Roads on the northeast side of Dragon Border Gate City

Guardian Ji struck at his foe relentlessly, yet even with the strange blessings Aryon bestowed he was still being held at bay by the Ye Clan lord.

His Heavenfall Fist Technique combined with the Bai Clan’s Cloud Illusion mystic art usually gave him a deadly advantage over most close-combat practitioners. But Ye Shao wore a set of first-level Earth-grade armour that absorbed most of his blows. Coupled with his new Earth-grade mace, it was difficult for Guardian Ji to make a move without taking some damage in return.

But he continued to hold on. If the Green Blade Forest Sect master can defeat the prince or if lord Aryon can come in time, they might just be able to tip the scales...

Ye Shao swung his mace, now wreathed in electricity, in an arc. A wave of spirit energy manifested as wind to push Guardian Ji back and dispel the Cloud Illusion.

With the illusion gone, the Ye Clan lord yelled. “Now!”

Four familiar twangs sounded from a nearby rooftop. Guardian Ji turned to the side to see several deadly crossbow bolts imbued with spirit energy heading towards him. With no time to dodge, he deflected the bolts with his hands.

Ye Shao had expected this and long made his move. His lightning-wreathed mace struck Guardian Ji on the side when he was turned, causing him to stagger. He moved to defend himself only to see the sparking mace falling towards his head.

Guardian Ji’s last thoughts were of his wards.

‘Farewell, young mistress and master. Good luck.’

Aryon cursed when he saw that blue-robed body fall from the roof. He thought he had time to prepare some things while Ye Shao and and Guardian Ji fought, but those treacherous marksmen put an end to Guardian Ji with their distraction a moment before he could act.

He made an invocation and waved his staff sideways. Hurricane winds swept the roof with the crossbowmen, sending them down violently to the earth and their deaths.

With the distractions gone, he set his preparations in motion.

“ [Magic Missile]! “

Purple darts of purest magic flew unerringly from his staff towards his intended target. Ye Shao was struck from behind just as he recovered his breath and turned to aid the prince against the Green Blade Forest Sect master.

“You outlander trash! You dare!”

Ye Shao leapt from the roof the combat was on and down to the street where Aryon was. With deadly speed and force his mace fell on Aryon’s head from above, but Aryon made no move to dodge.

“You lose.” he said, just before the blow struck him square on his crowned helm. But he didn’t fly back or fall to the ground, instead he began crumbling into black fragments that vanished like smoke.

“An illusion?!”

Before it faded away, the crumbling image pointed down on the ground. Ye Shao saw something glowing at his feet.

“Not good!”

The Symbol of Stunning activated before he could react, and Ye Shao felt his mind and body struck with a blinding pain that dazed him.

While he was reeling from the symbol’s effects, the true Aryon stepped out of an alleyway, leveling his staff at his direction.

“ [Disint- “

Thrumming crossbow bolts hammered at the back of his head and upper body, breaking his concentration once again before clattering to the floor, unable to pierce his Tarminian steel. Several more dark-garbed cultivators emerged from the other side of the alley, stowing away their crossbows and moving in with swords drawn.

The grumbling Aryon turned to face them with a spell readied. “ [Acid Fog]! “

He turned away from the grisly sight of melting flesh and bone to attack the Ye Clan lord, but he was already gone. Further off, he saw him being carried away by his men.

‘This is the second time this has happened today. That pasty lord sure has good luck.’

Despite his escape, Aryon decided to write him off from tonight’s battle before heading for a certain prince.

Liu Wong sped forward like never before, his legs aching from his exertion.

Yet his mind was focused on one thing: Help Feng Yan!

The inner disciple had been blown away by the Tang prince’s flame mystic art and nursed a broken shoulder and leg. Now, a wounded Soul Core practitioner was limping his way towards the injured disciple, intending to finish him off.

Before he could close in for the killing blow however, Liu Wong had already made his move from the side.

Earth Sundering Cut!

The cut landed right where he wanted, but the Soul Core practitioner took only minor wounds. Still, he drew back and roared in anger at his additional injury.

“Damn sect brats!” said the black-garbed practitioner. “Die for me!”

Despite being wounded and limping, he was still a first-level Soul Core Realm practitioner. The realm divide between him and Liu Wong was too great to overcome even with the practitioner’s current state.

The wounded practitioner drew his own sword and executed a technique. Water from the air coalesced onto the blade which then formed in its shape. The new water-blade was twice as long and just as sharp.

He struck at Liu Wong with several slashes, his water-blade twisting and bending unlike a regular straight edge. Liu Wong parried his strikes and was continuously pushed back, receiving a few cuts of his own from the enemy’s shifting blade.

Only the practitioner’s wounded state saved him from being overwhelmed. Liu Wong knew he wouldn’t be able to outlast him, and the other sect members were too preoccupied to help. Slowly but surely he began to tire; one good strike from the enemy was all he needed to finish him.

He needed to end this on his own before that.

He knew where the flaw in the foe’s defence was ever since they started; his left side from the leg to the chest was cut and bleeding, which was the cause of his limp. Yet every attempt to attack that point was rebuffed with a deadly counterattack. Liu Wong just couldn’t land a hit.

A strong swing knocked him backwards when he parried, leaving him stumbling but standing and armed. The practitioner moved in for the kill. “When you die, wait a while. I’ll send your friend over to accompany you in hell!”

He threw his full force at Liu Wong with a lunging strike. Liu Wong, recovering his footing, opted for offense and attacked. In that moment, he closed his eyes and focused, not on this final strike, but on a ring on his finger.

It was the gift the lord gave him for being his study partner. He learned the truth behind the power of this ring through long experimentation, during those days with him and Feng Yan at the lord’s cave residence.

When his spirit energy flowed into the ring, Liu Wong opened his eyes.

In that brief moment when he regained his vision he saw what he had to do.

He didn’t bother to dodge the strike, but shifted to the enemy’s left side and allowed the blade to stab him, in such a way that he wouldn’t be killed instantly. Despite this, he still closed the distance between them to place his vulnerable side within his reach.

When he found his chance, the blade on his right arm stabbed upwards in an angle, piercing the practitioner’s rib and buried itself completely inside.

His foe fell on the ground, dead before he landed.

Liu Wong looked at the blade through his own body before keeling over to the side.

There was no pain on his face, nor suffering, but a calm look of satisfaction.

Nobody won on that fateful night.

The prince fled the very moment Ye Shao was incapacitated. Under the cover of his guards, who gave their lives distracting the sect master and Aryon, he made a successful escape to the north, towards Dragon Border Gate where he made his headquarters.

Ye Shao also escaped, returning under guard to the Ye Clan’s fortified town just south of the city. With their leaders gone, their forces also withdrew to lick their wounds and plan their next move.

The Bai Clan made off with the scroll successfully, yet at a cost to nearly three-fifths of their forces. Guardian Ji, one of their Nascent Soul experts, was also slain, which lowered the Bai Clan’s strength to dangerous levels.

Green Blade Forest Sect could be considered the least damaged of the actors in the drama. But they left that battlefield with only half of what they came, and without any gains save for the wrath of a certain prince. On a flying ship they left, with their wounded and their dead in tow. Many grieved, especially one disciple as he looked down on his wounded friend.

As for a certain mage, he left that city on that flying ship with nothing achieved, and so much to do...