Wu Xu had not wanted to fight.
After his rebirth, if anyone were to say he still regarded his past life and what the Yu clan called their "upbringing" as an act of kindness... he was not that foolish.
Yet when it came to hatred, Wu Xu harbored no grudge either; he had simply let it go, unwilling even to look back on it.
His final shred of sentiment upon seeing them again had been to urge them to leave, to step aside.
Yet Yu Fengzi, the Young Mistress, was still the same as ever. Solely to flaunt that she was still the master and could still trample upon a slave at will, she had smashed the radio Qingzi gave Wu Xu.
She did not realize that this was far more serious than the sword she had driven into Wu Xu back in the Nepalese canyon—far, far more serious.
And then Yu Yindou had personally placed the lives of Han Qingyu and the others onto the other side of the scale... reminding Wu Xu that he had to choose.
So, Wu Xu chose.
With his spear leveled at this moment, that former Yu clan war slave was a slave no longer.
Ahead of him stood the Yu clan.
Yu Yindou was powerful, as Wu Xu well knew.
Even setting sheer strength aside, after so many years confined within the Yu clan's enclosed village, the impression branded into Wu Xu made the clan head before him seem like a godlike, insurmountable presence.
An imprint like that could not be easily erased.
Yet in the breath just gone, he had still chosen to raise his spear. The moment that black spear leveled beside him, a feeling surged through his chest like a prisoner bursting through his shackles.
It was something Wu Xu could not put into words; he simply felt a sudden rush of lightness and joy, followed by a resolute determination.
From here, Qingzi and the others were out of sight, but Wu Xu knew that this was their rear. Right now, they had to be locked in a life-and-death struggle against Great Spikes...
In fact, as far back as that death ground in the canyon of Nepal, when Han Qingyu had stood alone to trade himself for his comrades and fought desperately with dual blades, Wu Xu had thought to himself: if possible, he would gladly fight back-to-back with this man.
Then let it be today, right here.
Conversely, from Yu Yindou's perspective, Wu Xu had to die today.
Unless he fell to his knees, returned, and became a slave of the Yu clan once more, he had to die... and he had to die right before the thirty other Yu clan war slaves standing behind Yu Yindou.
Yu Yindou could not allow the people behind him to see a war slave who had left the Yu clan living well; he could not allow Wu Xu to go on living in peace.
"You actually dare..."
Overcome with extreme rage and disbelief, Yu Yindou found himself momentarily at a loss for words. After a pause, he let out a sneer and said, "What kind of thing do you think you are?! Kneel down right now and beg for mercy, and out of respect for old ties, this old man might still spare your life."
These words, naturally, were spoken mainly for the benefit of the people behind him.
"My name is Wu Xu... And, no thanks."
Wu Xu was never one for words after all.
His name was Wu Xu; he wielded a spear—an inauspicious one called Binggu; and he was a brother to Han Qingyu, the strongest recruit the Azure Ninth Army had seen in ten years... Yes, that very same Han Qingyu from the Nepalese canyon.
So, he could lose.
He could die in battle.
He could never bow his head again.
...
"Bu Mang."
"Awoo."
"Go on."
"Whine, whine..." The little black dog stood by Wu Xu's side, refusing to budge.
"Go find some meat."
"Woof, woof, woof!"
Having received its orders, the little black dog wagged its tail, turned around, and bolted back toward the outpost.
"Kill him," Yu Yindou commanded.
From behind him, more than a dozen war slaves whose devices were already engaged charged forth in an instant, raining a flurry of diverse weapons down toward Wu Xu...
Blue light flashed. Instead of retreating, Wu Xu surged forward. The spear—over two meters long—swept out, not parrying, not blocking, but sweeping horizontally in a direct arc.
Boom!
Sonic booms and the clatter of clashing weapons rang out incessantly.
Bodies recoiled.
Wu Xu pulled back his spear and stood firm.
So strong!
Wu Xu was powerful. In the past, he had been the strongest among the latest generation of Yu clan war slaves; otherwise, Yu Yindou never would have chosen him to accompany Yu Fengzi on that journey.
Yet at this moment, after the first clash, the Yu clan members were still left stunned. The Wu Xu before them was far, far stronger than the man they used to know.
Swapping from a Third-Generation apparatus to a Ninth-Generation device had, in Xin Yaoqiao's words, at least doubled Wu Xu's combat capability while tripling his ability to withstand damage.
Yet Wu Xu was a warrior who fought to the death... so for him, such an improvement went far beyond what surface figures could measure.
Besides, back in the Yu clan's village, Wu Xu had rarely even seen a source energy block outside of training and combat, whereas in recent days...
In short, even Wu Xu himself did not fully know how tremendous his growth was.
In truth, because he had worn the armor for much longer and endured far more rigorous, brutal combat training, he was not the least bit inferior to Han Qingyu without the third turbine active—he might even be slightly stronger.
Shen Yixiu had once privately speculated that Wu Xu might actually be S-grade.
At this moment, Yu Yindou finally broke free of his ingrained mindset. He glanced at the Ninth-Generation device on Wu Xu... and decided to watch a little longer.
He was strong, but not nearly as strong as he claimed to be.
Having grown accustomed to ruling like an emperor within the clan, Yu Yindou's actual will to fight was remarkably weak.
"What are you standing there for?! Kill him!" he bellowed once more.
This time, almost all thirty war slaves surged out from behind Yu Yindou—men Wu Xu had once known... people who, like his past self, had tragic fates yet remained oblivious to them.
Of course, between them, they were probably just acquaintances... and nothing more.
Yu clan war slaves were forged by slaughtering one another; the concept of friendship was virtually nonexistent among them, nor did the Yu clan allow friendships or small cliques to form.
During the years Wu Xu was growing up, he had possessed friends, but over time they had changed, or died.
In this moment, facing the charging crowd, Wu Xu took a step back. Using the clumsy speech he was so bad at, he voiced the very last shred of sentiment from their shared past.
"I am not strong enough. I will have to kill," he said.
At a disadvantage, outnumbered, besieged, with Yu Yindou watching like a hawk from the rear—what Wu Xu meant was that he had no leeway to hold back. If they kept coming, his only choice was to kill...
Yet those words gave the men pause for merely a single beat. Just one beat, and more than thirty men lunged forward all the same.
Wu Xu retreated no further.
Meeting them head-on, his hand slid down to grip the butt of the shaft, and amid a fierce howl, the spear over two meters long shot forth like an erupting dragon...
One man scrambled to bring his saber across in defense.
Crack!
The source energy surged to its zenith, rushing and condensing... The spear tip pierced right through the saber blade and plunged into the man's chest.
Withdrawing the spear in a flash, Wu Xu seized the middle of the shaft, raised it to block the dozen weapons raining down upon him, and exerted a violent jolt to knock them back.
Whirling around at the same time to face the men attacking from behind, he whipped his arm... and hurled the spear from his grasp, hurtling forward like lightning.
A thrown spear... usually lacked follow-through.
His opponent steadied himself and swung his saber to strike it down.
Yet Wu Xu was faster than his spear. As the weapon flew, his body advanced; in the blink of an eye, he had caught up and seized the shaft.
With a snap of his wrist, the trajectory of the steel spear's tip shifted.
Evading the slashing blade, it plunged once again into a man's chest.
Two thrusts, two men gravely wounded.
Wu Xu retracted his spear!
"Do not come again."
At this moment, how he wished Wen Jifei were here.
Chapter 193