Fearlessly stepping into the sky, Xiao Wun held his sword in hand.
Eighth Chain.
His strength under Lady Mu had skyrocketed in the last months, being thrown into the worst situations with no restraint.
"Little Xiao. What's happening?" Her words were well-set and unmoving, as though a wall.
He shook his head.
Eyes turning to the distance, he slowly began.
"Lady Mu left in the morning." She flinched slightly, but he continued, "The Mythic Mountain, Nine-Tailed Fox Cave, Seven Calamity Cave and other great powers in the Flying Isles are convening for a summit to discuss something, which forced her to leave earlier than expected. We are alone, Sister."
The light in his eyes dimmed, he could sense it before anyone else, as the strongest here.
An overbearing aura which stretched over the canyon like a creeping shadow, slow yet unstoppable in it's march.
Slowly drawing the sword from it's sheath, he prepared.
"When the formation activates, we must all attack immediately. All or nothing." His conviction drew in the fleet and propped them up as they prepared for combat.
However, his hand trembled with despair.
The Clan had been left to him yet even after defending against the coalition and beating them back, he was still not strong enough to defend the clan.
He was still weak, the truth bit at him so mercilessly, revealing itself in his trembling hands.
He bit his cheek, drawing blood in order to stay the shaking.
A hand landed on his shoulder, giving off a kind of warmth, though he realized it too was trembling.
Looking back, he saw Yui Luo, his reliable sister who took care of all the treasury affairs, shaking like a leaf, at least she looked terribly afraid and panicked.
Though, he knew it was not for herself.
In the time following that battle, he knew how she grieved the loss of their people.
He knew how she paid a visit to all of their families, and grieved even more so for those who did not have a family to retrieve their bodies and grieve for them.
He knew how much war really meant to her.
Yet as he fell into thought, she pointed down at the wall.
Liu Gang shouted orders!
There was no slacking on the walls and he did not tremble at all. His voice firm as a mountain is steady.
"Ready the cannons!" Walls lit up with formations, the ship in the distance about to enter into the Great Sanguine Sword Formation's range.
Balls of Qi began to form around the countless array which had lit up the walls.
As they all looked forward, ready to attack however, Liu Gang faltered.
Memories surged.
Men he couldn't save.
Women who fell so mercilessly into the mud.
'Warriors all, died like warriors,' he would tell himself, but his trembling soul and shaking mind told of a different story.
"Dead is dead." He muttered to himself with balled fists, those faces were engraved into his mind though he dared not engrave their names into it as well, he did not feel he deserved to know their names.
Not after his failure to save them.
As a warrior, he faced forward.
As a man, he could not help looking back.
"We will do our duty to the last." His words spread over the walls.
They did not know of what true, equal and large scale combat had looked like till that day, and it was not until that day had ended that the price truly struck and the happiness of victory was washed away before the sun had gone down.
Now as he looked at the prospect of large scale battle, he only felt desolation and unwillingness.
To put his own life on the line was one thing, but to be in charge of so many, to know their names, have laughed, drank, trained and lived together and then have their faces burned into ones mind at the moment of their death.
It was no easy thing.
Yet, he shook it.
Now was not the time to be thinking of that.
It was time for battle.
—
Xiao Wun watched as Liu Gang forcefully shook off the memories, he could not tell what was wrong with his brother, but he knew that he was different, as though fighting despite not moving.
"Everyone is doing their best." she whispered.
The blade in his hand began to glow, and his heart began beating.
Yui Luo smiled gently, slowly raising a hand into the sky to signal the fleet.
Countless arrays lit up the sky.
With the walls and the fleet, there was enough firepower to kill a Law Expert if hit directly!
His sword hummed.
He slowly walked forward, off the bow of the ship and into the sky above the walls, "We can do this."
—
A voice which sent shivers down their spines rang through the air, "Such a warm welcome, for your dear older sister?"
Immediately, in the distance the many arrays and formations went down, getting dimmer and dimmer.
Cao Yue cowered behind her, scared to look forward, the immense pressure weighing down like a mountain on her little mind.
From the city, cheers erupted!
If the Matriarch had returned, then surely so did the Patriarch, which meant the clan was safe once again!
Yet, as the ship approached and they prepared to receive them, they did not see him, instead a child clutched to their matriarch's legs.
Xiao Wun slowly approached with a somber look, dropping to his knees before her, "...Senior."
She looked down onto him, and saw that those on the walls as well as the two hall masters were shocked by these actions, they didn't understand either.
Only Xiao Wun truly knew what was going on in this moment.
The ship beneath her feet disappeared and she stepped onto the sky, walking down invisible steps only stopping a step before him, "What is it, little Xiao?"
He wavered, for a moment.
His voice cracked, "I-,"
She did not interrupt.
He continued pushing on, "We lost people, Senior. There was a battle. I was too weak and we lost people."
His head was lowered so far that if it went any more it would be in the ground.
"Our family has shrunken to only what you see here," A stream of tears slowly began to fall from his face wetting the ground beneath him, "It's my fault, please punish only me."
"Hmph." Before she could say a thing, Yui Luo looked angered as she fell to her knees beside Xiao Wun looking at him coldly, "All your fault? Do you even remember all their names? I could list them out on my death bed perfectly. It was my fault, Senior. I should have done better."
"Is it truly anyone's fault but my own?" Liu Gang dragged himself forward and onto his knees with a crestfallen gaze, "Their faces, I could still see them laughing, yet now all I can remember is that frozen look right as they died. I led them, it is my fault for failing to protect them."
Cao Yue's eyes sparkled.
She'd heard of the many stories of just cultivators who were great of heart and wandered the heaven's killing everyone and taking revenge against those that harmed them.
Yet, as she watched this display of love towards one another, even at the cost of their own detriment, she felt that this was a much better story.
Quietly, she took out a little notebook and jotted it down.
Yet, she stopped mid-way, looking at the person in question to whom they bowed.
Her master, The Enchanting Fist Feng Wuqing.
She was aloof in her nature, and looked down over them, running her eyes over the crowd of clansmen.
They were stronger now, most had reached the fourth stage as battle cultivators by now.
Yet, there were far less.
Of the many who were here once, only a few dozen had survived, adding up to barely a hundred.
They'd lost many.
She felt the pang in her heart, and ache.
When she was about to give her verdict, those clansmen began to fall to their knees.
"Please, punish us as well. It was out job to survive and protect one another."
They echoed, "Please, punish us!"
Cao Yue quietly watched all of this with baited breath, never had she seen so many strong people in the same place, and kneeling no less.
Her grandfather had told her of the cruelty of cultivators, yet this was clearly different.
These did not feel like the cultivators she had met either though, it was as though she'd stepped into a painting.
Then, the unthinkable had happened.
The painting began to move.