Volume Two: Mountains and Rivers, No Path Ahead Chapter Twenty-Five: Taking Up Arms

At those words, everyone looked up in surprise. Taking advantage of their momentary distraction, Jiao Mu Jiao grabbed Lan Sheng and Lan Shan and sped toward the gathering of the Celestial Palace’s stars. Li Tong roared, “Thieves! Where do you think you’re going?” and immediately summoned his energy to give chase. Li Da hesitated only briefly, conjured a shark-tooth sword in his right hand, and hurried after his brother.

Lin Xiaoyun shouted at the four An clan generals, “What are you four standing around for? Go after them, now!” An Chenfeng bowed deeply and replied, “Master, on the journey here you instructed us only to bring the Third Young Master back—this is an internal affair of the Dragon Palace, and our An family will give it our all. But now, with all the Celestial Palace’s stars gathered, if we interfere, we’ll be branded traitors. Please reconsider, Master!” Lin Xiaoyun snorted and retorted coldly, “Just now, I didn’t see you fighting all that hard.” Lin Liu added, “You lackeys, my father gave you a direct order—why aren’t you doing anything? Worthless dogs!” An Chenlei and An Chendian glared furiously at Lin Liu, while An Chenyu held them back, whispering, “Third Brother, Fourth Brother, don’t be rash. Remember, Father is still in the Dragon Palace.” An Chenfeng sheathed his icy blade, crossed his arms before his chest, and replied coolly, “If you want us to stand against the Celestial Heaven Palace, Fourth Young Master, you’ll have to do it yourself. Forgive us, but the An family cannot comply.” At his words, the other three An brothers followed suit, sheathing their weapons and ignoring Lin Liu’s continued urgings.

Lin Xiaoyun’s white beard trembled with rage, his hand shaking as he pointed at the three. “Treason! I always knew the An family harbored divided loyalties. When Lin Bai rebelled, I should have wiped you all out!” Lin Liu patted his father’s chest to calm him. “Father, when we get back, let’s just slaughter that old dragon of the An family! I’ve never liked him anyway—he’s always opposed my marrying the An family’s fifth daughter. Oh, right, once we’re back, why not bestow her upon me as my twelfth concubine?”

The eldest of the An brothers sighed and said to his siblings, “Our families are still in the Dragon Palace. We can’t act on impulse. Follow me.” With that, he was first to charge toward the Celestial Palace crowd, the other three exchanging glances before reluctantly following.

Meanwhile, Lin Bai and his companions raced onward, sparing no effort as they pressed forward on the last of their strength. Yet after so much fierce fighting, their energy was close to exhaustion, and it was only pure willpower that kept them going. As they neared the Celestial Palace’s core formation, a sound sliced through the air behind them. Lan Sheng turned to see two shark-tooth swords, each longer than a man, flying toward them. The two old sharks had used the last of their strength; the blades were wreathed in swirling gales and crackling lightning.

Lan Sheng glanced back at Lin Bai and Lan Shan, who were just about to reach safety, then looked again at the two surging swords. Without a moment’s hesitation, he broke away from their triangular formation, turned, and summoned all his energy, launching a series of palm strikes at the incoming blades. But the energy newly born from the Orb of Still Qi within him was still immature, barely seeing the light of day. His strikes were instantly dissipated by the whirling gales around the swords, failing to slow them in the slightest. Gritting his teeth, Lan Sheng conjured a three-foot sword in his right hand and, forcing the Orb of Still Qi to produce more energy, spun himself and slashed desperately toward the oncoming blades.

A thunderous boom rang out. One of the shark-tooth swords lost momentum and plunged into the sea, but the other pierced through Lan Sheng’s feeble aura, stabbing into his left chest, passing through his torso and bursting from his back, its barbed blade dripping with his blood.

The explosion drew everyone’s attention. Both Lin Bai and Lan Shan turned to see Lan Sheng grievously wounded, and rushed back to save him. At the same moment, Li Tong and Li Da arrived, their rage ignited by Lan Sheng’s feat in halting their swords. Each unleashed a flurry of palms at him.

Seeing this, Lan Sheng gripped his sword tightly and fended off several blows, but two strikes still rushed toward his face and abdomen. In his heart, he thought: "My life is at its end."

Suddenly, there were two heavy thuds, but the expected agony never came. Looking down, Lan Sheng saw Kui Mu Wolf, with one hand and one foot, easily parrying the two attacks. Kui Mu Wolf stood before him and asked, “Young fool, can you still stand?” Lan Sheng bit down on his bloodied teeth and replied unconcernedly, “It’s nothing, just a bite from those two little sharks.” Kui Mu Wolf nodded approvingly. “You’re a man after my own heart.”

Blinded by fury, Li Tong and Li Da didn’t see who stood before them and attacked from left and right. Kui Mu Wolf, calm and collected, formed claws with his hands, catching both their powerful strikes. Drawing a circle before his chest, he gathered all his energy and, with the brothers’ palms, sent the force surging back at them.

Halfway through their charge, Li Tong and Li Da suddenly felt a murderous, powerful force rushing at them. Not daring to block, they rolled aside just in time. But Kui Mu Wolf gave them no respite; as soon as he released his palms, he transformed the energy into claws, and the force he’d just unleashed flew past the brothers, only to be sucked back by his will. This time, they weren’t so lucky. Both took a heavy blow to the back, spitting blood as they collapsed.

The four An generals caught up and reached out to catch the two, with An Chenyu crying out, “Shark Lords! Shark Lords!” But both men’s eyes were shut, blood streaming from their lips, their breaths faint.

At this moment, Lin Liu and Lin Xiaoyun arrived, seeing the two Li brothers utterly defeated. Fear crept into their hearts. Lin Xiaoyun urged the An generals, “There’s no retreat left for us now. We must fight with all our might and break through the encirclement to return to the Dragon Palace, or all hope is lost.” Lin Liu chimed in, “Don’t forget your old man is still in the Dragon Palace!” The four An generals exchanged glances, then handed the unconscious Li Tong and Li Da to the Lin father and son. Each drew their magical artifacts, forming a square formation as they flew toward Kui Mu Wolf and his companions.

Lin Bai and Lan Shan now reached Kui Mu Wolf and Lan Sheng. Lan Shan, her eyes brimming with tears, supported Lan Sheng. “Why did you turn back?” Lan Sheng, pale and battered, managed a faint smile. “If I hadn’t blocked those two strikes, not one of you would have escaped.” Kui Mu Wolf tossed a pouch of Solar Essence to Lin Bai, saying with a touch of admiration, “Brother, surviving this fierce battle was no easy feat.” Lin Bai snorted, crushed the Solar Essence and pressed it to his abdomen. Instantly, a fierce wind erupted around them. He took a deep breath and said, “You’re too slow—if you’d come any later, I’d have finished them off myself. You wouldn’t even get the scraps.” Kui Mu Wolf only smiled, unperturbed. “The four An generals are here, arrayed in the Gods’ Formation.” Lin Bai sneered, “That formation? I invented it and taught it to them myself. Watch me break it.”

As they spoke, the four An generals took their positions before them. An Chenfeng called out, “Celestial Palace Stars, the An family comes by order of our lord to challenge you. We ask for your understanding.”

The energy surrounding Lin Bai turned from gray-white to deep blue. He shouted to the An brothers, “Are you truly resolved to lay your lives down for that old dragon?” An Chendian, voice choked with tears, answered, “Third Prince, our father and families are in their hands. Forgive us.” This giant of a man was already streaming with tears. An Chenyu added, “Marshal Lin, forgive us.” Two balls of fire blazed in his palms, rushing for Lin Bai’s face, while a black war hammer, a purple sandalwood snake staff, and a massive stone flew in from four directions.

Lin Bai focused his energy, conjured the Scarlet Flame Primordial Blade, and with a mighty swing shattered the massive stone. His left hand directed the fragments to block the two fireballs. The flames crashed into the wall of debris, transforming into a wall of fire that burned the oncoming staff to charcoal, snapping it against the stones. But nothing stopped the two immense, coal-black hammers—they shattered the broken staff, punched through the stone wall, and hurtled toward Lin Bai.

He hadn’t expected the hammers to be so powerful; it was too late to gather more energy. In the blink of an eye, Kui Mu Wolf seized Lin Bai from behind, took the blow with one hand, roared, and, grabbing a hammerhead, spun three times in midair before releasing them. The two hammers whirled like black circles, flying straight for the An generals.

Seeing the ferocity of the attack, the four acted in unison, gathering their energy at the center to intercept the hammers. Yet, as the hammers struck their combined force, they were driven back more than ten yards before coming to a stop. An Chenlei retrieved his hammer and called out, “Star Lord, you have bested us.”

Behind them, Lin Liu cursed, “You worthless dogs! You could have won just now—if you’d driven off Kui Mu Wolf, the rest would be nothing!” Lin Bai’s voice thundered, “Lin Xiaoyun, surrender now!”

By now, the other stars had surrounded the Dragon Palace forces from all sides. Lin Xiaoyun, filled with regret, wailed, “I told you we couldn’t trust those Li brothers! They promised that siding with Anli would guarantee our safety—what a lie!”

As the encirclement tightened, Lin Liu saw Lin Bai checking Lan Sheng’s wounds with concern. Malice flared in his heart—he transformed his hands into claws, seized the shark-tooth sword embedded in Lan Sheng’s left shoulder, and yanked upward. The sword shot skyward in a streak. Lan Sheng let out a heart-rending scream and instantly fell unconscious, his left shoulder brutally torn open.

Everyone rushed to Lan Sheng’s side to try to save him, the formation instantly thrown into chaos.