Chapter 1937 – The Passing of Life
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“Hey, you… are you okay…?” Zhu Yan and his group of seven or eight people were scared and a little apprehensive as they saw all the blood flowing out from between Lin Ming’s fingers.
This man had already bled so much; could he even remain alive for much longer?
“Big brother…”
The little girl looked up at Lin Ming, her eyes filling with tears. Lin Ming had led her here and yet he was injured so heavily.
“White Wing, Lotus Thorn, you two heat some hot water and prepare some towels. Let this brother rest for a while.” Zhu Yan said to a man and woman behind him.
He could faintly feel that Lin Ming’s wounds were far too deep and incurable.
“That’s right… Old Flame, since the little princess has been found, when should we depart?” As White Wing went to fetch some heated water, someone else suddenly asked this question. To remain in the territory of their enemies was far too dangerous a prospect.
“Yes, we should set off tonight…”
“Then this man…”
Thorn Lotus looked at Lin Ming, feeling the situation a bit tricky.
Lin Ming’s identity was unknown and he also had such heavy wounds. Looking at the present situation, this man wouldn’t be able to properly stand for some time. However, if they were fleeing these lands and had to take on the burden of Lin Ming, then the chances of successful escape would be much lower.
“Look for a horse and carriage and bring him with us. As for whether or not he can last, that will depend on his good fortune…”
Zhu Yan sighed. Although Lin Ming seemed a bit uncommon, if he was wounded to such a degree then Zhu Yan feared that he wouldn’t be able to withstand the rocky journey of over 2000 miles.
However, no matter what was said, Lin Ming was still the benefactor who had found the little princess. They couldn’t just abandon him here.
Furthermore, he also wanted to ask Lin Ming some questions. Zhu Yan wanted to ask who had entrusted him with his mission, why he had helped them, and how he had done all that he did.
The hot water arrived. Lin Ming didn’t pick up the towel but instead grabbed onto the water basin. He spat out blood, dyeing the entire water basin blood red.
Everyone gulped as they saw this happen. They didn’t know just what to say. If this person continued vomiting blood like this, it wouldn’t take long for him to vomit out all the blood in his body.
At this time, Lin Ming became increasingly pale. This blood he spat out was in truth his essence energy.
His blood vitality and strength might have weakened, but his body was still incredibly formidable and wouldn’t allow his blood vitality to diminish.
Once Lin Ming’s blood vitality weakened, his body would continuously and spontaneously produce blood to heal him.
However, because of the weak fires of life that burned in Lin Ming, he wasn’t able to withstand such powerful blood vitality. As a result, Lin Ming coughed up blood. The more blood he vomited, the weaker his body become.
No matter how powerful his body was, it couldn’t withstand such damage. Eventually he would exhaust all of his essence energy.
His soul force passing, his life passing; just how much longer did he have to live?
He humorlessly laughed. But at this time, loud footsteps rang through the air.
Frigid and deadly killing intent broke into the room. The complexions of Zhu Yan and the others immediately changed.
“This is bad!”
“The White Guard!”
The group of people drew their weapons, their faces paler than death.
“We will stop the White Guard here! Sun Tai, you bring the little princess and the little prince to the rear court and look for a chance to break out! Protect them even if it costs you your life!”
“Old Flame…” The youth called Sun Tai was anxious.
“Hurry!” Zhu Yan shouted.
However, a high-pitched voice, not like a man and not like a woman, sounded out. “Jejejeje! None of you can leave, all of you are staying!”
Kacha! Kacha!
The wooden doors of the restaurant suddenly burst apart. A group of swordsmen in white shirts and white capes rushed into the restaurant, completely surrounding the building!
This was the White Guard raised by the new royal court.
The White Guard was a special unit formed of elites. The most low level members of this force were at the Altering Muscle realm, and their core members were at the Pulse Condensation realm.
The guard captains and commanders were also at the peak Pulse Condensation realm and Houtian realm.
As for the one leading this force of the White Guard, he was the high commander of the White Guard. This person wore a bright yellow robe and had a face caked white with makeup. His voice was confusing; he was the great manager eunuch of the new royal court.
A eunuch had no fleshly desires and had locked up their yang essence within themselves. Among mortals, they had some of the fastest-increasing cultivations. This White Guard manager eunuch possessed a peak Houtian realm cultivation.
This was nearly the limit that a common martial artist could reach on their road of martial artists! After that was the Xiantian realm and beyond. Oftentimes, one needed a sect like the Seven Profound Valleys that had their own inheritances in order to become a Xiantian master, and even then they didn’t have many of them.
A peak Houtian martial artist. Zhu Yan could hardly believe his eyes. Even when he was at his strongest state in the past, he had only been a half-step into the threshold of the Houtian realm.
Seeing this eunuch commander here, he knew that everything was lost. All of them were finished.
No one would survive.
“Haha, I was also looking for these two little babies. I never thought that Commander Flame would help me so much. Really, I must thank you!”
The eunuch’s voice was keening and filled with an icy yin energy. His face was filled with taunting mockery.
At this time, the eunuch noticed Lin Ming.
With the sudden appearance of the White Guard, Zhu Yan and the others were all stern as they faced their impending deaths, and even the two children were shivering from fear. This was well within his expectations.
But in this room, there was also a strange youth wearing a mask. This youth was currently coughing up blood, and the bowl beneath him was dyed red.
Even for the eunuch commander who had seen many things before, such a scene left him dumbfounded. “I can’t believe you would even bring a lung disease patient here. He’s so sick and yet you continue on your mission. You all must truly be desperate, ha…”
Listening to his enemy’s taunts, Zhu Yan grit his teeth so hard they nearly broke. Not only did he not manage to rescue the little prince and princess but he had even pushed them into the fire.
The old eunuch cackled as he looked at Zhu Yan. An all-knowing expression crossed his face. “Commander Flame, you really are a brain-dead old thing. A wise man knows to submit to the circumstances. The old dynasty is already gone. If you are willing to submit to my sovereign then you will absolutely be granted a hundred acres of fertile land and wives and concubines of your choosing to take care of you for the rest of your remaining life.”
“Go die!” Zhu Yan cried out loud and suddenly attacked. He grasped the Scarlet Flare sword and chopped down at the eunuch’s head!
The eunuch commander contemptuously sneered. He stretched out a finger. He had absolute confidence in himself that a single finger could kill Zhu Yan.
However, the moment that he wanted to kill Zhu Yan, his face froze and his body stiffened.
His eyes veered off and looked past Zhu Yan. There, behind Zhu Yan, was a youth wearing a jade mask supporting himself using a wash basin. This youth was coughing up massive mouthfuls of blood as if he were terminally ill and would die at any moment.
However, the moment that the eunuch commander was about to attack, the youth propping himself up on the wash basin turned his head and casually glanced at him.
The youth’s eyes seemed dull and gloomy from being far too weak, but this look seemed as sharp as a sword, a sword that instantly pierced through the heart of the eunuch commander.
The eunuch commander’s divine sense collapsed and his meridians were instantly torn to shreds. An incredible pain directly impacted every sense of his body as he began wildly bleeding from his head!
Puff!
Zhu Yan’s sword pierced through the eunuch’s throat. But, the truth was that this sword had only added a hole to an already dead man.
The eunuch commander completely stiffened. With shocked eyes that looked as if he had seen a ghost, he looked straight forwards. However, these eyes didn’t look at Zhu Yan, but were looking at Lin Ming.
At this time, Lin Ming had already turned his head back and was continuing to cough blood.
“…”
“…”
Everyone was left speechless. Many people slowly reacted. They saw the eunuch commander’s hand covering his neck and another finger pointed at Lin Ming, and were able to somewhat guess the situation from this.
The old eunuch opened his mouth as if he was struggling to say something, but no words came out.
Then, he plopped to the ground, dead where he lay.
For a time, everyone was left bewildered. The numerous White Guards had distorted expressions. The eunuch commander had a peak Houtian realm cultivation, and even martial artists from sects wouldn’t be his match.
But today, he had died violently and miserably where he stood!
As for Zhu Yan and his group, they were all left dazed. The situation had changed so quickly that they couldn’t respond.
Zhu Yan certainly knew that the reason the old eunuch died just then was nothing to do with him at all!
“This… this is…”
Zhu Yan looked at Lin Ming and gulped. Just who was this masked man?
The White Guard was shaken. Their commander had died a gruesome death and now they were all left in a dilemma, unsure of what action to take!
But escaping like this was also impossible. If it were known that they were all forced back by some person who seemed to be dying from lung disease, then none of them would be forgiven for this crime.
Three people quietly touched their wrist crossbows, wanting to sneak attack Lin Ming.
They felt that Lin Ming was on the verge of death with some terminal disease, or perhaps he was some peerless master that had suffered grievous wounds. Although he was fierce his origin energy was limited and that move just then absolutely must not have been easy. This man might have even overdrawn his strength to accomplish it.
As long as they could kill this person or heavily wound him, then victory was theirs.
Of these three sneak attackers, two were at the peak Pulse Condensation realm and one was at the early Houtian realm. They were all top masters within the White Guard.
But, as they prepared to shoot their concealed weapons, their bodies suddenly shook. Then their eyes glazed over and their bodies slumped to the ground as if someone had pulled out their spines.
Their breathing stopped; they had died where they stood.
And this time, Lin Ming hadn’t even bothered to turn his head. He still faced the wash basin, beads of sweat dripping down his face. His expression was pained.
This time, an even deeper silence fell over everyone. Even the sound of a falling needle could be heard.
“Withdraw!”
Several nearby White Guard captains were scared senseless. If they had also attacked with the others just then, then they would also be corpses by now!
The White Guard fled. Whether it was the high level or middle level members, they all felt as if they had encountered the devil!
Without even moving, he had killed four top masters.
Moreover, no one knew how he had attacked!
It was like he had killed them all with nothing but a thought!
To fight such an opponent, even describing it as an egg being smashing against a rock wasn’t enough!
The group of a hundred plus White Guard elites began to retreat like a falling tide. Lin Ming didn’t pay any attention to this.
He could already feel something wrong with him. His spiritual sea was in severe pain, a pain so intense it left him in a trance, almost unable to distinguish between reality and illusion.
This agonizing pain continued for a quarter hour before it slowly faded away. Lin Ming picked up a blood-covered towel and slowly wiped his mouth.
His entire body was drenched in sweat and his front was dyed deep red with blood. His face was as pale as paper. With this sort of appearance, it was hard for the others to imagine how he was still alive.
Seeing Lin Ming wipe away his blood, Zhu Yan and the others were all quiet. At this time, no one knew what to say.
Just half an hour ago he had been vomiting blood. Yet as he was coughing up blood, he had used but a thought to kill two great commanders and two guard captains of the White Guard. Those four were butchers that had taken innumerable lives. These were characters that could cause others to pale just from a mention of their names!
From the moment the White Guard came to the moment they left, this masked youth had been coughing up blood the entire time, and even now he was still coughing.