“Don’t run off now, kiddos. I had to search high and low for you. I’m going to spank you once I catch you,” jibed Nine-Lives Cat Fiend, from afar. Moving eastward, she covered approximately five hundred metres in the span of time it took her to finish her taunt.
“It’s Nine-Lives Cat Demon.” Master Qi commented, “I knew she was cunning and good at clawing techniques, but I never heard she was this fast.”
Hong Jiu: “Fast, my foot. She would’ve caught up already if she was actually fast. Among the three of them, she’s the slowest. I suspect this is a ruse.”
“No way. What sort of ruse could it be?”
“It’s called a distraction tactic. Why would she announce her presence out of nowhere? She’s trying to capture your attention. In a fight, the tactic is used to lower your guard. In this scenario, she wants you to carelessly hide. Then, those lying in ambush will quickly catch you off guard and finish you off.”
As if “Then” was a keyword, a corpse –at least its emotionless visage and stiff arms suggested so – jumped them from behind. By the time Hong Jiu reached “quickly”, the assailant spread his ghastly-white teeth as he took aim for Hong Jiu’s shoulder. Meanwhile, Master Qi opened her mouth to scream. Upon reaching “off guard”, Hong Jiu, without looking behind him, reached backwards, seized the assailant’s head and wrestled his assailant over his shoulder. Once he uttered, “finish you off,” Hong Jiu drove his palm into his assailant, ending any hopes of making an utterance.
“Damn, you people are too fast, no?!” Hong Jiu exclaimed, his brain finally catching up with current events.
Instead of being impressed with Hong Jiu’s reaction speed, one should be more impressed with the fact that the assailant managed to creep that close to Master Qi and Hong Jiu undetected. By the same account, Hong Jiu wasn’t convinced he could kill the assailant so simply. He found the corpse freezing cold and unblemished – save for the blood he blasted out of it – which indicated the person had been dead for some time. Additionally, the impact felt akin to hitting solid wood as opposed to flesh.
“It’s Drought Demon’s fiends.” Hong Jiu said in a low voice, “They’re not playing anymore.”
“That’s not all.”
The duo cast their gaze toward the trees, where they espied dozens of bloodthirsty eyes and heard heavy breathing closing in. They were human, yet they sped out from hiding on all fours. The jacked men clearly practiced some discipline that affected their minds. On the opposite side, over ten stiff men – rather, fiends – rose from the earth.
Aforementioned “fiends” referred to the power that the Seven Stars wielded. The seven utilised their individual means to raise their personal armies when they ruled Water Domain. Their forces were one of the toughest walls for their enemies during their extermination. Their master was never too far from their soldiers.
Master Qi yelled, “Bring it on, all together! Where is Hai Yecha?”
“Right here!” The answer came from underwater.
Two water columns rose from the water channel. The elder jumped out from one.
“Really? Again? We just dried off!” Hong Jiu grumbled.
The two columns of water travelled in reverse. Hai Yecha extended a hand upwards to intercept an attack, leveraging his opponent’s attack to safely land on the bank.
Hong Jiu grouched, “Are you done with your sneak attacks? Can’t I have a moment of peace?”
Hai Yecha: Qi will flow in reverse if one is not in control of their emotions. I only just sneak attacked him, so how is he still able to react so fast? He’s way more mature than he should be for his age.
Hong Jiu’s maturity wasn’t purely attributed to Mount Daluo’s education but also his personality by nature. He once woke up atop a city wall and rolled off into the middle of a war. He once looked up from his bowl of wonton soup to see an assassin’s hostile hand already near him, forcing him to flee. At the very same wonton stall, he had just grabbed something to wipe his mouth after his meal, only to discover it was the dress of the boss lady of the biggest gang in the city. It would take someone exceptional to survive ten years with his destiny, yet he sometimes considered himself lucky and never thought too much of his dangerous encounters. If there was something to attribute his survival to, it was his honed swift responses to danger.
Hai Yecha was purely uninformed.
Master Qi pulled Hong Jiu over to prevent them being boxed in again and whispered, “We need to break out of this entrapment,” which was a viewpoint Hong Jiu agreed.
Nine-Lives Cat Fiend’s voice eventually faded, proving Hong Jiu’s suspicion she was coming was true. Drought Demon, who controlled the fiends, was still hidden somewhere. Considering the trio’s ability to hide their presence for flanking, it would be troublesome if their positions were unknown.
Hai Yecha came out into the open in order to stall his two comrades for them to assume their formation and, if possible, inflict damage. That much was obvious. What wasn’t written on the wall was why he remained in a not eight, not nail stance and wasn’t guarding any exit. To the contrary, multiple escape routes were available.
“Elder,” Hong Jiu called.
“What?” asked Hai Yecha.
“Just wanted to remind you to protect your teeth.”
What is he insinuating?
Hong Jiu came out of the gate with a palm strike aimed at Hai Yecha’s face – the same technique he used against Drought Domain. Despite having seen it before, Hai Yecha had no counter, forcing him to resort to rolling across the ground. Still, he felt a burning sensation on his face when he rolled to his feet and ran thirty metres away to be safe. By the time he looked back, Hong Jiu had already run off with Master Qi in tow.
The spot Hai Yecha originally stood at was the only exit in their formation. He left many supposedly reasonable escape routes available to encourage them down those routes. Nine-Lives Cat Fiend and Drought Demon had ambushes set up along all the other paths. They didn’t expect Hong Jiu to forge an escape path through the toughest route.
Hai Yecha: Just who is this young man? My desire to know only burgeons.
“We can’t let them reach the capital! After them!” instructed Hai Yecha.
