Su Feng kept his eyes open, watching impassively as the sword descended toward his head. However, to everyone's surprise, the weapon stopped dead in its tracks.
The assassin in black shuddered; a strange layer of ice crystals had suddenly surrounded Su Feng, forming a barrier resilient enough to repel an attack from the Early Foundation Establishment realm.
"It seems a group of insects dares to attack my brothers," a frigid voice echoed.
The men in black robes looked up in unison. A young man dressed in white was descending from the sky, wielding a sword with elegance.
"Brother Wu!" Su Feng exclaimed, letting out a sigh of relief at his arrival.
Without a word, Wu Huang extended his hand. A small reddish sphere materialized in his palm and shot out at blinding speed.
"Dodge!" one of the aggressors shouted.
But it was too late. The sphere reached the man attacking Su Feng before he could react. Upon contact, a piercing pain surged through him as he was sent flying a dozen meters. Suddenly, the sphere expanded with violent force, engulfing his body. A blinding explosion flooded the area, and when the light dissipated, only the attacker's mangled corpse remained.
"Mid-Foundation Establishment!" one of them screamed in horror.
Seeing one of their own eliminated with such ease, the remaining four realized they were no match for him in a one-on-one duel. Without hesitation, they launched a coordinated attack.
Wu Huang, imperturbable, raised his sword. Two men appeared behind him brandishing their weapons, but a layer of ice crystals immediately emerged to protect him.
"What is this?" one of them asked, confused by such a mysterious technique.
"Su Feng, protect Lin Xian," Wu Huang ordered as countless ice fragments swirled around him.
The crystals acted as autonomous guardians: every time an enemy blade approached, they intercepted its path. Wu Huang, aware that he could not manually block so many simultaneous attacks, relied on his absolute defense to concentrate on a single opponent.
"Stop ignoring me!" one of the men roared, charging forward.
Sensing the threat, Wu Huang spun on his heels and twelve ice crystals fused in front of him. The enemy's sword, now wrapped in an ominous aura, struck with devastating force, piercing through nine of the twelve crystals.
"So, you are from the Faceless Demon Sect..." Wu Huang murmured, recognizing the technique.
"Idiot! I told you not to use the sect's techniques!" the leader rebuked, furious at being discovered.
Until now, even if half of their members died, they could afford to escape without fear of the sect's punishment, as long as their identities remained hidden. However, now that a disciple from a high-level sect had uncovered them, it would be impossible to elude the consequences.
"If we kill them all, no one will know!" the attacker shouted, intensifying the dark aura on his weapon.
The others clicked their tongues and, resigned, imitated their companion's gesture, imbuing their swords with malignant energy. Wu Huang felt a chill run down his spine. That ominous aura was capable of piercing his Mid-level defense; a single direct touch to his body could prove fatal.
"If you truly belong to the Faceless Demon Sect, that must be the Desolation Technique," he muttered to himself, trying to recall a weakness. However, being a high-level technique, its flaws were minimal and extremely difficult to exploit.
Wu Huang clicked his tongue, realizing he could only fight fire with fire. Immediately, he mobilized a massive amount of his spiritual energy; around him, the ice crystals transformed into countless sharp frost stakes.
With a weary sigh, his eyes flashed with determination. The assassins aimed their swords, charged with the aura of desolation, directly at him.
"Go," Wu Huang ordered coldly while pointing at his enemies.
Instantly, the rain of stakes lunged forward. The men in black also charged, dodging as best they could while the ice projectiles devastated the terrain around them, leaving the ground in tatters.
"Argh!" one of them screamed as a stake drove into his shoulder. That brief moment of hesitation was his end: a second and third stake pierced through him, reaping his life in a heartbeat.
Ignoring their fallen comrade, the remaining men rushed Wu Huang. The leader reached him and launched a descending slash with his desolation-imbued sword. The man in black smiled, savoring a victory he believed was certain, but then something unexpected happened.
Wu Huang's robe tore, revealing a piece of armor on his forearm that gave off a radiant golden glow.
The enemy sword was violently repelled. In that same second, the golden aura manifested as a beam of pure energy that slammed into the attacker's chest. He crossed his arms desperately, concentrating all his spiritual energy to defend himself, but the golden power was relentless: it tore through his limbs and pierced his torso with overwhelming force.
"How...?" he managed to ask before collapsing, lifeless, onto the ground.
Wu Huang wiped the sweat from his forehead, breathing with difficulty.
"It's Earth-Grade Armor, you idiot," he stated while looking for the last opponent. "It seems he fled," he murmured, noticing the void.
The last survivor had escaped by taking advantage of the chaos. Knowing the escape techniques of those bastards, it would be impossible to track him once he hid in the shadows.
"I don't have any spiritual energy left either," Wu Huang admitted in a low voice. He had gambled everything on the armor protecting him if they managed to break through his initial attack.
His intention was never to annihilate them with the ice crystals alone; that would have been too optimistic. His true plan was to force them to attack his body directly to activate the counterattack of his defensive treasure.
"Luckily, they are specialists in agility and not endurance. If they had possessed defensive treasures of their own, this would have been a disaster," he murmured as he descended to the ground, his legs trembling from exhaustion.
"Brother Wu!" Su Feng shouted, running toward him to catch him before he fell. "Are you okay?"
"Yes... I just need a Qi Gathering Pill and some rest," Wu Huang replied, letting himself drop heavily onto the grass to begin his recovery.
While Wu Huang recovered, Su Feng immediately headed toward the corpses of the men in black. With quick movements, he collected their storage rings, though he did not dare inspect them; he knew they might contain protective seals to block perception or hidden traps designed to punish the curious.
An hour later, Wu Huang opened his eyes. Color had returned to his face, and he had recovered enough to speak. He stared fixedly at his companion and, in a tone that brooked no argument, demanded:
"Now, explain to me what the hell happened."