A sudden flicker among the trees sent the stallion into a frenzy; it threw its head back with a piercing neigh and its hooves lashed the air as it reared. Kaolin reacted in an instant, which caused his robes to flutter in the wind like velvety billows. With one hand, he pulled sharply on the reins; with the other, he pressed a palm against the beast's neck, channelling a thread of calming qi.
"Settle!"
But the horse's muscles coiled and trembled relentlessly. For a heartbeat, they staggered, suspended between heaven and earth, and framed against the mist-shrouded pines. Then, with a snort that reverberated far and wide in the forested area, the stallion crashed back down, stamping the earth and scattering leaves like flying daggers. Kaolin held fast and scanned for the threat that startled his horse.
There, in a clearing up ahead, a carriage had toppled over. It was surrounded by white wolves – wolves that now crept closer and closer to the only surviving person. Or at least that was what he thought at first. But as he observed closely, he noticed that the warrior wasn't fighting for his own survival. His eyes kept wandering back to the carriage, or somewhere near it, towards what Kaolin could only describe as an unconscious person lying on the ground. It was at this point that he disembarked from his stallion to take a closer look at one of the dead warriors' emblems without being seen.
The lifeless body lay crumpled against the roots of a pine tree, half-covered in blackened, wilted leaves. As Kaolin reached to turn the mangled corpse over, his fingers brushed the rough fabric now soaked in blood. There, barely visible on the shoulder strap of the warrior's robes, was a singed patch: a crown of flame encircling a phoenix's eye. His eyes widened at once. It was theJinlian Sect!
His breath caught, and his eyes widened in disbelief as he took another gander at the unconscious person lying near the carriage. Then that person... was Immortal Lord Zhenhai? Unwittingly, he started for the clearing, unsure of why his legs brought him right into the centre of the fiery battle between the surviving warrior and the white wolves. Yet, hadn't he acted first, the warrior whom he would later know as Commander Taohua would have perished along with Zhenhai.
He moved like a shadow across water, like a thief in the darkest hour of night, a flash of his sleeve knocking one wolf aside with ease. A palm strike sent another crashing into a broken tree as it was about to bite into the barely standing commander, who had lost too much of his cultivation. This caused the white wolves to retreat, but not entirely, as if they were silently gauging whether they could take him on or not.
A low snarl then broke the stillness. His eyes flicked towards the sound just as a shadow lunged out of nowhere. The massive wolf burst from the treeline with fangs bared and eyes locked on the wounded warrior behind him. He whipped around without a second's delay, and in one smooth motion, he reached across his back and drew his sword, not too fast, butjustenough.
The blade caught the light like a thread of lightning and moved fast. A single stroke was all he needed; blood splattered across the clearing in a graceful wave. The wolf's body collapsed behind him with a dull thud, split clean across the chest. As this happened, the other wolves quickly retreated deeper into the woods, whimpering like dogs.
He did not look back. For a long breath, he stood there, sword extended, crimson droplets trailing down its edge, and a splash of blood tracing across his cheek. Then, slowly, he turned his gaze down to the wounded warrior on the ground, locking eyes with the commander, who stared up in disbelief.
"H-How did you—"
"Master! Master Kaolin!"
Kaolin looked in the direction of the treelines, his piercing gaze relaxing upon catching sight of Wei Lan on the other side of the clearing, on horseback. Slowly, he released his grip on the bloody sword and extended his arm to the commander, who reluctantly took it and stood up. His keen eyes then drifted to the still unconscious figure near the carriage, startled to notice the immortal's chest rise and fall in a steady rhythm despite all the blood gushing out of his wound across the chest.
A smirk crept on his face out of disbelief. "He's still alive?"
This remark prompted Commander Taohua to snap out of his shock and twist in haste, his bloodied fingers clawing at the earth. Kaolin frowned. The perplexed look on the commander's eyes had now been replaced by raw instinct, so much so that he disregarded his own dire state to save the one he was tasked to protect.
"Y-Your Highness…!"
With a strangled sound, he dragged himself forwards, crawling on all fours, completely heedless of the gashes along his ribs and the torn ligaments in his leg. Mud streaked his armour, and his hand slipped once in the blood-soaked grass, but he didn't stop. He then pulled the unconscious immortal into his lap, gripping him by the shoulders with trembling hands. For a brief second, it reminded Kaolin of that day – the day he lost Commander Orun.
"Wake up! You must wake up!You must—!"
There was no answer. Just the wind howling through the trees, and the last droplets of blood falling from Kaolin's sword as he cocked his head slightly, watching the spectacle with utmost curiosity, just as Wei Lan joined him at the centre of the clearing, jumping down from his stallion.
"Isn't that the emblem of the Jinlian Sect? Then that person is... is..."
Kaolin glanced at him out of the corner of his eyes but did not confirm him. Instead, he subtly twisted his head in the direction of the strange din now approaching with unprecedented speed. But this energy…
His eyes flung open as he realised the dire situation they were in and whipped around just as a lone white wolf charged at him from behind without making a single sound, summoning his sword just in time to dispel the bloodthirsty beast. As the wolf hurled several feet before collapsing due to the force he used, the other wolves soon reappeared from within the darkness-laced woods. But these weren't just puppets controlled by the Bai Lang Clan. These were something else, something he couldn't decipher at the moment, and their numbers only kept increasing with each passing second. It was too dangerous to stay here, especially with two severely injured people.
"Wei Lan – take Immortal Lord Zhenhai to Yueluo Gu. Now!"
"Immortal Lord—what!?"
"Now!"
"B-But you said—"
"I know what I said! Now, move! Quick!"
Wei Lan hesitated, glancing between Kaolin and the injured warrior still cradling the unconscious Immortal. "What about you?"
"I'll hold them, just long enough for you to reach Yueluo Gu."
Reluctantly, Wei Lan reached for the Immortal, fingers glowing faintly as he whispered a guiding mantra. The heir's body lifted weightlessly from the ground, suspended by threads of qi, and in one fluid motion, he swung onto the saddle and pulled the immortal onto the horse. The stallion neighed, then galloped off, vanishing into the treeline and merging with the mist.
Kaolin turned to the wounded commander.
"My horse is near the slope. Take it."
Commander Taohua stared up at him; blood down his temple, one arm limp, legs barely steady. But his hand reached for his fallen blade, and he forced himself upright.
"I will not run like a coward. As a member of the Tuo household and the commander of the Moonshadow Guards, I shall fight until I die and be buried as a warrior who has died protecting His Highness!"
Kaolin couldn't help but smirk upon hearing these silly words, but he said nothing. Some men were bound to oaths heavier than iron and raised to be killed for others. "Then you better not slow me down, Commander."
The wolves surged from the dark like a tide of mayhem, not long after he said this, and blades dripped with crimson soon rang and clashed. Back-to-back, Kaolin and the commander turned and cut, turned and struck. Each swing felled another beast, but for every wolf they slew, two more came. And more. And more!
Kaolin's breath became uneven as he took a moment to scan his surroundings, his chest rapidly rising and falling in synch with his frantic heart. Something was off. He closed his eyes then and tried to focus, opening his mind's eyes to see what he was missing. His heartbeat echoed like a drum within his chest the whole time, and power stirred within him, one that was buried and unwilling. The symbol of the Korran Clan then flared on his forehead with his inner qi – ever radiant and etched in living light – and the air around him shifted.
In the silence of his mind's eye, the illusion fell away, and he snapped his eyes open with the realisation that these weren't wolves but shadows – illusions conjured by the Demonic Arts. Or in other words, an ancient technique created by the Demon God himself called The Phantom Mirror. That meant, among these fake shadows hid the real one. But where?
With his mind's eye now fully open, he scanned the vicinity with haste, trying to locate the person creating the illusion. And there, at the far edge of the clearing, slipping through the trees like smoke was a lone beast. But that wasn't why his eyes narrowed and his breath caught in his throat. It was going after Wei Lan and the immortal!
He quickly raised a hand and qi surged through his veins, bursting from his palm in a ribbon of light. It stretched across the clearing and wrapped around the fleeing Bai Lang Clan member's throat, lifting it into the air. The white wolf writhed, its claws slashing at empty air. Its form then flickered and shifted. Fur melted away into pale skin, revealing a gaunt figure with silver eyes and a wicked grin that cracked as he choked.
The illusions shattered at once and shadows vanished into vapour, leaving only blood, wind, and silence in their wake, along with their suffocating master. But something wasn't right. Why was this guy smiling? It was at this moment that he realised that this was only the tip of the iceberg.
Urgently, he turned to face the commander.
"Take my horse and go to Yueluo Gu! Tell the Immortals they must take all precautions and protect His Highness!"
Commander Taohua hesitated. "But—"
"I said, go!"
With his sword clenched in one hand and pain burning through his limbs, the commander reluctantly staggered towards the treeline where Kaolin's stallion was tied. But even as he took hold of the reins, he wouldn't leave. Seeing this, Kaolin used his free hand to strike a lightning of qi towards his horse, ordering it to move and take the commander with it to Yueluo Gu – whether he so wanted or not. He then returned his focus to the suffocating member of the Bai Lang Clan, who was still grinning, so much so that Kaolin couldn't help but be bothered by it.
"What's that grin for? You enjoy dying?"
"Master Kaolin, isn't it? I must admit that your spiritual power is just as grand as the rumours say."
"Cut the crap! Who sent you?"
To this question, the Bai Lang member laughed his head off, guffawing like the mad person he was or had become.
"No one did! You think the Bai Lang are dumb enough to—"
"Hmm. That's exactly what I think. You wolves have no bad blood with Jinlian. But you're dumb enough to do things for others, for the right price, and then die for nothing."
The Bai Lang Clan member's smile faded. "You can't fool me with those tricks, Master Kaolin! I won't speak! So just go ahead and kill me!"
"Kill you?"Kaolin said, amused by this wording. "Why would I kill you—" His eyes glinted with a strange flow of qi. "—when I can snack on you?"
Before the white wolf could decipher the gravity of those words, Kaolin twisted his hand and broke the Bai Lang Clan member's neck. He then activated his qi and slowly ate the white wolf's spiritual power. As he did so, using the Forbidden Arts, devouring another person's qi, the symbol between his brow lit up, becoming the link between his qi and that of the Bai Lang Clan member's.
When the interchange was finally over, the Bai Lang Clan member became a part of him, then turned into nothing. The force of this exchange, however, caused Kaolin to double over in pain and spit blood from deep within his gut, and collapse forwards, clenching his jaws so hard that his whole face convulsed by the surge of pain taking hold of his whole body.
When the worst of the pain dissipated, he rose to his feet and started for Yueluo Gu. Something about his brief exchange with the Bai Lang Clan member told him that this was far from over, that the true enemy hadn't yet shown themselves. It was clear that someone had set their eye on Immortal Lord Zhenhai and wasn't going to give up easily trying to take his life, not when the Immortal was on the brink of death and severely ill. He had to reach Yueluo Gu and restore the Immortal's qi with the Bai Lang Clan member's qi he just devoured, and if needed, his own qi as well.
Yet this was hardly what he had come here for. Whether Zhenhai died or not was not of his concern. It should not have been. But seeing how the Bai Lang Clan had mastered the Demonic Arts all of a sudden, something told him that whoever was behind this sudden attack was not only trying to wreak chaos upon Shenzhou but also seeking vengeance against the Jinlian Sect for their long-due debts. But why? Who would teach such wicked spells to such inferior cultivators as the Bai Lan Clan? He had to find out.