Chapter 39

Gan Yan waited at the mouth of the cave for a while. His patience ran out. He gave a look to the eldest disciple of the Zuo family beside him.

The man understood and was just about to step into the cave when Lian Ai walked out. He was alone. The young Emperor was nowhere in sight.

“You?” Gan Yan frowned. “Where’s that little brat?”

Lian Ai wore a submissive smile. “Your Highness, he’s inside the cave. You arrived at just the right time. General Bu told me to bring the young Emperor here, and I was thinking about how best to offer him to you.”

Gan Yan gave a short laugh. “Offer him? What for? I should just kill him.”

Lian Ai stared blankly for a moment, then lowered himself to his knees in front of Gan Yan, eyes full of panic and shame. “Ah, this slave misunderstood Your Highness’s intentions. It was my mistake. I deserve punishment.”

His body trembled ever so slightly. Blood still streaked down his arm, half-dried. Just the way Gan Yan liked it.

Gan Yan had already let the taste of victory go to his head. Seeing Lian Ai like this only fed his pleasure. He raised a finger and tilted Lian Ai’s chin up. “Once I’ve killed the young Emperor and Bu Nian, I’ll deal with you next.”

Then he pressed the pad of his thumb against Lian Ai’s lips, pushing just enough to feel their softness.

“Yes… this slave await Your Highness’s punishment. Your Majesty’s punishment.” Lian Ai’s eyes turned hazy. His lips parted slightly, and when he spoke, the tip of his tongue brushed against Gan Yan’s finger.

Gan Yan was thrilled. His breathing grew heavier. He wanted to take the body in front of him and whip it until the desire that swelled in his chest spilled out in full.

“Get up,” he said.

Lian Ai slowly stood up. His mouth did not close. The tip of his tongue continued to tease Gan Yan. His hand moved to his palm, and his fingers gently stroked it, slow and sensual, like he was seducing him.

The others who witnessed the scene looked visibly uncomfortable. One by one, they averted their eyes. That was exactly the moment Lian Ai had been waiting for.

Suddenly, he grabbed Gan Yan’s wrist and bit down hard on the thumb that was still in his mouth. At the same time, his other hand lifted and fired a sleeve bolt into Gan Yan’s chest.

Gan Yan had just let out a scream from the pain in his hand when the bolt struck his chest, locking him in place.

He froze. He had never imagined that Lian Ai, this lowborn creature he had always treated like a crawling insect had just wounded him.

“You..” He had only spoken one word when a searing pain exploded in his chest, like something had burst open from inside.

The eldest disciple of the Zuo family was the first to realize what had happened. When he saw the bright blood blooming across Gan Yan’s chest, he understood instantly.

His eyes went bloodshot. He raised his twin blades and charged at Lian Ai. “Filthy dog. I’ll kill you.”

Lian Ai spat out the half-bitten thumb. A fearless smile hung on his face. He knew he could not escape. But if he could drag Gan Yan down to hell with him, then dying was worth it.

Helian Qiufeng had once asked him, what would he do if he ran out of bolts in the Yuanmo during a fight. He had answered that he would shoot the one who deserved to die most first. Now, he had kept that promise.

He only hoped the young Emperor, with that crossbow in his hands, could shoot straight. If he could hold out just a little longer, there might still be a sliver of hope.

The twin blades struck with deadly force. One of them was just about to slash across Lian Ai’s neck. At that moment, another curved blade, just as bright and cold, swept in and blocked the strike with a solid clash.

The eldest disciple of the Zuo family stared in disbelief. His eyes followed the blade to its wielder. “Junior brother?”

Zuo Lingyu’s face was blank. He flicked aside his senior brother’s blade and pulled Lian Ai behind him.

“Senior brother, let it go.” He looked at Gan Yan, who was lying motionless on the ground. His voice carried a rare note of sincerity. “Take Brother-in-law and leave this place. We can figure out what to do after that.”

“No. Not until we kill the young Emperor and that filthy dog.” They had been on the verge of victory, and now everything had fallen apart because of a man no one thought mattered. No one here was willing to accept that.

Zuo Lingyu stood his ground, twin blades in hand. He did not move. He made it clear with his stance that if anyone advanced, he would fight.

His senior brother shouted with fury and pain. “Are you really going to betray the Zuo family for the sake of that filthy thing?”

Zuo Lingyu’s grip on his twin blades tightened. He could not accept how they kept calling Lian Ai a filthy thing. His voice was stubborn and sharp. “He has a name. His name is Helian Ai.”

But none of them cared what he said. To them, he was protecting a filthy thing. One who had attacked Gan Yan.

No one was willing to back down. The confrontation could explode at any moment. Even though the senior brother cared about Zuo Lingyu, this was not the time to tolerate his choices.

Lian Ai felt a sting across his neck. The blade wind had caught him just moments earlier. When he reached up and touched the spot, his fingertips came away stained with blood. The skin was torn. Just a little deeper, and that blade would have taken his head off.

If Zuo Lingyu had not arrived in time, he would already be dead.

“Hand him over.”

“Hand him over.”

The voices came from every direction. A group of black-clad fighters was closing in around them, their faces blurred with bloodlust. It was impossible to tell who they were or what sect they belonged to. If Zuo Lingyu refused to give him up, they would kill him too. It didn’t matter who stood in their way.

They had lost their minds.

Lian Ai looked at them and saw it clearly. Power was the most terrifying thing in this world. It could twist people’s hearts, strip away loyalty and blood ties, turn friends into executioners, and brothers into strangers. In the face of power, nothing else mattered.

Bai Shu was soaked in blood. A curved blade from Zuo Luan was still buried in his thigh. Flesh had split open around it, and the bright red had drenched the lower half of his robe. The cloth hung heavy and wet, dripping with thick strands of blood.

He was in complete disarray. Wounded all over. Even strands of his hair had been sliced away.

But the one in the worse state was Zuo Luan. His body hung over Bai Shu’s back, neck twisted by the whip that had strangled him. His legs kicked weakly, hands grabbing at the air with no strength left to fight back.

Bai Shu clenched his teeth and held firm. The pressure against his back was growing lighter by the second. He knew the man was slipping, but he did not dare let go. He pulled the whip tighter. Zuo Luan’s body gave one last twitch, then went completely still.

The weight of the body was too much. Bai Shu was badly wounded and could no longer hold on. He collapsed sideways, falling together with Zuo Luan’s corpse.

He gasped for air. When he turned his head, he found himself face to face with Zuo Luan’s lifeless expression. His eyes were bulging, his lips were stained with blood, and his face was locked in a grimace of rage, as if he had died unwillingly.

“Shut your eyes already.” Bai Shu gritted his teeth, raised a trembling hand, and forced the man’s eyelids shut.

Suddenly, he felt a faint tremor in the ground. Someone was approaching. He pressed his ear to the dirt and listened carefully. There were many of them. The footsteps were steady and disciplined. These were not ordinary attackers. These people had been trained.

He forced himself to focus. Bit by bit, he pushed off the ground and sat upright. In the distance, a familiar figure was walking toward him, sword in hand.

His eyes lit up. “Leader.”

Bu Nian had trained twelve deathsworn from a young age. The twelve had deep bonds between them. Each was named after a medicinal herb. The oldest among them was called Banxia. He was the leader of the twelve.

The man looked down at him, gaze falling on the blade still buried in Bai Shu’s leg.

“How bad is it?”

Bai Shu grinned, lips twitching through the pain. “Not enough to kill me.”

The man stepped forward and reached out a hand. “Then get up. If you’re not dead, come with me and kill the rest.”

Zuo Lingyu’s blade had never drawn the blood of a loved one. If he could avoid it, he did not want to clash with his senior brother. But his senior brother wanted to kill his friend, and he could not stand by and let his friend die before his eyes. That contradiction twisted around him like a knot he could not undo. He could neither retreat nor move forward. It left him trapped in a painful choice.

The air was thick with tension. The moment could explode at any time. No one was willing to back down, yet no one made the first move.

Just then, at the brink of disaster, a sound came from below the mountain. From a distance, they saw troops moving up the path. They wore military armor and carried shields and spears. They were not dressed like the black-clad martial fighters.

The expression of the Zuo family’s eldest disciple shifted. “This is bad. Bu Nian’s men are here.”

Lian Ai looked through the crowd and caught sight of a figure in white. The gait was strange, uneven, but he recognized it immediately. There was no mistake. That was Bai Shu.

Relief surged through his chest. For a moment, everything inside him loosened.

If he died, it was nothing. He was only a speck of dust in this world. What he feared was failing the task Bu Nian had entrusted to him. He feared letting everyone’s efforts go to waste. But now that reinforcements had arrived, at least the young Emperor would not die. That was enough.

Everyone else was distracted. Their attention scattered just long enough. In that instant, Zuo Lingyu seized the opportunity. He grabbed Lian Ai by the wrist, gathered his qinggong, and leapt down the mountain. He stepped across the thick treetops and flew toward the towering silhouette of Tianfu Temple.

Lian Ai was pulled along, his wrist tight in Zuo Lingyu’s grip. They darted between branches and rooftops. The wind tore at him. For a moment, he was so startled he forgot how to breathe.

“Where are you taking me?” The cold wind rushed into his nose and mouth. Even speaking became difficult.

Zuo Lingyu looked back at him. His expression was difficult to read, but he quickly turned away again.

“I’m taking you somewhere safe.” His voice was carried to Lian Ai through the rush of wind.

The two of them moved quickly toward the mountain gate. Zuo Lingyu landed on the rooftop of one of the main halls and was about to leap onto the next when the corner of his eye caught two figures locked in fierce combat. His gaze froze on the sight and could no longer turn away.

Lian Ai sensed something was wrong. He followed Zuo Lingyu’s gaze, and the moment he saw it, his eyes flew wide. His body stepped forward before he even realized it.

“General.”

Bu Nian and Zuo Lingxue were deep in battle. Their blades flashed and clashed, too fast to track, leaving streaks in the air.

Bu Nian’s sword strikes were fierce and forceful, difficult to withstand. Zuo Lingxue’s blades were swift and light, her movements elusive and graceful. Their battle was intense and gripping, yet so striking to watch it seemed like a dance. It was the perfect union of strength and beauty.

Zuo Lingxue crossed her blades, catching Bu Nian’s downward strike. But the force of the blow bent her knees. She grit her teeth and pushed the sword away, leaping back a step. She barely landed before launching forward again, her toes pressing down and body springing toward him like lightning.

Bu Nian saw her coming with relentless force and stepped back quickly. In just a span of three meters, they had already exchanged over a hundred blows. But now the wall was at his back. With no more room to retreat, he stepped twice up the surface, flipped cleanly over Zuo Lingxue’s head, and landed behind her with precision.

Zuo Lingxue turned sharply, ready to strike again, but her body stopped cold. She clutched her lower abdomen, pain twisting across her face. She no longer looked at Bu Nian. Something had gone wrong inside her. She could not raise her blades again.

Bu Nian would not let her breathe. He would never let an opportunity like this pass.

His sword was just about to fall. The strike showed no hesitation, no mercy, and no chance for retreat. Zuo Lingxue looked up at the blade above her and seemed to see death itself descending.

But in that very moment, a figure dropped from the sky and landed in front of her, shielding her with their body.

Bu Nian hesitated briefly. In that short instant, he saw clearly that it was Zuo Lingyu. His main target was still Zuo Lingxue, and just as he began to change his move, Zuo Lingyu, in a panic, threw something from his hand toward him.

Even though Bu Nian shut his eyes in time, some of the powder still got in. It stung fiercely. In that flash of pain, he lost control of the sword in his hand. The blade came down all at once.

Zuo Lingyu let out a scream. Four of his fingers, except the thumb were severed by Bu Nian’s sword.

The bloody fingers fell to the ground, still twitching. One of them even quivered slightly after hitting the ground, as if it hadn’t yet realized it was no longer part of its owner’s body.

Everything happened so quickly. Zuo Lingxue barely had time to glance at her brother’s mangled hand. She didn’t even have a chance to collect the fallen fingers. She pulled him along, used her qinggong, and escaped toward the outer temple.

Now that both she and Zuo Lingyu were injured, continuing the fight was pointless. It was better to retreat, recover for a while, and think about their next step later.

Lian Ai had seen everything unfold from the rooftop. When Zuo Lingyu had dropped down, he hadn’t been able to react in time. By the time he snapped out of it, the Zuo siblings had already fled.

Bu Nian did not go after them. He dropped to one knee, using his sword for support. His movements showed he was injured too.

Lian Ai was too far to see clearly. He only noticed Zuo Lingyu making a motion with his arm, spreading it forward, but he did not realize anything had been thrown.

His concern was all on Bu Nian. He wanted to get down from the roof to check on him. Fortunately, the roof had two levels. He jumped from the upper eave to the lower one, which brought him closer to the ground.

“General.”

Helian Qiufeng was not far from Bu Nian. The moment he noticed something was wrong, he ran over at once.

Bu Nian’s head was lowered. At first, Helian Qiufeng thought he had been wounded somewhere on his body. Then a drop of liquid fell from Bu Nian’s face. He looked closer, and his breath caught in his throat.

Lian Ai jumped down from the three meters high roof, hit the ground and rolled once. One foot twisted as he landed, and when he got up, his movements were unsteady. But he ignored the pain and limped quickly toward Bu Nian.

“Elder Brother, how is the General?”

Helian Qiufeng looked up. He saw Lian Ai’s disheveled figure but said nothing. Or rather, he was so shaken that he could not speak.

Bu Nian must have heard his voice, because he raised his head. The streak of red trailed down his cheek like a tear.

“Lian Ai?”

Lian Ai’s pupils shrank. His knees gave out beneath him, and he collapsed to the ground. Then he scrambled forward on all fours until he reached Bu Nian.

When he saw Bu Nian’s face up close, his eyes widened. His lower eyelids turned red, and tears slid down his cheeks. But unlike the red streaks on Bu Nian’s face, his tears were clear.

His voice trembled. “General, your eyes…”