The canyon felt all the grimmer and more desolate in the winter cold. The rock walls were dark and freezing, the ground hard as iron. Even the sound of the giant thumping to the earth had a brittle ring to it, his bulk grinding against the icy gravel with a dry crunch.
Before turning back around, Han Qingyu silently swallowed down a mouthful of blood. He still did not dare pull out the short blade embedded in his chest.
Seeing this, Yuan Qing shouted, "Kill him!" and lunged forward once more.
Others who considered themselves capable joined the fray, hoping to take advantage of Han Qingyu's wounded and weakened state to claim an easy kill. Yet they were swiftly cut down and sent flying back.
One met that fate.
Then a second.
The young Azure soldier wielding twin blades seemed to be warning every onlooker present: stand aside and watch; do not dare cross my path.
Yet as another slash was added to his wounds, more people still threw themselves into the battle.
A grueling fight.
One that seemed to have no end.
A gust of icy wind poured into the canyon. Wu Xu opened his eyes and turned his head to look at the figure, covered in blood and bearing countless wounds.
"Die!"
Han Qingyu erupted with power once again, charging straight toward a Cleansing Faction member who had just entered the fight. Moving at blistering speed, he struck with explosive ferocity—one slash, two slashes, three slashes, four slashes...
Without the slightest flourish, pure source energy erupted in raw, brutal force and relentless resolve. He advanced with every cut, carving his way forward until he drove the man back more than ten meters, hacking him all the way to the canyon's end and slamming him dead against the stone wall.
Another slash scored across his back. Swinging his blade, Han Qingyu spun around and raised his head, ready to face the next wave of attacks, the next wave of enemies.
This was a battle unlike anything Wu Xu had ever witnessed or experienced, completely different even from when he had stood alone against twenty men.
It had been different from the very beginning.
At the start, when the three teammates had leaned against one another at the canyon floor, repeatedly trying to fight their way out, choosing to fight to the death rather than be captured and used as hostages against him, their sheer resolve had been deeply moving.
Then Han Qingyu had come, walking into certain death to swap them out... pinning down everyone on his own in a lonely, desperate struggle, yet showing not the slightest hint of despair or surrender.
*He believes in his heart that they will return, and if they survive, they will.*
Thinking to this point, Wu Xu even felt there was something "beautiful" about such a battle—at least to him, it was beautiful, and at the same time an impossible extravagance.
If only, at this very moment, there were another person who could stand back-to-back with him in battle—how wonderful that would be.
***
Out on the plains beyond the woods, Yin Caixin's Invincible Wind-Fire Wheels tore into the enemy ranks once more, driving forward, ever forward.
This ultimate move of Little Caixin's, which had made people laugh on the spot, was far from easy. It was not a matter of simply spinning around with a blade; in combat with the three-dimensional apparatus, every maneuver demanded the corresponding technique and profound depth of source energy surges to sustain it.
Above all, her fighting style required an exceptionally high rate of source energy surge conversion. The surges had to roll without interruption and maintain a certain density at all times; otherwise, a single hesitation or lapse in power would slow her down, leaving her to die surrounded by enemies.
Almost there. They should be breaking through soon. Little Caixin's mind had grown hazy, unable to think of much. She only knew to forge ahead, to spin forward... just as he had told her.
The moment she pierced through the enemy lines, her strength gave out. Her footsteps faltered, her vision swimming.
An arm swept around her from behind, and Shen Yixiu spoke from within the iron armor: "Go!"
"Go!" He Tangtang covered their rear, trading blows to cut down one pursuer before turning to catch up.
Not far now.
Not much farther.
They were not far from breaking out of the trial grounds when two masked figures strode up from behind the grassy slope ahead.
Since only two had come, they had to be top experts.
The three weighed the situation and exchanged glances, but their feet never slowed for an instant as they charged straight ahead. At the moment of contact, Shen Yixiu pushed forward with both arms, shoving Yin Caixin a fair distance away along the left flank. "Go." Then she said, "Tangtang, don't stop."
Even as she spoke, she drew her blade and slashed at the two before her.
He Tangtang swept past on the right and kept sprinting with all his might.
One of the masked men tangled with the iron armor, while the other spun on his heel to pursue the runner.
"Stay right there!" Bracing herself to take a blade across her back, Shen Yixiu lunged forward, swinging her sword to intercept him. She wobbled, then planted her feet and leveled her blade. "You're not leaving... Neither of you are going anywhere.
"Run, don't stop, don't look back... Qingzi is waiting for us," she shouted. "I'll wait here."
Time ticked away...
They had arrived!
A tide of people bearing the Azure insignia on their combat uniforms surged across the plains.
Yin Caixin and He Tangtang ran at the very front, flanked by the ten soldiers from the two Huaxia Front squads. Behind them were hundreds—every person from the Azure Alliance participating in this trial.
Humanity had never achieved complete unity in the face of crisis; even within Azure, there were differing stances, factions, and even despicable individuals.
Yet Azure remained Azure, an unyielding force of protection.
The human tide swept across the battlefield where Shen Yixiu had made her final stand to hold off the enemy.
"Rusty Sister!" He Tangtang called out in panic.
"Here... I'm, I'm here." Up ahead, Shen Yixiu raised a hand, her voice slightly strained as she ran... The instant she had seen the crowd, the enemies had retreated, and she had immediately spun around to be the first to charge back.
Hundreds of people, hundreds of blue lights, tore across the plains in the name of Azure.
Wen Jifei tripped and fell mid-stride. He scrambled forward, rolled to his feet, and kept running. "Qingzi... Qingzi, hang in there." Perhaps among so many, an extra Dice like him wasn't needed, but he still pushed forward with everything he had, terrified he would fall behind, terrified he would be too late.
The canyon was in sight.
"Almost there!" He Tangtang shouted. "Just around the bend, and we're there!" With that, he drew his blade.
Everyone drew their blades.
*Clang-clang-clang...*
The sound of drawn steel.
Hundreds of blades.
Resounding across the plains.
Though deep down, the vast majority of them knew that the young genius of Huaxia had likely already perished.
Then they would avenge him.
While Azure's leadership and the alliance as a whole were not locked in outright, mortal enmity with the Self-Preservation Faction at present, this was a large-scale clash that had broken out after the trial had concluded. Since the other side had organized a treacherous ambush first, they had no need to hold back, not to mention that a great many Cleansing Faction members were almost certainly among them.
With these thoughts, they gripped their blades and sprinted on.
Suddenly, *whoosh... rip, flutter-flutter-flutter...* A massive, drawn-out sound rumbled through the air, reverberating from the direction of the canyon.
Aside from the initial rushing whistle of a war blade slicing through the air, the ensuing tremors sounded like tough cloth snapping violently in the wind.
"What is that?"
"The sound of a blade."
Someone was swinging a blade in the canyon. The weapon cleaved through the air, dragging the airflow into a concentrated tremor... which then spread outward, echoing continuously through the chasm.
So swinging a blade in the canyon was loud—loud enough that every single person could hear the howling of that war blade.
The howl brought two words unbidden to mind: awe-inspiring, and fierce.
Yes, not merely cold and biting, but fierce with unyielding intensity.
Though people rarely used such words to describe the swing of a blade, that was precisely how it felt at this moment.
Wen Jifei heard it too. Clambering up from the ground once more, he froze, then his bloodshot eyes flared with joy, and he roared at the top of his lungs, "He's still fighting! Qingzi is still fighting!"
His voice, packed with tremendous delight, echoed through the crowd.
Yes, as long as there was the sound of a blade, it meant the battle was still on... Standing alone against over a hundred enemies, he was still fighting; he was still alive.
The crowd pictured the scene: he was still holding on through bitter struggle.
"Faster!"
"Help him!"
"Hurry!"
The crowd sprinted at full tilt.
Ready for battle, ready to rescue.
Approaching the canyon.
Abruptly, Han Qingyu's voice carried out from the depths of the gorge:
"Yuan Qing! Don't you dare think of running... You're not going anywhere!
"Thirteen years in Grade A armor—you stay right where you are!
"You took the lead in plotting my death—you stay right where you are!
"You hurt my Rusty Sister, Tangtang, and Caixin—you stay right where you are!
"..."
Then, another fierce, piercing sound of a blade rang through the entire canyon.
The running crowd faltered in bewilderment. What was this...?
They rounded the bend to the canyon mouth.
The first sight that met their eyes was people. From the canyon mouth to both sides of the gorge, there were still many living people... but not a single one moved. None were fighting, none were running. Not a single soul. Only a few stood trembling.
In the dead center of the canyon stood Yuan Qing, covered in blood, clutching a blade and facing the canyon mouth.
"Him?"
*Thud.*
Yuan Qing collapsed.
The crowd looked up. As Yuan Qing fell, another figure came into view further in, standing right in the middle of the canyon.
That figure was likewise drenched in blood and covered in wounds. He was sheathing his blade, looking somewhat strained. He might have smiled, but it was hard to tell.
In his current state, it seemed as if anyone could step forward and kill him with ease, as if he himself might collapse at any moment.
Yet of all the remaining Cleansing Faction and Self-Preservation Faction members present, not one moved. Not a single one... They seemed to be terrified... Why would they be terrified?
People cast their gazes behind him.
And found their answer:
Late December, 1990. Nepal, Third Fixed Exploration Site, Trial Grounds, the Canyon. Han Qingyu of the Huaxia Front...
One man, twin blades.
Facing over a hundred foes.
Over forty cut down on the spot.
A slaughter of midwinter,
Striking cold terror to the bone.
Chapter 143