The Supreme God of Martial Arts

As the team marched on, the woods began to grow dark around them. There was a nervous tension among the group members, a kind of unease that everyone shared. It increased as the night fell. Everyone held their weapons more tightly as if trying to ease the tension.

In the dimly-lit forest, people's sight was limited, and their senses dulled. Even a good fighter would find it hard to perform his best under these circumstances. As the Meng Clan was traveling in the darkness, their speed had reduced, thus making them vulnerable.

Many beasts and demons, on the other hand, were born to survive and thrive during the night as the darkness served to sharpen their senses.

As Mance often said, the night was the perfect stage for beasts and demons to attack and kill.

"Let's camp here!" Marwell's deep voice cfrom in front of the line. Now that the night had fully fallen, he knew that it was unsafe to continue traveling. After careful consideration, he halted and gave the order.

Hearing Marwell's words, members of the Meng Clan stopped and began to put up their tents. After a while, they had occupied a clearing in the woods.

After that, the men started to build simple fortifications around the area. It was obvious that the Meng Clan were experienced with camping in the wild.

Austin could not do much when it cto things like this—he had little experience with camping. And so, he sat in the carriage and watched the busy men.

"Austin, you ought to be more careful at night in these kinds of woods, you know," Mance approached him and said.

"Things might get easier tomorrow. We only have a half day of travel left before we leave this dark forest," he said.

Mance seemed to be in the mood for a chat after ensuring that the work was done.

"I will. Don't worry," Austin nodded and said with a smile.

"Well, here is the thing, bro. | was wondering if you would watch Joyce tonight," Mance asked, quite suddenly but sincerely while looking at the cute, little girl who had also cto Austin's side to play with him.

Truth be told, Patriarch Marwell wasn't the only one who appreciated Austin. Mance too could somehow feel that this young man was not ordinary. Although he was traveling with them, the leaders hadn't figured out why they felt like this about Austin. Perhaps he was a hidden master or a powerful cultivator.

"Rest assured, Mance. I'll look after her. She'll be fine," Austin replied with a reassuring smile.

"Thanks so much!" Mance cupped his hands and nodded to express his gratitude.

Austin had been calm and composed during the journey. He never showed any signs of panic regardless of what challenges they encountered. This led Mance to believe that the young man was extraordinary.

After all, most men of Austin's age could barely hide their fear after learning that five or six beasts of level nine were at their heels.

Austin was clearly not one of them. Mance never saw a worried expression on the young man's face, which spoke volumes about his character. It also justified their confidence in Austin.

So, when Austin agreed to protect Joyce, Mance felt assured. Joyce was such a lovely girl that every member of the Meng Clan adored her. Mance certainly wanted her to be safe since he also liked the girl very much.

Soon, everything was shrouded in darkness. It was pitch dark in the woods, and almost nothing could be seen around the campsite. Even though they had built a fire, it only lit up a limited area around them. Beyond that, it was endlessly dark.

After grabbing a bite, everyone began meditating. They sat still in a circle surrounded by the fence they had made. Each member tightly gripped their swords and remained on alert.

One could see the tightness around everyone's mouth. Apart from nervousness, anger and hatred could also be seen on their faces. Being hunted by these creatures for so many days had infuriated and frustrated everyone.

Soon, the whole campsite was eerily quiet. No one spoke or walked, only the occasional sound of crackling fire could be heard.

Then the fog rose. It formed a white curtain that hung over the whole woods, making it harder to sense dangers.

Nothing happened for quite a long time. However, about two hours later, a kind of murderous and dangerous aura crept upon the Meng Clan members from all sides.

"They're coming!" Austin opened his eyes with a start.

Unleashing his spiritual sense, Austin discovered that they were already surrounded by many beasts, who were now looming in the distance. As the seconds passed, the encirclement narrowed as those beasts drew nearer. Soon, they would be surrounded in a tight ring by those monsters.

"Well, well, | can smell the danger of six powerful beasts among them, just as expected," Austin murmured after detecting carefully. His eyes shone brightly as a sense of excitement coursed through him.

"Attention, everyone! Take your weapons! Our guests are coming." Before Austin could warn the members, Marwell's low, firm voice filled the clearing. Many were shocked out of drowsiness when they heard the order.

Austin was very impressed by Marwell. He never thought that the patriarch's spiritual sense was powerful enough to perceive the danger so quickly.

People rose and took up their weapons. They were wide awake now and whipped their swords into a defensive position. Everyone held their breath as they stared into the darkness around the campsite.

Those who had reached the Mysterious Realm or above, activated their spiritual sense to analyze the situation.

Silence reigned for a while. ...

Moments later, the sound of rustling branches and grass was heard. The members knew it wasn't the wind.

Amidst the rustle, deep roars could be heard, too...

It was the sound of the beasts. As more and more creatures gathered, the noise beclouder and louder. One by one, pairs of crimson eyes appeared in the darkness among the trees, like bloody red stars peeping from behind clouds.

At this sight, the members of the Meng Clan all took a deep breath. They tightened their grip on their weapons, and consciously formed a smaller circle, standing back to back and looking around vigilantly.

Then they saw faces—faces of all kinds of beasts they had encountered previously. The numbers were large, and the bonfire had cast shadows on the faces of the creatures, making them appear even more horrible and hideous.

Austin noticed that this flock of beasts was of various levels, ranging from level six to level eight. He could even spot slevel five creatures among them.

But the six, level nine beasts didn't show themselves. They must be hiding in the shadows and pulling strings, just like generals would send their soldiers to attack first.

Austin had heard that high-level beasts could have developed minds, and could think like human beings. Seeing is believing. Now it appeared as though the level nine beasts were genuinely strategic.

They had ordered the low-level beasts to attack first and weaken their human enemies, while they waited for the right tto strike a deadly blow. 'Well done, ' Austin thought. These beasts knew how to fight.

The number of beasts kept increasing. Soon enough, over a hundred creatures had laid siege to the campsite.

But there were only fifty or so people in the team, which meant that their enemies far outnumbered the Meng Clan.

Facing this dire situation, the expression on everyone's face turned grave. Their palms began sweating as they held their weapons steady. They knew that the odds were against them tonight.

Six, level nine beasts coming together was a significant enough threat to them. But obviously, the beasts had planned to do more than that. No one had expected the creatures to have such a strong influence to summon so many beasts to fight under their command.

Just then, a bellow broke the silence.

When the hundred or so beasts had surrounded the campsite, a thundering roar cfrom the distance and shook the whole woods.

It sounded like a signal to attack.

Even before the roar had faded, those beasts' red eyes began to shine, and their pace accelerated. The earth trembled under their paws as they rushed to the crowd like a flood.

It was indeed an appalling scene.

"We are outnumbered by these beasts! Stay as close as you can and protect each other! Don't let them break our formation!" Marwell commanded.

"Take Joyce with you and hide in the middle of the formation. Take care of her for me, please!" It was Michelle who had brought Joyce to Austin. After making sure that the girl was under Austin's protection, she drew her sword and ran toward the crowd of fearscreatures. She was beautiful and graceful, and a kind of heroic bearing was added to her attractiveness when she joined the fight bravely.

Austin held Joyce's hand, and soon they were clustered by the others. They were pushed into the middle, and a human wall was formed to protect them.

"Cwith me, warriors of the Meng Clan! Cand kill these beasts!" Mance shouted and led the attack. He used two axes as weapons. They gleamed white in the light of the bonfire and smelled of death on this dangerous night.

He swung the axes around in a flat sidearm slash with his weight behind it and took both arms of a violent ape instantly. He then swung a backhand and smashed the armless monster's head without hesitation. It was an excellent strike.

"Con! Kill them all!" cried the rest of the Meng Clan excitedly. It seemed that they were encouraged by Mance's first kill and his momentum.

Raising their weapons above their heads, they met the monsters bravely. A desperate struggle was then launched.

Soon, they were wrestling with hundreds of monsters. As swords and claws met tand again, killing intent could be seen in everyone's eyes. In this life and death situation, everyone was trying to fight their way out.

Michelle was fighting bravely as well. She did not look it, but she had refined at the preliminary stage of the Sky Realm. She was using her sword very well, too. Wielding it gracefully, she made a powerful sword aura that struck down more than one beast at a time. From how well she used her sword and the power of the sword aura, it could be said that her sword intent had reached level seven.

Even a level eight beast couldn't take her life. Her sword rose and fell, and after a flurry of blows, the beast fell back after being sliced through by her blade.

The deadly fight had broken the silence in the dark woods, which was now filled with the keening of beasts and the ringing of metal. It was literally boiling up as the trees around rustled fiercely as if the chaos had woken them.

The sound of men shouting and beasts roaring was carried by the wind and shook the woods far from the battlefield.

Guarded by the Meng Clan in the middle, Austin was still quite safe at the moment.

Watching them fight the bloody battle and try their best to protect him, he was both touched and embarrassed. Now, it seemed that he had becan outsider.

What surprised him the most, however, was that Joyce didn't seem to be afraid at all. It appeared as though she had gotten quite used to this kind of dangerous and bloody scene.

On the contrary, she watched the fight unfold without batting an eye. She would even clap her hands excitedly when the battle becmore violent, her wide and innocent eyes twinkling. "Beat it! Finish it!" she shouted.