The Cave

"Are you telling me that she is alone?" One of them asked surprised.

"We followed her till here and so far, there was no one at her side. But even if she had met someone, it wouldn't be a problem."

"To think she would come to this side of the forest..." A male disciple murmured.

"Let's go, it's our chance. I must say, a heaven-sent opportunity hehe..." Tao Yong started ordering his underlings according to the plan he had made.

They did not see the moment Meiyi met with Seth. They were relatively far from her, trying to see where she would be going, following her steps at a certain safe distance. But suddenly, Meiyi entered a place that hardly anyone would go and headed to the forest. It would be impossible for them not to find her strange movement suspicious, so, Tao Yong ended up adopting safe measures in order to leave them a way out in case something went wrong.

The group of people being led by Tao Yong, were not so dumb to fully believe she would be all alone at an area like that, so they proceeded with caution. But even if she wasn't alone anymore, they could probably deal with it.

Chun Meiyi sprinted though the woods, bringing Seth along. She was eager to arrive at the destination, so they could train peacefully inside their hideout.

Seth was content while being led by her, but throughout all the time, he was making sure to leave some clues for the uninvited guests along the way. He even left deep footprints along the way, since he wasn't trying to hide his presence.

About fifteen minutes later, they arrived at their hideout. There was a small hill with dense vegetation covering it and a normal person would never notice that hill was in fact a cave. Going towards the base of the hill and quickly squatting down, Seth started to push some stones and plants away.

After some more manual labor, an entrance was revealed before their eyes. It was a narrow road going underground, with a lot of dried roots on the floor and walls.

Chun Meiyi quickly entered and Seth went behind her. That was a usual routine for them, the only difference was that this time, he purposely didn't close the entrance and even left some stone debris behind before catching up to her.

The narrow road had almost zero illumination, but things were completely different when they got inside. A very big space came in front of their eyes and the ceiling was shaped like a dome that had some wide fissures, letting the sunlight invade the inside area. A really enchanting view. All in all, it was a  cave, but one out of ordinary.

"Ah! It's beautiful!" Chun Mei beautifully smiled as if she was in agreement with the scenery.

"It really is." Seth said while looking at her.

She looked a bit shy after noticing his gaze, but didn't pursue the topic, cause in the end she even felt a bit happy for that.

"Then, let's start your training." Seth went to the nearby wall and got two wooden swords that were already left there before, for future training purposes. He brought those two swords and gave them both to Meiyi.

"If you want to use your elements separately one day, then you got to learn how to dual task."

She took both swords in her hands and looked really clumsy while holding them.

While making some inviting gestures, Seth readied his stance, waiting for her first attack, but it took some time for it to come, because Meiyi was a bit lost.

She had never used two swords at the same time before and didn't know from where to begin with. It was actually way harder to control the movements of two separate weapons than it seemed to be. It would take a lot of time for her to get used to it, but that's where Seth came in. He made sure to intruct her about the basics and instigate her to attack him.

For thirty minutes, the sparring session kept going non-stop. Seth was not a swordsman, but he had fought many of them already. With his enhanced strength and perception, he used his bare hands to disarm her many times, but at the same time, he made sure to point out her flaws.

While they were sparring, he would often give hints on how she could improve her swordplay as well, even though he was no master in that aspect. 

Seth wasn't a good swordman, but he was an excellent training partner. Meiyi couldn't land a single hit during the training, but her movements were getting less wide and more precise each time she swung those swords. That alone, proved Seth was a good instructor.

"Phew... I'm exhausted." She dropped both swords on the floor, panting from the tiredness brought by the constant fight.

"Now, you should focus on practicing the technique we've developed yesterday while you rest. I will bring us some fresh water."

"Alright" Meiyi sat with her eyes closed and channeled her elements into a simple technique they had developed earlier.

Meiyi had many difficulties while trying to interact with the elements and everytime she tried to do it, she would fail miserably. That's why they developed a unique form of connection with elemental laws for her.

The concept behind that technique, was to actually focus on her flaws, trying to make them turn into her strength. Basically, if she couldn't channel fire or water separately, then, why not make her "smoke", her new elemental power? If she can only transform her Qi and release it as smoke, why not use it at her advantage then?

After observing Meiyi for some time, Lexi had told Seth that there was more to her "smoke" than people could see. At least she felt it could do more than water and fire combined, as the smoke carried her Qi signature inside it.

Seth left trough the entrance, heading straight to a river nearby, to grab some water. However, that was a fake cover for his real purposes. His main goal was something else.

.

.

.

The fastest underling under Tao Yong's orders, was in charge of scouting and finding clues to where Chun Meiying went. He crouched down and observed two different footprints that were marking a trail through the forest.

After some time analyzing them, he ran back at his fastest speed in order to report to his leader, unaware of a pair of eyes watching his every move.

'They will arrive at the cave entrance soon...' Seth was watching the scout from a good distance, waiting for the right time to strike. Shadows enveloped his figure and he vanished in the darkness.

"Tao Yong!" The scout came running back to his group to make his report.

"Say it."

"There were two different footprints marking the ground... It seems she is not alone now! But while she may have found a partner inside the forest and is not alone anymore, from those footprints left behind, I can tell you that they are amateurs. The heavy stepping marks and the space between the footprints are the signs I analyzed. It shows that both of them are unexperienced and could not maintain the same pace for a long time. Right now, they must be tired from traveling that way."

"Hm, those are very good news. Men, get prepared! We are advancing." Tao Yong ordered.

They followed the footprints pointed by the scout in a fast pace and shortly after the footprints disappeared, they were in front of a hill.

"The trail ends here."

Four people approached a small hill, where they saw an open entrance with a narrow passage full of dried roots. There were some stone debris on the ground, telling them that people passed through there not too long ago.

"What a great place... No one will see or hear anything that happens here."

"I'm already eager to hear their screams, haha."

"Ahahah."

"Quiet! Let's head inside."

They entered the narrow passage, heading straight into the cave, but they failed to notice a pair of eyes watching from the shadows. Soon the shadows moved at a fast speed, following them inside.

Tao Yong and his underlings got past the entrance very quickly, reaching inside the cave. The first thing they saw, was Chun Meiyi sitting there with her eyes closed.

Tao Yong looked around and didn't spot anyone else.

"Tie her up." Tao Yong ordered in a low tone. He and two other disciples slowly approached from the sides, since they wanted to get her by surprise. It would be better to knock her out first and then dispose of the other individual, if he were to be a man.

But they failed to realize that one of the disciples of their group, was already missing. In fact, he hadn't even left from the narrow passage.

Chun Meiyi was totally focused on her training and didn't hear them, but one of the key points of the technique she was using, was to observe the flow of wind and use it to spread the smoke filled with her Qi, around her body. Because of that reason, she felt some minor changes on the air flow and realized something was off. Opening her eyes, she saw three men standing about 15 meters away from her, coming straight at her direction.

"Tie her up fast!" They rushed forward after realzing she had noticed them.

Meiyi was startled by what was happening and the first thing she did, out of shock, was to release the technique she was just training as a protective impulse.

A thick mist started rising around her, covering the vision of those unfamiliar disciples and restraining their spiritual perception. It was really impressive that Chun Meiyi had developed a technique like that together with Seth, even though she had no experience in developping abilities.

Tao Yong and his underlings got lost inside the mist, but even though it was totally covering their sight, it was still an imperfect technique. They were able lock on her aura and saw that she was moving backwards. However, the aura signals they were able to get were so faint, that they were almost losing it.

"Arrrgh!"

Just as they started chasing after her, a painful scream echoed from the left. Tao Yong and the man on his right gave up on the idea of chasing after the girl and focused on what was happening inside the mist. The were able to feel something wasn't right.

Waiting for a chance to strike, Seth silently left the shadows and pierced the chest of one of the disciples right through the middle, using his right hand. It was so deep, that his arm went through his body, splashing fresh blood on the floor. The earlier noise was made by this unlucky fellow that got slaughtered.

His body dropped down lifeless and when the other two saw it, they knew things were not so simple.

Seth's stealth was undone, but there were two less disciples now.