"Kill!"
"Kill her!"
Sha! Sha!
Sword lights flew through the air accompanied by spurts of blood as two heads went flying, still wearing shocked and angry expressions.
"Surround her, don't let her escape!"
"Whoever kills her will be rewarded with a whole city!"
A chaotic mess of sword attacks landed in the center of an encirclement. But the previous occupant was long gone, having leaped into the air like a swan taking flight.
A set of snow-white robes fluttered across several people's heads before landing behind a row of cultivators with red bands around their arms. A purple sword flashed, severing three people at their waists.
"Ahhh!"
"Junior brother!"
"I'll kill you!"
Wu Qianyu watched these bandits come at her. She had already lost count of how many she had killed. There were simply more nameless faces that would perish forever for daring to attack Thousand Flower City.
Her sword danced in her hand, showing a level of mastery that could not be matched by ordinary cultivators at the Spirit Initiate Realm. At this moment, she was truly a person who had stepped onto the elusive path toward the immortal realms. Although she had only made the first step, she was not the same as the people around her.
As swift as the wind, she cut down the bandits around her. A gap in the wide street appeared around her due to this, revealing her eye-catching form in a sea of combatants. There were bandits. There were city guards. There were even a handful of brave residents.
The paved roads were already dyed red with blood. Countless bodies littered the ground where they fell. Still, the battle continued.
There were so many bandits. For each one Wu Qianyu cut down, three more took their place. She had no idea where they came from. It was as if several merchant caravans were entirely filled with bandits. Her guess wasn't too far from the truth, not that it mattered at the moment.
Thousand Flower City's lack of a protective wall led to this serious situation. The southern outskirts provided no protection for the residents. Ordinarily, nobody would dare to attack a city protected by an immortal. But these enemies chose this exact time when Chen Wentian was far away.
Wu Qianyu finished her latest batch of foes and charged toward a group of city guards. They were close to being overwhelmed. After rescuing this group, she dashed towards another bunch of guards.
The entirety of the southern garrison was here. But that only numbered around a thousand guards. Even with the addition of reinforcements from the central garrison, they barely scratched one thousand five hundred. Among this number, not everyone was in the Spirit Initiate Realm. Such experts were not so common and even fewer had any desire to be a common city guard. There were only about three hundred Spirit Initiate Realm guards present.
On the other hand, the bandits had over three thousand. There were far more Spirit Initiate Realm fighters among them. Perhaps one in every two was an expert. And even more were charging over from the south on horseback and inside carriages.
The disparity in number was a serious problem. It was a losing proposition, even with Wu Qianyu's strength.
Sha! Sha!
Wu Qianyu cut down two more and stepped over their bodies. She saw over the fray that a group of bandits were attacking the front door of a residential building. It had been barricaded but they had almost hacked their way through. Thinking of innocent residents hiding inside who were too weak to defend themselves, anger surged in her heart. She leaped over several rows of bandits and landed in front of the building.
"Stop! Stop it!" Her voice rang out over the din of battle.
Even as the bandits that crowded around the half-broken door turned around, her sword had already arrived. There was no mercy and she quickly slew all of them in a single breath.
She turned and shouted, "Commander Ping, Commander Ping, hurry and send a squad over here to block this building!"
She received no response. She frantically searched the chaos in the street and eventually found the guard commander moving towards the rear of the guards and toward the north.
"What is he doing?" She asked angrily.
She had no choice and cut her way through the bandits to reach the commander. She grabbed the man by the shoulder and shook him for good measure.
"What are you doing? Did you not hear me?"
"Miss Wu… Miss Wu…" The man surnamed Ping had a pained expression, "Look around us. We can't hold on for much longer. We should retreat to a more defensible position."
Wu Qianyu shook him again and threw him aside, "Stand your ground. Fight! Don't let these bandits take another step in Thousand Flower City!"
Her words had some effect. Owing to her status, the rank-and-file city guards around her renewed their efforts and charged into the fray.
"Kill!"
"Protect Thousand Flower City!"
Their enthusiasm was born from her mere presence.
However, in other areas, the city guards continued to get pushed back. Wu Qianyu was not there and she could make them fight or calm their fears.
It couldn't be helped. The city guards had only been recently formed. Their hearts were not firm and their loyalty to the city did not have enough time to develop. This was not an army that was trained to fight to the death. These were ordinary people looking for a comfortable job that allowed them to live in a rising city. They already had a loose chain of command. Once the commanders started to waver, the rest could only follow.
Wu Qianyu angrily slashed her way through a row of bandits. She kicked the bodies away and stomped her feet, "Stand and fight! Stand and fight!"
"Please, Miss Wu…" The commander begged, "If we stay here, you will survive but we will all perish. I can die but think of my men!"
Wu Qianyu furiously split a bandit in two from head to toe, "What about your men? What about the residents of the city around us? The children and the elderly, who will protect them if you flee?"
"Miss Wu… Miss Wu," The commander thumped his chest armor with his bloodied fist, "You can chop off my head but I have to say this. What about us? We are citizens of the city too. We have families too. We are simply throwing away our lives right now. If we fall back and regroup with reinforcements, we can kill more bandits! But not like this! We can't save everyone. We can't!"
"You… you…" Wu Qianyu coughed and her mouth stung with the taste of blood.
She was so angry. She was so frustrated. She didn't know what to do.
She stumbled forward. With an anguished cry, she charged into the sea of enemies, swinging her sword wildly as it was the only thing she knew how to do.
---
Thank you to all my patrons!
Support me and read ahead by 110 or even 220 chapters!
p atreon.com/kigreenwriting
Join my discord for updates, delays, and my ramblings :)
d iscord.gg/dY5UApw