"Get him!" Zhao screamed, recovering from his shock. "Formation! Bind him!"
The nine remaining guards moved in perfect synchronization. They were elites. They had trained together for years. They channeled their Qi into their swords, weaving a net of sword-light that slashed toward Jin Hao.
Jin Hao tried to dodge. He saw the attacks coming but his body didn't know how to move efficiently. He stumbled, his feet getting tangled in the uneven mud.
Slash. Slash.
Two swords cut across his back and arm.
"Argh!" Jin Hao howled in pain. The cuts were shallow but they bled.
Pain. Real pain.
"You dare cut me?!" he shrieked. "I am the future Sovereign!"
He flailed his arm out, a backhanded slap that caught another guard in the helmet. The guard spun in the air, his neck snapping with a sickening sound.
"Attack his legs!" Captain Zhao commanded, thrusting his spear forward. The spear tip glowed with a sharp light, a Middle Stage Foundation Establishment technique, Serpent's Bite.
It aimed straight for Jin Hao's knee.
Jin Hao tried to jump, but he slipped on a patch of wet mud. He fell backward, landing hard on his rear.
To anyone watching, it was a pathetic fall.
But as he fell, his leg kicked up reflexively. His boot connected with a heavy stone buried in the mud. The stone flew into the air, intercepting the spear tip perfectly.
CLANG.
The spear was deflected upward, missing Jin Hao's leg by a hairsbreadth.
Captain Zhao's eyes widened. "What?"
Jin Hao scrambled back, his hands grasping for anything. He found a rusted iron bar, likely part of an old fence.
"Die!" Jin Hao swung the bar like a club.
Captain Zhao blocked with his spear shaft. The iron bar bent around the spear, but the force of the blow drove Zhao backward, his feet sliding in the mud.
"He has no skill!" Zhao shouted to his men. "He is a brute! Use ranged attacks! Fire Talismans!"
The guards retreated, pulling paper talismans from their sleeves. They ignited them, throwing streams of fireballs at Jin Hao.
Jin Hao panicked. He didn't know how to manifest a Qi shield.
"System! Shield! Shield!"
[Host lacks defensive techniques. Suggest evasion.]
"Evasion?!" Jin Hao screamed as a fireball scorched his sleeve. He rolled, frantically patting out the flames.
He looked ridiculous. A powerhouse rolling in the mud like a pig. But he was durable. The fireballs that should have incinerated him merely singed his robes and blackened his skin. His latent energy was acting as a crude armor.
He scrambled to his feet, his eyes wild. He saw a gap in the guards. He charged.
A guard slashed at his neck.
At that exact moment, a rotted beam from the overhang of the shack behind him, disturbed by the earlier impact, finally gave way. It crashed down.
Not on Jin Hao.
On the guard.
CRUNCH.
The guard collapsed under the heavy wood, his sword falling from his hand.
Jin Hao saw an opening. He grabbed the fallen guard's sword, a high-quality spirit weapon.
"Mine!"
He swung the sword. He didn't know swordsmanship, so he used it like a bat.
He cleaved through the armor of the next guard, the sheer force of his swing shearing through steel and bone. Blood sprayed across Jin Hao's face.
He licked his lips. The metallic taste fueled a savage instinct.
"Who else?!" he roared, looking like a demon. His robes were torn, his body covered in mud and blood, his eyes glowing with madness. "Who else wants to die?!"
Captain Zhao gritted his teeth. He realized the situation was dire. This boy was a disaster, a whirlwind of unskilled violence, but he was too strong, and impossibly lucky. Every time Zhao tried to land a killing blow, something happened. The sun would glare in his eyes. The ground would give way. A sudden gust of wind would divert his aim.
"Form the Killing Array!" Zhao ordered. "Combine our strength! One strike to end him!"
The remaining six guards rallied around Zhao. They formed a wedge, their Qi merging into a single blade of energy hovering above Zhao's spear.
Jin Hao froze. He felt the pressure of that combined attack. It locked onto him.
"System?" he whimpered. "Can I eat that?"
[Energy density exceeds Devour threshold for instant absorption. Attempting to consume will result in critical spiritual backlash and probable detonation of the Host.]
"So I can't eat it," Jin Hao realized, his breath coming in short gasps. "And I can't block it."
He looked around. The barrier was still up. He was trapped in the yard with seven men about to execute him.
"This isn't fair!" he screamed. "I'm the protagonist! You can't gang up on me!"
The giant blade of Qi began to descend.
Jin Hao's hand brushed against his pocket. He felt the heavy weight of the lead box's contents.
The Orb.
A twisted smile split his face.
"You want to combine your strength?" he laughed, reaching into his pocket. "You want a big boom?"
He pulled out the Thunder-Fire Annihilation Orb. The rust had flaked off, revealing the unstable core beneath. It pulsed with an erratic rhythm.
Captain Zhao saw the orb. He recognized the aura of unstable destruction. His face went white.
"Stop!" Zhao screamed, trying to abort the technique. "Scatter! It's a..."
"Too late!" Jin Hao yelled.
He didn't know how to prime it properly. He just channeled a surge of his chaotic Qi into the orb.
The orb shrieked. A high-pitched wail that pierced the eardrums.
He threw it at the ground between them, halfway across the yard.
"Eat this!"
He turned and dove behind the stone well in the center of the yard, curling into a ball and covering his head.
The orb hit the mud.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
A shockwave of blue lightning and crimson fire tore through the yard.
The Killing Array shattered instantly. The guards didn't even have time to scream. The explosion caught them mid-scatter. Bodies were tossed like ragdolls, armor melting and shattering under the force of the blast.
The stone well Jin Hao was hiding behind cracked. The heat washed over him, singing his hair, blistering the skin on his back. The force of the blast lifted him off the ground and slammed him back down.
His ears rang. His vision was white.
He lay there for a moment, coughing, tasting ash and ozone.
Slowly, the ringing faded, replaced by the groans of the dying.
Jin Hao pushed himself up. He looked over the ruined well.
The courtyard was a crater. The shack was reduced to kindling. The defensive barrier had shattered, its nodes overloaded by the blast.
Of the seven men, five were still. Two were crawling in the mud.
Captain Zhao was missing an arm. He was trying to stand, using his spear as a crutch, his face a mask of charred flesh.
Jin Hao stood up. He was hurt. His back was burned, his ears were bleeding, and his internal organs felt shaken. But he was alive. And he was the only one standing.
He walked over to Captain Zhao.
The Captain looked up, his one remaining eye filled with horror. "You... you madman..." he wheezed. "You killed... your own..."
"My own?" Jin Hao spat. "You are not my own. You are obstacles."
He raised the stolen spirit sword he still clutched in his hand.
"And obstacles get removed."
He brought the sword down.
Thud.
Captain Zhao fell silent.
Jin Hao looked around the devastation. The smoke was thick, hiding him from the street. The explosion would attract attention. The entire city would be here in minutes.
"System," he rasped, clutching his ribs. "Status."
[Host Condition: Moderate injury. Qi reserves: 40%. Exit path detected.]
"Good."
He limped toward the hole in the barrier where the blast had torn through. He stepped out onto the street, the smoke clinging to him like a cloak.
He looked back at the ruin of the courtyard, at the bodies of the men who had hunted him.
A triumphant laugh bubbled up in his throat again.
"I won," he whispered. "I won again."
He turned and melted into the chaotic streets of the slums, a wounded dragon disappearing into the mist.