A couple more men were thrown off to the side.

It was clear that Leo didn’t expect any of this. “No wonder I never see you in the mining area. Were you hiding all this time to cultivate? Losing your foot isn’t enough to fracture your dream, huh?! There is not a single demon with a disability who can be awakened to become an Aniesian on this continent. All you can do now is nothing but pretty tricks with that little snake!”

Rene was trying his best controlling the blue current, but there were too many gang members. A few got knocked off, and more came rushing in and hit his weak spots. Sweat started to form on his forehead, and he was panting in heavy breath.

I had no knowledge of cultivation and what it took to control the energy, but it surely used up a ton of mind power and focus. My eyes were getting too blurry to see clearly. The next thing I knew was that someone found a chance to kick on Rene’s back, and he hit the ground real hard.

“Rene-----------!” I screamed out uncontrollably.

The blue snake around his fist was shrinking bit by bit. He tried to re-focus, but found no more energy to revive it. The blue light was zipping weakly around the hand, until the last bit finally vanished.

Two men grabbed onto his arms and dragged him toward Leo.

Leo snickered, and spat at him.

“I told you there is no use. Why don’t you listen? Now I have no choice but to sentence you to death with that ugly girl.”

“Leo, you are really hopeless.”

Leo laughed out loud, as if nothing can insult him or that he knew himself too well. He ordered the gang member close by.

“Tight up and skin him first, see if there is one more dirty word coming from his mouth!”

I almost lost my mind and screamed so loud that it was not my voice anymore.

“You can’t do this! Damn it! Just let Rene go. I don’t care what you do to me!”

That bastard paid no attention to my screams. My body felt so heavy as if drowning in the deep ocean; guilt was overwhelming inside so much that it was gushing out. If I knew this earlier, I wouldn’t help Rene out of his misery and make him call me sister. I would have been as cold as I could to this young boy, so he wouldn’t see me as part of the family.

How much I wish Rene was cold-blooded like Leo, so he wouldn't risk his life for me!

As I was drowning in despair, there were sounds of fighting and sword slashing coming in.

Out of the crowd, a group of men came rushing into the base, and fought with the gang members. The scene was too chaotic to understand what was going on, until one of the men yelled to Leo.

“It’s Zen!! He and his followers are coming down on us!”

“That’s impossible! Isn’t he got locked up already, what the hell he is here for!”

“Apparently he got out now! Leo, what should we do! He must be fighting back for the headman’s position. Daoba did announce he was indeed the headman. What if he and his guys called us revolters against the gang!?”

“Coward! Dax is not even here yet, so you keep your mouth shut! Hurry and tell one of the men to inform Dax. A civil war is inevitable now! ”

Zen!?

They were talking about Zen!?

As I stared toward the chaos, there was a tall man with a bronze mask slashing his sword through the crowd. It was the first time I saw him fight. There was not even the slightest hesitation in his moves, as if one merciful act would cost his life. Every movement was so smooth and precise, killing his opponent right on the spot. He didn’t use any magic arts, just plain martial arts was enough to knock off the opponents.

I was too centered on that tall figure, not realizing a pair of small hands were untying the ropes around my wrists and ankles.

“Nana sis, we better hurry off. They are now all focused on the fight. It’s our chance to escape!”

The ropes fell down on the ground. I grabbed onto Rene’s hand and ran as quickly as we could to avoid all the madness. There were hammers, swords, and all kinds of weapons around and above our heads. We ducked here and there, and even rolled ourselves out of danger.

Suddenly, a huge broadsword rang through the air and blocked our way.

“You guys really think you can escape today?” Leo said coldly.

I couldn’t believe he was still after us.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to waste the time to kill us, then to help out your bros? We are nothing compared to securing Dax as the headman.” I said.

“Don’t play clever with me. Killing you two won’t even take me one second.”

As that broadsword was slashing toward my throat, another silvery sword flew over at lightning speed and hit it so hard that it came off Leo’s fingers. Almost at the same time, one huge blow landed on Leo’s chest so savagely that he ended up on the ground half unconscious.

The silvery sword flew back onto its owner’s hand.

It was Zen.

He laid his blue eyes on me emotionlessly for a second, then held out a hand-sized device and clipped it onto my back.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“You have to go. There is no place for you to stay. This may or may not get you out of the mountains, but at least it’s a chance.”

“What do you mean?” I was still very confused.

Zen snapped his fingers.

All of a sudden, golden light started to glow on my back!

That little device expanded and formed stripes around my shoulders. The next thing that happened, almost out of my imagination, a huge pair of beautiful wings extended out from my back. Now I understand what this device was for.

“What about Rene!?”

Zen’s voice seemed annoyed. “I already told you that having too much empathy won’t get you anywhere.”

“Listen, Zen. I know you are trying to help, and I thank you for it, but I am not going anywhere without Rene.”

Rene looked at me, “Nana sis, don’t worry about me. I will be fine here.”

“No,” I insisted, “Just like you said before, we need to go through this together. You didn’t give up on me earlier, there is no way I can give up on you.”

I told Zen, “I must carry Rene with me. If this device fails, then let it be.”

“Then it will be twice as hard to make it out of the mountains.”

“If we leave, then what about you?”

“That’s none of your concern.” He replied coldly.

Yes, that was the true iceberg style. He was literally saving my life, but sounded like he didn’t give a shit about it. Just right before I thought he would say nothing else, he exhorted one last sentence.

“Out of the mountains, head toward the west to find the Wununu Tribe.”

I was about to ask him the reason, and if he would be there to meet up with us, when he summoned the device again. I hurried and held onto Rene real tight, as the pair of wings carried us upward.

I almost screamed due to how fast it was pulling upward, as if going to an amusement park ride in a bad way. As we were headed toward the blue sky, I saw that Zen was back to his fight again. The gang was really going through a civil war within. The winner was going to be the headman of the Underground, and the loser…….

What if Zen lost?

I pushed that terrible thought away. If he could send me out of the chaos, then he definitely could get himself out of this place.

In the distance, another group of men rushed into the base.

“That is Dax!” Rene said, “That guy is even worse than Leo. Nana sis, you hurry and fly higher before anything happens!”

Jeez! How the heck should I do that!?

“I don’t know how to control the wings!”

“Use your will power, try to connect the imitated wings with your holy pearl. These wings are super expensive, not sure where and how Zen was able to get them. Imitated wings are not at all comparable to real ones, but they are pretty useful in emergencies. They are short-lived though, so you better go full speed now!”

Make a connection with my holy pearl!?

Only if I have a holy pearl inside of me to make that possible. No wonder the imitated wings are so unstable!

Perhaps the fake wings can’t make any connection to my nonexistent holy pearl, therefore they don’t know which direction to go. I tried very hard holding onto Rene so he wouldn’t fall off my arms. We were no more than flies without heads, swaying left and right, up and down, uncontrollably.

“Jeez! Nana sis! Stay focused or we both will fall back into the base again!”

I tried to focus with my mind, knowing that would not do much, but it was the only thing I could do now. Magically it worked.

What!? It worked!?