Loyal, Brave & True

Chapter 9

The next day, the campaign was about to start once again. Inside the Uncleaned Realm, on the main yard, clan disciples from the 4 big clans stood in 4 rows as the mighty Nie Mingjue gave his speech.

At the sides, stood all the clan leaders with Zhouan, Xichen, Yanli, Cheng, Wuxian and Wangji on one side and the other leaders across from them.

"Wen Ruohan, as His Excellency, is intended to annex the gentry greedily. He forges the Yin Iron secretly and kills the innocent crucially. He ordered Wen Hu, Wen Chao and his men to commit countless crimes, which brings frightful calamity to our clans. So, that the world is filled with indignation" Red Blade Master said and pulled the sword from his back, holding the big and deadly blade stretched at his side. "Today, I, Nie Mingjue of Qinghe, lead an army to suppress Wen Ruohan! We will storm into the Nightless city *lifts the blade up* and cut his head off to sacrifice for the souls of the deceased!"

"SunShot! SunShot! SunShot!" the disciples shouted as they lifted their swords up and down.

Zhouan looked at Xichen who looked at her at the same time and then back at the General of the Campaign. With the tip of her eye, she looked at the duo that stood at the far end, their expressions hard to read.

"Go!" Everyone parted to the sides and stood in attention, a corridor being created for Mingjue to walk towards the gate and lead everyone. The rest of the clan leaders following.

"Another day, another battle" Zhouan muttered out loud and shook her head.

"Hopefully a battle closer to the end" Xichen commented by her side and she looked at him as he offered her a smile.

She smiled back. "Hopefully. I will see you on the battlefield"

She went to take a different path, but he grabbed her hand. Stopping, she looked at him and then at the hand. He quickly withdrew it and cast his eyes on the ground for a moment. "Take care"

"You should know by now" she offered a smile as her hand barely brushed his. "I always do"

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She joined the first wave along with Cheng and Zixuan. The first part of the mission went well but their marching was interrupted by a wave of puppets, more than they had expected. It quickly led into a bloody battle with many disciples falling under the swords of the puppets.

They were too many and stronger than the previous ones, taking several strikes before falling. The screams and shouts of men along with the roars of the puppets mixed and deafened Zhouan who was right in the middle of the battle.

She spun and cut off the head of a puppet that tried to attack her. Lowering her sword, she took a deep breath to calm her beating heart and quickly jumped back, avoiding a sword by mere inches.

There was no time for her to rest and her mind tried to prioritize which enemy to take down first. Her back touched somebody's and she noticed it was Zixuan. Looking at each other above their shoulders, they gave a nod and worked together while covering each other's backs.

"Dive!" she shouted, and he quickly obeyed as she plunged her sword into eh chest of a puppet

She pulled it back and he kicked it away before slicing another enemy. Suddenly, some of the puppets were covered by explosive flames which forced them to separate in order to get away from the line of fire.

What followed next looked like it came from their worst nightmares. The once normal human puppets had turned into demonic deformities with greyish-scaled skin and deformed faces. What was worse, was the fact that their powers increased.