The mountain pass erupted into a theater of roaring flas and clashing steel.
Chief Gao moved like a gale of blazing autumn leaves. His sword, wrapped in dense, flickering yellow Qi, sheared through the heavy mountain mist as he exchanged blows with Blood-Handed Tie. Every collision of their weapons sent a sharp, tallic ring echoing across the rocky canyon walls, kicking up showers of frozen gravel.
"Chief Gao! I’ll flank him!" Old Barlow yelled, abandoning his driver's seat. He raised his heavy iron crossbow, loading a thick, Qi-infused bolt ant to pierce armored scales.
But Blood-Handed Tie only laughed—a harsh, barking sound that rattled the eardrums of the common laborers crouching behind the carriage wheels.
"A third-stage trash and a mortal bird with a toy!" Tie sneered. His purple-black forearms swelled, the veins throbbing with a sickening, liquid radiance. "You think a few flas can burn through the Crimson Hand of Pestilence?"
With a violent upward swing, Tie deliberately bared his chest, baiting Chief Gao into a deep thrust. Gao, desperate to end the skirmish before the remaining rogue cultivators could regroup, bit the bait. He surged forward, his blade targeting Tie’s heart.
[🚨 DANGER SENSE ACTIVATED!]
Combat Evaluation: Hidden Variable Triggered.
Hostile (Blood-Handed Tie) is channeling compressed corrosive Qi into his left shoulder pad. Intended action: A devastating point-blank counter-burst.
Fatality Rate for Ally (Chief Gao): 85%.
Optimal Low-Key Counter-Path: Disrupt Tie’s foot placent using a minor, unseen environntal reaction.
Shen Jin, still curled up in a pathetic ball behind his rusted iron buckler, watched the unfolding tragedy through a small gap in the tal plate. He knew that if Chief Gao fell here, the caravan would be systematically slaughtered, and he would be forced to reveal his true strength to survive—violating the core directive of his growth.
I have 20 Vanguard Points, Shen Jin thought. I need to spend them now.
He accessed the Vanguard Exchange Shop instantly.
🏪 VANGUARD EXCHANGE SHOP (TIER 1)
[Shatter-Trigger Mark] — Cost: 10 VP
[Qi-Tracking Needle] — Cost: 5 VP
[Pebble-Burst Array (Disposable)] — Cost: 10 VP
(Subtly charges up to three small pebbles with compressed kinetic expansion, detonating them under light pressure to cause a minor physical slip.)
Purchase the Pebble-Burst Array, Shen Jin commanded.
[Transaction Complete. 10 Vanguard Points deducted.]
[Current Balance: 10 VP.]
[Item deployed. Select targets within 5 ters.]
Shen Jin’s gaze locked onto three smooth river stones resting right beneath Blood-Handed Tie’s trailing right heel. A faint, invisible ripple of system energy flowed from Shen Jin's position, sinking deep into the porous stones.
Just as Chief Gao’s flaming sword tip ca within three inches of Tie's chest, Tie shifted his weight to initiate his lethal counter-burst. His heavy, iron-shod boot pressed firmly down on the stones.
POP. POP.
Two microscopic, sharp snaps of kinetic energy—no louder than a dry twig breaking underfoot—triggered beneath his heel. To the combatants, it felt like the natural shifting of loose, unstable mountain gravel.
But at the fifth stage of Qi Gathering, where physical balance is tied directly to the precise alignnt of internal ridians, that tiny, unexpected half-inch shift was disastrous. Tie’s right heel slid backward on the "loose" stones.
"What—?!" Tie hissed.
His massive counter-strike swung wide. Instead of blasting Chief Gao’s head off, his purple-black hand strike cut cleanly through empty air, the corrosive wave of energy exploding harmlessly into the fog behind Gao's shoulder.
Gao, entirely unaware that a cosmic alignnt of luck had just saved his life, saw the massive opening created by Tie's "clumsy" slip. With a roar, Gao redirected his montum, slamming his sword hilt brutally into Blood-Handed Tie's jaw, followed by a heavy, Qi-infused kick to the rogue commander's chest.
CRACK!
Blood-Handed Tie flew backward, blood spraying from his lips as he tumbled across the rocky trail, crashing heavily into a stack of abandoned timber.
"Shoot him!" Old Barlow roared, pulling the trigger of his iron crossbow.
The heavy bolt shot through the mist, burying itself deep into Tie's thigh. The rogue commander let out an enraged, guttural shriek. He looked at Chief Gao, then down at his bleeding leg, and finally at the loose, unremarkable gravel beneath his feet. He couldn't understand it. He was a master of movent, yet he had tripped over common river stones like a blind drunkard.
"Retreat!" Tie roared, realization sinking in that his tactical superiority had been completely broken by a cascade of absurd, humiliating environntal flukes. "Fall back into the ridge!"
The remaining rogue cultivators vanished into the thick country fog, dragging their bleeding commander with them. The heavy, oppressive scent of corrosive Qi slowly dissipated, replaced once more by the clean, biting chill of the mountain air.
The caravan guards collapsed against the carriages, groaning as they began to bind their wounds. Chief Gao stood in the center of the trail, his flaming sword slowly flickering out, his chest heaving as he stared down the empty road.
"Check the periter," Gao ordered, his voice tight with an odd mix of relief and deep suspicion. "Check the boxes. Check Carriage Twelve."
Shen Jin imdiately let out a long, loud, trembling wail from behind his buckler, ensuring everyone heard his "terror." He scrambled out from his hiding spot, dropping the rusted tal plate with a loud clatter.
"Are they gone? Are the demons gone?" Shen Jin cried, his face covered in gray dirt as he ran toward Old Barlow, looking entirely pathetic. "Master Barlow! I thought my head was going to explode!"
"Shut up, you sniveling brat," Barlow grunted, though there was no real malice in his voice as he reloaded his crossbow. "You're alive, aren't you? Go check the ox on Carriage Twelve. If that blast startled the beast into breaking its leg, I'll make you carry the luxury box yourself."
"Yes, sir! Right away, sir!" Shen Jin stamred, bowing repeatedly before rushing toward the rear of the convoy.
As he approached Carriage Twelve, the velvet curtain didn't open this ti. But through the wooden panels, the faint, erratic life signature of Grandmaster Yu seed slightly more stable. The old man had remained entirely silent throughout the skirmish, a true spectator to the unseen flow of the battle.
Shen Jin dropped to his knees, pretending to inspect the Draconic Ox's heavy iron horseshoes while quietly pulling up his pale-blue screen.
[PING.]
[Quest Update: The Low-Key Escort — Progress (75%).]
Assessnt: The host utilized an environntal micro-disruption to neutralize a peak fifth-stage threat without generating external suspicion. High efficiency achieved.
[Rewards Distributed:]
25 Vanguard Points (VP) for successful strategic intervention.
Current Balance: 35 VP.
Shen Jin quietly stroked the scaly neck of the massive ox, his eyes reflecting the soft blue light of the interface. Thirty-five points. He was closing in on the end of the mountain trail, and the Sanctuary City of Drifting Leaves was just beyond the next peak.
He had started this journey as a malnourished ghost from a ruined tiline. Now, step by step, the shadow of the vanguard was lengthening.
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