Chapter 13: First Battle

As someone who grew up in a modern city, Wang Yu had never encountered such a dangerous situation. His heart was filled with shock and fear. His right hand gripped his iron sword tightly, while his eyes remained fixed on the small iron crossbow in the hands of the masked man leading the group, which still had an unshot bolt loaded.

The other three masked men were armed: two held long sabers, and one carried a long spear.

What gave him a slight sense of relief was that although his left shoulder had been severely wounded and was bleeding profusely, it did not hurt as much as he had imagined. It likely hadn't damaged his tendons or bones, which was the greatest stroke of luck in this misfortune.

The problem now was, as someone who had only practiced sword techniques for a few days, how could he save his life in front of these thugs?

Fortunately, this body was not his own; even if it suffered a fatal wound, his true body on Blue Star would not actually die.

Thinking of this, Wang Yu's courage grew significantly, and he began to desperately recall every move and stance of the Rending Wind Sword Art in his mind.

"Be careful. This brat can run so well, he might not be an ordinary Daoist acolyte." The masked man with the iron crossbow stared at Wang Yu, who was much taller than his peers. After a cold remark, he pointed the crossbow forward, and the final bolt shot out, heading straight for Wang Yu's face.

At the same time, the two masked men with sabers nearby also swung their weapons and charged up. Only the masked man with the long spear did not attack; instead, he retreated a dozen steps, firmly blocking the path down the mountain.

"Clang!"

Wang Yu held his iron sword horizontally in front of his face, knocking the incoming bolt away. He then hunched his body and, ignoring the two masked men charging at him with sabers, rushed toward the leader instead.

"Seeking death!"

The leader was stunned and then flew into a rage. But there was no time to reload the crossbow, so he threw it aside, drew a short blade from each side of his waist, and met the charging youth.

"First Stance!"

Wang Yu shouted, gathering all his courage. He pushed off with his legs and thrust his iron sword forward. His speed increased several times over, and he pounced on his opponent like a gale.

He knew clearly that whether he could save his life depended on whether he could take down the person in front of him by surprise. Naturally, he used all his strength for this move.

The leader only felt a gust of wind sweep before his eyes, and the sword shadow was already upon him. He was shocked and could only cross his short blades in front of his chest to barely block.

With a "Bang!"

The leader felt a heat in the webbing between his thumbs; the two short blades flew out of his hands as if they had struck a hammer. Then, a heat surged in his chest as the iron sword pierced through without the slightest resistance, carrying his body back five or six steps until he was nailed alive to the trunk of a large tree behind him.

"You..."

The leader still could not believe everything he had encountered. He managed to utter only one word before Wang Yu pulled the iron sword out of his body with force and casually swiped it across his neck.

Blood gushed wildly from the leader's neck and chest, and his entire body went limp beneath the large tree.

Wang Yu took a deep breath, held the sword in one hand, and turned to face the two remaining masked men with sabers.

After killing for the first time, his heart pounded and his face was pale, but deep inside, he felt a surge of excitement, and for a moment, he cast his fear to the winds.

"Stinking brat, what did you do?"

"Is Brother Li okay? He couldn't have really fallen like this."

The two masked men with sabers witnessed this scene, shocked and furious. They cursed wildly, but their footsteps did not stop as they attacked from the left and right. One held his saber with both hands and slashed viciously at the youth's head, while the other flicked his arm, and his long saber slashed horizontally toward Wang Yu's waist, their coordination quite tacit.

"Fourth Stance!"

Seeing this dangerous scene, Wang Yu's mind became even clearer. He muttered a low word, suddenly took a step to the side to dodge the saber slashing at his head, and swung his long sword horizontally to block the saber aimed at his waist.

"Clang!"

The long saber and the half-broken iron sword flew into mid-air simultaneously. One masked man was left empty-handed and staggered back two steps, while Wang Yu was left with only half an iron sword.

Wang Yu was stunned, but before he could think, the other masked man seized the opportunity. "Swish, swish, swish!" He slashed three times in rapid succession. The bright saber light connected into a sheet, covering him from top to bottom, almost blinding him.

Wang Yu could not see the reality of these three slashes at all. He could only harden his heart, hunch his body again, swing the half-broken iron sword upward randomly, and crash into the attacking masked man, person and sword together.

With a "Puff!"

The three saber lights merged into one, suddenly changing direction to avoid the incoming half-broken iron sword, and instead flashed to slash heavily onto Wang Yu's sword-wielding arm.

Wang Yu grimaced, not even looking at the wound on his arm. Instead, he tilted his body and, like a gale, slammed his uninjured shoulder into his opponent's chest.

A "Crack!" sound of shattering bones rang out.

The masked man with the saber let out a cry, and his entire body was knocked away by Wang Yu like a sack, landing heavily on the ground without another sound.

"Brother Qian, help!"

The other empty-handed masked man had just regained his footing. Seeing this scene, he was terrified. He didn't even bother to pick up his discarded weapon and turned to rush toward the masked man with the long spear, shouting.

Wang Yu, who had turned around, didn't even think; he swung his arm with all his might, and the half-broken iron sword flew out of his hand, turning into a black shadow that sank into the back of the empty-handed masked man.

The running masked man's body trembled, and he collapsed in front of the masked man with the spear, a bloody, mangled hole appearing in his back as blood gushed out like a fountain.

Only then did Wang Yu feel the sharp pain in his arm. He hurriedly took a look and saw a long wound on his arm; he didn't know how deep it was, but blood had already soaked half his sleeve.

But he could not care about his arm wound. Enduring the sharp pain in his arm and shoulder, he casually picked up a long saber from the ground and looked at the last masked man with the long spear.

The masked man with the spear was somewhat dazed, feeling as if he were in a nightmare!

Four martial practitioners had come to hunt down a mere Daoist acolyte, so how could only one be left in the blink of an eye, without even time to offer rescue?

At this moment, seeing Wang Yu staring viciously at him, he couldn't help but feel his throat go dry and his legs go weak.

This little Daoist acolyte was so monstrous; he definitely wasn't a mortal.

After a quick thought, the masked man with the spear didn't say a word; he dragged his long spear and bolted down the mountain.

Wang Yu was stunned, then let out a long sigh of relief.

But at this moment, a silver wheel whistled out from the woods nearby, circled around the masked man with the spear, and spiraled back into the woods.

The masked man let out a miserable cry, his body split in two at the waist, and he fell into a pool of blood.

"Who is it?"

Wang Yu stared at the woods nearby as if facing a great enemy.

"Hmph, daring to desert in the face of battle—did you really think I've been feeding you for all these years for nothing?" A cold voice came from the woods, and a young man in white walked out, holding a silver folding fan. The fan was stained with blood; the silver wheel that had flown out earlier was actually transformed from this object.

"Does your Excellency really intend to kill everyone?" Wang Yu gripped the long saber in his hand, his heart sinking.

"Hand over the treasure of Master Chongyun, and I can spare your life. I have already searched the old thing's residence and found nothing. You are so young yet have such skills; you are likely the newly accepted disciple of old man Chongyun and should know something. If you tell me honestly, it is not impossible to spare your life." The young man in white looked Wang Yu over and asked gloomily.

"I don't know anything." Wang Yu did not believe a word the young man in white said and refused without hesitation.

"Hehe, you're actually not afraid of death. That guy Brother Qiuye said something similar before he died. I wonder if you'll still be so tough after I chop off your head." Hearing this, the young man in white laughed in anger.

"Brother Qiuye, you killed him!"

Hearing the young man in white's words, Wang Yu's expression changed slightly. He held the long saber horizontally in front of him, preparing to fight to the death.

Having killed three people in a row earlier, he had gained quite a bit of confidence in his Rending Wind Sword Art after his bloodline awakening.

But the next moment, his eyes suddenly went black, and the world spun. "Thump!" He knelt on the ground, leaning on his saber, as blood dripped from his arm onto the ground.

Not good, too much blood loss!

Wang Yu muttered to himself, but he felt his whole body go limp and could not stand up at all. His heart sank.

Seeing this, the young man in white was stunned at first, but then burst into laughter. He held up his hand, and the silver fan in his palm spun continuously. With a flick of his arm, it turned into a silver wheel and flew toward Wang Yu.

Seeing this, Wang Yu could not stand up at all and felt his heart turn to ash, filled with despair. But at this critical moment, a mechanical, wooden voice rang out in his mind.

"Drip, drip... Host's mental fluctuations are severe, signs of life are detaching... Huge danger detected... Tai Yuan Auxiliary System passively activated..."

The next moment, Wang Yu, who had been unable to move, suddenly rolled on the ground, easily dodging the falling silver wheel, which drew a long arc before flying back into the young man in white's hand.

The young man in white was stunned, clutching the returned silver fan, his eyes narrowing.

"... System incomplete... Unknown energy detected... System is repairing itself with unknown energy... System has undergone abnormal changes... Repair complete... Beginning to scan host's body... Blood loss exceeds safety standards, secondary parts of the body have wounds, host has lost control of the body... Auxiliary system beginning to take over host's body, automatic protection mechanism activated... System entering overclocking synchronization mode... Blocking host's neural pain, blocking magnitude 99.8%... Muscles at physical damage sites automatically contracting, hemostasis level 84%... Automatically stimulating adrenaline, heart rate beginning to double... Predicted limit for host's body to perform extreme strenuous activity: 3 minutes and 36 seconds..."

Wang Yu stood in place, unmoving, feeling as if he were in a dream. ===== CHAPTER 14 =====