~~~

The creatures first appeared around three hours ago. Their numbers have only grown since then.

There are not enough of them to completely surround them, but that is only because the perimeter of the temple walls is far larger than that of the building they protect. To compensate, the monsters have gathered in large groups in every cardinal direction. They are large blotted masses of dead and rotten flesh that can be smelled over a mile away.

The attack will likely begin once the night falls, something Liu Jin has already communicated to the others. All disciples with powerful long-range techniques have been stationed on the walls. The plan is to bombard the creatures as they advance. Unfortunately, though the walls go deep enough to protect them from subterranean attacks, they are far too large for them to man properly. With their small numbers, the disciples have to stand hundreds of yards away from each other to cover as much area as possible.

There is no way they can prevent them from being breached.

That is also part of the plan, Liu Jin reminds himself. The first wall will fall. A perfect defense is not necessary. Once the creatures threaten to overwhelm them, they will retreat to the temple and attack from there. The only thing that matters is that they have somewhat thinned the monster’s numbers by then.

Breathe.

They have spent as much time as they could preparing and planning. The countermeasures are in place. There is no need for him to trouble himself. His Qi must remain completely calm. If the others notice any hint of nervousness from him, they might start panicking. Even now, despite how far apart they are, Liu Jin can feel their worries. The tension in the air is so thick it is suffocating.

Perhaps if he were someone like Xiao Nan, this would be the time when he’d make some heroic speech to raise morale. However, any words he could say right now would surely sound fake.

Besides, they are all too far apart for his Qi to reach everyone.

Liu Jin ignores the urge to glance back to the temple. Lu Mei and Feng Hao, as well as other disciples who are too wounded to fight, are there. Fan Bingbing has been placed in charge of them, as she’s the one who knows the most about the temple’s labyrinthine insides. If the creatures breach the temple, she is the one best qualified to guide them to safety.

That will have to be enough.

This is not the time to look back. Only forward.

A shudder runs through their foes as the last ray of sunlight banishes from the horizon, and they’re left under the moon and the stars.

“Brother Qing!” One of the disciples shouts as the creatures slowly start advancing.

“I feel it,” Liu Jin replies, using his Qi to make his voice reach the disciples closest to him. He is surprised by how calm he sounds. “Hold.”

“B-but-”

“Hold!” Liu Jin repeats. “Pass the word. Both of you.”

The disciples grimace but do as ordered. One by one, the disciples pass his words around the wall. Hopefully, they will reach everyone before someone starts attacking. They need to kill as many as possible, so they cannot waste their power on attacks that will not reach because the enemy is too far away.

“Hold!” Liu Jin repeats once more as the horde picks up speed. The closer the creatures get, the easier it becomes to make out their individual shapes. They are ugly and misshapen things. It is like someone took normal Spirit Beasts and mashed them against each other, then left them to decompose under the sun

“Hold!” He repeats as he feels the nervousness and eagerness in the disciples spike up. The enemy is close enough that he can hear their screeching.

Liu Jin takes a deep breath.

His eyes narrow.

His Qi stills.

“Now!”

It erupts.

The sky lights up as though the sun had never set. Roaring fires and screaming thunder rain down from the walls. The unsightly invaders screech as their flesh burns to cinders. Again and again, the disciples unleash their best attacks with maddened zeal. Hundreds of monsters die in an instant.

Hundreds more keep advancing.

The creatures march through the fires, not caring whether they live or die. Sheer numbers let them continue as though the attacks made not one difference. Liu Jin expected this, and he had done his best to make sure the others knew what to expect.

He still feels their fear rise. Knowing is one thing. Seeing it firsthand is another.

“Do not falter!” Liu Jin roars. The tension and nervousness inside him turn into a mighty roar. Blue lightning crackles all around his body. He brings it down, and it goes out roaring into the horde.

[Rumbling Thunder God’s Strike]

The lightning spreads through the monsters like the branches of a tree, electrifying countless of them. The scent of burning, rotten flesh rises in the air.

“Do not fear! You have nothing to fear!” Liu Jin shouts, trying to get his Qi to reach as many as possible. “You fear because the enemy outnumbers us? You are Disciples of the Eternal Flame Clan! You are the best and brightest of the Crimson Cloud Empire! Numbers mean nothing! The enemy is outmatched!”

Words he doesn’t believe come from his lips with utter certainty. They are technically not lies, yet the flaws in his reasoning should be obvious to all.

They are not.

Liu Jin’s words rouse the disciples. They yell into the sky with renewed fervor as they continue attacking. Again and again, the night lights up with their power. Not even fifteen minutes have passed, yet hundreds of explosions have gone off since the battle started. Were their opponents mere Spirit Beasts, they’d have won already.

However, the dead don’t tire.

The creatures keep gaining ground. No matter how much they throw at them, they keep coming. The distance between them keeps shrinking until at last they reach the walls. It was always inevitable, yet the sight of the monsters trying to climb the walls scares more than one disciple.

“Don’t run!” Liu Jin roars at the top of his lungs.

[White Venom Fist - Nine Branches]

Nine huge snakes made of poisonous Qi rise from his palms. Three advance and swallow the enemies in front of him, three go to Liu Jin’s left, and three to his right.

As the snakes devour and melt every creature in their path, Liu Jin feels his Qi clash against that of the creatures numerous times. The same feeling he first sensed when he removed the flesh bud within Huang Shing assaults him every time that happens. It is the presence of the one controlling these monsters, but he is being far more hands-on with these creatures than he was with the thing left in Huang Shing’s body.

A dangerous idea starts forming in Liu Jin’s mind, one that first occurred to him after treating Huang Shing.

However, now is not the time.

“Not yet!” Liu Jin roars as he creates another wave of snakes. This time their bodies are made out of pure lightning Qi. “Hold a little more! Even one more second will make a difference later!”

Not everyone hears him, and not everyone who hears him heed his words. He can feel as some of the disciples begin their retreat back to the temple.

Those fools!

He expected it to happen and took it into account when planning. He understands why they chose to run. Still, the anger that rises within him cannot be denied. Nine-Headed Snake God’s Vein pulse with power. His poisonous Qi rises to new heights as his snakes pour down from the wall in an endless avalanche.

“Fall back!” He shouts, his Qi carrying his words as far as possible.

[Ground Contraction]

In the blink of an eye, Liu Jin moves over a mile to his left, right next to a disciple who had been about to be overwhelmed after the disciple stationed at his side fled.

“B-brother Qing!”

“Fall back!” Liu Jin repeats. Again he raises his Qi so his words reach as many people as possible. Lightning rises around him and burns several monsters. The disciple looks at him with awe. “Don’t just stand there! Fall back!”

The disciple nods and runs. Liu Jin creates more Qi snakes to slow down the creatures before moving to the next spot.

[Ground Contraction]

Liu Jin goes to each of the disciples having trouble and gives them the opening they need to retreat. His meridians scream in protest at how much he is pushing himself. A sip of medicine and five needles go into his body to stabilize his condition.

For now, that will have to do.

Liu Jin reaches a disciple who is in the process of being overwhelmed. The creatures have climbed over the wall, and one of them has latched onto his arm. The disciple struggles to throw the thing off him, but it’s too late. His flesh is being taken over.

[White Venom Fist]

Liu Jin’s hand burns with poison. The disciple’s relief at being saved is replaced by shock as Liu Jin destroys everything below his elbow with a touch.

Before he can scream in pain, Liu Jin hoists him over his shoulder and moves.

[Ground Contraction]

A single step takes them to the temple gate. There are already members of the medical pavilion waiting there.

“Treat him!” Liu Jin says, dropping him in front of them as one of their contingencies activates.

Multiple explosions go off around the wall. They are not very powerful, but they did not put them there to blast apart their foe’s bodies.

They are there to spread the gas.

Thick, purple mist blankets the area. The monsters screech in agony as their bodies are melted by the powerful acid. It was made by Liu Jin with the help of the other disciples from the Apothecary using the remains of the Mother Spider and any corpse with even a drop of poison left behind by Qu Rou’s rampage.

They had to vastly decrease the potency of Mother Spider’s acid to make it so that the gas could cover the walls, but that is fine. These creatures do not possess tough bodies.

“Second wave, get ready to move in!” Liu Jin orders the disciples. Unlike the first wave, the second wave is made of disciples adept at physical combat. “Remember to increase the density of your aura as much as possible. Do not let yourself be touched.”

He takes a deep breath.

“The others, come here! I don’t care if you think you’re well! I will look at you one by one to make sure you’re clean!”

As the second wave prepares to engage, the members of the first wave form a line in front of him. It’s annoying, but there is no quicker way to do this. At least Liu Jin knows what he is looking for now, so it does not take him long to identify the infected.

Unfortunately…

“Ahh!” A disciple screams as Liu Jin destroys the parasite in his body with poison without first removing it.

Unfortunately, there is no time for him to do this delicately. The explosions have already faded. The monsters will eventually break through the mist and the other traps. He needs to get his long-range attackers ready before then, or else the other combatants will be overwhelmed. Their numbers are far too small.

“Next!” Liu Jin roars out as he sends the disciple to the other healers so they may stabilize him.

The night is just beginning.

~~~

Feng Hao’s body vibrates in quiet anticipation. His feet keep tapping against the floor. No matter how hard he tries, he cannot stop moving.

The room he and the other wounded (a qualifier that only barely applies to him) have been placed in is unreasonably big for how few of them there are. There are scarcely seven of them, yet the large hall looks more suited for seven hundred. It is located in the lower levels of the temple, and bright flames have been placed under the high ceiling to prevent them from being left in the darkness.

It makes it extremely easy to see all the tired and fearful faces around him, making him desperately wish to do something.

“Would you stop moving for a second?” A tired voice asks him. “I can barely hear my thoughts with all your tapping.”

“Ah! I am sorry, Senior Sister,” he quickly replies, turning to his Elder Brother’s… friend? Lover?

Feng Hao is not really sure, but she really doesn’t look well.

“Are you well?” He asks her. Sister Mei does not have any physical injuries, but her tiredness is apparent to him in the unhealthy color of her skin and the way she keeps holding her forehead.

“I will be.” She narrows her eyes at him. “Once you stop moving.”

The hostile tone causes Feng Hao to draw back. He is not used to being talked to like that by a disciple.

“I,” he says, drawing himself to his full height, “am still the Young Master of the Eternal Flame Clan.”

“Oh?” She smiles a smile that, for some reason, reminds him of his mother. “And why is the most esteemed Young Master hiding here with us instead of showing everyone his overwhelming might?”

“I-That’s…!”

“Enough. Both of you.”

Fan Bingbing looks at them with a decidedly unimpressed stare.

“The Young Master is a child,” she tells Sister Mei, but it is Feng Hao who flinches. “You are taunting a child. Do you realize that?”

Lu Mei frowns but refuses to back down from the staring contest. Fan Bingbing, however, does not care about it, and turns to Feng Hao next.

“Young Master, it is natural to be nervous, but do not worry. Nothing shall happen here. Now, apologize to each other.”

“What?” The two cry out simultaneously.

“I am in charge of everyone here, which means I am in charge of you both,” Fan Bingbing says. “If I say you should apologize to each other, that means you should do it. Sister Lu, as I understand it, Brother Qing wanted you to keep the Young Master safe, didn’t he?”

Lu Mei looks away.

“Fighting with him runs counter to his desires, doesn’t it?" Fan Bingbing insists.

Lu Mei takes a deep breath and, without looking at Fan Bingbing, turns towards Feng Hao.

“I… regret my words, Young Master. The situation got the better of me.”

“No… I was too impatient as well,” Feng Hao replies automatically.

“You are young. It is allowed for you to be impatient. A lady like myself should show more grace.”

Lu Mei looks awkward for a few seconds as if she’s not sure how to follow that up.

Finally, she decides to pat his head.

Flames spark.

The moment her hand makes contact with him, something flows from her to him. The fire inside him rises and sparks from his forehead, making Lu Mei immediately jerk her hand back.

“What was that?” She asks him. Demands him, really. Somehow, she does not sound as tired as before.

“I don’t know,” Feng Hao replies. “I just…”

He trails off and slowly turns his head towards one of the corridors.

“I feel something down there,” Feng Hao says, pointing towards the darkness.

It is calling to him.

~~~