Yu Di decided to wonder about the stupid curse later. Right now he had to run for his life.

  Yu Di banked left and right through the maze of trees. It didn’t matter. The black tunic was gaining on him. Say what you want about the minor difference in Qi levels, it was an entirely different matter when talking about different stages.

  Black tunic had a higher quality of Qi from his core that he could use. All Yu Di had was the Qi already running through his dantian, which was a poor man’s core.

  Yet none of that mattered.

  “Elder Bai and Senior Fu, I’m coming to you.”

  As soon as he sent that transmission, two butterfly swords flew past him, striking the black tunic right in the chest.

  Yu Di stopped to catch his breath as a blue blur sped past him.

  Fu Homei barreled down on the black tunic with her dadao.

  To the black tunic’s credit, he was able to deflect her attack. The first one.

  He eventually succumbed to all the injuries coming from Bai Feng’s butterfly swords and Fu Homei’s tremendous chops.

  When Yu Di saw the end, he took off again after retrieving his trident.

  “Senior Yu, we need help with this black tunic. We think he’s a Core Formation Immortal.”

  Yu Di’s jade pinged to the west about one li away. He reached into his storage ring and took a Qi replenishing pill. He felt the Qi rush through his meridians instantly, but only at his current level.

  “I’m on my way.”

  When Yu Di got there, a small group of black tunics pinned his squad mates down. His squad mates were fighting from behind a large rock and were about to get surrounded. Luckily, none of the black tunics were Core Formation cultivators. One was at the end stage, just like him.

  Again, Yu Di cycled his Qi in his trident. This time, instead of attacking from afar, he charged in like an arrow right for their highest leveled cultivator.

  His trident caught the black tunic off guard, killing him instantly.

  “Everyone, come out and attack,” Yu Di sent.

  To his surprise, Elder Li stepped out from behind the rock, holding Cui Ying by the neck.

  “Are the rest of them dead?” Yu Di asked.

  Elder Li laughed.

  “You know as well as I do that they are. This one tried to fight me. Ridiculous.”

  “I’m sorry, Senior Yu, I failed you,” Cui Ying sent to him. "I should have ran like you told me to."

  All the black and red tunics turned toward Yu Di, slowly surrounding him.

  “Why?” Yu Di asked the Elder.

  “They promised me an Elder position in their new Sect once they’ve won. The Spider Fang Sect will do everything in their power to win, including sacrificing their own. They can see…”

  Yu Di ignored the ranting from the fool and focused on his squad mate.

  “I’m sorry Cui Ying, but I’m going to detonate the transmission jade in your pocket.”

  "It's okay, Junior Yu. I lived like a coward all this time. I wasn't living. Just promise me you'll protect the others."

  "I will try my best." Yu Di made a fist and palm salute.

  “Oh now you see my greatness,” Elder Li continued. "You should have kowtowed to me earlier and maybe I wouldn't have to make your daughter an orphan."

  "That was not for you." Yu Di pressed the white dimple on the jade, sending a direct signal to Cui Ying’s jade.

  “This is for bullying all the servants!” Cui Ying grabbed hold of Elder Li’s perfect tunic.

  A bright green light flashed, surrounding them all. It blinded everyone.

  Yu Di ran away as fast as he could.

  A loud bang sounded, followed by multiple explosions as Cui Ying’s body exploded. All the jade’s Qi cycled through him for that one moment, pushing him to the level of Core Formation. Anyone below that level were incinerated instantly.

  “Elder Bai and Senior Fu, can you come and do a clean up?” Yu Di sent the two. Even with such a large explosion, he knew that many of them would still be alive. Sending in two people at a higher level could easily clean it up and provide zero risks to him.

  “Can’t. Busy.” Fu Homei sent back.

  Yu Di pressed the orange dimple and located the two women not too far to the north. He didn’t have time to check the corpses so he ran toward them as fast as he could. If Fu Homei and Bai Feng were busy, that could only mean they were fighting other Core Formation cultivators.

  When Yu Di reached their location, there was a moment of disbelief. Fu Homei was fighting Bai Feng. Her large dadao clashed against Bai Feng’s butterfly swords.

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  “Where is the enemy?” Yu Di sent to Fu Homei.

  Fu Homei only sent back a brief pulse toward the east in a small cavern.

  Yu Di snuck toward the cavern. He expected to find a small group of black tunics.

  Instead, he found an entire encampment of black tunics. There was a pen not too far from there, holding red tunics and his fellow disciples in blue. Three Core Formation black tunics were actively casting a technique in the direction of Bai Feng and Fu Homei.

  These were different from the five earlier. Well four now.

  Yu Di needed a big enough distraction to break their technique. But he also needed to not get caught and thrown into the pen either. He pressed the orange dimple.

  None of his fellow squad mates were close by. He was on his own.

  Yu Di hated that. He hated that he had no one to depend on to carry out anything. He also hated his selfish thoughts of using his fellow disciples as tools to achieve his goal.

  Maybe he was growing as a person after all.

  Now he had to make sure he survived to continue growing. An old man like him still had plenty of learning ahead.

  Yu Di reached into his storage ring. It was time to create havoc.

  He took out a simple silver bell. It fit into his palm and had a small jade mallet that looked like it would shatter if it hit anything.

  This was one of Yu Di’s most prized possessions. One tiny strike of the bell and everyone within a li would feel itchy and uncomfortable. Two strikes and they will start seeing illusions. Three strikes and they will turn on each other, seeing enemies everywhere.

  Yu Di took out two pieces of beeswax and stuffed his ears. Despite belonging to him, the effects still affected him as well. He took a deep breath, cycling his Qi throughout his body to withstand the effects.

  “Everyone, I’m about to do something crazy. Run as far away from my position as possible.” Yu Di sent out to his squad mates. He pinged them all once more, sensing them running away from him.

  Once he felt ready, he pushed a sliver of his Qi into the hammer and struck the bell with the tiniest of taps.

  The bell reverberated in Yu Di’s hands, threatening to shoot the effects right up through his arm. His internal Qi pushed it back down. It felt like he was pushing ants out of his meridians.

  Yu Di waited for a good while. He noticed the black tunics moving around. The Core Formation cultivators didn’t seem affected.

  Time for the second bell.

  The second tiniest tap shot out.

  This time, Yu Di had to steel himself for what he was about to see. The beeswax only helped with the audible illusions. Normally he saw his parents or some of his old friends he still remembered. He had seen them through this bell so many times, he easily ignored them.

  Except this time he saw Yu Lin. His little girl waved at him, speaking, but he couldn’t hear her. He knew it was an illusion, but a strong part of him wanted to pull out the beeswax and hear her voice.

  Tears rolled down his face.

  For whatever reason, he felt as if he had seen his daughter for the last time. He remembered her hug and her warm hands. For some reason, his hands were feeling itchy and warm. He didn’t remember that.

  Wait.

  Yu Di cycled his Qi through his body and closed his eyes. He pushed the effects of the bell out of his system. At least as much as he could. The itchiness was not going to go away for a few days. What’s worse was that the illusion of his daughter disappeared.

  The Core Formation black tunics were twitching now. Their eyes looking back and forth at their surroundings. They had to be looking at something crazy by now. Yet they kept throwing out their technique toward Bai Feng.

  Yu Di really hoped that two strikes of the bell was enough to get them to stop. He wasn’t sure what would happen after the third strike. He was also worried about the captives within the pen.

  Yu Di steeled himself, pulling in as much Qi as he could from the environment. He envisioned a thick, heavy wrap of Qi going around his head. The last thing he needed was to be so paranoid that he used the last shred of his demigod power to kill everyone within the region.

  Once he felt centered and focused, he made the tiniest tap on the jade bell. The reverberations rushed to his head, only to harmlessly bounce off his shield. Quickly, he put away the bell and mallet.

  There was a major drawback to the bell: it was sentient. Hitting it three times usually woke it up. Its desires to keep being rung would overwhelm the holder, especially at lower levels of cultivation.

  Yu Di talked with the bell when he first found it. It took every shred of will to bind it to him and make it fall asleep. If it woke up now and saw the weakened Yu Di, it would use him like a meat puppet to usher in the end of the world.

  Although there were times he wondered what the fourth strike of the bell did. Maybe if he took it out and tried just this once. It couldn't do much with all these weaklings right?

  Yu Di cleared his head and focused on the quiet of the forest. He couldn't let it win.

  Once the third wave hit everyone, chaos broke out. The three black tunics stopped their technique on Bai Feng. Instead they turned on each other instantly, crying out about some private issue they had. The other black tunics began attacking each other in earnest.

  The thing Yu Di feared the most were the ones in the pens. They attacked each other as well and in such an enclosed space, it got ugly fast. He wanted to release them but he had a bigger problem.

  Yu Di looked up at the two women. The tables had turned. Fu Homei was now attacking Bai Feng with her full strength. She was no longer defending, trying not to harm the older woman. Bai Feng however was doing everything she could to defend, holding herself back.

  Seeing that intrigued Yu Di. The bell’s effects amplified people’s paranoia and their insecurities to the point of frenzy. Yet Bai Feng looked more like she was trying to subdue Fu Homei.

  Did Bai Feng have no paranoias? Was she truly so selfless that she couldn’t be exploited by the bell? That was a first for Yu Di. He had used the bell on those strong of will from abbots of Buddhist Temples to other demigods and none were able to resist.

  “Elder Bai, can you hear me?” Yu Di sent to her.

  “Yes, why is junior Fu attacking me?” Bai Feng sent back.

  “She’s under the spell of one of my artifacts. Can you stop her?”

  “I can, but I might hurt her.”

  A loud scream turned Yu Di’s attention back to pens. The black tunics on the outside had turned their attention to their prisoners.

  “Elder Bai, can you bring Senior Fu to the enemy camp? Unleash her onto them and then save the prisoners.”

  Bai Feng broke off from Fu Homei, flying over on her sword.

  Fu Homei chased the older woman until they reached the Spider Fang Sect’s camp. It was like a coin flip. One moment she was so focused on Bai Feng, the next she set to slaughtering all the black tunics near her.

  That was Yu Di’s cue to run toward the pens.

  Curse unlocked: .4% lifted.

  “Elder Bai, be careful. The prisoners are also affected by the bell, but it should be wearing off soon.”

  Bai Feng released the prisoners, but quickly backed off.

  Yu Di was almost there, but a loud bang and a terrible scream from the sky broke everyone from the bell’s effects.

  The battle in the sky between sect leaders had changed. One of them fell toward the ground like a great ball of fire. No one could tell who it was as the other sect leaders continued their fight within their shield.

  But Yu Di could. It was coming straight for him.

  It was Gu Zi, his face in agony, clutching his chest. His eyes filled with anger or hatred staring right at Yu Di.

  Was the sect leader coming to kill him?

  Yu Di was about to find out as the intense heat radiating off Gu Zi torched the trees and pinned him to the ground.