Chapter 893: Escaping
Wang Jian’s eyes were chips of ice. The time for calculation was over. The moment for action had arrived.
He didn’t need to waste breath on further explanations to Yue Lingshan. Their minds, their very intentions, were now so deeply intertwined that a single look was enough. She saw the cold, hard resolve in his eyes and understood completely.
"Yue Lingshan," his voice was a low, commanding rumble that cut through the cacophony of battle. "Stay behind me. Follow my every move. Do not separate, no matter what happens."
She gave a single, firm nod, her hand tightening on the hilt of her Verdant Willow Blade, her entire being radiating a focused, deadly calm. Her trust in him was absolute.
Wang Jian turned his gaze towards the chaotic melee that separated them from their escape route. His Glacial Bite was a fine weapon, a top-grade spirit artifact. But its aura was one of cold purity, of righteous frost. It was a weapon for a hero.
He was not feeling heroic.
"Glacial Bite is too... clean for what comes next," he murmured, his voice a chilling whisper that only Yue Lingshan could hear.
With a thought, the beautiful, icy longsword vanished from his hand, returned to its scabbard within his storage pouch. Yue Lingshan’s eyes widened slightly in surprise.
In its place, another weapon materialized in his grip.
It was the demonic saber he had looted from the corpse of the Blood Fiend Sect disciple, Ma Zhaolong. It was a wicked, cruelly curved blade, its dark metal seeming to drink the dim light of the canyon. A faint, almost imperceptible blood-red aura pulsed around it, and the air grew instantly colder, tinged with a palpable thirst for violence.
Yue Lingshan shivered. She had seen this blade before, among the spoils, but to see him wield it... it changed him. The calm, righteous Deacon of the Mystic Peak Sect seemed to melt away, replaced by something older, darker, and infinitely more dangerous.
"Jian..." she breathed, a mixture of awe and terror in her voice.
He didn’t reply. He simply took a step forward, and the slaughter began.
Their escape path was blocked first by a group of disciples from the Hundred Beast Manor, who were directing their spirit beasts to tear open one of the wagons. A hulking Rock-Skinned Hound, its hide like moving granite, was chewing on an armored wheel, while a pair of swift, shadowy Vineshade Panthers stalked the perimeter.
"Intruders!" one of the disciples, a brash Eleventh Stage cultivator, shouted, spotting their breakout attempt. "Stop them! Don’t let them escape with the loot!"
The two Vineshade Panthers, with silent, fluid grace, bounded towards them, their movements a blur of shadow and muscle.
Yue Lingshan reacted instantly. She was no longer just a supporting player; she was a partner in this deadly dance. She threw down a small, circular array plate. "Wind Snare Formation!"
A vortex of swirling green wind erupted from the ground, not powerful enough to injure the beasts, but its chaotic currents momentarily confused them, breaking their coordinated charge, their sleek bodies tumbling in the unexpected gale.
It was all the opening Wang Jian needed.
He didn’t charge. He flowed. His movement was a dark, liquid grace, his new demonic saber a crimson extension of his will. He met the first Vineshade Panther as it recovered from the wind blast.
The beast swiped with claws that could shred steel. Wang Jian didn’t block. He ducked under the swipe, the demonic saber in his hand arcing upwards in a brutally efficient slash that was not a righteous technique, but a simple, perfect motion of reaping.
The saber, infused with his dense, dark Steller Demonic Qi, sliced through the panther’s throat with a wet, tearing sound. The beast let out a choked gurgle and collapsed, its lifeblood staining the dusty ground.
The second panther, seeing its companion fall, hissed in fury and leaped at him. Wang Jian spun, his saber a crimson blur. It met the beast in mid-air, not with a single slash, but with a rapid flurry of cuts that seemed to defy logic, each one landing on a joint, a tendon, a vulnerable point. The panther landed in a heap, crippled and dying, before he finished it with a single, contemptuous thrust.
The Hundred Beast Manor disciples stared in horror, their bravado evaporating. This wasn’t the clean, efficient swordsmanship of a righteous cultivator. This was the work of a butcher, a demon.
Wang Jian didn’t give them time to think. He was upon them, his saber a song of death. The brash Eleventh Stage disciple who had shouted at them tried to raise a shield artifact, but Wang Jian’s saber, empowered by the principles of the Asura Scripture, simply clove through it, and then through his neck.
Yue Lingshan, her face pale but her eyes blazing with a fierce, protective light, supported him perfectly. She kept the Rock-Skinned Hound at bay with repeated Azure Serpent Strikes, the whips of water Qi harassing the beast, stinging its eyes, keeping its attention divided.
Their next obstacle was a phalanx of steel and indifference. Six members of the Silent Puppet Guild stood in their path, their porcelain masks emotionless, their movements perfectly synchronized. Between them, two massive Bronze Guardian puppets formed an impenetrable wall, their heavy fists raised.
"Threats detected," one of the disciples stated, his voice a flat, synthesized monotone. "Neutralize."
The two Bronze Guardians charged, their heavy footfalls shaking the ground.
Wang Jian didn’t slow down. "Lingshan, their joints!" he commanded.
He activated his innate ability. "Ether Pulse Surge!"
A wave of raw power flooded his meridians. His speed, his strength, his Qi output—all amplified for ten precious, deadly breaths.
He became a dark meteor. He shot forward, ignoring the puppets’ massive fists, and slammed directly into the chest of the first Bronze Guardian. The demonic saber, now glowing with a terrifying, blood-red light, plunged deep into the puppet’s chest, not through brute force, but by finding the one, almost invisible seam between its chest plates.
He ripped the blade sideways, tearing a massive gash in the puppet’s internal mechanisms. Sparks flew, gears ground with a horrifying screech, and the Bronze Guardian staggered, its movements becoming jerky and uncontrolled.
Yue Lingshan, moving in perfect concert, sent a powerful gust from her Nightwind Terror Fan that slammed into the staggering puppet’s side, throwing it off balance. It crashed into its companion, the two massive bronze forms tangling in a clumsy, grinding heap.
The Puppet Guild disciples, their faces still hidden behind their masks, reacted with cold fury. They produced dozens of smaller, spider-like puppets from their storage pouches, which scuttled across the ground, their bladed legs aiming to slice at Wang Jian’s and Yue Lingshan’s ankles.
"Insolent!" Wang Jian growled. He didn’t have time for this. He unleashed a spell, but it was different now, twisted by his demonic Qi.
"Crimson Sparrow Dart!"
The fire-birds that erupted from his palm were not the bright crimson of before. They were black, wreathed in screaming, shadowy flames. They let out piercing, soul-jarring shrieks as they descended upon the scuttling spider puppets, not just burning them, but seeming to devour their spiritual energy, leaving behind only pools of molten, corrupted metal.
The Puppet Guild disciples flinched back, their emotionless facades finally cracking with a hint of fear at the sight of such a heretical, soul-devouring flame.
Wang Jian and Yue Lingshan pushed past them, leaving them to deal with their damaged Guardians and molten spider-lings.
Their path was now blocked by a group of Crimson Pill Sect disciples, led by Deacon Hua herself, who had seen their determined escape attempt.
"Fools! Do you think you can escape?" Deacon Hua shrieked, her face a mask of fury. She and her disciples unleashed a volley of alchemical vials.
"Venomous Spirit Mists! Corrosive Soul Powders!"
Clouds of virulent green and purple gas billowed towards them, carrying an aura of sickness and decay.
"Hold your breath!" Wang Jian commanded Yue Lingshan.
He didn’t try to block. Instead, he drew upon the Verdant Eternal Spring Essence within him. A faint, almost invisible emerald green light enveloped their bodies, a shield of pure, unadulterated life force.
The poison mists washed over them, but the shield of life essence neutralized them instantly, the corrosive demonic energies dissolving harmlessly against the overwhelming vitality.
Deacon Hua stared in disbelief. Her most potent poisons... rendered completely inert?
Wang Jian gave her a cold, mocking smile, then he and Yue Lingshan were past them, their figures disappearing into the chaos of the wider battle.
They were getting closer to the rear, closer to the weak point he had identified. The sounds of slaughter from the main caravan group were beginning to fade, replaced by the shouts and clashes of the looters fighting amongst themselves over the spoils.
Yue Lingshan, though panting from the exertion, felt a wild, exhilarating thrill. She had faced down beasts, puppets, and alchemists, and with Jian at her side, she had felt... invincible. Seeing him now, wielding that dark, demonic saber, his power unleashed and untamed, it was terrifying, yes, but it was also intoxicating. This was the true man she had fallen for, a being of unimaginable power and absolute dominance.
Finally, they reached the last line of the encirclement.
A small, rocky outcrop, overlooking a steep drop down the other side of the pass. It was guarded by a handful of outer sect disciples from the Azure Sword Clan, their attention focused more on the sounds of looting behind them than the path ahead.
And standing slightly apart from them, his expression a mask of inner conflict as he stared at the breached wagons, was the average-looking, Ninth Stage disciple.
Ye Fan.
The other Azure Sword disciples saw them coming. "More of them! Stop them!" one of them yelled, raising his sword.
Wang Jian didn’t even slow down. He was a whirlwind of death. He moved through the junior disciples like a phantom, his demonic saber a blur of crimson light. A slash here, a thrust there. Their clumsy attacks were easily evaded, their weak Qi barriers shattered like glass. He didn’t kill them, but his strikes were brutally efficient, breaking limbs, shattering sword arms, leaving them writhing on the ground in agony.
In a matter of seconds, the path was clear.
Only Ye Fan remained.
He stood his ground, his battered sword held ready, his body tense. He had watched them carve a path of destruction through the other sects with a mixture of shock and a strange, profound sense of understanding. The man, Wang Jian, was a monster, a demon in human skin. The woman, the beautiful veiled fairy, was a goddess of war.
He had seen their power, felt their overwhelming auras. His mind, honed by years of struggle and a pragmatism born of desperation, screamed at him.
’Fighting them is death.’
He had come here for Jade Soul Sand, for an opportunity to grow stronger, not for a glorious, pointless end at the hands of two beings who were clearly on another level of existence entirely. His pride was a small thing compared to his life, and the future he was fighting so hard to build.
Wang Jian and Yue Lingshan came to a stop just a few feet before him. The chaos of the battle raged behind them, a distant, muffled roar. Here, on this rocky outcrop, a strange, tense silence fell.
Wang Jian looked at the boy. He saw no fear in his eyes, only a deep, guarded caution and an unyielding resilience. He saw a survivor.
’This boy again,’ Wang Jian thought, a flicker of amusement in his cold eyes. ’He understands the situation.’
Ye Fan looked at Wang Jian. He saw the demonic saber, still dripping with blood. He saw the cold, assessing intelligence in the man’s eyes. He saw no intention to waste time on a mere Ninth Stage disciple when freedom was so close.
Their eyes met for a single, charged second.
It was an eternity of unspoken communication. A silent treaty forged between a villain and a protagonist on a bloody battlefield.
I will not kill you if you do not stand in my way.
I have no intention of dying for a cause that is not my own.
Ye Fan made his decision.
With a subtle, almost imperceptible movement, he lowered the tip of his battered sword until it pointed at the ground. He then took a single, deliberate half-step to the side, clearing the path.
It was a clear, silent signal.
I will not stand in your way.
Wang Jian gave a barely perceptible nod of acknowledgement, a flicker of respect for the boy’s pragmatism.
Then, he grabbed Yue Lingshan’s hand. "Come."
They rushed past Ye Fan, their robes brushing against him as they sprinted towards the edge of the outcrop.
From the canyon below, a furious roar echoed up. "THEY’RE ESCAPING! STOP THEM!" It was Deacon Feng Lie, having seen their breakout.
But he was too late.
Wang Jian, with Yue Lingshan in tow, leaped from the edge of the cliff. In mid-air, with a flick of his wrist, he summoned the Serpent Scale Soarer. It materialized beneath their feet with a silent shimmer.
They landed on its stable, dark surface as it rocketed into the sky, a black streak against the crimson-stained clouds, disappearing over the distant mountain peaks.
The sounds of the massacre, the triumphant roars of the victors, the dying cries of his own sect mates, all faded away into a distant, insignificant murmur.
They were free.
They flew in silence for a long time, putting as much distance as possible between themselves and the bloodbath in Serpent’s Pass. The sun began to set, painting the sky in fiery hues that were a grim echo of the battle they had just left behind.
Yue Lingshan finally broke the silence. She looked back over her shoulder, towards the distant, dark line of the mountains, her beautiful face, now unveiled, etched with a deep, painful conflict.
"Jian..." she began, her voice a low, trembling whisper. "Our sect brothers... Senior Brother Wei... we just... we just left them."
Wang Jian stood beside her on the Soarer, his arm coming to wrap around her shoulders, pulling her close. His expression was cold, his voice a flat, logical counterpoint to her emotional turmoil.
"Their fate was sealed the moment the ambush began, Yue Lingshan," he said, his tone devoid of pity. "It was sealed by Wei Chen’s incompetence, and by the sect’s centuries of arrogant complacency. Staying meant dying with them. And our lives... our lives are far more valuable than a few wagons of ore."
He turned her face towards his, forcing her to meet his intense, unwavering gaze.
"We survived," he stated, the words a simple, brutal truth. "In this world, that is the only victory that matters."
She looked into his eyes, and the last of her sentimental, sect-bred loyalty seemed to wither and die, replaced by the hard, cold reality of his worldview. He was right. They had survived.
Wang Jian held her, his gaze drifting back towards the mountains. His mind replayed the brief, silent encounter at the end. The average-looking boy with the resilient eyes.
’That boy again,’ he thought, a faint, predatory smile touching his lips. ’He is lucky... and smart enough not to get in my way. He values his life more than his greed for my treasures and techniques or even his lust for Lingshan. A rare trait in a protagonist.’
The smile widened slightly.
’Perhaps our paths are destined to cross again.’