Retired Old Man #8

What followed was another two members of the numbers who followed up behind her as the fight broke out among the remaining people within.

Rashida met her opponents sword with her own scimitar one after the other as if a fierce and powerful wave was descending down upon them one after another gradually gaining more power with each attack.

This space allowed her to best use her martial arts to their fullest potential but also deal with the many opponents that came into her path.

As she began her slaughter, a bright red light glowed in her eyes showing her strong murderous intent.

The leader of the group looked upon her form as he witnessed her slaughter and gasped. "This.. this is impossible.."

He had seen this type of inhumane strength and the pure red glow in the eyes within the sect only once and that was from the sects heir when he was on one of his venting moods where he began to slaughter others during his training or sparring sessions or when he was doing a cleanup of useless people or traitors.

This type of overpowering body strength and endurance that allowed a person to fight with a strength above their current realm or at least remain invincible within their realm only belonged to the sect master and the heir of the sect.

Now he had witnessed the sight of what he had seen on the heir on another person which greatly confused him.

Since the enemy had been shown to use strength below that of the Unrestrained Realm and still overpower many within their own realm, many other things further confirmed that another user of the sects secret qi arts and body tempering art had appeared.

He did not know whether to fight or simply give up this fight and change his allegiance.

Fighting someone with the status of an heir or someone with the body tempering art was akin to suicide in his eyes if they had reached a high level of mastery with it.

However he could not take any chances and leave his life in the hands of others…

Meanwhile Ki put away the dagger and removed Evil from its sheathe and began to fend off the remaining core disciples.

Some had the idea to release the captives that would be recruited and use them as pawns to ensure their survival but Ki was easily able to guess their thoughts.

She and three other numbers had already moved them near the wall on the other side of the room away from the containers and the chained up people.

Since they were out of the way, the Blood Sect core or inner disciples would have to pass by to get to them and attempt such a strategy.

Ki calmly dispatched person after person who came to confront her and so did the numbers using their own brutal methods that had been developed from their own experiences during the war with the northern invaders.

Each bladed weapon was struck towards the enemy without a shred of mercy and with the continued support of Ki and Rashida who took up most of the burden, they were able to exploit many weaknesses and quickly kill many others.

The leader took out a pill from a vial that had been kept within his pocket and placed it within his mouth.

Ki noticed his strange action and immediately yelled. "Rashida! He has used a blood bursting pellet, he should be more dangerous for a period of time so do not be careless."

The Blood Sects blood bursting pill formed from herbs that have been grown with herbs that have been nurtured with blood to give them a bloody and evil nature.

Much like a pill that is used to enhance a persons power for a short period of time but at a cost, this pill greatly stimulates and enhances the bloody qi within ones body to enhance their vitality and qi strength beyond its current limits.

However like most power boosting or berserker type pills, the cost is usually heavy.

Some can kill or leave a person crippled and unable to practice martial arts again after damaging their meridians, dantain or the root of their qi but for this pill it greatly damages a blood qi martial artists vitality and weakens them greatly.

For a martial artist, such a sacrifice would be small in exchange for keeping their lives after risking using such a pill and for a blood qi martial artist, it would be quite simple to regain their power back so long as they continued to find blood to regain back their qi and vitality that they had lost.

Such pills are a rarity in the sect which suggests the importance of either the disciple or the task to be given one.

However in the face of absolute power, such methods were just minor tricks that would only backfire on the user.

All of the blood began to gather within the room and was under the control of the numbers and Rashida to put further pressure on them.

Many were attacked from behind and drowned within water spheres while others suffered a cut to their body and were drained.

During all of the chaos, Rashida met the leader head on and began to endure through the raw power from the enhanced bloody qi that he was releasing during his attacks.

Each of her sword moves crashed into his powerful attacks one wave after another, never growing weaker or retreating.

She gradually got used to his attack patterns as he became more and more desperate to land a deadly blow upon her.

Just as he was about to attack her her body was cushioned and shielded from the sword slice or thrust by the blood that was controlled to greatly reduce the cutting or piercing power towards her body.

Thanks to that, he was unable to harm her even after making several mistakes earlier but also the reduced attack was no longer at the stage where it could bring harm upon her tempered body.

As she saw these applications of the blood used on her body as it was manipulated, it further inspired her towards her own martial path.

Blood was within the same path as water on the martial arts qi paths, they had many similarities but had different natures.

Water was a path for qi users to use openly as it was one of the main elements but blood qi although it does have some similarities, it is recognised as an evil path.

Just like water provides life and vitality to plants, blood remains and flows within the living body and is continually circulated until that body dies.

He stance and sword seemed to have kept its sharpness but it carried a certain characteristic of softness as her movements continued to improve as she danced with her scimitar and continued to gain control over the battle.

Ki looked at her and sighed. 'It seems that I was worried over nothing…. Although he could of inflicted a deadly wound after taking the pill, the blood had been able to reduce his attacks enough to allow her to suffer no harm. After learning from her failures and grasping certain things it seems that she has taken a step forward with her own path.'

Rashida may not have the overwhelming talents of the others but she did have her previous experiences and talents in dancing which were incorporated into her martial arts, there was also her persistence and the many life and death battles and experiences that lead her to constantly break past her potential.

There was also the Blood Bhudda Qi Art that had helped her to keep up with the others in terms of strength and qi but without that experience and persistence, her future path would be very difficult.

Upon reaching a later stage, she will be stuck in a realm or be unable to fight and win against those within her realm who are more experienced, have trained longer or are more talented than her because she has not gained enough insights and experiences.

Hers was a more difficult path to take but if she could survive it, she would grow a lot quicker and her scimitar forms will continue to show great improvements.