[https://i.imgur.com/MClW6uW.png]

Something that sounded like an explosion rocked the carriage, sending my slumbering self out of the seat and onto the floor. Or at least, it would have had Yahui not caught me. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and glanced around. Moments later, I sensed it. The overwhelming powers of both Blighted and divine pressing in from both sides. Yahui and I left the carriage in unison, him to face off against the Blighted and me to stare down the divine beast.

The large creature made of light energies loomed over us, it’s feet still hundreds of feet away. It lumbered slowly across the plains, clearly unaware of what it crushed under its golden hooves. Markings in brilliant prismatic light covered the bestial creature’s hide. Golden adornments hung over various parts of its body, studded with vibrant jewels. The slight familiarity gave me a moment of pause, but when its next footfall shook the earth I snapped to my senses.

“Stop!” I commanded, summoning blades of light around me. “Do you intend to crush innocents during your hunt?!”

To my surprise, the divine beast halted and lowered its head. Its breath caused blades of grass, leaves, and dust to fly into the air around us.

“Inno…cents?” The beast’s voice vibrated through the air, much quieter than I expected from such a large creature. Its golden eyes blinked at me, then shifted to our convoy. “I must hunt.”

“Hunt elsewhere! We can destroy these Blighted!” I narrowed my eyes at the beast. It hesitated, tilting its head.

“Elsewhere?”

“There are more Blighted, far too many, in the wastelands beyond here.” I kept my voice level, attempting to not come off as threatening. “Let us slay these. Go back to hunting the ones in the wastelands, or you will kill these people as well as the Blighted.”

“I will…wait. If you cannot kill yours…” The beast trailed off, sitting on its haunches.

I bit back my irritation and hastened to join Yahui on the far side of the carriage. Every thrum of his guqin sent more Blighted collapsing to the ground. His disciples were quite far from us, aside from our driver who was keeping the horses calm. When I landed in a crouch near Yahui, he shot me a wary glance but said nothing.

“If we don’t handle the Blighted ourselves, the beast intends to do it for us.” I sent blades of light careening into the front row of Blighted. “We need to slay them, all of them, and quickly.”

“Very well. We will discuss this later.” Yahui shot me a dangerous glare before settling his glowing crimson and violet gaze on the Blighted. “Take care not to hit my pets with your attacks.”

“Of course.” I scoffed, summoning more light weapons around myself.

As I prepared, Yahui reached into one of his sleeves and pulled out what looked like small silver orbs. He tossed the orbs, sending them skittering across the ground. Once touched by his darkness, they cracked open to form the elegant cage-like contraptions I had seen him use to create familiars before. While they took shape, he continued attacking the Blighted with his guqin.

The Blighted lunged toward the contraptions as if aware they were a threat. I cut them off with spikes of light, impaling the undead that attempted to halt Yahui’s summoning. Next, I dashed in with a blade of light in one hand and began to hack through the waves of Blighted. Yahui’s creatures soon joined me. Shockwaves of power frequently flew over my head from his guqin, plunging into the further away enemies.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

While his familiars and I tore through the closest Blighted, Yahui took care of the ones in the back. Slowly, we whittled down the waves of creatures, but I had a feeling it wasn’t quickly enough to appease the divine beast. Gritting my teeth, I fell back to Yahui’s side.

“There is more than when we fought together outside the Terraces,” Yahui commented. I glanced to the side at him when I heard the faint raggedness to his voice.

“We need to end this quickly. You still insist I should keep my other weapons hidden?” I gave him a pointed look when he glanced at me.

“That is…” Yahui took a deep breath, swaying in the air. For a moment, I thought his levitation skill might break. “I give you permission to unleash against the Blighted. We can’t afford to have our divine…overseer grow impatient.”

I concentrated briefly, calling forth weapons made of bright white metal. They floated around me, casting prismatic glints of light off every nearby surface. After taking a longsword in one hand, I dashed into the throngs of Blighted again—this time with a maelstrom of light shards surrounding me. Yahui called his familiars back to him, giving me free rein to swing my weapons in wide arcs around me.

More creatures rose from the soil nearby, causing me to narrow my eyes. Something was actively summoning them. Taking a deep breath, I called upon my power and concentrated it into a long, flexible rope. I conjured a handle and gripped the newly-created whip, allowing my sword to join the dance of floating weapons. With a sharp flick of my wrist, I sent the whip of light slashing through the Blighted, cutting them in half. Their bodies crumpled to the ground, their wounds glowing white-hot.

Next, I lashed out at where I saw the creatures appearing from. My whip dug several feet into the ground. Moments later there was a sound like breaking glass. New Blighted ceased appearing, allowing us to finish off the several dozen that remained.

“Now then, how…” Yahui fell silent and caught me with one arm when my knees gave out. He opened his mouth and closed it a few times, clearly uncertain of something. Finally, he sighed and asked, “Was it necessary for you to use so much power? You could have caused yourself permanent damage.”

“My instincts…told me…we were taking too long,” I panted, attempting to right myself and stand on my own. My weapons disappeared whence they came as the divine beast lowered its head to peer at us.

“Blighted…gone. I shall hunt elsewhere. Wastelands?” The divine beast’s gaze flicked to Yahui. “Dark arts user… Xing Yahui. Favored by gods. Will not hunt you.”

Yahui stiffened, his gaze trained on the beast, but he didn’t let go of me.

“Yes, hunt in the wastelands. Try not to kill people who aren’t Blighted,” I stated, giving the beast a firm look. “If people die, you won’t have anything left to protect.”

The beast tilted its head in silence for a moment, then nodded. It turned and paced back in the direction of the wastelands, causing the ground to tremor with each step. Between the beast’s footfalls and my exhaustion, my legs gave out again. Yahui pulled my arm over his shoulders and gripped my wrist, using his other arm to brace my waist.

“Stop your struggling. You clearly can’t walk on your own.” Yahui’s grip on my wrist tightened.

“I wasn’t struggling,” I grumbled, earning a doubtful look. “I was trying...to...” My vision swam, my head pounding.

“Mingzhu?”

“Dizzy…” I whined.

“Let me help.” One of the nearby disciples pulled my other arm over his shoulders.

The two men managed to get me back to the carriage, in which I promptly sprawled out on one of the seats and covered my eyes with one arm. When Yahui cleared his throat as if to get my attention, I shook my head.

“We will have to discuss this at some point.” Yahui sighed.

“Everything is spinning, and I can’t tell up from down!” I huffed in reply. “Talk all you want, but I’m keeping my arm here or I might fall on the floor.”

When Yahui spoke again, it was in an unreadable, quiet tone. “What possessed you to directly confront a divine beast?”

“It seemed like the right thing to do. Otherwise it would have kept walking without regard for what was in its path, even if we killed the Blighted quickly enough.”

“Perhaps I should just be thankful it listened,” Yahui muttered. A soft thud and the rustling of fabric gave me the impression he had sunk back in his seat. “We will begin moving again once my disciples have collected the fragments of the artifact you broke.”

“…we aren’t already moving?” I grimaced, peeking at Yahui around my arm.

“I would offer to send you into slumber, but I believe I know your answer.” Yahui shook his head before shifting to look away from me. “Rest. My disciples and I will handle any further trouble that might arise.”