Jiang immediately went into action. He hadn't accounted for the possibility of meeting a Foundation-Establishment wayfarer on the job. His figure blurred towards Layla.
Although he was fast, he wasn't fast enough to arrive in time to stop the first blow. He watched as some of his men were killed in seconds. If only they had an extra Foundation-Establishment wayfarer he wouldn't have had to worry about her.
Just as Layla's blade was about to end the lives of all his men, he tapped the ground, shooting him towards her like an arrow. He appeared in front of her in a matter of nanoseconds, placing the edge of his blade against hers, sliding it down and then locking its cross with hers. He forced the tip of Layla's blade to touch a wall in the alley. Almost immediately ice encased the rest of the building.
Jiang's men barely had time to process what had happened. But they gathered themselves and turned their focus to Ast.
Layla couldn't understand what had happened. This clearly wasn't part of the script. A serious strike from her should have ended this battle, yet everyone was still alive. And they were all gawking at Ast.
Her eyes fell onto the man that had a sword in a long. That honestly surprised her. Jiang's droopy brown eyes gazing into hers made her feel uncomfortable. She tried removing her sword with a simple burst of Qi but that failed.
She couldn't understand why a Qi-Gathering wayfarer had her sword locked. Something wasn't right with the sword. Now that she noticed it. It had a certain aura to it. It felt like something that didn't belong to this world. She felt how the earth's essence pushed and pulled it.
"A cursed blade?" Layla asked. "I haven't seen one before. But it seems you'd like me to have it."
"Missy," Jiang said, adjusting his accent. "Why don't we go our separate ways? You killed a few of my guys. We offended you; everything ends here. What do you think?"
Layla reached for a few strands of path qi. She only had a few after countless hours of cultivation, but she needed them now. The strands snaked from her dantian, to her arm and into her sword.
Her path qi empowered her, allowing her to snake out of the cursed sword's vice-like grip.
"I guess so," She said, dropping her blade to the side.
Jiang sighed in relief. He signalled. And his men shot out into different directions taking the wounded with them. At least the other party wasn't a total idiot.
"We simply want to get across the stream. Since you are from the Eastern side do you know Frisky Frisk?" Layla asked.
Jiang thought for a bit and realised a major problem. He did know Frisky Frisk. In fact he killed him with his bare hands as well.
"Why do you want to meet him?" Jiang asked sheathing his blade as a show of trust.
"We simply want him to help us with something," Layla said, sheathing her own as well.
"I don't know any, though I don't mind searching for him free of charge as long as you don't interrupt our business here," Jiang thought it best to act as polite as possible. He didn't want the situation to deteriorate now. Nor did he want to offend an expert for something so simple. He needed to investigate a few things about their relationship with Frisk before she thought of any attempts at their lives. Nor could he tell them that the guy was dead.
"I'll stay behind to complete a few duties," Jaing said. "I'll see the info I can find on Frisk. I'll be near the bridge tomorrow."
Layla chose to trust the other party for now. And she didn't want them to be here when the MPDS got here. She fished for a qi-disruption balm before crashing one. It wouldn't remove the Qi presence in the area from the battle they had. But it would definitely stop them from linking the qi-signature to her.
Ast barely understood what was going on. Ast wasn't feeling all too well. He barely did much during the battle. He wanted to intercept Jiang when he saw him coming down but for some reason his qi flow was blocked. He found that odd. He'd tried utilising qi a few times before and it always worked. Why didn't it work now?
Watching Layla in action drove home the message that he was suddenly useless in everything. Would he need her to save him each and every single time? What a pitiful life he'd have from now on. That needed to change. He didn't want to constantly be protected. Layla had done so much for him. She'd sacrificed her spot at Tranquil River Sect for him.
All he was was nothing but a freeloader at this point.
He jogged after Layla and crossed the bridge.