He Tangtang was not dead. Or rather, he was not entirely dead.
Covering the retreat alone back then, fighting desperately all along the canyon, hacking several enemies to death and wounding a great many more, He Tangtang had felt exceptionally pleased. He had never been so magnificent. And his teammates from 1777 had successfully gotten far away...
In the final moments of his Near-Death Surge, he deliberately exposed an opening to trade blade strikes in a desperate gamble, critically wounding the enemy's leading top combat power while taking a straight sword through the chest.
He fell, collapsing face down into the muddy pool of blood, looking dead beyond doubt.
At the same time, the end of the Near-Death Surge plunged him into a state of suspended animation so profound it was virtually indistinguishable from true death.
However, he was He Tangtang of the Stream Vanguard, a uniquely peculiar fighter who treated trading blade strikes as his primary combat style.
This had been true ever since the beginning when he faced the human-monkey ambush alongside Han Qingyu and the others, through the canyon of the Nepal trial grounds, and in every disadvantaged or life-or-death situation that followed.
The core principle and crucial technique of this fighting style was always avoiding lethal areas on his body.
It was precisely this prolonged, unconventional practice, combined with proactive study and exploration, that gave He Tangtang an extraordinary understanding of his own anatomy. His perception and control over every subtle shift in his body's positioning had reached the absolute highest tier. In this regard, neither Han Qingyu nor Wu Xu could hold a candle to him.
Therefore, the strike that appeared to pierce his heart had actually, in the split second he ducked and seemed to fail to dodge, slid laterally through his lower ribs instead.
Afterward, a chaotic swarm of Great Spikes rushed in, and Sean appeared above the canyon to order everyone to retreat.
Once the battlefield temporarily regained its calm, He Tangtang reopened his eyes in the pool of blood. Regaining a sliver of consciousness, he immediately restarted his source energy apparatus to stem the bleeding at his critical wounds. He tried to stand, but failed after several attempts, so he began to crawl.
The rear-guard action was complete, and he was still breathing... He wanted to live. He wanted to go back and brag. And so, dragging his gravely wounded body, he struggled and crawled bit by bit in the direction of rejoining his squad.
His mind hazy, He Tangtang managed to avoid the swarms of Great Spikes solely by crawling.
After finding a hidden spot to lie down and nourishing himself with source energy for half a day, He Tangtang knew that if he didn't find someone soon, he would die. He had no choice but to endure the excruciating agony and crawl on.
Yet his body's failing responses soon told him that he wouldn't make it much farther. He couldn't crawl all the way back.
Certain that his only choice was to find a spot and wait for rescue, He Tangtang thought of a place: the valley where he had intercepted Liu Shiheng that night during his private escape, only to let him go in the end.
"Since that prick risked his life to come back and warn us, he'll probably rejoin the squad now, right?"
"If they come looking for me and search aimlessly without success, maybe they'll think of this slightly special place as one of their search points."
"Even if that damn prick didn't rejoin the squad, once he hears I died without a trace, if he wants to find a spot on this plateau to bid me farewell, he'd probably come here too, wouldn't he?"
He Tangtang waited in that valley for a day and a night, but Liu Shiheng never showed up.
As his consciousness gradually faded, he relied on pure instinct to keep struggling, crawling forward inch by inch.
...
It was not Ye Jian who found He Tangtang.
He had been picked up by a squad of over twenty members belonging to Moss, a branch of the Snow Lotus. They had already been lurking in this area, biding their time.
Afterward, the leader of Moss, Lucius, brought a contingent onto the plateau.
Ye Jian had come along with Lucius. Because he was injured, over the past few days he had been freeloading food and drink off Lucius's party and tagging along on their safe routes.
And that was how things came to look the way Liu Shiheng saw them.
"Since you say he's so important..." Under the fairly bright moonlight, Lucius looked down once more at He Tangtang, who remained unconscious on the makeshift stretcher.
Why the hell should we? Why do we have to treat his injuries to keep him alive and carry him all this way on a stretcher?!
Lucius turned to Ye Jian. "Since he's so important, why don't you take him?"
Ye Jian shook his head. "No can do. I'm injured, so I have to stick with you guys."
"Then can we just dump him? He's slowing our movements down too much."
"Can't do that either," Ye Jian said earnestly. "Trust me, Old Wu—no, Old Lu. Bringing this guy back alive is guaranteed to be a massive achievement, let me tell you. You can use him as bait to lure and kill Han Qingyu. You know Han Qingyu, right? The guy who ruined your plans at Medical Station 101, practically set in stone to be the next Star of Azure."
Lucius naturally knew Han Qingyu, but luring him to his death... Comrade Old Lu considered it and felt somewhat tempted. He looked at Ye Jian. "Will you take part in the operation?"
"I'm injured."
"..." *Then what the hell am I supposed to lure and kill?* Lucius thought to himself. *Do you think I don't know what Han Qingyu did up on Xilang Peak? He went toe-to-toe trading blows with a Red Shoulder!*
And the only super combat power Moss possessed had been hacked to death by Chen Buer on Xilang Peak just the day before...
With a deeply aggrieved expression, Lucius glanced back at Ye Jian.
"Let's move. Aren't we going? Watch out for Azure elites showing up. Remember, I'm injured... Running fast is about all I've got left," Ye Jian said, meeting his gaze.
"Then give me back that sword. My men were the ones who found it."
Lucius gave up on the credit for baiting Han Qingyu, but that sword was a top-tier weapon. He knew its value and wanted it.
Ye Jian swiftly hid the heavy sword behind his back. "Well, you see, my old weapon was chopped in two, as you know. The one someone threw to me later got snatched back by that old monk in the end. So I happen to be short of a weapon..."
"What does that have to do with me?!" Totally pushed past his limit, Lucius roared.
"...Good point." Ye Jian thought about it and handed the heavy sword to one of Lucius's subordinates nearby.
The subordinate took the sword in bewilderment. Realizing Ye Jian was actually giving it up, he felt a flicker of excitement and prepared to present it to Lucius...
Suddenly, Ye Jian sent him flying with a kick.
The heavy sword clattered to the ground.
Ye Jian strolled over, bent down to pick it up, straightened up, and said earnestly:
"Now, I'm the one who found this sword."
Lucius: "..."
If they had the strength to cut Ye Jian down, they would have hacked him to pieces eight hundred times already.
"With that kind of skill, you should have gone to Xilang Peak to keep Chen Buer pinned down," Lucius ground out through clenched teeth.
"I can't beat him! One slash from him left two dead and one wounded. How was I supposed to fight that?!" Ye Jian retorted.
"Yet you could have forced that slash out of him! You could have taken him down with you... Don't try to deny it! Otherwise, you'd never have made it back from the Huaxia All-Army Conference!" With a venomous look, Lucius glared intensely at Ye Jian. "What, are you unwilling to sacrifice yourself for the Snow Lotus?! Or do you simply not want Chen Buer dead?!"
"I'm willing. I'm willing to sacrifice myself for the Snow Lotus. But are you?" Ye Jian looked at him. "If you come with me, I'll go. Shall we? Come on, let's the two of us go challenge Chen Buer."
Lucius: "..."
He wasn't even top-tier. Whether he could even make it in front of Chen Buer was in doubt, and even if he did, he would certainly die the instant they met.
He would die, and then Ye Jian would run away...
Chapter 357