Kyrian took a deep breath amidst the dust and debris of the collapsing wall that still rained down around him.
Old Wang had already advanced to face the Iron-Spiked Beast. His presence had moved away, and soon the beasts that had cowered in fear of his strength began to surge forward again through the wreckage.
Kyrian rembered the old man’s words and decided to follow them. There was nothing more he could do there.
He tightened his grip on his sword, feeling the chill of the blade in his palm.
With every passing second, more beasts broke through the rubble and entered the city. The screams of those fighting and the roars of the beasts blended together in a whirlwind of chaos.
Kyrian didn’t look back and ran.
His feet struck blood-soaked stones. Many tis, he ca across fallen bodies, groaning in pain or already dead.
Along the way, smaller beasts leapt at him. Wolves with elongated fangs, boars with bony armor, and others lunged from the shadows with hatred.
His Qi flowed through his eyes. Tiny blades of ice sprouted amidst the dust, slicing throats and piercing eyes.
Kyrian spent as little Qi as possible, using the full capacity of his eyes to predict any danger around him.
He couldn’t waste too much of his Qi, but sotis he had no choice. If he stopped, it would only beco harder to catch up with the others.
With each step toward the city gate, the tallic stench of blood grew stronger. The streets of Misty City had beco a battlefield.
rcenaries and cultivators of minor clans shouted orders, trying to form makeshift lines of defense against the flood of beasts.
But the truth was clear, they were losing ground.
"PUSH! DON’T LET THEM THROUGH!" soone shouted, only for their voice to turn into a scream of pain, swallowed by the sound of bones snapping.
Kyrian slid under the strike of a silver-scaled tiger, cutting its belly with a single motion. Hot blood sprayed across his face. But he didn’t stop.
The roars of the five larger beasts echoed everywhere.
Kyrian could distinguish the sounds.
The tallic clash of Patriarch Mu against the Stone Bear. The sharp explosions of Patriarch Li fighting the Great Steel-Horned Deer.
The strikes of Patriarch Chen against the Six-Ard Ape.
And Liu... the master of the rcenary guild, his voice rang out, clear and unyielding, even as he battled the Shadow Serpent that wreaked havoc along the rest of the wall.
Kyrian frowned, glancing in the direction of the patriarchs. They were clearly at a disadvantage.
They were in the Qi Liberation Realm, the greatest forces of the city, yet they were fighting only to keep the beasts in place. There was no room to expect victory, only survival.
’Tsk! I’m still far too weak!’ Kyrian thought as he turned a corner.
But soone appeared before him. Kyrian stopped just before colliding head-on with the figure running from the opposite direction.
"Kyrian!" a familiar voice called, breathless and weary.
It was Yanyu. Her brown hair was disheveled, her clothes stained with blood. Her amber eyes burned with determination. Her sword dripped crimson.
"You... I knew you’d be alright," she said, letting out a sigh of relief.
After seeing the wall where Kyrian had been collapse, Yanyu had rushed to find him. Even knowing Kyrian could take care of himself, she had run to him instinctively, for so reason.
Kyrian nodded, with no ti for words.
Suddenly, a beast resembling a panther leapt from behind Yanyu. Kyrian charged forward, his sword tracing an upward arc. The beast’s body split in two.
The icy blade glead. Kyrian was truly satisfied with this sword. His Qi was amplified several tis over.
Yanyu drew a deep breath at his side.
"We’re falling back from the gate. Trying to hold a defensive line. Everyone’s being pushed back, street by street."
"We need to hold long enough for the children and the others to escape the city."
"Right, let’s go!" Kyrian replied firmly.
Together, the two headed for the gate.
It was now the heart of the battle. Rogue cultivators who lived in the city, rcenaries, and the cultivators of the three families fought side by side.
They pushed back against an endless tide of frenzied beasts. Screams were drowned out by unending roars.
Kyrian and Yanyu joined the line. Imdiately, the weight of the battle engulfed them.
Kyrian pulled Qi from his dantians through his eyes, forming spears of ice that skewered multiple enemies at once.
Then he shattered them into a rain of shards.
Yanyu moved swiftly near Kyrian, her blade slicing tendons, leaping over carcasses, and striking down threats that might hinder him with precision.
But no matter how many beasts fell, more always ca. Always more.
"We’re... being crushed!" shouted a rcenary with a torn arm, just before being dragged to the ground by a beast.
Kyrian’s brow furrowed as he took it all in.
He was fine, thanks to the abnormal amount of Qi condensed in his two dantians, but he could see exhaustion weighing on Yanyu and the others.
He also noticed rcenaries who had co only for the reward beginning to retreat. After all, if everyone died, what reward would remain?
Kyrian’s thoughts churned.
’We’re losing.’
’Should I run? After all, I don’t really care about this city. I could get resources elsewhere and just head for the Verdant Sword Sect...’
Elsewhere in the city, the patriarchs battled their respective foes.
Patriarch Mu pumled waves of Qi into the Stone Bear. Each strike resounded with a deafening crack. But at best, he was buying ti.
The beast seed to mock his efforts, its mineral armor only chipping in fragnts.
Patriarch Li hurled blades of Qi at the Horned Deer, but the beast retaliated with even stronger projectiles, smashing the wall behind them and sending more rubble crashing down.
Patriarch Chen was bloodied, three of his bones already broken by the Six-Ard Ape’s brutal strikes. Yet he still clutched his spear, eyes blazing with fury.
Guildmaster Liu, on the other hand, was holding a fragile balance. His sword radiated fiery Qi, unlike the simpler techniques of the other patriarchs.
The fiery Qi clashed against the Shadow Serpent’s strikes, cracking the ground with scorched lines as the serpent vanished and reappeared. He wasn’t being wounded, but neither could he strike the serpent down. No decisive victory was in sight.
It was a stalemate. No. In this situation, a stalemate where everyone else was losing was also defeat.
All it would take was one patriarch falling to shatter the balance.
Or one beast falling.
At that mont, a new sound rose above the constant battle. It was not the enraged roar of a beast, but a beastly scream of pain.
It was shrill, filled with fury, followed by a sudden, eerie silence.
The pressure in the air shifted.
Kyrian and the others felt it instantly. One of the presences, the Iron-Spiked Beast, vanished in an instant.
Its energy, which had radiated arrogantly, flaunting its strength, simply snuffed out.
Kyrian felt a slight relief at the disappearance of that pressure. It could only an the old man had won. And it didn’t take long. In just a few minutes, one of the five beasts had fallen.
The rcenaries and cultivators still resisting noticed it too. So let out shouts of hope, while the rcenaries who had been about to flee decided to wait a little longer.
"One... One of the beasts has fallen!"
"Keep fighting, we haven’t lost yet!!" soone cried, raising a blood-soaked blade.
For a brief instant, courage rippled through the line, weapons rising once more. But Kyrian wasn’t swayed. He knew well this was only a small victory.
The other four presences still pulsed, each as overwhelming as a mountain of Qi, still alive and roaring in response. Their pressure on those fighting them grew even heavier. The beasts beca even more enraged by the fall of one of their kind.
Kyrian drew a deep breath, wiping blood from his face with the back of his hand. His gaze fell on Yanyu, trembling with fatigue but still fighting. After all, this was her city. Her family was here.
In her mind, worry for the patriarchs and the others gnawed at him. Were the children and the rest already out of the city?
’We’re still right in the middle of this... and we haven’t even seen the real enemy yet... that cry from before didn’t co from any of these beasts...’
’Should I really leave?’ Kyrian thought, hesitating slightly as he glanced at Yanyu.
Soon, the screams of pain and the clash of battle once again consud the city. But on the horizon, a sudden flare of light appeared.
Old Wang erged, drenched in the blood of the Iron-Spiked Beast, his hamr still glowing as though freshly forged.
He didn’t stop after slaying the beast. No. His body surged forward, charging straight toward the Shadow Serpent.
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