I Will Guard You

The battle blurred.

Needles.

Spells.

Swords.

Blood.

The bearded elder wielded the Seven-Star Sword, fed by living souls.

He cut me three times.

Then laughed.

“If I sacrifice your soul to my blade, then use it to kill your sister, what a sight that will be.”

My grip tightened.

Wind gathered around my broken blade.

A new edge formed.

One strike.

His head flew.

Then shrank into a dried fox tail.

He laughed from behind me.

“Tushan foxes have one life per tail. Except your grandfather’s thunder, no one kills a nine-tail in one blow.”

“Your strike destroyed a thousand years of cultivation, though.”

Then darkness fell.

The sky went black.

But with fox eyes, I saw a faint figure.

Qi’an.

You came back.

I grabbed my broken blade and stabbed toward the bearded elder’s vital point.

When the sky cleared, everything was over.

Blood and sweat soaked my clothes.

Fatigue hit me like a wave.

I fell.

“Brother!”

A crying voice echoed.

Warmth touched my face.

When I opened my eyes, Huli was watching me with worry.

Qi’an stood beside her wearing a complicated expression.

“Brother Yao, me and sister-in—”

Before he finished, my hand shot out and pinched his ear.

His scream echoed through the valley.

I smiled at Huli.

“From now on…”

She blinked.

“I will guard you.”