"Stop!" Delphine tried to halt them, but it was too late.

"Beam Spear!"

A flash of bright light lit the gap in the woods.

The Zephyr Sect disciple who decided not to act, Serci, shook her head softly. She had a sympathetic expression on her face.

[That kid is dead now. Marcus has already reached the low-level of expertise in his Beam Spear art. An amazing achievement for someone only of the 3rd level of Qi Distillation.]

Van did not move.

The bright spear shot through the air.

CLANG!

It impacted Van's body with a loud noise. His skin flashed copper. The spear was diverted away from his body and thudded loudly into a nearby tree.

He moved.

[River Splitting the Rocks!]

Van concentrated his spiritual power into his palm. A whip-like surge of icy qi rushed through the air. Marcus did not dodge in time. The attack hit him.

Icy energy entered his body.

[Why do I feel so...sluggish…?]

Van saw his movements slow and dashed forwards. His fist glowed copper.

BAAMMM!

Van's fist slammed directly into the other's stomach. Marcus flew backwards.

His body smacked into a tree several hundred metres away. A trickle of black blood leaked from his lips. He coughed and fainted dead away.

"So strong!" Serci felt as if a dragon had erupted from Van's fist.

"His Copper Knight Wall is surprisingly powerful…He must have already practised it to the middle level!" Delphine commented.

Serci was shocked, "The middle level at the 3rd level of Qi Distillation? The boys will be in trouble!"

________

BANG BANG BANG!

Several loud explosions sounded. Francis watched as the three daggers he threw in quick succession exploded. An explosion talisman had been tied to each of the daggers. His eyes gleamed with bloodthirsty light.

[This brat took my arm. I will take his life!]

The dust settled. He licked his lips, antic.i.p.ating the sight of his enemy in a bruised and b.l.o.o.d.y state. Dead was even better. He lifted his hand to throw another dagger -

BANG!

Francis was pummeled into the ground. He felt his whole body ache and shudder. His vision went white. The impact of his body on the ground formed a deep crater.

[...What...!?]

He scrambled up. Weakly, he tried to draw another dagger. At that moment -

BANG!

Van punched him across the face.

The Zephyr Sect disciple fell back into the dirt.

He did not get back up.

Francis could only crane his neck and look disbelievingly at the person above him.

"...But h-how…?"

Van smirked, "My Copper Knight Wall. Your little explosion talismans were easily blocked…At the middle level, my skin can deflect ordinary blades pa.s.sively and can withstand killing blows from cultivators of the same level when activated!"

"M-mid-level? ...So fast..."

Van had prepared this explanation long ago, after reading through the Copper Knight Wall's manual.

Francis clenched his fists painfully. His eyes roved. Can withstand killing blows of the same level … when activated? So that b.a.s.t.a.r.d had such good reaction speed. He had antic.i.p.ated Francis throwing the three daggers and activated Copper Knight Wall ahead of time…

His blood-shot eyes flashed meaningfully.

[I just need to catch him unprepared!]

Van stared him down as if he could read his thoughts. Francis was cowed. He had already lost an arm…

[Then. I will wait and retaliate when I have recovered my arm!] He vowed in a cowardly fas.h.i.+on.

Serci watched silently. She never thought that someone of the 3rd level of Qi Distillation could beat two people of the same level in so few blows. Delphine was silent.

Marcus regained consciousness at that moment. He saw Francis' state and glared at Van angrily.

"Kid! You f.u.c.king lucked out this time. All of us had our spiritual reserves drained by the fight with the giant demon insect queen!"

Van smiled as if he had just heard the most ridiculous thing.

"Luck?"

"You think it was luck that caused you guys to run out of spiritual power while I am still completely fine? Hah! A bunch of dumb animals!"

Although Marcus had exhausted his spiritual power, Van was confident that he could have beat him at full strength. The only one he wasn't confident in defeating was the dishonest little girl standing beside him!

She had also held back her strength during the fight with the ant queen – who knows how much spiritual power she still had left?

Marcus heard Van's mocking words and his face darkened. He reached in his waist pouch and withdrew a green pill.

Delphine saw his actions and barked loudly.

"Marcus. You are not his opponent! Don't you dare swallow that spirit-returning pill! If you lose anymore face for the Zephyr Sect, I will not hesitate to report you to my Grandfather!"

Although she had been acting quiet and docile this entire time, she suddenly turned to Van and gave him a penetrating gaze. Her serious eyes warred with her outwards appearance of a small, cute girl. Her body gave off an intense aura.

Van's heart skipped a beat. Did she want to fight?

He quickly calculated.

He still had about 40% of his spiritual power in reserve. She would be slightly more than him as he had fought the queen for longer on his own. The odds seemed to be about fifty-fifty.

"Your Copper Knight Wall has reached impressive level considering you are only in the 3rd level of Qi Distillation. Your fighting instinct and reaction speed are also admirable. The mysterious fist skill you used to damage the ant queen's sh.e.l.l… I can tell that it is not a perfected technique. You must have come up with it yourself."

"Next time," the two hair-accessories on the sides of her head shook, "I will spar with you."

Van looked at her queerly. Was this the same dishonest little girl that had thrown a temper tantrum at the apothecary the other day?

"Sure," he replied.

Delphine nodded and turned to look at the corpse of the ant queen.

"We will split it six-four. You six, us four. This is in consideration of the fact that only your fist skill was able to break open the queen's sh.e.l.l and allow us to hurt it. Otherwise, we provided most of the power needed to kill it. We will also be as cutting the body and organising transport to Dragon City. You must also compensate us for severely injuring one of the Zephyr Sect disciples."

Van haggled," Seven-three. Without me we wouldn't even be here discussing how to divide the loot. "

Van saw that she was acting so decisively and decided to cut his losses. Firstly, he didn't know her background. Secondly, her little comment about reporting to her grandfather made him wary. In the scheme of things, he still had too little power to make a mess of things.

She looked coldly at him. Van returned her gaze silently. Finally, she nodded.

Delphine attended to the injured. With a pot of medicine in her pouch, she staunched the blood from Francis' wound and healed it. A foul-smelling pill was put in Marcus' mouth. His complexion improved, and his ribs recovered.

The Queen of Brown King Ants was slowly dissected using a set of sharp treasure swords owned by Delphine.

Van took most of the exoskeleton. Though it was cracked in many places, that was fine – the sh.e.l.l would be cut into many smaller segments to make human-sized armour plates anyway. He took the purple crystal core in the Ant Queen's forehead and left everything else to the other four. Though he was filled with regret at having to leave the meat to them, he did not push the boundaries.

After all, he and Blackie's physical and spiritual gains after eating three days of demon beast meat were not small – Van felt that his physical cultivation was on the verge of another breakthrough. His spiritual cultivation was also around one-fourth of the way to advancing. After breaking through to the 3rd level Qi Distillation, the speed of progression had dramatically decreased.

"I will take my leave now," Van said a few hours later. He sat atop Blackie.

Delphine looked up at him with a complex expression on her face.

The fact that he had attempted to kill the Queen himself showed that he had strong confidence in the power of his martial arts. A weakened 4th Rank beast is still a beast of the 4th rank!

[If I had drugged the Queen, I would still have brought a team in case something went wrong.]

The last time she saw him he was wearing servants' robes but now he was in the robes of an outer disciple of the Cedar Sect. What was his real ident.i.ty? Or were both simply disguises?

They locked eyes.

Delphine became momentarily speechless. She simultaneously remembered the incident back at the Grand Botanica where he scolded her and called her a 'dishonest little girl.' Immediately, her face went red. The heat spread to her collarbones. She took a moment to recover herself.

"What is your name?" She inquired. Her tone had regained some of the imperiousness she had used before.

Van rolled his eyes secretly. What was this dishonest little girl up to now?

"Van." He did not lie. He felt that if the girl wanted to harm him, she would have acted from the beginning.

"My name is Delphine Delafosse," she said. From the fact that he lacked a last name, Delphine concluded he must be from a poor village.

"Mm," Van responded disinterestedly.

The young girl showed a slightly disappointed expression.

[Why was I expecting a reaction?]

The two buns tied at the side of her head shook lightly. Her cat-like eyes shuttered.

"Goodbye," she said, "Do not worry. Your share of the materials will be at Dragon City by the time we arrive back."

Van nodded. The young man and the giant wolf ran into the distance.

Serci came forward and stood next to Delphine.

"The Cedar Sect seems to have a new genius."

The young girl in pink nodded slightly.

"Even Dieter's battle sense wasn't as good as him when he was in the 3rd rank. His skills were also not as polished."

Serci looked at Delphine with a s.h.i.+ning light in her eyes, "Dieter!?"

"Have you ever spoken to him? He is rumoured to be the most handsome man in Dragon City – and he is also one of the Four Suns!"

Delphine nodded, "We have met."

Serci was incredulous, "Dieter advanced to the 11th level of Qi Distillation one year ago. How can he compare to some 3rd level Qi Distillation brat?"

The Four Suns were the great geniuses of Dragon City. They were the most talented in their respective sects and could defeat cultivators many levels higher than them. Their names were famous and spread throughout the capital.

Althea, from the Star-Cutting Sword Sect.

s.h.i.+geru, from the Zephyr Sect.

Vulf, from the Boulder Sect

…and Dieter from the Cedar Sect!

Serci shook her head, "Pu-lease. Don't compare that kid to Dieter. It depresses me to hear you compare such a stunning man to a brat like him. Was his name Van? You could defeat that brat with a flip of your hand if you tried!"

Delphine crooked the corner of her lips.

Could she?

______

Van exited the woods while riding on Blackie's back. The other adventurers avoided the giant wolf as he had the plague.

The duo walked through Threadspinner Town and rocked up to the mission register. It was time to grab some Sect contribution points!