Xiao Yueli tasted iron and smoke. Her wounds burned as if the world itself had been set alight. She staggered back, each breath jagged, her vision swimming red. The guardian loomed before her, eyes cold and unblinking, flames coiling like vipers around his fist.
"My lady stop running ," he said, voice flat and merciless. " It useless you can't out run me. Stop wasting your strength."
Yueli forced herself upright, sword trembling in her grip. Blood blurred the torchlight on the stone. Her throat ached as she forced the words out."Master… this ungrateful disciple… cannot—cannot take care you of my master any longer."Her voice cracked on the last syllable, the confession more prayer than strength.
The guardian's lips curled into something cruel. He raised his hand, flame condensing into a killing strike.
Yueli closed her eyes. So this… is where I die.
The world split open with thunder. A crimson flash cut the darkness, striking the guardian's blow aside. The cavern shook from the impact, sparks raining across the floor.
A figure landed between them, crouched low, boots sparking with lightning. His breath was steady, his eyes sharp with an unshakable calm.
"This is a strong one," he muttered, measuring the guardian with a warrior's gaze.
Yueli's eyes widened, her voice a trembling gasp. "Who… are you?"
The man didn't look back. "Han Xing. Azure Dragon Squad. I came to help."
"You—just you alone? How can you defeat him?" Doubt and hope warred in her tone.
Han Xing's mouth tilted into the faintest smile. "I'm stronger than I look. Even if I can't kill him, I'll buy time. My captain is on the way." His voice lowered, steady as stone. "Step back. I'll handle this."
Before she could answer, the guardian roared, fury shaking the cavern walls. Heat shimmered around him, the air itself bending.
Han Xing moved first.
Lightning surged from his dantian, shaping into a halberd crowned with twin crescent moon blades on both side of the halberd. Crimson arcs crawled along the steel edges, humming with murderous intent. He raised it high and brought it down in a brutal cleave—the kind meant to split armor and bone in one blow.
Steel and lightning struck true. The halberd's edge bit across the guardian's cheek, leaving a sizzling line of blood.
"You dare wound my face!" the guardian snarled, rage twisting his features.
Han Xing's eyes turned to ice. "I aimed to kill you with the first strike. But look like I miss. That courtesy is over." The net strike won't miss.
The guardian answered with destruction. A flaming sphere swelled in his palm and hurtled like a meteor.
Han Xing planted his feet, halberd gripped firm. Sparks screamed as blade and fireball collided, the impact tearing stone apart.
This matchup is bad, he thought grimly, ribs aching from the shock.
He's a long-range fighter, but I'm a close range fighter and the flooding the field with fire. I have to use my speed to win, but he is always on guard how do I get close .
The guardian's qi swelled monstrous. He summoned a vast demonic hand, talismans writhing across its surface, and hurled it down like a falling moon.
Han Xing's mind sharpened. No I can't block this head-on. If I hesitate, she dies with me.
"Violent Sky Thunder!" His roar shook the forest. Lightning flared around him as he lunged forward, sweeping Yueli into his arms. The demonic hand crushed the ground where she had stood, shattering stone into molten shards.
The blast flung them both across the cavern floor. Han Xing rolled, cloak burning, his skin blistered where flame had grazed him. He forced himself upright, setting Yueli gently against the tree.
"Stay down," he ordered, voice calm though blood stained his lips. "It take time for captain and the other to arrival." If I were to fight him alone I might win but now she. "Look like I have to buy more time."
Yueli's heart clenched. Why… why would he risk himself for me? I am broken, half-dead, useless—and yet he shields me as though my life matters more than his own. Who is this man, to fight like this for me? even if this he mission He doesn't need to put his life on the line of me .
Han Xing raised one hand, releasing a crimson streak of lightning into the heavens. The signal burned against the storm-dark sky.
The guardian's gaze flicked upward, smile sharp as a blade. "So you call for insects to die beside you. Good. I prefer an audience."
He stamped the ground. The cave mouth split apart as black fire erupted, twisting upward into serpentine shapes. The Flame Serpent Array hissed to life, each fiery serpent circling Han Xing with predator's hunger. The air boiled until molten tears dripped from the stone walls.
Han Xing narrowed his eyes. An array technique. So he's not just brute strength… but fire chains and formations. If I stay at range, he'll burn me drown into an ash.
He raised the halberd, lightning roaring along its blades. Then he drove it deep into the stone floor, the impact cracking rock as thunder howled."Thunderstorm Cage!"
Crimson arcs exploded outward, forming a spinning lattice of storm. Lightning walls slammed into the serpents, sparks cascading like fiery rain. The cavern quaked with each collision thunder and flame devouring each other in deafening bursts.
But the guardian was already within the chaos. A flaming fist pierced through the lightning cage and smashed against Han Xing's ribs, numbing his side and setting his cloak ablaze.
Han Xing gritted his teeth and answered with steel. The halberd swept in a savage crescent, its blade shrieking as it ripped a gash across the guardian's chest. Sparks flew as blood hissed against fire.
The guardian staggered back, then smiled—a wolfish curve dripping with dark amusement."Good. You actually made me bleed once again."
Han Xing steadied his stance, halberd humming with lightning, his figure a wall of storm between the wounded fairy maiden and the demon of fire.
Yueli pressed her hand to her chest, trembling. He fights he give his life for me this the first time some give it he all to practice me form bleeding, burning, yet he not even thinking of give up. If I survive this night… I will never forget this man's back.
Above them, the crimson signal still burned but the night wind clawed at its edges, as though eager to swallow it whole. I hope help will arrive soon.
The real battle had just begun.