Bloodline Tree

“What the…where did he come from?” Xiaoshi asked, jumping back in shock and looking around for any signs of more to come.

Tianhu stepped forward, frowning. The man he had just killed was lying on the ground with his decapitated head next to him.

Tianhu hadn’t even seen the assassin. He had simply felt a sense of acute danger and swung his sword on instinct.

As it turned out, a strange man was just a moment away from slashing Xiaoshi’s neck with a sword.

Fortunately, Tianhu trusted his gut and used his sword intent. This was the first time he had been forced to use his sword intent in the war so far.

‘Guess it’s too much to hope for that no one else saw that…Oh, well, I didn’t have a choice.’

Not only were there people from their own side all around, but the enemy forces should have eyes on this part of the battlefield as well.

‘This is probably bad.’

Tianhu could feel that same prickling sensation at the back of his neck that he had become familiar with for the past few months. It was even more intense at the moment.

“Xiaoshi, there are others around. Stay close to me,” Tianhu said, stepping up to Xiaoshi.

“Right,” Xiaoshi said with a nod, still a bit shocked, “Who was that man? How did he manage to sneak up on us like that?”

“How did you manage to see him?” Another voice questioned before Tianhu could answer.

Turning around, he saw it was Yan Jie, along with the other Masters part of this camp. They had been right next to Xiaoshi and Tianhu when the attack happened, and they were still looking around cautiously, very much on edge.

“I couldn’t see him,” Tianhu answered. “I sensed him.”

He then turned to Xiaoshi and continued, “I think he should be the one whom I’ve sensed has been watching me from time to time. Or perhaps just one of many. I can still feel that someone is lurking around somewhere.”

“How come no one else can feel anything?” Yan Jie questioned, “Also, how did that man’s head come off? This isn’t the time for secrecy; lives are at stake. Tell us everything you know, or we’ll force it out of you.”

Tianhu frowned. This guy had been trying to make trouble for him for the past three months. Tianhu could see that it was because he also had taken a liking to Xiaoshi.

He wasn’t the only one either; three of the other Masters were also hostile and appeared jealous of how close he was to her. The one remaining Master was an old man, and he didn’t seem to have a thing for Xiaoshi, thankfully, but he still didn’t give Tianhu a good look.

Still, the others were manageable. It was enough to avoid them, and there wouldn’t be much trouble. But Yan Jie seemed to be completely obsessed with finding fault with Tianhu.

Thankfully, Xiaoshi was in charge, and there was nothing he could really do. Besides, Tianhu didn’t fear Yan Jie even if he should come after him.

But it was still annoying.

Especially in a situation like this, he really didn’t have the patience to deal with Yan Jie.

Their camp had been attacked out of nowhere just 20 minutes ago, with an army much larger than theirs. There hadn’t been a single warning issued from the scouts either. From one moment to the next, their peaceful camp had turned into a battlefield.

If that wasn’t bad enough, before they could build up a defense, they were attacked by an invisible assassin.

And Yan Jie took the opportunity to stir up trouble.

“Shut up!” Xiaoshi yelled, “Now is not the time. Tianhu, do you have any idea how many others there are?”

“No,” Tianhu said, shaking his head, “But we should assume there is more than one.”

“Xiaoshi-” Yan Jie began.

“That’s Master Shu to you,” Xiaoshi reprimanded him.

Yan Jie's face soured, “Master Shu, with all due respect, you can’t make all the decisions yourself in a time like this. We can’t put our lives in the hands of a stranger. If he is lying-”

“You should be very clear that I’m not easily lied to,” Xiaoshi once again interrupted, “Now step back and let Tianhu speak.”

Tianhu hadn’t even glanced at Yan Jie, his attention was on the surroundings, looking out for any signs of danger.

“Tianhu?” Xiaoshi urged.

“We need to get somewhere where we can cover our backs,” Tianhu said. They were currently out in the open, and an attack could come from any direction.

Xiaoshi looked around, but these were the northern plains; there really wasn’t anywhere they could go.

“If you want-” Yan Jie began, but was once again interrupted. This time, it wasn’t from someone speaking, though.

Tianhu’s senses alerted him that danger was approaching, and before he could make out where the threat was coming from, two of the Masters behind Yan Jie had their necks cut, and blood spurted out like a fountain.

At the same time, a few pieces of bright light flashed in their surroundings.

Tianhu felt the presence of someone nearby, and he immediately swung his sword.

This time, he wasn’t met with the view of a decapitated man, however.

A crack sounded, and a middle-aged man with long hair jumped back from where Tianhu had attacked him, looking completely unscathed.

“Annoying!” The man yelled with a frown. He lifted his finger, and a bright flame appeared in mid-air. It was formed in a second and was immediately flung at Tianhu at great speed.

‘What is going on!? Magic?’

Tianhu didn’t have time to think; he swung his sword again, and he actually managed to block the fire from reaching him.

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But that wasn’t the only ball of fire; he saw from the corner of his eye how Yan Jie was hit in the back by another one. Behind their group, another strange man with long hair had appeared.

‘I need to cut them down, fast!’

These people were far too dangerous, and it looked like they had decided to come at them with a coordinated attack.

Just a few seconds had passed, and it looked like three Masters had already been killed.

Tianhu grasped his sword and was about to attack again. But then he got a horrible feeling.

It was the same feeling he had gotten when Xiaoshi was about to be attacked earlier, a feeling far more dreadful than when someone attacked Tianhu himself.

“Xiaoshi, look out!” Tianhu yelled, and he hurriedly swung his sword toward where he could feel the presence of a threat.

But just like last time, a crack sounded, and a man appeared from nowhere, completely unscathed.

‘Why can’t I cut through them!?’

“Xiaoshi,” Tianhu grabbed Xiaoshi’s arm, but to his horror, she was completely still when he tried to pull her behind him.

He turned to look at her, and a chill went up his spine. Her body was completely stiff. Not even her face was moving. She was completely frozen.

Only her panicked eyes looking back at him showed any signs of life.

‘What the…’

A fireball came toward him, followed by another in quick succession. Tianhu turned and cut through the first one, and hurriedly swung his sword at the second one. But he was a bit too slow; the second ball of fire managed to burn his right hand and arm.

Tianhu clenched his teeth in pain, refusing to let go of his sword despite his body screaming at him.

He didn’t even have a second to rest; there were too many opponents. Just as he was hit by the fire, he glimpsed something moving toward Xiaoshi next to him. He didn’t have time to swing his sword, and could only raise his left arm in front of Xiaoshi to protect her. His body seemed to move on pure instinct.

A sharp pain hit him. Now, both his arms were practically useless. Only capable of sending signals of extreme pain.

Tianhu looked at Xiaoshi in a panic, but thankfully, she seemed to be alright.

A quick glance at his right hand showed how his skin had almost melted into the hilt of his sword; the pain was making his head blurry.

But his sense of danger still seemed able to make its way through the fog. Something was coming from behind, and Tianhu turned around and swung his sword.

A crack, and a man appearing from thin air. Not hurt in the slightest.

“Sword intent. That explains it,” A voice sounded. Tianhu turned his head to see a fifth man appear behind Master Lingye, the only one still standing besides Xiaoshi and Tianhu.

Well, at least until just a moment ago. With a dull thud, Tianhu saw Master Lingye fall to the ground, revealing the enemy’s full figure behind him.

“A genius,” Another of the men spoke, looking at Tianhu with bright eyes.

“Could he have a trait of some kind?” Another man spoke. Tianhu looked around at them all; they had him and Xiaoshi perfectly surrounded.

Tianhu didn’t like how things were looking. He swung his sword again.

But the man didn’t cut in two. A crack sounded, and the man just stared back at Tianhu with a smile.

“Enough of that. It’s useless.” The man spoke.

“Do we take him with us?” Another man, slightly younger, spoke.

“What do you think?” The man who had killed Master Lingye responded, rolling his eyes, “Might as well take the girl too. She is so young and already a Grandmaster.”

Tianhu listened to them talk, and only one thing flew through his mind. The word his father had used.

‘Breeding pig.’

Tianhu thought it would be better to die.

But he didn’t want to die either.

‘Why can’t I cut through them?’

Tianhu didn’t understand. He couldn’t tell where things went wrong. It really felt like he cut through them, but his senses seemed to be playing tricks on him. It was like slicing a piece of bread, but as you picked it up and were about to take a bite, you only ended up with a mouthful of air, and looking down, you could see the loaf of bread completely whole.

He was sure he sliced through them, so why was the reality different?

‘Again!’

Tianhu focused, ignoring the pain, and swung his sword with all he had. He refused to believe he couldn’t cut through these people.

Clank.

“This is wasting our talismans; just take him down already,” The man he had attacked said, completely unscathed as usual. Tianhu noticed the man grab a small piece of paper that immediately turned to dust in his hands.

‘Is it some kind of magic?’

“Get on with it then; we can ask questions later,” The man who had killed Master Lingye and appeared to be the leader, ordered.

The other four men all rushed toward him at the leader’s command.

‘So what if it’s magic! I’ll cut through it!’

Tianhu swung his sword again; this time, he didn’t just focus on cleaving the man in two like he had before; he imagined some kind of magic protecting his opponent, and focused on the actual flesh of the human behind the magic.

‘Distance doesn’t matter. Obstacles don’t matter either!’

‘Cut him in two! Cut the flesh and kill him! Or Xiaoshi will die!’

With a new, sharp light in his eyes, the surroundings turned quiet in Tianhu’s ears, and only the man in front of him existed.

Tianhu’s sword moved in a slow and steady arch in front of him, and the man in front of him slowed down.

Not only did the man he attacked slow down, but the others approaching also seemed to have been hit by a stronger gravity all of a sudden.

“What’s go…ing on,” The man he attacked spoke, but before he could finish, his head slowly slid off his neck and tumbled to the ground.

“What! Didn’t he use a talisman?” The man next to him yelled out.

Tianhu immediately turned his attention to him and once again swung his sword.

Another head fell to the ground.

“Retreat!” The leader, and the only man who hadn’t been part of the attack, yelled out.

Tianhu turned toward him, but the man suddenly turned invisible before he could react.

“Crush the tablet! Call for the Elders!” One of the two men still remaining called out.

Tianhu turned to them, but they also turned invisible once again.

With them not paying him attention, and presumably running in the opposite direction, Tianhu’s sense of danger couldn’t give him any information about their whereabouts. Attacking again and taking another one down was impossible.

‘We need to leave.’

Tianhu knew he was in a bad condition, and Xiaoshi couldn’t move for some reason.

He didn’t want to stick around to see what these ‘Elders’ were capable of.

“Xiaoshi, we need to go,” Tianhu said, his voice slightly hoarse. He moved to put his arm around Xiaoshi to carry her away, but his mind seemed to be playing tricks on him once again.

He waved his arm in front of him, but he couldn’t see anything.

“Ti…Tianhu,” Xiaoshi managed to squeeze out in a small voice.

Tianhu looked up at her face and saw tears streaming down her cheeks.

He moved his hand to wipe her tears, but once again, no hand appeared.

“Your arm,” Xiaoshi said, her body shaking slightly.

“I didn’t even notice,” Tianhu said, looking down at the place where his left arm used to be attached to his shoulder. It seemed it had been completely cut off when he blocked that attack from hitting Xiaoshi.

Tianhu looked at his other arm. It still held onto the hilt of the sword tightly, but looked quite badly burned.

He let go of the sword and lifted his right hand toward Xiaoshi’s face, wiping her tears.

“It’s okay,” Tianhu said, “I didn’t use it that much any…anyway.”

Xiaoshi’s face turned blurry, and Tianhu suddenly realized how much blood he must have lost.

“Gh…Go,” Tianhu managed to squeeze out, before falling to the ground.

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