Chương 67: Escort

Blood. Blood everywhere. It took millennia. Countless millennia. But he succeeded. Undisputed Lord of the Outer Realms. The War Demon. — He who calls himself Chi You, The Completed Works by He Shulin, foremost scholar of the Outer Realms Traveling with Yan Ping turned out to be quite interesting. The inner disciple had strong views on what was right and wrong, how to conduct oneself, and did not hesitate to share those views.

Beyond that, he was also happy to share his knowledge, whether that was about specific lectures, fighting, or the small things that made traveling easier. Jianyi was resolved to buy some of the powder that Yan Ping had recommended to repel insects and rodents from their campsite—it wouldn't be necessary once they had climbed a cultivation realm or two, but until then, it would be a boon.

The first day had gone by without any incidents, and it was mid-morning of the second day when they heard loud shouting from beyond a bend in the road ahead of them.

"Follow as a group at your best pace," Ping commanded before he broke into a sprint that was way beyond Jianyi's abilities. They did, however, follow their sect brother as fast as they could. Coming around the bend in the road, they saw two ox-drawn canvas-covered wagons with two men each on the seats. They were half standing and had drawn a mix of long knives, wooden staves, and even a jian to defend themselves from half a dozen attackers, bandits most likely.

As they neared, Yan Ping engaged the bandits—and he did not hold back. A water blade technique cut through one of the attackers, while his spear tore into another, both attacks lethal. Before Jianyi or the others had closed in, the assailants were dead. A violent but anticlimactic encounter. The merchants were grateful for the help but wary of the cultivators; understandably, they wanted to move on as quickly as possible.

Jianyi helped move the bodies to the side of the road, where scavengers would likely deal with them quickly. In Yan Ping's worldview, bandits did not deserve a proper burial.

"Brother Ping, why are there bandits this close to the sect? Isn't that surprising?" Shuhua asked as they resumed their journey down the road. The inner disciple nodded slowly.

"It is. Maybe… We have been quite busy lately, but still, this is not right. I will inform the sect once we are back."

It was already dark as they entered the small town that would form the starting point of the caravan they were supposed to protect. Half a dozen wagons were lined up close to the gate in preparation for an early start the next morning. A couple of drivers were sitting huddled in warm cloaks to protect the already loaded merchandise from sticky fingers for the night. Ping took them to an inn that was situated close to the gate.

It was a narrow building with two floors above the ground floor that served as a quiet dining room, geared towards people interested in decent food without the noise of a proper tavern. The group of disciples was received reverently by the inn's owner, who personally served them a hearty soup with noodles and freshly baked buns. Jianyi found the food to his liking and thanked the proprietor for his service. They rented three rooms.

One for Yan Ping, one for Shuhua and Miyao, and the last one was shared between Jianyi and the cousins. He didn't mind sharing, though; compared to sleeping in a tent in the wilderness, the three narrow beds were very comfortable, and it even had a private bathroom that they could use to wash off the dust of the road. The next morning, they were served congee with soy sauce for breakfast, which was a bit plain for Jianyi's taste, but filling enough.

Shortly after they left the inn and congregated at the gate, where the small caravan, comprising a dozen men and women, an equal number of oxen, and the wagons they had seen the night before, was gathered. The busy streets and hectic last-minute preparations around the caravan were a reminder of the life in the city that Jianyi had lived for the first sixteen years of his existence; quite a contrast to the quiet halls of Elder Sun's compound.

Nonetheless, Jianyi was grateful that Ping clarified everything with the caravan master, who rode on the front wagon, and soon after, they left the small town behind them. The trip that their group of cultivators had completed in two days was scheduled to take four, with the much slower caravan. Fortunately, nobody foresaw any issues, in particular since Yan Ping had killed the group of bandits on their outbound trip. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

It was already the second day of their journey, and as expected, things had been very quiet so far. The small camp they had made on the night before had actually been quite entertaining for Jianyi, as some of the drivers had brought instruments along and played a few songs while another one had prepared a decent stew for all of them.

Despite the respect that the mortals had for the cultivators, it was clear that they had done the trip many times and gotten to know cultivators a bit better than the average mortal ever would. Jianyi was quite happy to be treated almost normally; everything else would have seemed strange to him. He was still a sixteen-year-old boy after all, and at the very beginning of his cultivation journey.

From his place in the caravan, Jianyi saw Jun, who walked beside a wagon driver with whom he had gotten along splendidly, suddenly turn around to him and Hong, who were a bit further down, with a radiant smile. He pointed to a clearing a hundred paces or so down the road where a lone figure was standing.

"It's Nie Lihua!" he yelled, before starting to run in that direction. Jianyi turned to Hong, eyebrows raised.

"She is the girl he is going crazy about. One of the servants roaming the dormitories. I have tried to warn him, but he can't be deterred. The worst part is that he keeps making up stuff to impress her. I think the other day he even…" Hong paused as several hooded figures stepped out of the forest surrounding Jun's object of desire. They were not the only ones. All around the caravan, men and women, wearing dark clothes with masks or hoods pulled over their heads, stepped from the shadows.

Yan Ping shouted a warning, and Jianyi drew his spear, but he was not confident that they could beat the mysterious group if they chose to attack. They attacked. There were three close to Jianyi on the right side of the road, and two more on the left, closer to Hong. He didn't hesitate and pulled on his deck. Bolt of Fire. Verdant Mending. While moving forward and preparing to launch into a spear form, he chose Bolt of Fire, filled it with qi from his Celestial Core Card, and threw it at the rightmost attacker.

The moment the technique was launched, he ignored it and focused fully on the nearest opponent. With a glance, he saw that the woman was wielding a jian; the double-edged sword was relatively short, and she had just crossed her legs while trying to advance on him. A million times, Minghao had drilled him on Advance. One of the most fundamental principles was to never cross your legs—doing so limited flexibility and risked unbalancing you the instant pressure was applied.

He jumped on the opportunity just as he heard the pained howl from the attacker, whom he had sent the Bolt of Fire at. The woman stumbled back, but couldn't fully evade. Jianyi's spear tore through her shoulder, and she dropped her weapon. From the corner of his eyes, Jianyi saw the central attacker, whom he had ignored so far, pull up cards and send a technique in his direction. He threw himself to the side—not fast enough. A razor-thin blade of water cut through his robes and was only stopped by his ribs.

Pain lanced through his body. He was grateful to the Eternal Spear Meditation—the pain he experienced right now was worse, but nonetheless, spending hours in pain while going through the cultivation technique had helped prepare him for this, just like the opening of his dantians had. He gritted his teeth and turned the evasive movement into a Blazing Arc that attacked the cultivator, hoping that the woman he had wounded was out of the fight for now.

The cultivator wielded a spear as well and managed to block and redirect his attack. Jianyi pulled on his deck again with a deep inhalation. Verdant Mending. Force of the Forest. It was not time to heal, yet. He activated Force of the Forest, a swift technique, and immediately launched into Flowing Current, the fluid, horizontal attack. Again, his opponent tried to block, but with the dramatically increased strength that coursed through Jianyi's body, he was able to push through the block.

The other man's eyes widened as he saw the futility of his defense. Jianyi's spear cut into the man's chest; not lethal, but blood spread quickly over the man's robes. From behind him, Jianyi sensed movement, so he dodged to the side. The woman he had wounded had not, in fact, attacked him yet, but was preparing for it. Jianyi didn't give her the time. Piercing Fang drove through her neck and took her out, her blood turning Jianyi's sleeve dark.

He turned again; the cultivator pressed one hand on his chest, his spear lay forgotten on the ground. Cards appeared before him, but Jianyi leaped forward and finished what he had started, this time piercing the man through the heart. The third attacker lay still, his face wracked with horrible burns. The Bolt of Fire must have burned his lungs to have been lethal this quickly. No time to investigate. He looked around. His glance fell on Hong, who was horribly pressed by the two attackers he faced.

His survival testament to his physique, not his spear mastery. But the blood flowing from multiple wounds indicated that he would not survive much longer. Jianyi grabbed the spear that the cultivator he had fought had dropped and threw it with all his might at one of the attackers' backs. It didn't pierce or cause a lot of damage, but it was a distraction. A distraction that Hong used to tear a large wound across the man's chest. But it came at a price.

The woman on his other side hacked at his leg with one of the knives she was wielding. Hong dropped to one knee, but Jianyi was already on the way. With all the speed and strength his very limited cultivation and endless hours of training had given him, he sprinted towards Hong, leaped over his friend, and pierced the woman with the spear that Elder Sun had gifted him. Hong sat on the ground, gripping his leg, but the wound did not look lethal.

Jianyi looked at his own chest and grimaced as he saw the blood he had lost, but it looked like the bleeding had stopped. Again, no time to investigate. He looked around. Shuhua and Miyao were at the back of the caravan. They faced three attackers, but it seemed like they had already defeated two others, and neither their faces nor movements spoke of desperation. At the front, Yan Ping was fighting like a possessed man.

Jianyi couldn't count the number of dead lying at his feet, and the last two facing him looked terrified. There were two more skirmishes where wagon drivers were grouping up on attackers. But it looked under control. Everything looked under control. Everything? Where was Jun?