74 5 Steps to danger part 3 (1/2)

Xin Fan closed his eyes. There was only one thing he could do: pray. To whatever god that was above, he prayed. Time seemed to have stopped at this very moment. He could hear everything around him. The sounds of small insects buzzing. The sounds of the grass rustling against the wind. He could even hear the sound of the blast of energy heading his way. There was a sound of feet touching the ground behind him.

*Boom*

Time had resumed. A large explosion sounded out behind him. He knew that his plan had worked because well, he was still standing there. The blast was no joke. He could feel the searing heat, that pure form of energy radiating behind him. Xin Fan turned around to see the specter slowly burning away in a bright flash of light. Each and every particle of the being was slowly becoming disintegrated. The sounds of the metal hitting the earth rang as the specter's arms slowly fell apart. Although it didn't have a proper face to emote with, Xin Fan could feel the genuine hatred it had towards him. It was an instinctual feeling, as if it was coded into his body to feel it.

*Ting*

The ringing of a key hitting the ground brought the end to the defeat of the specter. The key was surprisingly small, around the same size as a coin. The silver edges glowed an ominous red and blue as it reflected the starlight. Xin Fan knelt down to pick it up gingerly, making sure he didn't accidentally snap it.

”XIN FAAAN!”

”Huk!”

Xin Fan felt a soft sensation his back. A pair of arms were wrapped around his waist as he felt something wet on his shoulders. It was a cold night yet he felt warm.

”Hic...Hic...”

Xin Fan sighed letting the tears slowly get absorbed into his robe. He knew himself that what he did was reckless. There simply was not time to explain. Chilong slowly walked up to him. He dragged the axe behind him as if he was exhausted. He stared at Xin Fan in the eye. Xin Fan felt a strong force beneath his jaw.

*Crunch*

”Xin Fan!”

Chilong with his fist in the sky stared down on Xin fan. He had quite the annoyed look on his face.

”What's that for!?”

”You know why I did it.”

Xin Fan was about to retort but he stopped before he said anything.

”Why did you not tell us? Why do you never tell us anything?”

Chilong had a fierce expression. His fists were clenched still shaking. Xin Fan could not tell whether it was from anger or exhaustion.

”If you were gone...who will I fight. If you were gone...who would I talk to.”

Xin Fan felt the raw emotion in his eyes. It was as if two people were talking. Chilong looked away and started to head to the door. The atmosphere was awkward. It always had been. Xin Fan rubbed the now growing bruise on his chin. Tianfei was helping him up as he felt slightly disoriented.

”Don't worry about him. He only means well.”

Xin Fan struggled to get up.

”Yeah...I know. It is my fault.”

Xin Fan turned and looked at Tianfei. Although it was mostly healed, Xin Fan could still see a slighly red line marking across her cheek to her right eye. It seemed that the balm's effects were limited and couldn't heal it completely. He felt a twang of guilt in his heart as she whole heatedly supported him up. If only he had figured it out sooner, this could have been avoided.

”You're face...”

Tianfei shook her head. She just smiled as if she didn't really mind the injury and rubbed away the tears in her eyes.

”It's fine.”

Xin Fan slowly climbed the steps up to the door. Chilong was leaning against it, waiting for him.

”Sorry...if that hurt.”

”It's no problem.”