Cough! Cough!

Lu Fan looked at the blood that he had coughed out while wheezing and gasping for breath. His vision slurred harder than any alcohol could bring. There was also no feeling from the chest down. A pity that he was not dead yet, for the pain from his punctured lung was stabbing.

Looking at his wounds, it was no wonder at as a giant hole, exposing the scenery behind him, could be seen below the sternum, less than an inch from the heart. The only thing that kept Lu Fan alive was his vitality from cultivation but even that was fading away.

Sitting upright against one of the few walls, Lu Fan looked out into the distance. Mixed blobs of black, red, and white could be seen, but none were standing, except for that one hill.

The hill of bodies.

No, there was still one more.

Lu Fan focused on the distant, approaching silhouette of black but was unable to clearly see who it was.

It couldn’t be Lu Ka or his cronies. Their bodies, serving as the building material of that hill, were right beside Lu Fan.

Lu Fan also knew more than anyone that his own force barely had any numbers. To survive for this long, no, there wasn’t any member that could.

‘Who...’

Eventually, the ever-expanding, blurred silhouette, with barely the outlines of a human body, had stopped in front of Lu Fan.

“Make it quick.”

“No.”

This voice… Lu Fan knew who it was now. An involuntary gasp of air was not responded too politely by his lungs; briefly stunned, Lu Fan paced his breaths.

“Are you here to mock me?”

The figure, towering over Lu Fan’s body, did not respond immediately.

“... I saw father’s head. I’ll forgive you for avenging him.”

“You think I need your pity?!” snapped Lu Fan.

“Grudges won’t matter when you’re gone. Don’t you think?”

“...”

“That’s why I forgive you.”

Lu Fan looked up at the sky; amidst it, the stars looked brilliant, even more so than ever before. Perhaps it was because of his vision? The speckles of light glowed like a sea of colorful balls. Soon, he would join them. At that thought, Lu Fan rested his eyes in preparation for his long journey.

“... Take Lu Ka’s things. Those are my last gifts to you. Now, leave me alone.”

The figure did not say a word, and Lu Fan heard the ever so distant footsteps disappearing further away.

At last alone, Lu Fan no longer fought back. For some reason, the pain had also disappeared, or, at least, it had become of little importance.

However, Lu Fan opened his eyes to the sensation of cloth being draped onto his body. The blurry figure was back; this time, he sat down beside Lu Fan.

“Goddamnit! Don’t make me hate you...” grumbled Lu Fan.

“I’m not afraid.”

Suddenly, Lu Fan felt a cold, solid surface on his lips.

“Drink,” ordered the figure.

Allowing passage, Lu Fan felt a cool liquid pass into his stomach. From there, a warmth began to spread throughout his body.

“Thanks...”

The figure stayed with him, each taking swigs of the alcohol. Until the morning mist arrived. Until his breaths grew faint.

Glug Glug

After a swig, the flask was handed over to Lu Fan… But he did not take it...

Feeling Lu Fan’s cold hands, the man slowly got up and draped the cloth over Lu Fan’s head…

***

Boom!

A charred corpse, still singeing, fell out of the explosion in the air.

After this fiery fire show, a red-robed individual began to descend from the air and towards the city.

A scene, with houses ruined, buildings collapsed, and roads ruptured, appeared in the red-robed man’s field of view. Worst of all were the dead bodies and rivers of blood that flowed down the road. The smell of iron was thick and permeated tens of yards outwards from the scene of carnage.

To the right, a man was twitching and writhing in pain from his wounds: missing lower half, intestines spilled out, and a deep cut on the throat that wasn’t enough to end his life. Even with just one of the wounds, it was already fatal, much less three.

To the left, a man in white robes held the dead body of another man in black-red robes whilst mourning. Where did Lu Fan get his men? The quickest way was to recruit individuals from the three clans, the same clans that had joined Lu Ka. Now, the consequences were showing. If the battle wasn’t enough to kill this white-robed man then the aftermath will.

“Was it all worth it? Did you get what you wanted?”

A voice came from afar.

The red-robed man looked at where the voice came from. Upon inspection, he found a lean yet well-toned man, in ragged clothing, taking deep swigs from a flask. If it weren’t for his muscles then any person would’ve confused the man with a beggar.

“It’s all worth it, for a better world,” the red-robed man grimly responded.

“You’re unsavable.”

“No, I merely prepared myself long before this. You should get used to it. It’s going to be the norm for a long time.”

“Oh? How many of you guys are there?”

“...”

“Looks like I’ll have to beat it out of you,” the beggar put down his flask. “It’s a good thing you’re here. I’m feeling pretty bad right now. I’m going to take it out on you.”

***

Creeaaak

Ye Tian opened up the rotting, wood hatch that was covered with moss. Peeking out his head, he saw that they were in the woods which was very dark, especially when the tree leaves protected the dirt from moonlight. Thankfully, Ye Tian had a spirit stone lantern to light up his surroundings.

Like a lighthouse, Ye Tian raised the lamp towards his surroundings to get a better view as the other group members poured out from underground.

“It’s dark, but we should get going,” Ye Tian suggested.

“H-Hey, if we’re the only ones here… T-Then, who’s that?” Zhang Qiang pointed towards the back.

“What?” Ye Tian looked towards the back. Immediately after he turned, a fireball, that was the size of half a man, slammed into Ye Tian’s chest and knocked him onto the ground.

His chest, clothes having been burned off, was cooked to a mixture of burnt and red-pink flesh. The blood vessels had already been destroyed by the heat thus Ye Tian didn’t even bleed. It was at least a third-degree burn.

Lu Ning immediately rushed to Ye Tian’s side, “Are you okay?”

Meanwhile, Zhang Qiang was already on the verge of wetting himself as he took out his sword for what little security it offered against this ranged enemy. Lu Lan stood there in shock like she had been back in the city. What could a protected miss, that had never seen blood before this day, do?

A man, in a hooded cloak, walked out with his face hidden while murmuring, “The 4th group of nobles that snuck out. Tsk Tsk. What are Huo Hua and Xue Nuo even doing in the city?”

Taking a closer look at what he caught, the man mused, “Hm? You guys don’t look like nobles. What a pity. Orders are orders. I can’t let you go."

“P-Please! We’re just a bunch of civilians! Let us go!” Zhang Qiang cried out.

The man hesitated as he stared at Zhang Qiang who was tearing up. Conflicted between duty and emotion, the man held his chin and contemplated.

Lu Ning helped Ye Tian, who was grinding his teeth and groaning in pain, sit up against a nearby tree.

“Feed me the pills in my pouch,” whispered Ye Tian.

Lu Ning quickly searched through Ye Tian’s pouch that was on his waist. After finding the pill bottle, Lu Ning poured out the pills into his hand and exclaimed in a low voice, “These are elemental eruption pills! Are you sure?!”

“Of course! Do you really think this guy is gonna let us go?! Feed me a pill!”

Coming to a conclusion, the man willed another gigantic fireball into existence and sighed, “I’m sorry. I’ll burn incense and paper money for you.”

Without any other choice, Lu Ning popped the pill into Ye Tian’s mouth. Unknown to both of them, on Ye Tian’s chest, red lines extended out like plant roots, but the pink-red flesh region hid those lines.

The pain in Ye Tian’s chest heightened to a whole new level. On the skin, burn wounds stung like a bee, and, below the skin, another kind of pain threatened to rend the flesh.

Of course, the surging energy in Ye Tian’s body felt amazing. To Ye Tian, a feeling of being almost invincible arose along. He not only felt power but also felt a whole new sense of clarity where his vision improved and senses grew sharper!

Feeling the pure form of… something, the man turned to Ye Tian’s direction, “What the hell is that?”

Subconsciously, Ye Tian punched out with all his might at the man. A volatile form of black energy painted with red aurora was thrown out towards the man.

It was met with a fireball, but the man gaped at how the black-red energy overwhelmed the fire by snuffing it out. However, the black-red energy seemed to use too much of its own energy thus it also faded out like the fire.

Not enough! A simple fireball can take down something that used all my might.

Ye Tian snatched the pills from Lu Ning and downed the remaining two.

Instantly, the red lines on Ye Tian’s skin began to extend everywhere! His face, legs, and probably even his privates. However, this was hardly a good thing as Ye Tian quickly realized that the flesh grinding pain came from these odd lines, that looked like veins.

The man quickly tried to do something about Ye Tian’s condition. A gigantic fireball was once again created, but, this time, the fireball became the fuel to create many tiny snakes of fire that scattered out. If Ye Tian was there during Huo Hua and Hao Nan’s fight then Ye Tian would recognize this fire ability.

Power surged throughout Ye Tian’s body, and it needed to escape!

There was a feeling that if he didn’t then it was likely he would explode like a squeezed juice box.

Pointing at the man with his finger, Ye Tian willed everything out.

From the focal point, unrefined, pure energy flooded out and overwhelmed the man like a flash flood. The fire snakes hadn’t even arrived when they disappeared along with the man.

It was over. Just like that.

But Ye Tian’s fight was just beginning.

He dropped to the floor whilst writhing in pain.

***

The ragged man picked up the flask, “I told you.”

There was no response.

However, before the man could take a swig, he paused and looked out towards the distance.

Droves and droves of troops marched behind some red-robed individuals.

The flask was placed back down.

“Guess I’ll warm up a little.”

‘Power, I received. Everything else, I lost.’