Sam looked around. He noticed some presence but he wasn't able to pin point what it is. He tried to ignore it and move on and just when he took a step forward.

*Swoosh* an arrow flew over and almost hit him on his face. Sam dodged it narrowly and immediately took out the Golden Crescent and turned on the bow mode. He aimed the bow as he nocked the arrow, in the direction the arrow came.

Just as he was about to release the arrow, he sensed some danger. He immediately shot the arrow and ducked.

*Swoosh*

A spear flew over the place where his head was before when he was in standing position. The spear pierced through the tree in a distance away from him.

Before he could make sense of the situation, a fire ball came from behind. Sam did his best to dodge and then he was in a situation where he has to dodge continuously.

All type of spells, and cold weapons flew over to him. Sam shot some arrows in retaliation and one of them actually stuck a person.

"AHHHHHHHHHH.." He heard a scream from a spot and he locked the position. He took out arrows one after another and shot at the same spot.

"AHHHHH…" He heard another scream, and by the end of the scream it became less and quite as if the person has fainted. And this made all the attacks stopped.

Sam stood there with the golden crescent in his hands and looked around. His face is calm and collected. Until now, from the attacks he dodged, he knew that there are a lot of people who are attacking. If not for his survival instinct and his cultivation of spirit and soul, he wouldn't have been able to dodge them at all.

The things he deduced from the ambush are that, they are more than 10 people, more than half of them have higher cultivation than him, they aren't experienced in this. But there is one thing he wants to know. Who?

Who is the one making a move on him and what motive they had? He went through the people who might have motives. Some names popped up.

Might be someone from black water.

Eisen's family.

Jessie's father.

Even though he has some other enemies, he has some closure with those disputes.

Then he thought of the possibilities of being one of the three making this attack.

Black water, the lack of experience and expertise in the ambush isn't something people from black water will have. The Black water is the biggest underground organisation and they will at least have some expertise in doing ambush. So, they can be eliminated.

Jessie's father, that man might not want to offend Maya again with this action and if this failed it would be counted as more than an offence. There is a very small chance and it is almost negligible.

Eisen's family, they don't have enough power to mobilize this many people in Falcon Cliff city.

This made him even more confused as he can't think of any enemies, he made who will attack in this situation.

All these thoughts went through his mind in a few seconds. Then he heard a voice from a distance.

"No wonder, you got the first rank. You have some skills." The voice was filled with confidence and superiority.

Sam didn't reply. He is looking for the voice. He could sense that he is around, but the other party was almost out of his range. He could only faintly sense the other party's location.

He turned towards that direction and nocked an arrow. But this arrow is a ranked arrow. Even though it is only rank one arrow, it will still hurt. Sam started concentrating and the arrow immediately glowed with golden light. At the tip of the arrow there is a golden fire ball forming.

Before the other party could, react, Sam shot the arrow. A golden ray flashed through the air. The arrow missed the target but the other party got caught in the blast.

"You have balls. But do you think that you can get past us now. You are surrounded by twenty people and all of us have higher cultivation than you. Let us see who will win." The same voice came but this time it is a little bit trembling and shaky.

As soon as the other party finished saying, Sam felt many people running towards him. Before he knew it, there are almost ten people with all sorts of cold weapons and at the same time the ranged spells are coming.

Sam immediately became tensed. There are all attacks coming from all sides. Sam stored away the golden crescent and took out his claws. Even though these claws are temporary, the material of the claws are of the Golden Blood tiger.

He immediately ran towards the city. There is almost no possibility of winning, so he thought of an idea. Sam immediately ran towards the City.

And the warriors who are coming towards him happened to be on the same direction. Sam took his attack poster, he showed the claws towards them like a tiger, he pounced towards the group.

When he landed, he immediately caught one person's leg and tore away a piece of flesh.

"AHHHHH…" The guy immediately screamed. Sam didn't stop and got on his all fours. He looked at the team like a beast. He is after all, fully pissed off. But Sam, didn't have any hopes of winning and he knew it. He just healed himself but he is not his top condition and even if he was in his top shape, he would have very minute chance of escaping without much damage.

And now, he has to deal with this bunch.

Even the group was stunned. They didn't expect that this person would take this kind of posture and they immediately got confused.

Sam looked at a guy who is a little bit separated from the group and pounced on him like any beast would do. The other guy isn't prepared and swung his sabre at him.

Sam dodged it and twisted his body in the air. He used his dexterity and agility to its maximum and when he landed on the guy, he locked the other guy's hip and swung his arms. He tore through the arm and his claws dug in that person's chest.

But the other person who is obviously stronger than Sam, kicked him away and tried to stand up. The deep claw on the chest started bleeding profusely.

Sam landed on his fours again and looked at the group. The other guys came out of stupor and looked at him in a weird way. They are confused and surprised at the same time. They never saw anyone move in this way.

Just when they were about to attack, Sam swung his claws in the air and wind blades flew towards them.

With that attack, Sam decisively turned around and started running, but the run is a little bit weird because, he is running on his all fours. He is running like a cheetah.

Even though he can attack them with other elements and attacks, his main aim isn't fighting them but to escape into the city. He needs to attract the attention of the city guards. From the past incident the city guards are really on high alert.

Sam ran very fast when he is on all fours. This is a type of movement technique he made himself in his past life. Even though it will help him move faster it will consume his stamina heavily.

When Sam was a distance away from entering the core of the region, a fire ball came and hit him squarely on his back. Even though the attack was mostly reduced by his coat, it disrupted his rhythm and slipped. He rolled over the ground and laid down. Then before he knew it, a sword came and made a slash on his chest.

Sam gritted his teeth in pain and contracted his chest muscles to sustain the blood loss. But he didn't scream. He just looked at the guys who are nearing him with hatred and coldness.

When he tried to pick himself up, a water sphere hit him on the chest where the sword slash was. The bleeding increased.

Next the barrage of attacks came as tried to move. But none of the attacks are fatal. The cold weapons, weren't able to make a damage through the feather coat and they concentrated their attacks on his chest and legs.

Sam gritted his teeth and used all his energy to launch a fire ball into the air. All the city guards were alerted and immediately came running over. The group didn't realise what Sam did and just thought that Sam missed the shot.

By the time they realized it, they were all surrounded by more than forty city guards in which more than half of them are in late stage Novice.

The group stopped attacking and Sam just laid on the floor silently. He bled from the wounds and scars but he never let out even a whimper of pain out of his mouth.

"Do you guys think you can arrest me? Do you even know who I am?" The person who talked to Sam previously spoke again. The City guards didn't even speak when a majestic voice came from a far.

"Zeke maverick. The Eldest son of the Marquis Blue flame. May I know why you are here?" When the City guards heard this voice, they felt surprised and nervous at the same time. They knew that son of the Marquis is not a person who some small fries like them could deal with.

But they also felt relieved, because they didn't do anything rashly.

"Count Falcon. You are here. I am just testing out the candidates who are selected to the special branch of the academy."

When Sam heard this, he finally felt at ease. He is thinking if the target was truly from his previous enemies. But after a moment of ease, anger and hatred came over. These bunch of assholes who are at least at Level 3 Novice ganged up on him and now they are telling him that they are testing. He felt like tearing them into pieces.

Sam slowly made himself stand up and looked at the group with cold eyes. Even though he was burning inside, he didn't show it outside. His face became completely cold. He stored his claws away and is now just looking at the group of people to etch their faces in his mind.

"Testing? Seems like your testing standards too high to think that you will use twenty Novices with higher cultivations to attack him in an ambush." Count Falcon spoke with sarcasm. He is definitely not happy that someone is causing this much ruckus in his territory.

"Well, it is just so-so." Zeke said nonchalantly as if it is only normal.

"I think we should discuss the rest of the details in my mansion." Count said as he gestured to the group. Then he turned towards Sam and said.

"I think it is better if you also come." Sam nodded and followed him. On the way he started healing himself slowly with his remaining miniscule amount of energy. When he reached the Count mansion, he was led to a meeting room which is a bit larger than the previous one he met with Count.

Inside, the room there are already people waiting and all of them are familiar to him. They are the weird trio, hawk, Kelly, Drew, Philip, Ray and Drew. All the people from the top 10 rankings of the tournament. He also noticed something else. Except Hawk and Kelly, the rest of them are all injured.

Their faces are paled and weak. When they saw Sam, they didn't seem surprised at all.

Count took the head seat of the long table while the rankers sat on one side. The group of attackers sat on the other side and the people who don't have a seat are standing.

Zeke sat in the nearest seat to the Count and his face was full of superiority.

Sam just tended to his wounds without caring about the meeting.

"Zeke, maybe you could say why you attacked all my top ten rankers of my City?" Count asked with a cold look.

Zeke smiled mockingly as he eyed the ten people and said. "I am just testing the country bumpkins whether they are eligible for the special privileged branch that was going to start. But from the looks of it, they don't seem that much. They might as well withdraw, lest they embarrass themselves."

Count frowned in displeasure and the candidates didn't seem to be in best of their moods after they heard that.

"Last time I checked that seemed to be my job. Marquis himself has assigned me this job. Now, why would you interfere in this?" Count asked with an even colder tone.

Just before Zeke was about to reply, a voice came from the door.

"Because, he didn't get a place in the special branch from the Marquis city quota and he is here to snatch a place from our city. Isn't it right? Zeke."

Sam looked at the familiar lady who walked into the room. It is none other than Maya.

Zeke's face immediately turned ugly and rest of the group also has same expressions.

"Zeke, I wonder how your father will feel after what you are doing? First, you aren't competent enough to make it into the quota and now you are ganging up with numbers against the people who has lower cultivations than you. He will be severely disappointed, won't he?" Maya took a seat at the end of the table and spoke.

"Artisan Maya, what are you doing here?" Zeke asked in a cold tone. His sense of superiority was completely gone. Sam looked at him and gave a mocking smile.

But his eyes are cold and shone with a ruthless light. Count and Maya also noticed this and for some unknown reason they felt that Zeke would remember this day and regret it for the rest of his life.

"Well, this is my birth place. It is not weird for me to be here. But, the esteemed eldest son of the Marquis is here with his lackeys, that is a bit weird isn't it?" She answered in a sarcastic and mocking tone.

The rest of the people following Zeke all had ugly expression when Maya scanned her gaze over them. Zeke didn't know what to say and finally gave up on explaining and stood up. He wants to leave the place immediately.

"Count Falcon. Thanks for your hospitality, but I have to leave now." He didn't even have time to think to come up with an excuse as he stood up and walked towards the door. But before he opened the door, someone called from behind.

"Wait." Zeke turned around and looked at Drew who stood up and started walking towards the group. He went face to face with Zeke and asked.

"Leave your names before you go. That would make it easier for me when I visit the Marquis city."

Drew's gaze was sharp and collected when he said this. He is fully pissed off. These days he is already vexed about the fact that Jack is a better swordsman than him and now a bunch of people turns up randomly and beats the shit out of him by ganging up on him. He is really pissed and if he didn't take his revenge he might as well stop cultivating.

"Hahahaha.." The room is filled with laughter. Zeke and his lackeys are laughing uncontrollably. The Zeke said.

"You can come and find me. The rest of them will be with me. If you can take me on, they won't be a problem anyway." Then he left without even turning back. Drew is even more frustrated. When they were gone, Maya stood up and said.

"You guys don't mind this. One day you will be surpassing him and you can take him down at that time. The Marquis is a reasonable man and he won't make a fuss if you beat him fair and square.

Even though she is trying to make them feel better, that didn't help much. Maya sighed and looked at Sam and she felt a bit startled.

Sam's expression is a bit menacing right now and the rest of the candidates are too busy with themselves to notice but the Count noticed this.

Sam's eyes are glowing with a cruel light. He is like a predator who is out for blood. His expression even gave them chills.

Jack and Philip turned towards Sam to see what are his thoughts about this, when they looked at his expression they unconsciously gulped.

"What is wrong with him?" By this time Kelly also noticed this and asked Philip who is near him. Now, all the people are looking at Sam. Even the weird trio are concentrating on him.

Jack shook his head and said. "You should either kill the wounded beast or ignore it. But it you play or make fun of it when it is down, other wise its recovery will be your biggest regret."

All of them are confused but Hawk, Philip and the weird trio understood vaguely and they have only one thought in their minds. 'Beast has locked its prey.'

But the person who is in the centre of attention didn't notice them or rather didn't bother to notice them and walked back to his mansion.

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