Ashes Of Heaven Book 1 : Solar Calamity

Shen Kai stood stock still inside the woods, dumbfounded.

"Did the guy I was looking for just pass me by? Moreover, he said something along the lines of demonic cultivators chasing him?

"Wait a damn minute, where did these 'demonic cultivators' come from? I am the demonic cultivator here! How come I haven't received any news of my sect members coming here?

"Even more importantly, how the hell did that guy run so fast? With his cultivation base, it's impossible for him to be that fast...And his build looks different too. Were my ears deceiving me?"

Shen Kai fell deep in thought. But he didn't get the chance to sort out things out, because he noticed more figures running toward him from the depths of the woods.

Another familiar young man in tattered robes whizzed past him. Due to the distance between them being too wide, coupled with the obstruction of the flourishing flora, the running cultivator didn't notice Shen Kai standing there. He looked like he was running for his life as well.

Even though he had a mask on his face, Shen Kai recognized who it was at a glance.

Mu Ran!

Then the guy before definitely had to be Han Xuhan...

Following Mu Ran's trails, another figure ran by. Shen Kai wasn’t familiar with her, but judging by her frantic rush, she was running from something as well.

Who the hell was impersonating demonic cultivators and chasing these guys?

Shen Kai's curiosity was piqued. With his current cultivation base, there were few cultivators under the soul reformation realm who could catch him if he tried to escape. So he decided to take a look before hiding somewhere. Now that he had found Han Xuhan, it was hardly a problem for him to track that bastard down again. First, he needed to investigate this case of identity theft.

About half a minute after the girl's silhouette had vanished off inside the dense stretch of trees, Shen Kai saw movement in front of him again.

It was a team of three this time. All of them wore masks. It seemed like they were a part of the cultivators chasing the previous trio. They were constantly looking for trails on the soil and fallen leaves.

Shen Kai's eyes met their gazes and the three pursuers came to a halt. Shen Kai's body was now clearly emitting an aura of a cultivator at the late stages of the physique transformation realm. Even if they did not target him, he was still a huge threat.

Choosing to fish for information first, the leader of the trio called out to him politely.

"Fellow cultivator, have you seen three cultivators running past this area? "

"Yes," Shen Kai answered calmly.

"They ran that way." He pointed in a random direction. There were some trails left by the runners that would support his answer even if they were to investigate it closely.

"Thank you, fellow cultivator," the leader of the trio said as he headed that way immediately, giving Shen Kai a wide berth. His teammates followed his footsteps faultlessly.

Shen Kai vaguely sensed something odd about these three cultivators. But he couldn't detect what it exactly was.

However, there was one thing he was sure of. These guys were by no means a part of his sect, the only demonic sect that he knew of. Then what was up with that brat Xuhan's warning back then?

Were these three the impersonators he had warned him of?

Just as they were about to disappear from his sight by following the direction he had guided them to, Shen Kai sensed another team of masked cultivators rushing toward his position.

This was a team of four. All of them were considerably powerful, with most of their cultivation bases on the upper layers of the physique transformation realm. Seeing Shen Kai, they didn't become as nervous as their predecessors. Shen Kai's ears also picked up the rapid footsteps of the trio behind him quieting down. They must have stopped and crouched down behind the bushes not far away from his position...

A frown emerged on his face. Wasn't their teamwork a bit too great? The first team hadn't sent any information back to the team following behind them. Neither had the second team exchanged any information with their predecessors. Yet they could seamlessly prepare to ambush him from both directions?

Why does it feel like their target has shifted from Han Xuhan and his friends to me?

The four newcomers fanned out and cautiously approached him. Shen Kai didn't need to turn around to notice the qi fluctuations behind him from the hiding trio.

"Fellow cultivator, what is your identity?" One of the cultivators in front of him asked politely, probably hoping to distract him. Shen Kai laughed internally. The irony in the situation was rather striking. A bunch of kids posing as demonic cultivators trying to deceive a legitimate demonic cultivator...

Even if there were seven of them, they were too weak to hurt him!

"My name is Shen Kai, a cultivator from one of the small sects nearby," he answered, curious to see what these guys were up to.

But the moment the cultivators heard his name, an odd wave of uneasiness passed among them. Shen Kai felt his senses prickling.

Do they know my name...? That's impossible.

But in the next second, all seven cultivators attacked him simultaneously. Seven different techniques were executed with him as the target from all four directions. Dumbfounded, Shen Kai instantly took evasive measures. His body vanished from their sight temporarily while he dodged the spells flung toward him.

What happened to the whole ambush setup?

What prompted you all to attack me so indiscriminately? Shen Kai couldn't help but complain in his heart.

Thankfully, he had been careful enough to lock his senses on the trio who had launched the attacks from behind him. Otherwise, it would have been quite difficult to evade all the spells in time.

The confused cultivators saw their spells hitting nothing but thin air, completely missing the target. The moment the effects of the spells wore off, a dark shadow popped out from behind one of the four cultivators near his original position.

Before the cultivator could react, Shen Kai's hand hit the back of his head with the hilt of a dagger. The force behind the hit knocked him out instantly, making his body go limp in Shen Kai's arms.

Three more flashy spells whizzed toward Shen Kai while two silent spells were sent toward the ground and the sky. Shen Kai's shadowy figure had vanished by the time the first spells reached his position, but while he tried to appear behind another cultivator, he found the air around him suddenly becoming heavy as a rock and his feet refusing to leave the ground like a magnet stuck on a large metallic object.

Cursing silently, Shen Kai executed another technique and spread a disturbance among the qi fuelling the spells binding him. The attraction force of the ground loosened for half a second, and he took that chance to vanish off again. This time taking a defensive measure, he reappeared behind the cultivator he had knocked unconscious earlier and raised his body up as a shield. His dagger snaked toward the cultivator's neck and pressed on the skin there.

"If you don't want him to die, you should reconsider your stance. If I detect another spell activating, you'll be carrying his corpse back to your sect," Shen Kai said while backing up in a safer direction.

Heh, even demonic cultivators wouldn't lightly sacrifice their martial brother to win a battle. Every disciple of a legitimate demonic sect was carefully selected and nurtured. If any of them died because of their teammates, death would be the lightest punishment for them.

And more importantly, these guys were definitely not demonic cultivators. Shen Kai was sure that his threat would work wonders...

BANG!

A vicious spell hit the body he was holding squarely on the chest. The attacker had never intended to hit Shen Kai at all, evidently. The body of his hostage burst into ashes and disappeared, leaving a stunned Shen Kai open to all types of assault.

"What the fuck?! Which sect are you lot from?" Shen Kai yelled in shock. The spell had come the moment he had completed his threat. The attacker definitely knew the consequences. Yet they had casually killed their companion off...

The cultivators surrounding him showed zero emotions upon seeing their companion being reduced to nothingness. They didn't even wait for his ashes to fall on the ground and attacked Shen Kai crazily.

Roaring in indignation inside, Shen Kai decided to escape for now. These guys gave off an aura of absolute madness. They looked ready to sacrifice themselves if it meant they could capture him. They had abandoned all defense to attack him incessantly.

"Do I have some sort of past enmity with these bastards?" Shen Kai muttered to himself as he vanished off again and ran like the wind, leaving his reckless pursuers in the dust.

But hardly had he left the danger zone when another team, this time consisting of three considerably powerful cultivators, appeared in front of him.

His pursuers were too far away to even track his current position. And Shen Kai's curiosity was burning now. Dusting off the signs of battle from his attire, he approached the three cultivators cautiously.

Upon noticing him, they also stopped running and came to a stop, maintaining a considerable distance from him.

"Fellow-FUCK!!!"

Shen Kai didn't even get the chance to finish his sentence this time. The trio suddenly dropped all politeness and burst out with spell after spell.

Why is this happening? I didn't even say anything! I don't know them at all!

Attracted by the sound of battle, the cultivators who had lost Shen Kai's tracks came rushing over. It was now a one versus ten battle. Shen Kai was stronger than any of them, but he had zero chance of coming out of this unscathed if he prolonged the battle.

What made him feel the most misery was that his precious one-time escape technique had been used up during the battle last night against Han Xuhan. He couldn't just teleport away anymore...

Facing the pressure of ten cultivators charging at him simultaneously, Shen Kai felt all of his combat potential being squeezed out brutally. He couldn't waste a shred of a second, constantly changing positions, executing difficult techniques, racking his brain to come up with evasive measures one after one...

There were injuries all over his body after thirty seconds had passed. His mind had shut down all sorts of thinking other than trying to come up with ways to survive the next second. He bore the terrible physical pain and forced his aching, burning body to keep moving every time a new wound appeared on it.

More spells rained down on him. The teamwork of his opponents was incredible. Shen Kai had been cornered by now. Felling the shadow of death peeking at him, his body burst with one last splendor of sheer willpower.

Even if I die, I'll take down all of you damned hyenas with me! That was the cool verdict that rang through his dazed consciousness.

Shen Kai's body felt like it was about to fall apart, his mind a mess of unwillingness and fear. He didn't know how many more seconds he would live, but he chose to struggle till the end!

At this moment, the empty meridians inside his body suddenly pulsated, and the qi in the air surrounding the battlefield fell into chaos.