Chapter 394: Chapter 274: Life-Saving Grace_3
"So I quickly punched myself, suppressed the realm, and emerged from seclusion to offer support."
Tie Dan hesitated to speak, then refrained again, finally expressing,
"Senior, you are truly admirable..."
Cang Song waved his hand and glanced at the Demon Spine Sword.
"The one who deserves admiration is you. You killed that demon, didn’t you? So, you must have killed a Demon God first, and then fought a second one before losing, right?
At your age, I definitely didn’t have such skills. The responsibility of protecting the world in the future will have to be entrusted to daoists like you."
In fact, this was the fifth Divinity Transformation tie that Tie Dan had fought in a row, but there wasn’t much to say about it—defeat is defeat.
Thus, Cang Song waved his hand to produce a few talismans, setting up an Array on the spot, and handed Tie Dan a gold medal,
"I should have escorted you back, but I sense that the demons are growing stronger day by day, rapidly increasing, and their awakening is imminent. Time is of the essence and cannot be delayed. Since you have the Mystic Sect Secret Technique for protection, it seems your injuries are not serious, so I’m off to the Northern direction for Demon Extermination.
This gold medal is a magic treasure refined by our Emei, able to ward off evil and protect the body, summoning nearby Emei disciples for assistance. Keep it for your protection. With this Array guarding, ordinary demons wouldn’t dare approach.
Once you are able to move again, you may leave the Array and gradually head south. Along the way, I’ve already dealt with a wave of demons, and my junior brother Cang Bai is stationed at Yanmen for Demon Extermination. His skills are no less than mine. Sensing this gold medal, he will come to aid, so there should be no major problem."
Tie Dan earnestly said,
"Thank you, Senior, for your life-saving grace. I, Tie Dan, will remember it."
Cang Song smiled, patted him on the shoulder, said no more, and stood up, walking into the wind and snow, disappearing over Snow Ridge in no time.
When Tang Tong woke up, he saw Tie Dan sitting beside him with his head lowered, biting a piece of gold medal, his whole body drenched in blood, riddled with holes, his beating heart and entrails clearly visible. His right hand was gone up to the elbow, and his left hand had only bones left, holding a thick spine.
"Tie Dan... you also died so miserably..."
Tie Dan lifted his head, gave him a sidelong glance, and continued to operate the Blood Jade Technique, too busy to pay attention to him.
So Tang Tong lay for a while, turned his head to look at Shen Jianjia beside him, whose skin was charred and flayed, devoid of her former beauty, gradually coming back to his senses, suddenly sitting up.
"... Holy shit!? You won!?"
Tie Dan spat out the gold medal from his mouth and tossed it onto Tang Tong,
"Qin Baichuan."
"Really... survived..."
Tang Tong picked up the gold medal to look at it, then looked at the blood-soaked scene around him, gradually understanding everything, but the joy didn’t last long as he found himself with severed tendons and meridians, his inner scene also heavily injured by a slingshot, already akin to a cripple, and his mood fell into despair,
"But I’m already a cripple..."
Tie Dan,
"Oh."
Tang Tong turned his head to look at him,
"...Aren’t you going to comfort me?"
Tie Dan,
"I’m in pain, don’t want to talk."
Tang Tong sighed, then lay down again for a while.
"... Whatever, crippled or not, once we return to Nine Yin Mountain, I’ll request to become an Outer Door steward, then find a Junior Sister to marry and settle down. That’s how this life will be, and when I’ve amassed enough family assets, prepared the Daoist materials, and undergo Soldier Disintegration for reincarnation, I’ll re-enter the Mountain Gate in my next life."
Tie Dan,"..."
Tang Tong glanced at the exhausted, still unconscious Jian Jia, after the brutal battle,
"Is she the only one left alive?"
Tie Dan, "Mm... Why didn’t you run?"
Tang Tong sighed,
"Without orders from Honzan, fleeing without a fight, what right do I have to be a disciple of the Sword Sect? We were sent outside the border to herd horses, with little chance to earn much merit. If we lose the strategic location of Yan Zhi Mountain, what right would we have to compete in Cloud Platform Sword Fighting?
So we planned to use the Sword Array to cover, split into two teams to take turns. One would guard the mountain, the other would strike, catching the demons off guard while they’re not many, to earn as much merit as possible before retreating together.
Who knew that just as we split up for a surprise attack, the Immortal Palace came to capture Xiao Liu, broke through the Sword Array, and battered us half to death.
Xiao Liu didn’t want to implicate us, so he escaped eastward with the Immortal Palace pursuers. Then, a horde of demons seized the opportunity to come, and everyone couldn’t hold them off. Many of our fellow brothers were lost and captured, making it impossible to leave..."
Tie Dan, "...I’m sorry."
Tang Tong chuckled bitterly,
"What are you apologizing for? Everyone chose to stay willingly, wanting to seize the opportunity to fight.
But Xiao Liu was really unlucky, I don’t know who he offended, for so many people to come capture him. They even surrounded Yan Zhi Mountain, setting up a Heaven and Earth Net to apprehend him. But those bastards have been here for days without leaving, so they probably haven’t caught him yet... What are you doing?"
Tie Dan stood up, inserting the Demon Spine Sword beside Tang Tong,
"As soon as you’re able to stand, take her and head south immediately; the demons on the road have been cleared by people, and there are Emei stationed at Yanmen, providing a chance for survival. This bone, take it too; it’s enough to redeem military merit."
Tang Tong stared at him,
"Where are you going?!
Tie Dan staggered out of the Array,
"This is my fault, I’m going to fetch him back."
"Tie Dan! Tie Dan!!"
But the young man had already left the Array, walking on ice, skiing swiftly, disappearing as the calls faded behind him in the blink of an eye.