55 Breaking the Formation

Slash. Hack. Slash.

Gong Lan was numb to killing, and she used the rhythm of slaughter to keep focused on the task at hand. With every beast she decapitated, her bloody aura grew stronger and stronger. It had been a few hours since they had started fighting, and only three quarters of their group remained. Yet the tide of beasts seemed endless. She wanted nothing more than to jump out and kill every single beast out there, but she forced herself to keep in formation.

Just a little more. She continued hacking away, her killing intent growing stronger and stronger. Break! A sudden surge of energy flooded her meridians as her bloody qi forced open the barrier in her dantian, expanding her qi lake into an ocean. The bloody water qi seethed in excitement as she advanced to the seventh level of qi condensation. She began slashing even more wildly, occasionally throwing out blades of bloody saber qi toward ferocious spirit swine.

The wolves had died long ago thanks to their firm combat formation. The normally docile spirit deer had attacked after them, attempting to pierce them with their antlers and trample them with their hooves. Countless demonic birds followed, and finally, the spirit swine.

She let out a shout as she spotted one of their leaders, quickly darting out of the protective formation and closing in for a kill. The leader swine had eight horns instead of four. She heard Han Jinlong curse as she left the formation, but she knew that he was too preoccupied with protecting the weaker cultivators huddled behind him.

Her blades danced and drew blood with every swing. The spirit swine tore open her tender skin with its tusks several times, yet she was unconcerned. She felt boundless strength flow through her each time her blades drew blood. This was one of the many advantages of the Blood World Scripture. Every time she drew blood, her wounds would heal. Yet forsaking her defenses meant that if she didn't kill, she wouldn't survive.

Many of the swine retreated in fear as they saw her approaching. That was fine by her. She simply dispatched a few unfortunate swine in passing and continued to head toward her main objective—the leader. The dire swine was a sixth-level spirit beast, yet it trembled in fear as she approached it. It fought back tooth and nail, deflecting one blow after another with its tough skin and sharp horns. Eventually it succumbed to exhaustion. Its fall weakened the other nearby spirit swine, relieving the pressure on the remainder of the group.

How in the heavens are we going to survive this? she thought as she danced about and decapitated a few more swine, moving back to the group. She wasn't silly enough to stay exposed on the outside now that the leader was gone. After all, the next wave of spirit beasts was coming soon.

***

We can't keep going on like this.

Han Jinlong hadn't been relaxing this whole time. Given the situation, he truly wished that he hadn't cheated to pass formation array class. Despite his numerous attempts at damaging the formation that seemed to be summoning the unreasonable amount of spirit beasts, he hadn't managed to dent it. Each character on the stones bathed in blood appeared to be indestructible, despite his foundation-establishment cultivation base.

He could easily escape by himself, but that would mean abandoning everyone else. He would have ordered them to flee, but the repeated waves showed no openings. He would rather die than abandon his comrades. His hammer flew out once more toward a nearby rune, just in case the formation had weakened over time. This was wishful thinking—he could tell that the formation had only strengthened due to the accumulation of blood in the clearing.

We need to do something soon. Before it's too late.

***

Gong Lan was now at peak exhaustion. Even her Blood World Scripture could no longer support her consumption of qi and vitality. The tenth wave consisted of spirit snakes. These beasts were tricky to handle, since their small forms were difficult to target without area of effect techniques. If I had enough blood, I would bathe the battlefield in a thousand sabers.

She cleaved two snakes in half before they had a chance to bite her pretty face. Their blood splashed into her eyes, painting her field of vision in red. As she looked up in the sky, she saw a moon that was almost full. The moon was red because of the film of blood in her eyes.

Is this the blood moon? She laughed wildly at the sudden enlightenment. Why does it need to be my own blood? I have tons right here!

With that thought, she became a maelstrom of death. With each strike, she whipped up a huge amount of blood that was pooled at their heels, forming vicious red saber light in the process. It swept outward and hacked fifty spirit snakes apart.

She laughed wildly at the revelation and ran toward the center of the lake of blood, which went halfway up her thighs. "Take this, you bloody snakes!"

She continued sweeping out her sabers, throwing larger and larger blades of blood into the distance. Each blade sliced dozens of snakes into ribbons. After all the snakes around her were cleared, she didn't stop. She kept sweeping out larger and larger blades, until a literal storm of bloody blades rained down on the army of countless snakes outside the clearing.

***

Each wave Gong Lan dispatched held only one one-thousandth of the total count, but the defenders noticed a substantial decrease in the pressure they were withstanding.

"Get out of the way, quickly!" Han Jinlong shouted. The cultivators realized that the only snakes remaining were behind Gong Lan, who was madly swinging away with her eyes closed. They ran away just in time, dodging one of her many attacks that tore apart the remaining legion.

Han Jinlong was sweating profusely. He was tired. Most of the men and women had taken rests, but he hadn't dared to. Any sign of weakness might cause their formation to collapse. Off in the distance, he finally saw a ray of hope.

Is the formation weakening? Is the pool's volume going down because she's throwing the blood out from the clearing?

At first, he was very enthusiastic. Until he realized that their enemies had thinned considerably. He quickly made the decision to relocate their squad, lest they be caught in the crossfire. Soon enough, the snakes were gone. But Gong Lan didn't stop. She turned her dreadful gaze toward the remaining cultivators with a cruel smile on her face.

Shit, has she gone crazy now? Just like my old friend…

But he didn't want to her to stop just yet. He was more than capable of knocking her out, but he could feel the formation weakening with every swing.

What to do. He made the decision to use himself as bait. "Everyone, run south three hundred paces! I'll hold her back!"

At this point, the entire group was filled with dread. Their goddess of battle had turned against them! At Han Jinlong's instruction, they darted south. Han Jinlong kept fifty paces away, ducking and weaving to avoid her bloody saber light. He didn't deflect them; he expertly maneuvered between them.

"Why doesn't he knock her out?" one cultivator asked. "He's a foundation establishment elder, so he has to be able to do it."

"Just trust Master Han. He knows what he's doing," a nearby cultivator rebuked. The dissidents went quiet, and the remaining half of the mercenaries just stood there and enjoyed the show.

Just a little more, thought Han Jinlong. Fortunately, he had cultivated both his body and qi. His endurance was unmatched, and he could simply shrug off the few hits that struck him.

Before long, the last of the blood left the pool, causing the formation to dim and lose its power. Han Jinlong immediately darted out and hit each point of the formation with his spirit hammer. The rocks used as formation points crumbled to dust within a dozen breaths.

Gong Lan, as though realizing that no more blood was available, let out a fierce yell and darted toward Han Jinlong. Fortunately, he was experienced in this type of thing. He darted behind her and quickly chopped at a pressure point on her neck, causing her to crumple to the bloody forest floor.

***

Hong Xin was lying in her bed, flipping through one of her favorite books. It was a book about romance, where a rich man found a poor girl and showered her with love and affection. His family, upset at the disruption to their plans, threatened to kill the girl's family unless she left him voluntarily. After agonizing over her choice, she decided to do what was best for her family and cut off all contact with him.

Yet she soon discovered that she had a secret admirer. He sent her flowers and love letters, and she finally decided that maybe life isn't so unfair, and that there was someone out there for her after all. She secretly met with the man under cover of darkness, only to discover the rich man. He had stolen his family fortune and ran away with her and her family. They lived happily ever after.

I wish I was in that fairy tale. I wish Wang Jun would run away with me. She'd thought this every day for the past few days, but reality was cold and cruel. After he cut off relations with her, she had never heard from him again. Whenever she asked her brother, Hong Ling, he simply shook his head and said she shouldn't ask such questions. When did my own brother become so cruel to me?

She heard creaking downstairs, indicating that someone had just arrived. Likely Hong Ling, given the sounds of his footsteps. She imagined him moving through the living room to the kitchen. Judging by the sounds of cutlery and the warm welcome, dinner was about to begin.

Soon she heard footsteps heading up the stairs. Three soft knocks were followed by the sweet sound of her mother's voice. "May I come in?" she said.

"Fine," Hong Xin replied. Her mother came in with a bowl of food.

"Why don't you come downstairs for supper?" she asked sweetly. "Your father misses you terribly."

"I don't want to go. He's downstairs." She ignored her mother and continued reading her book. Her mother shook her head and walked back downstairs, where the rest of the family continued their meal. After some time, she heard her father's voice.

"You're heading out for weeks? Why the hell do you work yourself to the bone for this young master? He was so cruel to your sister!" Hong Jin was clearly upset. She heard the sound of utensils being set down, after which she heard her brother's faint voice. To better hear the conversation, she gently opened her door and tiptoed out of her room toward the flight of stairs.

"It's a lot more complicated than you can imagine. Do you have any idea what's going on?" he said coldly to his father.

"Do I need to know what's going on? He hurt my daughter, and I don't want you working for him!" he retorted.

"Did he really hurt her?" Hong Ling replied. "Well, let me tell you a little bit about my upcoming business trip, and maybe you'll change your mind. This time, we're going to the capital to pursue two people in court. The first one is Zhou Li, the oracle's apprentice, and his uncle, the head of the Song Kingdom Alchemists Association. We'll be accompanied by three foundation-establishment elders in case the Zhou family attempts to assassinate us.

"Meanwhile, we'll also be facing off against the crown prince and his chief consort, Zhou Jia. This will be extremely dangerous, and I'm frightened at the potential repercussions. Yet the young master needs me and every able-bodied assistant he has. It's a good opportunity for promotion, and I'm going to take it.

"Now, given the danger, do you think he's being considerate or inconsiderate to Xin Er? Can she even defend herself? She knows nothing about politics, nothing about intrigue. Her cultivation is worthless in the capital. Meanwhile, he'll be fighting with his life on the line, to the point where he needs three elders to defend him. Have you thought that maybe he is distancing himself to protect her?"

She heard the sounds of a chair being pulled out, and her brother's footsteps heading toward the front entrance. "I'm sorry for yelling, Father," said Hong Ling. "I'll ask him to personally come here and apologize after this matter is over. That, or he can take my resignation."

The door closed. She now realized where the problem lay. She just wasn't good enough for him. It wasn't that she was poor, but that she was weak. She couldn't defend herself, and she knew nothing of politics and finance. In short, she was useless to him. This harsh revelation caused her to burst into tears.

That night, she cried herself to sleep. Only this time it was for a different reason.

***

Gong Lan woke to the sound of running water. The smell of blood hadn't faded, but she could tell from the absence of sticky blood on her skin that someone had washed her. She winced as she finally sat herself up and looked around. It was just as she imagined—she had been laid down on the rocky shore by a creek in the forest. Someone had left a blanket on her as she slept.

"How are you feeling, little girl?" a deep voice sounded out from above. She looked up to see Han Jinlong sitting leisurely on a tree branch. It was one of the few deciduous trees in the forest, as only the rich soil and ample water in the area could support them over conifers.

Gong Lan struggled to stand up and stretch her lithe waist. She felt stinging pain all over her body, likely from the cuts that covered her fair skin from the neck down. Shaking her head, she popped one of the three healing pills that Zhang Yifeng had given them at the start of their journey. A warm current of energy suffused her body, and the cuts on her arms, legs, and torso began healing rapidly.

Good pill.

After her quick stretch, she looked back up to the fatherly figure in the tree. "I've felt worse. What happened in the fight? I must have passed out from blood loss." Her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment as she imagined her moment of weakness.

"I didn't figure you'd remember," Han Jinlong said wryly. "After the swine and just as the snakes began attacking, you started laughing madly. You rushed out toward the pool of blood and began unleashing a blood-related technique. It was extremely powerful and dispatched countless low-level enemies. You seemed to have limitless energy as you drew from the blood in the pool.

"It was very effective, in fact, that you single-handedly dispatched all of the snakes. Then I evacuated everyone just in time for them to dodge your blood technique and avoid any fatalities. Afterward, I had to dance around you for a quarter hour until you fully depleted the blood pool.

"Coincidentally, this was the weakness of the formation. Once you depleted the blood, I was able to destroy the formation eyes and deactivate the formation. In the eyes of many, you're a hero," the man concluded gravely.

Gong Lan's face flushed again. This time, it was due to shame. What if Han Jinlong hadn't been there? Would I have killed everyone in the group? I don't remember anything past those spirit swine.

Seeing that she was deep in thought, Han Jinlong didn't say anything. He continued to look at the river, watching it flow by. Every so often, the current carried a small piece of wood, which eventually got trapped by a beaver dam downstream.

"I'm a monster," she whispered. Tears streaked down face, because she knew that she had done this to herself. She had been the one who asked her brother for help, and then followed his advice. Han Jinlong's hard expression softened as he observed her self-deprecating behavior.

"You're not a monster. Yet," he said. "But you can't keep treading down this path. Let me tell you a story. I once had a good friend, you see. He was just like you—someone who followed an unconventional path. His path was one of slaughter, and he lived to drink the blood of his enemies. He began following that path because when he was young, his village was attacked by bandits. They killed his parents and the other villagers, and he was only able to escape with a girl his age. After that, he dreamed of vengeance every night.

"He eventually married the girl, and for decades, she kept urging him to reconsider the path he'd chosen. However, I need to give credit where it's due—his path was effective. He saved me three times, and many of my close friends owe their lives to him. He was able to continue this way for three decades."

"And then he died," Han Jinlong whispered softly.

Gong Lan had stopped crying and was paying close attention. "How did he die?" she asked.

Han Jinlong paused for a few moments before continuing. "He died in my arms. We were on a mission together, and this one was his breaking point. His wife was with us as well. She was a healer, you see, because she was always concerned for his safety. First, he hacked down his best friend. Then he hacked down another, and finally, he killed his wife as she jumped on him to stop him from hurting anyone else. I was left with no other choice. I killed him.

"As he laid in my arms, he regained a brief moment of clarity. He confessed that he always regretted taking that road. But the further he went, the harder it was to stop." After finishing, Han Jinlong hopped down from the tree and began walking toward the village.

"It's not too late for you," he said while walking. "You're not suited for this path. If you already can't take it at your age, it's time you stop. For the sake of everyone you hold dear. And especially for yourself."