Ch. 25
Chapter 25: I’m Going to Die
BOOM!!
A muffled impact rang out, one so brutal it made the scalp go numb.
That strike, carrying a force of several thousand jin, smashed viciously into the escort master’s head.
There was no scream, not even a struggle.
His head burst apart in an instant like an overripe watermelon, red and white matter splattering all across the ground.
Before anyone could rush over to seize the corpse, the Grudge-Bearing Demon Apes around him, frenzied beyond reason, swarmed forward all at once. Their sharp claws and fangs instantly tore that headless corpse into a shredded mass!
“Damn it!”
Everyone’s eyes turned bloodshot as they prepared to rescue the other man.
Yet another rain of tree trunks came howling down from above and completely sealed off the route by which they could have reached him.
Bang! Bang bang!
The remaining escort master within the encirclement was struck in succession by three giant logs. The sound of bones shattering rang out one after another.
He did not even have time to scream. A great gush of blood burst from his mouth and nose, and he instantly lost all power to fight.
In the next moment, he was completely engulfed by the tide of demon apes surging over him and ripped to pieces on the spot.
“Ah—!”
The sight of such bloody horror made Luo Li cry out in shock.
Then her stomach churned violently. Unable to bear it any longer, she clutched the horse-cleaving saber and retched hard.
Though she had grown up in the mountains, she had never even seen a chicken slaughtered in front of her.
How could she possibly endure seeing living people torn apart and devoured by these beasts?
“Brothers! Avenge Old Liu and Old Wang!!”
At that moment, Luo Tong’s old face was black as ink, his eyes bloodshot.
He poured all the grief and rage in his heart into the long saber in his hand.
Every stroke he brought down carried the absolute resolve to split mountains and smash stone!
Every roar he let out was filled with bottomless grief for fallen companions. He abandoned defense entirely, trading wound for wound, life for life!
Chen Guan cast them a cold glance, then stopped paying attention to them.
Because he had noticed that the other batch of creatures hidden within the ape pack was already preparing a third wave of attack.
“Zhao Wu! Watch out!!”
Someone in the crowd let out a miserable cry.
Following the voice, Luo Li looked over and saw that Zhao Wu, that burly old man who had earlier barked orders at Chen Guan, was now pinned to the ground beneath the feet of two Grudge-Bearing Demon Apes, unable to move.
And off in the distance, that largest and most massive demon ape leader bent its legs sharply and shot straight into the sky. In a single bound it leaped seven or eight zhang high, descending like a falling mountain as it came crashing down toward Zhao Wu on the ground!
“Chen Guan! What are you still standing there for? Hurry and save him!” Luo Li shouted anxiously.
Yet Chen Guan acted as though he had heard nothing at all. Like a stone statue, he remained where he was, watching the forest ahead.
【Activated: “Path-Cleaving Slash” — Blade technique attack power increased by 100%】
Bang!
Zhao Wu’s body was crushed apart beneath the feet of that Grudge-Bearing Demon Ape, his blood bursting across the earth.
Luo Li watched a living man meet such a miserable end, then looked back at Chen Guan, who still had not moved. At once, anger welled up in her.
“Chen Guan, are you even human?! You clearly could have saved him, yet you just stood there and watched him die?!”
At last, Chen Guan turned his head and looked at her.
His gaze was so calm that not a single ripple stirred within it.
“I am an escort, not a savior.”
His voice was very light. “My duty is you, not them.”
“They sell their lives for money, and so do I. If you want me to save someone else, then yes—I can. But it will cost extra. And you’ll have to protect yourself.”
Luo Li was choked speechless by that answer.
Chen Guan withdrew his gaze and continued watching the surroundings, leaving her only one sentence.
“Remember this. In this world, the only person who can save you is yourself. To place your life in someone else’s hands is the stupidest thing of all.”
Those idiots had created this disaster themselves. The fact that he had not personally put a saber to their throats and forced them to die in the line of duty already counted as him accumulating virtue by doing good.
And they still wanted him to save them?
Luo Li bit her lip. Tears gathered in her eyes, yet she could not speak a single word in rebuttal.
She still wanted to say something, but the instant she opened her mouth—
Chen Guan suddenly spun around and thrust out a hand, yanking the horse-cleaving saber straight out of the ground before her!
Shing!
A flash of cold light!
In Luo Li’s horrified eyes, the horse-cleaving saber suddenly shot toward her forehead at a speed so fast it defied sight itself!
“Ah—!!”
Luo Li screamed in terror. Her mind went completely blank, and instinctively she raised both hands to cover her eyes, waiting for death to descend.
Splurt!
A dull sound of steel sinking into flesh.
Warm liquid began to trickle slowly down her forehead, sticky and thick.
It’s over...
I... I only delayed paying extra for a little too long, and he actually killed me over it...
A chill spread through Luo Li’s heart.
“What are you standing there for?! Get over here at once!”
A furious roar exploded right beside her ear.
That shout jolted Luo Li awake. She instinctively opened her eyes.
Only then did she realize that she was not dead at all. When she turned to look behind her, she shuddered violently in fright.
At some unknown moment, a monster even larger than the demon ape leader by a full size had silently appeared behind her!
And now, that monster’s head had been pierced straight through the brow by Chen Guan’s horse-cleaving saber, hanging there impaled upon the tip of his blade!
Its body was as large as an old ox and weighed at least a thousand jin, yet Chen Guan held it aloft in one hand as lightly as though it weighed nothing at all!
Seeing that she was still frozen in place, Chen Guan gave his arm a shake, flinging the corpse from his blade. Then he reached out, swept her into his arms, and held her close.
His left arm shielded Luo Li. His right hand swung the horse-cleaving saber once more!
Shhk—!
Luo Li only saw a black shadow flash before her eyes.
In the next instant, she saw that black shape split cleanly into two halves under Chen Guan’s saber, falling to the ground in a spray of blood.
Such... such a fast blade!
Luo Li was completely stunned.
Though she was no great cultivator and knew nothing of combat, she could still tell this much apart.
A saber so fast that even its afterimage could not be seen was absolutely beyond anything those so-called old veterans could hope to wield!
This greedy, sharp-tongued fellow... was actually this strong?!
Splurt!
Chen Guan’s right arm moved slightly, and he thrust another saber strike into empty air.
When Luo Li focused her eyes, she saw another Grudge-Bearing Demon Ape dangling from the tip of his blade, skewered through the eye socket and out the back of the skull.
Dead beyond question.
Luo Li was so shocked she could hardly think.
Th-this... this fellow was actually that formidable?
This time, she had seen it clearly.
That black shadow had lunged in from afar on its own, while Chen Guan’s saber had merely been waiting along the path it had no choice but to take.
And what did that mean?
It meant Chen Guan had predicted the demon ape’s assassination path a step in advance—and not merely that, but had even predicted that it would predict he would defend against it, then struck at the path born from that very prediction!
Shhk! Shhk! Shhk!
Before she could recover, Chen Guan, holding the saber in one hand, slashed three times in rapid succession.
Each strike was simple to the point of extremity, without a single wasted movement. Yet every slash split apart a black shadow attempting to ambush them from above, cutting it from crown to groin.
Though Luo Li was trembling all over, for some reason, as she watched those clean, decisive strokes fall one after another, the terror in her heart began to recede.
“Sun Cheng—!!”
Suddenly, another shrill cry came from the battlefield behind them, followed immediately by a scream that cut off halfway.
There was no need to look. Another escort master had clearly fallen in glorious sacrifice.
This time, Luo Li no longer dared open her mouth and urge Chen Guan to help them.
If Chen Guan had truly listened to her earlier and let himself be distracted to save Zhao Wu, then by now she herself would very likely have been torn to pieces by these monsters.
When she thought of how she had only moments ago pointed at Chen Guan’s nose and called him inhuman, a deep sense of awkwardness welled up inside her.
Fortunately, this fellow simply did not understand human sentiment. Had it been anyone else, she might not even have had the chance to regret it.
Chen Guan’s face remained expressionless as his right hand thrust, cut, hacked, and swept.
Every time his saber moved, another Grudge-Bearing Demon Ape was split into two and collapsed before them.
In less than half a ke, the number he had slain had already caught up to Luo Tong and the others.
Only now did Luo Li truly understand that, with the mark upon her body, staying beside her was the most dangerous place of all.