Ambush Mid Battle (2)

Though irked by Shui's taunt, the old man allowed the rest of the group to make the first move while he oversaw Shui's three subdued teammates. Trin's guardian had also been killed, so there was concern that his power would be necessary to suppress Shui, but even for revenge, it would wound his pride if he allowed himself to attack a junior in the Soul Realm. Furthermore, like many others in his clan, he believed that Shui received help from an expert to deal with the guardian, which was part of the reason why he was lured to Malirin Forest.

Evolved beasts were particularly sensitive to threats much stronger than them, so it was hard for experts like him to hide in the forest since the fleeing of evolved beasts would give their presence away. Still, despite knowing this information, he wasn't suspicious of why Shui's team hadn't been attacked by any evolved beasts, even though the elder group had ensured to stay hidden until Gilse activated his artifact. However, he would realize his mistake soon enough.

As they charged at him, the elders removed their coats and bared their bulging muscles like the old man. Similar to Rodney and Lionel, those of the Gus clan had red boar tattoos, which added a crimson lustre to their bodies, while those of the Wailings clan wrapped themselves in the projections of demons with multiple limbs and heads. Normally this would be an extremely excessive use of force against a junior, but not only had Shui humiliated their clans, he had even taunted them, so they had no reservations.

As for Shui, he decided to make the most of this battle by giving himself a handicap so that they didn't notice his true strength. 

"Water should be enough for this."

With his icy blade aimed at the incoming threats, the rot hyena blood that was scattered on the ground rose into the air as individual tiny droplets. When the elders noticed this movement, they didn't think much of it at first, but that changed once they saw the droplets gathering into seven huge swords, each as tall as one of them. They tried to interfere with the spell, but it was almost over by the time they saw it as a threat.

"Giant Blade Rain."

Borrowing from the spell an assassin from the Tower of Killers had once used against him, the seven giant swords fell towards the elders in an instant. All of the elders managed to escape the initial impact with minor injuries, but the deflected shards of blood from the blades didn't simply dissolve into the ground. They surrounded the elders and made a red crystalline dome around them.

"Blood Cage, into Frozen Prison."

The inside of the dome rapidly lost temperature as chains made of frozen blood forced the elders in place. If it were normal ice, then the elders could have easily shook it off, but despite being ready to attack at full force, they had been too confident in their body's defence and allowed the spells to make contact with their flesh. During the first strike, some of the blood had seeped into their skin and was now weakening them from the inside, while the frozen blood slowly did the same. With enough time, a mere thought would be enough to finish them off, but as Shui expected, the old man didn't wait that long.

"Shameful!"

Along with his powerful shout, a shockwave exploded from the old man that demolished Shui's spells and continued towards him. Shui immediately used the barrier spell, but several cracks were still left in the aftermath. Despite being in the Soul Realm, Shui's barrier could defend against attacks from Earth Realm cultivators, but in the end, the power of a Sky Realm expert was still far above its limit. 

After freeing the elders, the old man continued berating them.

"How could you let yourselves be toyed with by a mere junior?! Let it happen again, and I'll take your heads myself!"

"Yes, Grand Elder!"

Shui readied himself for the second round, but then he noticed a few of the elders from the Wailings clan approaching his teammates and placing blades at their necks. Shui could see genuine fear in his teammates' eyes, yet that did nothing to stop his laughter.

"Hahaha! Should I praise you esteemed elders for stooping so low?!"

Perhaps acknowledging their shamelessness, the elders didn't respond, nor did the old man say anything. Shui considered abandoning his teammates, but he didn't feel that this was the right time, so he allowed the elders to threaten him. The blades would inch closer anytime he tried to make an attack, so he settled on evading while keeping an eye out for an opportunity. If they tried to threaten him into staying still, he would choose to abandon the hostages, so they were irritatingly accurate with how far they could go. 

The elders engaged him at close range, but as Shui was superior to these elders in both skill and reflexes, he had no trouble reacting to their attacks. It might have been dangerous if they were capable of working together, but they appeared to be too confident in their might to join hands. Shui allowed them to scrape the edges of his clothes at times, but not a single clean hit connected. Perhaps they would have more success if they started using spells, but as both clans practiced body refinement as their central arts, fighting with their bodies was a matter of pride.

As the battle was beginning to follow Shui's script, the old man interfered once again.

"Fools! If you can't attack together, then block his escape and face him with a smaller number."

"Yes, Grand Elder!"

Following the old man's words, the elders backed off, and the majority surrounded Shui in the shape of a circle, while two from the Wailings clan and two from the Gus clan stayed in the circle along with him. He could sense that they were using intent communication, so that was likely how they decided on what roles to take. For a lone warrior like him, facing this bunch with a commander would be several times harder than facing them all at once, so if possible, he wanted to get rid of the old man first, but even he would require some mental preparation to make an attack that powerful.

"Can't be helped. I'll add Wind to the mix."

Before the elders recommenced their attack, Shui threw his ice sword into the air and then made it explode into steam. The thick steam flooded the dome faster than the elders could restrain it. At first, they sneered at it as a futile attempt to hide, but they soon realised that their spiritual sense was facing interference. 

"It's not just steam! It's a spell!"

Some of them tried to use wind spells, but in a sealed space like this, it only had a limited effect, and Shui had the strongest control over the wind inside the dome, so their attempts were fruitless. Learning from their previous error, the elders activated their barriers as they waited for Shui's presence, unaware of Shui's intention until after he had made his move.

"The hostages! They're gone!"

"They can't escape! Find them!"

After rescuing his teammates, Shui tried to push them out of the dome, but he found the yarn to be immobile, unlike when they entered. It was no surprise that the dome of yarn became a prison, but he hadn't expected Gilse to abandon the rest of the team. By using his Sage God Eyes, he could tell that only one elder was next to Gilse outside the dome, but whether he was being threatened or genuinely cooperating, Shui wasn't sure.

The dome wasn't impossible for him to destroy, but the enemy wasn't the only one who could take advantage of it. As he had already knocked out his teammates so that they didn't scream or struggle, he hid them under a sheet with 'Conceal' inscribed and then rejoined the battle.