Ishin looked around and quickly found his spear, grabbing it with his one functioning arm.

  I’m useless like this. Damn.

  It was a frustrating feeling—one he hated more than any other.

  Where’s Lei?

  He quickly found his friend, who appeared in even worse shape than himself. Lei was kneeling on one leg, facing the sound of the approaching monster. A streak of blood flowed down his right eye, his previously injured arm hung limp, and the upper half of his left ear had been ripped clean off. His one remaining good arm was covered in gore, a testament to the fight he must have put up earlier. Despite it all, Lei still managed to retain his typical smile.

  “Lei, get back!” Ishin shouted. He was able to get to his feet easily enough, but Rhee stopped him from walking towards Lei, who was still the closest to the approaching danger.

  “You aren’t going up there,” Rhee stated firmly. “You’re too injured.”

  Useless.

  “So is Lei! We can’t leave him there to face another one of those beasts!”

  “He won’t,” Tan Chen said. She darted in front of the two and was shortly next to Lei. She reached for Lei’s uninjured arm. “Let’s get you to the back, big guy.”

  “I can still… I can still fight,” Lei protested, but his words were muddled with exhaustion. He put up no effort when Tan Chen wrapped his arm over her neck.

  Before she could carry him away, a thick, dark green hand shoved aside the last of the tree branches, revealing itself. Ishin stared up at the ten-foot-tall monstrosity. Unlike the smaller, more nimble Vampire Monkeys, this beast was broad, with limbs like tree trunks and a bare round stomach without any fur. Noticeably, the vampiric beast lacked a tail. Two thick fangs protruded upward from its lower jaw, each the height of a short sword. Pure black eyes gazed down upon them, assessing its prey.

  It… it must weigh at least four hundred pounds.

  Ishin opened his third eye and dread gripped him.

  Adept Realm!

  Just like how an Initial Realm cultivator at the first layer was significantly weaker than one at the seventh layer of the same realm, great disparities in strength could be found amongst Adept Realm cultivators and spirit beasts. In fact, the higher the cultivation realm, the greater the disparity could be. The Vampire Ape that stood before them dwarfed the power of the Thunder Horned Wolf.

  Tan Chen gaped at the Vampire Ape, shocked by its horror and size.

  “Fall back, Chen!” Rhee shouted.

  “Uh, right!” She executed a movement technique just in time, darting forward on a gust of wind right before the Vampire Ape slammed a palm at her previous location.

  The force of its strike was so great that a cloud of sand and leaves rippled outward.

  So fast! And its limbs… they’re eight feet long. This is bad.

  Tan Chen appeared right beside Rhee and Ishin, Lei still draped over her shoulders. Cold sweat covered her forehead and her breathing was panicked. “That thing… it’s so fast.”

  The Vampire Ape retracted its arm, its head moving slowly to find Tan Chen. Before it could act further, a flaming arrow struck its upper left chest and exploded into a torrent of fire. The Vampire Ape roared in pain, but it appeared more irritated than hurt, with only a third-degree burn covering the portion of its flesh that the arrow struck.

  “Don’t panic,” Wei Long barked as he knocked another arrow. “We can still kill it!”

  He’s right, Ishin thought, grinding his teeth. We can still kill it.

  Wei Long loosed another flaming arrow at the beast. This time, though, the Vampire Ape swatted at it before it could impact. Still, the arrow exploded on contact, conjuring another burst of flames. However, the rendered damage was nearly insignificant. To Ishin’s shock, the Vampire Ape had covered its face with its other arm, resulting in only the very outer layer of the fur being singed.

  “Did that thing just block Long’s arrow?” Tan Chen asked in shock. She lowered Lei from her back. Instead of sitting down, Lei remained standing, his attention focused on the beast like everyone else’s.

  “It’s not just strong, but smart,” Go Lan growled. “That’s what makes them so dangerous.”

  She continued forward, despite her injury. “Listen up! Anyone who can stand, move to the front. Wen Mei and archer boy, stay back and keep attacking from afar!”

  Wei Long launched another fire arrow at the beast that was similarly deflected before moving further back as instructed. “Moving!”

  “Same,” Wen Mei announced as she circled around the others.

  Go Lan hefted her axe, ready to battle. It was clear to everyone that she was struggling to support the weapon’s weight with her injured leg. Tan Chen ran to stand beside her.

  “You’re injured too. You should remain back.”

  Rhee left Ishin’s side to join the other women. “She’s right. Chen and I can handle—”

  “Get out of the way!” Go Lan shouted.

  Ishin didn’t understand her sudden interruption until he noticed that the Vampire Ape had extended its long arms forward onto the ground. Then it suddenly flung itself forward, covering the entire distance between itself and the three women. Just as quickly, it whipped both long limbs at the front combatants.

  Tan Chen managed to bring her arms up in time to block, but she was flung twenty feet back from the force, rolling onto the ground. Rhee had been slower and was smashed against the forest floor. Her front collided harshly against the ground with such strength that it was audible.

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  “Rhee!” Ishin cried.

  The Vampire Ape lifted its arm again, ready to bring it down upon Rhee, who wasn’t moving. Her hair was splayed out in a mess, and Ishin didn’t know if she was alive or not.

  “Don’t forget about me!” Go Lan shouted.

  In a shocking display of strength, she somehow managed to leap up towards the Vampire Ape’s raised arm, axe ready to strike. Her axe glowed and then morphed before doubling in size. She chopped at the beast’s arm as it came down towards Rhee and managed to cleave it off at the elbow.

  The severed limb impacted the ground with a thud and was accompanied by a genuine scream from the Vampire Ape. Go Lan landed in front of Rhee’s fallen form, her axe returning to its normal size. She used her axe to prop up her body, shaking and exhausted from the forced strain on her leg.

  Then, with unimaginable speed, the Vampire Ape snapped out its remaining hand to grab Go Lan’s face, its fingers wrapping around her entire head the same way a person would hold an apple.

  Go Lan tried to pull off its fingers with her own hands, abandoning her axe, but before she could make any progress the Vampire Ape yanked her upwards towards its maw. The sound of her muffled cries increased as she was brought closer to the beast’s open mouth.

  “Go Lan!” Lei roared. With speed that could only have come from his Red Flow Current technique, he sprang forward.

  Arm raised, Lei soared into the air and prepared to strike the Vampire Ape. “Let her go!”

  The Vampire Ape roared at Lei and threw Go Lan at him. She collided with Lei midair, knocking both to the ground.

  I have to do something!

  The question was what. My Pale Azure Lightning Force Strike might be powerful enough to kill it, or at least severly injure it, but if I miss I’ll almost out of qi. He glanced around at the fresh corpses of the Vampire Monkeys. And if more of those things show up, I’ll be useless. Damn. I can’t risk it.

  Ishin ran forward, spear in one hand, determined to fight. He cycled qi to his legs to increase his speed. He looked up to see half a dozen shards of ice stab into the beast, but they were shallow wounds. Like before, the Vampire Ape had the wisdom to cover its face with its remaining good arm. A single shard penetrated its arm, but it too was shallow.

  With a mighty roar, the Vampire Ape swung out its arm, shattering the shard stabbed into it.

  By then though, Ishin had arrived beside Lei and Go Lan. Lei was bent over Go Lan protectively, evidently not further injured. Go Lan, however, was breathing raggedly, her face bruised from the beast’s grip.

  Ishin moved in front of the two. “Lei, can you carry her back?”

  “Of course,” he managed. A wince of pain escaped Lei as he stood up. “Who do you think you’re talking to?”

  Ishin couldn’t help but smile at the bravado.

  That martial spirit of his.

  He focused on the Vampire Ape as it deflected another flaming arrow. Ishin’s inner beast roared in defiance at the spirit beast, as though it was challenging a predator of worth.

  “We have to get Rhee away from it,” Tan Chen declared as she ran up beside Ishin. Her robes were covered in dirt and leaves, but otherwise she appeared fine.

  “Use your speed to grab her. I’ll distract it.”

  Thankfully, Tan Chen didn’t try to argue with his plan. “Alright.”

  The two ran at the Vampire Ape together, while it was still distracted by the oncoming ice shards and flaming arrows. They split once they were ten feet away, Tan Chen moving towards Rhee and Ishin charging at the spirit beast.

  It’s vulnerable there! Ishin thought as he eyed where the beast’s heart must be.

  He lunged at the vital organ right as the beast caught an incoming ice shard. But before he could stab, it brought its arm down at him.

  Fast ape.

  Ishin adjusted his thrust to target its arm instead, stabbing deep into the flesh until his spear hit bone, but that did nothing to stop the momentum of the Vampire Ape’s attack. The wind was knocked out of Ishin from the force and he was blasted back several feet before slamming into a tree. He slumped to the ground, aware that he’d lost his spear, the weapon still buried deep into the beast’s forearm.

  Struggling, Ishin propped his body up on his single good arm, but couldn’t stand completely. His back ached from his impact with the tree and he saw that the bandages around his wounded shoulder were turning crimson. Worse of all, the Vampire Ape was glaring at him with undisguised rage.

  It charged at Ishin, closing the gap in mere seconds despite its great girth. Still wounded, Ishin was unable to do more than push himself up to his knees by the time the Vampire Ape was in range. It brought up its clawed hand and thrust it at Ishin’s head.

  I can’t dodge it!

  A golden triangle of light manifested in front of Ishin, stopping the attack. Ishin just stared, wide-eyed, at the technique that had saved his life.

  Who… who is this?

  The Vampire Ape’s claws pressed forward until cracks appeared throughout the triangle of light, spreading quickly. Ultimately, the beast pulled its arm back, with the technique shattering shortly afterward. Three metal coins fell to the ground as the shield dissolved.

  “Nice job, Six!” Lei cheered as he ran at the Vampire Ape.

  The beast reacted too slowly as Lei finally landed a clean punch, empowered by the Flowing Red Current technique, his knuckle’s spikes piercing its skull. The beast fell backwards, Lei falling with it.

  Once the two had collapsed onto the ground, Tan Chen ran forward and leapt into the air over the Vampire Ape. A cyclone formed around her arm and she slammed it directly into the spirit beast’s head. A final death roar escaped the monster as its skull crunched beneath the attack, already damaged from Lei’s punch.

  Blood splattered over Tan Chen’s face and arm, but it was over. She winced, examining her hand, and threw her head back in relief that the fight was over.

  She did it. She actually did it!

  Ishin watched as Tan Chen moved to help Lei, whose body had twisted violently from the fall, pull his knuckles out of the ape’s skull. Lei screamed as his hand was pulled back, and Ishin wouldn’t be surprised if his shoulder was dislodged or worse. Tan Chen too looked to be in pain, though Ishin didn’t know why.

  At least it’s over.

  “Sister Lan!” Wen Mei cried.

  Ishin looked towards Go Lan and to his horror found a Vampire Monkey with charred fur standing over her bloody corpse, its fangs deep within her throat.

  “Go Lan,” he mumbled.

  When did it… when did she?

  Ishin recalled what Rhee had told him. The last one ran off, like it was afraid.

  It came back. And we didn’t notice.

  Guilt filled Ishin.

  Damn. Damn!

  “Did that… kill Go Lan?” Tan Chen asked in horror.

  “No,” Lei gasped, barely managing to stay on his feet. “No!”

  The Vampire Monkey continued to feed off of Go Lan, uncaring of anything else.

  Wen Mei let out a scream as spikes of ice erupted across the ground until they impaled the Vampire Monkey—and Go Lan’s body along with it. The beast didn’t even have time to scream before it died under the violent ice technique.

  Such power.

  But it wasn’t without cost. Before Ishin’s eyes, Wen Mei collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

  He peered around at the battle’s aftermath. Rhee was still lying on the ground unmoving—dead or alive, Ishin didn’t know. Wen Mei was unconscious, while he and Lei were severely injured. Tan Chen seemed hurt too, and Wei Long looked exhausted, no doubt having used nearly all of his qi. Six was nowhere to be seen. Ishin didn’t know if he was hiding, fled, or dead.

  That light shield technique must have been his.

  Groaning, Ishin managed to his feet. His breathing was shallow and he felt lightheaded.

  We have to get out of here.