Cultivation System: Elder Edition

Chapter 330

Truths and Lies (XVI)

Light's eyes never wandered aimlessly; from the start, as others focused on the encroaching, shadowed figures, she focused elsewhere: on their Master.

Here and there she would toss an art as a distraction, but she could not get her eyes off of the man in the distance. The way he fought was brilliant, and he looked almost as amazing as her Father did!

He swung his sword against the two and held them back, toying with them by letting the fight drag on as he made it seem he was extremely weak so that the shadows would attack them, giving them ample opportunity to fight and become better.

Dai Xiu, as per usual, threw a tantrum on this side; Light frowned as she got distracted for a moment by her random yapping and missed Master cutting down one of the evildoers. He must have looked breathtaking! And she missed it!

All because Dai Xiu couldn't handle anyone being better than her.

She noticed it from a while back; the only one she tolerated was Senior Brother Tao, but that was because he would beat her black and blue if she tried it on him. With Sister Lan, she would always talk back and challenge her repeatedly, despite having never won a spar between them.

It was extremely childish! That was why she told her the truth.

"Because you'd die and Master would be sad." Though Dai Xiu shot her a dirty look, that was all there was to it. Unlike Xi Zhao, who seemed to tolerate her childishness and pettiness, Light never did!

And for whatever reason, though Dai Xiu didn't seem to like her much, she never did try and butt heads like she did with Wan Lan.

... was it because Light was young? She grinned inwardly without a care; she was the youngest, and they all gave her special privileges for it!

After shy Brother Rayce put on a pretty light show, Light was just about to compliment him when she heard him mumble, "Master... is really one of a kind..."

He understood it, too! Their Master's unique brilliance!

Light nodded, as though the praise was directed toward her, but didn't say anything as she slayed a villain that tried to attack her from the back.

They were all weak, she noticed—so weak it was kind of pathetic. The more she fought, the less she thought these were cultivators and instead were mindless ghouls throwing themselves in a fire.

But... she worried.

Not for Master, not for her Brothers or Sisters here, but for the boy that went up to the sky to face the city lord.

That old man... he was scary.

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Any time Light looked at him, it was as though she looked at some bottomless abyss of darkness. Like there was a deep and long shadow hiding behind his frame. Nobody scared her as much, not even that vile man who called himself Spirit Sage.

Though Brother Tao was strong... she was scared he would lose. If he died, their Master would be sad.

When she was sad, Master was there for her--he saved her. But could she save him? Her frown deepened, her mind elsewhere even as that woman-thing in the sky summoned some fire and lightning like she was in a circus.

Could she help Brother Tao?

... maybe. But her Father warned her, time and again, that she should never do it--not unless she was certain that all those who saw her would be dead by the end of it. But there were too many people, most at the edges of the lake, all still observing all of this.

Even that thick darkness that had enveloped Brother Tao and that old man wouldn't be able to hide her from the world. If they saw her... more trouble would come for Master.

No.

She should believe in Brother Tao and in Master.

They were the ones to instigate it, which meant that they had the means to deal with that old man, no matter how monstrous he was.

If it truly came down to it...

Yes, she would help! But only if there really were no other options, none at all!

**

Oh my God.

I'm fighting!

I'm truly, really, absolutely fighting for my life!

I mean, I've fought a few times before, but this time around, there wasn't Long Tao sneakily resting in my shadow, ready to jump out and save me.

There was just me, Lao Shun some forty feet next to me, fighting and protecting Xing Feng all at the same time.

And I was fighting two!

Two, not one!

They appeared as though from nowhere, jumping from both my sides; I pulled out the sword rather quickly as I practiced it before and managed to somehow deflect their attacks, though I got rattled in the process and lost my footing. Ever since, they continued pressing, both wielding swords that were slightly shorter than mine, trying to stab me.

I wasn't without wounds; quite a few gashes piled on, and blood had soaked into the fabric of my robes already, though I've also managed to inflict some pain in return.

For the one on my left, I did sneak in a rather nifty stab, if I say so myself; when he swung overhead, aiming for my neck, and I saw that his buddy over there was a bit late on his swing, rather than retreating, I pushed forward, managing to stab him just shy of his heart, though still through the abdomen. In return, I welcomed the knuckles of his hand as well as the handle of the sword directly by my shoulder, though as I've enveloped it with a sheen of Qi, save for some burst vessels and bruising, nothing else happened.

By the time his buddy attacked, I'd managed to reset the momentum and jump up the set of seats, dodging the swing of the sword aimed at my knees.

My heart was... well, it was beating as fast as it ever did. Watching the sheen of the gray-colored, slightly worn-out blades whizz by my face, mere inches away, was both terrifying and exhilarating.

The one on my left jumped quite high, about ten feet, and attacked, while the one on the right attacked from below; their coordination wasn't perfect, but it was good enough that it was annoying.

I dodged backwards yet again, climbing up a few more steps, deflecting the strike from above, and finally executing my 'brilliant plan'; I'd left a shadow just behind the one who struck below and appeared right behind him, swinging my sword instinctively.

I'd never used Shadow Steps before now, as I wanted to test out just how well I could do in a fight; however, seeing that crazy woman up there conjure some bullshit and seeing more and more cloaked figures attack the kids, I knew I had to draw some attention to myself.

The swing was precise, and the sword imbued with Qi easily cut through the neck, beheading the figure as the blood sprayed out. Despite it, the other man (woman? I really couldn't tell either way) didn't react at all--he simply attacked yet again.

I executed Shadow Steps yet again, disappearing and appearing just behind him; I swung, and he quickly pulled over the sword toward his neck... but I aimed at his heart.

Having killed both, I felt my adrenaline spike further--just in time to bear witness to just how truly monstrous my kids really are.