle that can be considered hazardous towards the kingdom.

His face frowned even deeper as he sensed a distorting whistling mana coming behind her. There, he saw a figure of a smiling monk. He wore a Kasaya chougo and on his palm were wooden beads. On his forehead was a painted depiction of yin and yang.

"Hmm, Castella. As expected, your response is the fastest." The monk lightly smiled as he said. He increased his speed even more to the point that he was now flying next to Castella.

Castella gave a cold snort as she increased her speed.

"Hey, hey, Castella! I just want to talk to you about the fire element!" The monk teasingly said. His eyes scoured around Castella's curvaceous body.

Castella involuntarily shivered as she threw a poisonous look towards the monk and said. "If you dare to do that again I will personally make you an eunuch!!" With that, Castella once again urged herself as her speed exploded.

"Ah!" Before the monk could notice it. Castella became a blur in the sky. Her speed really was too fast. Of course, as an earth element practitioner. How could he keep up to the speed of a fire element practitioner? The fire element was after all, the second fastest in flying.

The monk could only sigh as he circulated the mana towards his feet and exploded with further speed towards the northeast.

...

~Peng! Peng! Peng! Peng! Peng!!

Sounds of metal clashing against metal resounded around the area. There, the source of the sound were two blurs moving in an eccentric manner. The other blur revolved by a black miasma used discriminate attacks with his dagger.

The other blur's movements were graceful and each time his longsword streaked the air distorted ripples would spread around the area, turning the harmless boulders struck to fine dusts.

~Peng! Peng! Peng! Peng!!

These exchange of moves had lasted for about a hundred times for now. Though it lasted for that long, either side gave off a feeling of exhaustion. They were still as lively as a dragon.

However, as time goes by. The blur revolved by a black miasma finally showed signs of exhaustion. His attacks became increasingly erratic.

"Tcch!" Riven clicked his tongue as blood slowly dripped from his seven orifices. The consumption of a Forbidden Medicine overtaxed his blood vitality. Now, his body showed extreme signs of fatigue. His body ached all over and the hand that held the dagger in a reverse grip was now trembling.

"Hummph!" As Riven thought of the possible outcomes. He was slightly distracted and as a result. His opponent sent him flying backwards with a low growl.

The longsword struck the revolving miasma. Because of that. The piercing ability of the longsword was depleted. However, the blunt pressure still made it on Riven's body causing his internal organs to shake.

"Puah!" Riven knelt on one knee as he coughed a mouthful of black blood. Yes, a mouthful of black blood. But this black blood wasn't the impurities inside this body. Instead, this black blood was the result of overtaxing his blood vitality. Causing his veins to convulse in response.

Gritting his teeth. Riven stood up and forcefully endured the urge to cough a mouthful of blood. 'They should be here by now. What happened?!' Riven thought about the jade slip that he crushed to pieces.

That jade slip was an emergency alarm for special circumstances. If that jade slip was crushed. The other imperial protectors would receive a summon to help the imperial protector whose jade slip was snapped.

My fellow imperial protectors would come! Riven steeled his mind as he stood up and used a reverse grip stance. The youth before him gave a cold mocking laugh as he said. "Hmm? Potty's time is over? I really despise people like you the most. People who utilize such evil medicines to increase their low cultivation base. Shameless." The youth shook his head.

"So why did you attack my bandit group? Did we do something bad? " The youth's gaze came to his dagger as he continued.

"You even have such a precious treasure with you. I presume that's a high ranked Mist Vessel right?"

"However, no matter how high ranked a Mist Vessel is. If the user is trash, it will still be trash!" The youth coldly shouted as he raised his longsword in a downward slash stance.

"Any last words?" The youth coldly glanced at the kneeling Riven. After waiting for about two breaths. The youth gave a cold laugh as he said.

"Then I'll be sending you off." The youth said as his longsword turned to a blur descending towards Riven's neck.

Riven kept a closed eyes this whole time. However, just as the longsword of the youth struck his neck. His figure suddenly became a blur and reappeared behind the youth. He held his dagger and diagonally slashed towards the youth's back.

The youth's pupils constricted when his longsword struck air. Just now, not even a blink of an eye passed when Riven suddenly disappeared. Alarmed by the killing intent behind him. The youth changed the balance of his body to momentarily glide in the air.

However, when he did this action. Riven's dagger had already descended. And with a puchi sound. The youth's back slashed open with a bloody line.

Taking advantage by the force of impact. The youth glide even further in the air before coming to a halt. His face, deathly pale. If he was even a second late about evading. His head would have probably flew right now.

"Bastard!" The youth's face reddened from anger as mana undulations surged around his surroundings. Materialized before his navel was a small pillar of scarlet red. A pillar inside the dantian was a clear sign of the Foundation Realm!

The pillar revolved in a crazy manner as the mana around the surroundings became a vortex that was sucked by the pillar. In response. The resplendent glow of mana around the youth became more and more thicker.

On the other side. The black miasma revolving around Riven's body gradually dissipated. His naked torso was now clearly shown. On his torso were countless black lines dripping with scarlet blood. and his seven orifices leaked with a black blood.

His body ached all over and his muscles convulsed. No matter how hard he tries to move his body. His body wouldn't listen.

Seeing the marvelous display of different colors before him and the squirming inscriptions on the longsword. Riven sighed. 'That longsword is at least a low ranked Mist Vessel. What a pity...' Riven sighed. If he could only utilize the power of the high ranked Mist Vessel that he wielded. This battle wouldn't ended without a hitch.

The power of the Mist Vessel was after all. Limited. Riven, with his current cultivation base could only use it for two times. Or else. He would overtax his mental strength.

The resplendent glow of mana accompanied by the squirming inscription symbols formed a scarlet red pentacle. This scarlet red pentacle gave off a glow of its own. After about a minute of gathering mana. The pentacle finally formed.

The youth gave a sinister smile as he said. "Inescapable Cage."

When the words came out from his mouth. The pentacle exploded and turned into countless specks of light which in turn transformed to innumerable scarlet red longswords. This scarlet red longswords shook the surroundings as they materialized.

They revolved around their target and awaited the wielder's command.

"Die!" The youth coldly shouted.

In response, the scarlet red longswords exploded towards Riven. The horizon seemed to be filled with a scarlet red rain descending down towards Riven.

~BOOM!

An incomparably large explosion surfaced. The youth's face became even more pale as he had completely used up all of his mana reserves. But on his face. A sinister cold smile was plastered. He seemed to have fun in mocking an enemy before killing them.

As he rejoiced in his heart. A resplendent golden glow suddenly took over the scarlet red glow of the horizon.

"W-w-wha..." The youth trembled. An immovable presence turned his body to a living statue. No matter how much he wanted to move. His body wouldn't.

"Hmm, for you to try and kill one of my comrades. How daring." A small deep voice resounded. Carrying with it an intense killing intent.

As the smoke around the area cleared. The figure could now be seen. Seeing the figure. The youth's body trembled even more. 'I-immovable Khan?!'

The monk only gave a small light smile. As if he had read the youth's mind. In return. The monk held his hands parallel to each other as he chanted.

"Naumaku sanmanda, bazaradankan!"

~Puchi.

With a small muffled sound. The body of the youth exploded. Staining the scorched ground with a deep scarlet color. There wasn't even an intact part of the youth's body. What's left were the bloody mess of his mashed up internal organs.

Author's Note: This chapter took longer than expected to write. But fret not. This chapter is at least worth three of my regular chapters 5016 words ::) Enjoy reading.