Author note: Another chapter. Only 2 more til 50!

~~~

The courtyard was a mess.

Sun Qing’s fight had caused cracks all over the ground. Bodies of the First Layer cultivators, unable to handle the shockwaves, were strewn about like maggots on a corpse.

Some of the guards that had fallen to their knees after dropping their weapons had fallen into their companions vomit, but they were so dazed at the second prince strength they failed to notice. They had heard the second prince was malicious and inhuman, but had never seen nor heard of his incredible strength.

Every guard there knew that the lieutenants were the only ones at the peak of the Second Layer. Sure they had use pills to reach it so their foundation was still unstable, but they had powerful attributes to make up for it. In one strike the tyrannical second prince had eliminated them both.

Not only had he killed them, but he had taken their life in such a brutal and vicious way.

A few guards still gripped their swords, but the number could be counted on one hand.

These guards were not the brave ones, but the smart ones. They had just witnessed the second prince’s strength and knew that they would next witness his cruelty. It would be better to attack and die than allow him to take his time with them. They were not the brave ones though and none of them wanted to be the first to step forward.

Sun Jiao also was unwilling to be the first one to step forward. He had wanted to stall, but how could he know his opponents would be that weak?

Sun Jiao looked down at the sleeping Sun Qing. As if feeling his gaze her eyes twitched but then stilled.

Seeing she hadn’t waken Sun Jiao could only resolve himself to the task. He hadn’t been speaking with Xiaobo quickly so some time had passed and having stood there in silence he felt the situation was a bit awkward.

Slipping back into his role Sun Jiao decided to justify himself in order to save face.

Narrowing his eyes he looked out of the group of guards and spoke.

“I only had business with my brother, but since you’ve gotten in my way I’ll have to kill you all.”

His voice rang out in the courtyard. The guards that had fallen and the guards that were sick all resolved themselves to a fight.

Backed into a corner even a rat can fight back against a cat.

Previously they thought they could escape by surrendering, but those words forced them to realize they had no other option. Some of the guards simply gave up, but most of them still had some pride left.

The words had even carried out the front of the gate. Two bodies were laid out clearly visible from inside the courtyard.

The two that had been motionless simultaneously began to move. They didn’t stand, but instead they imitated worms and quickly slid out of view.

Sun Jiao didn’t notice this however and instead rushed the closest guard and threw out a slash. He arrived before the guard had a chance to react and dropped his blade which effortlessly passed through the guard’s body at an angle.

Pausing a moment he waited for the guard to fall before moving to the next.

Sun Jiao could have killed multiple guards in the time it took for the body to fall, but had waited instead as he was stalling for time.

Unbeknownst to him it gave the guards the impression that he was savoring the kill.

He jumped from guard to guard, starting with the guards that had held onto their swords first. He figured they were going to resist anyways so if Sun Qing woke up quickly he would be able to stop the killing and let those that had surrendered live.

A guard near Sun Qing realized that she was undefended and nudged the guards close by. Together they attacked Sun Qing all at once.

Sun Jiao hadn’t been under pressure and noticed the attack. Sun Qing laying there helpless reminded him of Xu Rong.

An anger rose up inside him he hadn’t felt before. He no longer coldly killed the guards, but instead rushed over with an irate look on his face.

“YOU DARE?”

Sun Jiao didn’t have any special methods of attacking or defending, but speed was something he didn’t lack.

Using his Sun and Cloud steps he closed the distance and jumped in front of the attackers.

Holding his blade in his right hand he swung it horizontally and removed the heads of two guards. A third guard, ducking low, slipped in between the two bodies and thrust his sword towards Sun Jiao’s stomach.

Pulling his left shoulder away from the incoming sword Sun Jiao managed to twist and avoid the blade directly, but the guard’s ki still managed to leave a shallow wound.

Having just missed his attack the guard was completely open and didn’t see the silver blade as it came down from above.

Sun Jiao then cut down a fourth attacker that had lagged behind.

All this took time to explain, but in a single breath four guards had died.

Their deaths were like a breath of fresh air to the remaining guards. Previously they had been on the defensive and Sun Jiao fell them like wheat before a scythe. Now they realized that by attacking Sun Qing they would force Sun Jiao to defend which allowed them to not only utilize their numbers, but also eliminated Sun Jiao’s incredible speed.

As a path of survival opened up their morale began to soar.

Seeing the look on their faces Sun Jiao lost all his anger.

“Stop!”

Sun Jiao shouted out and pulled a common pill from his space ring.

“I was going to let her rest, but you’ve forced my hand! This pill will awaken her!”

He then turned and walked towards Sun Qing.

With each step he crushed the hope that had welled up in the guards and shoved them further into the pit of despair.

Before he reached her though he pretended to accidentally crush the pill.

The guards lifted their weapons and began to roar with renewed hope.

“Good thing I brought another.”

He pulled out another pill.

The guards felt like an ocean fell ontop of them. They could see the light of the morning sky above the surface of the water, but Sun Jiao was a beast that wrapped them in his evil clutches and dragged them to the depths below.

Some of the guards fell to the ground and began to weep. Sun Jiao let out a sigh and turned his attention to Xiaobo.

Before Sun Jiao could return to killing the doors to the palace opened up and a figure came out that almost made Sun Jiao drool.

~~~

At this moment a smoke and ash phoenix had almost finished it’s journey.

It arrived at the end of a hallway.

At the other end was a young man wearing what appeared to be silk pajamas and a look of dulled annoyance on his face. The man was not only tall, but well toned with muscles as large as other men’s bodies. His golden blonde hair was messy and fell to his waist.

Despite the muscles that would give one the impression of a hard working construction worker his skin was smooth as jade and unblemished.

With a yawn the young man stretched as he left the room behind him. Scratching his inner leg with one hand he looked down at the paper in his other hand.

The page was a beautifully written invitation, but couldn’t hold the interest of the young man as he jammed it into his pocket without a care for it’s condition.

With a look over his shoulder he gave a snort and walked towards the other end of the hall.

“Stupid father...why would I want to go to a boring wedding I’m much too busy to do that.”

It was then the young man noticed the phoenix flying towards his father’s door behind him. The phoenix was traveling quickly and would pass by in only a moment.

“Hmph. Whose fault is it that I’m in a bad mood huh?”

Just as the phoenix arrived next to him the young man reached out with a movement that seemed incredibly slow as though he had just woken up.

Before the bird could pass however it was already in his hand. With a squeeze the bird was crushed and the smoke swirled up his arm and towards his mouth.

He opened it and breathed the smoke in deeply before exhaling with a gleam in his eye.

“Oh? Little brothers are fighting? Ah! I can make him go instead. Should I tell father? Hmm. If I tell father he might punish them and they can’t go.”

The smoke that he exhaled began to reform. Before it could take shape however the young man waved his arm back and forth which caused the smoke to dissipate.

“Good now I can go back to sleeping.”

Sun Shen lazily headed back towards his room in a much better mood.

Had actually planned to have the fight go on longer and have Sun Jiao standing over Sun Qing all bloody like and cool. Way too serious though. He'll do that some day maybe, but I think this is a much better penultimate conclusion to the courtyard fight.