"...He has not left the residence today once again." In a secret base within Sea Spring, "He's like a rat."
"A rat does not kill three third chain experts alone." The man in red replied evenly, "He is more of a tiger, lying in wait."
"With the Lord Selection coming today, we should get moving. It is clear whatever he is doing, he has not submitted a ticket to participate nor has his clan seemed to be preparing for anything." He sighed, "What a boring man, to rot away for a month in hiding after such a move."
"Hm?" The red man turned his gaze to the slit in the safehouse they were in, his pupils dilating, "He's leaving! His clan is following as well!"
"What?!"
Looking through the slit, they saw a man in white with the emblem of a sword, it's wings spread out far and the flood dragon along the blade ferocious, the platform at the bottom resplendent.
"Give the order!"
He took out a crystal ball of sorts.
"All households begin extermination. I repeat, all households attack."
From the many safehouses hidden around the Shou Residence, countless powerful aura's of the third chain and some fourth chain rose!
"Ah!" The immense pressure weighed terribly onto the clansmen of the Shou!
"Run away!" Feeling an aura more powerful than their own patriarch's, they knew death was knocking and immediately their ranks broke.
Shou Xin didn't even turn around, his gaze focused on something else.
Cruel laughter came from around him as the third chain experts of the remaining clans, alongside many second and first chains appeared, their combined aura enough to rival a fourth chain expert.
"Hunt them down." Came the order between laughter.
Yet, as those second and first chain experts tried to go past Shou Xin, many swords flashed.
"Nine Sanguine Sword Art." The third chain experts' eyes narrowed; they knew of this from reports, "The third form is it? Sanguine Field."
Swords danced through space cutting down the first chain experts without any resistance and putting the second chain experts to near death though they managed to escape.
"If we want to pass, kill you first, is it?" Another third chain stroked his beard, "Why do you care for them so much still? They abandoned you, you know?"
His arm reached out, pointing at the lack of assistance he had with him.
"A clan does not run on what is given," Shou Xin said calmly, "Nor what is owed."
"Oho?"
"Then what is a clan run on, aye, abandoned little master?!"
Their mocking voices didn't pinch Shou Xin at all, as an insane smile slowly began to light up his face from ear to ear causing them to flinch instead.
"Trust. Love. Care. Respect." Shou Xin slowly walks forward, Fukkatsu cries to be released like the low hum of a fearsome flood dragon.
The third chains drew their weapons, the time for talking had ended.
"Perish, fool."
They rushed forward.
Shou Xins clouded eyes peeled back, revealing a dazzlingly starry gaze which had seemingly gone terribly mad!
"Nine Sanguine Sword Art," Shou Xins voice was low yet vibrating, "Fukkatsu KIru."
"Watch out! The true attack is hidden!" Those third chain experts with prior knowledge had no problem avoiding the attack and continued their offensive.
Behind Shou Xin, his Sanguine Field fought fiercely with the Second Chain Experts to stop them from progressing further, but much like rodents they would come and go quickly only perhaps one dying each time.
His eyes saw through the six incoming attacks but his body was not fast enough! His soul was not big enough to redirect enough Qi at once!
Fukkatsu exploded with maddening killing intent alongside the Sanguine Field, the burst like a volcano erupting and cracking the land!
The Second Chains who were caught off guard by it took massive casualties, almost all of them dying in the attack, but all of them most certainly taking injuries with his Sanguine Sword Qi entering their bodies!
The Third Chains however were only shocked briefly which allowed Shou Xin to instantly execute one with his Fukkatsu Kiru though the rest pushed through, breaking his defense!
Sword, glaives and spears came down from all angles.
His feet seemed to be caught in the flow of a river as he swiftly dodged the strikes, yet each one caught him on different parts of his body, leaving him riddled with wounds!
Fukkatsu seemed to be caught in a devastatingly beautiful dance of blood and slaughter as she burned through those he passed, leaving wounds greater than the ones he had taken.
As a lesson from the last time, if he could not fully dodge, then counter!
Shou Xin stood with an unbent back, Fukkatsu shone with the crimson blood of her adversaries.
As the third chain experts recovered their stances and brought up their fields of earth and fire, Shou Xin recalled his Sanguine Field, cutting away that expenditure of Qi!
With his soul now trembling and his Inner Sea in disarray, his organs burned wildly and his feet feeling terribly heavy he began to mutter.
"Nine Sanguine Sword Art."
"Quickly, kill him!"
"Before he gets the chance, now damn it!"
Countless waves of Qi shot towards him, killing intent battering his mind like raindrops in a storm.
He ran his two fingers along Fukkatsu's Hammon, a bloody glow appearing as his blood replaced that of those third chain experts, his lips moved ever so slightly.
"Sword Dragon Dance."
As his eyes opened, it was as though he were not about to die, nor even in a battlefield at all.
It was as though he were in a ball, and his partner was a flood dragon he had to catch up with at all costs.
Infusing Sword Aura, Qi and Killing intent into one move, his eyes seemed to see through everything before him, their weapon aura's feeling insignificant before him as they crashed in, only the qi he left in their bodies leading his way to them.
Seeing their trajectories, his soul almost shattered under the immense pressure of the technique.
Three seconds is all it could last.
In the first second, the qi waves had missed as he appeared on the other side of them unscathed.
Two seconds.
The third chain experts rushed him from all sides.
One second.
His qi within their bodies which was hiding, began to wreak havoc at the same time, providing an opportunity which he took.
Zero Seconds.
Fukkatsu laid loosely in Shou Xins grasp, three headless corpses surrounded him.
Two heads had managed to escape his technique on the verge of death using their own special means.
They stared at Shou Xin's back in horror, the emblem burned into their very souls as the epitome of… ruthlessness.
Despite their fear however, they did not run.
Charging forward they knew there would be no other chance like this if they let him grow any further!
Their blades pierced his body through, yet he did not bend nor fall.
Shou Xin's soul shivered as it threatened to shatter if not for the foundation keeping it safe.
Despite the dire situation, he smiled.
His little bit of qi which he had been hiding away rose in his Inner Sea, the countless energies in his body all swarmed towards it like ravenous wolves!
Yet, he sent the two strands swiftly out and into the blade of those two experts, causing an immense backlash to his own body making him pale as snow, but those two experts who sensed the coming qi tried to pull out their blades, but Shou Xin's muscles flexed, holding them there.
By the time they let go of the blades, it was too late.
They both began to cough up blood and fell, dying in a bloody mess of their own making.
Impaled by swords and bleeding enough to knock out a horse, Shou Xin let out a long, calm breath which coiled through the air like a dragon seeking the sky.
His smile was short, and wry.
He had stopped the bleeding for the most part, but he could not move well, having lost too much blood, not to mention those swords were aimed at his vitals.
"Those Feng spies, please tell Wuqing for me," Shou Xin smiled gently amidst the dead and dying, "Don't be sad, and don't… worry."
The light fell away from his starry gaze as it became clouded once again, he passed out on his feet.
—
"No!" Feng Wuqing shouted as she ran to him, "You said you wouldn't die!"
The guards who watched this from afar, felt a pang of guilt in their hearts for aiding in pushing these two youths off the edge.
As warriors, they felt nothing but shame for putting so much on such small shoulders.
Catching her, they stood before the scene itself and felt nothing short of admiration for the youth who had stood against all odds and won despite it costing him… everything.
"Why?" Feng Wuqing's face twisted in grief as she held her hands to her eyes, "Why did you give this to me?"
In her hands was the lucky charm, a little cat.
"I wasn't the one who needed it, why did I have to take it?" Feng Wuqing mercilessly blamed herself as she felt grief sinking in like a stone in her stomach.