Book 5 Chapter 30 – Protection

"The people here are innocent. How can do you such a thing?" Liu Meng spat out as the guardians encircled her and came closer.

"Innocent? Are you new here?" A toned man, covered by a full-body armor, scoffed at Liu Meng’s question.

"We should hurry up." An old man rather short in stature walked out from behind, looking up at the thunderous sky while waving his dragon staff.

"You brought this upon yourself." A woman wielding dual blades suddenly charged toward Liu Meng. She spun around in the air, preparing to deliver a deadly slash to Liu Meng’s chest, .

"Don’t come here!" Liu Meng yelled and before she knew it, her hands pushed forward, erecting a wall of fire between her and her assailant.

The woman was no longer in a position to halt her attack, so she gritted her teeth and made ready to burst through the wall of flames and cut Liu Meng down. However, her body disintegrated as soon as she made contact with the fire, leaving nothing behind but cinder.

"Phoenix fire?" Someone from the crowd recognized Liu Meng’s power.

"It’s pretty high level too..." Someone else added.

"NO! I’ll kill you for that!" The man in full armor roared in anger and picked up his broadsword. He jumped over the ditch Li Huaibei carved into the earth and charged at Liu Meng.

"Welcoming Phoenix!" Liu Meng waved her hand at the man, and a small bird made of flames flew toward the assaulting man.

Although he was expecting some kind of counter-attack from Liu Meng, the bird flew at such an extraordinary speed that he could barely raise his sword to try to parry it before it touched him. Instead of a deafening explosion, there was only a sizzling noise as the broadsword melted into a liquid puddle while the bird continued its journey after burning through the man’s torso.

The guardians who stood behind him, upon seeing the latter collapse with a gaping hole in his chest, scattered immediately, each fearing for their own life. The firebird continued its flight onto the city walls, traversing with no signs of slowing down and soon disappeared into the distance.

A dead silence reigned for a moment in the crowd. Some were even starting to wonder whether Liu Meng’s was yet another sage.

"Hundreds of us, and you’re scared of a little girl? Pathetic!" A voice was suddenly heard, and Liu Meng could already see her next challenger.

Liu Meng raised her hand again, sending three firebirds toward her enemy. However, this time, the attacker proved to have a much faster reaction, and after a few leaps, he appeared behind Liu Meng and thrusted his dagger toward Liu Meng’s heart.

Clink!

Another dagger appeared out of nowhere and blocked the one which was about to pierce Liu Meng’s heart. A man with a pale countenance appeared behind Liu Meng.

The attacker jumped back and threw a cold stare at the new arriver. ’So fast...’

"Eyeglasses..." Liu Meng turned back and saw her friend, who did not answer her call. Eyeglassses held his dagger with both hands and looked around, somewhat hesitantly.

"Another one? Today is a bargain sale for those who don’t fear death, I see..." The old man who led the group of guardians said as he raised his dragon staff and smashed it down toward the ground. A shadow that had the shape of a dragon appeared from where he stood and slithered toward Liu Meng.

"Moooooh!"

A strange growl was heard, and the dragon shadow suddenly stopped in its track, swimming back toward the old man even faster than when it emerged. The staff itself began to vibrate violently, preventing the old man from holding his weapon still.

"What is that!" The guardians looked in the direction of the growl and saw a hideous monstrosity appear from behind the ruins of a house.

It was a chimerical creature with a human head, an ox’ body, a tiger’s claws, and a serpent’s tail. It dragged its five-meter-long body toward the guardians menacingly.

"Sai Gao..." Eyeglasses recognized the creature.

"I’m different from you. It’s my duty to guard this place." Sai Gao interposed himself between the guardians and Liu Meng, glancing briefly at Li Yiming, who was still unconscious.

"A beast tamer..." A few whispers were heard. The guardians were confused at the continuous arrival of new enemies, including Li Huaibei, fighting against Heaven’s Laws which they promised to serve the day they climbed the Stage of Ascension.

"That’s not for us to worry about. Their demise is set... " One guardian took down an object which hung by his belt. A moment later and a laser blade appeared, its tip pointing at Liu Meng.

The other guardians also brandished their weapons, and slowly their expressions hardened. Most of them were not fearing a fight but were simply confused that someone from their ranks would oppose them on such a mission. However, the person who just spoke reminded them that reasons and motives mattered very little; what mattered ultimately was the annihilation of Lianyun City.

A savage roar resonated throughout the battlefield. It was not the guardians who struck first, but Sai Gao, who was imbued with the powers of Ya Yu and Bai Xi. He rushed into the crowd of guardians with bloodthirsty eyes. He did not care much about Li Yiming reason for betraying his own kind. His main focus was to kill all of the guardians who stood in front of him.

A bloody massacre erupted in an instant. Sai Gao was outnumbered by a hundred to one, and yet he used every single limb of his body to fearlessly kill his enemies, like a fierce tiger fighting a pack of wolves.

Liu Meng, who was still enveloped by fire, shot one firebird after another. After witnessing the power of these delicate creatures earlier, no guardian dared to underestimate their destructive power.

Eyeglasses also roamed around inconspicuously. After taking the vampiric serum, his speed had increased to an outstanding level, and he used it to protect Liu Meng. They both, however, could not move too far from where they stood as they needed to protect Li Yiming.

Although Liu Meng, Eyeglasses, and Sai Gao were both capable in their own rights, the foes they faced were not innocuous either. Most of them waited patiently for an opening to deliver a fatal blow, and, in the absence of it, tried to create their own opportunities.

After deflecting a bullet for a third time, a dagger suddenly appeared behind Eyeglasses — a vicious slash was aimed at his throat.

Just as Eyeglasses bent his body backward to dodge the attack, an almost transparent, ethereal arrow was shot at him. The moment Eyeglasses saw the projectile, he knew that he had no way out; if he dodged, Liu Meng would be struck down by it.

Eyeglasses gritted his teeth and prepared to parry the dagger at the cost of getting hit by the arrow. The man who was attacking Eyeglasses was ready to use the opportunity to deliver a fatal blow once the arrow was about to hit his target.

However, the next instant, he suddenly felt the ground beneath him warm up. A pillar of fire burst out from where he stood, and he was consumed by the flames in an instant. The arrow also flew into the fire and quietly burned away.

Eyeglasses let out a sigh of relief, but before he could say his thanks to Liu Meng, he suddenly felt a sting at his left shoulder.

Pow!

A gunshot noise was heard the next instant. It was the same kind of sniper rifle he used to use. ’A taste of my own medicine, huh...’

The moment Eyeglasses recoiled from the impact of the bullet, a blue bamboo stick appeared on the side of Liu Meng and made its way toward her chest. It was a young girl in her mid-twenties, wearing training pants, a jacket, and a pair of black running shoes, just like one would expect from a normal city girl. She had been waiting for an opportunity for a while already, and contrary to her young and naive demeanor, she had the experience and viciousness to find the right moment for the fatal blow.

Liu Meng had barely just finished casting her spell, leaving her defenseless, whereas Eyeglasses had yet to recover from being hit by the rifle shot.

’You’re dead...’ The girl smiled at the sight of her bamboo stick piercing Liu Meng’s heart.

However, the scene that unraveled before the eyes of the other guardians was completely different from what the girl was witnessing. Although she chose the opportune moment to strike, she stabbed air which was more than half a meter away from where Liu Meng stood.

Just as the rest of the guardians wondered why she missed by such a wide margin, a blue crescent appeared right next to Liu Meng and also flew at her.

’The perfect timing...’ Some of the guardians thought.

Instead of going for Liu Meng, it suddenly changed trajectory and cut the girl with the bamboo weapon into two. The bloodstained bamboo stick onto the ground with a clonk.

’Seriously?’ Some people were speechless. Not only had the blow missed, but it caused a friendly casualty.

Before the guardians could try to comprehend the situation a giant mech arrived right above Li Yiming, shooting out lasers and projectiles from the cannon tubes at its chest. Most of the guardians scattered while uttering insults at the person who had been stupid enough to try something like that. However, they quickly realized that it was, in fact, not an area of effect attack. Li Yiming and his friends were unscathed.

The mecha soon ceased fire and floated quietly in the air. The guardians raised their head and looked at the giant robot. Some had already recognized the model of the mecha: a level five construct.

The woman who killed her friend by "accident" earlier jumped out of the crowd and landed in front of Liu Meng. She glanced at Eyeglasses and shouted in an angry voice.

"Can someone tell me what the hell is going on here?"

Book 5 Chapter 31 – Demon’s Awakening

She had barely made it to Tian Shan in time, only to receive news that Li Yiming and Liu Meng had quit the team. That was then followed by Liu Meng getting surrounded by hundreds of hostile guardians. With very little time to think, Qing Qiaoqiao used her charm to immediately hypnotize the girl with the bamboo stick, leaving Qing Linglong to finish her off.

Then, Big Beard also showed up in time.

"I don’t think now’s the time for explanations." Big Beard’s voice came from the amplifiers attached to the mecha. He had an ominous feeling as he looked at the masses of guardians who surrounded Liu Meng. ’Is this why you’ve decided to quit the team?’

Qing Qiaoqiao stood in the crowd, worried sick about Li Yiming, whom she saw lying unconscious at Liu Meng’s feet, but she knew that it was not the right time to expose herself, since her talent would become useless if she joined the rest of her team.

"A couple more suicidal people aren’t gonna change anything." A snort of contempt was heard, and the guardians pointed their weapons at the giant mecha in the air.

Boom!

Six mortar shells and four fireballs were simultaneously hurled at Big Beard.

A stream of fire burst out of the left side of the mecha, swiftly launching itself to the right, and successfully dodging four of the incoming attacks while the rest were parried by the triangular shield attached to the mecha’s right arm. As the projectiles exploded, the mecha used the force of the blast to propel itself higher into the air and continued to bombard the crowd of guardians with its laser guns.

Liu Meng continued to shoot out firebirds as well, but at a significantly slower pace than at the start of the fight. Her sporadic attacks, coupled with the suppressive fire of Big Beard, made a quite deadly combo.

Even with Qing Linglong reinforcing him, Eyeglasses’ task of keeping the entire squad safe was no less easy. At first, the guardians were carefully testing out the waters more than anything, but as the battle prolonged, they started to show more aggression, and some had even begun to use their ace in the hole that they only reserved for their worst enemies. If it were not for Qing Qiaoqiao’s interference at every crucial moment, Li Yiming and his friends would have been dead a long time ago.

Even with Qing Qiaoqiao’s assistance, Eyeglasses, Qing Linglong, and even Liu Meng, were beginning to suffer wounds. Liu Meng, in particular, had received a nasty gunshot wound to her left leg.

However, the infighting between the guardians were nothing compared to the massacre that Sai Gao committed. The latter had no choice, no pity, and already lost track of how many bodies he had ripped apart.

Sai Gao slashed his paw and crushed yet another skull. With a whip of his tail, he struck away a guardian who was ready to attack him from behind. After removing the sword which was planted in his abdomen, his body grew even bigger. The golden glow on his serpent tail suddenly dimmed, and the two guardians he stared at with his red irises suddenly fell down on the ground, lifeless. This was Bai Xi’s secret technique, death stare.

However, just as Sai Gao committed to his attack, he received four more blows in his back. Each of which cut through his flesh and reached his bones. One arrow pierced through his ribs and even brought out what looked like a piece of intestine.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three loud explosions were heard. The stronger guardians finally made their move. Three mechas of equal size to Big Beard’s mecha propelled themselves into the air, along with what looked like a golden skylark. This choked Big Beard’s suppressive fire instantly, as he had to be careful when fighting as his new foes, even when each of them was one level inferior.

Liu Meng’s firebirds were coming out even slower than before, and even her walls of fire were not as imposing anymore. As the main killing threat, she had finally begun to tire herself out, but she knew full well that she could not give up, especially not with Li Yiming at her feet, completely defenseless.

It was obvious to the guardians that their enemies were wearing themselves out. Qing Linglong and Eyeglasses were covered with wounds. Eyeglasses had already slowed down considerably and Qing Linglong’s crescent blades were beginning to turn dull from the frequent slashing at her enemies.

"I’m sorry..." It was an expected situation, but Liu Meng knew very well that she was the one who dragged her teammates into this deadly struggle.

Her teammates did not answer her and simply continued to kill those who stood in front of them.

A piercing shriek was heard in the sky. Sai Gao raised his head and his heart sank.

It was the Thunder Eagle, who fell with a broken, charred left wing: it had finally succumbed to the rain of fire.

After all, a mythical beast, without the augmentation from the formation, was nothing more than a mortal creature, destined for defeat against the onslaught of Heaven’s Law. Fortunately, the meteor shower stopped as well, as if some kind of intricate balance was being kept even amidst all the chaos.

"Moooh!" Sai Gao emitted a painful groan and whipped the ground with his tail. Bloody tears flowed out of his red eyes.

The next moment, an ethereal shadow came out of the eagle’s corpse. It was a miniature black sparrow with golden claws, purple eyes, and colorful feathers. It flew straight into Sai Gai’s head at an incredible speed.

As Thunder Eagle gave its soul to Sai Gao, the latter’s roar grew even louder. A guardian, who had jumped into the air and was about to chop Sai Gao down with his battleax, was pinned into the air by something that had emerged from Sai Gao’s back.

It was a pair of wings, decorated with colorful feathers that were as sharp as steel blades. As the wings flapped, Sai Gao’s size grew into an eight-meter beast.

Sai Gao emitted another roar, only this time it was different from the cow-like noise before. Sai Gao flew into the air with his newly-acquired wings, looking more and more like an ancient dragon.

"No more holding back. We need to finish them off quickly." An angry shout was heard from the ranks of the guardians. One of them jumped into the air with a giant cannon mounted to his shoulders. The large, hollow cannon tube was covered with golden glyphs, and tremendous power was gathering within it.

He knew that Liu Meng and her friends were protecting Li Yiming, who was still unconscious. Therefore, he would force them to move.

"Southern-fire Beam? Move!" Eyeglasses yelled. He knew the power of a level-five blast.

Eyeglasses sprinted away along with Qing Linglong. A pair of wings made of fire grew out from Liu Meng’s back, and she pulled Li Yiming away from where he lied.

A deafening explosion was heard, and a small mushroom cloud formed where the three stood seconds ago. Even the guardians scattered, afraid to be caught in friendly fire.

The violent gusts of winds resulting from the blast blew Liu Meng and her friends apart and broke their defensive formation against the guardians.

Liu Meng, who carried Li Yiming on her back, rolled a few times on the ground. Before she could even stand back up, a lance that struck at her from above forced her to let go of Li Yiming and jump sideways.

"I’ll kill you first!" A blow was directed at Li Yiming.

"Yiming!" Liu Meng yelled right as Li Yiming was about to be beheaded.

Just as the blade was barely an inch away from Li Yiming’s neck, it was suddenly caught by two fingers.

"Yiming!" Liu Meng dodged yet another attack and was overjoyed at seeing Li Yiming wake up from his coma.

A sizzling noise was heard, and the man who struck at Li Yiming collapsed with a puff of smoke come out of his head. Li Yiming sat up with a sudden movement that was seemed extremely unnatural.

"Hehehe... hehehe... hehe...." Li Yiming produced a sinister laugh that Liu Meng had never heard before.

"Aaaah!" The three guardians around him did not care about Li Yiming’s bizarre behavior. They only wanted to see their enemy dead.

A blast of electricity, and the three stopped dead in their tracks, their bodies charred by a million volts.

"Hehehe... Hehehe..." Li Yiming let out another sinister laugh. He finally opened his eyes, which were completely black. It looked like he was possessed by some kind of demon, and the temperature around him suddenly fell.

Li Yiming slowly raised his hands, his eyes fixated on his fingers, as if they were some kind of work of art.

"Hehe... Hehehe..." The creepy laughter was heard once again.

The next moment, Li Yiming suddenly vanished and appeared in front of seven different enemies at the same time. The seven blurry silhouettes thrust their fists into the chest of their respective enemies simultaneously and disappeared right afterwards.

Li Yiming had returned to where he stood the next moment. As his enemies collapsed, he raised his hand and licked the crimson liquid on the tip of his fingers.

Is male vanity proportional to the size of one’s non-existent harem? (:thinkingface)