Hau held back as many of the bandits as he could, but he could only do so much. His sword flashed left and right. Each slash killed five bandits, but the sheer numbers put pressure on him. Many arrows were sticking out of his body and blood poured without restraint. His eyes were bloodshot as he looked at the bandits. It was do or die. His Qi boiled inside his Dantian. Suddenly, all of his Qi escaped the Dantian and was absorbed by his body. His eyes bulged out slightly as he coughed a mouthful of blood. What he was currently doing was something called Qi overdosing. As a body refiner, he was not able to create a membrane of Qi around his body to boost his power like people in the spirit condensing stage, but he could let his body absorb his Qi forcibly.

If this was done in small doses, the side effects would be small. It would be recoverable, but the amount of power that the small doses gave were quite incomparable to what Hau was currently doing.

He was using all the Qi he had accumulated. It only filled up half of his dantian, but that was enough to give him a power boost that was comparable to a spirit condensing cultivator for a short amount of time. Ultimately, even if he survived, the side effects would leave him cripple for life.

His sword suddenly became invisible to the naked eye of normal people. The slashes of his sword produced a sharp and shrill sound that would make the bandit’s ears bleed. Ignoring the racking pain in his body, he plowed through the bandits with the ferociousness of a tiger.

The leader of the bandits saw this and hurriedly yelled, “Retreat! He is overdosing Qi right now! Retreat and wait for the fire to burn out!”

The bandits retreated, but how could Hau let them go? With a roar, he leaped up high up into the air and followed as his sword slashed whoever was in his way. He wanted to kill as many as he could before he died.

Arrows showered above him and pummeled the entirety of his body, but he ignored that.

“Die! Die! Die!” His bloodthirst reached the heavens as his sword was dyed red. For the security of the young miss, he was ready to die at all cost.

Rivers of blood flowed on the ground. It was the blood of the bandits. His scholarly look was now gone. He had turned into a demon that would kill anything in his way.

“Demon! Run away!” shouted a bandit in fear. The bandits listened to his word and ran as fast as they could, but was escaping Hau’s blade so easy?

It was sudden, but the leader of the bandits saw it. Hau was nearing his end. More tens of arrows were stuck to his body and his face was as pale as a ghost’s.

“This is the time! Archers! Knock and fire!” the leader shouted. The sound of arrows pierced through the air as they flew towards Hau. They covered the sky like a flock of birds flying.

Hau saw the arrows and smiled coldly as his body was struck by tens of arrows. In his final moment, he had managed to kill a final bandit. The rest of the bandits sucked in cold breaths. Seeing many of their comrades lying on the ground with huge sword slash marks on their bodies caused them to shiver in fear. It could have been them if they were unlucky enough to be caught in the sight of the demon.

In this confrontation, a total of 500 bandits were killed and more than 100 were injured. This was the power of a rank 10 body refiner who was prepared for his death. It was a confrontation that lasted more than 10 minutes. It was enough for Tel and June to get away, so at his last moments, Hau died with a smile on his face.

While getting away, June looked back at the village. He saw arrows piercing Hau’s body and bit his lips furiously. He didn’t want to leave, but the fate was cruel like that. He had his priorities and staying would just make things harder for him.

By the time that the fight in the village was done, the two had gone very far away. They scaled the mountains and were currently in a cave resting. Tel’s breath was haggard because of running so much.

“Do you think we’re safe now?” asked June. It was still morning and the cold air in the mountains was felt on his skin.

“Not safe yet. The Ker family is smarter than this. The group of bandits were only a distraction. They must have sent some rank 10 body refiners for me. We need to be discreet while moving.”

Tel looked outside with her sharp eyes and heaved a sigh. The situation was very troublesome. With her strength as a rank 8 body refiner, she was not comparable in strength to rank 10’s, but she might be able to do something if their skills were lower than her.

The squalls of birds were heard from a distance and the wind was sharp. “Let’s go. We can’t stay here for too long,” Tel said. “It’s only a week's worth of walking if we want to reach the Erl Kingdom. It wasn’t safe in the kingdom, because the Ker family would send assassins for me. That's why I went I lived in the village, but now that they’ve found out, the Erl Kingdom will be safer than the village. After I became a rank 8 body refiner, I was planning to pack up our belongings in the village and head back to the Erl Kingdom because I became strong enough to protect myself, but the Ker family seems to be one step ahead.”

The Ker and Bran family had a long history together. They were both families that were Viscounts of the Erl Kingdom. Fighting amongst nobilities were in abundance, but these two had deep hatred for each other. Their spirit condensing cultivators were brothers long ago, but they had a fall out and it resulted in the war of the two families. Assassination attempts between the two were common and this caused the families to send their young into hiding.

Being part of the Bran family’s tenth generation, Tel was born into chaos. With a sigh, she carried June along into the distance in hopes of being able to throw off their pursuers.

The terrain was rough and rugged, but she persevered and after 3 whole days of running, they reached the gates of the Erl Kingdom. The pursuers were never seen or heard of along the way. This caused Tel to question if there were any pursuers in the first place. She tried not to think about it too much as she ran towards the gates at full speed. They were almost safe and out of the mountains, but then a figure suddenly appeared in front of them.

“Ker family’s assassin,” Tel hissed with anger. She was exhausted from the journey, and the last thing that she needed was a fight. Looking at the situation, she understood what was happening immediately.

“Damnable Ker family! Isn’t this a bit too far?! Waiting till I get tired to attack me… shameless!” Tel was undoubtedly angered and her voice showed it.

The person in front of them was dressed in black clothing. Everything was covered except their face. With a quick action, the person in black took out a dagger.

“Shameless or not, as long as your dead it doesn’t even matter. Still, i’m an assassin, you can’t blame me for being shameless.” The person’s low and deep voice made Tel and June acknowledge that he was a guy.

With a glare, Tel said, “What kind of assassin are you? Attacking openly like this… what an assassin you are.”

The guy did not say anything, but the indent on the part where his mouth should have been showed that he was smiling.

Suddenly, Tel felt a cold chill run down her back. She pushed the ground with all her strength and tumbled to the side with June on her back. Two more figures showed at that moment and attacked at the point where Tel was standing.

“Tch, you're a fast one,” said one of the figures. They were all covered in black clothing.

Tel threw June aside and then she took out her black with a quick flick of her wrist. She was planning to fight them all on her own!

Looking at the ground, Tel could see two small craters at the point where the two assassins attacked. Their daggers were lodged into the ground, and it was apparent that they had enough power to push a dagger deep enough so that their fist would reach and the left over power would still create a small crater.

“Two rank 10 body refiners… the other person must be a body refiner of the same rank too,” thought Tel. She was a rank 8 body refiner, and there was a 200 pound difference in strength, but she had confidence that she would be able to kill at least one rank 10 body refiner on her own.

Even if she had the skills to make up for the rank differences, fighting 3 rank 10 body refiners was too much. This left her in a tight spot, but she was not the type to think too much, so she took action quickly.

With a flash of her blade, and power behind her legs, she propelled herself towards one of the assassins in front of her and slashed out with her sword.

The assassin brought up his dagger to block, but Tel’s sudden action left him unprepared. A clean slash mark slowly revealed itself on his neck and blood splurted out without any signs of stopping. A rank 10 body refiner died just because he was not careful enough.

The other two assassins took quick action. They were regretful of their comrade’s death, but it was not the time to mourn. With their daggers, the assassins teamed up and attacked Tel from both sides.

Tel was able to keep up for a bit, but the exhaustion from her journey showed itself, and sure enough, wounds slowly covered her body. She was ready to Qi overdose, but that would mean abandoning her way of cultivation. She was very reluctant, but it was different for the two assassins. They were confident that they would be able to kill Tel, so they hadn’t even thought of Qi overdosing.

Tel gritted her teeth as she felt the pain of her wounds. The clashes of iron hit each other and it resounded through the surrounding area.

Suddenly, a chance arose from the appearance of a rabbit. The rabbit pounced at one of the assassins, and this caused the assassin to move out of the way instinctively.

This action left Tel some room to attack back. Her sword produced shrill sounds that made the assassin’s heads ache. With a flash of light, Tel’s blade cut the shoulder of the assassin that successfully dodged the rabbit’s pounce.

Taking this chance, Tel finished the assassin off as she pierced her sword into his heart, but the other assassin too this chance to lodge his dagger into her shoulder. The two toppled down with the assassin on top and Tel on the bottom.

“You killed my two good brothers… I will kill you!” shouted the assassin as he glared at Tel. He was obviously blinded by rage in that moment. His senses were weakened because of his rage, so he did not notice June.

The sword June got from Tel pierced the man’s throat and blood gushed out.

“How?” said the assassin as he held his neck with the last bit of life he had. June’s stealth was not top notched, but it wasn’t far from a master in stealth. Throughout the ten years that June lived with July, the only reason why he could get food and survive was because he honed his hiding abilities.

Tel looked at June with surprise. She had nearly forgotten about him. Her death was imminent, but it seemed that luck was on her side that day. She pushed aside the dead assassin in front of her and got up with a sigh of relief.

She shook her head as she looked at the three bodies on the ground. Three rank ten body refiners were killed just like that. It was because they were too careless. Even spirit condensing cultivators could be killed easily if they were careless.

“It seems that it was right of me to trust you,” Tel said as she looked at June. “Let’s go… we can’t stay here for too long.”

Her body was covered with wounds and she was exhausted, but they were close to the kingdom, so even with her in such a state, Tel pushed on as she carried June and sped towards their destination.

The two shortly reached the kingdom, and the guards immediately opened the gates when they saw Tel’s identification card. Tel fainted as soon as they walked in. The guards had already notified the Bran family as soon as they saw Tel’s identification card.

June fell down at the same time Tel fell, but he was able to stabilize himself and hold onto her at the same time. She had passed out from blood loss and pain, and it seemed as if she was in critical condition.

Although her condition was like this, June was not being tentative because of the kingdom’s liveliness. It caught his attention and made him stand there in awe. His heart was beating fast and his excitement was shown on the fascinated look on his face, but this moment didn’t last forever.

From afar, he heard the clattering of hooves coming towards him with speed. The group of horses and men on top of the horses numbered at least a dozen.

“Hand over the lord’s daughter,” said the rider in front. He was clad in armor from head to toe. His face was hardened and stern. It contrasted with the strong build that he had.

In a daze, June handed Tel to the man.

The man took Tel and asked, “Who are you and what's your relation with the lord’s daughter?”

“I’m her servant,” June said with a quiet voice. Everything that had happened in the past few days made June realize that his plan was foolish. Not everything was as simple as he thought. He thought that it would have been easy to lie about himself.Then, he would get info about sylphs through by exploiting Tel, but now he knew that it was a foolish thought.

All the men on the horse gave him the feeling that Demonic beasts in the forest gave him. It was a feeling of danger and it scared him. He may have been stronger than the men, but compared to them, his experience was lacking. He did not have the air of an expert or anything like that. He looked like a teenage boy, and that was most likely why Tel and Hau had accepted him without much consideration.

Through all of this danger, June had actually felt a tinge of excitement. This could be considered as part of the journey that he wanted so much. He didn’t care about the danger. He wanted to see new things for himself. July’s stories had incited his teenage drive.

“Beryl The Great; the story of a man who had fought a thousand cultivators by himself and won…”

“Riun of The Third Sea; the story of a man who roamed the third sea and found countless of treasures underneath the water…”

“Aza The Forgotten; A story about a woman who found a legendary sabre, and with it’s help, she ruled the fourth continent…”

These stories were all awe inspiring, but it was only a few of the many that June had heard from July. The stories made June think, “Ah, I want to experience that too.”

The man that carried Tel signaled at his companions, and they tied up June. They took him with them as soon as he was secured. The group rode like the wind with a tornado accompanying it.