Chapter Ninety-Three: Fearless

Xiang falls under the grip of several men, her body already riddled with sword wounds.

On the Dong family’s side, there seems to be a smaller leader. Smiling slyly, he walks up to her and says, “Little girl, wouldn’t it be much better if you came back with us? Come back and serve us...”

As he speaks, a lecherous grin spreads across his face.

“Bah! I’d rather die than go back with you people,” Xiang says with all the defiance she can muster, though she is already at the end of her strength and cannot even move.

I look down at my own hands, now devoid of spiritual power, and think: I’ve already lost my power. If I lose my family too, there will be no reason left for me to live.

With that thought, I resolutely burst out of the grass, snatching up my long blade as I charged.

“Big brother!”

Xiang is the first to notice me, crying out for help.

When I meet her tear-filled eyes, the fire in my chest burns even hotter.

I plunge straight into the crowd. Fury fills my mind so completely that I forget my blade technique altogether; every stroke is driven by all the strength I have left.

For reasons I do not understand, I feel no fear at all, even against seven or eight men. Their weapons strike my body, but I feel no pain; I care only about swinging and cutting.

At that moment, the leader shouts, “All of you, come here. Kill this little bastard first.”

In an instant, I am facing more than ten men alone.

Blades and swords keep sinking into me, yet I feel nothing.

“Kid! Don’t let the inner demon take you over!”

Only then do I hear Second Uncle shouting at me, and I come back to my senses.

Pain surges through my chest all at once, but my blade never stops. I keep swinging with all my might.

I have no more fears now. I fight only for my family!

But how could a useless nobody with no spiritual power possibly defeat a dozen masters of the Spirit Blossom realm?

Before long, I am kicked flying.

Many of the wounds on my body are torn open, and I lie helplessly on the ground.

Just as they are about to finish me off, I force myself back to my feet with the last thread of consciousness.

“Come on! Fight!”

I roar, and the blood in my body begins to surge wildly. In that instant, the pain of my wounds vanishes, leaving only battle intent.

To make things easier, I draw my other sword as well, holding a weapon in each hand.

Without hesitation, I charge again.

Seeing me rise once more, those men are also startled. The leader sneers, “You little punk, you think you’re some kind of hero saving the beauty? Fine. In a moment I’ll kill all of you, and then...”

As he speaks, he glances at Xiang and laughs triumphantly.

Meanwhile I am locked in chaotic combat amid the crowd, laughing out loud.

“Ha ha ha ha... Come on, all of you! Kill me if you can!”

But my triumph is only momentary. The leader sees my arrogance and drives a sword straight through my abdomen.

I spit out a mouthful of bright red blood and collapse weakly to the ground.

My vision is now blurred, but at least I am not dead yet.

I watch as Xiang is lifted away, wanting to charge back in and keep fighting, but I can do nothing.

Am I going to die? Is my life ending here...

Yet at that moment Second Uncle calls out to me in a hoarse voice, “Kid, don’t give up. You have to defeat the inner demon...”

Xiang is also shouting through her tears, “Big brother! Hold on!”

Yes. My life cannot end in such futility. I am certainly not some base coward!

I struggle to my feet and shout at the leader, “Come on, bastard! Kill me!”

Though I am already badly wounded, I refuse to accept this as the end.

The leader is still trying to grope Xiang, but I call out and stop him.

I howl without fear, “Everyone wants to kill me, but I just won’t die!”

“Not only will I not die, but as long as I have one breath left, none of you are getting out of here alive!”

I pick up my weapon again and force myself into a fighting stance.

“Fine... you really want to die that badly?”

The man tilts his head and looks at me, clearly surprised.

“No one is going to kill me! No one is going to kill me!”

“I’ve been bullied my whole life! Do you really think I’ll be brought down this easily?”

I scream at the top of my lungs, venting all the emotions I’ve kept buried inside.

“Even without spiritual power, I am still me. I am still Lin Yao!”

The moment I say it, I feel the blood in my body ignite once more.

Slowly, the wounds on my body begin to regrow at a visible pace.

I close my eyes and focus carefully, sensing for the presence of spiritual power, trying to awaken it.

And this time, it finally responds to me, surging together with the burning of my blood.

In an instant, the meridians in my body shatter, and then in the next heartbeat they are restored completely!

I open my eyes and feel an unprecedented surge of strength. My cultivation is no longer at the first level of the Spirit Blossom realm; it has actually leapt all the way to the fourth!

I toss the two weapons in my hands aside and draw out Snow Blade once more.

I lift my face to the sky and roar, then raise the blade that I have not yet fully awakened and shout, “Snow Blade, shine with your edge again!”

In that instant, as though responding to my summons, Snow Blade is drawn at once, without even needing my spiritual power.

The temperature around us drops again, and my blade erupts with dazzling light.

Second Uncle is even more excited than I am, shouting at me, “Ha ha ha, good boy!”

I grin fiercely and shoot forward like a cannonball, my speed rising several times over.

Those men are all dumbstruck. After all, no one could have imagined that the man they were beating down a moment ago would become a war god the next.

This time, perhaps because I have confidence, my heart is incomparably calm.

I use Wing Shadow Blade Technique with practiced ease. Snow Blade sings through the air in my hands, as if rejoicing in my rebirth.

The men before me are all masters of the Spirit Blossom realm, but in my eyes they are nothing more than little brothers.

At this moment, I seem to have endless strength and inexhaustible spiritual power.

Against Wing Shadow Blade Technique, they can only take the blows passively. I have never faced so many opponents at once before.

Only the smaller leader, still watching the situation from the side, has not joined in; everyone else is already in the fray.

There is no strategy needed to fight them. All I have to do is keep cutting with all my strength.

The fifth form of Wing Shadow Blade Technique is unleashed, and that blue-green blade aura appears as well.

Perhaps because my cultivation has advanced, before I had to strike several times before a blade aura would emerge, but now every single slash releases one.

These trashlings cannot withstand even one strike from me. In no time at all, more than half of the dozen men are dead by my hand.

When I unleash the final form of Wing Shadow Blade Technique, a blade aura two meters wide bursts forth from the sword and cuts down the remaining men as well.

By then I can already see the leader edging toward the outside. He is clearly trying to flee.

In just a few steps I seize his collar and lift him up.

“What, you wanted to kill me?”

The man shakes his head in terror and stammers, “No, no, it was my fault, it was my fault...”

I have no interest in hearing his nonsense. With one stroke, I sever his head from his body.

I look at myself, covered in blood, then at the corpses strewn all over the ground. This may be the first time in my life I have fought with everything I had.