Ch. 26
Chapter 26: These Were All Slain by Him
Those Grudge-Bearing Demon Apes seemed to have been enraged by the way Chen Guan was cutting them down as though he were chopping melons and vegetables, and they threw themselves at him in a frenzy.
Yet beneath the horse-cleaving saber in his hand—a blade so fast that even its afterimage could not be seen—
it did not take long before this stretch of cliffside was piled high with demon ape corpses. Blood mixed with mud, dyeing the earth a dark red as it streamed down toward the abyss below.
That, at once, eased the pressure on Luo Tong and the others, and their casualties immediately lessened.
Bang!
Chen Guan had already run out of ground on which to stand, so he simply lashed out with one foot, sending a whole heap of demon ape corpses tumbling over the ten-thousand-zhang cliff.
After waiting a moment, no further attackers appeared.
Chen Guan thus arrived at a conclusion.
The third wave of Grudge-Bearing Demon Apes that had emerged were most likely the “assassination squad” of this tribe.
Their speed and ability to conceal themselves far exceeded that of their kin by severalfold, like a troop of ghostly assassins moving through the shadows of the forest.
At this point, he was almost beginning to admire these demonic fiends.
To think they had evolved to such a degree of clear division of labor and shifting tactics. If they were allowed to continue evolving, then the human race might truly be in peril.
Casting those thoughts aside, Chen Guan swept his gaze across the surroundings.
Only after confirming that things were temporarily safe did he finally turn his attention to the battlefield ahead.
At this point, Luo Tong and the others were already spent arrows at the end of their flight. Every one of them was covered in wounds and looked thoroughly bedraggled.
The most pitiful among them was one old escort master whose left arm had been torn off. He was now leaning against his shield, coughing blood in great heaves, the ripped wound a mangled blur of torn flesh.
At a glance, one could tell that his left arm had been torn off alive by the demon apes.
Yet their sacrifice had also won them enormous results.
In less than half a ke of bloody battle, they had fought desperately enough to cut down nearly four hundred Grudge-Bearing Demon Apes.
Adding in the several hundred Chen Guan had killed himself—
the remaining two hundred demon apes had finally begun to show a trace of fear and retreat.
Seeing this, Chen Guan gently released Luo Li from his embrace.
“Mmn...”
The moment Luo Li felt that firm, warm “backing” behind her suddenly disappear, a tremendous sense of insecurity rushed over her.
By reflex, she reached out and grabbed Chen Guan’s arm again. Then, realizing that seemed inappropriate, she darted behind him like a startled little cat and seized the corner of his robe instead.
Chen Guan ignored her small movements. He lifted the blood-dripping horse-cleaving saber and held it horizontally before his chest.
Then he raised one finger of his other hand. A violet light suddenly burst from his fingertip and touched down directly upon the flat of the blade.
Clang—!!
A metallic cry rang out from the horse-cleaving saber, spreading outward in visible ripples of sound.
The sound was not loud, yet it seemed to carry a strange power capable of piercing the soul.
The Grudge-Bearing Demon Apes that had still been attacking all stopped at once the moment they heard it.
Then the largest of the demon apes—the leader—raised its head and cast Chen Guan a look, and a trace of wariness flickered in its eyes.
After hesitating for a moment, it finally let out a short roar toward the sky.
Rumble...
The Grudge-Bearing Demon Apes still fighting seemed to receive the command to withdraw. At once, they abandoned the enemies before them and pulled back.
Then, with a few bounds, they plunged into the distant forest like a receding tide, disappearing without a trace in the blink of an eye.
Only after the final demon ape’s figure vanished into the woods...
Thump!
Their taut nerves suddenly went slack. Luo Tong and the others’ bodies all gave out at once, as though every bone had been drawn from them. One after another, they dropped to their knees in the blood-soaked earth.
Supporting themselves with one hand against the bloodied ground, their chests heaved violently as they gasped in harsh breaths.
After a short silence, one escort master after another slowly lifted his head.
None of them looked at each other.
Instead, as if by silent agreement, all of them stared down at the dark red stains beneath their feet—those patches of blood mixed with broken flesh and snapped bone.
Only moments earlier, those had been the brothers who had fought shoulder to shoulder with them.
Yet now...
Nothing remained but blurred heaps of flesh.
No one spoke.
Between heaven and earth, there remained only the heavy, ragged sound of breathing, and the shrill cries of vultures circling above, drawn by the scent of blood.
Chen Guan also said nothing. He merely stood there quietly, glanced toward Li Fei and Liu Shuo where they sat upon the ground, and frowned slightly.
A few breaths later, his gaze once more began to sweep over the slightest movement of wind and grass in the surroundings.
Because this had merely been the beginning.
Those thousand Grudge-Bearing Demon Apes had been only a probing attack, a test of their strength. Their true elite force had yet to show itself.
Otherwise, he would have dealt with them all by himself already. Why would he have wasted words on these people?
Behind him, Luo Li’s eyes were already red. Two clear trails of tears slipped down her pale cheeks.
She had known this journey would be dangerous, but she had never imagined that the price would be so horrific.
Seven living lives had vanished before her eyes, leaving behind neither whole corpses nor bones.
This hellish sight had shattered all the romantic fantasies she had once held about the jianghu.
Luo Li stood there in silence, then looked once more at the broad back before her and suddenly remembered what had just happened.
At that moment, she suddenly understood something.
This man might be greedy. He might have a poisonous tongue. He might have ignored her all along the road—
but when danger came for her, he had never hesitated for even a single instant.
She remembered the words her grandfather had spoken before his death:
“Li’er, you cannot judge a person solely by appearances.”
Now... she thought she might finally understand.
Coming back to herself, Luo Li immediately said to Chen Guan,
“Um... thank you.”
Chen Guan glanced back at her and tossed out only one sentence:
“What are you thanking me for? Any escort worth paying extra for is always this serious.”
Luo Li’s pretty face flushed red with anger, and she turned her head away.
Ahead of them, Luo Tong drew in a deep breath, his eyes full of guilt.
If he, as chief escort, had possessed just a little more backbone and not listened to the poisonous suggestions of others, matters would never have reached such a point.
When he raised his head again, he looked as though he had aged ten years in a single moment. Those clouded old eyes were filled with endless sorrow and exhaustion.
It was clear that he had taken all the blame upon himself.
He slowly turned his head and looked toward the edge of the cliff.
When he saw that Luo Li was safe and unharmed, the burden on his face eased ever so slightly.
So long as the employer was safe, then they had not failed the profession of the escort master. What they had failed were these brothers who had fallen in battle.
Then his gaze fell again upon the broken, ruined corpses scattered across the ground, and his pupils contracted slightly.
“These... were all slain by him?”
Clearly, even he had not expected Chen Guan to possess such strength.
At a glance, there were at least a hundred corpses spread across the earth. And judging by the marks on the ground, many more had clearly been kicked over the cliff and could no longer be counted.
The others also noticed the corpses over on that side.
For a time, the grief on every face gradually gave way to a more painful emotion: regret, shame, and self-reproach.
They knew that all of this could have been avoided.
If they had listened to Chen Guan just a little earlier, then seven fresh lives need not have been buried here.
Yet because of their ridiculous pride, because of that so-called “old jianghu” face they clung to, they had produced an outcome that could never be undone.
There was no one else to blame. The only ones they could blame were themselves.
One could even say without exaggeration that if Chen Guan had not been here, then of these twenty-four men plus Luo Li, not one would have survived!
Luo Tong truly deserved to be called an old hand of the jianghu. Struggling free from his grief, he straightened what remained of his tattered armor and clothing, adjusted his posture, then dropped heavily to both knees in the blood.
Facing the heaps of flesh that had once been his brothers, he struck his forehead against the ground three times.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
His hoarse voice carried bottomless remorse.
“Old Liu... Old Wang... Sun Cheng... Zhang Liang... I’m sorry! I, Luo Tong... owe each of you a life!”
The others also dropped to their knees in unison, knocking their foreheads against the hard ground again and again, using the most primitive and grief-stricken ritual to mourn their fallen companions.
Once the rite was finished, Luo Tong slowly rose and walked to the broken weapons scattered among the blood. Bending down one by one, he picked them up, carefully wiped the blood away with his sleeve, and fastened them tightly across his back.
This was the rule of the escort trade: when a companion died in a foreign land, the living would carry the dead man’s weapon home and hand it over to his family.
It was the honor of the dead, and the only keepsake they could leave behind for those waiting at home.
Because the enemies of escort masters were these demons, monsters, and uncanny fiends. Once a mission failed, they would die in the mouths of those beasts.
To leave behind a whole corpse was nearly impossible. To leave even a weapon behind was rare.
Such was the fate of the escort master, and the ending that had remained unchanged for countless centuries.
After gathering themselves, the group dragged their exhausted bodies over to Chen Guan.
Led by Luo Tong, they all slowly bent at the waist, cupped their fists, and bowed deeply. Their voices were filled with profound shame as they said,
“Escort Master Chen, we are sorry! Earlier... all of us wronged you!”