Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Chapter 1285: Iʼll chase them anywhere

---Mountains South of Spring City---

A thunderclap under the clear night sky caught her attention. She lifted her hand, signaling for her companions to join up with her. Making sure they had seen the same, they decided to investigate the weird phenomenon.

They had managed to catch one of the martial artists that were causing trouble in these mountains, but they had been unable to get anything out of him. The man was killed through some forbidden technique before he could talk to them.

That was why they decided to scout the mountains in groups of tight formations to see if they saw any signs of sect formations or fortuitous places they may have settled. They had not been looking for weird natural phenomena, but a thunderclap in a clear sky could be a sign for battle.

Sprinting across the partially snow-covered mountain landscape, they quickly arrived in an area that fit the common taste of cultivators for setting up a base. After a while, they didnʼt need to rely on the initial sound, as the noise of battle led their way.

They knew immediately that they had come to the right place, when they found a place flickering between the scenes of two places. One was a narrow valley that led into a gorge, where a small stream originated. Inside the narrow gorge were several buildings wedged between the stone cliffs.

The other scene was that of a simple valley, with a small well and no gorge at all. This was obviously a formation. She had to admit that this was a good place for a formation, too. It would have taken quite some time to find this if it wasnʼt for the fight, making the formation waver, revealing the hidden branch.

“Senior sister, what do we do?” her companion asked seriously. Someone was fighting down there. They couldnʼt tell whether they were an ally or it was just infighting, but the wave of energy released beneath the formation was on the level of a spirit severing expert.

“We call the people of Minas Mar and observe for now,” she decided grimly. Although she would have liked to pay back some of her debt here, she herself was only in the early stages of the Nascent Soul realm. She wouldnʼt be able to interfere in the fight down there. Worst case, both sides fighting could turn on them and wipe them out.

“Great White Tiger, this is Xiao Peng. We found one of the branches, but there is a fight going on. We need reinforcements here,” she spoke into the small crystal ball one of the people from Minas Mar had given her. It was an intriguing alternative for long distance communication.

“Is it where the thunder clap happened? We are on our way there,” the female leaderʼs voice came from the orb. She was a little disappointed that the tall tiger man had not answered, but she understood that this wasnʼt the time for such thoughts.

A few minutes after they called, the fight below escalated. various lightning attacks exploded from the branch buildings, leaving what remained of them in the gorge to burn. With the attacks, two figures came crashing into the valley. They were two old man, their faces distorted in anger.

One was an older man with black hair and a thin long beard, the other was a man, even older with whitened hair. Despite his visible age, the white haired one exposed a muscular build through his ruined robes. his whole body was covered in small arcs of lightning.

“BuʼGe, you old weasel! How dare you betray the sect! As if harming the disciple wasnʼt enough, sabotaging the formation and attempting to ME! This will be the day I end you!” the lightning uncle hollered, smattering the other with rains of lightning fists.

The other, BuʼGe obviously had a hard time, but managed to block the lightning fist with a hand covered in a black, shiny carapace. however, as he was driven back, there was a cloud of insects rising from the burning buildings in the gorge.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“You old codger! Do you think your threats have any use on me anymore? I have found true friendship, something you could never understand! Iʼm fighting for something that truly matters, you can never defeat me!” he countered as the cloud of insects descended on the lightning uncle and completely engulfed him.

“Ahh!” lightning exploded from the dense cloud, dispersing and frying the insects, creating a crater of several tens of meters. The bug uncle was also thrown across the valley, his robes charred.

“Just what nonsense are you sprouting? friendship? Did you have a qi deviation and become a retard?”

Bug Uncle, pulled himself out from the mount of earth he landed in, ripping away the burned robes.

“Shut up! You will never touch my friends again! Even if it costs me my life! Ohhh!”

Red energy arcs were dancing across his body, as patches of dark, ugly carapace grew on his skin.

This had to be a forbidden technique. Earlier, the lightning uncle was clearly stronger, but now the bug unclesʼ energy kept rising rapidly as his body turned into that of a human-sized insect. He was turning himself into a monster for friendship.

She didnʼt know their history, but she found this truly touching. For someone to find the courage to oppose their own sect and leave everything they had behind, for someone they truly loved... Xiao Peng couldnʼt help but admire such fortitude.

“You imbecile! Do you think turning into a monster will save you?! Dream on!” the lightning uncle showed no manners and didnʼt wait for bug uncle to transform. He charged at the half-bug man, creating a huge trail of electricity during his charge.

“Lightning Dragon Descent!” his voice echoed in the valley as the trail he left behind transformed into a giant dragon made of lightning that charged forward together with him, swallowing the bug uncle in the same moment his fist struck squarely on the manʼs chest.

In a fraction of a second, the dragonʼs body gathered in BuʼGe and exploded, devastating the whole valley below. When the dust settled, it revealed only the Lightning Uncle still standing. the massive black bus the elder had turned into was kneeling on the ground, charred black by the power of the explosion.

“You fool threw away your position, your sect, your humanity... You betrayed us for what? Friendship..?” the lightning uncle was slowly shaking his head. “ I donʼt know what happened on your mission, but I will find out and destroy everyone involved in this!” he spoke with disgust.

His speech was followed by a low thud.

“Itʼs... not over... yet-” the bug uncle mumbled after his hand, transformed into a barbaric insect claw had stabbed into the lightning uncleʼs stomach.

“Urgh, you stupid bastard....” the white haired one mumbled and crushed the charred bug skull mercilessly, ending this fight for good. He pulled the claw from his stomach as if it didnʼt bother him and then turned in their direction.

“Stop hiding and come out. Itʼs rude to spy on others,” he called them out. Had he known they were here the whole time. “Who are you? Are you the “friends” he talked about?” after asking that, he mused for a moment and continued. “ It doesnʼt matter, you will have to die since you saw the formation, anyway.”

“Shit, disperse!” she instructed, These two elders were in the middle stages of spirit severing, this elder might even be at the late stage. Their group stood no chance against such a threat. However, before they could move, the elder made a step, shrinking space in his movements and appearing right in front of them.

“Donʼt think you can run from me, little rats- cough.”

Thunk.

Thunk.Thunk.

Thunk.Thunk.Thunk.Thunk.Thunk...

The moment he said it, his sentence was cut short by a swarm of angry arrows embedding themselves in his exposed chest. He ended his sentence with a torrent of blood gushing from his mouth.

“No, what is this evil ...” the lightning uncle mumbled, shocked and in pain.

A dark, corrosive aura spread from the arrow wounds, turning his flesh a sickly, dead gray. Necrosis was quickly spreading across his torso. The lightning was rapidly circulating around the man, as he tried to force the terrifying energy out of his body, but he could only slow the inevitable spread of death.

“What a resilient bastard, even after such a fight..” Xiao Peng heard the voice of the woman behind her, but when she turned around she saw the figure of a tall blue wolf, walking on its hind legs and holding a terrifying bow in its hand-like paws, approaching them from behind.

“Should I finish him off?” the great white tiger beside the wolf asked.

Thunk.

As answer, the wolf had wordlessly pulled the string of its bow and shot an arrow of dark energy straight into the forehead of the lightning uncle. It happened so fast, that she could barely see the whole motion. In the blink of an eye, the life of a spirit severing cultivator had ended, his body quickly decomposing into skeletal remains.

“Are you okay?” the wolf asked as it grew smaller, turning into the leader of Minas Mars party, Lydia.

“Y-Yes, Thank you,” she answered, still a little stumped.

“letʼs go have a look at this place, before everything burns away.”