A Chaotic World

Chapter 112: Bystander

After entering the forest, the dense vegetation had provided Lu Tianzi with additional cover, allowing him to close the distance between him and the group ahead.

At this moment, they were merely half a kilometre apart.

Even with his improved hearing, it was still impossible for Lu Tianzi to listen in on the conversation between the young lady and Peng's group at such a distance.

However, Lu Tianzi's sense of sight was no longer as ordinary as before!

In his eyes, after the group had stopped, they quickly separated back into their two distinct groups, facing each other with the word animosity practically written on their faces.

What was going on?

Did they fall out with each other for some reason?

Lu Tianzi furrowed his eyebrows as he quickly hid behind a thicket of leaves.

He did not choose this hiding spot randomly, and these were not ordinary leaves. These were herbal leaves that emanated a faint aroma, providing him with an additional layer of camouflage that served to further mask his presence.

When surrounding by nothing by trees and plants, there were always some advantages that a skilled herbalist could make use of!

Now that he was considerably well hidden, Lu Tianzi continued to stay in the shadows, carefully observing the two groups ahead.

Lu Tianzi had already decided that even if the two groups were to break out in a fight, he would just stay out of it entirely!

After all, he had only followed them because of the temptation of possibly acquiring some rare herbs.

As for the conflict between the two groups, that was none of his business!

---

"You want us to pay with our lives?" the young lady gritted her teeth as she traced her spatial ring. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

They were in a secluded region of the forest right now. Even if the other party were to go crazy and kill them, nobody would be able to act as their witnesses.

However, killing them was easier said than done!

Killing someone was far more difficult than merely defeating someone, that was, unless the other party was willing to stand and fight to their last breath.

In her group, the three male companions of hers were all at the Intermediate Essence Condensation realm, while she was at the Peak Essence Condensation realm herself!

When compared to Peng's group that comprised Bie and Jiao at the Intermediate Essence Condensation realm, one other person at the Advanced Essence Condensation realm, as well as Peng at the Peak Essence Condensation realm, the difference was really not that huge.

Yet the other party was actually confidently talking about wanting to kill them?

The young lady could not help but to feel insulted.

Those who had been sent to the capital to attend the Scarlet Moon Heroes Meet were all top geniuses back where they came from.

That obviously went for her as well, so how would she fear an opponent who was at the same cultivation realm as her?

As long as she was not facing one of the Four Stars who were renowned for their strength that far surpassed their peers, she would never back down from a fight.

Much less a fight against such arrogant bastards!

In fact, if not for the fact that this Peng seemed to be connected to one of the Four Stars, she would have already struck out by now!

"Do we look like we are joking?" Peng snorted in disdain. "If you think that we will be worried about the revenge from the influence you belong, then you can't be more wrong! Our Flying Dragon Hall fears no one even in the Scarlet Moon City, not to mention powers from the countryside!"

There was the sound of a blade slicing through the air as the young lady drew out a huge scythe from her spatial ring.

In the hands of the young lady, the giant scythe seemed completely oversized, as though a kid had picked up an adult's weapon. However, she wielded it with such ease that anyone could tell how well practised she was with the weapon.

Then again, this was only expected of a Peak Essence Condensation realm martial artist.

Even though her body frame was small, she was definitely no weakling!

"Hoh" Peng chuckled as he pulled out a sword. "Looks like instead of purely being Slaughter Essence crops for me to harvest, you might actually be able to provide me with some fun during the process!"

"I am giving you one final chance on account of Beiqian Ming. If you turn around right now, I promise I will not pursue this matter. Otherwise, don't blame me for being discourteous!" the young lady pointed the scythe directly towards Peng.

"Hahaha! Even at this point, you are still holding onto that last glimmer of hope? Get them!" Peng ordered without hesitation.

On his signal, his three companions immediately rushed forward!

At the same time, the young lady charged towards Peng.

She knew very well that her side was at a disadvantage, at least in terms of cultivation level alone. Thus as the strongest fighter within her group, if she managed to quickly defeat the opponents' leader, she would be able to join the other fights and suppress them one by one!

This had always been the case for battles in the cultivation world.

The outcome of battles usually depended not on the total number of people on each side, but by the peak experts on each side.

Against an opponent that had a cultivation level far above theirs, any number of martial artists would still be decimated!

As long as she defeated Peng quickly enough, no one else would be able to stop her from saving her companions. And in the end, her group would be the one to emerge victorious!

The blade of the scythe glowed with an intense golden light, emanating a formless pressure that was directed towards none other than Peng as the young lady swung the huge weapon across!

"Overestimating yourself!" Peng stepped forward to meet the young lady, piercing forward with his sword.

The moment he pierced forward, a loud roar resounded across the silent forest, as though a dragon had just awoken from its slumber.

This powerful roar erupted in the form of a shockwave, immediately dispelling the pressure from the young lady's glowing scythe.

Bang-!

Peng's sword smashed against the young lady's scythe in an explosive collision!

Yet despite the thin appearance of the sword, it was the huge scythe that ended up being blown away!

"What?!" the young lady widened her eyes in shock.

At the same time, her companions immediately felt their hopes slipping away.

Right from the first move, all three of them had been suppressed by their respective opponents, especially for the one who had to face an opponent whose cultivation level was a boundary higher than him.

Among their group, the young lady had the highest cultivation level, as well as the greatest martial talent.

When the fight broke out, they had all been holding onto the mentality of dragging things out until the young lady defeated her opponent.

But with that powerful first move from Peng, all their hopes had crumbled, replaced with nothing but despair!

Of course, a single exchange was far from enough to determine victory and defeat.

However, it had allowed them to clearly see the other party's strength.

Peng was definitely not an opponent that the young lady would be able to defeat in a short amount of time!

And if this fight got drawn out, their small disadvantage in terms of cultivation level would come into play, putting them on the back foot.

If they were able to understand this, then the young lady whose attack had just been repelled definitely understood it even more clearly.

Even though she had only sent out a probing strike just now, it had already contained more than eighty percent of her strength. On top of that, it seemed like that the other party had not gone all out either.

With such uncertainty over the eventual outcome, the young lady dared not gamble on the fact that she would be able to emerge victorious, especially when facing this opponent whom she barely knew anything about.

After all, this was a battle with their lives on the line!

"Run!" she immediately conveyed her voice to her companions.

Without hesitation, all four of them turned and charged right towards the direction that they came from!

"As if we will let you escape!" Bie and Jiao stepped forward to block their way.

They had full confidence in Peng's strength from the start, and had tactically positioned themselves to prevent the other group from escaping.

"Get out of the way!" the young lady's scythe swung down, forcing the two of them to hurriedly dodge out of the way.

Now that Bie and Jiao had been forced out of the way by the young lady, there was no longer anyone blocking their escape route.

However, Peng had been right behind the young lady all along.

A second dragon's roar sounded out as his sword pierced forward mercilessly, aiming straight towards the young lady's back!

"Be careful!" one of her companions stepped out to block Peng's attack for her.

He swung out with his own scythe in a valiant fashion, clashing against Peng's sword that even the young lady was unable to stop.

This time, there was no thunderous collision.

Peng's sword simply cut through the scythe like it was paper!

Stab-!

The man who had stepped up against Peng looked down in disbelief, staring at the sword that had pierced into his abdomen.

In the end, the difference of two boundaries had been too much for him to overcome!

"No!" the young lady called out in sorrow as she turned around.

"Leave him!" one of her companions grabbed onto her arm and forcefully pulled her along as he escaped.

By right, the young lady's companion would not have been able to pull her away if she really wanted to resist.

However, she too knew that it was already too late.

If she had chosen to stay, it would only mean that her companion had sacrificed himself for nothing.

Steeling her resolve, she turned around and sped off with all her might.

"None of you will get out of here alive!" Peng roared as he slashed out with his sword this time.

A ferocious dragon roar signalled the start of the technique, and a powerful wave of draconic energy exploded from the edge of his sword, fired right towards the escaping trio!

"Split up and run!" the young lady ordered.

At this moment, Lu Tianzi's eyes had turned cold as he safely watched the entire scene unfold from behind his thicket of herbal leaves.

He had no idea what resulted in the two groups suddenly falling out once more, but the group from the capital were truly ruthless in their attacks, even directly killing off one of the other party!

All of these people were geniuses who had come to attend the Scarlet Moon Heroes Meet, yet they did not seem to care about offending each other?

So this was the way of the martial artists who belonged to the capital!

Disregarding each individual's backgrounds, deciding each others' life and death with the power that they held within their own two hands!

It was a harsh and merciless culture, yet it was also so simple and straightforward!

If you do not possess the strength to defend yourself, lay low and avoid offending others.

If you really want to act in an arrogant manner, then make sure you that you are able to walk the talk!

This was a concept that resonated perfectly with Lu Tianzi's own martial path!

Hmm?

Wait a minute

Lu Tianzi's eyes narrowed in scrutiny as he watched on.

After one of them had been killed, the rest of the group had run right towards where they came from, which also meant that they were running in the direction of Lu Tianzi!

If that was all, then there would not be much of a problem.

After all, he had hidden himself considerably well. Unless they specially swept out with their perception with the intention to look for him, it was unlikely that he would be discovered.

And at such a juncture where one side was busy running and the other side was busy chasing, there was simply no reason for them to suddenly search for others in the vicinity.

However, just as the three escaping martial artists were getting closer to him, they suddenly split in three directions.

Behind them, a powerful wave of draconic energy surged forth, heading directly towards Lu Tianzi!

No, rather than say that it was directly heading towards Lu Tianzi, the direction was slightly off.

But at this rate, he would still be struck by the peripheral energy of the attack!

In order to prevent them from discovering him, Lu Tianzi had not swept out with his perception, instead relying purely on his vision to observe the fight.

Thus, with the three escaping martial artists blocking his view, he had failed to notice that Peng had struck out with a long ranged attack in his direction!

Now that Lu Tianzi finally saw the wave of energy heading towards him, it was already too late for him to dodge!