No Repeats

Confrontation with Yu Li

"Thank for indulging me, Captain. If you can indulge me one more time, I would like to walk with them down the mountain and once they are safe I will return here as soon as possible," said Shu Mei as she walked sideward towards the exit with the sword still against her neck.

"You leave me no choice Lu Bai, if you do not hold your end of the bargain, I assure you, the consequences will be dire. You should know I am a man without much patience, this will be the last time I will acquiescence to your request," he called after her in hopelessness.

Lu Tai is feeling very bitter at this moment, he is a highly revered captain, but he is being held hostage by the little girl. If it wasn't for his fear of the general, no matter how much he treasured her, this situation would be unacceptable. Oh, the shame! He felt the suffocating the weight of judgemental looks from his troops fall on him.

Shu Mei decided to ignore Lu Tai as she had no appropriate response. She is not narcissistic enough to think that Lu Tai likes her in that way and obviously, her relationship with Lu Tai is not to the level that he would risk the empire's success against their long-standing enemies. She knew in her heart that for whatever reason, she is special to Yu Li and that her life is valuable. She understood that Lu Tai's leniency is only because of his fear of repercussions from Yu Li should anything happen to her.

When she saw Bai Ye standing still and glaring at Lu Tai, she nudged him and whispered, "come on, do you want to die?"

Bai Ye begrudgingly took his eyes off Lu Tai and followed Shu Mei and the remaining disciples. Lu Tai watched the group leave and held up his hand signalling for all troops to remain in place. He waited until they were out of sight of the troops before following behind them. If they try to escape with Shu Mei, he will not hesitate to kill.

Lu Tai could see from a glance that Bai Ye had lost his core powers, even though his swordsmanship is excellent, he would not be a match for Lu Tai at this given point. The others are all mediocre at best and if Shu Mei obediently returns with him, there will be no bloodshed, but if not then none of them will leave Zhua Zhu mountain alive.

"Bai Ye and everyone, we have to part here. Stay safe and when I get a chance to explain to Captain Lu Tai properly, I'm sure the imperial army will stop targeting you for this," said Shu Mei as she looked at Bai Ye and smiled.

"Lu Bai, come with me? We can go into hiding until I recover my powers and then I promise you, no one will be able to oppose us and you will be able to fulfil your ambitions!" pleaded Bai Ye.

"No, Bai Ye, a life for a life, I have returned your debt. My captain has honoured his words but if I don't honour mine, he will ensure we die with out a proper burial place," said Shu Mei definitively.

Bai Ye looked at the determined expression on her face and understood that despite her gentle façade the true woman underneath is strong and sharp as a metal blade. He gave a sigh of disappointment but quickly cheered himself up with the thought that he would see her again once his powers are recovered. It wasn't easy to find her the last five years but now that he knows where they hide her and what she really looks like, there is no power that could hide her from him forever.

"In that case, I will find you again, so remember, don't fall in love with anyone else and rashly marry, wait for me. You know I am the best catch, handsome, charming, powerful and most importantly, I love you the most!" said Bai Ye with a wink.

Lu Tai shuddered as he heard those words while hiding nearby and wondered how can a man say such a shameless thing? Similarly, the man in expensive black clothes embroidered with silver dragons who stood a further distance away clenched his fist in anger.

Shu Mei smiled at Bai Ye's playfulness, it seems like he has recovered this side of his personality when the life and death situation had been diffused and she is glad. Pushing him away with one hand she waved for them to go as she made her way back to join Lu Tai. As she walked back, she felt great relief, like large stone had been lifted off her heart.

Shu Mei felt so glad and grateful that Bai Ye have survived this calamity and it will be only a matter of time for him to recover his powers. For herself she is also amazed at how she escaped death once again!

Suddenly it occurred to her that she should use her powers to hear their retreating footsteps and ensure that they have safely departed before giving herself back into the control of Lu Tai. She stopped and sat down on a stone ledge before mediating and sending out her powers in the direction that they departed.

Barely had her bottom touched the cold hard surface did Shu Mei suddenly bolted up and flew towards where Bai Ye was. Lu Tai hurriedly followed her tail, he is inwardly trembling at this point after hearing the conversation from afar.

"Yu Li! You do not deserve her, hiding her away and trying to possess her is not the way a man should love a woman!" shouted Bai Ye as he raised his sword to defend against an attack. The force of the opponent was too strong and his sword too sharp that with one blow Bai Ye's own sword was sliced in half and pushed back a few steps.

"You talk too much Bai Ye! Since you have lost your powers, I will fight you with only my sword so that you cannot complain that I have an unfair advantage," said Yu Li coldly.

Yu Li's strong and tall gently landed backwards to his original spot. He looked at Bai Ye with a complicated and cold expression, before flying towards him to engage in combat.

"Bring it on," retorted Bai Ye as he readied another sword that his disciple handed over to him.

"Unfortunately, we are on the opposing side with different objectives, otherwise I would welcome you to join us," said Yu Li as he rushed towards Bai Ye and aiming his sword at deadly weak points on a person's body.

Yu Li's swordsmanship is unmatched in this generation, as a rare one in a thousand-year genius, every move he makes is deadly and cuts through skin and muscles. Even though Bai Ye is himself an excellent swordsman, when compared to Yu Li, his skills are not evenly matched, and he started to sustain heavy injuries.

The fight between the two men was an exquisite sight to behold, fast paced and technical and drawing blood with every move. With only a few swift moves Yu Li had inflicted cuts all over Bai Ye's body which had been exhausted from the earlier battle with his troops. Compared to Bai Ye, the general only has a few cuts on his arm and looks at his opponent with his signature cold expression.

"Even if we were not on opposite sides, I will never join you, after all, how can I bow down to man who detains my love?" said Bai Ye with a smirk as he steadied himself.

"Who do you think is your love?" he said as he flew towards Bai Ye and inflicted a few more cuts on the man's chest and back with a series of fluid moves.

Bai Ye is completely exhausted at this point and looked around at his disciples who are staring at Yu Li in shock. They have never seen such well executed swordsmanship before, and if he wasn't there to take their lives, they would have fallen on their knees to worship him.

"Run you fools!" shouted Bai Ye as he used the sword in his hand to prop himself up from the ground. The disciples looked at the powerful general and then the ghastly sight of their leader hunched over a sword with blood dripping from his body. They wept and kneeled to him before running away. They weren't cowards, no, they just calculated Bai Ye's chance of survival and swallowed their pride. They needed to preserve their lives so that they can bring the information ack to their sect and rally Wulin to avenge their supreme leader. This deadly trap from the empire's army is too despicable and Wulin needs to retaliate.

Yu Li smiled coldly and threw a small curved sword that had been hanging by his side at the figures running away. In an instant the sword touched all their necks and sliced it clean off their bodies which were still in motion. Their heads landed first while the body finally toppled over a fair distance away.