The men exchanged quick glances, each giving a subtle nod before charging at the girl with swords raised. One blade slipped silently past Noah's back and aimed straight for her. But catching it out of the corner of her eye, the woman sprang up and turned to intercept.
Her weight worked against her, though, and she crumpled to her knees as a sword pierced her heart from behind.
"AUNT!!" Ting screamed, jolting to her feet.
At her cry, Fusu struck in a heartbeat. With an open palm he spun a devastating blow that whipped the air into a vortex. Anticipating the strike, the attacker dropped his sword and raised both arms to block—only for Fusu's strike to wrench his arms, shatter his ribs, and obliterate his internal organs. The force hurled him spinning through the wall, where he slammed into a nearby tree.
'What the hell...?!' Noah thought. Ting's scream drew his eyes to the fallen woman—her body pierced by the blade.
Noah leapt up, shoving his chair back. Unwittingly he cut the attacker's legs with the chair's backrest, throwing him off balance—what could have been a fatal blow to Ting instead nicked her arm.
Seeing the wound, Ting stumbled back in terror into Noah's arms. The attacker, furious at the disruption, raised his sword and growled,
— Damn it…
But then his partner shouted, "Focus!" as he wrestled with Ting's uncle—disarmed, yet gripping the man's sword barehanded. The attacker thought:
'Bare hands…?! So he really was telling the truth… This really is a suicide mission…!'
Moments later, with a swift slash, the man cut deeply into Noah's abdomen. Though Noah tried to dodge, the table at his back and Ting clinging to his arm left him trapped. The attacker pressed on toward the girl as Noah's blood dripped steadily from the blade's tip.
Leaning on the table's edge and pressing his hand to the wound, Noah was momentarily speechless—getting sliced like that by someone else's blade made him furious, but there was no time for anger. He scanned the area, vision flickering between clarity and blur, searching for a way out as warm blood trickled between his fingers.
Even with her own life on the line, Ting couldn't help but worry about a young man she'd just met and her long-absent aunt. Still, as a First Stage Tempered-Body cultivator, she knew she was leagues below the man before her—and she had to stay focused.
When the assailant closed in, the blade saturated with potent Qi aimed at her shoulder, her uncle shouted,
— STOP!!
Unfazed, the attacker slowly raised his sword and advanced. Ting wanted to flee or dodge, but her legs wouldn't obey; closing her eyes, she seemed to accept her fate.
Desperate, her uncle pleaded,
— I'll double what was promised! Triple… No, four times more! Step away from her now!
Seeing his words had no effect, he wrapped his hand in Qi and lunged to block the strike, hoping to end the fight swiftly. It was futile. The blade cleaved his defense hand in two—gritting his teeth, only his thumb remained.
Yet that sacrifice wasn't in vain. The instant the man paused after his blow, Fusu channeled a massive surge of Qi into his other fist and punched the attacker through the chest. The man went flying, crashing into the wall.
Turning back to Ting, Fusu shouted in alarm,
— Ting!
In stunned silence at what he'd just witnessed, he murmured,
— What is this…?
With her eyes shut, Ting braced for a swift, painless death. Then she heard someone mutter, "L-let go…" nearby. Terrified, she cracked her eyes open. What she saw was Noah—who should have been gravely wounded—holding the attacker's sword by the blade and hoisting him up by the throat. Bathed in a soft blue glow, he hissed,
— How dare you, human… So weak, so foolish.
Ting, now even more petrified, knew she was next. Her uncle froze in place, murmuring, "Who is this boy…?!" That familiar oppressive aura pressed down on them—no flapping wings this time, but Fusu recognized it instantly. Their enemy's presence pinned them in place.
As Noah's grip tightened, the man managed ragged breaths and, in desperation, clawed at Noah's hand, even shoving against it—but no matter how hard he fought, he couldn't break free.
Staring into his victim's terrified eyes, Noah closed his own and sighed,
— I think this is enough…
Then he jerked the sword free, snapped it in two, and held up the broken tip.
— Now feel a taste of the pain this blade can inflict.
Without hesitation, Noah drove the jagged point into the man's abdomen. It flared with a strange bluish-white flame as he shoved it deeper. The instant the metal pierced flesh, the man screamed,
— Aaaaaaahh!!
He tried to grab the sword to stop Noah, but the flame leapt from the blade and engulfed his hands, then his arms and torso—everything except the head and neck, which Noah still clutched.
"Aaaaaaahhh!"
Ting couldn't bear the sight. She shut her eyes, covered her ears, and curled into a ball, whispering pleas for Noah to stop.
Minutes passed in agonized silence. Then Noah looked into the man's eyes as they closed for the last time. He released his grip, and the limp body slid from his hand. In an instant, the strange flame consumed it entirely—before it even hit the ground, nothing remained.
Noah's gaze drifted past the shattered walls into the forest, toward a figure waiting among the trees.
— Why do you tremble so, even from so far away?
As he pointed, the forest view shimmered and then stilled.
— Yes… now it's as it should be… silent.