Chapter 17: Surrounded

A few minutes earlier.

Fang Chang was standing in the middle of an area covered with green grass. A couple of buildings that hadn't been destroyed yet could be seen not far away.

He wasn't alone; there were people keeping their distance as they blocked any possible escape route. All of them wore orange and black, but the design of their clothes varied.

"So you are the ones that caused all of this?" Fang Chang asked as he scanned the surroundings.

"No time for chatting. Kill him." One of the eight people around him gave the order. He was tall and skinny. His eyes were baggy, like he hadn't slept in a while, but he didn't look tired, instead he appeared to be calm.

The others immediately moved, throwing pieces of dirt behind them as they rushed. The calm man, however, stayed in his place along with a female cultivator with an ordinary face at the opposite side, somehow preventing him from running away.

"Ugh! Give me a break, I have nothing prepared yet!" Fang Chang shouted, grabbing the old-looking leather pouch tightly.

"I have no other choice, I guess. I'm sorry Brother Yi, Brother Wang." In a split of a second, his hand had gotten inside the little bag and taken out a handful of weird green, white and gray things of different shapes and sizes.

His other hand didn't wait and immediately picked many white, small sized spheres that had a bouncy texture, throwing them in all directions. Those spheres were very delicate, and when they all reached the floor, they broke.

Immediately after, extremely powerful flashes of condensed light illuminated, not only the close area, but the entirety of the sect that wasn't yet shrouded in fog.

The attackers were all taken by surprise; they had their eyes opened at the time of the flash, so the fate that their eyes suffered was anything but good. They all stopped in their tracks as a huge headache invaded their minds; some even fell, unconscious.

'The great blinding grapes of the 5th Outer's disciples Talent Competition of Gray Grass Sect… Such a terrifying invention.'

Fang Chang was now wearing the 'eye protectors' Yi Ren was so proud of, smiling as he waited a second for the lights to dim. He had also closed his eyes before the explosion, but the light still managed to hurt his eyes a bit, so it was hard to imagine what it did to the people who directly saw it.

"Alright, that seems to be enough. I won't have to use the rest of Brother Wang's special edition pick- Ughh!"

He was muttering something to himself, but a fist that sunk into his stomach at a blurry speed interrupted him. He was sent flying, spinning in the air as his mouth dripped off blood. Fang Chang's flight was stopped by one of the few intact strand-like buildings near him, but after his crash, it ended up in a pile of rubble with him below it.

The man who had punched him remained in his place, closing his eyes. He was the one in charge; the one who had given the order to attack Fang Chang. He wasn't that close to the center of the explosions, but his eyes got severely damaged nonetheless.

The reason he could still connect a punch was because he had rushed to attack when he realized the boy had thrown something, and even when his vision was destroyed, he didn't stop. He wished to avoid any mishaps, but he was too late, as now every member of his team was incapacitated for some time.

"Mila, you there?"

"Yes."

"We can't fight like this. Retreat to a safe place, I'll wrap things up here."

"What about the plan?"

"It can wait. We were lucky this time, if we go back with a weapon like that, it won't matter much if we don't achieve our primary goal.

"Understood. What about the boy?"

"I made sure not to kill him, but I don't know where he fell. We're capturing him when we get our vision back. I'll scan the vicinity for some of the items the kid might have dropped.

"Yes."

After the words, the group of suspicious people set off in a certain direction; very slowly, because of their lack of sight, leaving the tall man with baggy eyes behind. However, the direction in which they were going wasn't exactly the one they had in mind.

They were approaching the center of Gray Grass Sect.

…

Wang Fan and Feng Mai reacted too late; when they were able to see the people in front of them, they were already surrounded.

Ten people wearing the same colors stood around them. They all were of similar age, except for three that looked more mature and stoic than the others.

"Finally we can confront some demons!" One of them said excitedly.

"Shush it, Cheng Jing. Just do as we practiced." A girl next to the boy who spoke scolded him and made a weird movement with her hands; it looked like a kind of dance in which the rest of her body didn't move.

"Who are you guys!? Why are you doing this!?" Feng Mai nervously cried.

"You have collided with the demonic cultivators, henceforth we're here to punish you… with death. And for our identities, what's the use of telling them to someone who is about to die?"

One of the oldest looking in the group replied. He had a thick mustache that almost covered his upper lip, but even like that he appeared young.

"W-We don't have anything to do with that! We're just regular outer disciples!" Feng Mai retorted, stuttering.

"Stop with the useless beg. Take this, as long as you have it you don't have to worry about how much spiritual energy you spend." Wang Fan whispered as he gave her a flat and white disk that had many thin lines drawn on its surface.

"You better be worth it, Yi Ren didn't give me a discount for being his friend." He added.

"How are we supposed to believe you? Your sect has been proven to ally with evil sects, how can we be sure you're not one of them!?"

"So you're just going to kill everyone just because you think-"

"Aaaghhhhhh!"

"What's wrong!?"

"M-My arm!"

"W-What is that!?"

While they were still listening to each other's reasons, one of the boys that were about to attack Wang Fan and Feng Mai screamed in shock. Without realizing it, his arm had turned green; he couldn't feel it anymore.

Wang Fan had clearly done something, as the texture of whatever the boy's arm had turned into resembled that of a pickle.

"Thank you. I hadn't found a chance to use this… It was too dangerous to test it on a fellow disciple." He spoke, lifting his dark-green shirt as he took a few pickles that were previously attached to his hidden belt.

"I can finally expose the full potential of my pickles!"

"What the tarnation are you talking about! Get him! He is not getting out of here alive!"

A woman with short hair commanded, raising her hand along with a great amount of dust that appeared to follow her will.

The others also followed suit, some rushing to attack the ones in the center with their bodies while the rest threw various long-ranged attacks: fire, light and daggers.

Wang Fan quickly pulled out every pickle he had in order to bear the incoming offensive, while Feng Mai took out a very delicate looking whip, which was adorned with pink pearls and shiny, colorful gems.

'How's that going to help in defense?' Wang Fan inwardly thought when he saw it, but before he could voice out his frustration, Feng Mai hit the air and some sort of pink bear phantom appeared out of nowhere, which blocked the first wave of attacks by itself.

"You said I didn't have to worry about spiritual energy usage, right?"

"Right." Wang Fan replied indifferently.

"Enough with your little chatter!" A couple seconds had finally passed since the group decided to attack them, and one person had already reached them.

Wang Fan, however, didn't even turn back as a green spear suddenly lengthened behind him, piercing the head of the guy who had just arrived. He remained hanging from his head, like some sort of gruesome decoration. Upon seeing that, Feng Mai wanted to vomit, but came back to her senses after she heard a scream.

"AHHHHH!" A boy with red hair and freckles who was a couple steps behind the one who died couldn't control his emotions and rushed to attack Wang Fan with the eyes of a starved beast, ready to stab him with a silver trident.

The same scene was about to be repeated, but just as Wang Fan was about to swing his now formed spear, a blinding flash that came out of nowhere befell upon all those present.

It was a deciding moment. Nobody could pinpoint the exact movement or location of the enemy, so everybody aimed to where their gut told them.

Luck; that would decide the outcome of the momentary clash. But, as usual, the most probable of the possibilities was the one that became real.

Wang Fan and the boy with freckles, none of them blocked, so both's attacks pierced the other's body, leaving a thin trail of blood traversing each weapon that weakly reflected the blinding white light that enveloped them all.