Treasure Hunting

"All of you! Stay back!" Benjamin knew that the other disciples couldn't beat Zachary. It was his turn. In the blink of an eye, he
appeared before Zachary and left a shadow behind. As a warrior at the eighth grade of Mortal Level, he utilized his martial
energy, which transformed into a tiger shape and dashed towards Zachary.
Aware that Benjamin's grade was much higher than his, Zachary decided to dodge the attack with his Shadow Pace. However,
Benjamin's attack was so powerful that Zachary was hit by a wave of energy though the attack did not hit him directly. The
energy wave pushed him a meter away.
"A warrior at the eighth grade of Mortal Level is powerful indeed." Zachary frowned.
Benjamin was not satisfied that Zachary was only grazed by his attack. He strongly believed that a direct hit could've knocked
Zachary down or even killed him. He immediately went for a second attack, a third and a fourth attack, unrelenting, with the
objective of killing Zachary outright.
It looked as though Benjamin had the upper hand in the battle, but Shadow Pace kept Zachary safe from Benjamin's attacks by
augmenting his speed.
But Benjamin was, after all, much stronger than Zachary in terms of cultivation. He decided to trap him in the impact of his
martial arts.
Boom!
Zachary retreated once more as another attack blasted past him. His face became sober as he focused himself on the new injury
that he sustained from that last attack.
"What skill are you using? I am much more powerful than you. A piece of garbage like you should not be able to survive my
attacks for this long." Benjamin felt frustrated that Zachary was only mildly injured after all of his attacks.
"A piece of garbage?" Zachary repeated in a cocky tone. He shook his head with an impish smile. He knew that his current
power could not match with Benjamin's. He then remembered the Strength Pill the he received as a reward from Mimi after he
completed the random treasure-hunting quest. He remembered that it could boost his strength to a higher level but it would
cause serious side effects.
The Strength Pill seemed to be the only chance that he had if he wanted to defeat Benjamin. He braced himself for a sudden
change in direction and then turned towards Benjamin. He took out the Strength Pill and threw it into his mouth.

The effect was instantaneous. His body suddenly radiated a thick purple light. Martial energy surged within his meridians. Purple
aura began to overflow from his body, forming a thin purple layer over his skin. He felt that his power increased significantly.
"How is this possible?" Benjamin was in a state of disbelief. The purple aura around Zachary's body became thicker as he
approached Benjamin. He now felt that Zachary's martial energy had suddenly surpassed his.
The purple aura suddenly re-absorbed back to Zachary's body. At the same time, a purple cyclone appeared and engulfed
Benjamin.
"This is a piece of cake!" Benjamin stretched out his fingers into a palm shape. He used his martial energy to activate his most
powerful martial skill: the Dark Dragon Palm.
Once Benjamin's palm completed the skill, it was immediately consumed by Zachary's purple martial energy.
"What kind of power is this? It's even greater than mine. How is that possible?" With Benjamin completely surprised, Zachary
grabbed his outstretched hand. He then said while a wicked smile crossed his lips, "I wonder if you will learn your lesson after I
break your arm."
Benjamin's face was suddenly filled with shock and terror.
The purple aura around Zachary radiated, and a stream of martial energy that was way greater than the ninth grade of Mortal
Level flushed into Benjamin's arm.
The forest at the back of the mountain was then filled with Benjamin's howl of pain.
When the other disciples saw Benjamin holding his disabled arm, rolling on the ground while howling in agony, they became so
terrified that they did not dare move a single step to confront Zachary. None of them ever imagined that Zachary had such power.
Zachary walked towards Benjamin with a frightful look.
"Stop... Don't come any closer..." Benjamin demanded, his voice quivering as if he was about to cry.
But Zachary continued walking and was soon about to reach Benjamin. Out of nowhere a figure blocked Zachary's way.
Benjamin looked as if he had seen a light at the end of dark tunnel. "Bruce! You're finally here!" Benjamin exclaimed as his eyes
lit up. "This guy almost killed us!"
"Bruce?" Zachary also recognized the person.

"Zachary, fighting against your fellow disciples is against the rules of the Welkin Sect. You not only broke the rule, but also
injured Benjamin seriously. You seem to want to be kicked out of the Welkin Sect." He quickly glanced at the people around him
and was shocked. 'Benjamin is at the eighth grade of Mortal Level. The other disciples are all of Mortal Level as well. Why did
they lose to Zachary so badly?' he wondered.
It was known to everyone that Zachary was a mere garbage barely one year ago. Even though Zachary shocked everyone with
double martial speed during the selection for formal disciples, it wasn't possible for him to possess power great enough to defeat
Benjamin.
"Talk all you want. It's useless. I know that you ordered them to come here," Zachary ridiculed Bruce.
"Since you already know that. Things are much easier now." With an insidious smile, Bruce quickly performed a martial skill at
the primary stage of Earth Level. In an instant, a white tiger manifested and dashed towards Zachary.
Zachary tried to activate Shadow Pace to dodge the attack, but to his surprise, he was not able to use his martial energy
anymore.
'What is happening? Is this the side-effect?' Zachary's heart skipped a beat.
Bang!
Zachary was directly hit by the attack. Even though Bruce didn't use his full power, Zachary was pushed back a few meters and
fell onto the ground. He then coughed out a mouthful of blood.
Zachary quickly stood up and glared at Bruce.
"You cannot beat me. If you beg for mercy, maybe I will consider it. Of course, you have to promise to stay away from Elva,"
Bruce stated flatly.
"You're dreaming. If you kneel to me, I might consider letting you go." Zachary laughed out loud as he mocked how Bruce talked.
"Bruce, this guy is stubborn. There's no use trying to make him surrender." Benjamin still suffered intense pain as he prodded
Bruce to kill Zachary.
"Monstrous Murder Skill!" Bruce's martial energy expanded and created a huge wolf shape. It dashed towards Zachary with an
unbelievable speed as it cleaved the air with its claws. It moved so fast that it looked as if it left its own shadow behind.

Zachary felt like his entire body was bit by countless starving wolves. His clothes were torn all the way to his flesh. He fell to the
ground bathed in his own blood. But this was only the physical injury. His internal injuries were more severe—Bruce's martial
energy destroyed his meridians.
Bruce evidently intended to ruin Zachary completely by destroying his path of cultivation!