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Translator: uly
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Martial God (7)
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There was no surer reason than that.
The ones who spotted Black Wind and Demon Wind were Blood Wolf clansmen returning to retrieve their comrade's body.
The one piece of luck for the Eighteen-Man Squad was that everyone else had entered the burrow, leaving only Black Wind and Demon Wind exposed.
"What should we do?"
Little Wind, who had gone in first, poked his head out slightly and asked.
"You lot stay put."
"How?"
This time, Mad Blade asked.
"I'll handle it."
"There are twenty of them."
"Just keep quiet no matter what."
Flash!
Black Wind dashed off in the opposite direction.
"What about me?"
Demon Wind asked.
"You're spotted too, so run for it."
"You should tell me to come with you, you punk. You think it's right to tell a delicate lady to fend for herself?"
Demon Wind chased after Black Wind.
"Grab them!"
The Blood Wolf clansmen pursued Black Wind and Demon Wind.
Flash! Flash! Flash!
Black Wind's speed was blistering.
Swish... swish...
"Huh?"
Demon Wind's eyes widened as she chased him.
At first, she thought the sound Black Wind made while running was just that—some noise. But focusing on him revealed the truth. It was the sound of erasing footprints. Astonishingly, no footprints remained where Black Wind had passed. His method was the wind-avoiding robe tied around his waist. Essential for desert dwellers, it protected against sandstorms and served as insulation when night temperatures plummeted, like now.
Moreover, Wind Squad members used their wind-avoiding robes as camouflage cloaks too. Black Wind trailed his long behind him, wiping away his own footprints as he ran. His running form was unusual too.
He didn't stomp down from above like normal. His feet skimmed the sand in circles. The footprints they left were only half as deep as usual, weight distributed evenly.
Black Wind climbed onto a dune.
The dune stood over fifty zhang high.
This time, he used hands and feet to scramble up. Yet he was faster than leaping with just his legs.
"Beast Blood Demon Art."
Demon Wind murmured softly. Black Wind's crawling was one of the Beast Blood Demon Art's footwork techniques.
'To become one with it so perfectly, he must have started training as a child...'
The Beast Blood Demon Art mimicked beasts so closely that once bones stiffened, no amount of effort could perfect it. Yet Black Wind's crawl was flawless. That required starting very young.
'Now I'm curious what kind of guy he is.'
"Guess I need to step it up too."
Demon Wind picked up speed. Her movement differed from usual. Her lightness skill skimmed the ground like stepping on grass blades—Grass Flying Step. Mastering it required at least one jia of internal energy. She was a high-level expert with that much power.
Black Wind was already cresting the dune.
Demon Wind soon topped it too.
"Huh?"
Demon Wind was startled.
She hadn't lost sight of him for even ten breaths. Yet he had vanished like a puff of smoke.
"Camouflage cloak."
Demon Wind realized Black Wind had concealed himself with it.
"Anyway!"
She could find him if she searched, but time was short. Black Wind wanted them to pass by.
She leaped onward swiftly.
As Demon Wind passed, the Blood Wolf clansmen charged in.
"Over there!"
They pointed at Demon Wind with their weapons and ran.
They had descended a dozen zhang from the crest when—
Whoosh!
Sand erupted like a volcano from their midst.
"Roar!"
A beastly bellow exploded from the sand, viscous killing intent shooting in all directions.
"Gahk!"
"Kraaak!"
"Aaak!"
Screams rang out, blood spraying everywhere.
"Kill him!"
The Blood Wolf clansmen were no pushovers. All were trained in martial arts. Caught by the ambush, they quickly regrouped.
One man's sword thrust at Black Wind's throat. Black Wind dropped flat. The sword whistled over his head.
Black Wind pushed hard with hands and feet. Coiled tight, he sprang like a predator pouncing prey. His body extended fully as demon hook and halberd left hundreds of afterimages.
"Huh!"
The clansman's eyes bulged.
Overwhelmed by afterimages, he lost his bearings. No way to block.
What Black Wind unleashed was Death Bind from Life-Death Bind.
"Death Bind doesn't bind the body—it binds the soul. So those hit by Death Bind die."
Black Wind murmured lowly.
Thud!
One afterimage of the demon hook burrowed into the clansman's throat.
"Kraaak!"
The clansman screamed.
Black Wind yanked the embedded hook down viciously, scampering up the man like climbing a tree. Planting feet on the man's shoulder, he withdrew the hook and kicked off hard. His form soared into the air.
His extended body coiled mid-leap. Spinning, he landed a zhang away. On landing, he braced with hands and feet.
Boom!
Without a pivot, spinning that fast was impossible—yet Black Wind rotated around his waist with terrifying speed.
It was as if a sudden whirlwind had whipped up out of nowhere. His spin kicked up a blinding dust cloud, obscuring the clansmen's vision.
"No you don't! Chaha!"
One clansman charged the cloud, swinging his weapon. His blade unleashed a gale, dispersing the dust.
'Huh!'
The clansman's eyes widened. No one inside the sand cloud.
Ssssh!
A chilling hiss rose abruptly from the ground. The clansman looked down.
"Damn..."
He squeezed his eyes shut. A halberd shot up from two cun off the ground at horrifying speed.
Thwack!
The halberd severed the clansman's ankle.
"Gaaahk!"
He screamed, collapsing sideways. Black Wind sprang up, angling his demon hook forward.
Thwack!
As the clansman toppled, his throat caught on the hook's blade. It split open wide.
Black Wind bolted straight for the crest.
Running, he still used hands and feet. Halberd at his waist, demon hook in his mouth.
'Seven down, thirteen left.'
Black Wind's ears twitched faintly.
He sensed pursuers from left and right rear.
'Five on the left, eight on the right. The eight on the right have heavier footsteps—they're weaker. Weaker ones die first.'
Black Wind veered right.
Reaching the crest, he descended rightward, lifting his body slightly.
Thud!
Half-buried in sand, he splayed arms and legs. His back-mounted camouflage cloak unfurled, vanishing him. Sinking into sand like a lizard burrowing.
Tap! Tap-tap!
The eight pursuing Black Wind reached the crest.
"You lot grab that one. We'll take the one below!"
The five ascending with them veered downward. The eight didn't respond.
With Black Wind—who had leaped up moments ago—now gone, they had no attention for elsewhere. One man spread his arms wide, mimicking pressing down.
The eight slowly dropped prone. Blood Wolf clansmen, lifetime desert dwellers, knew desert combat best.
'He's here. First to move dies!'
The clansman scanned the sand surface slowly. Searching for shifting grains.
Whooo!
Wind gusting from below whipped the dune.
Swish...
Sand shifted, piling up. Like tide pushing sand ashore.
Winds built and eroded dunes like this.
Now fifty zhang tall, by morning it might hit a hundred—or flatten entirely.
"Problem is, the wind hides his movements."
The clansman murmured lowly.
"Right."
A whisper brushed his ear.
'Huh!'
His mouth gaped, but no sound escaped. His mind reeled.
"How..."
The clansman's last words. He meant to ask how someone not desert-born could surpass them—but never finished.
"The desert was life to you. To me, a battlefield for survival."
Black Wind tightened straps across chest and legs. They secured the camouflage cloak flush to his body. Pressed flat, he inched forward using soles and palms.
Arms spread wide, chest nearly grazing sand. He moved with sand gusts, speed immense. Lizard Step, named from lizards.
Prone yet stepping with soles came from relentless practice. Veins bulged red in his exposed eyes.
Sign of maxing Beast Blood Demon Art.
Whooo!
Swish! Swish!
Sandstorm hit; Black Wind surged. Hugging sand, right arm rose slightly, halberd thrusting. One clansman's breath stopped.
"Gahk!"
The clansman screamed.
"Over there!"
Clansmen sprang up, charging Black Wind. Even as six rushed him, Black Wind held position. Head buried in sand, he breathed slow and deep.
Convection Breathing Technique.
Fine sand, but ultra-slow breaths kept it out. No sound either. Mouth only, no nose.
Clansmen closed to Black Wind's front. One swing could sever an ankle.
'Take one out, still six left. I'd lose.'
One neared Black Wind's side.
Black Wind relaxed fully.
Even stepped on, it had to feel like sand. One reason he trained Lizard Step: handling enemies treading your back while hidden.
Unlike earth, sand yields then halts. Lizard Step mimicked that. When enemy steps on, drop your slightly-lifted body flush; they think sand, pass by. Sure, looking down changes it—but most don't check what they tread. They just feel.
Unchanged feel means no notice.
Crunch!
Stepped on, Black Wind slackened arms.
Chest and belly met sand. Weight atop vanished.
Whooo!
Wind blew again, sand surging from below.
"Down!"
Clansmen dropped prone en masse. Black Wind moved then.
Like a sky squirrel, he pounced the stepper. Leap height one chi, but enough to cover the flat clansman. Hooked throat-back instantly.
No scream this time.
'Six now!'
Black Wind awaited next gust.
'Sandstorm blows all night. Builds the dune.'
He thought inwardly.
As he said. Storm persisted; Black Wind shifted. Foes dwindled to three. Numbers down, but Black Wind didn't rush. Forgot two shichen passed fighting. Extreme caution ruled. At dawn, wind intensified. Dune rose from fifty to seventy zhang.
Amid nature's fury, Black Wind felt nothing. Senses locked on foes.
'Coming!'
Sandstorm rising from below sensed. Black Wind moved. Embracing headwind, Lizard Step downward between two clansmen.
Nearing them, storm hit. Wind laden blinding sand.
Instantly, halberd and hook sliced air.
"Guk!"
"Kuhk!"
Low cries emerged, swallowed by gale. Black Wind flattened, senses heightened.
One left.
This group wasn't weak. Seven might've been, but one strong. Rarely sensed its presence—and fleeting.
Master of concealment too.
'Might be a true warrior... but you die. Because I must survive.'
No surer reason.
Black Wind's eyes burned redder.