Legend of The Young Master

Chapter 152: Furious Luding

The large ballista arrow alone caused damage worth a hundred gold coins in the ancestor's hall of the pavilion, and the serpent's final thrashes contributed equally to the destruction, adding another hundred gold coins' worth of damage. Additionally, a river of blackish blood from the beast spoiled the sacred carpet, staining the floor beneath.

In a blink, the Red Daoist was in front of the serpent. The creature twitched, and the Red Daoist buried his halberd in it. While the first serpent died, a second had arrived. The courtyard fire glimmered on the belly of the second serpent in the sky.

Forty archers launched shaft after shaft, creating a column of sparks that ascended into the fire-lit sky like a new monster attacking the second serpent.

Something happened—not suddenly, like the strike of a siege shaft, but gradually. The serpent's wings tore and were holed; it lost lift and screamed in fear as the men below brought it down, realizing there was no escape from the deadly rain of steel. It descended lower and lower, its wings flapping more frantically.

It turned sharply, and just as suddenly, a black blur passed through the serpent's wing, causing the mighty wing of a second serpent to fail. The serpent plummeted to the hillside, crashing down with such force that Wuyi felt the steps shake beneath his feet

"Scouts!" Wuyi called out. He had meant to shout, but it came out more as a croak. Nevertheless, it was understood, and eight armored Qi warriors quickly opened the gate and dashed down the road, led by Meiying.

As the courtyard quieted, it revealed twenty people—dead or severely maimed. A girl, about fifteen, screamed relentlessly, and a woman gathered her into her arms, trying to soothe her. A child, who had lost his legs, tried to drag himself forward using his arms.

Pavilion elders swiftly emerged from their dormitory—ten, twenty, fifty women in total—surrounding the injured and the dead in a flurry of gray and clean garments, assessing the scale of the carnage.

Wuyi, slumped against a wall, his head heavy, longed for the escape of sleep. He had summoned the Statue of Valor and, immediately after, the Statue of Shadow for the second serpent; it was the latter that had severed its wings. Although he could summon both, the effort exhausted him greatly.

He glanced at the severely injured girl. To say she was merely injured was an understatement. She continued to scream, her voice piercing the night. He only realized after a long look that most of the left side of her upper torso was missing. It was unimaginable that she was still alive, still screaming.

The woman trying to help her was covered in her blood, shiny with it, yet there was nothing more to be done.

He wished the screaming would stop.

A pair of Pavilion elders wrapped the girl tightly in a sheet, which turned red as quickly as they wrapped another layer around her, yet still, she screamed, becoming one voice among a chorus of anguish that filled the night.

Wuyi staggered over to Jia, who lay crumpled against a wall, barely alive. Wuyi immediately used the Statue of Light, conserving some of its energy for others who might need it.

After a while, when Wuyi was certain Jia would survive, he began looking for Liwei her healing bloodline could assist them. She had been right there—where the girl had screamed—but now she was nowhere to be seen. He called for the elders of the Pavilion—for anyone—and four responded. They approached and saw Jia on the ground and Wuyi pale and shaken.First the elders examined pale Wuyi himself.

After examining him carefully, they helped him away from Jia, allowing the elders to tend to the boy.

Men were shouting now, their voices triumphant even over the screams, but Wuyi ignored them and dragged himself toward Baijian.

Baijian was sitting against the stable, a grimace of pain on his face. "Defensive Cloak took it. I'm hurt, but I will live, hopefully," he said with a grin. "Heavens, I thought I was done for. Nice trick. Your Dao protector handled the first one.

Who took care of the second one?"

"You don't need to worry about everything," Wuyi said. "It is only normal that I have some hidden weapons. All the best warriors do." He stripped away the ruins of Baijian's left Qi armor and wrapped it tightly around the cut. Then he used the Statue of Light to help Baijian recover.

Baijian could feel himself healing. He spoke, "You might have more secrets than our enemy."

Wuyi sighed. "I am just new to this type of enemy."

Baijian chuckled. "Your secret attack worked. Meiying just killed the other one, I'll wager," he said, pointing at the cheering archers.

Sure enough, the next moments brought the mounted scouts back through the main gate, dragging the head of the second flying serpent. It had taken another fifty arrows and lances before it succumbed; it died on their lance tips without injuring a single human.

Baijian nodded. "That was well done, Young Master."

Wuyi shrugged. "We were ready; we laid our trap, you and Yun Ming burned their camp and surprised them, and they still killed our people." He shook his head. "I wasn't ready enough. I was too busy flirting with the pavilion mistress."

Baijian shrugged back. "They killed a lot of people," he raised an eyebrow. "But not many of ours."

"You're a tough one, Baijian. Boluo would have been proud," Wuyi remarked.

Baijian shrugged, obviously taking it as a compliment, then something caught his eye near the fort's Ancestor's Hall. He wrinkled his nose as if he'd smelled something foul.

"What?" Wuyi asked.

"Ever notice how they're always smaller when they're dead?" Baijian asked. "It's just the fear that makes them seem so big."

Wuyi nodded. He was looking at the dead flying serpent too, and he had to admit it was smaller than it had seemed in the fight, and it looked different—paler, a mass of wounds and cuts and barbs. Almost pitiful.

Baijian smiled and started to get to his feet, just as Lady Xueyan arrived.

Wuyi expected anger or recriminations from her, but she merely extended a hand and took his.

"Let us heal your people," she said.

Wuyi nodded. He was as pale as a sheet; he had performed two summons and then healed his two warriors. He was drained and having a hard time standing straight. Lady Xueyan got an odd look on her face, just before he fainted in her arms.

★ ★ ★

Luding was furious. It all started when a group of warriors assaulted his demonic forces for the first time.

When the assault first occurred, Luding's initial reaction was panic. It took him long minutes to recover from the shock, and when he did, he was filled with irrational rage. Reaching out through his creatures, he was shocked to find that his human attackers were pitifully few—a few dozen at most.

They had sent his talons fleeing down the path, broken fifty Duskreavers, and killed a large number of Swamplings caught napping after a feed.

He stopped the rout by spectacularly killing the first Duskreaver to pass him. The creature exploded in gray fire, raining burning flesh on the others. When he raised his bony arms, the rout stopped.

"You fools!" he roared. "There are fewer than fifty of them!" He wished he had his stronger demonics, but they were already scouting elsewhere. His serpents were close, but not close enough.

Luding summoned a Crimson Shadowmaw and sent it with his forces up the summit after the raiders. His wild creatures would be far more nimble in the woods than mere men; the Crimson Shadowmaw was faster than horses on their home ground.

One of the Swampling leaders stood at his side, his green scales almost glowing in the setting sun.

"Tell your people that they will feast. Anything they catch is theirs to keep," he commanded.

The Swampling leader saluted with a sword, released a cloud of vapor—part Qi, part scent—and then he was off, racing up the summit with a tide of Swamplings at his heels like a green wave.

Luding himself wanted to see these daring humans who dared to assault his group with such small numbers. When he reached the summit, he paused at the top to watch the last moments of the raiding party. The Swamplings weren't as fast as the Duskreavers.

The Duskreavers excelled in quickly overtaking the enemy, while the Swamplings' overwhelming numbers were sure to conclude the battle decisively.

He expected this battle to end very fast, until he saw the warrior in red; this startled him. That warrior was too large to be human and was using demonic Qi. Why was a demonic supporting the humans?

Luding noticed something else that he found very peculiar: one young man among the group stood out. It was clear to him that this young man was the leader of the raiders.

Luding prepared himself; he cast the Disappearing Specter skill—one of his most precious skills. The young man was in his range; he was going to capture this leader and learn everything about his group.

As he gathered dark Qi inside him, he turned into smoke, and within a few breaths, he was in front of the young man. But before he could capture him, something strange happened: this young man disappeared.

This surprised Luding even more, because there was no sign that this young man was a cultivator with such a high-level skill of disappearing right in front of a Qi lord—a feat not easily underestimated. Luding realized he had underestimated these raiders.