Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Naruto.
Sasuke was able to fight against his enemies alone. The battlefield around him was filled with desolate screams, and blood splashed everywhere. To Sasuke, this was already a common sight, so it didn't disturbed him in the slightest.
Sasuke continued to stab out with his sword, after every attack another Boundless Bandit would fall. With his lightning fast speed, enemies of equal strength weren't able to keep up with Sasuke's flow for more than three moves, and even more of them were instantly killed with only a single clean strike to the throat.
In terms of strength, Sasuke was lower ranked when compared to the bandits. However, when it came to killing bandits, no one could compare to him. In the span of a few minutes, over a few dozen bandits had been killed by him, drenching the Kusanagi with blood. Sasuke's clothes on the other hand, still maintained their pure, cottony, white and brown, as not a single splash of blood landed on them.
Unknowingly, Sasuke had penetrated into the core of the bandits. Boundless Bandits surrounded him for 20 meters in every direction with no fellow mercenary in sight. The closest few were fighting in small groups of three to five on the outskirts of the bandit's vanguard.
"Kill him!" Three of the Boundless Bandits cried as they charged at Sasuke with a bloodthirsty roar. With a lift of their Saint Weapons, they slashed down in hopes of chopping Sasuke in half.
Sasuke immediately flew forward, lightning sparks visible on his feet, towards one of the incoming bandits. His Kusanagi Sword flashed with a blood red color as it shot towards the bandit's throat.
Sasuke was an expert with the sword, so when he made his move he did it fast, and the bandit's had no time to react. He could only see a silver sword come towards his neck, then the next thing he knew, he couldn't breathe. It was almost as if something was blocking his throat, so he couldn't yell either. Immediately, a trickle of blood came flowing from his neck as the bandit fell to the ground without making another sound.
Even in his final moments, the bandit didn't realize that he was dying; perhaps he didn't even know his throat had been pierced by Sasuke's sword. Because Sasuke's swordplay was so fast, the bandit didn't have time to react. Moreover, the blade was so thin that he did not even feel pain from the stab.
Even after the Kusanagi Sword had pierced the bandit's throat, Sasuke didn't stop moving. The other two bandits had already gotten close, readying their weapons to slash down towards him.
Facing the two bandits who were preparing their weapons, Sasuke did not look panicked at all. With a snort, he grabbed his sword and used the Profound Steps to approach the two bandits at rapid speeds. Combined with the supportive effect of his lightning, he appeared even faster.
At the same time, the blood red sword in his hand lashed out and stabbed one of the two bandits in the throat.
The Kusanagi Sword met no resistance as the stabbed bandit didn't react at all. It pierced deeply through his throat, and with a fluid motion, Sasuke pulled it out and stabbed the third bandit as well.
Every single stab from Sasuke had been extremely fast, the naked eye wouldn't be able to keep up. No one would be able to avoid his strokes, and so the third bandit would definitely not be able to survive a blow to his throat either.
To Sasuke, killing people was already as common as breathing. Seeing the life escaping from people was nothing uncommon, and he never hesitated over taking an enemy's life. And so the Kusanagi Sword continued to fly out towards the bandits.
Amongst the fierce clash, no one was safe from this battle. Even the caravan drivers who weren't Saints were grouped together with a few mercenaries fending off the bandits.
The battle was causing both sides to rapidly lose numbers; both the bandits and the mercenaries suffered from disastrous casualties. Aside from Sasuke, who was still completely clean of blood, everyone else was drenched in it; some were covered head to toe in both blood and wounds.
Although the bandits had a higher number of people than the mercenaries, their strength and teamwork were lacking in discipline in comparison to the mercenaries, who had spent a good portion of their time with each other. So when the two fought, despite having superior numbers, the bandits were fighting on equal grounds with the mercenaries.
Sasuke continued to travel back and forth as he dodged attacks from all directions, while stabbing out with his bloody Kusanagi Sword towards each bandit's heart and throat. Almost each move was a fatal blow, and for those who did not get hit in one of those two areas, Sasuke's sword still left severe injuries deep enough to see bone. None of the bandits around him had any way of fighting back against Sasuke; most of them couldn't even see his sword move. Whenever the bandits slashed with their weapons, at the most crucial point, Sasuke would evade the swing. Before they could understand what had just happened, they would all fall to the floor dead.
The amount of bandits killed at Sasuke's hands was growing in number. Gradually, all of the bandits were starting to recognize Sasuke's strength, and began to distance themselves from him. After all, in such a tense situation like this, no one was willing to send themselves to die that foolishly.
"Your grace has such amazing skill, allow me to test it out." At that moment, a deep voice growled out before a cyan coloured ray of light shot towards Sasuke rapidly.
Feeling the energy leak away from the cyan streak of light, Sasuke's face changed suddenly as he realized this newcomer was very strong.
The cyan streak of light travelled quickly through the air. In a flash, it had already reached Sasuke. At that moment, Sasuke's face hardened, as he immediately focused his body to the extreme and leapt to the side to dodge it.
The attack had brushed against Sasuke's shoulder before slamming into the ground with a loud noise, leaving behind a huge hole.
Sasuke immediately retreated 15 meters away from his enemy, before stopping to take a look at the hole in the ground, then lifting his head back up. In the night, Sasuke could make out the figure of the one that had attacked him so fiercely.
Seeing his attacker to be around 30 or 40 years old male, Sasuke didn't think the man was sturdy looking at all. His plain looking clothes caused the man to appear extremely ordinary. If the man didn't have his right hand raised up to its full height with a cyan coloured Halberd in his hand, he would not look threatening at all. Nothing about him was remarkable enough to draw a person's attention towards him.
While Sasuke was measuring the male in front of him, the man was calmly staring back at Sasuke while saying, "You're quite strong, so your opponent has to be me!" He looked at Sasuke with an even stare. It seemed as if Sasuke was the only one in his eyes right now; the man seemed to completely ignore the screams and shouts ringing out around them.
Sasuke's vision slowly swept his surroundings. The man stood in a position amongst the bandits that clearly stated his status wasn't low. Although there were still plenty of bandits around Sasuke, once they had seen the man fight against Sasuke, they had all started to drift towards other mercenaries to fight.
Sasuke's face changed as he realized that this would be the first life or death battle he would be involved in ever since his arrival in this new world. Despite being a veteran of over a thousand battles, and having confidence that he was unrivalled in the ways of the sword, Sasuke was not at all sure that he would be able to land a killing blow on this new person. Based on the man's previous attack, the man's strength was stronger than his own, and since the man's attribute was wind, his movements wouldn't be any slower either.
The middle aged man looked at Sasuke and slowly brought his Halberd higher into the air. The blade of the Halberd enwrapped itself in a cyan glow as the wind slowly revolved around the man.
Taking note of the man's movement, Sasuke's focus reached its peak as he prepared himself. Even if he were to use the Profound Steps, his enemy's strength was far too strong, and with his wind attribute Saint Force that made him specialized in speed, he didn't dare find out what the outcome would be.
Suddenly, the man shouted loudly and dashed forward at a mighty speed towards Sasuke. The middle aged man's speed was almost terrifying, and in the blink of an eye, the Halberd was almost invisible as it swung down onto Sasuke's neck.
Sasuke's head tilted to the side as the Halberd swept past his head. As the blade came downwards, a few strands of hair were cut from Sasuke's head.
As Sasuke's head bent to one side, he leaned his body forward and immediately struck out. Rapidly closing in onto the man, his Kusanagi Sword flashed with a bloody red as it lashed out like lightning towards the man's heart, as he activated his Sharingan.
Time itself seemed to slow down, as the Uchiha saw all the weak spots of his enemy.
Against the stronger male, Sasuke was pulling out all of the stops without hesitation. Sasuke's speed was so fast that it was his current physical limit; in the blink of an eye, the Kusanagi Sword had already hit the middle aged man's stomach. The tip of the sword immediately became wrapped in Sword Energy as it pierced through the man's body.
Seeing the tip of the sword pierced his body, the middle aged man's expression suddenly changed to one of shock. However, the middle aged man reacted soon afterwards, and the strong Saint Force from within him had been drained. The ultimate form of a weapon being to able to fiercely attack and defend at close range was important. Although, the Saint Force surrounding his body was just as thin as he thought it was initially.
The Kusanagi Sword was like a hot knife cutting through butter as it split apart the man's Saint Force. Despite this, the force of his thrust decreased as it was forced through his protective shell. The tip of the sword didn't falter at all as it continued to stab through towards the middle aged man. The initial two defences the man had put up had been smashed to pieces, but by the time the Kusanagi Sword broke through the hindrances, the man had already drawn upon his wind attribute Saint Force to immediately propel himself backwards.
The middle aged man stood a few meters away as he stared at Sasuke hard in the face. His own expression hardened as he spoke, "Your Eyes . . . ."
Sasuke looked back at the man without saying a word. He felt okay even after pushing himself to his limits. He had pushed his speed to a rate he had never achieved before. But his attack was essentially dodged by the man, so if Sasuke wanted to land a killing blow on this man in the future, it would be a lot harder. After all, the man's strength was not weaker than Sasuke's, and he was also a wind attribute Saint. He would definitely specialize in speed. In other words, it could be said that against this middle-aged man, Sasuke had lost any type of advantage.
Regardless of how exquisite his swordplay was, if it wasn't faster than the opponent's reaction time, everything would be of no use. In addition, since there was a great difference in their strengths, Sasuke didn't dare to fight the middle-aged man at close quarters.
"Your strength has already reached Saint Master, right?" Sasuke asked, his gaze fixed on the middle-aged man opposite of him.
The man didn't bother to hide his shock, "Correct, my strength is at the Middle Saint Master level." After saying that, he broke off from talking before looking at Sasuke with an odd stare, "Your strength on the other hand isn't all that strong, and neither is your wind attribute. Your speed just now wasn't slow at all though, so I'm not sure how exactly you reached such a speed. Your eyes seem to have played some role in it." The man said in a curious tone. Right now his mind really wanted to know the answer. As a person with the wind attribute, if he was beaten in any other aspects, he wouldn't have thought much about it. But in terms of surpassing him in speed, this raised a question that he couldn't easily give up on solving. Sasuke had beaten him in speed while having much less strength than him and without having a wind attributed Saint Force, so the man couldn't help but be curious.
"I have no comment about this question." Sasuke replied evenly. He was no longer afraid of revealing his Bloodline in this far away land. Besides, this world had many mysterious powers, so he doubted people would care about his.
Hearing this, the other man's stare hardened as he sneered, "If you tell me what trick you did in order to make yourself faster, then I will let you leave this place alive. Otherwise, hmph, do you think you could be a match for me with that type of speed?"
"Whether or not I am able to keep up, why don't you come and see?" Sasuke replied to the man's threat. Sasuke wasn't scared; on the contrary, he was now excited to fight as he clenched the still bloody Kusanagi Sword. It continued to emit Killing Intent from the tip of the blade, and it surrounded Sasuke's entire body.
The man continued to stare at Sasuke; the glare in his eye never receded. In his mind, he still had some misgivings about Sasuke's speed. Although Sasuke had such a fast rate of speed, he did not have a wind attributed Saint Force, so he did not have the inborn advantage that the middle aged man had. Still, he wasn't able to replicate Sasuke's speed himself–dodging the sword strike from earlier had taken all of his strength to pull off. If he was just a tiny bit slower, then the man had no doubts that his own heart would have been pierced straight through. For that reason, he was somewhat afraid of the consequences of fighting against Sasuke. He thought that perhaps his opponent's strange eyes played a role in it.
Not only that, but looking at Sasuke's unblemished clothes, he could roughly guess how fast Sasuke could move without breaking a sweat. If Sasuke could move so fast continuously like this, then it would eventually take a huge strain on him.
Seeing how the man wasn't attacking, Sasuke also began to idle about, and began to slowly watch every single movement. Sasuke knew that in this case, where his speed was slower than his enemy, then his chances of landing a fatal blow on the man would be practically non-existent. All he could do now was to hinder the man so that he wouldn't be able to kill the weaker mercenaries. If he waited long enough, then the mercenary experts would come back and help deal with him instead of Sasuke. After all their differences in Cultivation was still quite big.
The fighting didn't stop as the two stared at each other. The sounds of battle could still be heard, as both sides kept losing more of their numbers. The floor was dyed red with blood to the point that on some bumpy ground, puddles of blood had formed.
The bandits continued to fight with everything they had. The people who managed to survive were excellent figures that had either outstanding brains or brawn. At the moment, both the mercenaries and bandits had an equal amount of people.
The two continued to stand there before finally, one of them made a move. With the wind enwrapping the Halberd, the blade resembled a crescent moon in the night as the man ran towards Sasuke with the 2 meter long blade in hand.
Seeing the man come forward to attack, Sasuke's Sharingan rotated dangerously as he brought his Kusanagi Sword up in preparation to defend.
The man brought his cyan Halberd down towards Sasuke's head at an extremely fast speed.
Since he was fighting a Middle Saint Master, Sasuke didn't plan on meeting this attack head on, and nimbly dodged to the side.
However, as Sasuke stabbed with his sword, the man's Halberd changed direction in midair and whistled through the air, as it parried Sasuke's sword.
Sasuke's face changed as he immediately brought back his sword, reluctant to go against the man's Halberd.
Sasuke's Kusanagi Sword was the equivalent to his Saint Force's life. His life was connected to the frail looking sword, so if his sword were to be injured, then Sasuke's own life would be too. And if his Kusanagi Sword were to break then Sasuke would lose all of his cultivation, and his life would be threatened.
On the Tian Yuan Continent, the cases in which people had died due to their Saint Weapons being broken were commonly seen. It practically happened everywhere. But with the Saint Weapon being a representation of one's inner Saint Force's condensation, when summoned outside the body, it would become unimaginably hard. Moreover, it would grow harder as the owner improved. Thus, unless one were to fight someone stronger than him by a large amount, their Saint Weapons would never break.
Since his opponent's strength was already at the Middle Saint Master, he was higher than Sasuke's strength by two whole levels. So if Sasuke's Kusanagi Sword were to collide against the man's Halberd, then he would definitely take some damage. Sasuke couldn't afford this happening, so he had to try to avoid a collision between the weapons at all cost; after all, he would be the only one to suffer from a loss.
Once again dodging the man's attack, Sasuke's Sharingan noticed the man's defences momentarily showing a large gap. Taking advantage of the rare opportunity, Sasuke immediately moved towards the man with a silent Profound Steps and stabbed the Kusanagi Sword towards the man's back with a red flash . The sword whistled silently as it travelled through the air, the sound making it seem like the sword had cut through the air itself. Its speed had reached its peak as it approached the man's back. The sword slashed through the man's clothing, and then embedded itself into his back, breaking through his skin.
Feeling a painful sensation in his back, the man's face changed immediately, but he displayed no signs of immediate panic. He hadn't been fully prepared for Sasuke's speed, so the wound on his back continued to spray blood as his Saint Force condensed itself to take care of his wounds. At the same time, the man began to glow bright with cyan light as his speed started to increase rapidly. Before he could even leave a shadow on the ground or for Sasuke's Kusanagi Sword to completely stab into his back, the man immediately leaned towards the side and escaped from the Kusanagi Sword's range.
The man had already guessed that Sasuke would stab out with all his strength. At this moment Sasuke's own guard was at its weakest. Thus, the middle aged man also grasped onto this difficult opportunity. Dodging the stab, he immediately brought his Halberd high into the air, causing the twinkling cyan colour of light to resemble a dazzling moon in the night. With the Halberd left high in the air, it emitted a sharp glow as it flew towards Sasuke. This blow contained all of the man's remaining strength.
Seeing how Sasuke had fought earlier, the man had already known from previous experiences that Sasuke would be a hard opponent. Due to Sasuke's bountiful battle experience, he never had any holes in his defences. So no matter if it was his attack or defence, his style of fighting could be said to be flawless, with absolutely no gaps. This was especially true since his sword had used all of Sasuke's abilities this time. Most likely, the only situation where the man could've heavily damaged Sasuke was if Sasuke's technique wasn't strong enough. Thus, the middle-aged man didn't have the slightest intention of holding back this attack of his.
The Halberd streaked across the air so quickly, that if it was aimed towards weaker people, then they would have had no time to react at all.
With an explosive shout, the man brought the cyan coloured Halberd down towards the defenceless Sasuke's head. From his upper body stroke, the Halberd did not decrease in speed at all and smashed fiercely into the ground.
The smash contained all of the man's strength as the Halberd exploded into the ground. The blade of the Halberd sent all of the surrounding dirt flying into the air, creating a huge hole a meter in diameter. At the same time, Sasuke's silhouette had completely disintegrated due to this sudden move.
However on the man's face, not a single trace of happiness could be seen; instead, his face hardened in annoyance.
"An afterimage!" The man cried out in alarm. However, as his mind came to this conclusion, an intense feeling of a crisis struck the man's thoughts. Without hesitation, the man leapt towards the side with his natural reflexes, simultaneously picking up his Halberd from the ground and blindly swinging it behind himself.
A loud sound could be heard as the man's Halberd swung back and suddenly collided with the Sasuke's bloody sword.
Just as the sword and Halberd collided, Sasuke's face suddenly changed. He immediately paled as he felt an intense churning sensation in his stomach, and he immediately retreated.
Sasuke retreated 20 meters before stopping. There was no longer an easy-going look on his face. Instead, he was now deathly pale.
There was just too much of a difference between their strengths. Sasuke could only compete on even ground in terms of agility, but he had just taken a huge loss from the collision between their Saint Weapons. Although it hadn't done too much damage to him, the middle aged man's Saint Force was many times stronger than Sasuke's, and that blow alone had caused his Kusanagi Sword to transmit a huge shock wave which caused some minor internal injuries.
The man steadied himself as he stared down Sasuke. This had been the third time he had nearly taken damage, so he didn't dare belittle Sasuke anymore. Although Sasuke was weaker than him, he was relying on a speed that was faster than the man's own. This was a major threat to the man, and he had acknowledged that Sasuke was stronger than someone of the man's level.
However, as he looked at the state Sasuke was in, he suddenly understood what had just happened and began to laugh, "Brat, I admit that you are very fast, but your strength is just far too weak." Without even waiting for Sasuke to catch his breath, he immediately flew forward with his 2 meter long Halberd ready to cleave him in two.
Because of the collision between the Kusanagi Sword and the Halberd, Sasuke had suffered some damage. Since his opponent was two levels higher than himself and had reached Middle Saint Master level, the impacts of these light injuries were fatal. After all, Sasuke had been able to use the Profound Steps to fight against his opponent during his peak state only. But now that he was in an injured state, he was no longer capable of being so nimble; dodging attacks had already expended his energy.
As the man continued to exchange blows with Sasuke, he had realized that the threat Sasuke originally was to him was slowly decreasing, causing his guard to similarly slacken. Using all of his strength, he struck out towards Sasuke, hoping for a fatal blow. His speed was even faster than before.
With the man's speed growing faster, Sasuke was using up more and more energy. If he was in perfect condition, then not only would Sasuke have an easier time dodging the man, but he would have been able to fight back as well. But now that he was injured, he could only dodge without attacking, and since the man was quickly increasing his movement speed, Sasuke's every dodge was getting more and more dangerous.
The man's blows were getting exponentially faster. He managed to attack dozens of time within an instant, and at this point, blood-stained cuts had appeared in Sasuke's clothes, since he no longer had the ability to counter. However, it could be seen that Sasuke's wounds weren't very deep.
The cyan coloured light lit up the night as the man's Halberd cut through the night air towards Sasuke.
Although Sasuke tried his best to dodge the blade, his movements had already become a lot slower than before, and so he failed to dodge it completely. The Halberd left a cut so deep that the bone could be seen on his chest, and a torrent of blood started to leak out onto Sasuke's clothes.
The man gave a fierce laugh as he continued to slash at him. Taking advantage of how Sasuke didn't move away, the man drew closer. Lightning fast, he kicked out his right foot covered in a cyan light at Sasuke's chest.
The man's Kick sent Sasuke flying backwards like a bullet. While his body was in the air, Sasuke couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood. as he flew 20 meters backwards past a few bandits before falling to the ground. Afterwards, Sasuke spat out another mouthful of blood. By now, his face had turned deathly white.
With a cyan flash of light, the man strode over 20 meters towards the floored Sasuke and sneered, "I'll give you this one last chance. If you tell me whatever secret it is that made you so fast, then I'll spare your life. If not, then you will die!" The man's eyes flashed with blazing curiosity, and his heart raced at the thought of becoming faster with Sasuke's ability. To a wind attributed person, speed was an extremely crucial thing to him. Although he didn't dare to think that his speed would reach a new level, he was certain it would improve his strength and increase his position within the Boundless Bandits.
Thinking about this, the man felt extremely excited. He trembled almost as if he was angry, but he was actually stirred up from his emotions.
Sasuke wiped away the blood from his mouth and slowly stood back up as he glared at the man with an icy look. With a small sneer, he said "You're not strong enough for it." Despite just being dealt a serious injury, Sasuke didn't seem to fear the difference in strength between them.
As he talked, Sasuke was readjusting himself into a relaxed position, almost as if he wasn't bothering to guard himself. His right hand had loosened up his grip on his sword; his current state was completely different from the previous him..
Sasuke's words caused the other man's face to sink. He snorted, "Brat, with your strength, you don't have the qualifications to say that. If you're not willing to tell me, then you'd better be prepared to suffer for your own actions." Mid-speech, the man had already started to run towards Sasuke with his Halberd swinging down at Sasuke's right shoulder.
Despite seeing the man approach, Sasuke showed no signs of wanting to dodge. Instead, he brought his sword back up. Although his sword was moving at the same speed, it appeared as if the sword was as light as a feather, and was floating elegantly in the air. This was completely different from the killing intent he had previously displayed
The Kusanagi Sword and Halberd collided with each other without making any sound. Afterwards, the softer looking Kusanagi Sword attached onto the Halberd like a maggot on a wound, and diverted the Halberd's original trajectory. The sword twisted itself in a circle a few times, and immediately transferred the momentum of the Halberd cleanly towards the side, causing it to fall to the ground.
The man's face changed as he looked at Sasuke with amazement. Just now, he had been unable to control the movements of his own Halberd. If he had been facing an opponent that was only slightly weaker than him, then he wouldn't have been so amazed. But against Sasuke who was by far the inferior person, the man was not really able to accept what had just happened.
"What technique was that?" The man asked with a look of disbelief.
His eyes looked at Sasuke in a confused manner before laughing, "Brat, although you're quite weak, I didn't think you would know so many techniques. It seems that killing you would be a waste; I should capture you instead. This would be a pretty great favour towards you as well." The man moved towards Sasuke once more with his Saint Force enhanced Halberd in hand. He had came to a decision that no matter what, he would capture Sasuke.
After a few more moments of close combat, the man was gradually getting angrier and angrier. Every single time he had struck out towards the weaker person, Sasuke had used his strange technique to change the trajectory of his attack. This caused him to lose control of his Saint Weapon, and to him, this was utter humiliation.
"You bastard, I don't believe that this is all I can do to you!" The man flew into a rage. He was no longer able to contain his fury, as he continued to curse at Sasuke fiercely.
Soon after, the man's strength grew even stronger, causing Sasuke to struggle even more to defend himself. His face was already drenched with sweat as his Saint Force was slowly starting to dry up.
The man's wild attacks were pushing Sasuke to his limit. Each time Sasuke had blocked and diverted the enemy's Halberd, a large part of his Saint Force was used up. With the both of them fiercely fighting it out, they had already used up more than half of their Saint Forces'. Since Sasuke had a serious gash across his chest, he was starting to feel quite weak as time went on, even just blocking was getting harder now.
Sasuke's beginning Saint strength was able to contend with a Middle Saint Master thanks to his higher expertise with the sword and his past experiences from the countless number of battles he had been in his past life. If it was another person with Sasuke's strength, then it would be hard to say if they would be able to last 10 rounds against the man's storm-like blows.
After all, the difference between a Saint and a Saint Master was huge; there were at least two levels separating the two.
The cyan coloured blade ripped through the air once more as it slashed down towards the Kusanagi Sword. At last, Sasuke wasn't able to deflect the Halberd's frightening power, and his sword was sent recoiling backwards. While the Kusanagi Sword wasn't hurt in any way, it had been forced back into Sasuke's chest with a loud bang.
The crash caused Sasuke to be sent flying backwards 10 meters, before falling onto the ground. He spat out yet another mouthful of blood, filling the sky with droplets of it.
"Brat, I can tell that you don't even have the energy to escape from my blows now. Just be obedient and come along with me." The man sneered. Without waiting for Sasuke to answer, he moved once more, and in a flash, he appeared 10 meters ahead where Sasuke was. He reached out, and grabbed at Sasuke neck with both hands.
Coldly looking at the man come closer with his hands outstretched, Sasuke's eyes flashed with a dangerous look.
Before anyone realised, a bright red glow of light suddenly filled up the night sky. It headed towards the middle aged man, who was currently about to capture Sasuke.
Seeing the giant red sword out of the corner of his eye, the man let loose a look of disdain as he gave a gentle snort. Moving away from Sasuke, the cyan coloured glow in his right arm began to brighten dramatically, essentially covering his entire arm in a shroud. The man's wind attributed Saint Force enhanced arm lashed towards the fiery red sword, firmly catching it in his hand.
Taking advantage of this situation, Sasuke immediately crawled up from the ground and looked at the person who had rescued him with a gratuitous look.
The owner of the red sword was a mercenary that looked to be around 20 or 30 years old with an ordinary appearance–the type of person that would blend in with a crowd easily. Yet, this mercenary was no stranger to Sasuke; this was the kind person he had talked to on the road–Mu Yun.
The middle aged man sneered at the sword wielding Mu Yun, "You overestimate yourself."
Hearing the man talk, Mu Yun expressed a strange smile and laughed, "You're only just a Middle Saint Master yourself, not all that much stronger than me. I can say what I please." Mu Yun's sword emitted a splendid glow as well as a high temperature. In the night, his sword lit up the area around them with a strong glow. The temperature around them also steadily increased. In just a few moments, the red sword became entirely enshrouded in a blinding fiery red. The light constantly pulsated, making it seem as if the sword was actually on fire.
Feeling the Saint Force surge in endless waves from the sword, the man furrowed his eyebrows together. He let go of the blade, and then fiercely slammed his hand against the blade.
Receiving the energy-filled blow from the man, Mu Yun's sword was sent towards the side. But with Mu Yun's battle experience, he took advantage of this sudden movement to whirl around. The sword travelled in a circular motion as Mu Yun immediately slashed at the man once more.
"Since you want to die, I'll grant you your wish!" The man bellowed, his Halberd flashing with a cyan glow as he waved his weapon around. A gentle breeze accompanied his weapon as it flew towards the fire red sword.
Mu Yun's sword and the man's Halberd collided with each other, causing a loud metallic sound to ring out. The moment the two Saint Weapons separated, Mu Yun staggered 10 meters backwards. On the other hand, the middle-aged man stood as steady as Mt Tai, without any indication of moving.
A single glance was enough to see who was the weaker one, and who was the stronger one.
Standing on the side, Sasuke knew that Mu Yun was still weaker than the other man by a large amount. However, Mu Yun was still stronger than himself, and by Sasuke's estimates, Mu Yun's strength should put him between a Middle Great Saint or a Peak Great Saint. Despite this, he was still much weaker than the other man. Since the man specialized in speed thanks to his wind attribute, he was weaker in terms of attack strength than the fire attributed Mu Yun. The fire attribute was the rarest attribute after the light and dark attributes, and it was publically known as the strongest attribute in terms of strength.
If the man relied on his wind attributed Saint Force to fight, then he would be able to dominate the fire attributed Mu Yun. And if the man were to show the special characteristics of his wind attribute and fight against Mu Yun, then Sasuke was certain that Mu Yun would not be able to last long in a fight against him.
But if he and Mu Yun were to join together and fight, then he was sure that they would be able to beat the middle aged man.
The unfortunate thing was that Sasuke had taken in heavy damages already; the vital parts of his body had each taken a beating from the fight. In his current state, helping Mu Yun was out of the question. Just standing there was already an abnormally strenuous task.
Attacking Mu Yun, the middle aged man's eyes flashed with strong killing intent. He didn't give Mu Yun time to even readjust himself before gathering the wind around his Halberd, and rushing forward, leaving only an after image where he had stood earlier. In an instant, he appeared in front of Mu Yun, and chopped at his head with extreme speed.
When it came to Mu Yun, the other man didn't restrain himself. The moment Mu Yun appeared, the man had tried to kill him. After all, Mu Yun didn't have any special characteristics that peaked his interest.
Mu Yun's face hardened. He shouted in anger as the sword in his hand suddenly grew even more red, emitting a boiling hot temperature. At the same time, a flame burst into existence and engulfed the sword within itself. With the fire sword, Mu Yun then brandished it towards the wind wrapped Halberd.
The moment Mu Yun waved his sword, it transformed into three giant snakes of fire. The first two flew out towards the Halberd, while the last one flew towards the enemy himself.
The Halberd and the fire snakes collided with a huge crash. The two flaming snakes had been cut in half by the Halberd, causing sparks to fly out everywhere. If one were to look at it from far away, the sight looked like it was a flower that was getting ready to bloom.
While the first two snakes had been stopped by the Halberd, the third snake had become like a fierce tiger, increasing in temperature as it travelled through the air towards the man.
Just as the third fire snake was flying towards the middle aged man, his right hand loosened its grip on the Halberd. The man gathered the wind Saint Force into his fist, and blew it out towards the fire snake.
The fist made contact with the fire snake causing a resonating crash. Dispersing into the air, the fire snake sent sparks flying throughout the night sky for a while before disappearing into the night.
After blowing the fire snake apart with his fist, the man stopped his attack to glance at Mu Yu in astonishment as he cried out in alarm, "This is a battle skill, to think you actually knew one." No one had discovered that the man's right fist had actually turned bright red, and had even swelled up in size.
Hearing what the man said, Sasuke looked at Mu Yun with an amazed look. Sasuke wasn't very familiar with battle skills, but he knew that they were a great treasure within the Tian Yuan Continent. It was possible to increase one's strength multiple times with them, and were not things that ordinary people would be able to get their hands on. Sasuke hadn't thought that the ordinary looking mercenary like Mu Yun would unexpectedly have such an expensive item. Since battle skills were so rare and expensive, even Great Saint Masters couldn't possibly possess them.
Battle skills had both high and low points. Although this was the first time Sasuke had left his home to travel in the Tian Yuan Continent, he had read many books in the library, and thus was not inferior in any way to some of the more experienced mercenaries in terms of knowledge. With his foresight, he could tell with a single glance that both Mu Yun's battle skills and cultivation methods were definitely top-ranked. This was because ordinary battle skills and cultivation methods were nowhere adequate enough to be able to produce material flames based on just Mu Yun's strength as a Great Saint.
Mu Yun smiled coldly and said, "You do know something after all. That's right, this is indeed a battle skill!"
The man inhaled sharply as he looked at Mu Yun with a greedy expression. Battle skills were highly treasured on the Tian Yuan Continent, and aside from the clans that spanned across multiple generations and experts, no other ordinary cultivator would have one. Although some cultivators came across some battle skills by luck, such occurrences were very few in Tian Yun Continent. If one didn't have a profound destiny and extreme fortune, then the chances of getting a battle skill were practically non-existent.
Although the man was a Middle Saint Master and was considered a strong expert in the Boundless Bandits, he still hadn't grasped a battle skill yet. Just the sight of one had him drooling. Unfortunately for him, his strength didn't reach the qualifications necessary to receive a battle skill from the bandits.
The middle-aged man lightly moved his right fist, and felt a flash of burning hot pain. But he did not have any anger in his heart, and was feeling quite excited instead. With his knowledge, one look was enough to distinguish that the battle skill that Mu Yun had used was highly advanced. Although he was a wind attribute, this did not stop the man from desiring the fire attributed battle skill at all. After all, battle skills were priceless treasures on the Tian Yuan Continent, and the stronger the skill, the more expensive it was.
"Haha, the gods have certainly been looking out for me today. Youngsters, your techniques will become mine!" The man laughed loudly with extreme excitement. To him, both Sasuke's secret technique and Mu Yun's battle skill would be easily taken and learned.
"How arrogant! You look too highly upon yourself." Mu Yun sneered. Raising his hand, the red sword immediately ignited as the flames lit up the night. Slashing at the man, the hidden aura of the sword spread out in every direction. However, the amount was so small that its aura was virtually undetectable.
But for someone like Sasuke who had powerful sensitivity towards energy, this faint aura could clearly be detected. The moment he had realized the source of the aura, his eyes widened in surprise.
Seeing the sword bring forth a blatantly powerful pressure, the man sneered, "Brat, although you have a special battle skill, your strength is still far too weak!" The moment the fiery greatsword made contact with the man's clothes, he disappeared into an after image, causing Mu Yun's sword to swish into empty air.
The instant the man disappeared from sight, Mu Yun's face hardened in concentration. Suddenly, an ear-piercing whistle of a blade could be heard coming from the back. Mu Yun instantaneously changed his sword into three giant snakes and made it fly behind him. While in mid-air, the three snakes fused together, and turned into an even bigger fire serpent.
The sound of metal hitting something resonated through the air as the fire serpent engulfed both Mu Yun and his opponent. The collision had caused the fire to spread out in every direction for a few dozen meters. When the red ripple of energy swept past Sasuke, their extremely hot temperatures caused Sasuke's clothes to blacken from the heat. If it were not for the fact that his clothes were already damp from his blood, then his clothes might have spontaneously ignited into flames.
In the brilliant blaze, both Mu Yun and the middle aged man staggered backwards, the both of them looked haggard from the trade off. Mu Yun's originally tidy hair had become messy, while his face had become pale in colour. Even his fiery greatsword had started to lose a bit of its lustre.
As for the middle aged man, while he had been enveloped by his wind attributed Saint Force, his clean clothes had already started to show signs of burn spots. Both of his sleeves had already been blown apart.
Because of the use of a battle skill, the fight between Mu Yun and the middle aged man was on a much larger scale than the man's fight with Sasuke. The blaze attracted both the mercenaries and bandits around them, causing both sides to immediately notice the fight out of the corners of their eyes. The moment they saw the radiant blaze, some of the mercenaries further away cried out in astonishment.
"Those are real flames! Unless one is an Earth Saint Master, it's impossible to summon flames out of nowhere. Could it be…that's a battle skill!?"
"Battle skill? It's a battle skill!"
"So someone here knew a battle skill!"
Whether it was a bandit or mercenary, when they saw that Mu Yun possessed a battle skill, they all cried out in amazement. None of them could believe what they were seeing. Battle skills were extremely rare and expensive on the Tian Yuan Continent. Common mercenaries would normally live their lives without even once witnessing a battle skill.
After their shocks wore off, every mercenary's and bandit's eyes started to fill with greed. Battle skills were what cultivators in the Tian Yuan Continent desired most; their thirst for these skills far surpassed their desires for cultivation methods. Battle skills allowed one to increase their strength many times more than usual, so many people often fought to the death for these skills. Having a battle skill meant gaining an additional source of protection.
Seeing the greed in their eyes, Sasuke couldn't help but to narrow his eyes. He knew just as much as anyone that people would become jealous of another person's strength. Mu Yun's battle skill had far surpassed what Sasuke had thought, and now it had been revealed in front of all the mercenaries. Battle skills were treasured greatly, and would bring great trouble to those that had them. Even losing his life over this battle skill wasn't unlikely, since Mu Yun was still considered weak.
Right now, not only did Sasuke take comfort from Mu Yun, but he was also worried for his well-being. Although the two hadn't known each other for very long, and had only met due to chance, Sasuke knew that Mu Yun had fought the middle aged man and revealed his battle skill for the sake of rescuing him.
Looking at Mu Yun fervently, the man laughed, "What an amazing battle skill. You even managed to block an attack that contained all my power as a Great Saint!" He paused for a while before sneering once more, "However, you could only temporarily block my Great Saint attack with the aid of the battle skill. Ultimately, it's not your own strength. I wonder how long you can last?" After talking, he lifted his Halberd high into the air. Just as he prepared to slash down onto Mu Yun, another strong source of energy suddenly came flying over from the distance.
Feeling the source of energy, the middle aged man grew joyous. He assumed that it was from the experts that the mercenary captains were trying to kill but failed, and his comrades were now coming to provide assistance for him.
Arriving from the far away shadows, a few figures were running towards them at a rapid pace. In a few moments, the figures suddenly came into everyone's line of sight. The moment everyone could clearly see who they were, all the mercenaries cried out in joy.
"The captains! The captains came back!"
"Captain Lang Tian, the captain came back victorious!"
"There's Captain Xia Hou as well, they killed the experts of the Boundless Bandits!"
Lit up by the intense blaze nearby, everyone could see that the five returning members had wounds of all sizes on them. Their clothes were drenched with blood, and some of them were even carrying corpses over their shoulders.
Hearing the shouts from the mercenaries, the middle aged man and the other bandits all turned unsightly. Immediately, the man turned his head and stared at the returning Xia Hou and his men with a look of disbelief.
"How…just how…how were you able to return alive?" The man asked in disbelief as he swallowed some saliva nervously as he tried to get the words out. The middle aged man knew that their return indicated that his bandit group had already faced imminent disaster. Otherwise, the ones returning would have been his own faction's experts, not the mercenary group's people.
The man's words caused all five members to look at him. Immediately, the five slowly put down the bodies they were carrying and glared at him with powerful murderous intent.
Feeling the killing intent of the five, the middle aged man's heart raced. Without hesitation, he opened his mouth to say, "The situation is looking bad, everyone retreat!" Without even finishing his sentence, the middle aged man had already dismissed his Halberd and used his fastest speed to run away. Although the five mercenaries were all somewhat injured, a starving camel was still bigger than a horse. With five people, the middle aged man had no hopes of winning.
The moment the man had started to move, two of the five mercenaries immediately chased after him.
Hearing the man's earlier words, the bandits all started to give up the fight and scattered in all four directions.
"Kill! Don't leave a single one alive!"
Hearing that one command, all of the remaining mercenaries immediately sprung to follow it, and began to chase down the fleeing bandits. The mercenaries hated the Boundless Bandits down to their very bones, so they would had never let the bandits run off that easily.
With their experts all dead and the only capable member running away, all of the bandits immediately focused on running away. All of their fighting spirit had practically been wiped out. On the other hand, the mercenaries had their courage bolstered after their captains had returned alive after defeating the experts from the Boundless Bandits. Even the ones who were exhausted had suddenly gained a new spurt of energy and did everything they could to chase and kill the bandits.
The sounds of slaughter rang through the night, but it quickly became peaceful once more as as the remaining three mercenary experts led the mercenaries and killed the majority of the bandits. Only a few of the really fast ones had managed to run away with their lives.
"Victory! We've won!"
"The Boundless Bandits were beaten by us!"
"We've beaten the Boundless Bandits!"
Once the battle came to a close, the remaining mercenaries all started to cheer loudly. The Boundless Bandits were a great nightmare to the mercenaries, the personification of the gods of death that couldn't be beaten. Beating the Boundless Bandits was definitely an achievement they were extremely proud of.
At that moment, two shadowy figures came running back, only to stop in front of a group of mercenaries. These were the mercenaries that had chased after the middle aged man.
The two males looked to be around 30 or 40 years old. Both of their faces were covered with blood and their bodies were filled with wounds which dyed their clothes scarlet with blood. However while their faces were pale from their fatigue, their eyes were still full of vigour.
Seeing the two come back empty handed, it was clear that the middle aged man had escaped.
"That guy has a wind attribute, so he had an advantage over us in speed. Although our strength was better than his, in our current condition, we weren't able to chase him, so he escaped in the end." One of the two said, his voice was brimming with regret.
"Forget it, if he ran, he ran. I didn't think we'd run into the Boundless Bandits, no wonder they were so strong. If it weren't for our mysterious benefactor in the shadows, then I'm afraid we wouldn't have been able to come back. For him to save our lives, he is definitely a trusted person." An older person said as he stood next to the brilliant flames, already his skin was starting to look a little tanned.
Hearing the man talk, the other mercenaries who had returned after killing some bandits all were stunned. From their faces, all of them had some joy but some still had some lingering fear.
"Captain Lang Tian, are you okay?" A mercenary went up to the man and asked with a worried tone.
The newly named Lang Tian slowly looked down on the various wounds before shaking his head, "I've some wounds, but nothing that'll kill me." He looked at the few mercenaries around him before sighing. With a sorrowful voice, he said, "It's a shame, Yun Bai Mu, the captain of the Desert Shadows Mercenaries was killed by the experts of the Boundless Bandits."
Hearing the announcement, many of the mercenaries started to grieve, especially the mercenaries of the Desert Shadows. It was a heavy blow to their mood, however, for travellers of the Tian Yuan Continent, seeing someone die was an experience many of them were used to. After a small period of mourning, many of the mercenaries had already become peaceful once more.
"My comrades, although we managed to beat back the Boundless Bandits, this was only just a small group. If we were to come across a larger group or even their elites, then we will die on the road. So we cannot afford to stay here for long, hurry up and dress your wounds and bury our dead brothers. We will have to leave immediately afterwards." Lang Tian announced.
Each mercenary immediately got to work by helping each other bandage their wounds and applying herbal medicine. Those who were healthier and less injured went to help dig holes and transport the bodies.
Everyone set themselves to do their tasks in silence. No one talked at all, and as each mercenary did their own thing, the atmosphere was incomparably heavy.
Sasuke looked around himself before inwardly sighing, they had ultimately won against the Boundless Bandits, but to him, this was a wretched victory. After the course of one battle, the three mercenary groups had dwindled down to less than a hundred people that were for the most part injured. Their entire fighting capabilities had been reduced to a third of their original power, and from the original ten experts that had led the charge, only five of them returned with heavy wounds. One of the mercenary captains was killed in battle, causing another sharp decline in their power.
"Sasuke, are you alright? Are your wounds serious?" A familiar voice called out behind Sasuke.
Hearing this, Sasuke turned his head around to see Mu Yun. He didn't know when Mu Yun had got behind him, but he was there now.
At the moment Mu Yun's condition wasn't all that good. His facial colour was an abnormally pale one, and although he had looked fine while fighting against the middle aged man, the battle skill placed a heavy burden on Mu Yun after using it to surpass his strength.
Sasuke softly shook his head, "I'm fine," Pausing slightly, he looked at Mu Yun with a complicated look. "Mu Yun, your battle skill was revealed to every mercenary here. On the road, you'll have to be even more careful now, and when you reach a safe spot, get away from the group as far as possible. Otherwise, I'm afraid they'll try to do something."
Mu Yun looked around at the busy mercenaries, "Sasuke, I thank you for your concerns, I'll be careful from now on." Although he had said that, Mu Yun's expression did not look at all concerned at the people around him. When it came the mercenaries, Mu Yun did not see them as a challenge at all.
Taking note of Mu Yun's unconcerned stare, Sasuke was slightly surprised. Despite the strength Mu Yun had shown during his fight, Sasuke didn't think would be able to protect himself within the group.
Mu Yun took out a white jade bottle from his Space Ring and held it towards Sasuke, "This is a top notch healing medication, drink it and heal yourself up."
"Thanks." Sasuke didn't decline his offer and took the bottle from him.
"Don't worry about it, I'm going to treat my own wounds first and then go help the others." Mu Yun waved before walking away from Sasuke.
Two hours later, everything was in order as all the dead mercenaries were buried while ignoring the corpses of the Boundless Bandits. The mercenaries hated the Boundless Bandits even after they died, and so they wouldn't bother to pay their respects by burying their bodies.
During those two hours, Sasuke had casually treated his wounds and already swapped out the bloody clothes from his fight with the middle aged man with a new set. Before they had set out on the trip, Sasuke had prepared a few dozen sets of clothes, so he wasn't worried about running out.
"Let's go!"
After everyone was ready, someone called out for them all to start moving. Everyone was prepared to move into the night without stopping for rest or sleep. Ever since the ambush by the Boundless Bandits, the caravans no longer wished to stay around any longer. Even taking a break would not do.
After the ambush from the Boundless Bandits, the caravan's strength had been greatly diminished, leaving them with very little manpower. Since many members of the Boundless Bandits had escaped, if they were to bring back a bigger unit to attack them, then the caravan would not be able to survive, let alone think about trying to reverse such an abysmal situation.
Sasuke painstakingly climbed onto his own horse, and began to blindly follow the caravans in the dark. Atop the horse's back, Sasuke sat with his eyes closed, as he quietly manipulated his Saint Force to heal his internal injuries. He had previously received quite a few heavy attacks from the middle-aged man, so the damage Sasuke was suffering was quite severe. Moreover, he had consumed a large chunk of his internal Saint Force already, so his current body's condition made even the simplest movements difficult to carry out, let alone fighting. Since Sasuke was currently traversing the Tian Yuan Continent, and could encounter danger at any moment, his strength was most important. Thus, Sasuke continued to expend all his effort in trying to recover his own strength, without daring to stop for even a second.
The caravan quickly advanced on the road. Since the people were afraid of reinforcements from the Boundless Bandits chasing them, their current speed was many times faster than their previous traveling pace. Despite this, it was still only slightly faster than the average person running at their peak speed. After all, the carriages contained many goods, so speeding up further was impossible, even if they wanted to. The current speed had already nearly flipped the carriages multiple times whenever they had passed through uneven parts of the road.
Because of the current situation, Sasuke didn't dare to completely enter a self-healing state. Thus, his severe injuries were only recovering at a snail's pace.
At that moment, Sasuke couldn't help but recall his mother, Bi Yuntian. He still clearly remembered that time a few years ago when he had injured his third brother, Shangyang Ke. Bi Yuntian had unexpectedly healed his injuries as if it were the easiest thing in the world, without leaving a single scar. If there was a Radiant Saint Master at the scene right now, the internal injuries within his body would've probably recovered faster. Unfortunately, Radiant Saint Masters were really too rare, and their statuses were highly esteemed. With the strengths of the three mercenary groups currently present, there was absolutely no way they could have invited a Radiant Saint Master.
Just as Sasuke had thought of Radiant Saint Masters, a divine light suddenly flashed within his mind. Immediately, he opened his previously closed eyes, and in that instant, a bright ray of light seemed to shoot out from his eyes in amazement, dying out immediately afterwards.
"That's right, I can sense light Saint Force, and even gather it. I wonder if I can control the light Saint Force like a Radiant Saint Master would, and be able to heal my own wounds." Sasuke pondered this furiously. When he recalled the possibility that he would be able to control light Saint Force just as Radiant Saint Masters could, his heart momentarily surged from the excitement, and was uncontrollably delighted at the thought.
Ever since he saw Bi Yuntian use light Saint Force to heal Shangyang Ke's injuries back at the Shangyang household, Sasuke had realized that this power was exactly the special energy that he felt every time he absorbed the World Essence during cultivation. At the time, Sasuke had really wanted to test and see if he could control the light Saint Force. Unfortunately, due to the various situations that had occurred since then, he never got to try testing his thoughts. Afterwards, this thought had gradually been pushed further and further back into his mind, and he had forgotten about it until just now.
Author's Note:
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