Wu Ying stepped around his friend, trusting that Tou Hei would stop any additional attacks, and cut. Once. The arrow, hidden almost to all sight and only sensed by Wu Ying due to a shift in the environmental chi that he had been drawing upon, was cut apart. As it broke, the skill-formed chi formation around the arrow shattered. Wu Ying grunted and ran, knowing that if they stayed still, they would continue to be attacked. At least this way, the attackers would avoid attacking the rest of his Sect mates and focus on them.
“Thank you,” Tou Hei said to Wu Ying as he caught up with his friend, striking at arrows.
Now that he had been alerted, Tou Hei paid a much closer eye to his surroundings, picking out the hard-to-spot attacks from the defenders on the wall. The pair ran on, hopping over a rise in the ground and finally reaching their targets. By this point, only a single one of the initial four Verdant Green Waters Sect cultivators was still standing. Even as Wu Ying watched, one of the opposing cultivators thrust his spear into a prone form, pulling one last groan from the cultivator before he died.
“You twice-cooked rotten egg,” Wu Ying cursed as he drew upon the chi within his Woo Petal bracer.
He unleashed it, along with his own chi, in a single crescent of power, the Dragon’s Breath attack sending green-and-white metal chi arcing forward. His opponent managed to raise his spear to block the attack, suffering only minor injuries as the attack dispersed around the solidified aura his opponent formed.
In the meantime, Tou Hei skipped past Wu Ying, his weapons striking out, only to be blocked by the cultivators he was fighting. However, the distraction helped the lone standing cultivator, buying him time to recover and fall back to Wu Ying and Tou Hei’s impromptu defensive line.
For a moment, both parties stood facing one another, hesitant to launch another attack. It was at that point that Wu Ying and an enemy cultivator shouted at the same time.
“You!”
To Wu Ying’s surprise, he recognized these opposing cultivators. They were not random enemies, but the same individuals who had accosted him and Tou Hei on the road.
“Lying cultivator dog. You’re no gatherer!” the cultivator accused Wu Ying. “I should have known. You people have no honor.”
“What do Six Jade Gates scum know of honor? These people killed my friends,” the surviving cultivator snarled back, taking advantage of Wu Ying’s and Tou Hei’s presence to launch himself at his opponents with renewed vigor.
Not to be left behind, the pair followed. As if they had an unspoken agreement, Wu Ying and Senior Cai paired up to fight.
But in short order, Wu Ying found himself retreating constantly from the barrage of attacks he faced. He had a better grasp of his weapon, especially now that he was wielding his own jian, but his opponent was of a higher cultivation level. That meant he was faster and stronger than Wu Ying, able to react more quickly to changes in position. The difference was not much, but a small amount could make a big difference when one was fighting for his life. Fighting was always about inches, the millimeters of difference that made a successful dodge, a good parry, a lethal strike. Worse for Wu Ying was the fact that the enemy cultivator still had a lot of chi in his body, being able to release energy-filled attacks at Wu Ying constantly. More than once, Wu Ying had to reinforce his aura with his own chi, only to feel his aura shatter under the pressure and the attacks dig into his armor, his clothing, his skin.
Not being in the Energy Storage stage, Wu Ying was projecting energy out of his body in a manner that was unnatural for him at his cultivation level. Even if he had experience doing so, training from his aura control exercises, this method of defense was wasteful. The Energy Storage meridians not only stored energy but also allowed one more control over the chi they wielded.
Again and again, the pair clashed. A high block turn into a low cut, the lunge and sidestep twisting into a disengage, then a swift cut toward an offending leg. Wu Ying tried all his tricks, ranging from the Dragon’s Whiskers to Paws snatching Claws. None of it worked. Even the minor strikes he managed barely did more than leave scratches on his opponent. Still, as they danced across the ground, Wu Ying could not help noticing his opponent was holding back.
A twist, a disengage, and Wu Ying jumped, sending a kick at his opponent’s face. To his surprise, the attack landed, sending the cultivator to the ground. Unfortunately, Senior Cai rolled and came up onto his feet, a wave of energy reaching out. Wu Ying jumped back, dodging the attack as realization arrived as well.
His opponent was wary of Wu Ying. He probably thought Wu Ying was an Energy Storage cultivator too. Wu Ying’s initial attack with the Woo Petal Bracer had likely convinced his opponent Wu Ying was holding back, waiting for an opportune time to release his attack. In truth, that was a part of Wu Ying’s plan, though the conjuration of energy from the bracer required more concentration than he would care to use in such a frantic battle.
In the gap of time offered to him as his opponent rolled away and recovered, Wu Ying looked around, taking in the battle. Tou Hei was in the process of beating down his opponent. That he had not one but two archers targeting him was the only reason Tou Hei had not finished his own opponent. On the other hand, the cultivator they had come to rescue was in a deadly struggle, grappling his opponent and rolling on the ground like barbarians.
As for the larger view, Wu Ying had no time to check as his opponent finished recovering, sending another arc of energy at him. Wu Ying dodged, getting ready to lunge in.
As the pair readied to reengage, a new series of notes rang out from the city. Senior Cai hesitated, then glared at Wu Ying before he turned and ran. As Wu Ying gave chase, a glint in the ground made him hesitate, just before it exploded into flames. He hopped back, wiping his face, as the trapped ground continued to expand, forcing him to retreat again and again.
As he angled away, Wu Ying did his best to move toward where the grappling cultivator was, but he failed to get there in time. Through the flames, Wu Ying glimpsed as the cultivator choked on his own blood, his throat crushed by an elbow as his opponent stumbled away. A glance to the side saw Tou Hei being the only successful member of their group as he deflected an arrow aimed at his leg before he finished his opponent with a strike to the head with his staff.
Another change in drumbeats, this time from their own lines.
All around them, the cultivators were leaving, breaking away to return to either the defensive walls or the army’s lines. Wu Ying checked over the fallen bodies around them, but none breathed. To his surprise, Wu Ying noticed that Tou Hei had lifted the body of the cultivator he had been fighting.
When Wu Ying raised an eyebrow, his friend clarified. “He is still alive.”
A quick nod, then Wu Ying turned to pick up the weapons of those left behind, sliding them into his storage ring. None looked particularly special, but decent was decent. Once he had looted the fallen weapons, he took hold of a pair of corpses and set them on his shoulders before taking off for the safety of their lines. He left Tou Hei to watch their backs as he bounded away from the fight.
Luckily, it seemed that the opposing cultivators had stopped targeting the pair of them. Whether it was because they had better targets now or because they had been told to stop firing, Wu Ying was uncertain. Either way, he was glad to not be shot at anymore.
Together, they retreated, bearing their prisoner and the corpses of their sect members. When Wu Ying reached their lines, he saw one extremely upset female angling her way to him. He could only wince, knowing that he was in for it. Especially when he saw the pair of soldiers standing right behind her, hands on their swords and glaring at them.