Despair

Lian Qiu and the group he was with were in a bad shape, the mere shockwaves of the battle had made many of them injured despite the efforts of Lian RuXue trying to protect them.

His head hurt as blood flowed down the side of his face, his left arm was broken as he barely managed to stand up. His clothes were in tatters, some parts burnt.

He was not in a good condition and yet he didn't seem to pay much attention to himself as his Qi moved to his fan and he flew to the center of the battle.

'Is he okay?' He was unexpectedly ignoring himself and rushing in to check on Ling Tian. "Live... Live... Live..." He muttered to himself as he approached the center in no time.

Lian RuXue coughed due to the dust in the air as she looked back at the group, seeing their situation she frowned, 'I only managed to protect myself and those on the front... By the commotion caused this place will be flooded with enemies soon since we are close to their base. Must leave...'

She commanded them to regroup and quickly leave even if they had to drag their bodies.

"Commander, Brother Lian is missing..." one of them said to her which angered her, "WHERE IS HE?!" She shouted and suddenly turned silent as she realized herself, 'That fool went to save him... I need to go there!'

She left some instructions and quickly flew on a sword to the direction of Ling Tian.

Lian Qiu arrived and saw the heavily injured duo who had passed out on the ground, he didn't spare a glance at Mo Hui as he quickly landed beside Ling Tian and checked his condition.

'Not Good!' he quickly analyzed as he took a pill and put it in Ling Tian's mouth then poured water from a bottle in his mouth but couldn't force the pill down, he frowned but didn't hesitate as he took a deep breath then poured water to his own mouth and force-fed it to Ling Tian which forced the pill down. He tore part of his robe and quickly wrapped it around his chest to stop the bleeding a little.

He then put Ling Tian on his back and stood up, his eyes caught sight of Mo Hui and he paused for a moment, 'Should I?' he hesitated for a moment but took the Blood Bringer Sword from the ground and stood before Mo Hui.

He seemed to struggle with himself, 'Is this right? There is no honor...' He noticed the tears that were still on Mo Hui's face which made his struggle greater. 'Why would he cry?! A devil cultivator crying?!!'

He brought the sword up but didn't strike down...

As he was in conflict with himself, a group of Devil Cultivators seemed to approach from afar, many black dogs with red horns and glowing red eyes followed them; Each dog was the size of a small hill and shook the ground as it sprinted toward his location.

He noticed them and strengthened his resolve, 'There is no honor in war... It is either us or them!'

He struck down but his sword didn't reach Mo Hui's neck, It was stopped by a faintly shining barrier.

He noticed a necklace on Mo Hui's neck and frowned, 'A protection treasure? By the looks of it, it was meant to activate when he was at death's door... Only Devil scions have them which explains his power to stand up to Ling Tian. I need to retreat then...' He quickly thought as he jumped on his flying fan and ran away with Ling Tian on his back.

The group of Devil Cultivators approached the site a minute after he had left, their leader was a middle-aged man with an ugly scarred face. He looked down and saw Mo Hui then frowned, "Soldiers, the enemy is nearby, have the Red horned dogs sniff their sent and track them. 2 of you come here and escort Lord Mo back to the castle, Guard him with your life."

They followed his command as he reached beside Mo Hui and inspected his condition behind the barrier, 'It must have been an equal battle and by the waves of Qi we felt, not of Heavenly awakening realm; It must have been a Dao scion since Dao Empire forces are coming here... This is going to be troublesome. I can't face a Dao scion so we must kill the scion before he recovers...'

He stood up and inspected the surrounding and found a blood pool near Mo Hui, his frown vanished, 'This blood must belong to the scion, the dogs can track with that. Good!'

"Bring the dogs here!"

Lian Qiu ran to his sister mid-way and he turned a little pale, she sighed in relief and reprimanded his recklessness as they quickly returned to the group and departed with haste. Due to the battle, all the demonic beasts had run away so they didn't encounter any enemy.

They flew at low altitudes as they left the edges of the Forest and found themselves in a rocky mountain range covered in sharp crystals, the crystals reflected the light of the glowing ones in the 4-mile high ceiling of the dungeon at this part which caused a magnificent sight; It was as if the mountains were glowing in rainbow colors.

Their condition was not good so they decided to rest, since each crystal was massive, they easily found a suitable place under one.

Lian Qiu quickly put Ling Tian down and turned toward his sister, "Give me some medicine, the bleeding was caused by a Cursed sword so it won't heal easily..."

Lian RuXue looked at him and said calmly, "I understand that you feel grateful to him for what happened back then but he won't be able to fight, I checked his conditions and he will naturally heal in a few days, his lifeforce is extremely tenacious and strong. Putting medicine on him won't help us since he won't recover for a few days no matter what we do due to overusing Qi and damaging his veins; It is better to save it since we don't know what will happen... Just obey me."

Lian Qiu was not scared this time, on the other hand, he was enraged, "Why are you so ungrateful?! If not for him, we would have died several times over! Give me the DAMN MEDICINE NOW!!"

The surroundings turned deadly silent as Lian RuXue coldly looked at Lian Qiu, "I have a responsibility as the commander of this group and my judgment is that it won't help the majority if I give him curse healing medicine; Whether he is given it or not, he won't be able to fight or use Qi for 2 days due to Qi overuse as I said before. He won't die and will recover in 3 days if he doesn't take it, I don't see a benefit if he wakes up 1 day sooner. We have a very short amount of it and it is best we conserve it for the future. Now shut up!"

Lian Qiu spat on the ground as he walked away with anger, "I expected more from you..." he whispered in disappointment. He felt a little regret over the fact that he had given away leadership but he quickly ignored it and sat beside Ling Tian and used his Qi to help him recover. Even if it didn't help much, it stabilized him a little.

The group began whispering to each other about Lian Qiu's sudden change. It was the 1st time he had stood up to Lian RuXue and he didn't feel intimidated or afraid, it was as if his timid nature was nowhere to be seen because of Ling Tian.

Lian RuXue felt pain in her heart, 'Why won't he understand?! I have to consider the group's benefit and survival in this damn war! This idiot! We will not be fighting for 5 days and rest; He will be perfectly fine in that time...' She was frustrated but calmed down and walked out to stand guard.

A few hours later, she saw a group of Devil Cultivators and their gigantic dogs moving in their direction. She turned pale as she looked at their numbers, '10...50...200...600?! We can't face that many in our condition! How did they track us?! Those dogs are... They must be tracking us with the scent left behind by Ling Tian on the battlefield! That's the only possibility.'

She hurriedly went inside and shouted, "Prepare to head out! The enemy is tracking us with red horned dogs!"

The group quickly prepared and a few seconds later, they flew away as fast as they could with Lian Qiu carrying the unconscious Ling Tian.

Thus began a very bitter game of chase began. Lian Qiu's group was not in a good condition and had to constantly rest while the group that chased them did not stop and thus constantly gained on them.

A dozen hours passed...

Their Qi ran low as their tired and injured bodies caused them a lot of pain to fly. Some of the weaker ones had fallen unconscious and were being carried by others. The magnificent scenery of the seemingly endless Mountain range looked more like a graveyard to their eyes. The reaper chasing behind them ready to take their lives.

It didn't take long for everyone in the group to have dark thoughts as they looked at Lian Qiu and Ling Tian, 'If only we got rid of the thing they keep tracking us with...'

They knew it had to be Ling Tian and Lian Qiu since only the two had been at the location that was center of the battle which the enemy had found the track.

Ling Tian's consciousness was slowly returning, he could hear the wind and realized he was being carried by someone as they flew. He tried to talk but he was too exhausted to even open his eyes, he could only hear the surroundings.

Despite being friends and comrades, the despair of their situation was causing them to have dark thoughts and it only became worse as time passed by. The lingering shadow of Death and their desire for survival was overcoming their sense of comradeship and gratitude.

Lian RuXue noticed it and she knew that she had to do something as the leader. She suddenly stopped and looked at Lian Qiu. The latter stared back with a puzzled face, "What is it?"

She said with great determination, "Drop him here, that is an order!"

Lian Qiu's eyes widened in rage, "WHAT?! How dare you suggest such a thing?!! Are you even my sister?!"

The group didn't just standby and watch, they instantly joined her.

"Brother Lian, listen to your sister! She is the commander!"

"Yes, we have to choose! Either one of us dies or all of us!"

"Indeed, I am sure brother Ling would have also chosen to stay back and sacrifice himself for us!"

Lian RuXue snapped, "Shut up, All of you! Lian Qiu, as the commander of this group, I order you to drop the core disciple Ling Tian here and escape with us. If you disobey, it will count as treason and you will be banished from the sect per law."

Lian Qiu looked at everyone with wide eyes, 'Why are they looking at me as I am their enemy? Why are they looking at Ling Tian with hatred, was it not him who saved their lives?! Why is my sister like this? When did she become like this? What is wrong with these people?!!'

He snarled in rage as he shouted, "Is this your gratitude and loyalty?! HAHAHA! Sister, I expected more from you but it seems I was a fool! I, Lian Qiu proud son of Lian Shuren, swear to heavens that I will never forsake my dignity and loyalty!!"

Lightning cracked in the world as Lian RuXue turned pale, "Shut up you Fool! Don't you see that we will die if we bring him with us any more than this?!"

Lian Qiu roared, "So what if we die?! At least we will die with our honor and dignity! What makes us different from those Devil Cultivators if we abandon our saviors and comrades?! Answer me!!!!"

The group was silenced by his roar, he continued, "Is life like that worth it? I will never abandon Ling Tian, he is my brother in all but blood; If he is to die, then I will accompany him to Hell if so!"

The group began shouting back that they didn't care and he had to choose either Ling Tian or them.

Lian Qiu thought of the past experiences he had outside the sect and realized that life was so much more outside the walls he had built for himself in the sect. He was free and it was all thanks to Ling Tian; The two of them had experienced a lot in the short time they knew each other...

He felt extremely repulsed by abandoning his friend so he could survive so he decided instantly.

He turned around and flew away and left only one sentence with disdain, "I would choose him over you a thousand times over... I hope you survive, sister."

Lian RuXue was enraged but before she could charge with her sword, a hand suddenly blocked her, "Commander, you know that he has an emergency spatial talisman in his ring given by Great Elder Lian; He won't die so don't bother. We don't have such luxury."

Lian RuXue calmed down and nodded, 'He doesn't know that father placed one in each of our rings... When he is at Death's door, he will be teleported to Father... he will regret this and will apologize to me later.'

The group flew away...

Lian Qiu's eyes blazed with determination as he flew forward on his fan, 'Brother Ling, don't worry. I will make sure we survive no matter what!'

He didn't notice two tears trickling down Ling Tian's face...

'Is this true friendship? It feels so warm...'