Zhu Xuan moved fast with all his speed towards the direction of the group led by Lion claw.

He learned from the patrol, the scout who was sent by Lion claw to inform of his arrival in a day has left few hours before his arrival, back to Lion claw's group carrying a message from the commander. He was planning to impersonate the scout and kill Lion claw in a swift movement.

He moved through the forest instead of the pathway for half a day and finally caught up with the scout. He knocked out the scout easily, then removed his clothes and others things he had before killing him. He was surprised to find out the message was about Wolf claw he killed few days back The letter mentioned "There was no message from Wolf claw for few days now. Something must have happened to his group and there may be some people acting against our Blood claw. Be careful and return fast."

Zhu Xuan didn't bother changing the message and moved fast towards the group. After few hours, he reached the group which was travelling towards the direction of the stronghold. No one stopped him and he directly reached the centre of the group where Lion claw was riding a horse.

He walked in front of Lion claw and informed "Leader, I have an important message from Commander Blood claw and he asked me to deliver the message in no one's presence."

Lion claw is a big burly man with tremendous strength, but he is not very intelligent. He figured there must be some problem when he heard commander personally gave the message, and both of them left the group and reached half a mile away from the group. Zhu Xuan got close and delivered the letter with the message to Lion claw.

After reading the message, Lion claw furrowed his brows. With a frown, he asked "I understand the importance of the message but you don't need me to be alone to deliver this message."

Zhu Xuan was expecting the question and answered with respect "Leader, this is not the full message. Commander believe there is a mole in every group, so he asked me to deliver it in person. He gave me instruction to give the message to you in person when we are alone."

As he said that, he looked around like someone might be watching them from the shadows and moved close to Lion claw, like he was about to whisper the rest of the message to him. Zhu Xuan gave such an act that Lion claw believed him completely and didn't suspect him at all.

As soon as he moved close to Lion claw, Zhu Xuan immediately took the dagger in both hands and slashed at Lion claw's neck. Lion claw was startled and tried to block the daggers, but he was able to only block one dagger with his hand, while the other cut his throat and blood started spewing out. He tried to make a sound but only blood came out of his mouth. In a few moments he fell down and died.

Zhu Xuan having fought Wolf claw already know only their hands are too strong and he can kill them easily if they were attacked before using their technique. He looked at the dead Lion claw in the ground and then at the daggers he is holding in his hands that killed Lion claw. He was very satisfied with these wind elemental daggers. These are the daggers he found in Wolf claw's possession after killing him, and decided to equip them when he impersonated someone.

After clearing Lion claw's body, he changed himself to Lion claw and walked to the group and shouted "I got information that Wolf claw is in danger and someone is hunting their group down. Half of you follow me to assist Wolf claw and the rest take the prisoners and keep moving towards the stronghold."

He didn't give them a chance to think too much and immediately split the group in two and moved into the forest.

What followed was the same tragic ending the Wolf claw members had few days ago, a complete massacre. He went back to the rest of the group moving towards the stronghold, and used the same tactic of their leader being killed and the rest have to escape. He killed all the bandits same way and rescued the young men and women they imprisoned.

After that, he disposed of all the dead bodies so that no one could find about the killing and inform the stronghold.

Night came by, but Zhu Xuan didn't rest and moved towards the direction of the last group of the bandits outside the stronghold, Eagle claw's bandit group. This time he impersonated a close subordinate of Lion claw and moved fast through the forest in hope to reach the other group on time.

Few hours before dawn, he found the road Eagle claw's group was travelling and after a while, he sighted the resting group on the side of the road and moved fast towards them. The guards blocked him when they saw a person running towards them with bloodied clothes. When he got close, the guards realised who it was and asked him why he is here in such a situation.

He shouted "I need to talk to the leader Eagle claw and inform him something very important. Let me talk to him fast."

Eagle claw woke up from his sleep due to the commotion and found it was the close subordinate of Lion claw. He was shocked to find the bloodied bandit in front of him and asked "Did something happen? Where is Lion claw and the rest of the members?"

Zhu Xuan replied with a low voice "Can we speak alone Leader Eagle claw? I can't speak the details in front of others"

Eagle claw thought about it and moved a little distance away, where they won't be able to hear their conversation but still in their eyesight. Zhu Xuan cursed in mind that he couldn't take him away in distance and kill him off like Lion claw. But he still calmed himself and said with a low voice "I'm sure you have already received news from commander about not receiving any contact from Wolf claw and have been asked to move fast towards the stronghold."

Eagle claw nodded because few hours before sunset his scout returned with a message from commander about Wolf claw.

Zhu Xuan continued "We also started moving fast towards the stronghold, but we were surrounded by the Wolf claw and his group. There were some masked men with him and they started killing us suddenly. Even some of the people from our own group started killing us. Leader Lion claw draw the attention of Wolf claw and the masked man towards him and ran towards the stronghold. He asked us to inform you and rush towards the stronghold as soon as possible and inform the commander in case he wouldn't be able to make it."

Eagle claw was terrified of the information. He didn't expect Wolf claw would betray them and brought some people to kill their group.

Zhu Xuan continued with an urgent tone "We need to leave for the stronghold immediately Leader Eagle claw, and it's better to take only your most trusted subordinates and leave the rest to follow us later."

Eagle claw fell hook, line and sinker for Zhu Xuan's plot and only took ten of his trusted subordinates and moved fast towards the stronghold informing the rest to move towards the stronghold once the dawn arrives.

Since it was still night time, it was easy for Zhu Xuan to kill these people when they moved quite a distance away from the group of bandits. Though, Eagle claw created some trouble since he had sharp battle instinct and the moment Zhu Xuan attacked he avoided the kill blow, but he still got injured heavily in his chest and bled profusely. With that heavy injury, he and the rest of his trusted subordinates didn't last long and was killed soon by Zhu Xuan.

He collected their loots after killing them and was surprised to find a Red Ginseng in the possession of Eagle claw. He was in the verge of breaking through to ninth stage for a while now. He is sure he can breakthrough with this Red Ginseng. He stored it away safely, now is not the time to break through; he needs to kill the rest of the bandits soon.

He moved fast towards the resting bandits and started killing them in silence of the night without making any sound.

When he killed more than half of the resting bandits silently, he unfortunately came across a patrol. Since he was discovered, he started killing with even more ferocity and speed, went all out and started another brutal killing frenzy. It was already dawn when he finally tracked down and killed the few bandits that escaped.

When he was planning to leave towards the stronghold, he came across a fierce storm. So he found a cave nearby and stayed there until the storm subsides. At the same time, he decided he should use this time breakthrough to the ninth stage.

So he sat down and swallowed the red ginseng and started to run his mantra and absorbing the Qi from elemental stones and pills.

After a few hours of cultivation, he successfully broke through to the ninth stage of Body purification stage.