As he stepped out onto the big boulder that the others seemed to have found for themselves Dong Yi began looked towards the other boulders making sure that the inner sect diciples were unharmed.

“Did you kill him” the young man, Tao Tao said as he stood up from his cross legged position.

“He didn’t died” said the girl in pink as she continues to swing her legs on the edge.

taking out a small jade coin she said with a chuckle “seems that there really was good use for these”

Dong Yi nooded before thinking back to when he and the others received the jade coins.

The coin didn’t seemed to have any unique features, right as when he had gotten it, he enveloped it with his spiritual consciousness to scan for any arrays or formations that might have been hidden from the naked eye.

But the only thing he noticed about it was the large amount of Qi in the coin that made it difficult to look inside of it
‘To be able to put so much Qi into such a small coin’ he thought for a second before shooking his head.

“In any case it is not simple if it was able to recover someone from my Brillance Crystal Art” Dong Yi said as he suddenly felt something.

He looked far towards the forest at the edge of the desert. He didn’t need to release his spiritual consciousness to perceive what was happening.

The others also noticed something in the distance, all not failing to act the same as each of them held the same expression.

Something blinding was moving towards them at an extremely fast speed, speeds that even Dong Yi couldn’t reach, standing up with a surprise look on his face, he released his spiritual consciousness to see what was really headed toward them.

It was bright but his spiritual consciousness was able to make out the figure of a small fox that was fully covered on all sides by an armor of blue spiritual Qi.

This fox was only 8 inches long and its appearance seemed to belong to the snow fox race which are a rare breed of fox spirit beast known for their cold attitude and fast speed.

“Damn it” Dong Yi uttered as he remembered that this was the same fox that was on an inherent of the Levitation sect.

He knew that standing here and not stopping it until it was upon them would pose a risk so Dong Yi jumped out with his maximum speed intending to stop it before it comes any closer.

The others once again received the same treatment from a few minutes ago as the large boulder under their feet was suddenly crushed to pieces making all of them jump for safety.

Not bothering with anything, Dong Yi’s body began to be enveloped by a large blazing Qi that put together layers upon layer of qi to form an armor onto him, swiping his storage bag, he took out a red sword that glowed with an aura of heat, its red glow indicating its affinity with the fire element as it fit perfectly with his armor.

Seeing the snow fox right upon him he raised his sword in midair and called out.

“Brilliance crystal art, bloom”

A vibrant red crystal came into existence behind him before splitting into five different pieces that suddenly glowed brightly before disappearing.

The snow fox that hadn’t even reduced its speed found itself in between 5 shards of red crystal that appeared so suddenly before glowing.

BOOM

The shards of crystals had exploded creating five giant clouds of fire that engulfed the fox in the middle.

Landing on the ground with a heavy step, Dong Yi looked at the explosion that occurred a few dozen meters away. He’s gaze was cold as he knew that this whole thing might have been a trap to lure him out, he wanted to finish this battle quickly as to avoid that.

Taking large strides towards the fire crater that the explosion had caused, he raised his sword once again as he called out.

“Come out, I know that this was not enough to defeat you”

However, no answer was heard as the fire burned in the crater obscuring any views from outside, just as he was about to spread his spiritual consciousness to check, Dong Yi suddenly felt something from his side before swinging full force into that direction.

Clang

Feeling surprising resistance he backed up to see what that was, only to realise that there was a pool of blue miasma in front of his eye.

The miasma was chunking and inside it was the snow fox that seemed to be releasing way more power than previously possible.

It’s eyes were glowing blue and it’s fur was radiating in the same colour, It’s Qi, wallowing around its body and steadily increasing over time and it’s body which was no more than 8 inches was also growing more and more, slowly inching towards a meter long.

Dong Yi couldn’t help but take a step back as this was something that he doesn’t have confidence dealing with,
judging from the amount of qi that this fox was releasing he realized that it must be in the next stage, this would be his first time fighting a Rank 4 medium stage spirit beast.

he gripped his sword and looked at the fox with determination, he has to face it or else they just might lose because of him, if he could just hold out for Senior Brother Shin’s plan, then it would be worth it.

Noticing the stress that was put upon its opponent, the snow fox let out an earsplitting shrill and with a burst of energy, shot out of the blue miasma with its claws open in an attempt to attack Dong Yi.

Dong Yi quickly reacted, maneuvering his body to the side before using his sword to block the swift attack of the fox.

Clang

The attack was blocked but the power sent him tumbling across the sand as he got up feeling heavy weight upon his arm.

Yet the Snow Fox didn’t give him any time as it continues to lunge towards him shredding small chunks of his armor every time he receives a blow he couldn’t block or dodge.

“Urg” Dong Yi uttered as he was blown further back again upon blocking with his sword, steam was coming off the exposed parts of his body under the armor as right after he perspires, the heat around him would evaporate it.

Getting up he looked towards the fox that was slowly coming towards him, he is still able to dodge and block the attacks but his strength was waning by the second and it’s only a matter of time before he runs out of qi.

Knowing the severity of the situation he could only sigh and brace for more.

Boom

Being flung once again, Dong Yi tumbled across the sand.

He stood up with a big gash across his chest, his armor was no more, and his robe was torn to shreds revealing his slim but rebuts body underneath, his body, hair and face were in a mess, but he still gave off a cold and determined aura.

The Fox, that seemed to be toying with him released bursts of qi in waves intending to make this it’s final attack,
gathering a large amount of water qi, it opened it’s mouth, about to unleash a devastating attack before it suddenly came to a halt looking towards a specific direction.

“Huh” Dong Yi said as he looked up towards the same direction, a few meters away in the sky was a familiar figure levitating, behind her was a pair of wings that shimmered with power.

“Yue’re” Dong Yi exclaimed as his heart leapt with joy and worry.

The girl in pink nodded before turning towards the Snow Fox, putting her hands together she said out loud.

“Darkness”

A black mist spread out from between her hands, slowly spreading across the whole sky, the black mist seemed to have a will of it’s own as it didn’t need her command before it suddenly descend onto the desert casting everything in a 20 meter radius in total darkness.

Being engulfed by the darkness Dong Yi felt his senses almost shut off as his sight became blurry, he could only make out a few details in front of him but everything around him was near pitch black.

Seemingly not bothered by the darkness he looked towards his right, where standing was the young girl.

“I've come to save you, you can thank me later” the girl said with a laugh as she continues her playfulness even in this moment.

Placing a glowing palm onto his shoulder, she said.

“I’ll be using our Dual Cultivation Technique, you should be able to at least fight on even terms now” the girl said as all of a sudden her voice became hoarse.

Having experienced the drawbacks before, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to do much after this as her eyelids became heavy and her breathing became strained.

The darkness surrounding the whole area was suddenly lifted as the girl found it hard to keep it in place, gathering her remaining strength she jumped back trying to leave the battlefield.

Looking at her Dong Yi couldn’t help but feel a little sadness in his heart, he didn’t say anything as he already knew her situation, instead he started focusing on the unique Qi that had been put inside his body.

He felt like he had been taken out from a place of emptiness as suddenly his eyes glowed bright before he hissed in pain.

Looking down he saw the big wound across his chest begin to close slowly as he felt energy coursing through his body.

His qi which was on the course of depletion was getting restored and growing stronger, new layers of qi started forming around his body, bringing back his armor.

He felt strengthened, stronger than before and his qi started rising way past what it once was before.

“Shrill” suddenly a high shrill voice was heard from across him as the Fox came sprinting towards him, it’s eyes were filled with annoyance as it appeared before him with it’s claws stretched out.

Boom

“Brillance Crystal Art, Brillance”

A large Qi was released all of a sudden accompanied by the voice of a happy Dong Yi, his sword was raised in the air and his Qi was frantically moving around his body.

The Snow Fox, Que was suddenly blasted back by the force of the Qi, Clutching deep into the sand it looked towards him with a wide eye, it was shocked at the sudden change.

Dong Yi’s Technique seemed to have only started as his whole body became bathed in Fire Qi, his Realm which seems to have had a sudden increase became more stable and behind him was a glaring light that resembled the brilliance of the sun.

The Fox, Que responded with opening it’s mouth and gathering a large amount of Water Qi into it before releasing a wide beam that was like a surging wave consuming all in its path.

Seeing the surging wave of water Qi Dong Yi raised his sword and slashed out.

A large sword slash that made the atmosphere look red suddenly appeared, the slash was so hot that it appeared white upon being released from the sword as it threatened to burn all in its path.

Dong Yi’s sword slash clashed against the water wave, sizzling sounds were heard as the water Qi was split apart by the sword beam that didn’t even lose its might, not stopping it engulfed Que along with its surroundings causing everything to be in flames.

The Fox screamed out in pain as a large blazing fire was suddenly created that engulfed it’s whole body.

The fire continued to burn while the fox screamed out in agony, it’s heart bursting with newfound hatred for fire.

Opening its eyes in anger it’s whole body suddenly released a new strength as the fire was instantly put out before revealing a meter long Fox, it’s body was blue having turned to ice, freezing the whole 15 meters around it.

Dong Yi raised his sword and slowly walked up to the frozen fox, staring into its icy glare, he noticed that it’s eyes seem to have a newfound hatred towards him, he thought for a second he gathered bright red Qi from his sword into his armor.

His armor which covered his whole body red suddenly burst out with newfound power as flames started coming out from its back forming a giant wing made from blazing flames.

As he was about to call out the name of his technique he suddenly heard a piercing noise.

Shua

Boom

Not getting time to process the sound he was hit with a powerful force that sent him flying in the opposite direction.

“What” Dong Yi uttered as he found his footing before coming to a stop a few meters away.

Looking at where he had been hit, he noticed an arrow deep inside his chest, inside his armor as he suddenly began to feel pain causing throughout his chest.

Pulling the arrow out and throwing it on the ground he had a grim expression as he looked towards the forest where the arrow had come from.

A bearly perceptible figure was floating above the forest glowing in white light, appearing like a beacon of hope.