64 Probing

While the rest of the robed men were still reeling in shock at the unexpected intrusion, their leader return a 'glare' towards Shuhang. Suddenly, the surrounding air became heavier and in his hand, a blood red sword appeared, as if out of nowhere. The most terrifying thing about this sword is the aura of death and despair that it radiated. Something like that is only possible were it to taste the blood of thousands upon thousands of lives.

*SWOOSH!*

With a seemingly 'gentle' swing, a dark red light shot towards Shuhang mercilessly. Everything in its path were threatened to be devoured. Even the surrounding seemed to become dimmer than normal. Soon, the light fully envelope the light post along with the figure of Shuhang and continued flying off into the night sky. Seeing as there was no resistance to their leader's attack, the robed men visibly relaxed their posture. That didn't last long however as they soon heard a voice behind them.

"Hou... that was at least 5th stage level."

"!?"

Quickly turning around, the men found the person who was supposed to have been reduced to space dust from the attack. What was more concerting is that he didn't even look perturbed. It was as if the attack earlier didn't even happen at all and everything was just their day dreaming.

"It's an 'Awakened'! Activate the barrier!"

With the sudden shout of their leader, everyone snapped out of their stunned state and went into action. Immediately after, half of them took out staves and surrounded Shuhang. The other half took weapons such as swords, daggers, and even a scythe as they hastily stood in front of the stave users. It's as if they have practiced hundreds, thousands of times before as they moved with flawless precision.

Not a moment too soon, the staves gained a glow as a black dome covered the whole area they were in. As one who is extremely proficient with the use of spatial magic, Shuhang could immediately feel that they were enclosed in a different space, separate from the real world. The best part of this though was the lack of 'connection' towards the world. This means he could go all out if need be and he won't get 'rejected' by the world.

The leader of the robed men at this time became extremely wary of Shuhang as he still calmly watching everything happening in front of him in interest. His experience with fighting against the 'Awakened' in their dark barrier usually starts with panic and then despair as they realized their situation. This strange... 'awakened' in front of him though, he was still calmly watching everything as if nothing in the world could affect him.

Shuhang on the other hand wasn't as serene as he portrayed himself to be. When he checked them all out earlier with his 'Library' through the 'Divine Sight', he understood that they were not natives of this world. It wasn't strange that they were speaking in a language that he's never heard of before yet he still could somehow understand their intention... The worst part is that he still couldn't get their full information even with the 'Library of Heaven's Path'!

(This is impossible! How can they evade the 'Library'? Unless their origin came from a time even before the library...? Also, wtf is an 'awakened'?) thought Shuhang grimly as he went over every possibilities he could think of. Shuhang had put his many hypothesis on hold however as he noticed the absence of the one who attacked him earlier. The close combat weapon holders were also advancing towards his position. Possibly trying to end their 'threat' as quickly as they could.

(Hm. No matter. As long as I keep one alive, I could read their memories and find out... No. I should get at least one staff and one melee weapon user.)

With that thought in mind, several sword Qi appeared around his body and shot towards his assailants.

*BANG!* "Ugh!" "ARGH!"

Immediately, all the robed men were blown away before they could even react. After flying for a couple of meters, their bodies were blown apart like popped balloons. In the midst of all the blood and gore, a staff and a scythe user were somehow still in one piece as they were blown away a bit a further from the battle field.

*SWOOSH*

Suddenly, Shuhang could the wind's movement from his back. As if having expected this, a sword with the characters 'Heaven' and 'Sever' on both side of the blades appeared within his hand. Quickly turning around, Shuhang calmly parried every attack as sparks flew with every contact.

Within just a quarter of a minute's time, they had already exchanged hundreds of moves. The only difference is that Shuhang hadn't move a single inch from where he stood while the robed man was already starting to accumulate sweat.

*DING!* *DING!* *DING!*

(Interesting... his sword wasn't cut apart even after this rounds. No. I can see some cracks after each exchange, but they actually regenerated just as quickly... even if I'm holding back a lot.) thought Shuhang in interest at the enemy's weapon.

(Also... just how can this guy be so physically strong when he's not even a cultivator? The 'ancient witches' back 'home' can have the same attack power as those of the same 'rank' or higher, but their physical body are complete shit...)

With his current strength to fight on par with an 'ordinary' tribulation immortal, Shuhang could have easily ended the fight just as quickly as he started if he so wished. The reason he didn't however was to find the capabilities of these guys in case there are other tricks like this 'barrier'. It would be even better if there were backups as he would be able to learn more of their 'methods'.

*BANG!* "OOF!"

Even after fighting for awhile, there weren't any new moves so Shuhang decided to just end it with a kick to his stomach. Even with him holding back as much as possible, the robed man already nearly killed as he was throwing up a copious amount of blood as he struggled to stay standing.

With a light step, Shuhang then appeared in front of the robed man and proceeded to dismember all of his limbs so there wouldn't be any chance of escape or retaliations.

*SWISH!* *BUCHI* *THUD!* *THUD!* *CLANG!*

With all limbs and weapon falling to the floor, Shuhang then mercilessly grabbed his head and spoke in a cold tone.

"Well then. About those questions I mentioned earlier..."