Quickly, the fight arrived at a stalemate. By herself, Zi Moyan had a power surpassing their enemies' combined strengths, but their synergy and cooperation was allowing them to rival her. The owl was taking care of their attack and defense while riding the dog, whose greatest strength was definitely its agility and speed, equal or even slightly better than Zi Moyan's.
The real problem was that Baotian had no real way to intervene in the fight. If he tried a powerful attack, the wolf easily evaded it, if he tried a large-scale attack by using multiple small spells, the owl deviated it with its wind. And trying to get closer would only get him stuck in the crossfire.
'Basic demon path spells won't do'
Taking advantage while his comrade's attention was elsewhere, Baotian started dancing, a ribbon of blood dancing along him, while reciting the Crazed Demonic Blood Burial Mantra, preparing a strong spell. As the ribbon danced around, it hit several trees, each time absorbing part of its bark and wood, and gaining in momentum every time. In addition, it also absorbed part of the energy of each tree it struck, quickly going from an early stage level attack to a mid, and then a late stage one.
Baotian didn't have any artifact, and yet he wasn't any weaker than any cultivator of the same stage. That was the true genius of the scripture created by the Blood Torrent Grandmaster: with enough sacrifices and sufficient creativity, everything could be replaced, not only talent but also artifacts!
"Red Dancing Ribbon Cannon!"
Baotian detonated the blood essence ribbon, along with the accumulated power, propelling forward a spike, made of the collected wood and bark, with the power of a grand perfection Qi Building attack!
While not much stronger than Zi Moyan's attacks, the spike came from a blind spot, and when the Spirit Beasts duo noticed it, it was already too late to dodge, and too close to deviate it with wind. And it was aiming straight for the owl!
"Damn demonic human!" the owl swore, using wind to propel itself instead, barely avoiding death.
However, the consequences were immediate: the owl, separated from the dog, couldn't even begin to think about reuniting that Zi Moyan flew toward it at full speed:
"Since you came, don't leave so soon!" she shouted. "Let's see how good a roasted Spirit bird does as a night snack!"
The owl was forced to fly in the other direction to escape, leaving Baotian alone with the dog:
"Ehm… I guess running away in the opposite direction isn't a proposal you'd accept?" he asked.
The black dog growled, not even caring enough to answer, before tensing its body, ready to attack. Even though Baotian was confident he could win, going through a harsh and long fight while there might be more enemies around wasn't part of his plans.
And so, he decided to use his ultimate move, the peak of a transmigrator's arts…
"Wait, are you part of the retaliation forces we deployed after the Xuanhe Kingdom tried a move against us recently!? I, Zhang Ke, am a spy sent by Elder Hyeon Mu of the Dragon Tribe, implanted as the disciple of the infamous Zhang Ming, whom I ended up killing in his sleep a century ago, using the Great Heaven Splitting Artifact that Elder Hyeon Mu gave me! Please, fellow daoist, give me information on what happened to the forces so I can report to him!"
The dog, clearly surprised by what Baotian had said, seemed to hesitate on what to do next. That was everything Baotian needed: taking out eight more liters of blood essence at once, he launched a large-scale attack, spears of blood falling everywhere. The dog tried to dodge but he was too slow because of the distraction and, without the owl's winds to protect it, ended up with its back pierced by one of the blood spears.
That was a transmigrator's ultimate distraction move, one that once again proved its efficiency right now: random bullshit go!
"You… shameless bastard…" the dog struggled to say, coughing blood. "You, humans… truly have no honor…"
Baotian shook his head:
"No, you're wrong, there are many humans with honor, sometimes even too much for their own good, like the elders of the Liu clan, for instance" he said. "You just had the misfortune of facing a demonic cultivator like me instead, that's all"
The dying Spirit Beast, though struggling to breath and rapidly losing its blood, managed to laugh:
"Ah, I see… You're one of these trashes" he said. "People like you… also exist among us. They think that because their… infamous spells allow them to… have everything more easily by harming others… their path is the correct one. They think that practicing demonic scriptures allows them… to elevate themselves above others, without giving anything in exchange"
Baotian's expression darkened but, knowing the black dog would die soon anyway, he let him talk:
"They don't even realize… that what they gave in exchange… is that small piece of your mind… This small part that makes you feel like you deserve to be happy… like you don't live your life the wrong way… this thing your species calls… your humanity" he said. "And that counts for more than Demonic Beasts… Demon path humans, too…"
He managed to push through the pain to pronounce his last words:
"You're all the same"
Baotian, seeing that he stopped talking, shook his head:
"You're wrong, I'm not like them" he said. "I never believed even once that any path could elevate you above others without paying the appropriate price. I just… decided that my life was worth this price, that's all"
The dog didn't reply. It was dead. And soon enough, Zi Moyan returned, dropping the owl's corpse near its comrade:
"Here, I know you need blood essence for your spells, so I thought it would help" she said.
Baotian looked at her for a second, an indecipherable expression on his face. Then he looked at the owl, then, at the black dog, and then at his hands, not saying anything.
Finally, he thanked her, extracted their blood essence, and took their storage bags before burying them with a basic earth spell.
"Let's go now, senior sister" he said. "More enemy Spirit Beasts might be around, and we can't risk being caught by the righteous path Core Formation's chasing after them, so we need to leave the danger zone as fast as possible"
Without waiting for her to answer, he went first, unable to stay there any longer. Zi Moyan looked at the improvised grave, then at his back and, for a second, her expression seemed empathic. Then, she quickly started to chase after him:
"This insufferable junior brother, don't you dare leave me behind!"
And so, they resumed flying through the forest. Though not as large as the Blood Wood Cave Forest, it was still as large as several dozens of cities put together, and so they took a while before finally reaching its edge.
However, as they did, the two of them brutally stopped.
"Through our bloodline, I felt my nephew's death, and so I decided to track the murderers from afar, following them through my nephew's storage bag. I was afraid that the killer was another Core Formation cultivator, but it seems like it was my mistake, there's only two Qi Building juniors"
They both turned toward the source of the voice as an oppressive, threatening aura downed on them.
An owl, it was an owl. A golden one, several times bigger than the one they had just fought.
One that was in the Core Formation realm!
"In this case, it shouldn't be a problem to stop a few minutes to kill the two of you"
Both Baotian and Zi Moyan were trying not to shake, faced with this absurd enemy.
'Sh-shit, we shouldn't have taken the storage bags!'
Taking the storage bags of the defeated enemies as an individual or a member of a smaller force was rarely done, as those were very easy to track. Normally, the winner either left them behind or transferred their content into their own storage bag. Baotian and Zi Moyan, lacking time but in need of resources, thinking they'd soon be away from the danger zone anyway, had taken the risk.
And now, they were facing the consequences!
In their state, where their spiritual energy was almost exhausted, running away or buying time was not an option. Their only chance was to fight and give their all to kill the Core Formation owl as fast as possible before their reserves got empty.
"See it as the price for killing my nephew, filthy humans" the owl said.
"I already expended a fifth of my accumulated blood essence because they sneak-attacked us, isn't that enough?" Baotian asked back, a weak smile on his face.
The owl answered his question by flapping his wings, sending a powerful storm toward them. Facing the power of the Core Formation, the two immediately realized that they weren't a match.
At this moment, there was truly no hope of winning. And as the attack approached them, the winds ready to tear them apart, Zhang Baotian saw his life flash before his eyes.