Zhen Shi and Will O'Dale were dashing towards each other. A dual sword wielder empowered by the blazing scarlet bloodlust, and an archer with an enraged beast inside of him, clawing to get out.

William O'Dale had completely lost himself to the scarlet murderous intent as he brandished his swords with the desire to dye them in red blood.

Zhen Shi, on the other hand, was just barely aware of his own actions, despite the fact that he was growling like a demonic creature and was brandishing his bow preparing to rain havoc as well...

Just as they were a single second away from striking each other...

BANG!

A sudden explosion rang out in the very middle of their collision course. It was followed by a flash of a blinding white light causing the two of them to involuntarily close their eyes, especially with their lessened intellect under bloodlust.

Amidst the bright white light, a familiar freezing blue flame flickered and slowly revealed an equally familiar figure. Along with this, the cool blue flames formed into an ephemeral dome and effectively separated Zhen Shi and Will O'Dale.

Zhen Shi could vaguely sense that the energy forming the dome was a large number of formation talismans... but was in no state of mind to get an accurate count.

CLANG!

Their attacks struck the strange formation dome, but the two scarlet swords, the silent arrow, along with William O'Dale and Zhen Shi seemed to have struck a metal plate as their attacks simply bounced off the impenetrable dome.

The two of them were thrown back by this sudden jarring collision but the strange formation dome was undamaged. It only dimmed slightly to reveal the familiar figure of an uncomfortably grinning Myne cloaked in icy blue flames.

Noticing that Zhen Shi and William were still acting with bloodlust and killing intent, he gracefully flicked both of his hands. 

Instantly, the formation dome shattered into a globe of energy and followed one hand as it wrapped around Will O'Dale and subdued him, while the icy blue flame followed the other hand and passed seamlessly through the demonic Zhen Shi.

Strangely, the moment the flames entered Zhen Shi's body, his bestial rage began to recede. But when they left his body, the flames revealed a dark tint of crimson within them, almost as if the bloodlust had been dragged out... before flickering away.

Unfortunately, Will O'Dale was still being influenced by the rage of his scarlet energy and continued to hopelessly struggle against the formation that was binding him and his cultivation. 

Meanwhile, Myne turned to Zhen Shi who was still shaking off the after-effects of going full-on beast.

Under Zhen Shi's glowering gaze, he sauntered over and casually spoke out, "I see that your training was a resounding success. Hah! Weren't you smug before? Didn't I tell you that you'd have a hard time mastering anything without my help? This is why you should listen to your elders!"

Zhen Shi had a thousand complaints and obscenities prepared to be spouted out but was instantly caught speechless by this shameless answer. But he wasn't going to be beaten either, and so spoke out, "Actually, my training WAS a resounding success. I refined 10 Soul Tier healing pills and a Soul Tier knife with NO HOLES in it, and I even infused your [Dream Engraving] skill into pill refining. I'd call that a resounding success indeed!" finishing with a smug grin.

Myne was caught speechless, 'SHIT! What the hell is wrong with this kid? Becoming an alchemist AND a blacksmith with the application of grade improvement skills, overnight? Is this the power of his overpowered physique? I truly feel sorry for his peers...'

Nevertheless, despite his desire to enjoy this moment, Zhen Shi hurriedly asked the main question that had been burning within his mind this entire time, "Why did you stop our battle?! I was winning! Besides this Will O'Dale started it, and your furnace spirits made it much much worse..."

Myne grimaced, but quickly explained with a mischievous grin and a playful tone, "Oh, I'm sorry, was I being an annoying third wheel? Were you two having a good time? Ahh! The beauty of youth! But I can assure you that I was being the rare but good kind of third wheels..."

Noticing that Zhen Shi was both annoyed and confused, Myne shook his head and continued in a serious tone, "Kid, forget about winning, it would've been more likely for the both of you to have been seriously injured! Especially since you weren't driving the divine beast bloodlines at full-power..."

Zhen Shi grimaced but could only silently agree as he himself was not sure of what would've happened if Myne hadn't interfered.

Myne grinned as he continued, "Good! By the way, I was watching the entire fight from beginning to end. Loved how it was entirely due to a series of whacky mistakes by the way," struggling to hold his laughter.

But, under Zhen Shi's scowling face, he controlled himself and spoke, "I decided to interfere only if things got really bad. Besides, I figured it was the perfect chance for you to battle some actually talented cultivators, especially since I haven't seen you in a proper battle."

Zhen Shi nodded. Nevertheless, he frowned and asked in honest confusion, "Okay. But Myne, why was this more difficult than the battle with Vivienne, when she was at the fucking Law Holder stage?!"

Myne patted his chest proudly as he answered, "Hoho, you don't know? Let Master Myne explain then. I believe Vivienne was actually holding back in that battle! I'm not sure exactly why... maybe, perhaps, she wanted to use you as a hostage and thus controlled herself in order to keep you alive.

But, now that I think of it, it WAS pretty weird. For what strange reason could she have exercised careful control, even when under a god-tier divine curse? I wonder..." ending with a playful face of himself being in deep contemplation.

Zhen Shi could only grimace as he realized the reason... 'IDammit! t has to be that shameless skill of mine! What else could it be...'

Myne continued speaking, quite happy at having put Zhen Shi down a peg, "But of course, the most important thing is that the red guy is fairly innocent. At the last moment, he was subjected to the direct influence of a divine curse causing him to completely lose his rational sense! That is why I can't calm him down as I did for you..."

Zhen Shi frowned in thought but looked at Myne curiously as this brought up a few questions. He immediately asked them, "So you can now sense divine curses?"

Myne shook his head regretfully speaking, "I wish. This was a rather weak divine curse compared to the one used on Vivienne, possibly a single-use divine totem originating from a distant source. Thus, I could easily sense the 'divine' influence exerted by the will of the curse."

Zhen Shi was still rather unsatisfied by this dubious excuse and proceeded to stare intensely with skeptical eyes.

Myne grimaced under his stare, and quickly spoke out as he waved his hands in defense, "Fine! Fine! All that I said IS true! But I sensed it only because I knew it would be there..." pointing at his eyes he continued, "and the words of fate warned me in advance. I got a prophetic warning."

Nevertheless, unwilling to be put down like this, he suddenly grinned smugly, "Even so, while the scarlet guy," pointing at the struggling and bound Will O'Dale, "needed a divine curse to go crazy... you," pointing at Zhen Shi, "did it all by yourself! Amazing! Wonderful!"

Zhen Shi grimaced as he spoke out, "Fuck off! It's not my fault and you know it!"

Myne smugly shook his head in disagreement, "No, no. It's the fault of your weak mind!"

Zhen Shi grimaced once more, "Fine then! You show me how you can control both a dragon and a Vermillion bird at the same time! Come on... show me!"

Myne was caught speechless again, 'Wha--? How Shameless! I don't have any of those bloodlines to do that!'

Zhen Shi grinned victoriously as he patted his own chest out of pride and spoke wisely, "Yeah! That's what I thought! People easily complain about small mistakes, but only realize the difficulty when they try to do it themselves!"

Myne scowled in displeasure, "Forget it! But don't forget that someone used a divine curse for some nefarious purpose. Most possibly to take you out of commission, or maybe even all three of us... if the culprit had enough faith in this Will O'Dale," while turning to the poor Will who was struggling against his binds while seething with blood lust.

Zhen Shi paused in thought for a moment, but couldn't decide on any particular person who could be an enemy with access to divine curse totems and even exert their power within the Market Island, from the people he had met.

But just as he began to wonder, Myne suddenly grinned as he turned back to Zhen Shi, "Oh, don't worry about the mystery of their identity... It appears that that the mystery will soon be solved!"

Zhen Shi was confused and was just about to ask him to explain what he meant, when suddenly, he heard it...

The resounding thump of marching boots, the ominous boom of a drum, the grim clank of weapons against armor.

These sounds slowly grew louder and louder until Zhen Shi could easily sense them. An armada of disciplined soldiers in formation, that had surrounded them and laid siege...

Myne's grew wider as he spoke to Zhen Shi, "Hah! What'd I tell you? They're already here!"

Noticing Zhen Shi's slightly worried look, Myne reassuringly patted his brother on the back and sagely explained, "Don't worry! This is for the best. After all, enemies in the open are better than those in the dark!"