Yin Xue handed the tablets to Wu Ying, allowing the other cultivator to put them in his storage ring. That action surprised Wu Ying, considering the manual was something Yin Xue had earned. And more so, it was his family technique.
“You’re not keeping it?” Wu Ying said.
“No need. I’ll get a copy later,” Yin Xue replied. “This is just to make sure you have it and that I’ve done my part in this.”
Wu Ying regarded the nobleman and offered a tentative smile. “Thank you. For this. For everything.”
“I didn’t do it for you. I’m ending my karmic debt.” Yin Xue hurried up the staircase, calling down to Wu Ying as he did so. “Are you coming?”
Wu Ying hesitated then shook his head. Karma was weird, and no one—no one not a Buddha themselves—could say what it had in place for them in the future. But if this meant Yin Xue was happy, Wu Ying would not gainsay him.
Upstairs, Wu Ying scrambled through the slowly closing floor, feeling the edge of his shoes nearly get caught. He grunted, shaking his head. For the supposed leader of this group, he seemed to be constantly stuck hurrying up after all his people.
Maybe that said something about him. And his leadership skills.
And maybe it just said something about his companions. Probably the latter.
Chapter 22
“We have a plan?” Bao Cong called as they eyed the still-closed entrance door.
“How do we plan for what we don’t know to expect?” Li Yao retorted. “We just have to deal with it when the doors open.”
Yin Xue grimaced, opening his mouth to object, but Wu Ying cut them all off. “We know that they are likely waiting for us. To ask questions, at the very least. Yin Xue, try to bluff them. If that fails, or if they try to attack or detain us, we fight. We make a run for the walls. If we have to, we jump.”
The group nodded at the quick, curt orders. For their differences, they’d spent a long enough time together that these orders made sense. Except for…
“Tou Hei?” Li Yao asked.
Wu Ying hesitated, thinking of the ex–monk’s predicament, the way he had waved them on. “Probably safer than us right now. He’ll meet up with us if he can. We just have to trust in him.”
Saying that hurt, but in his own way, Tou Hei was probably the most suitable individual to travel alone. For one thing, his disguise was not really a disguise. So long as no one stuck any BBQ demon beast sticks before him, he should be fine.
As if he was tired of listening to them talk, Yin Xue strode forward and slapped his hands on the doors. Unlike before, when Wu Ying and the others had tentatively tested it and the door had refused to budge, the doors swung open as if they weighed nothing at all. Another security feature.
What greeted them was what Wu Ying had feared. Seven groundskeepers, all of them holding their weapons, stared at the team. But worse of all, there were four cultivators, two of them dressed in the robes of the Six Jade Gates sect, the other two in colorful, nobleman’s silks. They all stood before groundskeeper Han, glaring at Yin Xue as he walked out.
“Which branch member are you? How dare you defy the family’s hierarchy? Stealing the cultivation manual when you do not deserve it! We’ll kill you, your parents, and all your uncles and brothers for this affront. We will take your sisters and your female relatives and make them our slaves,” the leading cultivator, dressed in the robes of the Six Jade Gates sect, shouted at Yin Xue. “Now bow down and kowtow[13] for forgiveness. Or else we will make sure to torture them all before we kill them.”
Yin Xue took another step forward, eyebrows creasing as he eyed the group. When he didn’t drop to his knees, the cultivators drew their weapons. The subtle signal Yin Xue sent made sure that the team knew not to take action just yet. He wanted them to wait.
Even so, Wu Ying could see that Bao Cong had drawn his bow, even though it was held low to the ground and hidden behind his body.
“My family?” Yin Xue ducked his head then suddenly drew his weapon, sending a shot of sword intent at the cultivators. It was not a powerful attack, spread out in a wide arc as it was, and it caught none of the main cultivators from the Wen family by surprise. But to Wu Ying’s surprise, two of the groundskeepers were injured by the surprise attack. “It’s the third branch.”
Unlike the showboating Yin Xue, the others did not stop to speak. Not when they attacked. Wu Ying drew and struck out, pulling energy from the Brilliant Woo Petal Bracer into his sword strike. Except he kept his attack much tighter, focused on the Wen family member on the far left. Li Yao conjured her spear, sending her chi into the weapon as she thrust forward. The suddenly elongated weapon of conjured ice—formed from around its tip and body—caught her opponent by surprise, shattering against his chi aura and leaving him bloody as he fell back. Bao Cong, rather than targeting the cultivators from the Wen family, shot his arrows at the groundskeepers.
“Don’t stop,” Wu Ying growled, using quick steps to cover the ground between him and his opponents.
The Wind Steps that he used let him cross the ground at almost a full run, while his sword sent weak attacks of sword intent as he expended his stored chi. It was nowhere as strong as an Energy Stage cultivator’s attacks, especially since he was moving so fast, but that wasn’t the point. It was meant to keep their opponents on the back foot.
The rush of attacks put the Wen family cultivators on the defensive for a moment, but they weathered the onslaught with ease, falling back but keeping their formation, allowing Wu Ying’s team to emerge from the mausoleum. Wu Ying and Yin Xue managed to stay at the forefront of the attack, protected and aided by Li Yao’s longer weapon.
As Wu Ying was about to take a step farther, Yin Xue called out a warning. “Stop. Illusionary formation.”
When the entire group hesitated, Yin Xue twisted his left hand and thrust forward, talismans appearing and shooting through the space before them, entering the formation itself. The yellow paper talismans seemed to bend as they flew, twisted by the formation, before exploding into pink flames. The flames warped and twisted in space, contained within the formation and marking the outlines of the trap that had been set.
Not to be outdone, Li Yao bounded off, swinging her weapon at one of the unhurt groundskeepers. She cut through his defense, breaking his sword and leaving his torso torn open, ice forming around the edges of his wound and fast expanding across his body.
“This way,” she exclaimed, pointing with her spear.
The group rushed after her, taking the momentary lull in battle and the distraction of the failed formation to escape. As they ran, Bao Cong retreated backward, firing his arrows. Each arrow shimmered and replicated itself, making it difficult for the cultivators who had escaped the flames to chase them.
“I said bluff!!” Wu Ying grumbled as they ran.
As they ducked among the graves, alarm bells rang, alerting not just the family members of the Wen household, but the entire city.
Yin Xue muttered as they ran, “Already forgetting who dug the well[14].”
***
Ducking around a carved tombstone, Wu Ying slapped a talisman on the back of the stone. It was the last defensive talisman in the set, and as he glanced around, he saw nods from the remainder of the team. He’d distributed the talismans as they’d run, then the group had split, throwing attacks to slow down their pursuers. Placement confirmed, Wu Ying whispered the activation word and sent a surge of chi into his talisman to activate the formation. It was the same one he had bought to bring the village home safely, but storing seed for spring did no good if you starved in the winter.