To outplay or be outplayed?

The woman was wearing a plain robe pink in colour with a light tone, seriousness and determination was written all over her face while water surrounded her body.

Swinging the fan horizontally, an energy wave of water shot towards the crocodile, the water wave splitted in the air into three individual spherical orbs as they surrounded the crocodile, forming a triangle which shot a jet wave of water upwards.

The crocodile showed no signs of panicking as it lowered its body, gathered energy and charged straight out of the water wall towards the woman who was interrupted from finishing her martial skill.

This demon beast had already awakened its wisdom and if Ace doesn't step in now, this woman would definitely lose her life.

Without any hesitation, Ace sent a sword wave infused with the frost and fire intent which caused an explosion, making use of this brief timing in which the crocodile loses its vision of them, Ace carried the woman and found cover in the forest as she stared at him in anger.

"Let me down." The woman was still staring at him in fury, but still maintained her calm and requested politely.

"I'm sorry, it's just that if I didn't intervene there, then you would have died to that demon beast." Ace explained apologetically while allowing the woman to stand on the ground by herself.

"Do you think that a demon beast of that caliber can be my match?" The woman smirked as she released her cultivation aura. "I was only suppressing my cultivation just in case I damage the demon core in the battle, or do you think that an expert in the Four Domains isn't a match for a Transcendent realm demon beast?"

"I'll repeat myself again, regardless of the situation that took place, it only happened because I attempted to save your life. If you're still confident about dealing with that demon beast, then you should go for it right now before it escapes." Ace said coldly before turning to leave, his eyes staring at the hidden hideout before his eyes.

Between the trees, he saw a glowing demon core for a moment. Without any hesitation, he walked past the gap between the trees without giving a regard to that woman.

He was right. He had found the hidden hideout by a stroke of luck. Using the system inventory in order to ensure that everything was collected, he found himself a comfortable spot to begin his absorption progress.

"Do you have any recovery elixirs?"

Ace had just closed his eyes, only to be interrupted at the moment he found the perfect mental state to cultivate. It wasn't difficult to start cultivating, but being able to enter the perfect mental state of cultivation wasn't as simple as wanting to.

"You should leave right now before I turn nasty." Ace shutted her off heartlessly, his eyes staring into hers with killing intent which made her back away.

The woman bit on her own lips, tears welling up in her eyes slightly, her body was quivering as she asked again, "Do you have any recovery elixirs?"

"I told you to get out of here!" Ace gave in to the slaughter law for once as he slashed towards the woman without holding back.

*Puchi*

The cut was deep into the shoulder of the woman as she allowed Ace's sword to cut her willingly. Blood was flowing profusely from her wound, but compared to the emotional pain of her heart, this physical pain was nothing.

"Why?" Ace couldn't help but question in concern. If the woman had retaliated, he would be the one injured and most likely dead, yet she lowered her defenses and watched as his sword cut through her flesh.

"Please, for someone of your cultivation and age to be here, you must be someone from a great background. I...I need that recovery elixir in order to save my grandfather. Or my family would be ruined by my uncle...I...I can do anything…" The woman begged with tears glistening in her eyes, her body was quivering in fear, her voice trapped in her throat.

"Anything?" Ace approached her and confirmed, his face only some distance away from her, their eyes met for a moment.

Her eyes are beautiful.

His eyes are mysterious.

Those were the first thoughts that came to their mind as the woman blushed slightly while turning away from Ace.

Forcing herself to give a reply, she nodded her head and looked towards the ground, afraid to raise her head up.

The woman looked at Ace, only to realise that he was laughing as he pulled back from her. For some reason, the woman felt disappointed by his actions as she pouted her cheeks and shouted.

"What the hell do you want from me? If you aren't lusting for my body, then just say it instead of fooling around with me!"

"I…"

"Shut up! All men like you always try to lie your way through such situations every single time! You guys are just perverts that always give in to your carnal desire!"

"You…"

"Can you at least give me some time to explain myself?" Ace interrupted in which stopped the woman from talking successfully as he heaved a sigh of relief.

"Fine, but if it's any weird request that you're making then I'll definitely kill you! But if you don't…" The woman blabbered on, only to notice that she had revealed her true intentions moments later as her face blushed a light crimson.

Even though Ace wanted to tease her for fun, he knew that his time was tight and that he should not be dallying any further.

"Alright, alright. All I want is for you to join my sect as an elder, not now, but in the future when you hear of the Nirvana sect." Ace explained as briefly as possible as he took out a token and passed it over to the woman.

"When you report to the Nirvana sect, show this token to the sect as a proof of identity. Don't do so immediately after I help you, but only years later when news of the Nirvana sect reaches your ears."

"Okay okay, if you don't trust me, why don't you follow me in leaving this place. If my father manages to recover and seize back control over his position as family head, I can ensure that the time you have wasted would be worth the repayment we gave. Are you up for it?"

"Of course."

As Ace agreed to leave the forest temporarily with that woman, the war was still going on and the Earth Striders had made their appearance amidst the chaos right when both sides were exhausted after a few hours of battling since the sun rose.

The Earth Striders had appeared in all four directions of the battlefield, bringing about chaos to the whole battlefield, especially the northern side of the battlefield.

"What the hell is this?"

"It's the Earth Striders from yesterday!"

"Spread out before they corner us again like yesterday!"

The human cultivators started to spread out, fear and panic overwhelming them as they crashed into one another, only those who had better awareness were able to keep distance from the others efficiently.

But this brief amount of timing was more than enough for the Earth Striders as they closed in on the cultivators, their gigantic body made of a jelly-like substance surrounding the cultivators slowly.

"Am I going to die here?" One of the cultivators who was trapped within the encirclement of the Earth Striders mumbled in fear, his grip on his axe tightening as he attempted to break out of this encirclement, only for his axe to shatter into pieces upon making contact with the Earth Striders.

Maybe this is the end for me...those were the last words that flashed by the mind of the cultivator as he closed his eyes and accepted his fate.

*Swoosh*

Ray, who had arrived on time, distracted the four Earth Striders that were surrounding the twenty or so cultivators by sending beams of rays towards the Earth Striders.

"Gowww!"

The worms reacted in anger and even though they weren't able to see, they were able to detect Ace's position as they lost their calm and dashed towards him in unison.

The other cultivators were staring at this in shock, their bodies rooted to the ground by fear and astonishment even though they wanted to help.

Am I still not dead yet? The cultivator who had accepted his fate opened his eyes, only to see a young man taking on all four of the Earth Striders alone.

Regaining his calm, the cultivator hurriedly shouted, "What the hell are all of you doing there? Can't you at least help him out by combining your attacks together?"

Ignoring the others, the cultivator then gathered spirit energy around his palm and struck towards the Earth Striders.

This was soon followed by another chain of attacks from the few who had the courage to stand out now.

"Black Star!"

"Sky Piercer!"

"Jet Ripper!"

Attacks after attacks crashed against the Earth Striders as their body dug into the ground for cover.

"Is the attack finally over?" The cultivator who had accepted his fate asked as he approached Ray, only to be forced away by a raising wall of light.

"Stay away from me, the second wave of attacks are coming soon." Arith warned before moving in the direction opposite to theirs, the same scene was going on everywhere as the ten leaders managed to gather all hundred Earth Striders around them.

The Earth Striders thought that they had won the battle as predators, yet what they do not know is that they were the prey to the human cultivators this time around.

"Gowww!"

"Die!"