A young man with sharp eyebrows and pale white skin, his facial features revealed after a thin black mist dissipated, stood with an undulated blade in hand gritting his teeth. This man was Chen Bingshan!
A searing smell of burnt flesh inundated the air as a thin man lay kneeling on the floor in front of Chen Bingshan, a red hot dagger stuck in his back sizzling as the man writhed in pain. Xiao Shan stood a pace away from the thin man.
Chen Bingshan's pupils shrank as he stepped forward with a slashing motion, causing Xiao Shan to jump several steps back to put some distance.
He closed in on the thin man and pulled the dagger from his back, throwing it to the side.
"How the hell did you get injured?" he murmured at the sight of the thin man convulsing on the floor.
As he pulled out a pill to feed the thin man, he shouted at the robust man not far from where he was, "Ye Li, get over here!"
The robust man was startled. It had been a few breaths of time between him seeing the thin man leave to help Chen Bingshan while he was busy with Chen Kang; however, in that time the thin man was injured badly.
Xiao Shan looked at the robust man. Banging sounds emanated from the sand ball beside the robust man as Chen Kang tried to get free, but the ball did not give in in the slightest.
A strange feeling welled up in Xiao Shan's heart, a fierceness and confidence that Xiao Shan had never felt before, slowly intoxicating him, swallowing him whole.
A cold glint flashed in Xiao Shan's eyes. "Calling your little friend for help? Not a bad idea," he said, as he flashed a double handed incantation and fire birds started to revolve atop his head.
"Hmmp! Do you think the same trick is going to work?" Chen Bingshan flicked a black pill from his bag of holding at Xiao Shan.
The pill exploded mid air, releasing a dense cloud of black miasma, forcing Xiao Shan ten steps back, interrupting his incantation.
As he regained his ground the robust man sprang from the side, releasing a ray of axe energy as he swung at Xiao Shan.
Xiao Shan flicked his dagger to block the axe ray as he sprinted towards the robust man.
The dagger slammed into the axe ray, bouncing back into Xiao Shan's left hand as he flashed an incantation with his right one.
The robust man threw his head back with a roar, his arms and legs bulging as he sprang violently to meet Xiao Shan.
However, as he swung his axe a whistling sound caused his scalp to go numb; he quickly spun around and managed to parry a flying dagger coming at his back.
With a quick step he then recovered his position; however, the sensation of danger did not go away as he saw Xiao Shan falling back, instead it grew even stronger.
Before he could make a move, a booming sound like glass breaking stunned him. He was only able to glance at the dagger he had just parried as it flashed in self detonation.
At such close range the explosion was able to injure the robust man, tearing at the right side of his arm and face. He survived; however, the shrapnel filled wounds left by the explosion left him incapacitated.
This sounds like a lot; however, it actually happened in the time it takes for a single breath. Chen Bingshan was just emerging from the black mist to join in a pincer attack when he saw the detonation.
This caused him to grow enraged from the frustration. Even though Xiao Shan was at the peak of the fourth level of Qi Condensation, it should still be easy for any of them at the fifth level to crush him.
Xiao Shan's fire attribute skills had put his ghostly cultivation at a disadvantage; however, his companions, even with favorable attributes, ended up injured and disabled one way or another.
In his heart a doubt started to grow: the fact that this opponent was not in the initial report for this mission, the fact that he wielded fire elemental techniques, the viciousness he displayed in combat, something felt amiss.
However, given the situation he had no time to think it through; he gritted his teeth as he made a decision.
He slammed his palm into his chest, causing him to cough a mouthful of blood, and he spat the blood at his sword while he flashed a quick incantation.
The sword started to emit a chilling aura as the blood flowed into it like squirming worms.
Chen Bingshan then flipped the sword over and stabbed himself in the abdomen.
Xiao Shan was caught by surprise. Why would his opponent wound himself? Sure, the situation was looking grim, but he could still flee.
In a blink of an eye, shrill screams rang out of Chen Bingshan's sword as red mist surged from it.
The mist seeped forcefully into all his pores while veins bulged in his forehead from the pain.
The sword seemed to melt as it fused with his body, causing his eyes to go red with madness.
This scene caused the hairs on Xiao Shan's back to stand up. He immediately tried to jump back as he flicked his remaining dagger.
However, Xiao Shan was not able to blink before a shadow slammed into him, sending him flying a dozen feet back into a tree, causing him to cough a mouthful of blood.
His vision blurred as he saw Chen Bingshan's claw like hand dripping with blood.
He then noticed the large gash on his left shoulder! With his left arm barely usable he jumped to the side, avoiding another attack by a hair.
As the deranged figure of Chen Bingshan clawed at the tree, it exploded from the brute force, pushing Xiao Shan back.
Xiao Shan leaned behind another tree as a chilling sensation washed over him, sapping his strength.
Before he had time to complete a breath, Chen Bingshan slammed against the tree, sending Xiao Shan flying further back.
It was at this moment that it dawned on him: Chen Bingshan was like a wild beast locked on him to the death! However, it also seemed to have lost all reasoning; it howled with a face twisted in pain.
Xiao Shan gritted his teeth as he covered his wound with his right hand, using the remainder of his strength to flee.
***
At the same time, over the carriage debris, Chen Lin was finishing patching up Li Mo. "He'll survive; however, I don't think he'll wake up soon."
The old man was scrambling over a chest from the cart. Finding the object he was looking for, he quickly pulled out a crystalline jade slip.
He bit his tongue and spat a mouthful of blood on the slip. The slip started to turn red, seemingly absorbing the blood, and soon it started to shine lightly with spiritual light.
The coachman put the slip over his forehead and recited some inaudible words, then quickly smashed the slip in his hand; red specks of light floated and disappeared from it.
"Is that a...", Chen Wei muttered. "I already asked for reinforcements from the clan," the old man said, looking pale as if the blood he spat was part of his very essence.
"Look! Xiao Shan managed to injure an enemy and is distracting the others, quickly help the young master," the old coachman shouted as he pointed to the ball of sand trapping Chen Kang.
Chen Wei and Chen Lin quickly ran over. They both brought out some treasures and started to attack the sand prison; in less than a couple of breaths a sudden explosion rang out, and the sand prison started to show cracks.
Moments later a shout rang from the ball of sand as a disheveled Chen Kang broke free.
"Senior brother, we come to help!" the Chen lackeys quickly gathered to help Chen Kang.
"What happened, where are the enemies?" a hoarse voice rang out of Chen Kang, looking around distressed.
"Young master, Xiao Shan is distracting them away, he managed to injure one," the old coachman said, pointing to a man slumped on the floor, a large burn in his back, breathing unsteadily.
Chen Kang gritted his teeth, and he slashed with his sword, landing a killing blow.
Then he stood breathing heavily. Looking afar he could hear the noise of combat in the distance; his mind raced as he tried to steady himself. He looked around, noticing Li Mo on the floor looking like a corpse.
"What happened to brother Li Mo?" Chen Kang asked, surprised. "That bastard Chen Bingshan was a spy, he stabbed Li Mo, we managed to keep him alive but he will need better attention soon," Chen Lin angrily spoke.
Chen Kang stood silently, pondering.
"You are right, quickly take Li Mo, we are fleeing to the sect," he said with a grave tone.
"Young master, what about Xiao Shan, he fought hard to distract our enemies and free you..." Chen Kang interrupted the old coachman, "he is doing his duty, we should not waste his sacrifice, we should go quickly and seek reinforcements, then we can come back to rescue junior brother Xiao Shan."
He quickly turned back; Chen Wei took Li Mo on his back, behind him Chen Lin carried the old coachman as they started running towards the sect.