e brother, are you really gone?” he cried.

“Where’s the booklet?” Yue Buqun asked.

Linghu Chong looked with his teary eyes, and in the blur, he didn’t see the “Violet Twilight Manuscript” either. “Where’s the booklet?” he couldn’t help but ask himself. He checked Lu Dayou’s pockets in a hurry, but there’s no trace of the manuscript. “When I sealed his pressure point, I remember seeing the manuscript turned open on the desk. How come it’s not there anymore?”

Yue Lingshan looked all over the room, on the bed, next to the desk, behind the door, and under the chairs, but still, there was no trace of the “Violet Twilight Manuscript” whatsoever.

This manuscript was the ultimate Kung Fu manuscript of the Huashan Sword School. Now when it suddenly disappeared, Yue Buqun was utterly apprehensive. He examined the corpse of Lu Dayou carefully but found no fatal wound. He examined around the little hut, including the top of the roof, but found no traces left by any outsiders.

“If no outsiders had come, then it couldn’t have been the Peach Valley’s Six Fairies or the Monk No Commandment who took it,” Yue Buqun thought aloud. He asked Linghu Chong with a stern voice, “Chong, which pressure point did you seal?”

Linghu Chong knelt down in front of his Master. “I was afraid that I did not have much strength with my fingers, that’s why I sealed the vital pressure point Tan-Zhong Point. I had no clue…no clue that it would have killed sixth apprentice brother accidentally.” He extended his arm and drew the long sword by Lu Dayou’s waist quickly, and without hesitation, slashed it toward his own neck.

Yue Buqun flicked his finger, which sent the long sword flying far. “Even if you want to die, you’ll have to find the Violet Twilight Manuscript first. Where on earth did you hide the manuscript?”

Linghu Chong felt a chill in his heart. He thought to himself, “Master is actually suspecting that I hid the Violet Twilight Manuscript.” He dazed for a moment and then spoke again, “Master, someone must have stolen the manuscript. I will chase it back at all cost and return it to you, Master, not even leaving one page behind.”

“If someone makes a copy or memorizes the entire thing, then even if we get the manuscript back, intact, the high level Kung Fu of our Huashan School would no longer be the ultimately unique technique.” Yue Buqun’s mind was as confused as a tangled skein. After a short pause, he said to Linghu Chong with a gentle tone, “Chong, if you took the manuscript, as long as you give it back, I won’t blame you.”

Staring at the corpse of Lu Dayou blankly, Linghu Chong said loudly, “Master, I swear with all my heart. If there are people who peeped at the ‘Violet Twilight Manuscript,’ then I will kill all of them. If there are ten of them, I will kill all ten, and if there are a hundred of them, I will kill all one hundred. If Master still thinks that it was I who stole it, please kill me now. I have no complaints.”

“Get up. You said it wasn’t you, then I believe you.” Yue Buqun shook his head. “You are very good friends with Dayou, of course you would never kill him intentionally. Then who on earth stole the manuscript?” He stared outside of the window blankly, lost in thought.

“Father, it’s all my fault. I…I thought I did a great thing by stealing Father’s manuscript. Who would have thought that big apprentice brother would refuse to read it and sixth apprentice brother would lose his life because of it. I…I will find the manuscript back no matter what,” Yue Lingshan exclaimed in a sobbing voice.

“Let’s look around one more time,” Yue Buqun said.

The three searched every bit of space in the small hut this time, but not only didn’t they find the manuscript, nor could they find any trace or clue.

“We should not spread the news. I will tell your mother about it, and other than that, don’t mention this to anybody else. Let’s bury Dayou and then head down the mountain,” Yue Buqun said to his daughter.

Looking at the face of Lu Dayou’s dead body, Linghu Chong couldn’t help feeling sad. He thought to himself, “Among all the apprentice brothers, sixth apprentice brother was the best friend of all. But I was actually the one who killed him by accident. I had never seen that coming at all. Even if I weren’t wounded, such a poke wouldn’t have gotten him killed. Could it be that because I had the Peach Valley’s Six Fairies’ unorthodox energy inside me, therefore the strength of the poke was somehow different? Even if that were true, why did the Violet Twilight Manuscript disappear all of a sudden? Alas, I really can’t figure this out. Master is suspecting me of stealing the manuscript. It’s useless to plead my innocence. I must find out the truth about this no matter what I have to do. By then, I can cut my own throat to apologize to sixth apprentice brother.”

Wiping off his tears with his sleeve, Linghu Chong found a hoe and worked on digging a grave to bury Lu Dayou’s corpse. Sweat streamed down all over his body as he dug with all his strength while panting heavily. Only with the help of Yue Lingshan by the side, he was able to finish building the grave.

Some time later, the trio arrived at the White-Horse Temple. Seeing that Linghu Chong had escaped death and had come back together, Madam Yue felt unspeakable joy. After Yue Buqun told her on the quiet about Lu Dayou’s death and the disappearance of the Violet Twilight Manuscript, Madam Yue shed more tears of grievance. Although it was an important matter that the Violet Twilight Manuscript got lost, in her mind, since her husband had mastered the Kung Fu, it didn’t matter if he still had the manuscript or not. But Lu Dayou had been an apprentice in the Huashan Sword School for many years, and he was genuinely a friendly and good fellow, so of course it was very sad to learn about his tragic death. The many apprentices had no clue, so after seeing the gloomy look on Master, Master-Wife, big apprentice brother, and little apprentice sister’s faces, none dared to make any loud noise.

Yue Buqun ordered Lau Denuo to hire two wagons, one for Madam Yue and Yue Lingshan, the other for Linghu Chong to rest in, and the group resumed the trip east toward Mount Songshan.

On no particulate day, they arrived at the town of Weilin. It was close to dust already. There was only one inn in the entire town, and it was already full. Since there were quite a few females in the Huashan group, it was too troublesome to stay overnight at any local residence.

“Let’s keep going. We should be able to find lodging in the next town,” Yue Buqun told everyone.

But only one mile into the trip, the wagon Madam Yue sat in broke down with a broken axle. Having no other choice, Madam Yue and Yue Lingshan had to travel on foot.

“Master, there’s a monastery in the woods over there. Do you think it would be a good idea if we spend the night there?” Shi Daizi pointed at the northeast and suggested.

“But we have females and they might feel it’s troublesome,” Madam Yue said.

“Daizi, why don’t you go make an inquiry. If the monks in the monastery decline, then we won’t, no pressure for them,” Yue Buqun instructed.

Shi Daizi nodded and then dashed away. Only moments later, he had run back while shouting in a distance, “Master, it’s a discarded monastery. There’s no monk there.”

Everyone was quite glad to hear that. Tao Jun, Ying Luobai, and Shu Qi the bunch of younger apprentices ran over ahead of the rest of the people.

By the time Yue Buqun, Madam Yue, and the rest of the group arrived outside of the monastery, dark clouds had piled up the eastern side of the sky, and only moments later, the entire sky had turned dark.

“It’s very fortunate that there’s a discarded monastery here, or we would have found ourselves in the middle of a storm half way,” Madam Yue said.

They entered the big hall and found a statue of a blue-faced Buddha. The statue depicted a man holding herb grass with a cape made of leaves on his shoulders. It was the Buddha of the Herb, Shen-Nong, who, as legend said, tasted hundreds of herbs, himself, to test their medical effects. All the apprentices, led by Yue Buqun, saluted the Buddha to show their respect. Afterwards, they began to settle down, but before they even opened their bedding rolls, several lightning bolts flashed, and thunder exploded. Before long, pea sized raindrops started pouring down, splashing on the tiles on the roof.

The small monastery had leaks everywhere. Everyone decided to not even open his or her bedding rolls and simply found a dry spot to sit down. Gao Gengming, Liang Fa, and three other female apprentices went to prepare dinner.

“This year’s spring season thunders are too early. It’s probably going to be a year with poor harvest,” Madam Yue said.

Linghu Chong sat in a corner of the hall leaning on the rack of the big bell. Rain streamed down the eave’s gutter like a curtain made of water. He stared at it as he thought to himself, “It would be a lot more enjoyable if sixth apprentice brother were still alive and could chat and joke with us.” During the journey, he rarely spoke to Yue Lingshan. Especially when he saw her and Lin Pingzhi were together sometimes, he would intentionally avoid them and walk far away. He kept telling himself, “Little apprentice sister stole Violet Twilight Manuscript for me to heal my wounds, fully knowing that Master would reproach her severely. It is obvious that she cared for me very much. I only wish that she would always be happy throughout her life. Since I am determined to commit suicide to apologize to sixth apprentice brother after I find the manuscript, why would I ever provoke her again? Little apprentice sister and apprentice brother Lin are a perfect pair of lovers. I hope she will forget all about me, so after I die, she won’t have to shed any tears.” Even though he thought so in his head, every time he saw her and Lin Pingzhi walking abreast chatting joyously, he simply couldn’t help feeling sorrow and pain in his heart. At the moment, it was raining cats and dogs outside the monastery; he watched Yue Lingshan walking about the hall, helping with preparing the meal. Each time when her eyes met Lin Pingzhi’s, both would let a slight smile flash across their faces. The two of them probably thought that nobody would notice it, but not even one of the smiles escaped Linghu Chong’s eyes. Each smile would depress Linghu Chong some more. He wanted to turn his head away, but each time when Yue Lingshan walked by, he simply couldn’t resist the desire to cast a glance toward her.

After dinner, everyone went to sleep. The rain kept coming down, heavy for a while, then light for another, but never ended. Linghu Chong had many things on his mind and they kept him from falling asleep. Sounds of breathing and snorting rose one after another. Everyone else had fallen asleep.

Sounds of hoof beats suddenly rose from the southeast. There were over ten of them and they came closer and closer along the main road.

“Why are they traveling in such a hurry in the middle of the rainy night? Could it possibly be that they are after us?” Linghu Chong’s heart skipped a beat. He sat up and then heard Yue Buqun speak to everyone in a loud voice.

“Everyone stay quiet.”

Moments later, the pack of horsemen cruised by the monastery. By then everyone of Huashan Sword School were awake and each had his hand next to his sword handle. Hearing that the sound of hoof beats passed by the monastery and went further and further, all let out a breath of relief and were just about ready to go back to sleep, when the sound of the hoof beats rose again. Apparently these riders had turned around and came back. All the horses stopped right outside of the monastery.

“Is Mr. Yue from the Huashan Sword School inside the monastery? We have a question to ask him,” a voice shouted, loud and clear.

Linghu Chong was the Head Apprentice of the Huashan Sword School, and it had always been him who stepped forward to handle things. So he walked to the entrance of the monastery, took off the door bolt, and then opened the gate.

“Friends, who are you? Why have you come late at night?” he asked as he looked outside.

There were a total of fifteen riders. They formed an arch and surrounded the gate. About six or seven of them had waterproof lanterns in their hands, and they all pointed their lanterns at Linghu Chong’s face.

In the dark night, when six or seven lanterns all pointed at one’s face, then inevitably, one would end up with blurry eyes. Just this one action had shown that the uninvited visitors were full of hostility. Linghu Chong opened his eyes as wide as he could but only found out that each of the fifteen riders had a black hood over his head, leaving only two holes showing his eyes. Linghu Chong suddenly realized, “Either we know these people, or they are afraid that we would remember their faces.”

“Please have Yue Buqun, Mr. Yue, come out to see us,” a rider on the left said.

“Who are you? May I have the honor to learn your name please, so I can pass it on to my Master?” Linghu Chong inquired.

“You can save yourself some trouble by stop asking for our names. You can go tell your Master this: We heard that the Huashan Sword School got hold of the Evil-Resisting Sword Manuscript of the Fortune Prestige Escort House, so we just wanted to borrow it to take a look,” the man responded.

Linghu Chong felt his anger starting to grow. “The Huashan Sword School has its own set of Kung Fu techniques. Why would we want other’s Evil-Resisting Sword Manuscript? We don’t have it. Even if we did have it, are you just going to take it with force? How dare you belittle the Huashan Sword School?”

The man burst into loud laughter. The rest of the fourteen riders also began to laugh out loud. The sound of their deafening laughter swept across the deserted plain like a storm. Obviously each and every one of them had first-class inner strength.

“We’ve encountered tough enemy again,” shocked inwardly, Linghu Chong thought aloud. “It seemed that all fifteen of them are elite fighters. I wonder who they really are.”

Amid the loud laughter, a man spoke, “We heard that the chap Lin from the Fortune Prestige Escort House has joined the Huashan Sword School. We’ve always heard that Gentleman Sword Mr. Yue of the Huashan Sword School had superb mastery of sword arts. Then of course he would feel beneath his dignity to pay any attention to it. We are just a bunch of nobodies in the Martial World. Today we make bold to ask Mr. Yue to grant his permission and loan the book so we can have a look.”

The fourteen others’ laughter kept going like tides after tides, but this speaker’s voice still sounded loud and clear, standing out clearly from all the other noises. Apparently, this one’s inner strength was even stronger compared to the others.

“Who are you, really? You….” Linghu Chong said. But he couldn’t even hear his own words. Astounded, he stopped talking and thought to himself, “Could I have lost all my inner energy built up during the past over a dozen years? Can there have not a single bit of it left?”

After Linghu Chong left Mount Huashan, he had tried several times to work on his Qi-Gong exercises using the formula and techniques from his own school, but as soon as he started to gather his inner strength, his breathing would lose its rhythm and various uncontrollable energy would start flowing randomly through his body. And as soon as he tried to direct the flow, nausea and dizziness would follow. It would turn so bad that if he didn’t stop the breathing exercise, he would have simply passed out. He tried several times more and always ended up with the same result. When he asked for advice from his Master about it, Yue Buqun only cast a cold glance at him and didn’t answer. At the time Linghu Chong thought to himself, “Master must have suspected that I embezzled the Violet Twilight Manuscript and was practicing the techniques behind his back. There really is no need to plead innocence. After all, I won’t be alive for long; why should I trouble myself with these inner strength problems?” After that incident, he stopped exercising completely. Who would have thought that when he tried to gather his strength and speak loudly, his voice would be completely buried by the enemy’s laughter?

Yue Buqun’s voice rose from inside the monastery, loud and clear, “All of you are renowned masters in the Marital World. Why have you been so modest and called yourself a bunch of nobodies? Yue Buqun never tells a lie. We really don’t have the Evil-Resisting Sword Manuscript of the Lin Family.”

He used the Divine Art of the Violet Twilight when he spoke. Although his voice was mixed with the loud laughter from all the people outside of the monastery, everyone, both inside the monastery and outside of the monastery, could hear every word loud and clear. He had spoken in a very relaxed manner, no different from any ordinary conversation. It sounded a lot more natural than the way the previous man had spoke – yelling with immense strength.

“You say you don’t have it. Then where the hell is it?” Another man retorted in a croaky voice.

“What makes you think that you are worthy of the answer?” Yue Buqun mocked.

“Anyone in this world is worthy of an answer for things happening in this world,” the man replied.

Yue Buqun sneered, but did not respond.

“Hey, Yue Buqun, are you going to give it up or not? Don’t you refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit! If you don’t give it up yourself, we’ll have no choice but to resort to force and go in to search ourselves,” that man yelled out loud.

“All female apprentices stay together, back to back, and all male apprentices, unsheathe your swords!” Madam Yue told everyone in a whisper.

Rustling sounds echoed as everyone inside the monastery drew their long swords. Linghu Chong stood by the gate and reached for his long sword, but before he had enough time to draw his sword, two men had leapt off their horses and sprang at him. Linghu Chong dodged to the side and was just about to draw his sword when he heard someone yell, “Get lost!” Then the man raised his leg and kicked Linghu Chong hard, sending him flying in the air. Linghu Chong flew tens of feet before landing hard in a bush. He found himself in a state of complete confusion.

“His kick wasn’t all that powerful, how come I don’t have any strength with my lower body and my legs feel so light?” he thought aloud.

He struggled to sit up, but all of a sudden, he felt as if the blood between his stomach and his chest were boiling hot while seven or eight streams of energy circled and twisted inside him, clashing and smashing against each other. He couldn’t even move a little finger of his. Linghu Chong was dumbfounded. He opened his mouth wide to scream, but nothing came out of it. It was almost as if he was under some kind of evil spell. His brain still worked perfectly, but he had become completely frozen, not able to move a single muscle. Sound of weapons clashing into each other echoed in his ears nonstop. Master, Master-Wife, and second apprentice brother dashed out of the monastery and engaged in fights with seven or eight masked enemies. Several other masked men charged into the monastery. Shouts and yells came out through the gate mixed with girls’ rebukes. The rain started to get heavier. Several waterproof lanterns were scattered around on the ground. The dim yellowish light flickered as reflections from blades flashed and shadows in all shapes swayed back and forth.

A short while passed when suddenly, a shriek from a female echoed inside the monastery. Linghu Chong became more worried. The enemy consisted of all men. Then of course the shriek must have been coming from an injured apprentice sister. He watched the fights outside of the monastery. Master was busy waving his sword fighting against four enemies. Master-Wife was also engaged in a fight with two enemies. He knew that both his Master and Master-Wife had brilliant sword skills. Even though they were both fighting against more than one opponent, chances were that they would still be able to hold them off. Yelling at the top of his tongue, second apprentice brother Lao Denuo was also fighting against two opponents. Both opponents used long knives. From the weapon colliding sounds Linghu Chong could tell that both of them had very strong arms. He knew that if the fight lasted longer, Lao Denuo would eventually have no chance of withstanding their powerful attacks. Seeing how fierce the fights outside of the monastery were with three on his side against eight enemies, he could easily imagine how vicious the fights would be inside. There were a good number of apprentice brothers and sisters inside the monastery, but none of them were elite fighters. Screams and cries rose one after another. Perhaps several people had been slain. The more worried he became, the harder it was to gather any strength. He could only pray inwardly.

“Dear Heaven! Please let me gain my strength back for just one hour. If I can get back in the monastery, I will be able to protect the little apprentice sister. Even if the enemy slice me into ten thousand pieces or bestow upon me every kind of torturing, I would be most willing to.”

He struggled some more and tried to work up his inner energy, but suddenly six streams of energy flow lashed at his chest all together, and then two streams of energy flow smashed down from above and pushed the six streams of energy back down. Linghu Chong felt ultimate emptiness as if all of his organs had disappeared and all his blood and skin were also completely gone. A shiver ran through his heart as he cried inwardly, “Good Heavens! So that’s how it is!”

By then he finally understood. When the Peach Valley’s Six Fairies tried to heal his wounds using their inner energy, they forced six streams of inner energy into his body through different channels and passages. That didn’t do his internal wounds any good, and in addition, the six energy streams stayed inside him and caused even more problems. Then it just happened that he met Monk No Commandment with excellent inner strength, but also an utterly impetuous temper, that forced another two streams of energy flow inside of him and overwhelmed the six streams of energy from the Peach Valley’s Six Fairies. For a short while, it looked as if his internal wounds were all healed, but the truth was that he had two more energy streams in his body, which created a resistance against the existing energy streams inside of him, and his own inner energy from years of Qi-Gong exercises had all perished as an end result. He had been rendered into an ordinary person who had never been trained with any martial arts.

A pain came from his heart as he thought to himself, “What a misfortune! This is as if all my martial art skills were taken away from me. At the moment when my school is in trouble, I couldn’t even help it in anyway. I am the Head Apprentice of the Huashan Sword School, yet all I can do is to lie here on the ground and watch my Master and Master-Wife getting harassed and my apprentice brothers and sisters getting slaughtered. What a big loser am I! Fine, I’ll just go die by little apprentice sister’s side.”

He knew that if he even attempted to gather some inner energy, which would trigger the eight streams of energy inside him, he would end up frozen like a dead meat, so he let all inner strength flow back into his central stomach naturally and didn’t try to gather any inner strength, and sure enough, he gained control of his four limbs. He stood up slowly, drew his sword in slow motion, and then moved toward the monastery in small steps.

As soon as he entered the gate, a smell of blood immediately assailed him. Two lanterns sat on the altar and lit the hall. Liang Fa, Shi Daizi, Gao Gengming, and a bunch of other apprentice brothers were still fighting a bloody battle. Several apprentice brothers and sister lay on the ground. It was hard to tell if they were still breathing. Yue Lingshan and Lin Pingzhi were in the middle of a battle abreast against a masked enemy.

Yue Lingshan’s long hair scattered about, and Lin Pingzhi was holding his sword in his left hand; obviously his right hand got injured in the battle. The masked man had a short spear in his hand and demonstrated excellent skills with his spear techniques. Lin Pingzhi had to use the move called Green Pines Welcoming Guests three times in a roll to parry off his fierce attacks. But the sword moves he had learned were too limited. The masked man gave his short spear a sudden shake. The red tassels on the spear spread open and blinded Lin Pingzhi’s view. With a thump, the spear stabbed into Lin Pingzhi’s right shoulder. Yue Lingshan launched two thrusts frantically and forced the enemy to take a step back.

“Little Lin, go wrap up your wound. Hurry!” she shouted.

“It’s no problem!” Lin Pingzhi responded as he lunged with a thrust, but his feet were already tumbling underneath him.

The masked man let out a long laugh when he swung the spear and struck Yue Lingshan in the waist with the spear handle. Yue Lingshan dropped the sword in her right hand and squatted down in pain.

Linghu Chong was shocked. He dashed forward and thrust his sword forward. But the sword only went forward for about one foot before all the energy streams inside him clashed again. Instantly, his right arm gave out and dropped down. The masked man saw the sword coming toward him and had planned to dodge to the side and then return the attack with his spear, but after only one foot into the thrust, the attacker’s arm had dropped down. He was a bit confused. Without thinking much, he swept his left leg and kicked Linghu Chong all the way out of the gate. “Splash!” Linghu Chong fell into a puddle of water outside of the monastery. The rain was still pouring down nonstop. Linghu Chong found himself unable to move with mud inside his mouth, eyes, nose, and ears.

Lao Denuo was just taken down, with his pressure points sealed by the enemy. His two opponents now joined the other six to attack the Yue couple. Moments later, another two enemies ran out of the monastery and joined the group. Yue Buqun was now against seven and Madam Yue against three.

Suddenly, both Madam Yue and one of her opponents cried out. Both had inflicted wounds on their legs. The injured man retreated back. Madam Yue had one less opponent now. But since she had just taken a heavy chop on the leg, with such a severe wound, her strength began to fade away. After exchanging some more blows, she took a hit on the shoulder from the back of the enemy’s knife. That was it. She collapsed to the ground. The two masked men burst into loud laughter as they sealed several pressure points on Madam Yue’s back.

By then, the apprentices inside the monastery had all been wounded and taken down one after another. The enemies obviously had a plot. They only knocked the Huashan apprentices down or sealed their pressure points but didn’t kill any one of them. The fifteen masked men surrounded Yue Buqun in a circle. Eight of them took on eight different directions to attack Yue Buqun simultaneously, and the remaining seven each held a waterproof lantern and aimed the light directly at Yue Buqun’s eyes.

The Head Master of the Huashan Sword School had superb inner strength and brilliant sword skills, but the eight attackers were all elite fighters as well. In addition, the seven lanterns pointing directly at him made it very hard for him to look straight ahead. Yue Buqun knew too well that the Huashan Sword School had suffered a crushing defeat, and the entire body of the school would inevitably perish in the monastery, but he still put on a good defense by blocking all his vital parts with a shield of blade. He had resourceful inner energy and effective sword art techniques. When the lanterns were directed at him, he simply looked down. For a good while, the eight attackers made no progress whatsoever.

“Yue Buqun, are you going to surrender or not?” one of the masked men yelled at him.

“I would rather die than submit. Kill me if you want,” Yue Buqun replied.

“If you don’t surrender, I’ll cut off your wife’s right arm to start with!” the man threatened. He raised his large saber high and aimed it at Madam Yue’s shoulder. The saber had a very thick back and a razor sharp blade. Reflecting the light from the lanterns, the blade shined with dark bluish flare.

“How can I just let him cut off junior apprentice sister’s arm?” Yue Buqun hesitated. But then he thought, “If I threw down my sword and surrender, undoubtedly I would suffer humiliation all the same. How can I let the hundreds of years of eminence of the Huashan Sword School get ruined in my hands?”

He took a deep breath, and suddenly his face shined in violet color as he swung his sword at the man on his left. The man raised his knife to parry it, but Yue Buqun had attached his Divine Art of the Violet Twilight with the chop; the sword carried a tremendous amount of power. The knife was knocked back. Both the sword and the knife cut into the man’s right arm simultaneously and chopped two sections off his right arm. Blood splashed everywhere. The man uttered a loud cry and fell to the ground.

Succeeding with the first move Yue Buqun thrust his sword down swiftly. This time the sword penetrated another enemy’s left leg. That man poured out a stream of curses and retreated.

Now there were two less opponents in the battle, but the situation wasn’t any better. A heavy thump broke out as a meteor hammer smashed into Yue Buqun’s back. He had to lunge three quick thrusts to drive the enemies back. Barely catching his breath, he couldn’t help but spit out a mouthful of blood. All the enemies cheered.

“Old folk Yue is wounded. Wear him out!”

The six attackers could almost smell their victory, so they all took a step back and made the circle a bit bigger.