The Scum Is A ***

"Hahh… hahhh… haaaa – " Feng Mo and Jing Kang panted as their sweat rolled down their cheek and fell on the floor. However, the drop of their sweat was immediately evaporated because of the scorching heat around them.

Inhale, exhale… the air was already heated up, and every time they breathe, their nose and mouth felt they were being burned, as well as their lungs. Their face is red, and their whole body was bathed in their sweat.

After they used up all of the torches they have left, they immediately ran to another place, only for their heart to sink and face to pale when they saw the place is empty. Not even a speck of dust could be seen. They continued to run, hoping they\'ll see torches in the next place. However, there was none. Their only choice left is to run, hoping for the fireballs on their tail to not catch up to them.

However, what you feared will come the most when you wish for it to not come. The fireballs surrounded them and started to advance towards them. The fireballs trapped them, emitting more heat than they did earlier, suppressing them two in the middle. It was like they are two pieces of meat blocks that was being cooked in a giant cauldron.

The oxygen is running out. Feng Mo and Jing Kang feared, what they will breathe the next time is fire instead of oxygen after the oxygen ran out. Not only the oxygen was decreasing rapidly, but the small amount of oxygen left is needed to be divided between the two of them.

"Hah…. Hahhh… haaaaah…" Feng Mo closed his eyes as he regulated his breathing.

Jing Kang turned to Feng Mo. "What… are… you… do… ing?" he asked in between his gasps. They are limiting whatever activity they have to do in order to conserve more energy, and air.

After Feng Mo adjusted his breathing to light, the color of his face turned better. "Back in Xinfaxian Sect… when we were young… founder taught us two important things – " he said and opened his eyes. " - one: to run faster than a horse on land. Two: to breathe better than a fish in the sea." He said and turned to Jing Kang. "When you inhale, hold your breath longer. Then, exhale. Repeat the process." He told him.

Jing Kang didn\'t answer and just gave him a slight nod before he closed his eyes. As a young master, he didn\'t need to run since he has servants to do menial tasks for him. Thus, he never ran out of breath.

However, his situation right now is the worst he has ever been in. Breathing is the most important thing to do by the humans; more important than eating. They can\'t live without breathing, and they would be deemed dead if they aren\'t breathing.

"Thank you." Jing Kang said after he had become familiar with the breathing technique Feng Mo taught him.

"You\'re welcome." Feng Mo said before he turned to look at the fireballs advancing again towards them. "How should we deal with them?" he asked. He is more of a brawn than the brain, while Jing Kang is the brain-type.

Jing Kang exhaled a breath before he spoke. "I have a tool here. I think, we can try catching them with this tool." He said.

Feng Mo turned to him. "Let\'s try it." he said.

They were already at the end of their rope. There\'s no harm in trying one or two.

…

Jing Cheng leapt up to another floating step and frowned. "The steps… the gap between them are becoming wider." He said.

Jing Bai, following behind Jing Cheng, leapt to the step near Jing Cheng. "Woah - !" he exclaimed when his foot slipped.

Jing Cheng\'s eyes widened and he immediately turned. "Jing Bai!" he called and immediately jumped down the step behind him. He fell on his knees and leaned down, stretching his hand to Jing Bai to catch him.

"Da ge!" Jing Bai called and immediately caught Jing Cheng\'s hand before he could fall. "Thanks…" he muttered and smiled as he let out a sigh of relief.

"Be careful." Jing Cheng told him as he pulled Jing Bai up. "To be safer, let\'s not jump. Let\'s try climbing up the steps." He told him and looked up the nearest floating step from them floating above them.

Because of the height difference, they can\'t accurately calculate the gap they needed to cross to the next step.

"Yes." Jing Bai nodded.

Jing Cheng turned to Jing Bai. "Do you have Jing Kang\'s talisman?" he asked.

"Yes. Ah Hei, Ah Kang and Qian Lin\'s talismans are still fine. They should be okay for now, or the talisman would be damaged." Jing Bai explained and took out the three talismans with Jing Hei\'s, Qian Lin\'s and Jing Kang\'s name and birthday written.

The talismans are tied to their life. It tells them whether the others were in danger by showing the cut on the talismans. The more the cuts the talismans sustained, the greater the danger the others are facing.

Jing Cheng sighed in relief. Aside from the tracking talisman Jing Kang made, he also gave them the life talismans for each of them for them to see each other\'s condition. "Jing Kang is smart. Whoever is with him, he should have a way for them to escape the danger." He said. "That is on the premise that the other can protect him." he added.

Jing Bai looked at Jing Cheng. "Among us all, the ones who have the least fighting skills are Li Tian and Ah Kang. However, Li Tian can cover his flaw with his casting skill while Ah Kang can use talismans." He said. "Next to them, there\'s Qian Lin. Then, Feng Mo, Xi Xing and Jing Hei are equal in strength. After them, there\'s me. Then, Gong Xian, Kang Ce and Xi Ming. Da ge should be stronger than them, and is equal with Fei Yin, Sun Yi and Chen Han. Then, there\'s Cheng Sheng, who is both a brain and brawn." He wryly smiled.

"No…" Jing Cheng shook his head. "Fei Yin… I feel he\'s like Cheng Sheng… and Yu Sheng." He looked at Jing Bai. "He\'s hiding his strength, like Yu Sheng." He added. Cheng Sheng might have hidden his strength before, but he was exposed after the incident in Youxiwang Sect.

Jing Bai\'s eyes widened. "Da ge means… Fei Yin…" he said and gulped. "However, Yu Sheng is already crazily strong. As well as Cheng Sheng. If there\'s also Fei Yin who is actually of the same strength as them two…" his jaw dropped. "Does the Xinfaxian Sect still plans to let us live?!" he exclaimed in shock.

Jing Cheng frowned, clearly displeased with the fact in front of them. However, they can\'t do anything about it. "Let\'s forget about them. Once we reached the Spring of Life, our power will increase exponentially. It\'ll be a matter of time we\'ll surpass Fei Yin\'s and Cheng Sheng\'s strength." he told Jing Bai. "We should find Jing Hei, Jing Kang and Qian Lin first to regroup, then let\'s continue looking for the Cave of Retribution and the Spring." He said.

Jing Bai nodded. "Yes, da ge!" he answered.

Jing Cheng patted his shoulder. "Let\'s be more careful climbing up the floating steps." He said.

"En."

…

"Ai. I missed – " Sun Yi sighed after he tried to stab \'Sun Yi\'.

Kang Ce clicked his tongue as he cut the arm of \'Kang Ce\'. However, \'Kang Ce\' dodged and his arm was left with a shallow cut. "Damn it!" Kang Ce cursed as he advanced to \'Kang Ce\' to kill \'Kang Ce\'.

On the other hand, the usually silent and sleepy Gong Xian was having an intense fight against \'Gong Xian\'. Their fight was fierce, and Gong Xian\'s usually sleepy expression is now ferocious as he faced against \'Gong Xian\'.

The three of them \'luckily\' met the impostors they tried to disposed of yesterday. Usually, when faced with opponents that look similar to themselves, they would propose to kill the opponent of their ally so that they won\'t be distracted and have an idea of killing \'themselves\'.

However, they aren\'t the usual contestants. Sun Yi loves fun and interesting things. Kang Ce is seriously ill-tempered. And Gong Xian is sleep-lover. Thus, they didn\'t speak any words and directly faced \'themselves\' as their opponent. Also, they knew, aside from a physical fight, this fight is also psychological. If they saw their ally kill \'their self\', they would have a doubt their ally has a secret grudge against them that\'s why their ally killed \'their self\'. An infighting would be inevitable.

Sun Yi continued to \'play\' with his opponent, while Kang Ce is impatient to kill his opponent to prove he is stronger. Meanwhile, Gong Xian who surprisingly was fighting fiercely was glaring the whole time at his opponent.

He was annoyed. During a short break in their fight, he annoyingly glared at his opponent. "I won\'t let you approach shifu with your ill intentions!" he yelled and attacked his opponent again.

He was annoyed… since he is thinking that his opponent\'s objective is his shifu, instead of himself.