Chapter 228: Accepting, Apprehensive, and Avid
Yang Ru watched as Kang Lin fingered her contingency ring, ready to call Master at the slightest sign of his and Yang Xiu’s lives being put in danger. Good. There was nothing the three of them could do against a Golden Core cultivator. If the man moved to intervene, Master would be the only one who could help.
It occurred to Yang Ru that several months ago it would have bothered him to need such assistance. He would have seen it as his duty to protect his sister and his maybe future fiancé. To call Master in would have seemed shameful somehow.
Instead, Yang Ru had grown to better understand his role. He was the sect’s protector but only for those dangers he was equipped to guard against. There was no shame in admitting he was outclassed, and a cultivator at least a major realm above him outclassed him overwhelmingly.
It was an honor to die protecting the sect and its members and his family. But it wasn’t a good thing.
Yang Ru honored Ye Zan for saving Yang Xiu, but it would have been better if he had never had to make that sacrifice. His death was honorable. But not good.
Today, Yang Ru would do his duty, and he might die. But he would not court death. Protect Yang Xiu. Protect Kang Lin. Protect himself.
From the moment the flying cultivators had appeared, he’d been shifting his feet back and forth, trying to be unobtrusive but at the same time building Momentum. And he felt it working. The amount he created wasn’t much. But it was some. And it was increasing with each fidget.
He listened as his sister exchanged insults with the enemy cultivator, shifting his feet the entire time. Yang Xiu sure seemed to be enjoying herself. That girl loved to talk. Of course, he was sure that wasn’t her only goal.
Their conversation allowed Yang Ru to keep building Momentum. He appreciated that thoughtfulness on her part. They always did work well together. It was perhaps the primary advantage of being twins.
Eventually, though, she could stall no more. The Golden Core cultivator ordered his juniors to attack. The battle was about to start.
The juniors landed in formation—two, two, and one.
Yang Ru pulled his spear from his ring and readied it. Simultaneously, he began stomping, greatly accelerating his accumulation of Momentum. How much to build was more art than science, at least at his current level of experience with his techniques. He needed to blow through the two pairs in front and have enough power left to deliver an immense blow to the one in back.