"Don"t worry," the Golden G.o.d of Fire a.s.sured me with a sardonic smile. "Friendly Fire is off."

I glanced at the charred remains of the Incendiary Ifrit Sect members who were too slow to get away in time. "Uh…really?"

"Well, it"s not 100%," Ling Huo Shen admitted. "But I"m confident I will be able to adjust and rein in the flames enough to avoid hurting her. Besides, I"m not aiming at her."

He was right. The immense fireball was sailing toward Tushan City right now.

"We can"t let that hit!"

Swearing under her breath, Sect Lady Da Ji darted forward and slashed with all her might. Her blade caught against the ma.s.sive fireball, and by the heavens, she actually succeeded in stopping it for the moment.

However, blood was beginning to stream from her mouth and eyes as she fought desperately against the irresistible force of the ma.s.sive, sun-sized fireball. Her arms were beginning to blister from the sheer heat despite her elemental protection against fire.

"Fool." The Golden G.o.d of Fire mocked, his crimson eyes blazing and his mouth set in a grim line. "You"re just a vixen from an upstart sect. Do you really think you will be able to block the Pure Yang Flames?"

"Upstart sect?" Sect Lady Da Ji shot back. "Our Nine-Tailed Fox Sect is still one of the eight major sects in the orthodox way, even if the Martial Arts Alliance has betrayed us. Whereas what is your Incendiary Ifrit Sect, compared to the likes of the Blazing Sun Sect or Heavenly Fiend Sect? You"re just a second-rate demonic martial artist!"

"Second-rate demonic martial artist?" Ling Huo Shen sneered. "Hah! It must be humiliating for you then, to die to an attack from a so-called second-rate demonic martial artist!"

"Ugh…!"

Sect Lady Da Ji"s legs and arms buckled as she was unable to keep the fireball from pressing on any longer. A fact that did not escape the arrogant Golden G.o.d of Fire"s notice.

"Hmph! Resistance is futile. You should just surrender!"

Sect Lady Da Ji gritted her teeth as more blood ran down her mouth and chin, and the delicate-looking skin on her arms and legs were scorched by the sheer heat.

"This old man will watch as your bones get burned to ash!" Ling Huo Shen sneered derisively again.

"All of you, escape!" Sect Lady Da Ji ordered. The Blood Blades had followed her earlier orders and gathered around her, remaining nearby behind her as she desperately fought to hold off the ma.s.sive fireball.

"Escape to where?" one of the Blood Blades asked dryly. "There"s no place to run."

Sect Lady Da Ji closed her eyes briefly.

"I"ll buy as much time as I can. Evacuate the city!"

"I don"t think it"ll be enough. We"ll probably get incinerated before any of us get far enough, never mind the civilians."

"Besides, how are we supposed to escape, when the Martial Arts Alliance is attacking from the opposite side?"

"Yeah, we have to stop this right here and right now."

"Are you deaf?" Sect Lady Da Ji shouted. "This is an order! All of you, get away right now! Evacuate the city as best as you can! If the Martial Arts Alliance sees this attack they"ll naturally run instead of staying to fight!"

"Except that they won"t get away in time and will likely get caught up in the blast too." Small comfort that was, that most of our enemies would die with us, but we would rather not die at all and get completely wiped out if possible.

"Shut up and listen to me!" Sect Lady Da Ji snapped at the poor Blood Blade who said that, even though he only voiced what everyone else was thinking.

"Everyone, please help me!" pushing up my gla.s.ses as I studied the fireball, I made a plea. The readings on my gla.s.ses were off the scale. The quant.i.ty of qi, the temperature, the energy, everything was beyond the measuring scope of my gla.s.ses. This was most likely the most powerful attack I had ever experienced in my short life. In fact, my gla.s.ses were on the verge of breaking, its sensors already going haywire. "Please help me bring Sect Lady Da Ji back!"

"Huh? What are you…?"

"I have a way to defend against that attack." I smiled to conceal that lie. Honestly, this would cause my death, but the alternative was to see the city destroyed. All my friends were in the city. Tang Qi Hong. Tong Xue. Lian Rou. Pang Feng. Elder Zhao. Elder Tie. Sect Lady Da Ji. Sect Leader Zi. Zi Xiao Ji. Zhao Shi. Da Ge. Maybe even Lang Xie, although I didn"t know him very well, he still taught me a bit of stuff.

Like h.e.l.l I was going to let everyone die here. Not in this manner!

"What are you planning?"

"I have the most powerful shield in the Great Zhou Empire," I replied as I summoned my Snow Aegis. The snowflake-shaped shield spun rapidly toward me, responding toward my will and imposing itself between the fireball and the city. It hovered just behind Sect Lady Da Ji. "What do you think I"m going to do?"

Catching my drift, the rest of the Blood Blades nodded. They dashed forward and grabbed hold of a stunned Sect Lady Da Ji and bodily dragged her away. For a terrifying moment, the sun-sized fireball streaked forward, but my Snow Aegis rose to meet it.

Bang!

Steam immediately filled the air in the form of a dense fog as my icy qi spread across the immense fireball. But so powerful and hot was a technique of this magnitude that my efforts were as futile as sprinkling a flaming house with a cup of water. I might as well be throwing pebbles into the sea for all I was doing.

Even so, I refused to give up.

"Uwaaaah!"

Placing my right hand against my Snow Aegis, I activated Absolute Zero. To my relief, I managed to succeed in freezing a small portion of the fireball.

But only a very tiny portion. The rest of the immense fireball immediately filled the gap, overrunning my ice and washing me with sheer heat. I was beginning to yield, my skin blistering and burning from being in such close proximity to the fireball despite the arcane protection from my Snow Aegis.

"Argh!"

"The idea isn"t bad, but you don"t have the qi needed to pull it off."

A voice whispered into my ear from behind, startling me. Glancing over my shoulder, my jaw dropped.

"Sect Lady Da Ji?"

"You"re not the only one who wants to protect the sect and the city." She placed a hand on my spine. "I"ll give you a little bit of help."

I suddenly felt an increase in qi as Sect Lady Da Ji poured her qi into me. Making use of the sudden influx of qi, I converted it into ice qi and fed it to my Absolute Zero technique. To my surprise, it was actually working. The ice was spreading rapidly across the fireball, freezing it and slowly neutralizing it bit by bit.

"What?!"

Hovering high above us, Ling Huo Shen noticed that something was amiss. But he was too late.

"That"s enough."

"?"

Before I understood what was happening, Sect Lady Da Ji abruptly pulled me and my Snow Aegis back, causing me to stumble in midair. Tong Xue and another Blood Blade quickly moved in to catch me as I fell.

"From now on, it"s my turn."

Brandishing her sword, Sect Lady Da Ji cut through the gradually freezing fireball. Even though I failed to completely freeze it with my Absolute Zero, I had clearly done enough damage and weakened it to the point where the commander of the Blood Blades was able to cleave through it and destroy it with her sword.

"Impossible!"

Ling Huo Shen gaped at the incredible sight, but he wasn"t able to react in time when Sect Lady Da Ji sped toward him. He swung his spear down quickly, unleashing another torrent of flames, but she cut through them as she sped toward him before slashing with her sword. The Golden G.o.d of Fire quickly brought his spear down to intercept her blade, but…

Slash!

"Kuh…!"

He was too slow.

The Flaming Red Pill might have boosted his qi and allowed him to ignore the pain, but it didn"t enhance his physical strength and reflexes, nor did it heal his previous injuries. As a result, he was too slow to respond to Sect Lady Da Ji"s attack.

Despite doing his best to block her blade with his spear, Sect Lady Da Ji"s sword darted past the shaft and opened a ma.s.sive wound across his chest. Even with the effects of the Flaming Red Pill, which was slowly dying out in any case, the Golden G.o.d of Fire couldn"t withstand such a fatal wound. Blood spurted from his torso as he was cleaved from shoulder to hip, and he crashed onto the ground, unable to control the movements of his limbs.

"Ugh…no way…this can"t be…!"

"F…father!" Ling Qing Zhu cried out when she saw him plummet onto the ground.

"Sect Leader!" his surviving subordinates shouted.

Bang!

Ling Huo Shen vanished in a shower of dust and rubble as he slammed into the earth, carving a crater in the ground. Even as dust billowed across the riverbank, concealing his battered form from view, his daughter and the rest of the Incendiary Ifrit Sect raced toward his position.

Apparently one of the subordinates had treated Ling Qing Zhu"s wounds, which was how she was able to move again. It wasn"t as if the Flaming Red Pill was the only medicine they had. Already one of the subordinates was kneeling beside the downed Ling Huo Shen, applying emergency first aid and sealing the horrendous injury to stem the bleeding.

"You didn"t die from that?" Sect Lady Da Ji swung her sword to flick the blood away from her blade, and then sheathed it. "How tenacious."

Then she collapsed.

"Sect Lady!"

"Sect Lady Da Ji!"

Immediately, the Blood Blades and I rushed forward to catch her before she hit the ground. She gazed at us tiredly.

"You all did well," she murmured as she struggled to stand, but almost fell. We caught her and supported her.

"…"

This was not good. Sect Lady Da Ji had obviously sustained grievous injuries during the battle against Ling Huo Shen. She needed medical treatment immediately.

"We"ve to bring her back to the infirmary," I said. The rest of the Blood Blades nodded.

"But what about them?" Tong Xue asked, jerking his head in the direction of the Incendiary Ifrit Sect.

"…they are no longer a threat. If they"re stupid enough to attack us, then we"ll wipe them out." I closed my eyes briefly and shook my head. "But they can"t afford to die here. They can"t afford to let their sect leader die here."

As it turned out, I was right. The Incendiary Ifrit Sect looked like they were retreating.

"I"m sorry." Ling Qing Zhu bowed. "But let"s leave this matter as it is. We will withdraw from the battle after sustaining unacceptable casualties. My father"s life is in danger, and obviously we will prioritize saving him."

"That"s fine with us." Sect Lady Da Ji was still conscious, so she continued to take command. "But if you try anything funny, like leave even one of your members behind to sneak in, I will return and destroy your sect."

"This lowly servant does not dare." Ling Qing Zhu kept her head bowed. She glanced at her fellow Incendiary Ifrit Sect members, who nodded in compliance. "Every single one of us will withdraw. The Incendiary Ifrit Sect will no longer get involved in this war."

"That"s good enough for us." Sect Lady Da Ji stared at her coolly. "Then leave as soon as possible. Your father might still be alive, but given his current condition, it"s likely that he might not last much longer."

"Understood. Thank you very much."

Ling Qing Zhu expressed her grat.i.tude, snuck one last glance at me, and then ordered the surviving members of her sect to board the last remaining ship and sail off. They had already bundled her father aboard the ship and were putting out the fires while doing their best to preserve his life. Thanks to the miraculous skills of their medic, Ling Huo Shen"s life was no longer in immediate danger, but to recover fully, they required more advanced medical facilities.

Facilities that they presently did not possess. Looked like they had to rush back to their sect as quickly as possible.

Even though Incendiary Ifrit Sect was a demonic sect, we were aware that Ling Huo Shen was somewhat honorable, by demonic sects" standards at least. He will definitely remember that we spared his life and allowed his daughter and surviving sect members to escape, and so would not provoke us in future. Even if he did go back on his word like a typical demonic martial artist, he would require a very long time to recover from his fatal injuries that Sect Lady Da Ji dealt to him. Half a year, probably, or an entire year if he wasn"t lucky.

By then, the war between Nine-Tailed Fox Sect and the Martial Arts Alliance should have already been settled. Hopefully.

"Let"s return." Sect Lady Da Ji glanced at Tong Xue, who was consulting his smartphone. "If what you say is true, then we"ve to hurry back and reinforce the sect."

"Yeah." Tong Xue was beaming a holographic tactical display from his smartphone. All of us could receive regular tactical updates and orders from our smartphones, and get a rough understanding of what was occurring throughout the battlefield.

Currently, the hologram that Tong Xue displayed for us to see were marked with many red contact icons, which indicated enemy contacts. Our forces were represented by blue icons, and they looked frighteningly few when compared to the sea of red battering at our gates. To my shock, I saw that there were a few red icons within Tushan City itself.

"Blood Shadow has been spotted," Tong Xue informed me grimly when he caught sight of where I was staring at. "Elements of Blood Blades are currently pursuing him and engaging him in battle, but as you know, he is pretty powerful."

"He can"t be as powerful as the Golden G.o.d of Fire," Sect Lady Da Ji snorted before she staggered. We caught her before she fell over.

"We should bring you to the infirmary." I glanced at the other red icons outside the city. "Sect Lady Da Ji, please rest for now and recover. Leave Blood Shadow and the enemies within the walls to us. We will need you when the rest of the Martial Arts Alliance attacks in full force."

"…"

Sect Lady Da Ji was silent for a moment, and then she sighed heavily.

"As much as my emotions tell me otherwise…you"re right." She glanced at the leader of squad 4. "Shi Hao, bring your squad back to the dorm and rest. Lang Xie might need you to reinforce the wall later, so get as much rest as you can and treat whatever injuries your squad has. Don"t worry, I"ll inform him that it"s my orders later."

She was already sending the message through her smartphone. She wasn"t calling him because he might potentially be embroiled in a battle with Blood Shadow right now.

"Yes, ma"am!"

"You guys too." Sect Lady Da Ji turned to me and Tong Xue. "Get yourselves patched up, and make sure you"re ready for the next phase of invasion. If it"s just Blood Shadow, I believe Lang Xie and Hai Rong will be more than capable of handling him."

"Sure. But please allow us to escort you to the infirmary first."

"You kids…" Sect Lady Da Ji smiled at me and shook her head. "I"m not that old that I"ll require you children to worry about me yet. I can take care of myself."

Despite her words, she allowed us to talk her into bringing her back to the infirmary, and we only left for the dorm after we made sure she was being seen by a doctor in our sect.

"Wow…I didn"t think we would really clash with the Incendiary Ifrit Sect…" Tong Xue groaned. "They really live up to their reputation, don"t they?"

"Indeed," I agreed. But I remembered that Ling Qing Zhu hadn"t really given her all, and held back when fighting me. Thanks to that, I didn"t expend as much of my qi as I thought I would have. Even when I used a lot of qi to counter Ling Huo Shen"s immense fireball, I ended up using Sect Lady Da Ji"s qi to make up for what I had lacked, which left me with plenty of reserves to spare. "We were lucky they retreated, and even luckier that Sect Lady Da Ji took the battlefield personally."

"Yeah. I dread to think what would have happened if Sect Lady Da Ji wasn"t there to fight." Tong Xue shuddered. "We would have been wiped out!"

"I"m sure Vice-commander Lang Xie or Instructor Hai Rong would be able to figure something out," I replied. "Sect Lady Da Ji isn"t the only powerful martial artist in Blood Blades, after all."

"You"re right." Tong Xue nodded in agreement. He glanced in the distance, where we could sense outbursts of qi. "Well, this is only the beginning. Let"s get whatever rest we can before we"re thrown into another round of battle."

"Yup." I had no complaints. As an experienced soldier, I knew that it was important to grab whatever rest we could, whenever we had the chance. An exhausted, unfocused soldier was a dead one in a battlefield.

However, when Tong Xue glanced at his smartphone again, he suddenly turned pale. Noticing his hands tremble as he gripped his smartphone tightly, I couldn"t help but feel some alarm.

"What"s wrong?" I asked nervously.

Tong Xue glanced, his expression darkening.

"Earlier, Lian Rou and Qi Hong went to one of the areas under siege to provide support to the beleaguered Blood Blades there, to supply them with new Spirit Weapons and even some martial support."

"That"s good." I nodded in approval. With the sect under attack, we were going to need everyone to help out, not just the Blood Blades.

"No, it"s not." Tong Xue was growing another shade paler as he glanced at his smartphone for confirmation. "The area they went to reinforce…is currently being a.s.saulted by Blood Shadow."