Almost immediately, Ma Rong regretted not having gone for the head. He had subconsciously classified the woman as a weaker opponent while the majority of his attention had still been caught up in the mental battle. Now he wouldn't get a chance like this again.

With the standoff broken, the other enemies acted immediately. Ma Rong tilted sideways to dodge a sharp blade of wind aimed for his throat before immediately jumping several meters into the air, just barely escaping several dozen earthen spikes that shot out of the ground to impale him.

Before he even touched the floor again, the other water cultivator was right before him, his spear already thrust forward. At the last second, a newly growing branch shot out of the nearest tree, intercepting the strike. The spear lodged itself deep inside the wood, the tip of its head poking out of the other side and stopping just centimeters before Ma Rong's face. A small part at the back of his mind wondered when he had become so slow that he hadn't been able to stop this strike earlier, while he retaliated with a kick to the attacker's stomach, flinging him and his spear in different directions.

Another dozen spikes greeted him on the ground, but this time hundreds of thin roots shot up from the ground with them, wrapping them up and stopping their assault before it could begin. As that was still going on, another flex of Ma Rong's soul had hundreds upon hundreds of leaves shoot towards each of his enemies from the treetops, all sharpened like razorblades under his will.

The sounds as they cut through the air briefly turned into a true concert of whistling noises before they were drowned out by the howling of a whirlwind that the wind cultivator conjured up in defense. Most of the leaves were blown far off course before ever coming close to their targets, but Ma Rong was far from finished. The roots he had used to stop the spikes joined up into thicker strands and grew nasty spikes, even as they already lashed out at his enemies.

The earth cultivator used stone pillars to defend him and his allies, but he could barely raise them as fast as Ma Rong's attacks would tear through them. The water cultivator was still trying to recover the spear she had let go off earlier and the wind cultivator struggled to maintain the whirlwind that kept them all from being torn to shreds by the storm of leaves that were still being thrown at them. With more and more roots shooting out of the floor, Ma Rong had them on the back foot.

Unfortunately, this was when Xiyu Zhai decided to rejoin the fight. Having recovered alarmingly quickly for someone who had just tanked an arm-thick root with the force of a charging boar, she joined the earth cultivator in defending against the roots, chopping them apart with her sword. Ma Rong tried to keep up the pressure, but equilibrium was restored.

Before he could change up his tactics, the other water cultivator got ahold of his spear and came back to help out his allies. He had apparently taken some time to think because instead of trying to use the water from the plants again, he drew it from the damp forest floor, then started bombarding Ma Rong with concentrated bursts of it.

Forced to defend himself, Ma Rong couldn't keep up his assault anymore. He used some of the roots to shield himself while letting others slip from his control. The others, of course, didn't forego this chance to renew their own assault. He barely managed to duck as a rock the size of his torso implanted itself into the tree behind him with a sickening crunch where his head had been fractions of a second ago.

Half a dozen of his remaining roots were cleanly cut apart defending him from a highly pressured stream of water before he could jump away, only to be almost caught by a nigh-invisible blade of wind that his overexerted soul sense had failed to pick up on. He was used to using it for highly precise observation of his alchemic substances, not for keeping track of a dozen or two highspeed projectiles.

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

As Ma Rong dodged and weaved through the chaotic storm of attacks aimed for him, he scolded himself. He had gotten lost in a mindless contest of strength and squandered the small window of opportunity he had had to push his advantage.

He needed to change his approach. In the short amount of time they had been fighting, they had already shredded most of the surrounding vegetation, so Ma Rong retreated back into the forest while keeping up his defense. His foes pursued him as fast as they could, but Ma Rong had a natural advantage when it came to moving through the forest, so their attacks grew somewhat less frequent, giving him some space to breathe and think.

This situation was bad, but it wasn't as hopeless as it might seem from the outside. He hadn't sustained any injuries yet and his enemies were exhausting themselves just as much as he was. More importantly, he still had an ace up his sleeve, or rather: in his spatial ring. He just needed to find an angle to apply it from. For that, he first needed to get rid of the wind cultivator.

Easier said than done. She might be the weakest of the four, but they were acting well-coordinated, covering each other's weaknesses and playing to their strengths. Earlier he had managed to partly separate them; if he could manage that again, he might have a chance.

Ma Rong started to attack again, while still keeping up his retreat. Roots and vines struck out from unexpected angles, leaves and grass shot out at opportune moments and branches came swinging from above as his foes followed him through the thicket. He didn't actually hope to catch them like this but was rather trying to observe how they reacted.

Now that he paid attention to it, their defensive pattern was quite distinctive: lighter attacks like the leaves were taken care off by the wind cultivator, who could easily deflect them in the air. Heavy attacks like branches and thick roots were almost exclusively blocked by the earth cultivator who would raise walls or slap them away with thrown rocks. Meanwhile, the two water cultivators continued to focus on attacking. They had comparatively little of their element on hand, which made it hard to use defensively.

A plan began to form in Ma Rong's mind. He didn't need to separate all of his enemies; he just needed to separate one of them. He abruptly stopped and turned, redoubling his attacks. This time, he focused entirely on the lighter attacks that kept the wind cultivator busy while relying on his senses to dodge the others' somewhat slower attacks. He strained his body, senses and concentration to their absolute limits as he danced around the whistling projectiles cutting through the air around him.

When Xiyu Zhai dashed forward to catch him in close range, he immediately disengaged and started retreating again, only to turn and fight again moments later. As this pattern repeated twice more, Ma Rong could feel himself rapidly getting tired. Then, his enemies changed their approach.

This time both Xiyu Zhai and the other water cultivator dashed by him sideways to cut off his retreat while the earth cultivator came directly for him. Now the only way Ma Rong could retreat was upwards which, if he had to guess, was probably what they wanted. If they could drive him out of the forest, he'd be pretty defenseless.

That didn't matter though because right now, they were doing exactly what he wanted. Instead of trying to retreat, Ma Rong faced the earth cultivator. He had discarded his spear, instead surrounding his arms in a thick layer of stone like a second armor that he used to clobber Ma Rong's attacks away.

For a short moment they fought on equal ground, but then one of Xiyu Zhai's projectiles caught Ma Rong off guard. He managed to sidestep it, but staggered slightly, which the earth cultivator recognized as his chance. He catapulted himself forward in a mighty punch aimed for Ma Rong's shoulder.

He was fast, but not fast enough. Ma Rong had already caught himself and was ready to jump away… Only at this very moment, his age suddenly caught up to him.

Ma Rong felt a jarring disconnect as his mind willed his body to move but his knees simply refused to comply. It was just a single moment of weakness, but that single moment was enough. He could see the attack that was going to hit him as time seemed to slow into a crawl, but he couldn't do anything about it.

Then the hit connected.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.