The Next Morning..
A sound of distant thunder woke them up, except there were no clouds, just the sound was spiritual pressure, Qi signatures flaring as multiple cultivators approached, still miles away but closing in fast.
"They found us already," Mei said.
"How?"
"Tracking technique, blood scent. Take your pick." Longwei was already up, gathering their supplies. "How many?"
Mei extended her senses. "Four... No, five. All Core Formation or higher, I don't think they're taking chances this time."
"Can we outrun them?"
"Not for long, I'm injured and they're using movement techniques we can't match." She met his eyes. "I think we're going to have to fight."
"Five Core Formation cultivators? Mei, I just broke through yesterday, I can't..."
"You absorbed a Core Formation elder and two Foundation Peaks, you're stronger than you think." She grabbed his hand. "But we fight smart, separate them and take them one at a time."
"We use the terrain."
"And if we can't separate them?"
"Then we improvise."
The thunder grew louder, Closer.
"Wei?" Mei's voice was calm despite the situation. "If this goes wrong and we get separated, just run and don't come back for me. Survive."
"I'm not leaving you."
"You might have to." She pulled him into a quick, fierce kiss. "Promise me. If it comes to it, you survive. That's the priority."
"Mei..."
"Promise."
He wanted to refuse. Wanted to say he'd die before abandoning her.
But she was right tho, survival came first. Above everything, above loyalty even above love.
Especially above love.
"Sure," he lied.
She knew he was lying and smiled anyway.
"Let's move."
They moved to meet the approaching storm.
They found defensible ground two miles from the cave, a narrow canyon with steep walls and limited approaches. The hunters would have to come at them through a chokepoint or waste energy breaking through stone.
"If this goes wrong, we're trapped," Longwei said.
"If this goes wrong, we're fucking dead anyway." Mei positioned herself at the canyon's far end with ice already forming around her hands. "Better to control the battlefield than die running."
The spiritual pressure intensified, it was mere moments now, not minutes.
Longwei took his position near the entrance, Yang energy circulating through his meridians. His core felt different after yesterday, denser, hungrier. The absorbed cultivation had integrated overnight but it had left something behind, a void that wanted to be filled.
Three kills got me to Core Formation One, how many would it take to reach Stage Two? Stage Three?
He pushed the thoughts aside, the hunters were here.
Five figures stood at the canyon entrance, Jade Phoenix Palace cloaks. Four women and one man, all were atleast Core Formation level, radiating killing intent.
The leader stepped forward, a woman probably in her fifties with gray hair and her eyes like frozen lakes. Core Formation Stage Three, at the least.
"You must be Shen Longwei." Her voice carried authority. "Formerly of Celestial Sword Pavilion, declared dead six weeks ago. Yet here you stand, wearing the stink of blood cultivation like a badge of fucking honor."
"And you are?" Longwei kept his voice level.
"Elder Frostwind, I've come to retrieve our wayward disciple." Her gaze landed on Mei. "And to eliminate the demon who corrupted her."
"Me? I corrupted no one," Longwei said pointing at himself. "If anything she corrupted me."
"She chose to practice the forbidden arts with a monster." Frostwind's hand moved to her sword. "The Jade Phoenix Palace has issued a kill order for you. The orthodox alliance has sanctioned your death, surrender and we'll make it quick but resist and..."
"You'll take your time?" Longwei smiled. "How original."
"Mock all you want, blood demon. You killed Instructor Bingwen, a Core Formation elder with decades of service to our palace. That crime demands blood."
"She attacked me first, I defended myself."
"And you absorbed her cultivation like a parasite? that's not defense, it's demonism."
Longwei felt Mei's tension spike, she was preparing to fight. Simply waiting for the first move.
The other four hunters fanned out, taking positions. They seemed professional coordinated, they'd done this before.
Five Core Formation versus two, with one of us injured.
We're going to die here.
Unless...
"I'll make you an offer," Longwei said. "You want me? I'm right here but let Mei go. She walks away, you never pursue her again, and you can have me without even a fight."
Mei was shocked. "What are you doing?"
"Touching," Frostwind said. "But the girl is ours, sect property. You don't get to negotiate her freedom."
"Sect property?" Longwei's energy flared. "She's a person, you delusional..."
"She is a vessel, a bloodline cultivator bred for a purpose. When she ran, she stole sect resources." Frostwind's eyes narrowed. "We're taking her back, whether she's intact or broken doesn't matter. The bloodline is what we need."
Mei's voice rang out from behind him. "Come take me then, let's see what happens."
(Frostwind with a smile.) "Gladly."
She advanced.
And The Battle Began..
Frostwind went straight for Mei, eliminating the perceived weaker target first was standard tactics. Two hunters moved to flank and the remaining two came for Longwei, trying to boxing him in.
But Longwei had expected that.
He didn't meet the hunters head-on. Instead, he moved backward, out of the canyon forcing them to chase. If he could separate them, then pick them off one by one.
One hunter took the bait. A young lady, Core Formation Stage One, eager to prove herself. She pursued him past the canyon entrance, away from her companions.
PERFECT.
Longwei turned and attacked, not with a weapon (he didn't have one). Just raw Yang energy channeled into a palm strike aimed at her core.
But she blocked it. "You think you can..."
He didn't let her finish then used a second technique from the scripture, the one he'd been practicing: Essence Disruption, his Yang didn't try to overpower her defenses, it infiltrated them, seeking the natural cracks in her Qi circulation.
Found them.
Her defenses collapsed from within.
Longwei's hand went straight for her throat, grabbed it and Squeezed, pouring Yang energy directly into her cultivation base.
The woman's eyes went wide. "Wait..."
He crushed her core.
The absorption was instant but overwhelming, her life's force with decades of cultivation became his in a heartbeat.
Core Formation Stage One became stronger.
The power rush was just as intense as yesterday. Maybe more so, his body flowed with stolen strength, meridians burning with integrated energy.
But the resentment came with it, the woman's dying curse, her terror, her desperate last thought: "I have a family, I have a..."
Longwei pushed it down and forced himself to focus, one kill, meaning four enemies left.
He turned back toward the Canyon.
The second hunter who'd followed him was backing away in fear. Male, Core Formation Stage One, suddenly realizing he was alone with a blood cultivator.
"Please," he said. "I was just following orders..."
Longwei moved like lightning.
The man tried to run. Got maybe five steps.
Not fast enough.
Longwei's hand was in his back with Yang energy punching through his defense like it wasn't, and wrapped around his core. Crushing it.
Another absorption, another rush, another voice screaming in his head.
Core Formation Stage Two achieved.
"Two down. Three to go."
He immediately began sprinting back to the canyon.
Inside, chaos reigned.
Mei was fighting two hunters simultaneously, both Core Formation Stage Two and both were pressing her hard. Ice constructs blocked their strikes but she was flagging. Blood dripping from her shoulder wound again.
Frostwind stood back, observing. Letting her subordinates wear Mei down before finishing her personally.
Longwei's arrival changed everything.
He slammed into one of Mei's attackers from behind, didn't give her time to react just grabbed her head and poured Yang energy through her skull directly into her brain.
She didn't even scream. Just collapsed, core shattered and her life force fleeing.
The third absorption hit him like a drug. Core Formation Stage Two solidified, power flooding every meridian.
Three kills in as many minutes, I'm getting efficient at this.
But he didn't know if that was good or horrifying.
The last subordinate. Female, Core Formation Stage Two suddenly alone against two enemies, dropped her sword.
"I surrender!" Hands raised, trembling. "Please... I have family, I didn't sign up for this..."
"Run," Longwei said.
She ran.
Frostwind watched her flee, her expression unreadable. Then she looked at Longwei, realising she might her underestimated him badly.
"You let her go," she observed.
"She surrendered, I'm not a murderer."
"You just killed three of my hunters."
"Who were trying to kill me." Longwei moved to stand beside Mei, both of them facing Frostwind. "That's defense, not murder."
"Semantics." Frostwind drew her sword, it was a beautiful blade with glowing frost Qi. "You're Core Formation Stage Two now, Impressive. But I'm Stage Five, the gap between us is vast."
Longwei could feel it, the weight of her cultivation pressing down on him and Mei like gravity itself. She was stronger, more experienced and completely confident in her superiority.
"She's going to be a problem."
Mei's gave him a nod.
"Together, Like in the valley."
Understanding flashed between them. Partnership cultivation had let them break through before but could it work in combat?
Only one way to find out.
Longwei grabbed Mei's hand and their Qi merged instantly through the bond, her Yin wrapping around his Yang creating something greater than they possessed alone.
Frostwind's eyes widened. "You're attempting synchronized cultivation during combat? That's insane."
"Insane is our specialty," Longwei said.
They moved as one.
THE ATTACKED..
Frostwind was still stronger individually, but Longwei and Mei fought with perfect coordination with their bond allowing instant communication. When he attacked high, she went low. When she created ice barriers, he shattered them into projectiles.
Their Qi flowed between them constantly, balancing, reinforcing, amplifying.
Frostwind was forced on the defensive.
"This is impossible," she snarled. "Two Stage Two cultivators shouldn't..."
Mei's ice spear got her in the shoulder. Not deep but it was enough to disrupt her Qi flow.
Longwei capitalized on it with a palm strike to her sternum. Yang energy flooding through the wound Mei had created, seeking her core.
Frostwind screamed. Her defensive Qi flared, trying to expel him.
But Mei was there and her Yin energy wrapped around Frostwind's defenses from the other side, freezing them in place. Holding them still.
Longwei's Yang found her core.
"Now."
And he pulled.
Frostwind's core shattered.
The absorption was explosive, core Formation Stage Five flooding in, drowning him. It was choking him out until finally...
Core Formation Stage Two became Stage Four instantly, even pushing toward Stage Five but his body couldn't contain it all and energy began leaking out from his meridians, burning, destroying...
Too much. Can't process...
Mei's Yin poured into him through the bond, trying to cool his Yang inferno. Wrapping around the stolen cultivation and helping him integrate it, balancing the chaos.
Together, they absorbed Frostwind's power.
When the light faded, Longwei stood at Core Formation Stage Four.
With voices screaming in his head.
He collapsed.
The resentment was overwhelming. Not just Frostwind's will but everyone she'd ever killed, every soul she'd taken all flooding into him at once. 200+ voices, each one screaming in rage, terror, hatred.
You'll suffer.
You'll burn.
Everyone you love will die.
You're a monster.
Demon.
Abomination.
We'll never let you rest.
Never let you sleep. Never...
Mei caught him before he hit the ground. "Wei! Stay with me!"