Chương 41: I Can’t Fall Here!

"Commander! What are you doing here?" Xiao Xuan turned around. Under the pale moonlight filtering through the canopy, he could clearly make out the owner of the voice. Su Ming stood ten paces off in plain clothes, unbothered by the biting night air. He carried no armor and lacked his usual majestic aura, yet his posture remained rigid, towering over Xiao Xuan with a strange calm.

"Young Master, please tell me what you are doing here," Su Ming asked with concern.

"Your life is in danger outside the estate. You shouldn't have come here!" Xiao Xuan held the commander's gaze and drew a quiet breath.

"I received an anonymous note claiming Su Luoyao was being held hostage here. I came to verify it," Xiao Xuan replied. Su Ming raised a brow, inclining his head.

"Still, why did you come alone?" Su Ming pressed.

"Why didn't you bring any soldiers with you?"

"The First Elder is mobilizing all troops," Xiao Xuan replied.

"I decided to check the hut first before sounding an alarm and to check if it was some sort of trap."

"And what if you got trapped instead?" Su Ming shook his head, a disappointed frown creasing his brow.

"I—I was only going to check from afar and retreat to inform the elders," Xiao Xuan admitted.

"Well then, Young Master. We shouldn't waste any more time. Let us head inside the hut and have a look."

"Wait, Commander," Xiao Xuan quickly said.

"Why are you here? Aren't you injured?"

"I received a note as well, Young Master. My injuries aren't as important as Second Miss's life, so I rushed here myself. I was surprised to see you here. We should now check the hut." Su Ming stepped forward, his heavy, measured boots carrying him past Xiao Xuan toward the dilapidated wooden door. Xiao Xuan watched his broad back. Something is wrong. Can I really trust him? What should I do? Su Ming of all people shouldn't have taken such a step without alerting the elders.

And the note Xiao Xuan had received claimed Su Ming betrayed the clan. If Su Ming truly received a similar note, what was written in it?

"Actually, Commander, I have already inspected the interior," Xiao Xuan said, keeping his voice steady as he took a half-step back.

"It is empty. We should return to the estate and inform the elders." Su Ming stopped. Without turning around, a dry, humorless chuckle escaped the man's throat.

"So you do not trust me after all, Young Master Xuan." Xiao Xuan's instincts flared. Without hesitation, he dropped his center of gravity, routing a fine thread of Qi down through the meridians of his calves and soles. He leaned forward and turned, letting momentum dictate his trajectory just as they had drilled in the courtyard, preparing to trigger the Falcon Dash back toward his tethered horse. BOOM! He never made the leap. A suffocating wave of dense, maroon light erupted from Su Ming's body.

The ambient air hardened, crushing Xiao Xuan's fragile Qi flow before it could even leave his feet. The concussive pressure slammed Xiao Xuan off the ground. He flew backward through the dark, his back violently colliding with the trunk of a large tree. He hit the dirt, the impact knocking every ounce of air from his lungs. COUGH! Xiao Xuan coughed, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the dead leaves. His ribs screamed as he curled up on the ground, wincing.

"W—why…?" he rasped through shallow, ragged gasps. His vision blurred into spinning shadows of black and pale moonlight. He clawed the soil, fighting to stand, but his limbs refused to obey. A metallic scrape rang through the clearing as Su Ming drew a heavy steel broadsword from his ring. The commander turned slowly, gripping the hilt with both hands in a disciplined military guard as he paced forward. No… no, this can't be. I have to do something. I have to leave. Luoyang and Luoyao are still in danger.

I can't fall here!

"ARRRRGH!" Xiao Xuan screamed aloud as he forced all of his Qi to flow into his limbs. Pushing into the ground, he tried to stand up. His veins bulged and eyes turned red. His limbs shook violently under the stress, and an agonizing pain shot through his muscles and bones. Yet he gritted his teeth and persevered, crawling. THUD! His strength gave out. He collapsed into the dirt, coughing up more blood as tears welled in his bloodshot eyes.

"You are a true warrior. Your determination and intelligence are commendable, Xiao Xuan. Truly. I harbor no personal hatred toward you," Su Ming said, his voice flat, devoid of warmth.

"Well… perhaps just a sliver of resentment. Regardless, now that you have followed this trail, you cannot leave here alive. This was inevitable." Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. Su Ming raised the blade above his shoulder. A rustle snapped above. A black-robed silhouette dropped from the high canopy, his boots landing firmly between the executioner and the dirt.

"Stand down, Commander," the man commanded, his voice cold. Xiao Xuan blinked through the dampness coating his eyes. He saw only the man's narrow back, dark garments, and a dull gray longsword angled low toward the earth. Then the pain in Xiao Xuan's chest flared, dragging his senses into blackness.

"Who are you?" Su Ming demanded, his stance unmoving. The intruder remained silent. Su Ming focused his senses on the newcomer's core. The man's aura was thin, compressed into a singular solid core within his dantian. A novice Qi Da Shi! Likely only at the 1st stage. Under normal circumstances, a peak 9th-stage cultivator could overwhelm him with raw Qi density alone. But Su Ming's chest throbbed. The injuries from the ambush were real and now strained under his circulating Qi.

Fighting in this state would be dangerous. Su Ming, however, was a seasoned warrior. He gritted his teeth and lunged forward; he had no choice but to eliminate the intruder. His boot gouged the soil as he drove a sweeping, horizontal cleave meant to bisect his opponent. The man did not attempt to block. Dropping under the whistle of the broadsword, he slid forward across the damp moss, thrusting his gray blade straight toward Su Ming's exposed flank.

Su Ming grunted, violently wrenching the broadsword downward to drop the flat of the heavy steel like a shield. CLANG! Sparks flared in the dark. Su Ming drove his knee upward, catching the man squarely in the sternum. The blunt impact sent the intruder skidding back five paces, his boots carving deep ruts into the mud before he stabilized. The man did not pause. He kicked off his rear foot, closing the distance with sharp strides. The gray blade darted, relentlessly probing Su Ming's left side. Clang! Clang!

Clang! Steel rang against steel, echoing across the isolated woods. Su Ming's military discipline held his perimeter tight, but every time he twisted his torso to parry, a blazing agony flared from his shattered ribs. His breath hitched. The intruder recognized the opening instantly, refusing direct contests of force and instead peppering rapid thrusts at the weakened flank. His blade ripped through Su Ming's tunic, tracing a line of red across his waist.

Recognizing his disadvantage in agility, Su Ming stopped chasing the man's footwork. He set his heels deep into the earth, tightening his guard and letting the massive broadsword dictate the space. Whenever the gray blade thrust toward his wound, Su Ming deflected the blow with short bursts of maroon Qi, letting the weight of his cultivation jar the man's wrists. The clash wore on.

The intruder's breath grew ragged; sustaining continuous high-speed footwork against a higher-stage warrior was burning through his dantian reserves. A sheen of sweat gathered on his temples, and his recoveries slowed by half a beat. That was enough. Ignoring the searing fire in his chest, Su Ming pivoted brutally into the man's guard, bringing his blade down in a heavy, vertical arc. The man twisted sideways. The edge missed his neck by an inch, the air pressure from the swing parting his collar.

He drove his counter straight toward Su Ming's collarbone. CLANG! Su Ming caught the gray blade on the thick spine of his broadsword. Wrenching his wrists, he drove his broad shoulder directly into the man's chest, breaking his balance. The intruder staggered, his boots slipping on the slick grass. Yet even off-balance, he dropped low, flicking his sword horizontally to gut the commander's midsection. Su Ming wrenched his torso back to parry, but his cracked ribs seized. His movement lagged.

The gray tip pierced his tunic, slicing deep into his left flank. Su Ming ground his teeth, swallowing the yell in his throat. Instead of retreating, he stepped directly into the wound, trapping the man's weapon arm against his hip. With his free hand, Su Ming gathered a dense knot of maroon Qi into his fist and slammed it down onto the man's forearm. CRACK! A bone snapped beneath the concussive blow.

The stranger was thrown backward, tumbling through the underbrush before catching his footing on one knee, his left arm hanging limp. Silence returned to the clearing, save for the wet, heavy panting of both men. Su Ming stood tall, but dark blood was now soaking through the left half of his tunic. His breath was shallow and wheezing. Reaching into his storage ring, he pulled out a small porcelain vial and tossed a dark crimson Blood-Solidifying Pill into his mouth.

The pill's medicinal heat rushed through his meridians, stemming the hemorrhage at his waist and calming the grinding pain in his ribs. Across the grass, the intruder clutched his broken forearm, a thin line of blood leaking past his lips. He exhaled slowly. With a flick of his good wrist, he withdrew a jade flask from his ring and downed a blue Qi Replenishing Pill. A cool wave washed over the man's exhausted dantian, stabilizing his fractured core. He tossed the empty flask aside.

Then, channeling his refreshed energy, he summoned an identical gray blade into his left hand, gripping both weapons tightly despite the fractured bone. He lunged. The twin blades cut through the dark in overlapping arcs. The right drove toward Su Ming's throat while the left swept low to sever his knee tendons. Su Ming rooted his boots and swept his broadsword in a ruthless circle. CLANG! CLANG! The heavy steel deflected the high thrust and smashed down on the low sweep, but the intruder didn't yield.

Using the rebound, he spun around the commander's reach, crossing both blades in a scissor strike directly toward Su Ming's wounded ribs. Su Ming's eyes widened with lethal intent. Stepping inside the strike to strip the blades of their leverage, he slammed the flat of his massive weapon directly into the cross-guard, unleashing his Qi. BOOM! The shockwave shredded the surrounding grass and stripped bark from the nearby trunks. Both fighters were thrown apart.

The intruder skidded back five paces, his boots gouging the earth. His robes were torn, blood seeping freely from jagged lacerations across his shoulders and legs where the exploded Qi shards had cut deep. His breath rattled as he fought to keep his twin blades raised. Su Ming landed heavily, clutching his chest. The shockwave had shattered the temporary coagulation of his pill; dark crimson poured down his waist, splattering the mud. He wheezed, his cracked ribs grinding together agonizingly with every heartbeat.

Yet, Su Ming tightened his grip on his broadsword, the maroon light flickering stubbornly around the steel. The two men stood locked in a bleeding standoff beneath the canopy. And behind them, crumpled beneath the roots of the ancient tree, Xiao Xuan lay motionless in the dirt.