Lee lay on the ground, the sound assaulted his ears, while pain paralyzed his body. His head wound slowly bleeding away his consciousness, his mind started wandering. In his vision, the present and the past started to bleed together. The orange sky seemed to turn into a dark shade of red, typical of the summer evenings.
However, his situation didn't change, he was still on the ground, gravely injured, the corners of his eyes slowly going dark.
A man appeared in his view and knelt beside him. Lee's heart skipped a beat. Even though he knew this was only a vision, he couldn't stop it from racing at the sight of him.
He tried to call out to him.
"Master"
However, his throat felt sore, and his words died before he managed to speak them. He looked at his master, his long white hairs were flowing in the wind, his face was one of preoccupation and unease. Lee knew all too well what was happening, his eyes started to swell as he pointed at his master's chest.
"Your chest...."
His master, however, didn't seem to care about his own wound and tore off a piece of his cloth to bandage Lee's injured head. Sadness engulfed Lee, he wanted to say something to his master, to tell him to run away and let him die, he wanted to apologize to him for what he had done, but he couldn't. His body felt weak, and every time he tried talking only groans and muffled words came out of his mouth.
All the while, his master tried to reassure him by saying things like "Everything will be ok", "Don't worry", "I'm almost done".
Hearing those words, his guilt intensified.
He moved his head to the side, he couldn't bear looking at his master like this. However, Lee soon realized his mistake, he could already see the first officials from the Empire coming toward them. He tried to change his head position, but it was locked in place. Once again, tears started flowing like rivers when his master entered his field of view. The white-haired man held his spear with pride and determination without showing a hint of fear in his stance. Lee tried to close his eyes, but he couldn't. Every time he managed to, they would open again, forcing him to look at the upcoming battle.
This was his master's last fight, the fight in which he would die.
Yun Qiang dodged the enemy attack, the adrenaline of the fight quickly suppressing the pain from his injuries. He countered with a short lunge of his own, a strike too small to hit meant only to test his opponent's strength. His opponent overreacted, immediately sidestepping the blow while swinging the shaft of his spear toward Yun Qiang's chest.
Even if it hits it won't hurt much
He gritted his teeth, ready to face the pain. He decided to use this occasion to try and kill his opponent, his body was already a mess, he knew a prolonged fight wouldn't go his way. He rotated his spear, using the momentum to step forward and strike his enemy with the shaft. The man cried out, dropping his weapon in pain, giving Yun Qiang the chance to duck forward and move in for the kill.
But just as his upward swing was about to hit his opponent in the face, the shaft of an unknown spear blocked his move; Yun Qiang could barely register the presence of a second opponent before his first enemy lunged at him with his bare hand, his nails extended into a Qi blade.
He reacted instinctively, taking a few steps backward, only receiving a small cut on his cheek.
As the second opponent followed up the first attack with one of his own, Yun Qiang took another step back trying to put some distance between them. However, just as he was about to step back, a small electric shock coursed through his body, paralyzing him for a second and forcing him to clumsily deflect the incoming hit.
He quickly shifted his gaze toward the battlefield in the distance. The captain who had injured him to this extent was surrounded by soldiers, creating chaos on the battlefield while slowly closing in on his position.
They locked eyes for a second. That captain was still keeping track of Yun Qiang's position from a distance, like a predator who refuses to give up on a far-away prey.
Yun Qiang shivered, taking another step backward.
His instinct was telling him that there was no way out, that he should just run away and survive by himself, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Lee was laying there, and leaving him was the equivalent of condemning him to death.
You should just go, it's only been five months since you have met him. There is nothing to be gained by staying here.
A voice as cold as ice snaked its way into his thoughts. Yun Qiang's face darkened even more. His thoughts were right, Lee wasn't a long-time friend and he wasn't indebted to him, nor could he gain something by staying on the battlefield.
His legs started to tremble.
If you want to survive you can just go, run away from this war. No one will notice that a nobody like you is missing. You can just hide in your village and cultivate in peace.
Yun Qiang gulped. He was right: nobody would notice his absence, nobody would search for him or send guards to hunt him down. Deserters were common in wars, and the Kingdom paid almost no attention to them. Soldiers and town guards had more important things to do, their time was better spent patrolling or investigating other crimes instead of chasing some random soldier who decided he couldn't bear the weight of the war anymore.
He took another step backward, ready to leave. However, his heels touched Lee's bloodied body, reminding him what would happen if he retreated.
He stopped himself. The voice inside him was screaming at him, telling him to leave, but he couldn't. Someone was there, and he couldn't leave him alone. His gaze slowly shifted toward the horizon. From where he stood he could see the entire battlefield, and it was a mess. A Foundation Realm cultivator was stirring up chaos in their ranks, one of their captains lay dead on the ground, and most of his allies were in a panic. His gaze fell on two familiar figures fighting among the chaotic field: Sun and Voss. Sun was guiding a small formation against a larger team, while Voss was fighting against two captains at once.
Their situations looked desperate, yet both of them kept fighting their enemies, relentlessly trying to reverse the odds.
As if reading his thoughts, his mind instantly retorted against his blooming determination.
You are not like them. They are better, stronger, smarter than you.
Once again his inner thoughts were right. However, he couldn't back down now that someone else's life was on the line. He had spent all of his time training, hoping that he could survive in this war. If he backed down now, wouldn't all of his effort go to waste?
The memories of Brooks' death and the subsequent days in prison flashed before him. At that time, one of his friends had died trying to protect him while the other had betrayed him.
"The quality of a friendship can't be measured by time alone."
His voice was low and resembled the mumbling of a madman, but it wasn't unsure. Yun Qiang gripped his spear, changing his stance, pointing the tip of his spear downward. He wouldn't retreat anymore, he wouldn't let another one of his friends die because of his weakness.
He charged the soldiers in front of him. If he wanted Lee to survive, then he couldn't afford to battle close to him. He had to move the fight away so Lee wouldn't get injured and nobody would try to finish him off in a fit of rage.
As he stepped forward, another electric shock passed through his body.
I have to go forward!
Yun Qiang gritted his teeth and continued his advance.
Lee looked on with shock as his master faced the officers without fear. Even when injured, his master was fighting flawlessly, swinging his spear in large arcs, elegantly dancing around the battlefield. His heart filled with both pride and guilt.
He felt pride since he was the disciple of such a strong cultivator, and he felt guilt because this entire situation was his fault.
If only I had kept my mouth shut he would still be alive...
Guilt overwhelmed his heart as he remembered why his master had died. He tried again to move. Even if this was all a vision before his final death, he wanted to help his master one final time. However, even after multiple tries, his body wouldn't move, it was like a heavy mountain was pressing on him, preventing his every move. He looked at his master once again.
Forgive me I'm such a useless disciple....
He let out a low, frustrated scream. He had spent his entire life as a powerless man, he was powerless when he was a child, he was powerless as an adult, and even now as a cultivator he was powerless to prevent his master from dying.
The only thing he could do was lie there on the ground slowly bleeding to his death. He looked at his master once again, an officer was slowly creeping behind him ready to strike him in the back. The only thing he could do for his master was scream
"Behind you!"
In Lee's ears the scream was low, almost impossible to hear. He closed his eyes again, squeezing out the last drops of tears that remained in them.
Forgive me...
"Ahhhhh"
Yun Qiang screamed in pain, he could barely hear his own voice in the chaotic battlefield.
A man had managed to sneak up on him and stab him in the back. Blinded by pain, he reacted instinctively, swinging his spear from side to side, successfully hitting the attacker.
This simple yet natural move broke the balance of the fight, forcing Yun Qiang to defend while his enemies pressed him more and more with a near-constant series of attacks.
He moved to the side, the strike he wanted to deflect successfully passed through his defenses, injuring his left leg. He took a step back and reassessed his stance, blood slowly trickling down his various wounds. He constantly moved his spear back and forth, faking attacks, constantly shifting his target, forcefully creating a small standstill.
This moment of respite should have given him an opportunity to rest and calm his mind, however it did the opposite. That single moment of pause caused the adrenaline in his body to wane. He could clearly feel his warm blood flow out of his back injury, and after a few seconds of standstill he could already feel the tiredness and the pain that the adrenaline suppressed coming back.
I need to end this fast.
He strengthened his grip and launched himself into the fight again. It didn't matter if he was tired or if attacking first put him at a disadvantage, he knew that stopping meant only one thing: death.
As he moved, another electric shock tried to stop his movements, but he ignored it. He had to go forward.
When he was about a step away from his enemies, Yun Qiang launched his assault with a series of quick lunges. As he struck, he made sure to constantly change his target, denying any soldier the chance to counterattack. After just a few hits, he could feel the adrenaline coming back to him. His tired mind started to work at full speed again, and his eyes started to dart around his enemies, analyzing them, searching for any imperfections in their movements.
His pupils suddenly contracted. He had spotted an opening. Without hesitation, he lunged forward like a tiger pouncing on its prey, his spear successfully penetrating an enemy's knee from one side to the other. As an attack came from the side, Yun Qiang let out a small, surprised sound. He had expected a counter and had already planned a way to deflect it; however, his spear was stuck in the enemy's leg.
His mind raced through his options, searching desperately for an alternative. At the last second, he sharply twisted the spear's shaft to intercept the incoming blow. The sound of cracking bones and screams of pain filled the air, easily overwhelming the sound of weapons clashing, steel against wood. His enemy insisted with his attack, striking him with a downward swing. Once again Yun Qiang blocked the swing by moving the shaft of his spear. By now his enemy's knee was totally destroyed and posed little to no resistance to Yun Qiang's insistent turning. He blocked the hit. If it would be any other situation, his block could be considered perfect; however, the moment the strike connected with his spear, his legs gave out, forcing him to kneel in front of his opponents.
Yun Qiang looked at his opponent, his eyes were filled with excitement and rage as he pulled away and started assaulting him with a barrage of downward swings. It was like an axeman trying to break a stubborn piece of wood.
And so Yun Qiang kneeled there, passively blocking hits with his shaft while trying his best to hold his hands up, preventing any blow from passing through. His legs had stopped responding, and tiredness was starting to take over him. His mind was slowing down too, reacting slower and slower to his opponent's relentless offense.
He looked downward, feeling hopeless. If he stopped defending he would die, but if he held his defense high up then he was condemning himself to a slow death.
Then there was a pained scream and everything ended within a few moments. Yun Qiang had decisively let go of his spear, picking one from the ground. He then tanked a hit on the shoulder and used this opportunity to gather the remaining strength, striking with an upward lunge toward the enemy's head, killing him on the spot.
As his enemy's blood trickled down the spear's shaft, staining his hands, his legs gave out once again. His ears seemed to have become selectively deaf, completely excluding the chaos of the battlefield, letting through only the cries coming from the soldiers he hadn't finished off ... Yet.
The soldier who had stabbed him in the back had been hit in the eye by his panicked swing and was now lying on the ground, unable to move, slowly bleeding to death. The second one had his right knee completely destroyed and couldn't move; he was just lying on the ground while loudly crying in pain.
Yun Qiang looked at him, the opponent that had looked extremely fierce and was about to kill him just a few minutes ago now was a crying mess. As if feeling his hostile gaze, the enemy soldier started to slowly crawl away, muttering what seemed like desperate prayers.
He briefly looked at him; this was the first time he had seen a scene like this. Naturally he had imagined himself dominating the battlefield and slaying everyone that got in his way more than once. He had thought he would feel powerful and mighty, but he didn't feel like that.
He didn't feel powerful or mighty; he only felt tired and angry. No, anger wasn't the right emotion to describe his feelings. His feelings were more akin to spite and desperation. He had spent the entirety of the fight grasping at straws, trying his best to survive an unfair fight. At some point, their fight had become more than just survival; it had become a way to prove to everyone and to himself that he wasn't weak; that he wasn't someone they could easily pick out from the group and kill.
He freed his spear from his last victim and got closer to the man. For a second, he was tempted to stop and see his enemy squirm and snake away from him, but he pushed away the thought. He didn't hate him for what he had done; besides, playing with him could be fatal, he was still on the battlefield. Without further hesitation, he killed him; the entire process was done while kneeling since, try as he might, he couldn't stand up anymore. He was too tired, he had lost too much blood.
The adrenaline he had accumulated during the fight finally started to wane, and the corners of his eyes started to blur.
Lee continued to watch his master fight, one last tear exiting his dried eye. His master had killed the last officer of the Dark Gold Office, which could only mean one thing.
He is about to die, he is coming...
He looked in the distance. The head of the Dark Gold Office was coming towards them. The leisurely pace he walked with and the bright yellow jacket he wore made him look like a noble taking a calm walk around the town, but Lee knew the man wasn't as noble as he looked. He had seen how he had slaughtered the majority of traders that traveled with them while waiting for his master to tire himself out.
Neither his young appearance nor his charming gold eyes could hide his raw killing intent. As the head of the Dark Gold Office slowly closed in towards his kneeling master, Lee's dread reached its peak, and a wave of fatigue finally overwhelmed his mind. His bad memories had tortured him for long enough; his consciousness slowly faded. A resigned but relieved expression sculpted itself on Lee's face.
At least I won't see you die again...
Yun Qiang looked at Lee, who was unconscious on the ground. He had done it. He had saved his friend. The blurry area in the corners of his eyes started to slowly expand as another wave of fatigue washed over him.
Can I rest now?
As if responding to his thoughts, a sudden electric jolt followed by a rising feeling of dread assaulted his tired self. He raised his head, forcing himself to focus his blurry sight on what was in front of him.
A shiver ran down his spine as desperate thoughts started blooming inside his mind. The sixth captain, the same one who had reduced him like this, was standing just ten meters away from him, his violet gaze firmly locked on them.
Yun Qiang started sweating like never before; what looked like the incarnation of death itself had come for him.