When Marvin saw the distance between Austin and himself was narrowing, he was overjoyed. In an
attempt to upset Austin, now and then, Marvin taunted him.
'Wow! Marvin is one persistent guy!'
Austin determined. Since he couldn't change it, he ignored Marvin completely and focused on escaping
instead.
"Boy, you won't get away! You should just give up. If you hand over the earth spirit fruits now, perhaps
I'll spare your worthless life."
"You want my earth spirit fruits? Then go get them yourself!" snapped Austin over his shoulder as he
leaped over a massive row of thorny undergrowth. After landing on the other side, Austin realized that
his body's vital energy would be depleted soon.
There was a loud bang from behind Austin which sent thick twigs and leaves flying through the air as
Marvin began trudging through the brambly thorns!
Thorny branches and twigs that blocked his way, shattered, whizzing into the sky when Marvin's potent
vital energy collided past.
As he made his way through the underbrush, a long passageway right down the middle was created.
"Crash! Crush! Smash!"
Rather than go around the boulders blocking Marvin, he slammed into them!
The large stones instantly disintegrated and dusty rubble was all that remained.
"Hey, you don't need to be so desperate, do you? It's no big deal! Just a few fruits!"
Austin called out over his shoulder as he continued trying to put more distance between himself and his
fearsome pursuant.
A few steps more and Austin saw a swamp come into view ahead of him.
He quickly scanned it with his spiritual sense and then, overjoyed, Austin beamed. He had a brilliant
idea.
Picking up speed, Austin rushed at the swamp in the distance.
"Brat! We'll just see how much further you can get!" jeered Marvin, gnashing his teeth and drawing
more vital energy to speed up.
In a flash, Austin was in the swamp.
"Ssh!" the noise of metal scraping leather reverberated as Austin unsheathed his sword.
There was a swoosh, when his vital energy imbued blade cut through the air as Austin thrust at floating
driftwood.
He struck the wood with only one strike. Then, he turned and darted to the forest without glancing
behind him.
Heart pounding, as his adrenaline raced through his veins with his blood, Austin ducked behind a
towering cedar tree in the blink of an eye before continuing to flee farther into the forest.
"You should slow down, enjoy your run!" shouted Austin right before he vanished.
Behind him, in the swamp Austin had left a surprise for Marvin.
"Roar!"
A low, dense, rolling noise from the bowels of the swamp, met with the water splashing followed by a
grumble which made every leaf quiver, from the swamp to the forest.
Water and mud flew in every direction as the wood sprang to life and rose up.
Thick layers of sludge dripped from the wood, slowly revealing an enormous lizard.
Its large and formidable tail swept across the surface like a steel whip, making the entire swamp quake.
Splattering ooze whipped up by the tail, rained down everywhere.
The lid of the lizard's left eye was bleeding. A tell-tale sign of where Austin's blade slashed into it.
There were only a few places on a giant rock lizard that were weak, and the eyes happened to be one
of them.
Blood gushed from the injured eye because of the force of Austin's impact, and the lizard was in a
great deal of pain.
Flailing wildly, the cold-blooded reptile burned with rage.
Flames of fury danced in the reptile's eyes.
This was Marvin's greeting as he got to the swamp.
Whipping his head toward Marvin, the incensed giant rock lizard locked eyes on him.
Hunching down into the mud on its four stumpy legs, the lizard roared, baring a mouthful of razor-like
incisors.
Unexpectedly, the monstrous lizard sprang up, and with mud splashing, it pounced on Marvin.
With Austin long gone, the lizard naturally thought Marvin was his attacker, and the wounded creature
lashed out.
The pent-up anger from the ambush that the lizard suffered wasn't the only reason it was left needing
to vent.
A few days ago, the lizard was deceived by a vexing young man, which left it infuriated.
So, the enormous lizard unleashed its fury for the old and recent grudges at the same time.
Detecting the giant rock lizard's spleen, Marvin went slightly pale in the face. He didn't dare take the
power of the ferocious beast lightly.
He howled as he swung his vital energy infused fists at the huge lizard.
"Crack!" the sound of his fist pummeling into the thick, hard, uneven scaled skull of the giant rock lizard
reverberated through the air.
Under the force of his fist slamming into the lizard, Marvin was thrown back several feet and the wind
was knocked from him.
The giant rock lizard flew back too, crashing down into the marsh and splashed smelly mud up in its
wake.
Although, Marvin managed to hold his ground and remain unharmed when his fist bashed into the giant
rock lizard, he didn't get the upper hand, either.
Glancing in the direction of the forest he saw no trace of Austin.
He felt the chilling stare of scarlet eyes as the giant rock lizard glared at him. It was clear to Marvin that
the lizard wasn't letting the matter or him get away.
A wild rush of rage washed over Marvin and he glowered back at the giant rock lizard. It crouched
down, ready to strike again at any moment.
"You asked for it! Don't blame me for what happens!" shouted Marvin, stressing each syllable.
A wave of dreadful vital energy rushed forth.
There was a flash of silvery light when one of Marvin's low-grade spiritual weapons, a silver trident,
suddenly materialized in his hand.
The trident turned into a ferocious silver dragon and lunged at the giant rock lizard.
Letting loose a terrible roar, the giant lizard fearlessly charged at the dragon.
The two clashed, battling each other fiercely.
Meanwhile, deep in the forest, Austin slowed his pace.
As he heard the roaring of the ensuing battle between Marvin and the beast, Austin smiled slightly.
He never thought things could go this smoothly!
In fact, when he came across the swamp, he recognized it immediately and knew it was the habitat of
the giant rock lizard he fought with last time.
For that reason, he'd used his spiritual sense to search the swamp and discovered the beast had
returned from the lake.
That's when his inspiring idea hit him.
Austin decided to provoke the giant rock lizard, hoping it would waylay Marvin and give him a chance to
escape. To his surprise, it worked better than he'd hoped!
However, Austin, knew he wasn't in the clear yet and merely paused briefly before rushing off at
breakneck speed through the forest.
In all honesty, he knew the lizard wasn't much of a match for Marvin, and it would only buy him a little
time.
Once Marvin disposed of the beast, he would be able to easily overtake Austin.
What he should do was to find a place to hide nearby.
An hour went by.
A man in white stood where Austin was not long ago. His clothes were a mess and blood stained. A
sullen expression was etched into his face. It was Marvin!
As soon as he killed the giant rock lizard, Marvin raced after Austin into the forest.
It only took a moment of deliberating for Marvin to work out which direction Austin escaped.
Marvin broke into a run in that direction instantly.
His perception was dead on; it was the direction that Austin had fled.
Marvin rushed along and came to a clearing in the forest.
In the clearing, a group of adventurers were resting.
Five disciples made up the group, and had been hunting at the Beast Mountain for more than ten days.
They were counting the treasures they'd gathered over the past few days while relaxing.
Looking at the beast cores, magic herbs and fruits they'd worked so hard to get, the group were in high
spirits, and chatted amongst each other, laughing happily.
"Hey! Who is that?" asked one of them, indicating the direction Marvin approached from.
The others turned and caught sight of a figure in a dull white robe walking closer.
'It's Marvin Su!'
Everyone recognized him right away.
Marvin was the fifth top ranking outer disciples of the Sun Sect. Therefore, nearly every outer disciple
knew him.
The five outer disciples were confused, but, quickly stood up and greeted him.
They were all looking questioningly at Marvin, wondering what brought him there so abruptly and what
he wanted.
Having heard so many stories about disciples from their sect fighting other disciples over treasures
earned on Beast Mountain put them all on alert.
After all, they'd obtained a large number of precious beast cores and magical herbs over the last few
days.
"Hello, Brother Su! What a pleasant surprise meeting you here on Beast Mountain," said one of the
young men as he cupped his hands in respectful greeting to Marvin. He seemed to be the head of the
team of disciples.
Marvin remained silent, and looked surly as his eyes darted around, looking for something.
He flipped his palm up, revealing a yellow piece of paper that he pushed toward the young man.
At first the man stood there startled, but soon enough it clicked, and he reached out, taking the paper
with both hands.
On the paper was a drawing of a boy who looked about fifteen, and was dressed like a disciple of Sun
Sect.
"Have you seen this man in the last couple of days?" asked Marvin, his voice was deep and
raspy.
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