Born Of The Lotus

Chapter 75: Gloating to the Enemy

A/N: Long chapter ahead.

Mudan

I had thought before that I knew what death looked like. But the chaos around me proved me wrong.

Every fight was strenuous and ardent, like two storms colliding with each other. I could barely breathe as I fought. Everything just dulled out to me in various sounds. The slashing of swords. The clashing of metal. The squelch of wounds being cut into skin.

This is Hell.

"Mudan!" Meiqi screamed from behind me. I whipped around to see her backed against a tree, her hands maintaining a Zen field infront of her. Her Energy was being suppressed with the Energy of a Bai He. Her arms trembled as the strength of the Bai He's field increased against her's. She was holding on for dear life.

I flew over to her with my spear, ready to put the blade in the centre of his neck, but I was tackled off my feet and into the ground. I gasped in shock as a Bai He mounted me and unsheathed a knife aiming for my neck.

I swept her arm to the side, charging up a Zen ball to burn her. The Bai He pulled my wrist and tried to overpower me. It was a battle of strength. Meiqi was screaming in the background as there was an exchange of blasts. I gritted my teeth in frustration.

The Bai He was about to swing her knife when she froze mid-way. I stared wide-eyed as the tip of a sword poked out of her stomach. Blood seeped through her robe and spread over the wound. Her eyes were wide and empty. She slid off my torso and hit the soil.

Shen stood right behind her, holding his hand out to me in urgency. "Come on, there's more of them!" He shouted at me. I took his hand and let him pull me up, my face still wearing shock.

I picked up my spear and searched for Meiqi. She was alive still, with the Bai He who attacked her dead on the floor with a dart sticking out of his neck. She bowed shakingly to Shen. He must have saved her too.

"There is a battle within the courtyard, we have to maintain the area so no one gets away," Shen told us, his chest heaving. There were already spots of blood on his robe. But they were not his. "Follow me!"

We ran around the wall, striking down whoever appeared in our sight. We froze in our tracks when someone jumped over the wall wielding a wooden sword. It was a boy. He didn't look older than fifteen.

I looked at Shen anxiously, unbeknownst of what to do. Shen stared at the boy with hard eyes, but made no attempt on his life. The boy stood frozen in his tracks, shivering as his face was spotted with blood.

I held out my hand toward him, showing that I was lowering my weapon.

The boy shot up in a defensive position, holding his wooden sword out as though it would help his case. "Stand back! I won't hesitate!"

"Mudan... what are you doing?" Shen questioned me.

"I know you are not going to kill him. So let us just let him go."

My words were barely newborn when an arrow zipped through the air and entered the boy's chest. He hit the surface of the wall, sliding down with a horrified expression on his face. My blood ran cold just watching it.

"Who-?"

"I'm sorry," Meiqi said and bowed behind us. We whipped around in unison where she lowered her bow. "But if we had let him live, he would have grown up wanting to seek revenge. We cannot have any loose ends. It is not what Old Master would want."

"You are right, Meiqi," Shen admitted with difficulty. "It is essential that we only do what we are ordered. No one can leave alive." I stared in disbelief at the ground. I knew they were right, but that did not make me feel less nauseous.