44 Chapter 44 (1/2)
Zhang Dong was soaring through the sky in Spirit Spring City's direction, he didn't see many people during his journey and he was getting bored. He tried cultivating while flying on his sword, but he found it rather hard to keep it flying forward while absorbing the spiritual energy from the surroundings at the same time. He almost suffered a backlash, so he gave up on the idea of getting his cultivation up while traveling. He slowly got used to this cultivator body, not really needing rest or sleep that much.
He didn't just do all nighters though, but he still flew fast with a couple of stops here and there. About two days passed like that and it was getting dark outside. He could hear some random beasts roaring in the background every time that happened but they weren't really a problem for him. Though for your average cultivator it was mostly not a good idea to travel at night without a larger party. He got used to traveling during the night as well, finding the moons in the sky to be quite beautiful as they lighted up the night-sky.
As he was drifting through the night like a white ghost, he noticed something in front of him. He squinted with his eyes and focused at the spiritual fluctuations coming his way. He saw a pair of cultivators running in the direction that he was flying from, though he was quite a bit further away. It was a female and a man, they both had similar looking light blue robes. The man was dragging the woman forward a bit as the two seamed to be fleeing from something or someone.
Matt tried looking behind the two people that were frantically running while holding on to each other. But before he could see anyone behind them an arrow pierced the fleeing man's shoulder. He did falter though, he tore the end of the arrow that was coming out of his shoulder and threw it to the side and kept on running with the woman next to him. They were slower now, the man started falling behind the woman that was now pulling him along instead.
Zhang Dong flew increased his speed towards them, he could see about 10 people behind the pair and after he got closer he could tell that the woman and man were actually more of a boy and a girl in their middle teen years. His vision was enhanced so he could see how the people that were chasing them had smirks on their faces.
*Why am I constantly running into people in trouble...*
He asked himself while increasing his speed, hoping that he would make it.
Zhang Liu and Xue were members of the unfortunate clan. They were brother and sister, he was 16 and she was 15. They were away from the city, gathering resources in the mountains which wasn't an odd thing to do for Clan members of their age. They were out of the city while the other clans and cultivators invaded. They couldn't get back as the defensive formation as already running. They had to look on in horror as their home was getting bombarded by the invading forces. They wanted to help out but they weren't stupid, they both knew that they were far too weak to help out. They swore in their hearts to take revenge after they escaped. But the two were discovered while they were making their escape and were now getting chased by the forces that were attacking their home city.
Zhang Liu felt a sharp pain in his shoulder where the arrow was stuck in, his little sister was pulling him along while he was trying to keep up. He was in much pain, sweat covering his body while the enemy cultivators were hot on their tracks.
”I'll hold them off Xue, you run take revenge for our clan!”
He knew that he was a burden by now, maybe if he held the attackers of a bit his little sister could get away.
”No big brother, I won't leave you to die!”
The little sister didn't want to let her brother just die here, her hand was tightly clenching his hand as the two were running in the fields. The problem with this was, that the enemies had a good archer and there were no trees or rocks to duck behind. You could heer an arrow whiz through the air followed by a loud scream.
”Oh no, big brother!”
Zhang Liu screamed out in pain as he felt a sharp pain in his calf as the arrow pierced the lower part of his leg, going right through it. He fell face-first onto the hard ground, wincing in pain. He looked at his leg and then to his sister, he knew that he was done for. There was no way that he could escape like this.
”Please, Xue you must save yourself, run and forget about me...”
The fifteen-year-old girl teared up as she went down to her knees, pulling at her brother as she tried supporting him upwards but instead got pushed away by him.
”Run, I'll stall them.”
He stood up with the help of his good leg while turning his back to his little sister, his eyes were focused and he was ready to fight till the end. He could hear other people coming and soon could see the ten cultivators in matching yellow robes coming out. His sister looked at her brother's large back, she remembered how once he carried her back home when she fell asleep. She whipped the tears from her eyes and instead of escaping stood next to her big brother, fire in her eyes as well.
”If we have to die, then we will die together big brother!”
Zhang Liu looked at his little sister and shook his head, he knew that she was very headstrong and there was no use arguing when she got like that. There was also no more time as he looked in front to see the cultivators moving to surround them, grins on their faces.
”Well, what do we have here, two Zhang whelps. Thought you could get away?”
One of the men said while grinning.
”Hey the girly on the left isn't half bad, let's have some fun with her!”
Another sleazy looking man said while licking his lips while glancing at Zhang Xue.
Lui instinctively moved in front of his sister to cover her, but it was looking bleak he could only glare at the people with his fists outstretched. The sister started backing away while in her combat stance, she had a saber with her. The two were backing away, they didn't want to be surrounded by their enemies that were moving closer and closer.
”Let's just kill the guy off, no use keeping him around.”