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n

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"Big brother Seth!

" A young girl came running excitedly, shouting Seth's name.

n

"Yuyin, how have you been?

" Seth laughed after seeing how excited she was. This little imp seemed to be always energetic.

n

"Every time I see you, you're dealing with these big bad guys, are you sure you aren't trying to impress my big sis Lilian?

"

n

"Ahaha, of course not!

"

n'How can she be so accurate?' Lilian was flabbergasted, she was more than certain about Seth's nature and now even her lil sis had started to understand him a bit more. Was it what they called genetics?

nSeth turned towards Lilian and asked:

"What exactly is happening here?

"

nLilian stood up, quickly remembering the perilous situation her father was in. Some tears started to build up inside her eye sockets, but she refused to cry.

n

"Big brother, please save my dad!

" Yuyin pitifully asked. She didn't know exactly how strong the people her father was fighting against were, but her only hope was Seth.

n

"Huo Shihong? What happened with him?

"

n

"No! Do not bother with it. We need to leave this place fast!

" Lilian pulled Yuyin while trying to run away.

n

"Wait, tell me what is happening.

" Seth appeared in front of her, blocking her path.

nLilian didn't want to remain here, since she knew it would be a dead end. There were so many strong practitioners surrounding her father, that it was just a matter of time for them to defeat him and chase after them.

nSeth approached Lilian and lightly touched her face with his finger, wiping the tears falling from her eyes.

nOnly now, she realized that her tears were already falling. She did everything to hold them in, but now that he approached her, she couldn't control it any longer.

nHer voice got stuck and she almost sobbed, but she held it. She would not break down before her sister.

n

"Do not worry, I'm here. Now tell me, what is currently happening there?

" Seth said in a mild voice, soothing her worries.

nLilian resistance melted. She finally felt how lucky she was to have someone like him as friend. He didn't even ask if it would be dangerous, he just wanted to listen.

n

"Father... He got entrapped by a lot of strong cultivators, he... he won't make it...

"

n

"Where is he?

"

n

"No! Do not go, they must at least be at the Mana Perception realm to be able to fight with dad. We need to leave or else they will come after us.

"

n

"Lilian, please trust me. Tell me where he is if you want to...

"

nBOOM!

nA huge explosion happened a few kilometers away from them. The shockwave was so strong that it reached the place where they were.

nWhile Seth and Lilian were having their conversation, on the other side, a little bit of time earlier...

n.

n.

n.

nWu Shuhui looked towards the first prince of the Wu Martial Kingdom and the latter nodded with his head.

nThey were the only Mana Perception late-stage realm cultivators here, other than Huo Shihong. Naturally, they weren't willing to lose their lives in this messy situation.

nWhile the other people were stranded in this situation, they took advantage and used their Mana to rapidly escape from the place where Huo Shihong was.

n

"Everyone, disperse!

" Wu Shuhui shouted while running the farthest he could. His speed was beyond what those other practitioners could ever imagine.

nThe cultivators surrounding Huo Shihong were utterly shocked at first, but very quickly they used every single bit of Qi or Mana they could muster, while still suffering from some sort of suppression, to move.

nHuo Shihong saw how those worms were trying to disperse to whatever direction they could and decided to try something. He wouldn't let his efforts go to waste.

nHe looked towards the person he hated the most right now, Huo Shikai. He was just starting to run together with the Grand Elder Huo Ming and his supporters from the Blazing Phoenix Sect. Those traitorous worms had banded together during this time. However, it was the best possible scenario on his opinion.

nHuo Shihong looked at the fully charged red Skystone inside his hand and focused on the skill he practiced the most of all skills his Blazing Phoenix Sect possessed.

nThe Phoenix Beam!

nIts name sounded childish, but he was more than happy to have practiced it to a high tier.

nHe channeled the last bits of Mana he still had inside his veins and put all his concentration to create a Phoenix Beam using the red Skystone as a catalyst.

nHe looked at the figure of his brother, exasperatedly running away from him and wryly laughed as a tear dropped from his right eye.

nPHOENIX BEAM!

nHuo decided to shout without any inhibitions while shooting the strongest attack he has ever done.

nThe heat was so unbearable that his right arm, that was holding the red Skystone, turned into ashes when he shot the attack.

nA huge laser beam of fire, destroyed everything on its path. The Blazing Phoenix Elders running after Huo Shikai instantly melted, turning into dust within a single second. Grand Elder Huo Ming looked back and saw a huge sun about to crash against his body and he couldn't even utter a single sound, turning into dust like the other elders.

nHuo Shikai that was a thousand meters or so ahead of Huo Ming, felt a powerful pressured locking on his body and he immediately lost the ability to escape. He turned back, just to watch as a tiny red dot, surrounded by a huge mass of flames flew towards him.

nHis ugly expression showed all the fear he was feeling moments before his end.

nThe red Skystone crashed with his chest, exploding right after.

nBOOM!

nThe shockwave killed those Blazing Phoenix Elders that luckily managed to evade the fire beam before the explosion. All those betrayers who hailed from the Blazing Phoenix Sect were extinguished with that explosion.

nThe other powers rejoiced with a fearful expression. They somehow survived.

n

"Huff!

"

"Huff!

"

nHuo Shihong knelt on the ground while holding his shoulder with his left hand. He paid with his body, but the results were to his liking.

n

"It's a pity it will end like this.

" While shaking his head in despair, he caught sight of the towering phoenix gate, some meters away from him.

nA spec of light dawned upon him, as his hope was reignited. He stood up with a bit of difficulty and headed towards the gate.

nHowever...

nSlash!

nA sword coated with a hellish flame passed through Huo Shihong's left leg, severing it with a clean cut.

n

"Argh!!!

"

nHuo Shihong fell on the floor, bleeding profusely from having lost a leg. He tried to stand up but was already unable to.

nTao Shing appeared near Huo Shihong. He grinned after seeing the state Huo Shihong was. Totally spent, without a leg and an arm. His sorry figure would evoke pity on anyone else other than Huo Shikai, that ungrateful brother. Actually, Huo Shikai wasn't able to feel anything anymore.

n

"I'm annoyed... To think that someone like you would pose such a threat to us.

" Tao Shing prepared to cut him again but a voice asked him to stop.

n

"Do not. We need to ask him some things first.

" Wu Shuhui appeared together with the first prince. The other practitioners started to approach one by one.

nVery quickly twenty-two people stood next to Huo Shihong. Some a bit farther than others. Fifteen of them were people from the Hunting Alliance, Blood-boil Mercenary Group and Alchemist tower.

nThe other seven were Tao Shing and an elder from his family, Wu Shuhui, the first prince and three more Mana Perception initial-stage realm practitioners from the Wu Martial Kingdom. The people from the Blazing Phoenix Sect had all perished.

n

"Tell me, Sect Master Huo. What is actually inside that chamber?

" Wu Shuhui narrowed his eyes while asking.

nHuo Shihong remained silent. Gritting his teeth while enduring the pain from his severed limbs.

n

"You didn't possibly think that we would buy that there was a divine-grade treasure inside, did you? What a lame ass-story you told us.

" He kept saying in a mocking tone.

nHuo Shihong kept silent.

n

"So, you won't tell us? Alright. Cut his other limbs!

"

nTao Shing was about to use his sword to slash, when suddenly the ground beneath them started to turn black. A black fog started to raise from below.

nNothing actually happened to anyone other than Sect Master Huo. He was swallowed by that black fog, vanishing from the place he was laying some moments ago.

n

"What is this?

"

n

"Hmph! Use your mana to dispel this fog!

"

nVery quickly they started to dissipate that black fog that was clouding their senses.

nWhen everything went back to normal, they felt a new presence standing around a kilometer away from them. A youthful man with raven black hair and abyss black eyes. Near him there was the bloody and pitiful figure of the Sect Master of the Blazing Phoenix Sect.

nSeth put his hands on Huo Shihong and injected Mana inside him, stopping the bleeding from further deteriorating his injuries.

nHuo Shihong looked at the unknown person with a shocked expression. He even forgot about his pain for a few seconds, feeling it twice as strong right after.

n'Mana Perception middle-stage?' He felt the energy entering his body and superficially healing his injuries.

n

"Sigh.... Why did you let them do this with you, father-in-law?

"

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