"Got you."

They were the same words, but the voice this time did not belong to Ozul.

The Sword Sage gasped for air as he registered the presence of another Sage. He really hadn’t been able to sense him until it was too late to act.

His back bled profusely, forcing him to focus on stopping the bleeding. It was as if a wild beast had eaten a chunk out of his flesh!

The world spun around for him, but he knew he couldn’t afford to be distracted in the presence of another Sage.

"Who-... a-are you!" He asked, stuttering. His racing mind had yet to spot Rai in his vision.

As his eyes slowly cleared, what appeared before him was the most hideous smile he had ever come across.

Rai’s nails were grown and sharpened; those claws held torn and twisted flesh dripping with thick blood.

The Sword Sage realized it was his own flesh. The thought made something churn in his stomach. He almost vomited as he watched Rai chew some of it.

"Mon-ster!" He shouted, gritting his teeth in anger and disgust.

Having thrown all his life-saving elixirs down his throat, he stood up with artificial strength coursing through him again.

The pills he had just consumed were going to stunt his cultivation in the future, but anything was better than losing his life here.

"If I was just a little late, you brats would have finally been done for," Rai laughed, pointing his bloody claws at the trio.

Zier frowned with disgust at the bits of flesh still tangled around Rai’s hands.

While the three watched on the sidelines, too stunned to act, Ozul took the opportunity to attack the Sword Sage again.

Still recovering, the Sage barely dodged the hammering of the Purity.

Unfortunately for him, although Rai was unserious most of the time, he was never careless. He stopped making fun of the trio and turned his attention back to the Sword Sage.

In a few seconds, the entire situation had flipped.

Now the Sword Sage was looking for ways to escape. There was simply no way he could win against Rai after suffering from such injuries. Not to mention, Ozul was a nuisance on his own.

"The Sect w-will not let it go!" He threatened, wiping the blood trailing down his lips.

However, his words fell on deaf ears.

Just the mocking smile on Rai’s face made him want to spit blood again.

Yet, the most annoying part of this situation was how each strike of Ozul ate away at his vitality!

"You, brat! I should have killed you when I had the chance!"

The Sword Sage could not express his emotions at the moment.

If not for the surprise attack initially dealt by Rai, he might have at least had the strength to escape. But now as time passed, they chipped away at his strength.

"Not so soon," Rai appeared behind him once again, noticing that he was trying to create some distance between them.

Ozul’s torrent of a rotating pair of blades slashed at him from the front, some of the Purity seeping into his wounds while he struggled to keep his consciousness.

As desperation overtook the Sword Sage’s heart, he gave one final cry of war, shouting,

"I will take you bastards with me!"

Ozul frowned in confusion, but it did not last for long as he sensed Spiritual Energy concentrating near that man’s Mind’s Eye.

’He is about to explode...’

Rai paused, watching with widened eyes. He, too, realized what was happening. He couldn’t believe that instead of struggling to the bitter end, the Sword Sage would go out on his own accord.

The explosion from such dense energies would even level a whole mountain range, much less them, who had yet to reach the Sage Realm!

Wasting no time, he willed the Purity to wrap around the man, needles thrusting into his body with full force.

The pain was nothing to the Sword Sage, who had already resolved himself to die along with everyone else. He made no efforts to remove the Purity from himself.

Sadly, if he had at least tried to dodge the Purity, maybe things would have gone his way.

Instead, under Ozul’s command, the Purity began to siphon all the dense energies to his body!

The Spiritual Essence and nature energies gathering near the Sage’s Mind Eye disappeared without traces.

Witnessing the scene, Rai smirked. For a second, he had been worried that he might have had too much fun while forgetting that their enemy was still a Sage.

He had to be honest with himself and admit that the best he could’ve done was escape from that situation.

Luckily for him, Ozul had just the ability to diffuse the situation.

He quickly dispersed the more violent energies surrounding the Mind’s Eye. Yet an explosion followed right after!

The Mind’s Eye was set to explode whether he had dissipated the other nature’s energies or not. However, Ozul had also foreseen that. The Purity had completely enveloped the bead which held this concentrated Spiritual Essence capable of grazing mountains.

"Hahaha, You really are something, kid." Rai came near him, his hand reached to pat him on the shoulder.

But the Purity held his hand from reaching Ozul. He did not like unfamiliar people touching him.

Though if Rai had heard his thoughts, he would have thrown a fit, exclaiming and pointing at him, questioning why he was still considered unfamiliar.

As Rai began to gloat about the fact that they had just killed a Sage from the Immortal Sect, the trio came near him.

"We should leave as soon as possible," Raven reminded them. Surely the Sect would have some measures to be informed if one of their Elders were killed.

Ozul did not unwrap the mangled body of what was once a Sage. The explosion wasn’t able to escape the Purity despite being strong enough to.

He knew it would be contained simply because the Mind’s Eye was a mass of the purest of the Spiritual Essence. If he simply absorbed it before it could concentrate any further, the explosion would automatically diminish.

"Let’s leave," he declared, before shooting straight in the direction of Phoenix City. The Purity containing the corpse of Sword Sage floated closely behind him.

He was eager to absorb that corpse; he had been looking for a Sage’s corpse since the start of this war.

Seeing as no one was entertaining his enthusiasm for having killed the Sword Sage, Rai let go of his grin and focused on the surroundings, lest they find themselves surrounded by the Sect’s Elders.

Meanwhile, Zier shared his healing medicine with Raven and Blaze. He barely had any items left in his Spatial Ring.

They had all used everything they had in that fight to stay alive. If they hadn’t, maybe they wouldn’t have remained alive before Rai arrived!

Raven gave her neck a forced push on either side, the pain of being grappled by him was still vivid in her memory.

She gave Rai a grateful look; if he hadn’t arrived at that time, they were really all going to die.

During the fight, Ozul had already sensed Rai, and seeing that the latter was hiding his presence, he could only have done so to take advantage of the situation.

After all, where else would they fight an Elder of the Immortal Sect in such a vulnerable position?

He continued with his hopeless plan and created the opportunity for Rai to sweep in and tear apart the Sword Sage’s flesh.

. . .

Before long, 4 Elders of the Immortal Sect appeared at the place of the Sword Sage’s death.

They had Spiritual Artifacts tuned to the traces of each Elder, and according to that artifact, it was this place that last witnessed the Sword Sage.

"What could have happened to him?" One of them asked in a grim tone.

They were not aware of his death, just that his life was in danger, assumed from the distress signal they had received.

That portion of the town was in utter chaos. The forest was uprooted, and the ground was marred with explosions.

"There is poison still lingering in the air," the Elder noticed, scrunching up his nose in disgust.

"We have to inform the Sect Leader..."

. . .

Ozul and the group, meanwhile, had already arrived in Phoenix City.

Entering the dome alone gave them all a sense of security.

They were out of danger.

A sense of relief washed over them as they made their way toward the estate.

As Rai and the trio went to report to Ember, Ozul went to the courtyard with the corpse of the Sage.

The purity wrapped around a human shape made everyone in the estate step back. They did not want to question what was inside.

As he went inside the courtyard, he noticed Alden and Rameel were still there, cultivating.

Ignoring their existence, he expanded the Purity and created a space just for himself. Inside, he was alone with the corpse of the Sword Sage.

"I hope this helps..."

He muttered, wondering if the sense of doom he had been feeling for the past month might be settled after he absorbed it.

Meanwhile, in her room, Ember swept her confused glance at the group standing before her.

She had already smelled the stench of blood, frowning, she asked, "Out with it. What happened?"

Rai grinned once again, putting his claws up for her to see, "Blood of the Sword Sage."

Surprised, Ember leaned back on her chair, "Go on!"

"We killed the Sword Sage of the Impotent Sect! Hahahaha!"

The booming laughter of Rai spread in the estate.