Chapter 67

Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.

Was it because she was so young, having lived only eighteen years so far, that she was actually completely ignorant of this shark who had already lived more than ten times as many years as herself? If such a person in front of her was the real Yuan, then could it be that all her memories from childhood, all her adoration growing up, had actually been betrayed to an imaginary shadow?

Standing there in a daze, she didn’t even have time to notice for a moment that the passage to the Mirror Lake had closed with a bang after losing her support!

Right now, with the army surrounding them, there was no going back for Yuan!

“Are you seriously injured?” Yuan didn’t care about that, his eyes were full of worry and he grabbed her by the shoulders to help her up, “Can you still walk?”

Her heart warmed and she almost burst into tears, stomping her foot in dismay, “You… Why didn’t you just leave? This time you are going to die!”

“What would have happened to you if I had left like this?” Yuan was holding the sword in his hand, and swept a glance at the army approaching around him, shielding her behind him, “There are thousands of troops here, if you are left alone, you will never be able to escape.”

“…” Her heart fluttered and she was about to blurt out something when he pulled her up and said harshly, “What are you waiting for? Follow me quickly!”

Yuan darted across the battlefield with her, dodging left and right, suddenly leaping up and decapitating a primus on a chariot that was speeding ahead of him, pulling her up as soon as it was clear, turning over and taking hold of the reins.

Zhu Yan was a bit surprised: “Are you… planning to just sprint out?”

“What else could we do then?” Yuan replied in a deep voice, “There’s no way to return to the Mirror Lake area, so all we can do is make a dash forward to break out!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, the chariot rushed into an oncoming cavalry formation and seven or eight shiny lances came stabbing sharply. “Hold these!” Yuan shouted sternly, throwing the reins of the horse to her and withdrawing his longsword from the sheath. Zhu Yan subconsciously caught the reins, yet by the time she just got control of the carriage, the two were already flying past each other – in that instant, a shower of blood rained down on her head, spilling all over her lapel.

The sword flashed across the ground like a thunder and three Primus warriors fell from their horses, their heads cut off. Yuan slashed through the enemy’s formation and the chariot darted out through the gap. Zhu Yan sat in the driver’s seat and the head of one warrior fell right in front of her lapel, spraying her with hot blood for over half of her body.

She screamed in a panic and brushed the man’s head off her knees, forgetting that she still had the reins in her hand. In an instant the chariot went out of control and skewed towards a broken wall.

“What are you doing?!” Yuan jumped over and snatched the reins out of her hands as he shouted stiffly, “Stay calm!”

His wrist instantly increased in strength, choking the runaway stallion to a halt, and the chariot finally took a turn before slamming into the broken wall, managing to avoid it. He glanced sideways at Zhu Yan, wanting to scold her angrily, but found her staring at the decapitated head on her knees, her face pale and her entire body trembling.

It was the head of a Primus warrior, not much older than she was, looking to be in his early twenties, his eyes still wide open and still warm – the head of this young warrior, the moment it was decapitated, his eyes stared back with strenuous courage and not the slightest hint of fear.

Zhu Yan was holding the human head, trembling like a leaf in the wind.

This was a young Kongsang warrior who pledged his loyalty to his country and fought bravely until his death. His life was unblemished, even glorious. But… what was she doing? Beheading a fellow clan member for a rebellious foreigner?

In that moment, the fearless girl shivered violently, as if the courage and fervor that had been sustaining her had suddenly fallen away, and she sat down on the carriage, looking at the burning battlefield, the ruins, the swarming army, clutching the head in her arms, and suddenly burst into tears.

Yes! In the beginning, when her Master asked her to decide which side she would take, she had clearly stated her answer…

At that time, she was full of confidence and felt that even if she had been informed about the prophecy, she should not be overwhelmed by fate and should not follow it blindly. She felt she should help the Shark Clan, even if she made an enemy out of her own people.

Yes, she didn’t believe in fate, she still wanted to fight!

Back then, she thought she could tell the difference between wrong and right, true and false, and could handle the complexities with her own strength. But now… does she dare to say that she will definitely have the courage to continue to persevere and step on the blood of her clansmen to keep moving forward?

“…” Yuan looked at her and sighed silently before snapping the head out of her grasp, “Okay. Enough staring at it.”

“You!” Zhu Yan lost her voice, but instead faced a pair of piercing deep eyes.

The expression in Yuan’s eyes was so alien, yet vaguely warm and familiar. He reached out and gently patted her shoulder, “Ah-Yan, you’re not a warrior yet, don’t look into the eyes of the dead – it will be too much to bear.”

“…” She gritted her teeth and looked away, breathing deeply and doing her best to quell the trembling in her body.

In front of them rose a massive army, long swords shining like silver, bows and arrows like forests. And the two of them drove a chariot, alone, as if they were attacking a stone with an egg. Zhu Yan lifted up her spirits and reluctantly joined him side by side in battle. On this journey, they encountered a total of five waves of Primus troops, all of which were decimated by Yuan one by one, breaking through the heavy siege.

The two drove their chariot and broke through the weakest point in the Primus’ closed siege, then sped towards East.

Zhu Yan had never witnessed a Yuan like this, invincible, like a blood-soaked God of War, and even went so far as to transform into several split bodies to face the Shadow Warriors who were coming after him as his sword blade was wrapped in a thick blood stain preventing him from continuing to slash and kill!

She watched in awe as she assisted from aside, only to remain dumbfounded: what Yuan was using was no longer just sword arts, but had even included many exquisite wood magic spells! These spells were completely different from the ones she learned from Jiuyi. How did he… Did he also know magic arts? Are there masters of magic among the sharks of the Sea Kingdom?

By the time they broke out of the last enclosure, the two of them were splattered with blood and exhausted. Yuan drove the chariot out of the battlefield of Dragon Slaying Village and ran all the way up the official road, surprisingly charging towards Yecheng without hesitation.

“Are you crazy? Why do you want to go back to the city?” Zhu Yan was startled, “It’s full of the Governor’s men!”

“No, we have to go back to the Star Ocean Cloud Pavilion.” Yuan said in a deep voice, his tone calm, “They are not stupid. There must be a heavy contingent of troops set up over at the Blue Sea as well, waiting for us to surrender to them.”

“What’s the point of going back to the Star Ocean Cloud Pavilion? That’s like throwing yourself into the net!” She was bewildered and suddenly remembered one person, and with some discomfort in her heart, she blurted out, “Huh? Are you trying to find that flower girl? She is… what she really is to you anyway?”

“…” Yuan glanced at her without speaking.

“Although, I think she must be having a hard time protecting herself now, right?” Zhu Yan thought of that woman and felt bad in her heart, frowning, “Master could have tortured her badly that day… Hey, she seems to be very tough, in order not to give up your whereabouts, she actually gritted her teeth and took such a severe punishment!”

At this point, the hostility in her tone gradually faded, and she actually revealed a hint of admiration: “There are not many people in the entire Yunhuang who can last that long under Master’s hand, remarkable.”

Yuan looked at her and couldn’t help a glint of appreciation in his eyes. After all, she was a girl with a pure heart, and even though she was full of hostility towards other women, she still had respect for her opponents – such clarity about loving and hating was exactly the same as the one from his memory.

Seizing the smile in his eyes, Zhu Yan became even more distressed and muttered, “What? Do you really want to go back and save her? We can’t even protect ourselves right now, can we?”

But Yuan shook his head and said, “No, she’s long been out of there.”

“Huh? She’s not there anymore?” Zhu Yan froze for a moment, “Then why do you want to go there?”

Without a reply, Yuan stormed out from the battlefield and simply spurred his horse in the direction of the Star Ocean Cloud Pavilion. Behind them the Primus army rushed in pursuit, their horses’ hooves clattering like dense thunder. The opponents were flying after them in their light armor, gradually catching up with the chariot they were in.

Hearing the sound of hoofs approaching, Yuan threw the reins to Zhu Yan and stood up again with his sword drawn.

Zhu Yan stood up and stopped him, “I’ll do it!”

Yuan turned to look at her, but saw the young girl standing atop the chariot, turning towards the pursuing cavalry and closing her hands together – she was begging to be restored from the shock of her first bloody encounter on the battlefield, and gathered her strength again. For a moment, a faint glow seemed to envelop her as she stood on the chariot.

The incantation flowed silently and quickly from the corners of her lips, followed by the swift twists and turns of her ten fingers. In that instant, countless giant grey and white vines broke through the earth and grew rapidly, instantly becoming a barrier that wrapped around the galloping steeds!

“Move!” Zhu Yan turned her head and looked at him, “The Spirit Binding Spell will only last a brief moment!”

Yuan grabbed the reins and spurred the horse. The chariot darted away, leaving the pursuing horsemen behind in a flash. In the grey vines emerged the struggling curses of the Primus warriors, who pulled out their swords in order to chop them, but the strange vines were growing longer with every cut, completely unbreakable.

“It’s a spell!” Bai Fenglin shouted, “Shadow Warriors, step forward!”

Xuan Can led the Shadow Warriors forward and began to break the incantation. However, Zhu Yan had set up a total of three spells, so the grey vines that had been cut down to one layer grew back to another layer so quickly that they could not be completely removed for a while.

With this momentary opportunity, the two of them steered their chariot and flew away from their pursuers.

“It’s a good thing my Master didn’t come… otherwise we would have died here today.” When all those people faded from sight, Zhu Yan finally let out a sigh of relief, “Thank goodness.”

Strange, why didn’t Master appear on the war field today? Since he already laid a net to wipe out the Restoration Army, why did he only send his troops to round them up, but did not take action himself? Was he that confident with the Primus and Shadow Warriors? In the moment of relaxation, she felt nothing but aches and pains all over her body, so drained that her mind almost drifted away – a sign of having exhausted her spiritual energy. She had just recovered from her last injuries, yet she had done her best to fight with so many people like this; probably this time she might have to go back and rest in bed for more time than before.

However, the sight of Yuan beside her lifted her spirit a little. In any case, Yuan is alive!

She suddenly felt a tightness in her chest and subconsciously raised her hand to remove the cloth scarf that had been covering her face – the cloth was already stained with blood, and every breath brought in a strong stench of foulness that had long been unbearable. But as soon as her hand moved, she heard Yuan whisper in her ear, “Don’t take it off!”

“Hmm?” Zhu Yan froze for a moment and stared back at him.

“No one must see your face.” Yuan focused on speeding the horse, but his tone was grave, “You girl, how dare you barge into the battlefield and do such a deed with no regard! Fortunately, no one recognized you, but if someone identified you as the Princess, you might have implicated the Red Clan again!”

“Huh?” She froze with a sudden disappointment. All this time, Yuan had seemed to be more concerned about the Red Clan than about herself. Hearing the rebuke in his tone now, she couldn’t help but give in to her frustration and said with indignation, “It’s none of your business anyway!”

“Of course it’s my business.” Yuan’s hand seemed to tremble slightly as he spoke slowly, “A long time ago, I promised someone that I would watch over the Red Clan for her. So, I couldn’t leave you behind.”

Hearing these words, Zhu Yan felt a fierce burst of anger and bitterness and blurted out, “Is that Yao Yi?”

Yuan couldn’t help but glance at her when he heard the words, “How do you know that name?”

She muttered, “It’s just what you said the other day.”

NOTE: This translation belongs to me. It is prohibited to copy / Re-translate / Re-distribute my translations without my prior permission. Thank you.

Loved my translation? Buy me a coffee! Scan on Click the image.

Thank you for your generosity!💖

Like this:Like Loading...

Related