Before their eyes, the tiny specks began to take to the air. Without the haze to disorient, the foundation realm cultivators were free to take to the skies. Ren could see the powerful clashes even from the distance. Some of them were clearly wielding the blood-based techniques of the Hidden Sea Sect’s demonic cultivators. Not to mention, below them on either side of the mountains, the beasts were teeming in unrestricted violence. The beasts had clearly been driven mad by whatever triggered the end of the trial and were out of their lairs in force.

  Suddenly realizing how precarious their positions were at the top of the mountain, Ren and Subo had to make a decision. They came to a swift agreement to stick together until they could make to the base of the mountains and to relative safety. Then they could split to head to their respective factions.

  Ren briefly mentioned his skills to support and attack. There would be no time to lay out formations, so his power would be limited, but with Subo taking the vanguard, he could easily defend his flanks and keep the worst threats away. Having formed a plan, they were just about to start rushing down when a spike flew past Ren’s ear. He paled at how close it had been and turned to see the source. It was a beast yet unseen, covered in large spikes. Even as they looked on, it raised its other arm, which gripped another spike.

  Not waiting to see more, the pair fled together. As they raced down the side of the mountain toward the outer region, they could see beasts fighting each other all over. They avoided those they could, but when the beasts turned their attention to them, they tried to disengage as fast as they could to keep fleeing. If they stayed to fight, they would attract a horde of beasts and be ripped to shreds.

  Subo’s body tempering method amazed Ren at how he could take a glancing blow from a slasher beast and only bear a thin cut. He was probably close to the middle layers of the foundation realm. Likewise, Subo was impressed by how Ren seemed to spot danger before it reared its head and how well he could delay and defend with a well-placed dagger. Ren was just grateful he had remembered to restock at the camp.

  The duo made their way past the strongest opponents who often chose to fight each other rather than pursue them. But more and more the beasts were starting to head down the mountain. It seemed to Ren they were frenzied as much by fear as anger.

  “It looks like they too are starting to flee outward. If those spike-throwing beasts also head this way…” He shared his finding with Subo, who only remarked, “That’s going to complicate our escape from this subspace.”

  Fortunately, they managed to reach the foothills without much incident. Their impromptu teamwork had worked out. They gave each other a martial bow.

  “We shall meet again, brother Subo. May the heavens watch over you.”

  “I am honored to have met you, brother Ren. I’ll take your leave.”

  They parted and ran diagonally to their camps. Ren was starting to feel the earth tremble. He didn’t know if it was from a beast horde or an earthquake, but he increased his pace by interspersing Earth Striding Leaps whenever he could spare the qi.

  Under the frantic pace, the journey that had taken many days was covered in a little over a day. But even the body of a cultivator could only take so much, and he hadn’t even rested the previous night, having spent it in conversation. When he finally spotted the camp, he forced himself to push through the exhaustion. He saw a decently large crowd already present.

  His body almost collapsed, having reached safety, but he forced himself to remain upright. The camp didn’t mean he was safe. Not until they escaped the subspace would they truly be safe. He looked around to see if he could spot his friends. After a few anxious moments Ren finally spotted Bao Hua, who looked every bit as tired as he was.

  They greeted each other with weary grins.

  “Looks like you’ve had some tough adventures, brother Ren.”

  “Tough but rewarding. What about you?”

  Hua’s grin expanded further in response. Clearly he had done well.

  “Is Ling here yet?” asked Ren.

  The smile faded to be replaced with a hint of worry. “Not yet. But there’s still time before Senior Li Xing plans to depart. Like the elders informed us, if we don’t leave before the subspace is sealed, we’ll be trapped here until the trial next opens. Who knows how when that’ll be.”

  They both turned to look at the horizon, where they could see the condensed drop of blood in the sky, the size of a huge pagoda, tremble and quiver as if it were about to fall any instant.

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  Ren sat down to meditate and recover some qi, and Hua kept an eye out for their friend.

  A little while later, Ren opened his eyes feeling much better. He looked around and saw that the camp’s numbers had grown, and he spotted several familiar faces, including Jian Feng, the young master who was also his neighbor. He was surrounded by a few other disciples, all looking ragged.

  Hua spoke up beside him. “They just got here on flying swords. They said they had reached the foothill of a central mountain when that voice spoke.”

  Ren held back his envy. He wanted to fly too! They were guaranteed to escape if they had tools like that. According to Hu Yan’s information jade, Jian Feng was likely at the 2nd layer of the foundation realm. To have reached as far as he did, he must have advanced with his team of followers. They had offset the increased danger with numbers, but Ren had no doubt in his mind that some had lost their lives.

  They continued to wait, and the camp continued to be joined by their fellow sect members. Those with flying swords were treating it as a safe place to rest and regain energy for the final desperate sprint to the edge of the subspace. But the weakened formation Ren had tried to fix was already starting to fail. The beasts were starting to get through, and if they waited much longer, the camp would be overrun in a beast tide. The beasts had already enveloped the boundaries of the camp and continued to stream past.

  Ren was proved right not long after as some disciples started to leave on their flying tools. As luck would have it, they spotted Mei Ling not long after. She too appeared exhausted, but time wasn’t with them. She wouldn’t have long to recover. Li Xing had arranged for those severely injured to be carried by some disciples with large enough flying tools. She had also organized a massed charge with those at the camp to rely on safety in numbers. But they would have to keep up or be left behind.

  “Mei Ling, over here! They’re about to leave soon!”

  She joined them and greeted them with a faint smile. She looked like she was about to collapse.

  Ren and Hua exchanged glances and came to an unspoken agreement.

  “Get on my back, Ling. Hua will guard us until you’ve recovered.”

  Mei Ling started to argue weakly, but they remained unmoved. She finally agreed but only until she could regain her strength.

  Ren was tired, but he lifted up her lithe body without a sound. By then the formation was about to fail any moment. To his panic, he even spotted a spike-throwing beast amongst the horde outside.

  Li Xing’s voice cried out, "It's time. We can wait no longer. If the subspace seals, we’ll be trapped. Run with all your might.”

  She took the lead and opened the path with a devastating strike as hundreds of flaming swords rained fiery death on the beasts. The disciples of the Heavenly Sword Sect roared and charged out behind her.

  Some disciples had been asked to guard the edges and some the rear. Still, once they left the safety of the formation, the frenzied beasts started to claim casualties. It took a few hours to reach the foothills of the outer mountains, but everyone was starting to flag. Li Xing ordered a rotation. By then Mei Ling had recovered enough to run on her own, so Ren moved to the flanks towards the rear to join Hua.

  From their vantage, they could see that occasionally someone was falling behind and being brought down. The rear guard couldn’t save everyone. The qi in the air had started to rise to the levels of the inner regions. The tremors in the ground had started to grow in power until it was rumbling and causing cracks to show. The clouds, which had turned white, started to darken once more as they reached the peak of the outer mountains.

  Ren looked back to see the gigantic drop of blood had failed to fall and was being absorbed back into the clouds again. But this time they were roiling with lighting. He didn’t know what it meant, but he couldn’t spare it any more thought. His whole body was starting to hurt once again.

  The charging group kept racing down the mountain. Whatever was happening behind them wasn’t good news. As they reached the foot hills, the group was strung out,foothills, with those in the front not waiting for those struggling to keep pace. Even the rear guard was starting to leave behind the others.

  The beast tides were starting to catch up once again, and they saw more disciples fall. Ren hardened his heart and kept putting one foot in front of the other while fending off the occasional attack. They had started to reach the edges of the forest where they had first emerged. The haze was once more starting to rise from the ground.

  As close as they were to salvation, the danger only grew. Now the spike-throwing beasts, which were clearly the strongest of the natives, had completely caught up. The rear guard had abandoned their post when they saw that and fled with full haste. Ren made sure to keep guarding the flank behind Hua. No matter what, he would uphold his responsibilities.

  Just then, from beside him, Ren heard a voice say, “I finally have my revenge. Die a dog’s death, Zhao Ren!” He looked through eyes aching from overuse of Third Eye Sense and vaguely recognized Mo Ying. The money-burning cultivator whom he had defeated in the tournament.

  His eyes widened in shock as he realized he was about to be attacked by a supposed ally! The only thought in his head was, ‘Why now?!’

  Mo Ying had a twisted expression of glee as he fell a step behind Ren and lashed out with a palm strike at his back. Ren, tired as he felt, was about to move to the side to dodge the blow when he felt a strange feeling filled his entire body. The cobwebs in his tired mind were wiped away in an instant as he felt an unprecedented clarity. Some strange sense told him to accept the blow and not dodge it.

  Ren obeyed and moved all the qi in his body to his back to try and defend against the blow. The strike landed and fire ripped through him. As he flew forward with a pained cry, his body twisted, allowing him to look back. A spiked beast occupied his previous position, now directly blocking Mo Ying’s path!

  Ren had just enough time to think, ‘What just happened?’

  Then he crashed into Hua’s broad back and blacked out.