The loud, almost joyful and insane, voice rang through the streets, chasing Wu Ying and Bao Cong as they ducked into the next alleyway. They pushed through only to find that this one ended not in another street but in a dead-end.
Rather than stop, Li Yao focused her chi in the tip of the spear again and lunged forward. Her attack created a shell of ice around her, one that protected her body as she smashed into the wall and shattered it into pieces. Yin Xue followed her, bouncing past her still form as she recovered to keep running. Another crash, this time of a door being thrust open, echoed toward Wu Ying and Bao Cong. They entered the living room of a peasant house, the front door swinging on one broken hinge as Yin Xue clashed with unseen foes in the street ahead. Wu Ying noted a pair of mortals as he twisted around, intent on throwing another blade strike down the alleyway.
“Get out!” Wu Ying shouted at the civilians, the little girl and her brother screaming. A loud, distressing creak originated from above his head, making Wu Ying glance at the wobbling ceiling. “Now.”
Then he had no more time. The first of the guards came rushing in, thrusting with his polearm. Wu Ying blocked, gripped the edge of the weapon behind its sharp knife-head, and pulled, punching the guard of his jian into the man’s face. The attack laid out his opponent on the ground, blocking the entrance. The next few moments were a hectic battle as Wu Ying blocked and cut, doing his best to stall the attackers in the entranceway. All the while, dust from the compromised ceiling fell around him.
For all his skill, eventually Wu Ying fell back. One too many spears were shoved at him, forcing Wu Ying to back off. As he did so, he flicked his gaze at the corner where the children had been. Once he noted their absence, he struck upward. He only needed to use a little bit of his chi, focused through his sword intent. Lines of sharp power scored against the ceiling, weakening already compromised joints. His enemies spotted his intentions only seconds before the roof gave way.
Throwing himself backward, Wu Ying tapped the ground with his feet as he floated out the doorway even as the ceiling fell, blocking the entrance Li Yao had created. As the dust and smoke from the collapsed building exploded around him, cloaking his body in the remnants of the home, Wu Ying could only hope that the kids really were out of the house. He had no time to check.
He turned and ran, intent on catching up with his friends before he spotted the city wall. Finally.
There was about thirty feet of clear ground between him and the wall, an area that was fast filling with soldiers. As if they had known where the Green Waters Sect members had planned to go, the army of Wei had sent their men to line the wall. Wu Ying’s friends had stopped, resting for a second in an impromptu stand-off. Wu Ying hurried to them, and once they noted his presence, Li Yao offered him a nod.
Together, the group surged forward another ten feet, smashing into the wall of soldiers. They managed to gain a few feet, even against the wall of fighters, before they stalled. The cultivators pushed, inching closer to the staircase that led up the wall. But then the pressure between the attackers stymied their advance, forcing them to hold their ground as they fought desperately to move ahead. Spears lashed out from behind walls of shields, daos cut down and sideways at the cultivators as they fought.
“We can’t stay here,” Wu Ying snarled, catching another blade high on his own and responding.
His attack drew a line across his opponent’s forehead, splashing blood down on his eyes and blinding him. His opponent staggered back, yanked aside and replaced by another, creating a brief moment of respite.
“We’re trying!” Li Yao shouted, even as she parried aside three spears with her own.
Yin Xue was much more silent, focused on his own battle. To Wu Ying’s surprise, the cultivator had both his jian and a smaller blade, blocking attacks with one blade and striking with the other. It wasn’t a style Wu Ying had ever noticed Yin Xue using before, but it seemed highly effective in this crowded situation.
A scream from beside Wu Ying drew his attention, and he saw Bao Cong stagger back, his shoulder pierced by a spear. The cultivator swung his dao, breaking the spear shaft before catching a second that sought his stomach. Even as Bao Cong released a burst of chi that sent backward the soldiers pressing him as the metal in their armor reacted, he paled further. Of them all, the blacksmith had the least amount of skill in melee combat and it was showing.
Once again, Wu Ying cast around in his mind for an option. He had used all the charges in his bracer already—the first time to deal with the cultivators when they came out, the second one to break the formation. None of his other attacks were strong enough to open the way. Li Yao, their strongest fighter, was tired and already taking on one side of their shrinking formation. She’d blown past any blockade that had blocked their way with the liberal use of chi, but strong as she was, all that had an effect. Bao Cong was tired and injured. Only Yin Xue had any real energy left. But he too was fighting multiple opponents. It was unlikely he had anything else to add.
As Wu Ying made up his mind to attempt the breakout himself, hoping to plow all his energy into a Dragon’s Breath attack, a familiar armored form appeared in the corner of his vision. A single shout from the cultivator and their opponents retreated, leaving the team surrounded but for the wounded and the corpses that lay strewn around their feet.
“Nowhere to run, little bird,” the armored figure said. “I told you so. But be glad, for you will fall before Mo Hei.”
“Did he just say that?” Yin Xue said derisively as Mo Hei walked toward them. “Is his ego so big that he needs to announce his name before trying to kill us?”
“I’m more worried about the part where he’s trying to kill us than his oratory skills,” Bao Cong said. “Maybe you can focus on how we are getting out?”
They had no time to even swear or offer a smart-aleck reply as Mo Hei and the two guards around him approached. If it was only those, Wu Ying could see them winning. But there were also the soldiers surrounding them. And even if their enemies were not particularly gifted cultivators, Wu Ying’s group wasn’t in their best states. Quantity had a quality of its own, and their enemies had quite the quantity.
“When they close in on us, I’ll break us clear,” Wu Ying said.
The way Mo Hei and the guards were coming, the ring around them would have to part. In that small gap, Wu Ying hoped he could break through the enclosure, freeing them to run. It would be dangerous, and Wu Ying knew he’d have to stay behind, but it might be the only choice.
“Idiot,” Yin Xue snapped, shaking his head. He reached sideways and flicked his hand upward, a glowing jade seal appearing. It was the same one Wu Ying had noticed him take from the tomb. There hadn’t been time to discuss what it was, and Wu Ying had doubted Yin Xue would talk of it. Even as he watched, the jade seal doubled in size and doubled again, increasing in form as it floated above the group. “Get in close. The family protective seal isn’t something I can control very well.”
Even as Yin Xue finished speaking, jade chains shot out from the seal, striking the ground in explosions of dust and stone. Any soldier in the way of the chains was struck and thrown aside, taking others with them. They lay bleeding on the ground, bones crushed, limbs shattered. Even as the soldiers recovered, the jade seal spun, twisting and following the motions of Yin Xue’s hands, its chains striking the unlucky standing soldiers.
“What the hells, you couldn’t do that earlier?” Bao Cong complained as he finished wrapping up the new injury on his leg, struggling to do so as blood dripped down his arm.
A flick of Yin Xue’s hand sent the seal spinning directly toward the wall. The group ran under cover of the spinning chains, protected from those who attempted to close in on them. Mo Hei snarled, breaking into a run and tossing aside his own men as he tried to close the distance.