Lai Yiteng was OP

Chen Yuwen seemed outright intrigued by Lai Yiteng's change in behavior. He paused and ultimately did not put the flute back up to his lips. He seemed to be waiting.

For what, Xian Wu didn't know. But he feared that once again, someone he cared about would die while he was close by.

"Hey, ummm, Yi'er," he called. "Do you feel any better now or not? I suggest you go to a place where the sound of the demon-swaying flute won't reach. I can handle things here. Alright?"

Lai Yiteng gave no response, not seeming to listen to any of what Xian Wu said. His appearance was still unnatural, monstrous, and he charged at Chen Yuwen without a word of warning. One's line of thinking would surely be that he'd gone insane from shoddy flute playing, if not for the fact that his footsteps were extremely nimble and evasion to the eye.

Perhaps his mind had turned muddled, but his body exploded with strength that it did not possess before.

It was as though Lai Yiteng committed the movements and martial techniques that Xian Wu had merely shown him once as a demonstration to heart and combined them with several of those from Lotus Sect, making his path of attack difficult to predict.

The amount of threat he presented spiked.

Even Chen Yuwen showed mild surprise at the onslaught of movements, he pulled back his sword, narrowly avoiding several blows from Xian Wu, then retreated back several paces before Lai Yiteng could reach him. Once again he disappeared with a jump into the upper reaches of the forest canopy, way up high in cedars and pine trees.

Xian Wu swore. He mustered his strength and went to the nearest tree he'd disappeared at. It was the poison from the blade before weakening him, making it so he couldn't stop Chen Yuwen from sneaking away.

But Chen Yuwen's voice spoke not soon after.

"Interesting," he said measuredly. "How does the power feel, Lai Yiteng? Is it easy to control?"

Lai Yiteng had been watching above the trees, too, searching for that person he'd thought of destroying. Now he heard what seemed to be a disembodied voice.

His mind was riddled with pain and confusion, and most of all bloodlust. He gave a low growl of annoyance, his eyes flaring sharply in the direction of the voice.

"What is wrong with this forest?" he snapped with increasing anger. "Why is it talking to me? Damn these trees, plotting and scheming. What are they planning to do to me?!"

He lifted his palm and smacked it against the nearest wide trunk. His internal force flared as the large tree cracked down the middle.

The tree creaked and fell as though screaming.

"So what if the world is against me," he said wildly. "Then I'll fucking destroy it all!"

Two more trees fell into ruin.

Xian Wu who'd been watching with increasing concern that neared panic could only think one thing—absolutely delusional! Lai Yiteng right now was like he'd had his earlier paranoia enhanced by 300%. Not only was he talking to trees, but attacking them.

They were just some harmless trees!

But while Lai Yiteng might be completely delusional, thinking trees were his enemies and plotting against him, he'd still managed to pinpoint the voice of Chen Yuwen well enough to knock over the tree he was in during his rampage.

Xian Wu saw him falling, body twisting to land properly, and grabbed at the opportunity.

He shot forward with his saber and struck at Chen Yuwen right before he landed on the ground.

A brief evasion, but a cut was left on Chen Yuwen's pale arm.

In the next second Xian Wu saw his surroundings spin and wobble, he was about to fall over. The inside of his head could only swear without stop. He'd given the enemy an opportunity to finish him, all because he'd impatiently took the chance to attack even when he knew that the poison was making him sluggish and weak.

"A pity that you'd die so easily," said Chen Yuwen. He ruthlessly plunged his sword at Xian Wu's heart.

Xian Wu blinked his eyes closed, trying to think of a way to escape a fatal wound.

Even within the heat of battle, however, much can change in the blink of an eye.

When he opened them again, Lai Yiteng was standing directly next to Chen Yuwen. His eyes were shining silver and feral under the moon, red and purple with veins. His expression was pulled taut with hate and endless delusions.

Xian Would stared at the sword tip a few inches away from ending him and had a hard time processing the turn of events.

Chen Yuwen's arm was grabbed at the wrist, surprise on his face, and the sword that was going towards Xian Wu's heart dropped onto the ground dully.

Then there was a loud cracking sound, then splintering, as Lai Yiteng's hold on Chen Yuwen's arm tightened and broke his wrist bones. His long black nails dug into his robe and the skin underneath, letting Chen Yuwen's arm go bloody on top of broken.

"You—" Chen Yuwen murmured with his lopsided grin, "have much more potential than I thought."

After all, Chen Yuwen and Xian Wu were both highly skilled martial arts masters, Lai Yiteng's speed had increased to that which even they could not keep up with nor predict.

But Chen Yuwen still needed to preserve his arm.

He took out a set of needles, about to stab them into the hand Lai Yiteng kept gripped on his wrist.

No! Xian Wu sucked in a breath before lunging over once more, striking the needles away as best as he could. Still, he succeeded, and the stalemate continued afterwards.

Lai Yiteng began to shout something that was entirely irrelevant at Chen Yuwen.

"Stop playing that flute! Or else I will make it so you can't."

Or maybe it wasn't that irrelevant, but Lai Yiteng did not even give him a chance to reply before sending out a punishing attack. He lifted blazing palm of purple and white, it exploded at Chen Yuwen's arm as the man's body disappeared from the air.

Chen Yuwen slammed into the ground, giving slight groan from his lips.

Being grappled by the wrist had turned him helpless, especially with Xian Wu nearby. One could almost call it fortunate that Lai Yiteng's martial technique hadn't killed him since it'd been aimed at his arm.

And yet something had been paid as a price for that. Chen Yuwen stood slowly, having flown quite far from the blow. His arm, however, and that long and exquisite purple sleeve of his, hadn't made the journey with him. Fresh blood trickled onto shadowy ferns.

His arm was missing from the elbow down.

There was only a gory stump with white bone poking out.

Lai Yiteng sneered at the dismembered arm in his grasp. It was limp, separated from the body it came from, and made him satisfied to some degree. He dropped the arm, the sword of Chen Yuwen's alongside it on the ground, and then placed his foot over it to crush it more.

The arm made a squishy pulverized sound.

Xian Wu was watching bug-eyed.

"Y-Yi'er, you…" His head was exploding with worries and apprehension, but what Lai Yiteng did was savage.

Completely unnecessary compared to killing Chen Yuwen outright, Xian Wu almost couldn't believe that…Lai Yiteng just ripped off someone's arm and is now standing on it like the piece of flesh is a prized treasure.

Xian Wu couldn't help but sneer cruelly as he stared at Chen Yuwen who was clutching his arm to stem the blood flow. Then he carefully stood up, dusting twigs and leaves, pretending that the poison making him dizzy wasn't there.

Chen Yuwen knew he'd miscalculated. His previous expression, treating this whole battle like trivial child's play, had warped into a grimace. Resignation was among the passing emotions that flickered over his elegant yet cold face.

Although he knew that Lai Yiteng's physical strengths would be boosted, he did not expect his martial arts and keen battle sense to also be enhanced to this degree.

But Xian Wu didn't care about what Chen Yuwen was thinking.

Thanks to Lai Yiteng, Xian Wu still believed he had a chance to finish off Chen Yuwen even though he was poisoned. He just needed to hold out a bit longer, or so Xian Wu told himself. He knew poisons quite well, and could tell that this one was not fatal, by whatever demon's luck that was.

He was just so, so close. He could almost feel the sweet satisfaction of revenge.

Xian Wu was taking a step toward Chen Yuwen when there was a tug on his shoulder. It was strong and unrelenting.

"Gege, where are you going?" Lai Yiteng asked with suspicion and bitterness. He tilted his head like a curious and yet terrifyingly short-tempered cat.