Dragon's Soul Chapter 53: Departure
Only read the things in the spoiler tag if you wanna see the wacky comments between me and the editor :D
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The moon was high in the sky, gazing down upon the earth from up above.
Two men were standing on the third floor of a local diner that was right next to a certain mansion.
“Sect master our men are ready and positioned outside of the four city gates and inside all throughout the city. No matter what gate they leave from we will be ready for them.” A masked man dressed in black robes said.
“Good, how many men do we have?” A man dressed in red robes said. As the moonlight shone on this man’s face anyone within the capital would recognize him as the leader of the Yu sect, Yu Zhao.
“We currently have thirty thousand disciples ready, master.” The masked man replied.
“ Alright, that brat will wish he had given me that necklace at the auction house instead of acting haughty. Had we not been in the golden lotus then I would have killed him.” The only reason Yu Zhao had not acted in the Golden Lotus was because he wanted to avoid offending the auction house.
The golden lotus was not a good place to cause trouble due to their huge influence in the Wulin continent. Even small kingdoms did not want to offend the golden lotus.
“Keep a close eye on their movements.” Yu Zhao ordered the masked man.
“Yes, master.” The masked me said as he left the room.
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The sun peeked out from the horizon and shedding its warm rays upon the land and illuminating the sky.
Today the ministers of war and finances were both present at the eastern gate of the capital city. Their reason for being here today was to send off their children who were about to embark on their journey to Red Mist city.
Zhang’s mother also was present, but she now knew the truth. His father had slowly told her what had actually happen to her son. He did it in a way that had not startled her and eased her into the events that had happened. Today Zhang’s mother Zhen Ji had, for the first time in a long time, left her home and entered the outside world.
“Goodbye madam.” Zhang said to her as he held her hand.
“Goodbye.” Zhen Ji replied as she tightly gripped her sons hand.
The mother and son had to pretend to be strangers as to not stir up suspicion from outsiders. However they knew that soon enough they would be united when Zhang returned to Red Mist city.
Once Zhang arrived he would start to send out invitations inviting people to his wedding that would be held in Aurora which would give his loved ones a excuse to leave the Heilong Kingdom.
“It is time to go, my lord.” Lu Xun said as he walked up behind Zhang.
Although he did not want to leave, it was not safe for him or his family to stay in the Heilong Kingdom. The risk of the Siw.a.n.g empire attacking was just to high. The alliance as a whole might be able to hold back the Siw.a.n.g empire, but the chances of one of their allies betraying them and joining the Siw.a.n.g empire was also rather high.
Thus moving his family to the warring states region was safer. If they moved to Aurora then it was very unlikely that the Siw.a.n.g empire would be able to reach them. This was of course thanks to the Dragon’s Maw. No one besides Zhang and his soldiers knew about the secret pa.s.s, so traveling through the Dragon's Maw would take a very long time.
Not only that, but if armies were to engage each other inside the of the Dragon's Maw, there would be no such thing as numerical advantages. Only so many soldiers could fight at one time in there thus making it a very strategic location.
Zhang's mother gripped his hand even tighter than before not wanting to let him go. He had left this world once and now he was finally back so she did not want him to leave her side again so quickly.
“Let him go.” Zhou Cheng said softly to his wife as he placed his hand on her shoulder. He too did not want to see his son leave, however there were things to be done and stalling would not a wise decision.
Slowly Zhen Ji let Zhang’s hand slip out of hers.
“You take care now and don't bully the girls.” She said with a slight smile on her face.
“I will try my best to be careful, but I think they'll be the ones bullying me.” Zhang said with a smile as he looked at Ling, Ai and Yuying.
“Goodbye father and mother.” Ling said as she hugged her parents.
“Every hatchling must leave the nest one day.” Wu Tong said as he hugged her with his wife.
Ling’s mother did not say a word but instead hugged Ling even tighter.
A while later the group departed from the gates of the Heilong kingdom’s capital on their steeds. Zhang, Lu Xun, Yuying, Ai and Ling along with their one hundred mounted guards rode away from the gates of the capital.
Zhang did not look back as he rode away, neither did Ling. They knew if they looked back then there was a chance they would hesitate and turn back. This was in fact the first time both of them said goodbye to their family. Although Zhang had been away from his family for years, it had been a forced separation without a chance for farewells.
The only one looking back was a now slightly bigger Silky sitting on top of Yuying’s head basking in the sunlight.
After traveling a short distance from the capital city Zhang and the group stopped advancing.
“Lu Xun where are our forces?” Zhang asked since Lu Xun had relocated their soldiers after the tournament.
“My lord, the men are stationed a roughly twenty miles miles away from the city, but I've arranged for them to come meet up with us after we start moving out.” Lu Xun said.
“Alright, you lead the way.” Zhang said as the group rode on.
“Hey brother, why aren't we using the magical carriage we got from the treasury?” Ai asked.
“Ah yes, I almost forgot about that.” Zhang said as he made a small miniature sized carriage appear in his hand. Shortly after, he got off his horse, placed the miniature carriage on the ground and activated its ability by sending a bit of his essence into it.
Moments later the miniature carriage emitted a golden brilliance and began slowly changing in size. From being small enough to fit in Zhang’s hand it turned into a full sized carriage. The carriage looked extremely extravagant with beautiful metal work and precious gems.
“Alright, let's go inside.” Zhang said to the three beauties as he walked up to the carriage and opened the set of twin doors that led to the inside of the carriage.
Ai was the the first one in as she quickly jumped off her horse and stepped into the carriage.
One by one Ling and Yuying got off their horses and followed her in. The inside of the carriage was roughly ten times larger than one would expect from a carriage of this size.
“It’s much bigger on the inside.” Ai said once Zhang entered the carriage.
Spoiler : (
“I know.” said The Doctor with a gleaming smile on his face.
Ai ran out and in again and again.
“But how?” Ling asked with a perplexed expression on her face.
“Welcome to the Tardis” Was the only explanation The Doctor gave. My Editor added this and I decided to keep it :D if you don’t watch doctor who then well lol.)
Ai ran out and in again and again.
“But how?” Ling asked with a perplexed expression on her face. Although she knew the magical carriage had this ability beforehand, it still perplexed her.
“Magic or Dimensional transcendentalism.” Zhang said with a light chuckle as he recalled watching this show called “Doctor Who” in his past life.
Zhang recalled the wacky adventures of The Doctor and his companions. The Doctor would use his high intellect to solve complex puzzles and mysteries which result in the universe being saved.
After sometime everyone was in the carriage speeding toward the rendezvous point where the rest of Zhang’s army was positioned. Once they meet up, Zhang would take command and lead everyone through the “Dragon’s Maw”, all the way back to Red Mist City.
As the carriage along with one hundred hors.e.m.e.n speed onwards, something unexpected happened as they rode past a thick grove of trees. Hundreds, if not thousands of arrows came out of nowhere. Due to being caught off guard many of Zhang’s soldiers died immediately.
“Protect the carriage!” Lu Xun yelled as he plucked an arrow out from his shoulder. He was situated near the carriage where not a lot of arrows were aimed. Thus he was able to avoid death.
“ATTACK!!!” A loud voice rang out from within the woods. Following the signal, countless number of masked men charged out from the grove with weapons high in the air and engaged the few surviving guards in battle.
Zhang’s guards were instantly overwhelmed by the large group of attackers. One by one they began to perish.
That was when the carriage doors bursted open and Zhang walked out dressed in his Lightning Eater scale armor while brandishing the Sky Pierce halberd.
“Kill him!” One of the attackers yelled.
“Die..” Zhang murmured as he swung his halberd. With a single swing a number of the attackers were bisected.
Seeing this quite a few of the attackers backed off in fear of death. However Zhang used their hesitation to his advantage and charged forward. From his interspatial ring he withdrew his ten Dragon’s Talons throwing knives and his two chained daggers made from the teeth of the Voracious Eater.
Using the power of the Underworld’s Heart the throwing knives and chained daggers danced through the air and swept down to take the lives of the attackers.
None of the attackers wore any armor that could protect them from his high tier weapons, which made it extremely easy for Zhang to cut them down. His blades cut through flesh and bones as if they were made of b.u.t.ter. And to further add to his newly created chaos, he opened the Ruler’s Domain and unleashed a horde of t.i.tanic Golden spiders.
The attackers, who originally were the hunters, had now turned into the pray. Although they possessed an absolute numerical advantage, they could not overwhelm Zhang. They were simply too weak to face him in single combat and when fighting as a group only so many of them can attack at once.
Unlike them, Zhang could easily fight many enemies at the same time. He could manipulate the throwing knives and daggers to keep the attackers at bay while using his halberd to mow down everything in front of him. The horde of spiders also proved to be a deadly force.
The spiderlings would jump onto the attackers and inject them with neurotoxic venom causing them to fall to the ground and be dragged off by the spiders.
As if this wasn't enough, from within the carriage, Yuying, Ai and Ling now also came charging out. Ai used the black thorn whip to lash out at the attackers, while Yuying used her reanimation magic to manipulate the corpses of the dead enemies and Ling erected a small water barrier around herself and the other two girls to protect them from any surprise attacks.
“Everyone fall back to the barrier and fall into formations!” Lu Xun yelled to the remaining soldiers. Although Zhang was able to hold his own against the many attackers, the soldiers were still being overwhelmed, if they did not fall back then soon every last one of them would die.
“Reinforcements will arrive soon!” Lu Xun yelled toward his men who were struggling against the enemy.
Only ten or so of Zhang’s soldiers managed to make their way into the barrier that Ling had set. The majority of them have already died and the rest are stuck hopelessly fighting for their lives.
“Who sent you? Was it that b.a.s.t.a.r.d Ming Jiang?!” Zhang yelled at the attackers. Although he and Ming Jiang had somewhat settled their differences, Zhang did not trust Ming Jiang at all.
Instead of saying anything, the attackers redoubled their a.s.sault.
“Keep attacking men! There are only a few of them left!” One masked man yelled.
“Hmph.” Zhang snorted as he swung his halberd, separating limbs from bodies. Wherever the halberd went a trail of blood and gore followed.
Zhang plunged the sky piercer into the chest of one of the attackers then lifted the man into the air. Blood gushed out from where the halberd had entered the man’s body and poured down onto Zhang.
This horrendous sight further increased the fear that the attackers had for Zhang. From afar Zhang looked like the reincarnation of death, as if blood rained down onto him from the heavens themselves.
“You fools! What are you doing?! Continue attacking! He will tire and be overwhelmed by our numbers soon enough! We must obtain the necklace for the sect master!” One masked man yelled out.
“For the sect!!!” The rest of the attackers yelled out in response.
“Whoever kills him and gets me that necklace will become the next sect leader!” Yelled a masked man in red robes who was standing in the rear of the group of attackers.
“It’s you! Yu Zhao, you old b.a.s.t.a.r.d!” Zhang yelled with blood dripping from his face. He had figured out who the attackers were once they had mentioned a sect master. The face of the middle aged man who had wanted his necklace at the auction house had immediately popped up in Zhang’s mind.
A bit away from where Zhang was, Ai was demolishing another group of attackers with the black thorn whip. The magical whip’s ability to change size proved to be extremely useful when fighting large groups. Ai would change the size of the whip upon its impact with an enemy thus increasing its weight and attack power exponentially.
Spoiler : (Chizinha: That’s what he said ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°))
As the fighting progressed, Zhang and his people slowly but surely started to tire. Although they were able to hold their own for quite a while, there were simply too many enemies. There was no way a hand full of people could face an enemy force that numbered in the thousands.
For each enemy cut down there would be two more to fill in the gap. With each swing of the sword, each thrust of the spear, their energy was slowly being sapped away. Zhang’s group no longer possessed the explosive force they had at the beginning of the battle.
Zhang could be seen surrounded by more and more enemies as he tried to hold them back. The halberd felt heavier and heavier after each time he slew an enemy. The chained daggers and throwing knives were no longer dancing about in the air. Zhang was struggling to keep himself on his feet as the wind brushed against his blood coated face.
Spoiler :
(Chizinha: He is now made of blood, long live Mirai.
iEndWorlds: Yes like Yuno O_o when she cut off that one dude’s head.
Chizinha: Spoilers much… no it’s Mirai Kuriyama
iEndWorlds: I needs to watch that….)
Ling’s barrier could be seen fluctuating and looked like it was about to collapse.
“Brother we can’t hold out for much longer over here.” Ling yelled to Zhang, panic starting to fill her voice.
“Just a bit longer and our reinforcements should be here.” Zhang yelled back trying to comfort her the best he could. When his army arrived, the flow of the battle would be completely reversed.
“Perhaps I should use that.” Zhang thought to himself.
Although it had not been long since the fight had begun, it seemed like a lifetime as the group fought to keep the attackers at bay.
“Hand over the necklace now and I’ll let you leave alive.” Yu Zhao yelled from behind the backs of some of his underlings. He had taken off his mask after Zhang had yelled out his name and was now showing a confident smile.
“You want this necklace?” Zhang said he pulled the dragon heart necklace out from under his armor.
“Yes, hand it over. And I’ll let you leave.” Yu Zhao said eyeing the necklace with a greedy expression on his now wicked face.
“With the ma.s.s of energy within that necklace, my sect will become one of the strongest sects on the continent!” Yu Zhao said with a disgusting laugh.
“Hmph, if you want it so badly, let me first give you a demonstration of the power of the necklace!” Zhang yelled as the necklace emitted a pitch black brilliance.
“Wha-what is this?!” Yu Zhao yelled as he stared with round eyes at the creepy light being emitted from the necklace.
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(Chizinha: on the next episode of Dragon’s Soul: and i don’t know what to type...
iEndWorlds: Next time on dragon ball z….
Chizinha: It was too predictable...)