"Don't lump me in with that trash," Goku said, voice steady. "For you, I've already made an enemy of the entire state of Yan."
Seeing the unshakable resolve in Goku's eyes, Xue Nu felt her heart tremble. She had never seen that kind of conviction before, and a tangle of emotions rose within her.
After a long silence, she could only sigh. "For my sake, you'll die… Is that truly of no concern to you?"
"Die? Who in this world could take my life?" Goku's tone was arrogant, tinged with contempt—yet that absolute confidence struck Xue Nu to the core. She shook her head. "You're strong. I saw that just now. But if that's your reasoning… then give up this idea. No matter how strong one's martial arts, can you overcome thousands of soldiers?"
"One sword is enough," Goku replied calmly, brimming with certainty—as if armies in his eyes were no more than ants. The self-confidence was staggering; it also made him, to Xue Nu, look like an utter fool. In her world, no one could stand alone against an army.
She realized nothing she said would shake that resolve. Turning, she addressed the man seated quietly to the side. "And you? Why haven't you left?"
Gao Jianli glanced at Goku, his face serene, and remained silent.
A faint smile touched Xue Nu's lips. "Don't tell me you also like me and plan to stay for that reason?"
Gao Jianli started to speak, looked at Goku again, and fell back into silence.
Xue Nu cast him a cool look, then turned toward the doors. The tramp of drilled feet and the rasp of armor filled the corridors. Troops had already sealed the area tight. "Now, even if we want to leave, I fear it's impossible."
Goku's expression didn't change. Gao Jianli, however, drew a gleaming sword from beneath his zither, his stance solemn and composed—wordlessly declaring his choice.
Soldiers flooded in, surrounding the trio. The officer at their head was the same armored man from before—General Yan Yi, who had slipped out to raise the alarm. Backed by ranks of troops, he showed none of his earlier obsequiousness before Yan Chunjun; his face was all cold pride. "These three have committed unforgivable crimes against Yan. No quarter—kill them all!"
"Yes, General!" voices thundered. Spears leveled, the troops surged forward.
At that instant, the demon sword that had been thrust into the floor seemed to answer an unseen call. Scarlet light flared—and it ripped free, streaking into the air as ribbons of crimson.
Blood splashed; screams followed. The blade wove through the formation like lightning, a red afterimage threading the ranks. In the blink of an eye, every soldier in the hall lay cut down. The sword coiled once in midair, then wheeled back with a low hum and floated to Goku's side, quivering as if in excitement, its aura eerie and alive.
Yan Yi nearly collapsed, scrambling on hands and knees for the exit. More soldiers poured in behind him.
Goku caught the hovering blade, flicked his wrist, and sent a single arc of sword-light slicing out. Far across the hall, the already-unconscious Yan Chunjun was split in two—head and body neatly parted.
As if swatting a fly, Goku turned from the corpse and crouched with his back to Xue Nu. "Get on."
"What are you doing?" she asked with a slight frown, utterly unafraid even with an army at the door.
"I'm carrying you out of here," he said, unabashedly bold.
"I can walk. I don't need you to carry me."
Goku didn't bother arguing. He simply lifted her onto his back.
"You—put me down!" Color rose in Xue Nu's cheeks as she struggled, her pulse quickening. It was the first time she'd been this close to a stranger.
"Hold tight. We're breaking out." Ignoring her protest, Goku gripped the demon sword and flashed toward the pavilion doors.
"Xiao Gao, keep up!"
This time he relied only on the sword in his hand, cutting a road of blood straight through—backing a beauty, he might as well make it look good.
---
The sky was a clear, washed blue; white clouds drifted lightly. The broad street below was choked with armored troops. The air, once fresh, reeked of blood. Bodies lay in pools of red along the way.
With Xue Nu on his back, Goku's blade glittered in a storm of cold light. Wherever it passed, lives fell. Corpses carpeted the ground; the earth ran crimson.
Tens of thousands surrounded him, yet they might as well not have existed. He moved like a demon god, sword in hand, killing without slowing, without tiring. With each sweep, more men dropped.
"Archers! Loose! Kill them—kill them!" Yan Yi howled himself hoarse. If he couldn't stop a single man with an army, his head would roll when he returned.
Bows bent; strings thrummed; arrows fell like rain.
The black cloud of shafts sealed every path ahead—an executioner's net descending from the sky.
"Can you avoid this?" Calm upon Goku's back, Xue Nu watched the storm approach. Her expression remained composed, as if life and death had long ceased to trouble her. "Let me go. You might still have a chance to escape."
"Arrows? Hardly worth a thought." Goku's voice rang with scorn and unshakable pride. "Watch me break it."
He slashed once. A hundred-meters arc of sword-qi ripped upward. It swept through the arrow-cloud like the first stroke of creation; shockwaves burst outward. Under that peerless force, the rain of arrows shattered to dust and vanished.
"…You are indeed capable," Xue Nu murmured, a flicker of surprise in her eyes. She slipped an arm more securely around his neck. "I find I do not wish to die just yet. Can you take me away from here?"
"Easily." Goku laughed. "For you, I'll be a demon if I must. Go!"
At his word, the demon sword launched itself with an eager trill, a streak of red weaving through the ranks—harvesting lives like grain.
The soldiers of Yan blanched and balked. Terror glazed their eyes; even their hands shook on their weapons. Not a man, a devil. Touch him and die.
Goku was no butcher by nature. He killed here only to break their courage and end the pursuit.
"Kill him," he said, gaze resting on the shouting commander cowering among his men—Yan Yi.
Obedient to its master, the sword wheeled and darted straight for the general.
"Stop it! Stop it!" Yan Yi shrieked, nearly wetting himself.
Men threw their bodies into its path, but flesh and bone could not halt that terrible blade. It punched through them as if through paper, then drove on to pierce Yan Yi's chest. He stared down in frozen horror as blood fountained skyward, and toppled like a felled tree.
The sword returned to Goku in a flash.
"The general is dead! General Yan is dead!"
Panic swallowed what little courage remained. Weapons clattered to the ground; men squatted and raised their hands in surrender. That man was too terrifying—beyond human. Resistance meant death.
Xue Nu stared at the strewn weapons, at the bodies lying crosswise along the road. Her heart surged, and she went blank for a moment. Unbidden, their earlier exchange replayed in her mind—his arrogance, his certainty—burned into her memory.
"Die? Who in this world could take my life?"
"No matter how strong, can you defeat thousands?"
"One sword is enough."
It was hard to believe such a man existed—one who treated an army as nothing. One man and one sword, and in moments the soldiers were broken, throwing down arms and crouching in terror.
Standing among the corpses, Gao Jianli looked at the broad back carrying the woman he cherished and felt a hollow, sinking helplessness. Was his own feeling doomed to wither and be buried deep forever?
Goku glanced his way. "It's safe now. You should go." Then he vanished with Xue Nu in a flicker.
They reappeared beside a clear river. Goku set Xue Nu gently down and sank the sword point-first into the earth where it hummed softly.
Straightening her sleeves, Xue Nu looked up at him, voice soft. "Leaving him there like that—are you sure it's all right?"
_____
T/N:
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