Chapter 109: The Dark Fire
The sound of hooves thundered across the battlefield.
Clang!
Clang!
Tung!
The sounds of steel clashing steel, iron clashing iron, spread everywhere.
The battle had begun.
It was chaotic in Noir. They did not get time to deploy the proper formation before Shin clashed with them.
General Mofu hovered above the battlefield, looking down. From above, he could see the chaos unfolding. Noir soldiers scrambled to form lines. Shin troops pushed forward, cutting through the disorganized defense.
On the ground, Chen Yu raised his sword and decapitated two enemies.
He killed one more soldier, but his eyes were scanning the Shin troops, trying to find the silhouette he was searching for.
But he could not find him, no matter how hard he tried.
At the same time, Chen Yu's eyes fell on a silhouette approaching. A man wearing white armor, riding a horse through the chaos.
The man was coming toward him, cutting down Noir soldiers as he advanced.
Chen Yu found him extremely dangerous. He took steps backwards. His legs trembled, but he still gave the order, "Fall back."
Gwalior, fighting beside Chen Yu, noticed the man as well. He immediately acted and began to help the unit move backwards.
The soldiers behind them began to retreat. But the man in white armor was already there, closing the distance faster than they could retreat.
He raised his sword. The steel sword turned dark, and then the darkness turned to black-colored flames.
Chen Yu, who was nearest to the sword, felt heat, and it felt wrong. The flames were hot, but something was wrong. It was not warm, not too hot either, and he felt it was an extremely dangerous kind that he couldn't describe.
Yan noticed it too. Just like the blue flames of Hua Fain, these black flames felt different.
The sword, coated with black flames, then came at Chen Yu.
Right then, wind intensified. The sand beneath raised as Mofu fell from above, landing directly between Chen Yu and the white-armored man. The impact pushed Chen Yu and the nearby soldiers away.
Mofu's blade, coated with wind qi, collided with the opponent's black flames and dispersed them away.
"Han Hian," Mofu shouted as he stood opposite the white-armored enemy. The Noir troops scrambled back, maintaining a safe distance.
"I expected Hecta, but I have got a newbie." Han Hian said as his sword, carrying black flames, collided with Mofu's sword, pushing him backwards.
"Such a disappointment."
Mofu did not say anything. He spread out his sword. Snakes made of wind coiled around it. Then they heated up. The heat increased, as his sword turned fiery red with a combination of fire and wind qi.
"Dual Letters? Interesting. Maybe you could give me some trouble." Han Hian said as his black flames intensified around his sword.
Their swords collided. The black and fiery red flames spread out. The troops around them, already at a distance, began to take a few more steps backwards.
Clang!
Clang!
Mofu's sword collided with Han Hian's a few more times.
Then Mofu observed that his fire qi began to become weak. No, it was being devoured by the black flames as the black flames got strengthened.
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Dark Letter.
Mofu thought, and kept his grip on the sword tightly.
Clang!
Then Mofu stopped channeling the fire qi, and used only wind, as the wind-reinforced sword collided with the dark fire.
"Interesting. You have found out." Han Hian said as he brought his sword downward. Mofu brought his wind-reinforced sword upwards.
Their swords collided again. The clash spread the dark fire outward. The troops, who had already kept their distance, noticed the dark fire coming at them.
Yan moved. He arrived behind some Noir soldiers and made them slip, avoiding the fire. But not everyone was able to escape.
When the dark fire touched the soldiers...
"Aaaaah..."
"Aaahhh..."
Be it Noir or Shin, whoever was affected cried in pain until they turned to black charred statues.
"You are ruthless. The ones who got killed were also your troops." Mofu shouted.
"I did not kill them. You did. They died as collateral damage between the fight of high-level cultivators." Han Hian's sword clashed with Mofu's again.
"And you think I have gone all out yet? You don't deserve it." Han Hian said.
Clang.
Han Hian pushed Mofu back, but Mofu came at him again.
This time Mofu surrounded his body with wind.
Clang!
Clang!
With Han Hian as the center, Mofu came from below and from every angle, and each time, the wind intensified.
Mofu's attacking speed kept on increasing.
"Clang!"
Han Hian was struggling to react in time. Then Han Hian burst out, his body surrounded with Fire Qi, and then turned to flames.
Then the flames turned dark, as Dark Qi integrated into them.
And Mofu, when he reached close to Han Hian, felt extreme danger. He halted in the middle and leapt up into the sky.
From above, Mofu did not stop. His sword coated with wind, and then he slashed it downward. The wind from his sword moved out, forming a crescent wind cutter. It came down toward Han Hian.
Han Hian raised his sword, but he did not defend against the incoming air cutters. Instead, he knelt and pierced his sword into his shadow.
The blade got inserted into the shadow without any resistance, then it disappeared into the shadow except the hilt.
Then a pillar of dark fire rose from the ground below him. The air cutters touched the pillar and dissipated.
Chen Yu, Gwalior, and Yan were busy in their respective battles.
Chen Yu and Gwalior fought nearby. Yan, who had come to rescue some soldiers, was closer to Han Hian.
Then Yan felt something wrong with the ground, more specifically with his shadow and the others' shadows around him. Then they turned darker and became hot.
He did not wait. He immediately pulled the enemy beside him down toward the shadow and jumped away.
As soon as he jumped away, dark fire leapt out from the shadows like a pillar and turned several soldiers to charcoal. The soldiers who had been standing near Yan were gone.
"You understand the Shadow world?" For the first time, Mofu sweated as he looked at Han Hian from above.
Han Hian did not say anything. He just disappeared into his shadow.
Mofu looked around. His eyes were searching all over the battlefield, trying to locate any anomaly.
Then his eyes landed on Chen Yu, who was about three hundred metres away, the first person Han Hian had targeted. Mofu leapt towards Chen Yu.
Chen Yu was battling one of the soldiers of Shin, unaware that Mofu was coming.
Halfway through Mofu tried to approach Chen Yu, a pillar of normal fire rose just in front of him.
Mofu tilted and avoided it.
But another pillar rose right below him and hit Mofu.
For a moment, Mofu surrounded himself with wind qi and resisted before the fire engulfed him.
Fire spread out in the air.
And when it cleared, Mofu stood in the air. His wind qi dissipated the fire, but his breath became heavier.
Then Mofu saw the Shin troops in the north direction about two fifty metres away. Their cultivator units raised their bows, forming a line. Beside them stood Han Hian.
The arrows rained at him.
Mofu sent out a wind cutter and deflected the arrows.
Again, Han Hian disappeared into shadows.
For a moment, Mofu looked at his own shadow.
But Han Hian was not there.
Then he emerged from the shadow of Chen Yu and grabbed him by the neck.
"So you are the one that burned my grains and made me lose face in the last battle? Do you even realize what I had to go through because of you?" Han Hian said as his grip on Chen Yu's neck tightened.
Right then the wind blew around. Mofu landed in front of Han Hian.
Han Hian looked at Mofu and said, "You are faster than I thought."
Mofu immediately attacked. Han Hian brought Chen Yu in front as a shield.
Mofu halted.
Right then, Han Hian's sword, coated with dark fire, pierced through Mofu's red armor.
Mofu coughed out blood. He could not say anything. He wanted to cry aloud, but he controlled his mouth and stared at Han Hian as the black fire burned his armor, his chest, and was reaching his arms.
"Remember in your next life..." Han Hian was lecturing.
Right then, Mofu inhaled the surrounding air into his mouth. Then his body burst out with air from every pore, throwing out a strong wind attack and blasting Han Hian away.
Han Hian was launched backward, flying through the air. He crashed into his own troops, scattering soldiers like leaves.
Then Mofu fell on the ground. He kept his palms on the ground and supported himself.
But the pain in his chest was very severe. He barely stood up.
He looked around at the troops. Noir soldiers were fighting. Shin soldiers were pushing forward. The battlefield stretched in every direction.
He took a step forward.
"I am sorry..."
Several faces flashed through his mind, soldiers he had commanded, comrades he had fought beside, the promises that he made, the people who were no longer with him.
A tear fell down from his right eye.
Then he fell.
But far away, Han Hian stood up from the crater he had made in his own troops. He was bleeding on the back of his head.
Every Shin soldier looked at him. "All of you, attack."
Then he sat down as the Shin soldiers marched forward.
Meanwhile, the nearby Noir commanders and soldiers approached Mofu, who was not moving.
