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Chapter 24: A Hero Speaks with His Back (1)

"Wh-what\'s that?!" a martial artist standing on the watchtower shouted in shock. Hearing that, the martial artist standing on the other side turned around to see what the commotion was about.

"Ack! It\'s the Evil Valley!"

They could see a large group of people from the Evil Valley heading their way, the distance making it difficult to make out the details even if they circulated qi into their eyes. There seemed to be roughly a hundred at least and a hundred and fifty at most.

The martial artists realized that the appearance of the Three-Headed Mad Dog was a diversion. However, it was too late.

"Wh-what do we do?"

Those in command had all left for Kai\'An. The strongest person here was, at best, a Second-Class expert, and even that was at the beginning stage. Although there were some powerful cultivators among the injured, they were barely conscious.

"W-we need to run."

Including those with light injuries, there were only around thirty cultivators who could move. Among them, the strongest was a Second-Class cultivator. With a force like this, they stood no chance against a hundred enemies.

"What do we do about the injured, the women and children?" someone asked, making the atmosphere gloomy.

"Th-that\'s..."

No one could suggest leaving such people behind. They all knew that their hearts would shatter if they did. The problem was that it was the only realistic option.

Just as they were wondering what to do, a boy who appeared to have just reached adulthood stepped forward.

"Gee, I didn\'t know it was a diversion tactic."

The boy, Zhou Xuchuan, leaped onto the watchtower. The cultivators were startled and stepped aside.

"Hm, there\'s about a hundred at a glance. There might be some experts, but Senior Uncle is on the battlefield, so I doubt there are any here." Zhou Xuchuan crossed his arms, contemplating the situation.

Seeing him, the cultivators below the watchtower had different reactions.

"That\'s right! There\'s a disciple of the Mount Hua Sect here! He\'s a member of the Lotus Pavilion as well! We can make it out alive!"

"You fool, that brat looks big, but he\'s only twelve years old!"

"Huh?"

The cultivator\'s joy turned to confusion after hearing that Zhou Xuchuan was only twelve. Zhou Xuchuan was bigger than his peers, but the air around him was also mature.

"Sob, sob. How slow are you in catching the news? That kid is All Bite and No Bark. He only has a ton of qi, and absolutely nothing else! He\'s totally incompetent!" Another Third-Class cultivator lamented, tearing at his hair in despair.

"We\'re done for!"

"Do you think they\'ll spare our lives if we surrender?"

"Weren\'t there supposed to be geniuses from the Zhuge Family? How did they miss this diversion attack?"

The cultivators gathered around and despaired together. Due to the extreme situation, some of them even uttered shameful and insulting words.

Observing the chaotic scene from the top of the watchtower, Zhou Xuchuan let out a chuckle. During the Era of War and Chaos, he had to abandon bases on numerous occasions due to diversion tactics like this. They would even leave behind the injured, the women, and the children to avoid being dragged back.

In comparison, the cultivators here were cursing their fates but weren\'t running away.

"It\'s really biased that a Third-Class cultivator will have a third-rate mindset. They\'re all so remarkable. But aside from that... what a stroke of bad luck."

Zhou Xuchuan\'s smile vanished, replaced by a vicious frown. He was rather satisfied by the actions that the cultivators took, but the situation at hand was grim.

Excluding the injured, we have one Second-Class cultivator, and twenty Third-Class cultivators on our side. That\'s too little.

He couldn\'t tell how powerful the enemies were, but with so little forces on their side, and the lack of morale to boot, it was very hard to fight back.

Those geniuses might notice the diversion tactic and send reinforcements. That means we just have to hold out until then.

Zhou Xuchuan came down from the watchtower and looked around. There was despair in the air, with many resigned to their impending fate.

According to the original history, this place should either have been wiped out due to the diversion tactic, or held hostage.

Zhou Xuchuan wasn\'t here originally. He was not a member of the Lotus Pavilion, so he couldn\'t even leave the sect.

The same was true for Zhuge Shengji. He wasn\'t supposed to be here either. Back when the reinforcements departed, Zhuge Xiao intended to show Zhuge Shengji what the battlefield was like. However, Zhuge Xiang intervened and prevented that from happening, urging Zhuge Xiao to leave him behind due to unfavorable circumstances and Zhou Xuchuan\'s presence.

Although Zhou Xuchuan possessed nothing but a ton of internal qi, Zhuge Xiang judged Zhou Xuchuan to be much more capable compared to Zhuge Shengji. Zhou Xuchuan also seemed to be rather mature for his age, so he felt at ease leaving Zhuge Shengji in Zhou Xuchuan\'s care.

Looks like he hid after hearing the commotion earlier, which is for the best. I won\'t have him fight anyway.

Zhuge Shengji didn\'t have good cultivation. Although he had learned a cultivation art, he was only at the second stage. How could Zhou Xuchuan let him fight like that? He would struggle to win against an ordinary civilian, let alone a cultivator. He would only be a nuisance, so it was better that he hid without causing a ruckus.

"Well, then. Let\'s begin, shall we?" Zhou Xuchuan pulled out his sword.

*

The front door of the Martial Alliance Weng\'An branch was smashed with a loud noise. The cultivators of the Evil Valley were trying to squeeze themselves inside through the small doorway.

"Kyaaah!" the nurses treating the injured screamed, their faces turning pale despite their usual resilience to bloodshed.

"Hahaha! Come over here!" shouted a cultivator from Evil Valley at the very front. He had an unkempt beard that made him look like a bandit.

"I\'m Mo Yuanjia, who can silence a crying kid... huh? What the heck is this kid?" Mo Yuanjia looked in front of him in confusion.

Inside the manor stood Zhou Xuchuan, who appeared to have just reached adulthood, staring at the intruders while holding his sword comfortably.

"I have no name to give to a dead man." Zhou Xuchuan raised his sword and got into a stance.

"What was that? Hahahaha!" Mo Yuanjia burst into laughter at Zhou Xuchuan\'s words. His laughter had a mix of ridicule and disbelief.

"Kid, are you planning to face us all by yourself?"

"No, I\'m not by myself."

Zhou Xuchuan raised his left hand. When he did, twenty Third-Class cultivators surrounded the front door.

Oh, no.

Mo Yuanjia was taken aback. There were many cultivators following him who had yet to cross the doorway. Their party was too relaxed because they knew that there was no one left in the Weng\'An branch who could fight.

Fifteen men had passed through the doorway, their large builds leaving little space.

"Defensive form."

Tap.

At Zhou Xuchuan\'s order, the Third-Class cultivators shifted their stances. Everyone looked nervous and uneasy.

"I commend you for thinking of using the front doorway, but do not think that you can stop us with that alone."

Mo Yuanjia briefly looked uneasy before smiling confidently. With no experts in the Weng\'An branch, there was nothing to fear.

"Brat, I was a little taken aback by your boldness. I will take your life as a price for looking down on us with my sword!"

Mo Yuanjia pointed at Zhou Xuchuan with the tip of his sword.

"Attack!"

"Aaah!"

The cultivators from Evil Valley shouted. The cultivators at the door started swinging their swords threateningly.

The cultivators inside the Weng\'An branch were taken aback at first, but they started striking back in desperation after realizing that there was nowhere to retreat.

"Brat, I want to know what gives you so much confidence!"

The largest man among the cultivators from the Evil Valley broke through the formation and charged like a boar. He didn\'t have the ferocious fangs of a boar, but a sword in his hand.

"Die!"

The sword approached him from top to bottom. It was a clean strike that drew a single straight line. However, it wasn\'t anything amazing; it was just the level of a Third-Class cultivator.

As his eyes closed, time seemed to slow down. Sounds of battle echoed around him, triggering memories of the Era of War and Chaos—a time of endless conflict, where there were mountains of corpses and rivers of blood flowed.

When he came to, he was standing there, his Daoist robes dyed red with the blood of people unknown to him. He was holding a sword as his legs trembled. In front of him was someone\'s back, a hero\'s back.

I\'ve always watched other people\'s backs.

He saw someone else\'s reliable back. He couldn\'t tell if it was a man or woman. He didn\'t know if they were elderly, a child, or maybe a youth.

The only thing he could tell was the back felt bigger than Mount Tai to him.

"From now on..." Zhou Xuchuan gripped his sword tightly.

"Haha, you must be wetting your pants in fear!"

The burly cultivator in front of him laughed as he looked at Zhou Xuchuan standing still.

"I..."

Zhou Xuchuan stirred the qi from his lower dantian. The qi he had gained from Plum Blossoms surged with explosive power. The internal qi from his lower dantian coursed through the firm foundations of his meridians and headed to the sword in his hand. He could sense the faint smell of Plum Blossoms spreading around him.

"...am that back."

Slash-!

"Huh?"

The sword sliced through the air and drew a line. It was a flawless vertical straight line. The line gleamed in bright white before turning into a fiery red line of blood.

The burly cultivator\'s eyes widened in confusion and shock as his body split in two.

Drip—

Blood also seeped out of his ugly-looking chest and stained the ground red.

"No w—"

He couldn\'t finish speaking.

Crack!

His large body was unable to keep standing any longer. His body split in two like chopped firewood.

A moment of silence engulfed the battlefield. Whether it was the cultivators of the Weng\'An branch desperately surrounding the cultivators from the Evil Valley or their enemies, no one understood what had just happened.

"There exists a plum tree on the roadside—Roadside Plum Blossom." Zhou Xuchuan chanted, still in a completely defensive stance.

"The plum blossom dances like the butterfly—Plum Blossom Butterfly."

Tack-!

Zhou Xuchuan\'s body disappeared; he didn\'t actually disappear. He just moved at a speed that the Third-Class cultivators couldn\'t catch. He jumped into the midst of cultivators from the Evil Valley and spun around elegantly.

"The plum blossom emits its seductive fragrance—Plum Blossom\'s Seduction."

Zhou Xuchuan swung his sword. Invisible waves were emitted from his sword, dispersing into the surroundings.

There were three cultivators from the Evil Valley around him.

"The sharp petals of the plum blossom lead the way—Plum Blossom\'s Lead."

And those waves blossomed within him, releasing frightening energy. Something stabbed those three men.

"Kaahk!"

The three cultivators from the Evil Valley screamed and fell down. Looking closely, there was a hole in the Death Acupoint on their chests.

"Wh-what was that?" Mo Yuanjia\'s voice quivered.

No one present realized what kind of higher-level sword art he was executing.

"What the hell are you!" Mo Yuanjia exclaimed, wide-eyed with disbelief.

Zhou Xuchuan swung his sword to clean it of blood.

The cultivators of the Weng\'An branch looked at Zhou Xuchuan in a daze.

It was a small, yet large back.

"A passing..." Zhou Xuchuan smirked. "Swordsman from Mount Hua!"