A Failure's hopeful Journey

You Xi Wang and his friends were rushing through the first with their spirit beasts in their arms. Snow and Snowflake were also with them, but they were not supposed to act so proactively. The time was running out, and they needed to find the dark dwellers before the sunset completely. After running for quite some time, they found traces of humans.

You Xi Wang asked others, "One vs one or gang up?"

They descended into deep thought by themselves Neo suggested, "How about we go, in a group? Altogether, they have five people. The leader will slack off, thinking about how we are worried over Fenny. They could have three sentries, one guard for the hostage. This way we can be fast and reduce the risk of being ambushed." his words came as a surprise to the team and he said, "Fenny, taught me about formation and tactics."

Neo has never been much of a tactician. He had learned some formations and tactics from Fenny, while she was with him. You Xi Wang looked at the others and they also nodded, thinking it was a low-risk assault plan so they all agreed. 

You Xi Wang took the point and led his teammates, Yuki was his right flank and neo took left. Allan and Snow were supporting, other than the sword, Snow was also capable of mid-range archery arts. So, with this formation, they took on the first sentry. 

This sentry was an individual with middle-level spiritual formation cultivation. He was watching the forest with rapt attention. He was ready to give an alert signal to their leader at a moment's notice. Suddenly, he felt a chill in his spine before he could guess what it was.

PUCHI!!

A Kunai knife pierced out of his throat, he didn't know what caused his death. Yuki appeared from the shadows, her figure was as black as shadow, this was the ability she gained from her spirit beast, Shadow. She made a whistling sound and her teammates appeared.

Neo and Allan appeared with Luna and Shroud on their shoulders, respectively, Snow carried Snowflakes in her arms behind them. Neo quickly used his earth elemental spiritual energy and buried the dark dweller, leaving no traces of any battle.

Snow looked behind and saw You Xi Wang wasn't behind them. She turns to others and said, "You Xi Wang is not here."

Allan replied to her, "Don't worry, he can handle himself. Our task is to take down these guys. Let's go." his tone was calm and his eyes were brimming with confidence. He knew his friend very well. He was sure about You Xi Wang being safe given the skills he posses.

They all nodded in confirmation and departed toward the next enemy position. They spotted the guy and this time Neo acted, he communicated with Luna through his spiritual consciousness and tapped into her powers, amplifying them with his own spiritual energy. He created a ball of water around the assailant's head who had no clue of what hit him. He struggled but to no use. 

Soon, the guy died of, what can we call it, Drowning. The group quickly took care of his body the same way they did with the previous one. They headed towards the third position.

Meanwhile, You Xi Wang also successfully made his way to the cave where they were holding Fenny. He was enshrouded in Maya's camouflage skill, he was invisible if his movements were slow, as he neared the cave some sounds became obvious. 

Thump!! smack!!

You Xi Wang could guess it was the sound of beating. He moved quickly and from the entrance he saw inside a dim-lit cavern, damp and humid atmosphere, not very camper friendly, stood a lanky looking figure in a black cloak and at his feet lay a girl with a swollen face, her lightning blue hair scattered over her face, her condition was not good.

The lanky man looked down at her and spoke in an excited voice, "You look like a broken doll, I love breaking dolls. Hehehe... Come before your friends come, I will have my way with you, hehehe...." he let out a sadistic chuckle, he crouched down and grabbed Fenny by her legs, but when he looked at Fenny's face he was surprised to see her expression of rage and not fear.

He laughed again and said, "You are the first one who isn't begging me, bitch. This is no fun. I want you to beg me for mercy." saying that he kicked her in the belly. Fenny grunted, but she didn't scream. The lanky man was about to kick her again when he suddenly froze. He felt his neck being grabbed by an iron clamp from behind. This clamp was none other than You Xi Wang using his hand to stop this guy in his tracks.

He spoke slowly, "You dare to hurt my friend?" he smashed the guy's head on the floor with a BANG. You Xi Wang wanted Fenny to kill this guy with her own hands. He lifted his leg and stomped the dark dweller's head repeatedly without giving him any chance to retaliate. After observing that the dark dweller was half dead he moved up to Fenny, and he helped her unblock her acupoints. None of them spoke a single word. 

Fenny focused and ran a cycle of her cultivation while You Xi Wang applied healing ointment on her swollen wounds. After aging back some of her energy she stood up, sparks of lightning could be seen flickering in her eyes. Her blue-black hair started shining. This was an ability she got from her Thunder Deo bloodline, Rumbling Stomp. Thunder Doe was a beast that got its name because of the thundering sound it produced while it ran. She walked about to the guy who was tormenting her and stomped all over his body, breaking every single bone in his body. Wherever she stomped the man's body turned into a minced paste, flesh, and bone fragments could be seen mashed together. It was a disgusting sight. 

She stamped over the man's head and crushed it, taking his life. After taking in a few deep breaths she gradually calmed down and turned to see You Xi Wang. She walked up to him and hugged him. She started sobbing like a child. You Xi Wang just patted her back gently. They both grew up together and were like siblings, they knew each other better than the other three in the group. Fenny would never show her weak side to anyone, even with her life at risk, she was weak only in front of her parents and the You siblings. This was also the reason she was the second in command in their team. 

Just when You Xi Wang was about to say something, a hoarse voice interrupted him, "Oye brat, I know you are inside, come out or you better tell your family to arrange for all your group's funeral. Hahaha... hahaha..." the voice was obviously of Kojo.

You Xi Wang went outside and saw his friends kneeling on their knees. Kojo was holding down Snow by her hair. You Xi Wang was enraged, he wanted to tear this guy to shreds. He still kept his temper in check. He looked around and saw no cubs were there. He asked the system, 'Scan them.'

The system scanned his friends instantly and replied, [They are fine master, but your friend, Allan seems to be under a soul spell, it is trying to break his will.]

You Xi Wang looked at Allan and noticed his pale complexion and indifferent gaze. He took a deep breath and calmed down. He then looked at Kojo and said, "What do you want?"

Kojo chuckled and said, "Kneel or they die." You Xi Wang looked at him and bent down forward. His face was calm and his gaze was firm. Fenny looked at him in disbelief. She never thought he would kneel. But just as he touched the ground with his palms. He raised his head and looked Kojo, right in the eye.

Kojo froze for a second, and the next thing he knew was him kneeling in front of You Xi Wang who was stepping on his head. He turned around and saw things such as limbs detached from bodies, blood puddles, and minced flesh. He was shocked to see such a sudden change. He tried to get up but couldn't gather the strength. Just as he was lost in these thoughts, he felt a sharp pain in his shoulders. He closed his eyes and screamed hard. 

When he opened his eyes, he saw You Xi Wang standing next to him with a sword in his hand. He looked at his shoulder and found out that his hand was not attached anymore. The pain attacked him again, You Xi Wang grabbed his lower jaw and opened his mouth using his left hand. He used his right hand and dragged Kojo's tongue out. 

"You dared to touch my friends. You dared to put my brother under a soul spell. You dared to ask me to kneel. Who did you think you are? You are nothing but trash of this world and trash of humanity. Now I will make you feel pain in all its glory." You Xi Wang spoke calmly but his voice was cooled. He used a soul spell with the system's help to free Allan. That was his prime motive. He gestured to Maya, and with the spiritual bond they shared she understood his intention, and an Icicle appeared in front of You Xi Wang, who grabbed it and stabbed it through Kojo's tongue, pinning him to the ground.

Kojo screamed, but the more he moved the more pain it caused. He looked at You Xi Wang, in his eyes the look of bafflement was prominent. You Xi Wang looked at him and said, "In this world, you filthy shitcakes are not the only soul cultivators." with that said he stabbed a tranquilizer needle filled with a pain-inducing leech's poison in Kojo's hand, and after a few minutes he let in a wisp of his all elemental spiritual energy in his body.

He looked after his friends, aided them in recovery, and left amidst Kojo's screams echoing in the forest. As the sunset Kojo died, while back at their camp You Xi Wang looked at the sky and said, "Happy evening snack, Yama."