Chapter Seventy-Two: I Arrived Too Late

The fine autumn rain always descends without warning, its dampness spreading through this forest that ought to be tranquil and serene. Yet the clash of weapons in the distance shatters the stillness like a sudden thunderclap.

At this moment, Gu Fanshuang is fighting side by side with Baxia against the mountain bandits. Her movements are nimble and graceful, evading blade after blade from the surrounding foes. With a turn of her head, her slender fingers gently pluck the ancient demon zither, and as the music rings out, several hidden projectiles shoot forth at great speed. Each seemingly effortless strum of the strings claims the life of a bandit.

Seeing his men recoil in fear, the deputy chieftain anxiously approaches the burly man at his side and urges, "Chief, you forbade us from attacking that woman. But because of that, our men can't use full force, and she’s already killed quite a few of our brothers. At this rate, our stronghold will suffer heavy losses!"

“Absolutely not,” the burly man replied, his tone leaving no room for doubt, though a hint of helplessness lurked beneath. “We must capture her alive, at all costs. I can’t explain the reason, but know this—”

“What is it?” the deputy asked, bewildered. He couldn’t understand why his chief, a warrior of the Tempered Marrow stage with hundreds of subordinates, should fear a handful of green youths. Even if he coveted Gu Fanshuang’s beauty, it made no sense to sacrifice so many men.

The chief spoke each word with grave emphasis: “If that woman dies by our hands, we die as well.”

The deputy saw the sincerity in his chief’s eyes and immediately began to ponder Gu Fanshuang’s true identity.

“Is she a scion of one of the six great clans? Or a princess from some royal household?” The more he thought, the more alarmed he became. The candidates from such families were not like disciples sent out for simple training missions, left to be slaughtered at will. Even if their families cared little for their lives, they would never tolerate a loss of face. The massacre of their stronghold would be the surest way for those families to reclaim their honor.

Now he understood why, despite mustering so many men to surround these few, the chief would not permit a lethal blow against the woman. He, too, began to feel that Gu Fanshuang was a thorny adversary indeed.

Suddenly, the deputy’s eyes lit up and he suggested in a low voice, “Why not let her fight until she’s exhausted, then strike with silver needles to render her unconscious? Afterwards, we can send this living plague far away.”

The chief nodded in agreement. He was only skilled in direct combat, knowing nothing of hidden weapons or poison, so he could only leave such tasks to others.

Recalling the events of the previous night, the burly chief found his back drenched in cold sweat:

At the time, a man wearing a fierce demon mask and clad in white robes that drifted without wind confronted him. Foolishly, he had drawn his steel blade, only for the blade to be knocked from his hand in the next instant and a vice-like grip to close on his throat. In that moment, he felt as though death itself was staring at him.

The masked man spoke in a calm, even tone: “Tomorrow, five will come to your stronghold—three women and two men. You must kill them all, but only when they realize something is wrong and attempt to retreat. Among them is a woman who plays a zither. Under no circumstances must she be killed. If her life is threatened, none of you have any reason to keep living.”

Trembling, the burly chief, despite being half a head taller than his opponent, felt utterly powerless.

He dared not breathe, forcing out a weak reply: “Yes... yes.”

The grip on his throat was suddenly released, and he gasped for air as if returning from the very gates of hell. When he looked up, the masked man had vanished without a trace. Immediately, he summoned his men to make preparations, ordering traps to be laid along the path and their movements to be closely watched.

But just as they were about to encircle the group, they discovered two had gone missing.

He was not concerned, however, for the wolves kept in the stronghold had already cut off their escape. Even if those two weren’t killed by his own hand, they would surely fall to the wolves and become their meal.

Back to the present—

The deputy watched as Gu Fanshuang and Baxia remained inseparable, his brows furrowing in frustration.

With a wave of his command flag, over a dozen men filled the gap between Gu Fanshuang and her companion, more joining until the two were completely separated.

Gu Fanshuang still moved with apparent ease, but in truth, each pluck of her zither consumed her inner strength and sapped her energy. She was no longer as unburdened as before. Though her foes were mere common thugs with minimal training, even ants can kill an elephant by sheer numbers. Yet what mystified her was that, when she made a mistake, the bandits did not seize the chance to strike, but instead withdrew, blades held back.

“Perhaps my earlier kills have frightened them, making them overly cautious,” she thought.

Seeing Baxia and Xue Jiahua gradually separated from her, Gu Fanshuang grew increasingly uneasy. “Baxia’s strength is limited, and he has to protect Jiahua—he won’t be able to hold out. I must help him!”

But the harder she tried to break through the enemy lines, the more desperately they blocked her, heedless of their lives.

“Why are they using their lives to keep me back?” Gu Fanshuang wondered, pausing her strumming after felling another bandit, perplexed by the situation.

Baxia’s predicament was even worse: now completely surrounded, wounds covering his legs and chest, he still clung tightly to the unconscious Xue Jiahua with one hand, the other gripping his steel blade, ready to fight to the death.

Seeing this, Gu Fanshuang redoubled her efforts to break through.

But by the time she reached Baxia’s side, his blood had already drained away.

As she arrived, Baxia shakily placed Xue Jiahua’s hand into hers, a tragic smile on his lips: “Take... care...”

He didn’t even have the chance to finish his last words before his wounds carried him off to the underworld.

Gu Fanshuang hefted Xue Jiahua onto her back, holding her demon zither across her chest, her face somber as she faced the surrounding bandits.

She knew they dared not harm her recklessly, so she did not resist, focusing solely on protecting Xue Jiahua, giving the bandits no opening.

Time ticked by. After so long fighting, Gu Fanshuang’s strength was all but spent. Burdened by Xue Jiahua and hemmed in by hundreds of enemies, her mind was stretched taut, exhaustion gnawing at her.

“No... I must hold on,” she murmured, but her eyelids grew heavier, fighting to stay open.

Unbeknownst to her, three fine silver needles had already pierced her back, sending waves of drowsiness through her.

She could barely support Xue Jiahua anymore.

Surrounded on all sides, she knew escape was impossible.

Suddenly, a figure flashed through her mind: not handsome, not charming, his martial skills unremarkable, his family background ordinary. Two summers ago, they had embraced and promised never to let the other face danger alone. Yet not long after, he was gone. Gu Fanshuang gazed up at the sky, her voice mournful: “Forgive me. I never thought I’d be the one to break our vow first. If fate gives us another chance, I will never leave you again.”

“Now!” Seeing Gu Fanshuang about to collapse, the deputy chief gave the order.

The bandits closed in slowly.

“I will not fall by your hands, even in death!” Gu Fanshuang bit her tongue, regaining a moment of clarity, and drew a dagger from her breast, preparing to end her own life.

“Stop!” The chiefs had not expected this turn—she was on the verge of fainting, yet now she would take her own life? Was she toying with them?

“Stop her!” the deputy screamed, half-mad, at his men.

As they lunged to prevent her suicide, a wolf’s howl suddenly pierced the night.

A great blue-and-white wolf led the pack, standing over three feet at the shoulder, its powerful muscles and fur gleaming in the moonlight. Behind it surged a horde of over three hundred wolves, the sound of their passage flattening the undergrowth and sending terror into men’s hearts.

“What’s happening?!” the chief barked.

“Wolf pack’s gone mad!” the deputy shouted as he saw the crazed eyes of the blue-eyed white wolf.

As the bandits quailed before the wolves, a figure darted forward, bounding atop the heads of dozens of men to reach Gu Fanshuang. He seized her hand, swept her into his arms, and leapt more than ten feet into the air.

“You—why are you here? It’s... dangerous... so dangerous...” she mumbled.

With his left hand he gripped a branch, tossing both women up into the tree, then turned to face the encroaching bandits, unafraid.

The lesser bandits, terrified by the wolves, thought only of fleeing.

“So this is your doing?” the chief glared coldly at Su Bai. To him, Su Bai was already a dead man. The lightness skill Su Bai had just displayed was not enough to convince him that this youth was truly formidable. Besides, the masked man had ordered him to slaughter the remaining four—if he failed, that fiend would kill him for sure.

Clenching his fists until his knuckles cracked, the chief prepared to rip Su Bai apart. Their great difference in size made everyone doubt Su Bai’s chances.

Yet, facing a second life-or-death battle, Su Bai replied coolly, “Isn’t it obvious? Anyone with eyes can see it.”

“You little whelp, I’ll send you straight to hell!” With a roar, the chief shot forward like an arrow, inner strength flooding his right fist as he charged Su Bai.

“You think you can take my life with such meager skill?” Su Bai chuckled, standing his ground.

Behind him, the wolves were almost upon them.

As their paths converged, Su Bai smiled softly. The chief sensed something amiss, but his momentum could not be stopped—he had to see the blow through.

Su Bai, hands clasped behind his back, gave a slight tug downward.

A branch, nearly twenty feet long, crashed down, and Su Bai darted toward the chief with lightning speed.

The falling branch crushed more than a dozen wolves, but the alpha was a beast of the Bone Tempering stage. With a mighty leap, it landed atop the branch, then sprang again, its next landing coinciding exactly with the chief’s trajectory. When Su Bai had carried Gu Fanshuang up the tree, he’d already torn down a vine. As the chief attacked, a steel wire had severed the branch, and Su Bai himself dove for the vine.

Supporting himself with his right hand, Su Bai slid across the ground toward the vine, casting a mocking glance at the chief midair. The chief, unable to avoid the maddened alpha, crashed into it.

That wolf had once been his strongest battle companion, but after Su Bai had slain Ni Hanyan and obtained the berserk beast powder, he realized it had been intended to kill them all by turning the wolves on them. Su Bai decided to use the powder to incite the wolf pack’s frenzy and turn the bandits against their own beasts.

Safely in the tree, Su Bai glanced at the unconscious Gu Fanshuang and Xue Jiahua, relieved for the moment. But seeing Baxia’s corpse below, his heart ached. He gently took Gu Fanshuang’s hand, murmuring, “Sorry—I came too late.”

“Well done, well done.” From a massive banyan branch a hundred yards away, a masked figure faced Su Bai. Though his face was hidden, his pitch-black eyes shone with a faint blue light, seeming to pierce the night and observe Su Bai’s every move.

But Su Bai knew now was not the time to check on Gu Fanshuang and the others. The bandits below had to be dealt with first.

He harried the chief with throwing darts, keeping him from focusing on the alpha wolf. Before long, the chief was covered in wounds.

“Aaah!” As the chief dodged a dart, he gambled everything, letting the wolf bite his left hand in exchange for a chance to pull the beast closer. With his right fist charged, he struck the wolf’s heart with all his might.

The sound of cracking ribs was audible even to Su Bai in the tree.

The wolf released the chief’s hand in agony, and the chief pressed his advantage, landing a kick to its head.

A final, pained howl—now the wolf was as good as dead.

“Come down. I’ll end you with my own hands.” Blood dripping from his left hand, the chief looked icily up at Su Bai, who had been harassing him for so long.

Su Bai leapt down lightly, landing as silently as a white crane.

He stretched, bones crackling, and looked at the chief. “Very well. I’ve never killed since advancing to the Marrow Tempering stage—this is the perfect chance to test myself. Let’s see what I can do with you.”