Blood Moon

by Patrick Laplante

  “Now, it’s tempting to directly enter the city since the gate is open—after all, it would save us a lot of trouble. However, if the gates shut after we enter, or if they want to forcibly hold us inside, we will be surrounded, and it will be difficult for us to escape. That is why I propose that we… break down the walls!”

  Everyone nodded as they heard the suggestion. Cha Ming continued, seeing the acknowledgment from the group.

  “Completely destroying the walls is difficult. In addition, giving them too much time to respond may endanger the prisoners. However, destroying three sections of the wall to simplify escape is quite feasible. Instead of charging through the gates, we could have Master Zhang and Master Yifeng burst in through the walls on the sides,” he explained. “After all, they are experts in playing with fire, and their foundation-establishment experts would not have time to react to the sudden assault from two sides. Meanwhile, I could also create another hole in the back of the city.”

  The two Ling brothers frowned before the eldest asked, “How exactly are you going to create a hole in those wooden walls? They may be made of wood, but they are quite thick.”

  In response to this question, Cha Ming smiled and took out a thick wad of talismans.

  The Ling brothers looked confused, but Zhang Yifeng and Han Jinlong were experienced and recognized them in an instant. Zhang Yifeng nodded and said, “You do indeed possess that ability. I am in support of this plan. What do you think, Brother Han?”

  Han Jinlong looked a little reluctant. He looked toward Cha Ming and asked, “What if this is what they expect, and they ambush a single group with their full force?” he asked.

  “That isn’t a problem,” Cha Ming said. “Regardless of our success, we will retreat immediately after damaging the walls, and we will enter together through the entrance at the back of the city. This way, they will be unable to divide and conquer our forces.”

  Han Jinlong accepted this explanation.

  The following discussion proceeded smoothly, and the forces were divided according to their remaining composition. Cha Ming and Gong Lan ended up in the same group as the Ling brothers this time. Due to the absence of a foundation-establishment elder, their team was stacked with many high-level qi condensation experts.

  Did you find anything? Cha Ming asked Huxian mentally. The little fox shook his head as he exited the shadows. They had chosen nighttime to invade to avoid detection near the city walls.

  I didn’t see anyone on top of the walls, and I didn’t find anyone outside the buildings, either. Except for those prisoners. It’s much too quiet. Is there really no one in this city?

  We can’t relax, Cha Ming replied. Each group has been ambushed twice, and the Ling brothers suffered the greatest loss. Only two of the three brothers survived, and they only managed to come back with three other cultivators, one of whom was crippled. Both Wu Jin and Sima Qian are dead. Now, are you sure you didn’t see any symbols, flags, or impressions in the ground? Anything that feels or smells like a talisman, formation, or trap?

  I’m sure I didn’t see anything like that. The one who made the formation would need to be much stronger than me if I can’t detect anything, Huxian replied smugly.

  That’s exactly what I’m afraid of, Cha Ming replied.

  After finishing their conversation, Cha Ming walked up to the two remaining Ling brothers. “Huxian didn’t seen anything suspicious, which worries me. But it doesn’t look like there are guards outside the buildings or on the wall. Still, it’s best to be cautious and follow the plan.”

  The Ling brothers nodded. The older one motioned for everyone to come together. “All right everyone, just follow the plan. Everyone needs to stay beside Cha Ming and cover him until we get to the wall. Scatter when he says scatter, or else I won’t give a rat’s ass if anyone’s ears are blown off. Move!”

  They arrived beside the wall without any problems. Cha Ming withdrew the wad of talismans from his bag of holding and started slapping them onto the wall one by one. Each of these talismans was a third-level Lesser Fire Blast talisman that Cha Ming had prepared in case anything needed to be demolished, or if many weaker assailants became a problem. Soon over fifty talismans covered a ten-foot-by-ten-foot square on the wall. Not a single square inch remained uncovered.

  “All right, only one incense time, and we can blow this wall up.” Their group waited, worrying, hoping that the enemy wouldn’t spot them. No one came, and to everyone’s relief, the eldest Ling brother, whose name was Ling Tong, nodded to Cha Ming.

  “Scatter!” Cha Ming shouted before slapping another talisman on the wall. This was a time-delayed talisman. When he’d originally made the blast talismans, he hadn’t expected to detonate fifty at once. The time-delayed activation talisman was effectively a three-second timer that he’d made immediately after the meeting.

  Not wanting to get caught up in the blast, the group of thirty cultivators quickly retreated toward the back of the wall, where Han Jinlong would blast open a hole. They would all charge into the city as one group, lest the enemy attempt to divide and conquer them. Only Huxian stayed behind, hiding in the shadows.

  Boom!

  A large explosion sounded by the retreating group. Cha Ming and the rest ran toward another similar blast, and they were quickly joined by Huxian. Huxian seemed extremely excited as he reported the blast to Cha Ming.

  Brother Cha Ming, that was amazing! There’s like a twenty-foot piece of wall missing now, and some of the houses inside the city even collapsed because of the explosion!

  “No need to worry, there’s a twenty-foot gap in the wall. Things went as planned,” Cha Ming relayed to the Ling brothers. The eldest brother let out a sigh of relief as he led the cultivators to join Han Jinlong’s group. The three groups met without any suspense. What surprised everyone was the total lack of response from the city, except for crying children and wailing mothers from the pen of prisoners in the middle of town.

  Though everything had gone according to plan, Cha Ming once again felt a sense of foreboding. Instinctively, he looked up at the moon in the sky. It was only missing a sliver. Tomorrow, a full moon would appear to bid farewell to the winter. He pushed the thought out of his mind just in time to hear Han Jinlong’s booming voice.

  “Charge inside, everyone. First we’ll secure the prisoners. We’ll retreat immediately after checking their bodies for traps.” He was the first to run toward the center of town. There, one hundred prisoners were huddled in a cramped cage.

  One man in the cage looked at the approaching group. “What are you doing? Get away! You shouldn’t have come here,” the man said in a panic.

  “Is that you, Uncle?” Han Jinlong asked in a quivering voice.

  “Little dragon2, you need to get back to Fairweather right away! The higher-ups in the village all left at noon, but that doesn’t mean the guys left behind are weak. They’re literally monsters!”

  Before the rescue party had any time to react, the ground beneath the cage suddenly began to glow red.

  “No. It’s too late! Run aw—” His voice was abruptly cut off as he burst into a bloody mess. The blood didn’t burst outward, but instead gathered toward the center of the pen, where it was absorbed by a bloody rune floating in the air. Cha Ming had never seen such a rune before.

  Instead of remaining, the bloody rune shattered into three pieces and darted out toward Han Jinlong, Zhang Yifeng, and Huxian! The three strongest individuals on their team were suddenly surrounded by a transparent crystal enclosure. Each of them tried to strike at the crystal from the inside, but to no avail.

  Brother Cha Ming, I can’t escape this! It’s such a strong spatial isolation that I’m helpless. There’s no way something like this can exist without external support. You’ve got to break us out!

  Cha Ming’s face paled as he heard this. If Huxian couldn’t escape a spatial constraint, the two masters didn’t stand a chance. Just to be sure, he struck Huxian’s prison with his strongest staff blow, but no
thing happened.

  “Someone’s coming!” Gong Lan suddenly yelled, drawing her sabers. As Cha Ming moved to join up with her, he felt a sharp stabbing sensation in his shoulder blade. He jumped away from his current position and saw the eldest Ling brother holding a bloody dagger.

  “Why?” he said as he fell to one knee. “You’re from Fairweather. You should care about this rescue.” Cha Ming coughed out a mouthful of blood as he said these words. Fortunately, his strong physical body enabled him to endure and not immediately collapse. The dagger had barely missed his lung and heart, but his left arm was now hanging limply by his side.

  “Yes, I care about them deeply. But I care about my brothers more! My brother was captured on our way here, so we have no choice but to join them.” His young brother nodded and unsheathed his sword. While their words were harsh, Cha Ming could tell that betraying their comrades was a heart-wrenching experience for them. The hands of both Ling brothers were shaking, and they could barely hold their swords.

  “You guys are scum,” Cha Ming said. “We all have choices to make, but you chose to betray. The deepest hells are reserved for traitors.” He then withdrew three bottles from his bag of holding. They were the three pills that he had received from Zhang Yifeng earlier. He removed their lids and gulped all three pills without any hesitation. Such a bad injury would be difficult to recover from.

  The rosary on his right arm then glowed green, and seventy-two pearls floated out around him, forming a green formation in the shape of a flower. Coupled with the medicinal pills, his wounds began recovering at a visible pace. After only a few breaths, he was able to use the strength of his muscles to hold his staff despite the injury to his ligaments.

  “Let’s take these guys down,” he called out to Gong Lan and the other mercenaries. If looks could kill, they would have already torn these superior cultivators at the great circle of qi condensation to pieces.

  But before they could do anything, the air around them shimmered. Suddenly the square in the center of town wasn’t so empty. Three women and thirteen men appeared, each with vicious glints in their eyes. Eight of the men wielded large axes and were twice the size of regular men. The five other men wielded cruel sabers, and their eyes glowed red with rage. The group of newcomers didn’t stand on ceremony and immediately charged at them. The square was suddenly plunged into chaos, leaving only Gong Lan, Cha Ming, and three other eighth-level cultivators to take care of the Ling brothers.

  Using the support of his Healing Flower manifestation, Cha Ming charged up to the Ling brothers with Gong Lan. Gong Lan’s battle proficiency was extremely high, enabling her to expertly dodge their sword strikes despite the difference in their cultivation levels.

  Cha Ming wasn’t as proficient, but he made up for his lack of agility by taking hits with his durable body. Thanks to the earth body refining and the wood body refining, his defensive and regenerative abilities were very impressive. Every few breaths, he got slashed by one of the brothers’ swords, only to have the shallow wound rapidly heal again. He relied on his Gentle Staff Art to avoid as many blows as possible, but the brothers were very coordinated, using their cultivation bases to their fullest. If not for the support of the three eighth-level cultivators, Cha Ming and Gong Lan would already be dead.

  This can’t keep going on.

  While Cha Ming knew that it was unwise to get distracted in such a heated battle, he glanced over to the other mercenaries to evaluate their condition. The battle between the mercenaries and the devilish cultivators was not going favorably for the mercenaries. Over ten cultivators had already been killed, while one of the red-eyed devils, despite being pierced through the torso with five different weapons, continued to fight on.

  “Try cutting off their heads and see what happens!” he shouted. Unfortunately, when he did this, he revealed an opening and was quickly punished for his mistake. He retreated backward and held his chest, where a sword had slashed a deep wound.

  “We need to finish these two off as soon as possible. You two, use your talismans. Gong Lan, retreat to me, quickly!” Fortunately, two of the fighters happened to be part of Cha Ming’s original group. They nodded and pulled out their Cloud Step talismans, which led to a sharp increase in their movement speed.

  Cha Ming plastered two other talismans on himself. One of them was a Cloud Step talisman, while the other one was an Iron Skin talisman, which would greatly increase his defense. He threw two similar talismans to the retreating Gong Lan and yelled, “Don’t defend, just attack with me!”

  She nodded and charged with Cha Ming. Her attacks became violent and overbearing, a maelstrom of bloody sabers.

  * * *

  1 The empty city stratagem was used by Zhuge Liang when he was faced with a sudden assault by Sima Yi on a city he was defending. His troops were too far away to assist, so he ordered his men to open the city gates as the enemy advanced while he sat calmly in the palace and played his zither in plain sight of the enemy. Sima Yi, knowing that Zhuge Liang was a master strategist like himself, could not help but think it was a trap. After much hesitation, he ultimately left the city and did not attack. It could also be argued that this was a self-serving move as well—with Zhuge Liang still alive, the king that Sima Yi served would still have a use for him. This eventually gave Sima Yi enough time to organize his rebellion.

  2 Jinlong is a name composed of two characters. “Jin” means gold, while “Long” means dragon. Therefore, “little dragon” is a very suitable term of endearment.

  Chapter 27: Escaping the Trap

  To complement Gong Lan’s offensive, Cha Ming abandoned his Gentle Staff Art. Instead, he took advantage of his increased speed to outmaneuver his opponents using Ghost Steps and strike them fiercely with Sword Staff. Every few exchanges, he increased the weight of his staff by several times and used Quake Staff to disrupt their rhythm. His Mountain Stance Technique enabled him to fully concentrate his weight during these important strikes.

  He took several strikes to his torso in exchange for his offensive. They whittled away at his Iron Skin, and it ultimately resulted in a deep gash across his leg. He ignored the pain, however, and yelled out toward his allies as his opponents reeled under the aggressive blows of his Quake Staff. “Now!”

  Despite being injured, he changed the healing formation into a snowflake formation, which suddenly restricted the Ling brothers’ ability to dodge. The two mercenaries with enhanced speed took this opportunity and slashed at the younger brother’s legs. He couldn’t block because he was busy defending against Gong Lan, who had leapt up into the air and executed Blood Saber Art—Twin Decapitation. The younger brother was forced to his knees, and Cha Ming struck once more with Quake Staff, smashing his skull.

  “Brother!” The elder brother’s eyes became bloodshot, and he withdrew a black pill from his bag of holding and swallowed it. Cha Ming’s eyes narrowed as he saw the eldest Ling brother’s aura increase sharply, reaching a level that caused their group to tremble—half-step foundation establishment! Evidently, the man had used a forbidden medicine to force up his strength, just like Zhou Xian had in the past. He followed up by immediately lashing out at Gong Lan with his most powerful blow yet. A crimson light flashed as she was pushed back without injury, and Cha Ming saw the crimson lotus brooch she had been wearing crumble into dust.

  Only desperate cultivators used such medicines, as the side effects included prolonged weakness and sometimes crippled a cultivator’s foundation. Cha Ming could understand this act of madness. He’d betrayed his companions to save his brother, only to lose another. He had nowhere to run, and he could only try his best to kill Cha Ming and his companions. Although Cha Ming understood him, he still couldn’t forgive the man. Betrayal was unforgiveable.

  Meanwhile, the battle between the weaker mercenaries and the devil cultivators had taken a turn for the worse. Another ten had fallen, giving them the opportunity to surround their targets.

  “Zen, Xiong, go help them. Leave him to the
three of us!” Cha Ming yelled. The two nodded and filled in the gaps, preventing the devil cultivators from flanking the weaker mercenaries. The presence of the two greater cultivators reversed the tide, instantly leading to the decapitation of one of the wounded devil cultivators and the suppression of another.

  Just as things seemed to be improving, however, the three women who had been resting nearby suddenly opened their eyes. They began singing a macabre tune, which caused the mercenaries to turn sluggish. Even the two stronger cultivators were affected, albeit to a lesser extent.

  “Fan, quickly. Go kill those three and come back!”

  Their last helper, who was still under the effect of the Cloud Step talisman, quickly darted out toward the trio. Two devil cultivators broke off from the main group to intercept him, but Cha Ming had anticipated this. He threw out three Stone Wall talismans, which instantly blocked off their path and gave Fan a straight line to the three women.

  He was unable to keep paying attention to Fan’s actions, however, as the eldest Ling brother’s aggression skyrocketed.

  “I’ll kill you!” he said and started attacking Cha Ming without reservation.

  Cha Ming could only grit his teeth and increase the weight of his staff to minimize the recoil from each blow he defended against. He used his most skillful technique, Sword Staff, to repeatedly parry the other man’s blows. Unfortunately, the difference between half-step foundation establishment and qi condensation was substantial. Each strike blocked caused Cha Ming to cough up blood.

  Gong Lan didn’t give up, however. The bloody tempest, which Ling Tong had been able to keep at bay with his superior qi, weapon, and techniques, suddenly erupted with furious killing intent. This caused him to back up, granting Cha Ming a breath of respite. He used this opportunity to pop another lesser healing pill from his bag of holding. He also slapped out two healing talismans for good measure, one for himself and one for Gong Lan. He then charged to support her offensive, manifesting a lethal sword with his spirit pearls and slashing at Ling Tong from behind.