Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 82. Struggling for a Miracle.
“Surround them!” one of the martial masters yelled, cold sweat soaking his back as he watched the two Devils charge at him. If there weren’t his companions to the left, to the right and even behind him, he would have likely fled already. However, since he wasn’t alone, he couldn’t possibly do something so disgraceful just because he was so scared his legs were shaking. Those two Devils had almost killed commander Traka and had killed many of his comrades, almost all of whom were stronger than him; thus, as he raised his sword to defend, he could already see the scenes of himself being killed flash before his eyes.
Despite being filled with Qi, his hands were cold; he saw the white spear covered by a layer of milky-white frost sweep towards his torso from a downward angle and almost as if he was giving up on his life, he attempted to guard. Then, the steel clashed and a layer of true cold covered his hands, causing his skin all the way up to forearms to sting painfully, however… he had actually blocked the attack, and the strength of it wasn’t something he couldn’t deal with! He didn’t think he could keep receiving such blows continuously since his innate elemental affinity was quite low, and it was of an element that provided little with regards to defense; wind. Yet, he didn’t need to keep exchanging blows with that Ice Devil on his own, he wasn’t alone!
To one side, one of his companions clashed with the Lightning Devil and was instantly put on the back foot. He just barely blocked the first slash of the twin swords, but the lightning that danced along the blades caused his hand to grow numb and the very next attack slipped past his defense and left a deep wound across the side of his chest. The next split-second, before anyone could come to his rescue and before he could regain full control of his body, the third attack came; a simple, but incredibly swift thrust pierced through his heart, the lightning ravaging the interior of his body and causing him to die before he could muster any kind of last-breath retaliation.
… the man who had just received Laien’s attack suddenly began feeling less confident. Wasn’t this second Devil a bit too frightening?
It only made sense though. Laien’s combat power might have risen half a rank thanks to him gaining insights into the Profound Mystery of the Mist, but he still wasn’t a match for Yin in a frontal, physical clash. Moreover, Laien’s spear arts boasted the supreme defensive skill while Yin’s sword arts were heavily biased towards offence; it wasn’t surprising that in a brief one-on-one exchange, Laien would at most be able to slightly wound a strong martial master of the third rank while Yin would in most cases, be able to wound him heavily or outright kill him. Unless his opponent was extremely skilled in defense, it would be hard for anyone to withstand Yin’s attacks, given their speed and penetrative power.
Right after those two first exchanges happened, both Laien and Yin were assaulted from the sides by the closest martial masters. As for their reactions…
“Water Flow, Flood Tide!” Laien mused half-consciously as he applied the two Elemental Spear Arts. The ice covering his spear once again turned into water as he fell into a state similar to a trance; he loosened the grip on the shaft and quickly shifted the order of his hands while taking a small step forward with his left leg. He raised the back-end of his spear to meet the downward slash of the man he had attacked first, simultaneously tracking… or rather, simply being aware of the movements of the man attacking him from the right.
Just as the first man’s sword was about to meet with the back-end of his spear, he reversed the movement, his spear leaving a knot-like path of water as it changed directions. “Water Flow, Falling Tide,” the thought passed through Laien’s mind as he stepped into space in-between the two men, making a large but swift step forward. Having avoided the attack of the first man, he once again, very much naturally, changed the nature of his Water Tide Elemental Art; he swirled his spear and pushed the follow-up slash of the second man out of the way; the attack had missed him at first, so the follow up had no weight behind it… deflecting it was incredibly easy.
Yin, on the other hand, took an approach that was in a way both more direct and more roundabout. He kicked away the corpse of the man he killed first, buying himself a split-second of safety from one side. Then, he blocked the scimitar that was coming at him from the left with one of his twin swords and almost instantly, followed up with a slash from the sword in his right hand. This time, however, his opponent defended properly and was quite apparently more skilled; the lightning had little effect due to the man’s earth-element defense too. Killing him would require a bit of time… but killing all of those martial masters wasn’t a realistic goal, now was it a goal Yin had in mind.
“Right… now,” he executed the Lightning Steps and moved away when three men assaulted him almost at the same time. He didn’t move far though; he appeared just at the spot through which Laien’s spear passed a millisecond ago. He knew that man was here, he knew that he had just failed to deliver an all-out attack due to his sword being sent sideways by Laien’s spear, so he acted without any delay at all; he slashed with the sword he held in the right hand and decapitated the man, then without stopping the momentum of his body, he lowered his stance heavily and took three short, quick steps as he rotated his body and moved clockwise.
He revealed a slight smile when Laien’s spear whistled through the air above him and forced yet another man to raise his guard to bock instead of attacking. He didn’t miss the opportunity and attacked mercilessly, slashing at the man’s lower torso with the incredibly sharp blade of his sword. He felt the pressure on his grip increase slightly as the steel cut through the man’s protective Qi and muscles, but this pressure disappeared quickly as his sword left the man’s body along with a spurt of blood.
There was an unwillingness in the man’s eyes as the life seeped out of his body. He felt cheated; that Ice Devil wasn’t even looking when he swept out with the spear to attack him; to him, it all looked like an accident… and that accident made him unable to defend against the Lightning Devil. His body had been torn into two halves, his internal organs had been shattered and lightning destroyed his Qi paths. He saw the world flip as his upper body fell backward; he would likely survive for a few seconds longer, then he would lose consciousness and die within ten, fifteen more seconds. For the first time ever, he wanted to curse the durability of a martial master’s body.
Alas, no one was aware of the man’s thoughts as he was dying. At the moment, all of his comrades were preoccupied with something else.
Laien and Yin didn’t stop for even a second; they continued circling with their backs turned to each other, moving with such coordination that it seemed as if their bodies and minds were one. It looked almost as if the two of them were performing an extremely complicated dance, as sometimes they would both move smoothly, defending and attacking respectively in the exact same rhythm, but at other times they would change the tempo abruptly and without a warning.
One of the braver and less lucky of those martial masters had a chance to experience this ridiculousness first-hand. He had attempted to read the rhythm of the Ice Devil’s Defense and aim for an opening to attack either him or the Lightning Devil and he had even succeeded. He had been about to use a fire-element martial technique to attack the Lightning Devil when those two stopped abruptly; before he could adjust his position, the back-end of the Ice Devil’s spear blasted through the space opened by the Lightning Devil abruptly twisting his torso.
There was no way he could dodge that attack; he had been hit in the stomach and blasted away… and to his shock, skewered right through by an ice spike. Now, a few seconds later, he was backing off hurriedly, wounded too heavily to continue fighting. Even though a thick spike through the stomach wouldn’t have normally been enough to incapacitate him, the ice energy which proceeded to spread through his innards had almost killed him. He survived only thanks to his fire-affinity; had he been born with an affinity to any other element, he would have almost certainly died.
“How can they work together like that? They really aren’t human,” he complained, watching how the Devils continued their dance and kept pressing towards the center of the battlefield.
“Attack them! Don’t let them get through!” one of the martial masters in the middle of their lines shouted nervously, but his companions in the front only felt like cursing him. What did he mean by ‘Attack them, don’t let them get through?’ - if he was so smart, he should come over and help them! This kind of thing… they had never dealt with anything relatively similar ever before! They were trying to attack or stop those two Devils, but all they were getting in exchange were wounds and deaths! Since those two plunged into their ranks, four of their companions had already been killed off! What were they supposed to do against those two freaks?!
“Martial techniques! Back off and use martial techniques!” someone yelled and almost instantly, everyone listened to him. No one was enthusiastic about attack those Devils head-on, so they welcomed a safer approach. However, the moment they began creating distance between them and the Devils… Laien and Yin simply changed their approach for a moment.
The two of them stopped circling and instead, rushed straight ahead. Laien sped up as well as he could, while Yin executed the Lightning Steps and followed up with the Elemental Sword of Lightning; Thunder. At Yin’s current level, it would be hard for even a martial master of the fourth rank to fully guard against this attack, much less a martial master of the third rank who had been attempting to use a martial technique; the man had a greater portion of his chest cut through, he died instantly.
Following the instant kill, Laien forced his way between the middle line of the martial masters through the opening. Just like before, he swirled his spear and focused on defending. Yin joined in right afterward and did his part of the job, killing two more martial masters along his way; one of the third rank and one of the second rank. The two of them moved past the middle part of the group of those forty… or more like thirty martial masters, getting ever so close to the place where Jasmine was holding off one black-golden-clothed man and keeping a whole bunch more of Yimar Furi’s subordinates in check.
“Kill them! Kill them!” the black-golden-clothed man, Sharu, yelled in desperation. There were maybe one hundred meters separating him from those two Devils; Yimar Furi was casting a Grand Spell, so he couldn’t very well change his position either… and those three dozen or so martial masters behind him couldn’t afford to leave the spiritual masters alone, all because of that assassin hiding somewhere in the distance and looking for an opportunity to strike. He already had his hands full with Jasmine, if those two Djinn spawns joined in, he would be killed in an instant!
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
“Kill them, or we will all die!” he shouted one more time, his voice carrying both a furious command and an immense fear within it.
The thirty martial masters grew frantic; moments ago, they still reasoned with themselves and through about things like camaraderie and achievements to gather the courage to fight. Now, however… they once again, and this time very thoroughly, realized that if they failed to stop the Devils, then all of their lives would be forfeit. Thus, they renewed their efforts and began piling up upon the two Devils and attacking them like crazy, no longer caring whether they would be wounded or killed in consequence. They attacked with abandon, discarding their lives for the sake of killing those two monstrosities.
And when they did, they found out that no matter how waterproof the Ice Devil’s defense was and no matter how agile and fast the Lightning Devil was, it was impossible for them to fight back against an enraged crowd of martial masters of the third rank. The dance of the Devil’s grew erratic, then broke down completely; no matter how good their cooperation was, it was impossible for them to fend off crazed, fearless attack coming five, six directions at once. The Devils managed to claim three more lives before finally, they could no longer keep up.
The Qi-engulfed swords and scimitars began falling on their bodies despite their best attempts to dodge and defend.
Laien, whose defense was superb, could still hold on; he could fend off most the attack with his spear, while those that went through would at most leave scratches and small wounds all over his snow-white skin. Despite being in a bad place, he still had some room to fight back; as long as he had enough Qi and spiritual energy, it would be extremely hard for any martial master of the third rank to kill him without resorting to their most powerful martial techniques.
Yin, however… as they were surrounded tightly, he couldn’t use Lightning Steps to dodge. He didn’t have a superb defensive technique like Laien’s Ice Body either, so despite his innate toughness, his arms, shoulders and the sides of his chest began steadily covering in wounds, his clothes soaking with more and more of his own blood. At this rate, it was only matter of time before one of those attacks slipped past his weakening defenses and injured him in a critical place.
“They won’t make it in time,” Jasmine groaned. It had already been well over fifteen seconds since they start trying to break through; she had a lot of experience with Grand Spells, so she could tell that Yimar Furi was seconds away from completing the magic. Two or three seconds after that, the Spell would form and they would be all done with. “There’s no other choice…” she
“Let me…!” Reian clutched his saber and attempted to stand up from the ground, but Sirius’s hand pressed onto his shoulder strongly, keeping him in place. Resentful, Reian turned his head and sent Sirius a hateful gaze… but despite all those emotions, he understood the pointlessness of his own action. He had just been held down by Sirius, whose martial cultivation was merely at the late stage of the ninth mortal realm. If he couldn’t overpower him, how could he possibly fight against dozens of martial masters? All he would be doing was throwing his life away, but…! What else could he do in this situation? Was there any other way out? He, for once, couldn’t see any!
Amidst the over two dozen crazed martial masters, Yin felt himself growing weaker. The precious seconds passed and despite him having killed two more of their enemies and Lain having killed four, they weren’t making enough progress. There was only one way out of this peril, and he was sure that Laien’s wouldn’t agree… but he needed him to do it! He needed him to listen!
“Laien, jump!” he shouted in his mind, transferring the thought as clearly as he could through their spiritual bond. The next instant, still knowing not whether Laien would listen to him or not, he forced himself to release a surge of lightning in all directions; he understood that a crude attack like that wouldn’t do much harm to those martial masters, but all he needed was to startle them for a split-second, nothing else!
He rejoiced when he sensed that Laien listened to him and jumped up in the air. With Laien’s ability, it wouldn’t be hard to create a foothold for himself and propel himself toward Jasmine. Had Laien been fully rested, it would have also been possible for him to create an ice barrier to negate most of the attacks and use his Ice Body to withstand whatever was left… but he understood it quite clearly. With how much energy Laien had already used up, he couldn’t afford to do it! He hadn’t even bothered to heal the multiple small wounds he had received; he didn’t have enough energy left!
“All of nothing…” Yin thought with a nervous smile, then just as Laien was forming a platform to jump off of in mid-air, he kicked at the ground and used Lightning Steps twice in quick succession. First, he jumped at one of those martial masters, then jumped up into the air at an angle… and made sure to guard his heart and head with his twin swords.
“Those crazy…!” Jasmine and the black-golden-clothed man shared the same thoughts when they saw what was happening. Jumping into the air was suicidal; even Mustafa, who could effortlessly execute Air Walking, didn’t do that in large-scale battles for the fear of his life. Yet, those two…!
For a second, everyone’s gaze was drawn towards the two youths flying through the air. Some of those gazes were hopeful but filled with pain, some of those gazes were flabbergasted, some hateful and yet other were full of ridicule. However, regardless of all those gazes, the weapons and the mid-range techniques of those below shot upward, all of them aiming at the two figures in the air.
First came the blades, as the two figures were still rising; the sword and scimitars slashed out ruthlessly, almost all of them landing on Yin’s body, carving up pieces of flesh off his arms, legs and his torso. His skin was torn, his muscles severed, his bones crushed and broken. He coughed up blood when his stomach was torn and internal organs sliced into pieces. Every cell in his body was screaming out in pain as his vitality faded; this was far worse than being wounded in his magical beast form back in that cavern… alas, this time he couldn’t have transformed even if he wanted.
The moment he did, the Heavenly Lightning would undoubtedly escape his control. If he was lucky, it would only cripple his cultivation base; if he was less fortunate, it would kill him, Laien and everyone else in the proximity of a few hundred meters.
The next instant, when they got slightly higher and slightly further ahead, the various martial techniques came at them. With Yin’s consciousness slipping away, he would have likely died had he been hit by all of those attacks… but those martial masters below failed to realize what they were doing wrong in time. They all shot their martial arts regardless of their elemental affinity and regardless of the spot they were occupying; as a result, the nearly dozen martial techniques all collided in the air and exploded, releasing fire, wind and water in all directions and sending the two youths flying further.
“Yin…!” Laien felt as if he was going crazy. It was their only choice to make it in time and have a chance to prevail in the end… but he couldn’t bear it! He couldn’t…! He not only saw how Yin took the blows for him, he could sense his pain, he could tell how much he was suffering! All because he was protecting him so desperately! This feeling of helplessness infuriated him completely; he wished he could simply wipe out all those martial masters below him along with Yimar Furi and the rest of those goddamn people, but he was too weak…! He was still too weak…! Was his best friend going to die because he had been too reckless again? No… no, no, no, no… No!
As they were spinning around while falling to the ground, Laien canceled the Ice Body technique and grabbed at Yin’s body, at the same time creating a layer of water around his hands to immediately start healing him. He shuddered when he felt the torn flesh and warm blood between his fingers; a normal human would have died instantly from this kind of wounds, with more than half of his internal organs gone and with his limbs barely resembling anything anymore. It was only because of Yin’s magical beast constitution that he was still alive.
“You can’t die, I won’t let you die!” Laien shouted out within his mind and without caring for the plan they had, began pouring out Qi and spiritual energy from his body to heal Yin. Yet, as he began doing so, out of nowhere a black arrow came flying; it pierced right through the left side of Yin’s chest, going directly through it before lodging itself into his shoulder. With his mind going blank, Laien’s eyes lost their focus; it was then when he saw him, standing in the back, smiling. The dark-cloaked man, Zakar, stood there with a large bow in his hand, looking directly at them.
The two of them hit the ground and rolled roughly toward Jasmine. Then, they stopped abruptly when Laien created some water and used it as a cushion.
“Hold him-…” Jasmine, despite being greatly disturbed by what happened, began shouting at Laien, hoping that he would be able to delay Sharu and buy her time to stop the Grand Spell that was already forming above Yimar Furi and his thirty-five spiritual masters. However, she froze half-step the next second when Laien’s yell resounded in her ears
“Stay where you are!”
There was no Qi or spiritual energy in this yell, it wasn’t all that loud… but for some reason, the indescribable anger that was present within it, and yet was overshadowed by stern conviction, made her come to a stop before she could make a conscious decision. Half a second later, she asked herself what in the world was she doing… but it was already too late. Her opponent started running away on his own… the Grand Spell, the humongous mass of water and ice the size of a large hill was about to come crashing at their group.
“At the very least, the little master and Reian….!” she thought as she jumped back. Perhaps, if she saved those two by using up all of her strength and sacrificing her body in the process, then they would be a chance for them to live on…!
A few hundred meters away, Yimar Furi laughed inwardly when he saw Jasmine rushing over to Arslan. “Good, protect him for me. It would be bad for us if he ended up dying, after all!” he thought with a smile on his face. “Go forth, Water-Ice Apocalypse!” he cried out with his mind and with some effort, send the giant mass of water and ice at Jasmine and the others.
The nearby martial masters of his fled as fast as they could, while Jasmine and Sirius were preparing to receive the Grand Spell.
“Yin, Yin!” Kasha held Arslan tightly as he struggled in her arms, crying and shouting as he tried to run over to Yin and Laien.
It didn’t take long; the Grand Spell, despite its size and mass, wasn’t slow at all. It rumbled through the air, coming down at an angle. It shrouded the sun, covering the area it was aiming at in one huge shadow. The volume of water, the grand boulders of ice, the spikes and shards… they were all crashing down, promising to lay waste to whatever ended up baring their path.
“Die…” Laien murmured, standing on his own two feet, tears flowing from his reddened eyes. The despair he was feeling, the guilt, the pain…! There were no words in the language of man to describe them. “All of you, go and fucking die!” he let out a Qi-filled roar and raised his hands. He released all of the Qi and spiritual energy in his body and sent it surging upward, towards the sun-eclipsing Grand Spell! Fueled by his emotions, his Absolute Water Spiritual Domain and Absolute Water Martial Realm trembled, then began resonating with all the blood in his body, making it all boil uncontrollably!
Although one present could possibly comprehend what Laien hoped to accomplish, they all watched him and his lonely figure. When they sensed the huge amount of energy flowing out of him, many were shocked… but they all understood that this much power wasn’t nearly enough to stop a Grand Spell. There was no hope of reversing fate and making a miracle happen, or so they thought.
Before everyone’s shocked eyes, the massive Water-Ice Apocalypse started shuddering uncontrollably. Then, it began rapidly losing its speed… until it came about ten meters from the ground and actually stopped! The moment it did, the whole magic it consisted of began quaking and shifting, at the same time releasing large amounts of water-element spiritual energy which flooded towards the small, black-haired figure standing below it in an almost uncontrollable fashion.
“All of you… Die!” Laien yelled for the second time, his voice containing boundless rage and fury. He swung his right hand, throwing the entirely of the monstrous Water-Ice Apocalypse Grand Spell in the opposite direction, straight toward Yimar Furi, Zakar and the rest of their men.