Beast Mountains, a bit far from Aeon Family territory.
"Should we continue?" Aeon Ion asked. His boots wet and dirty, though unpleasant, this was not his main concern.
The sky is turning red, showing its beauty to the world. Unfortunately it was not time to enjoy it, the hunting group needs to set up camp before the night takes over for safety.
Currently there are nine people in the hunting group, the seven other people were unfortunately not blessed by the heavens bear retain spiritual energy in their body. Being an ordinary mortal could still be of help, especially when going out for days, weeks or even months on end.
Their current purpose in going deep in the mountains is to investigate, if lucky, hunt a spiritual beast or demon beast.
"What do you think, Nephew?" Aeon Yong answered, his eyes darting around. He carried his trusty bow and quiver full of arrows on his back with his sword on his waist.
"Maybe go back down to the valley, since we don't have enough time to make it to the other side." Aeon Ion answered, already thinking about cleaning his leather boots near a campfire. They have been out for a few days now and it just so happened to rain making the terrain muddy. His sense of comfort had been readjusted a lot within the time he joined the hunting team.
"That's great, you're learning. However if we go a few hundred steps to the right halfway to the valley, we have a spring and lesser time to waste going back up this mountain tomorrow. There's always something better." Aeon Yong said with a chuckle.
"Bandit, you guys go ahead and set up camp. Anyway, let's continue." Aeon Yong said.
The mortal named Bandit nodded with a sigh.
As for why one of them were called bandit, its a bit of a story. In his early days, he would laugh at non-married men in the group saying if he reached the age of twenty-five without having a spouse he might as well just join some of the bandit household because the clan might be sabotaging him. Well, he did get married but at the age of twenty-seven because some problems had to be settled.
The group of seven mortal cautiously made their way to the spot to prepare for camp while Aeon Ion and Yong advanced for a while.
On their way, Aeon Yong suddenly stopped Aeon Ion.
"This is not good." Yong said, his fine hair standing up, his senses begging him to add more caution.
"There's nothing here..." Aeon Ion whispered as he held the hilt of his sword.
"Go send our people back, have them send the message- its too slow. Send the bird ahead, ask Uncle to come. I'll wait for you here, let me see if I find something." Aeon Yong said as draws his sword.
They have not encountered a demon beast on their way here and the mortals were skilled enough to go back without getting hurt.
Aeon Ion immediately rushes towards the camp, they have just found an anomaly. It might be a blessing to their clan but most likely a threat. While doing so, he sealed his message into a small jade, inserting into a messenger bird's pouch and sending it back to the clan. Unfortunately they only have one, otherwise he would have just sent another to the camp.
Upon seeing the camp, he whistled to catch their attention before taking out blood soaked cloth and waving it.
Bandit and two other people's eyes widened when he saw the cloth, his body involuntary moved to pack up. The other four, took a few seconds before following. With seven people working together, the camp was dismantled, the fire was out before they were on their way back the clan territory.
As for Aeon Ion, the moment he confirmed that they saw the signal, he rushed back to Aeon Yong.
After a few minutes, Aeon Ion spotted Uncle Yong rapidly weaving through the trees towards him. Despite the muddy ground his foot still didn't show signs of resistance even breaking through vegetation easily.
As Aeon Yong moved, he would shoot an arrow or two every once in a while however whatever thing was chasing him didn't seem to slow down still gaining a bit of distance on him.
When he finally joined Aeon Ion, they retreated to a different direction to let the rest of the hunting team to return safely. They retreated for some distance before deciding to retreat uphill where they can fight with advantage, after all Aeon Yong's arrows were about to run out.
The figure finally showed itself in front of Aeon Ion and Aeon Yong.
"How?" Aeon Yong whispered with his eyes wide, this person looked young yet he was already that strong.
After all, he was already in his sixties but still in the Middle Stage of Initiate Realm but this person looked like he was in his early twenties yet Aeon Yong felt like he was at least in the Late Stage basing on his speed alone.
The enemy wore a green robe inscribed with golden designs however his inner clothing didn't seem as extravagant as the robe. He also wore a silver gauntlet, durable enough to deflect Aeon Yong's piercing arrows.
"Maybe if you weren't so useless you wouldn't be that weak. Thankfully the heavens sent me here to end your suffering." The young man said with a smirk before charging.
Aeon Yong laughed as he switched to his sword. Aeon Ion's face didn't show an expression however his eyes were a lot colder than before, after all this person was smearing dung on something he built his entire life.
As soon as the green robed man was close enough, he threw a punch stirring the air aimed at Aeon Yong's chest.
Aeon Yong could only use his sword to deflect the punch yet it still tore parts of his clothes.
Aeon Ion was not idle either, taking the opportunity to swing his sword. Unfortunately, the green robed man was able to dodge it before throwing another haymaker at Aeon Yong.
Aeon Yong dodged it this time, mainly because the other person's punch was stronger than he thought. Despite deflecting the punch, his hands were still rattled. Deflecting a stronger punch than the previous one is out of the question, thankfully the haymaker gave him a bit more time than the previous punch.
The green robed man used his gauntlet to attack and defend chipping both Aeon Yong and Aeon Ion's sword, destroying parts of their clothes while giving them unsolicited cuts and bruises but not without getting wounded himself. He knew his body was stronger thus sometimes he would decide to trade an attack for an attack, given that the damage he received was lower than the damage he dealt was worth it for him.
Even with the cuts and bruises the fight continued as if they didn't have them.
Unfortunately, the green robed man still maintained advantage.
'This can't go on, we're getting worn out but he does not look any weaker than earlier. I have to do something.' Aeon Yong thought.
Aeon Yong gritted his teeth, threw out hesitation out of his mind, before deciding to launch an attack, abandoning defense. Taking a punch for a wild swing, a gamble.
Surprisingly enough, Aeon Ion also arrived at the same conclusion and decided to throw and attack even if it meant that the chances that he would get hit in that position would be high after his attack.
The green robed man's eyes widened, feeling the cold steel from his opponent. However this only fed his anger that he threw haymaker after another, exposing his body which the two exploited.
Aeon Yong signaled Aeon Ion to started retreating, there was no way to deal with a stronger opponent going insane without getting a peck from death.
Both of them retreated as they fought, thankfully after a while it seemed like the green robed man got a bit of his sanity back. He snorted before finally slowing down then gradually retreated, feeling pain from his injuries as adrenaline subsided.
Of course the wounded pair, sighed with relief after putting distance between them.
Aeon Yong felt light headed but pain kept him in his head, taking the punch felt like having a log drop down from the sky but felt worse as time passed.
The pair supported each other, putting medical paste on their injuries as they made their way back to their clan.
Aeon Yong finally couldn't stand the pain and decided to chew medical plants they found on the way, hoping that the bitterness takes his mind off the pain.