Ishin just stared as blood gushed from Wu Kai’s neck. Wu Kai fell to his knees and reached at his throat, trying desperately to stop the bleeding, but Ishin knew nothing could be done.

  “Everyone take cover,” Wei Long roared, as he swiftly drew, nocked, and loosed an arrow of his own in two seconds.

  As Ishin moved behind a nearby tree, he watched as Wei Long’s arrow became engulfed in fire as it soared into the trees. When it eventually struck something in the distance, the arrow erupted into a burst of flames. A scream followed the explosion, indicating that Wei Long had hit his mark.

  An archer and a fire cultivator.

  Ishin didn’t know which of Wei Long’s talents he was more impressed by.

  “Is he alive?” Tan Chen asked from her own position, prone against the ground.

  When Ishin looked, he saw that Wu Kai now lay on his side, his movements ceased.

  “I’ve got him,” Rhee said. Four shadow hands emerged and dragged Wu Kai’s body back towards Rhee’s own tree. From Wu Kai’s unresponsiveness during the act, there was no question that Wu Kai was dead.

  “Tan Chen,” Wei Long said as he ran behind a tree in the same direction that he loosed his arrow, a new arrow nocked on his bowstring, “come with me to make sure the archer is dead.”

  “He’s dead,” Rhee said, her voice trembling as she stared down at Wu Kai’s corpse.

  Tan Chen rose from her position. “I’m coming.” She briefly looked towards Rhee and Wu Kai’s corpse, a flicker of regret evident, then ran towards Wei Long’s position.

  “I’ll come too,” Lei declared, following.

  “Fine,” Wei Long barked back. “Let’s just hurry. And don’t wander out into the open.”

  “We’ll follow shortly,” Ishin announced before moving over to Rhee, who cradled Wu Kai’s head in her lap.

  “Be quick about it,” Tan Chen replied before following Wei Long deeper into the woods.

  Crouched beside Rhee and Wu Kai’s body, Ishin whispered, “We can’t stay here.”

  With watery eyes, Rhee looked up at him. “He’s dead. Just like that.” Her hands were stained red from her own futile attempts to stop the bleeding of a dead man.

  It’s the first time she’s seen a friend die in front of her.

  In truth, Ishin hadn’t watched a friend die in combat either, but he’d dealt with the grief of losing his mother and had experienced the stress of life-and-death battle more times than Rhee. From Wei Long’s and Tan Chen’s reaction, he was certain they had too. Lei was a strange case, but Ishin knew that he’d fought to the death at least once before, so it wasn’t too surprising. Of the five surviving members of their group, Rhee was the most sheltered.

  “It’s unfortunate, but it’s too late to do anything. We have to survive.”

  Remarkably, Rhee nodded and removed their fallen ally’s head from her lap. She wiped away her last tears with her sleeve. Sniffling, she stood up. “Let’s go.”

  She never ceases to surprise me.

  The two darted forward into the trees and came across the others before long. Wei Long knelt over a body covered in black burn marks and scorched black-and-red robes. Tan Chen hid behind a tree a few feet away, evidently surveying the direction for other possible threats. Lei, in turn, stood proudly behind Wei Long, smiling as the others approached.

  “There you are!”

  “Quiet,” Wei Long hissed. He patted down the dead man’s sides, ignoring the assailant’s darkwood bow that had fallen to the ground.

  “Is that who killed Wu Kai?” Rhee asked, moving closer.

  Ishin followed her and saw that the dead man, behind the burn marks, looked gaunt, almost starved. It may have been a byproduct of Wei Long’s fire technique, but his skin was cracked and dry too, his hair brittle and straw-like.

  What happened to him?

  “Only this was on him,” Wei Long reported, revealing three silver taels. “And those.” He indicated a moldy quiver containing only five arrows.

  Wei Long grabbed the quiver and withdrew the arrows, depositing them into his own. “Anyone else good with a bow?”

  “No,” Ishin confessed.

  “Same,” Rhee answered. “That’s all he had?”

  Wei Long slipped the taels into his pocket. “Apparently so.” Next, he touched the black, charred arrow protruding from the dead man. It immediately disintegrated into ash, leaving only a dark hole in its victim’s torso.

  “He looks ill,” Rhee said. “Not what I expected.”

  “What does it matter?” Wei Long retorted, standing. “He’s dead. Wu Kai is dead. We’re not.”

  Ishin disagreed with Wei Long.

  What brought him to this point?

  More importantly, despite the archer’s destitute state, he’d still managed to fell Wu Kai with a single attack.

  Strong but dying.

  A howling shriek rippled through the surrounding trees, emanating from the direction that Tan Chen watched. It wasn’t a singular shriek either, but a chorus of high-pitched howls that sent a shiver of fear down Ishin’s spine.

  “What is that?” Rhee asked, her face growing pale as she looked towards the source.

  “Danger,” Ishin grimaced, tightening his grip on his spear. He set his water skin down, freeing his hand for the danger that approached.

  “A real challenge,” Lei grinned.

  “Tan Chen!” Wei Long barked, his bow aimed towards the continuous primal howls, “get back!”

  Tan Chen immediately leaped back, carried by a burst of wind that brought her beside Wei Long.

  The leaves and branches of the trees ahead began to shake and tremble, foretelling the approaching threat. Ishin assumed the second spear stance, ready for battle.

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  Here they come.

  A beast covered in dark fur leaped from the tree overhead. The size of a small man, the exposed flesh around its face was a sickly green color. It bared a series of sharp, massive fangs as it moved through the air towards the group of cultivators, its tail swinging behind in excitement.

  It’s a monkey!

  Ishin raised his spear, prepared to stab the descending beast. The demonic-looking monkey howled as it approached from above.

  Then a flaming arrow shot into its chest before bursting into a whirlwind of fire. The monkey fell to the floor, shrieking in pain as the flames engulfed it. Not waiting to see if Wei Long’s technique was sufficient, Ishin lunged at the beast and stabbed down at its heart. A death cry escaped the monster as its life faded.

  Ishin yanked his spear out of the beast before it was damaged by the fire.

  “Swift thinking,” Wei Long complimented.

  “You too.”

  Any respite was ended when new shrieks came from up ahead.

  There are more?

  There were. Five more monstrous monkeys emerged from the trees, each moving with the same ferocity as the first.

  Ishin immediately shifted to the seventh spear stance. Standing up front, he expected to fight multiple beasts at once.

  “Don’t take them all!” Lei laughed.

  Ishin watched, stunned, as his friend sprinted forward with the unnatural speed of his Red Flow Current technique.

  Lei jumped into the air and punched the nearest monkey with his steel-tipped knuckles. The monkey’s chest was ripped open as Lei’s attack collided. The two fell to the ground, but there was no time to observe their battle as the other four monkeys continued their charge.

  That damn fool.

  Three of the monkeys descended upon Ishin. He thrust up at the nearest, his spear piercing through the beast’s mouth. A second was struck by two fists of darkness, saving Ishin. Another flaming arrow took the third, engulfing it in the same burst of fire that Ishin had seen before.

  Twisting his spear, Ishin was shocked to see that the impaled beast was still alive. Its green hands clawed at the spear as it continued to squirm towards Ishin.

  It’s not dead?

  Worse, the beast was heavy. Even after cycling qi to his arms, the beast’s weight was too much.

  It must weigh two hundred pounds at least.

  Ishin was forced to shove the creature off his spear. The beast howled once free, but before it could try attacking again, Ishin ran his spear through its exposed heart. Screaming in pain, the monkey made one final effort to fight back before falling limply to the ground.

  Ishin was left panting from exertion as a second monkey collided into him, knocking him to the ground. An ear-piercing howl escaped the beast as it tried to bite him. Luckily, Ishin managed to bring up his spear in time to hold the monkey back, but he was still helpless, pressed against the ground. This one smelled of burnt fur and flesh, and Ishin saw a dark, charred arrow extending from its left side.

  It’s so strong.

  The beast continued to press forward, and despite his best efforts, Ishin realized he was going to be overpowered soon. The entire time, the monkey continued to bite forth, its fangs nearly reaching Ishin’s face.

  Then Tan Chen appeared beside the beast and struck it in the side with her fist. A violent gust of wind blasted the monkey off of Ishin, causing it to roll across the leaf-covered floor.

  “Are you alright?” Tan Chen asked.

  “Fine,” Ishin replied as he scrambled to his feet.

  The monkey had recovered too and charged at the two.

  I have to stab its heart.

  When the monkey was half a dozen feet away, an arrow struck its eye, causing it to stumble and fall while it screamed.

  Now.

  Ishin advanced upon the beast and his spear found its heart, despite the beast’s thrashing. He brought his spear down upon it twice to ensure that it was dead, only feeling relieved once the monkey’s thrashing stopped.

  “Help!”

  Lei!

  Ishin turned and saw that two monkeys were assaulting Lei. Unbelievably, one was the monkey he’d first struck. His fist was still partially through the beast, but it didn’t seem to care. Fist still impaled inside, the monkey had bitten into Lei’s exposed arm and was latched there, a steady stream of blood flowing from the wound.

  A different monkey, the one that hadn’t been engaged earlier, had seemingly remained behind to attack Lei too. It had bitten into Lei’s left shoulder and was using its weight to pin him against the floor.

  Lei swung his left fist into the top monkey’s head, his knuckles piercing through its skull. Instead of falling off dead like Ishin expected, the monkey remained latched onto Lei. His friend grimaced in pain as the monkey appeared to suck something.

  “Aah!”

  Lei pulled back his fist and prepared to attack again, but the monkey slammed its fur-clad hand upon Lei’s arm, trapping it in place. It continued to suck, and Ishin noticed that its wounds were starting to heal.

  It’s drinking his blood!

  The fight started to fade from Lei as both monkeys continued to drain him. Ishin pointed two fingers at the one drinking from Lei’s shoulder. A spark of indigo lightning formed and launched forward, striking the beast’s neck. The monkey was blasted off of Lei as it trembled on the ground.

  “Die!”

  That time, it was Rhee. Ishin turned and saw that she was swinging a conjured rod of darkness repeatedly onto the head of her own monkey spirit beast, blood splattering with each strike.

  Seeing she was fine, Ishin ran over to support Lei. Tan Chen followed in pursuit. “Take the far one,” he shouted.

  “Got it!”

  Using a wind-based movement technique, Tan Chen burst forth towards her target. Trusting her, Ishin advanced upon the one still impaled on Lei’s fist. He thrust his spear through the beast’s skull, causing its jaw to fall open. Ishin pressed forward, driving it off Lei’s arm. For good measure, he stabbed down on the beast’s heart, not taking any chances.

  “Tan Chen!” he called out.

  Ishin spun and saw the blue-haired martial artist slam two consecutive wind-powered punches into the beast’s chest, knocking it up into the air.

  “Almost done!”

  As it fell downwards, shrieking, she whirled a kick upon it, sending it flying into a tree so hard that the bark broke. The beast fell to the ground, spasming in pain, but not dead.

  “These things,” Tan Chen said in between heavy breaths, “don’t die… easily.”

  “Their heart,” Ishin yelled. “Destroy their heart!”

  Tan Chen brought her hands back up as she watched the injured monkey rise. “Heart. Got it.”

  Before the monkey had a chance to run at her, a flaming arrow pierced its heart before bursting into flames. Unlike before, only the arrow exploded. It was a more controlled attack, but proved sufficient, as the monkey fell down dead.

  Tan Chen and Ishin looked to find Wei Long falling to his knees. His face was covered in sweat and his breath ragged.

  “I think that’s the last of them.”

  Surveying the area, Ishin saw that he was right. Rhee had finished beating her monkey to death, her robes sprinkled with specks of blood.

  Lei!

  Ishin ran towards his bleeding friend. Lei looked bad. His body was drenched in sweat, his muscles trembled, his skin was pale, and blood was flowing from his left shoulder and right arm.

  “He needs help,” Ishin cried. “Does anyone have bandages or medicine or anything?”

  “I have bandages,” Tan Chen answered, pulling out a roll of gauze from within her robes as she ran over. “He’ll need more than that though.”

  I know.

  Tan Chen quickly began wrapping the gauze around Lei’s wounds as Ishin watched on helplessly.

  “Give him this,” Rhee said, now coming over. She conjured a water skin from within one of her storage rings and threw it to Ishin.

  Uncorking the top, Ishin could smell the herbal concoction from within. It was definitely more potent than the recovery remedies he had used while training. He just hoped it would be enough to help Lei.

  “We can’t drop our guard,” Wei Long chastised, although he looked ragged himself. “Zhu Rhee, watch that end, I’ll watch this side.”

  “Understood.”

  Ishin tilted up Lei’s head and brought the skin to his lips. “Drink this, Lei. It’ll help you.”

  Lei groaned but parted his lips and began to slowly drink. Tan Chen finished applying the gauze and then brushed away strands of her blue hair that fell across her eyes.

  “Will he be alright?”

  Ishin continued to watch Lei drink the herbal liquid. “I don’t know.”