Inner Demons

Chapter 17: Death

Qiao Sifu inadvertently looked back. The intention was to see if there were any pursuers, and he got his wish.

A ray of moonlight shone through the leaves of the forest, illuminating the swordsman's rapier.

A cold gleam flashed.

"Run!" he instinctively shouted, pulling Qiao Jiaxin's hand and fleeing.

But the swordsman's sword was faster than his reaction. A cold snort and the sound of the blade cutting through the air came at the same time. In the blink of an eye, the swordsman crossed six steps, pouncing like a hawk, his sword tip aimed directly at Qiao Sifu's throat.

But after all, it was one step too late. Qiao Sifu dodged once, his neck avoiding the blade, and offered his left shoulder. Blood splattered – this seemingly light and elegant sword strike was surprisingly powerful, instantly disabling one of his arms.

But the swordsman was already within three steps of the two. The rapier moved upward like a swimming snake, aiming for his throat again.

Qiao Sifu had lost his momentum and couldn't exert himself to dodge.

Qiao Jiaxin knew this was a matter of life and death, so she mustered her strength and crashed into the swordsman, hoping to deflect the sword strike.

The swordsman naturally didn't expect the girl to have such courage, and she really did make him step aside, causing his sword to miss its mark.Qiao Sifu avoided the strike and leaned back, falling diagonally –

He landed right on a protruding old root branch. A thumb-thick dried branch pierced through his back and emerged from his chest. But it didn't penetrate his clothes, instead propping up a small tent-like bulge on his chest, which quickly became soaked with blood.

"Bad luck," the swordsman snorted, seemingly very displeased with his miss. But it didn't matter – he had already clamped Qiao Jiaxin's arm with one hand.

The girl tried to resist in the darkness, but her methods were insignificant compared to the swordsman's. The swordsman flicked his sleeve, the sword blade rotated, and stabbed directly at Qiao Jiaxin's throat.

Just then, he heard a voice: "Leave her."

The voice was stern and short, sounding a bit distorted amidst the rustling of leaves, but it didn't prevent him from hearing it clearly.

The swordsman glanced out of the corner of his eye and was surprised to find a person standing two steps away from him, behind a low tree.

"Big Brother?" he frowned in surprise.

The high-cheekboned, narrow-eyed swordsman stood not far away at this moment, seemingly bathed in moonlight. Because he looked a bit hazy, it added a touch of etherealness. His voice sounded unfamiliar, but the swordsman didn't think much of it – after all, that was the person he had been most familiar with for over ten years.

Moreover, he certainly looked very familiar.

The high-cheekboned, narrow-eyed swordsman said something, but it wasn't clear.

So he held Qiao Jiaxin with one hand and took a step towards him. His Big Brother stood motionless under the tree, looking as if he had some difficulty moving, perhaps he was injured.

As he took this step, he saw it clearly.

He discovered the problem – his Big Brother looked transparent. As if it were...

The Female Ghost that appeared before.

A warning sign suddenly arose in his heart, and he instinctively retreated and swung his sword back to defend himself. This moment of vigilance saved him – he saw the person hidden in the low bushes beside him.

A White-robed Youth holding a tree branch as thick as a child's arm was poised to strike. The angle was very tricky, and he was close enough that if he had taken one more step forward, he would have almost fallen into the trap.

But the movement was too slow – so slow it seemed motionless.

The swordsman scoffed, "A mere firefly, overestimating yourself."

He retreated again and thrust his sword forward.

Just then, he suddenly realized that the youth also seemed a bit off...

Why was he also hazy, like a phantom?

The retreating step landed firmly. The moment the sole of his shoe touched the ground, a heart-wrenching pain suddenly erupted from his crotch!

Something – perhaps a branched tree branch, had impaled him.

Perhaps if he had taken a knife to his leg, arm, or back, he could have endured the pain and retaliated. But such a severe injury in that place – accompanied by a huge psychological impact.

Complex emotions and intense pain instantly crushed the swordsman's will. He threw Qiao Jiaxin aside like the most panicked ordinary person, trying to take a step forward to get rid of the object, while waving the rapier in his hand wildly behind him – he didn't even dare to turn around and look at where the attacker was.

Because it hurt too much.

But Li Yunxin had already risen from behind him, clamping the thick tree branch with both arms and thrusting it forward with force, rushing two steps.

Because of his movement, the swordsman lost his balance and fell to the ground. His heart-wrenching shriek was cut short after only half a sound – the five-foot-long branch had pierced two feet deep, and the swordsman was utterly dead.

Li Yunxin released the branch in his hand and clapped his hands. The two phantoms not far away slowly dissipated in the wind, and two pieces of Xuan paper fluttered down, quickly turning to ash.

"Let's go, someone might be coming," Li Yunxin extended his hand to Qiao Jiaxin, who was sitting dumbfounded on the ground.

Miss Qiao's eyes widened as she looked at the corpse on the ground, then at Li Yunxin, feeling two spots of heat on her face.

"You, you, how did you... you..."

She had so many questions she wanted to ask. For example, how did you get here, how did you create two figures, how did you kill him – how did you stab him in that place...

Unfortunately, the waves of "surprises" this youth brought her were too many, so much so that she didn't know how to ask.

But she wasn't a weak or hesitant person after all. She turned to look at Qiao Sifu, who was lying on the ground, bit her lip, grabbed Li Yunxin's hand, and used his help to stand up.

"Okay, follow me closely. Don't make a sound, no matter how scared you are. We can run out." Li Yunxin finished speaking, crouched down, and darted into the dense forest.

Qiao Jiaxin pursed her lips tightly and followed closely.

The youth's voice was not loud, but it sounded comforting to her.

Especially after the life-and-death experience just now, she felt even more at ease.

Li Yunxin knew more people would come after them, possibly the more troublesome ones.

He had long known the feeling of being "painted." That feeling was quite strange, something he had never experienced in his previous life.

"Sixth sense," an unusually strong "sixth sense," was probably what this feeling was like. It was like suddenly hearing a faint voice calling your name in a quiet room, and then your heart felt a certain summons – something had happened somewhere, so you had to go and find it.

If it were far away, perhaps this feeling would disappear before he found the place. But at this distance tonight, Li Yunxin knew that the "Big Brother" would soon arrive at the scene where his brother was ass-stabbed and would begin tracking with furious rage.

The two sprinted through the darkness and the night wind, the rustling of branches and leaves in their ears. It was as if the endless darkness lay ahead and further beyond; once they plunged into it, they would have nowhere to hide and never need to come out again.

This feeling...

"Something's not right," Li Yunxin stopped and said.

Qiao Jiaxin didn't stop in time and bumped into Li Yunxin's back. The youth reached out to steady her, feeling the girl's soft, damp limbs. She was sweating a lot, and her body was still trembling slightly – whether from fatigue or fear. She was breathing heavily, her hot breath exhaling onto his chest.

"...What's not right?" Qiao Jiaxin asked, her voice trembling.

Li Yunxin paused slightly, realizing something.

He wasn't a genuine youth; this girl was a genuine young woman. He could think and speak with the mindset of a weathered adult, but this girl...

She was only a teenager.

In her world, she would still be chasing stars and studying.

She was indeed scared. When she was scared, she still tried her best to follow him silently to escape, not being childish or a "saint." And when he spoke with an adult's mindset, saying "something's not right," she would, like an adult, suppress her fear and ask him, "What's not right?" without being childish or causing trouble.

This was truly rare.

He sighed faintly, took her arm firmly, waited for her to stand steady before letting go, and asked softly, "Are you scared?"

"...Huh?" The girl gasped, leaning against a nearby tree trunk – as if holding onto something would make her feel safer.

"I know you're scared," Li Yunxin untied the water skin from his waist and handed it to her. "Drink some water. There are some things you might not understand – fear mostly comes from the unknown, so it's normal to be scared. The people chasing us tonight have no grudge against us; they're just doing someone else's bidding. That 'someone else' also has no grudge against us; they just happened to want to kill someone, looked for someone, and happened to find us. So, in a nutshell, we're just unlucky."

The girl took the water skin and took a sip, then held it with both hands, slightly calming her breathing, listening to Li Yunxin's words carefully and seriously.

Actually, listening to him speak made her feel secure and calm. She didn't know why.

She once longed to venture into the jianghu and face the storms as a red-clothed female knight, but after experiencing these things tonight, she suddenly felt that she didn't need to do anything or think anything; just listening to others' arrangements and protection was actually a very reassuring thing.

"I know this is difficult, but I need you to do one thing. You need to understand that we can't save others right now. Perhaps your father, well... and my master, are also hiding somewhere. Thinking of them makes us anxious, but there's nothing we can do."

"We can't be anxious. Only by being calm and collected can we deal with the people chasing us. There were six of them in total; I killed one just now, and perhaps the others also killed one, leaving at most five. Another one should be chasing us now. That means there are only four left chasing the others."

"So, by staying alive and delaying the pursuers, we are buying time and relieving pressure for your father and the others – you are not only escaping now but also saving people, don't you agree?"

Qiao Jiaxin tried to widen her eyes and nodded.

"Good girl. Let's go."

Qiao Jiaxin took a deep breath and plunged into the dense forest again. She took two or three steps, then turned back to look at Li Yunxin.

But the youth was gone.

Her recently calmed heart immediately fluttered again. She quickly turned around and took a step back, wanting to see if she had walked too fast and the youth hadn't caught up.

But after taking two steps, she suddenly saw a faint gleam of light coming towards her.

The slender, lightning-like clear light only appeared in her vision for a second, and then she felt the whole world turn dark. She didn't even have time to think about anything – because she still didn't know what had happened.

The swordsman retracted his rapier, and Qiao Jiaxin slumped to the ground. A fine red mark remained between her eyebrows, like a red bean.

"Seeking death," he murmured, then turned to look at Li Yunxin. "You have some tricks up your sleeve. Tell me, who are you, master?"