Liam's Perspective
Blood trickled down my arm as I faced the three masters of Divine Dragon Street. Their eyes glead with predatory hunger. They'd sensed my weakness like sharks scenting blood in water.
"You really think you can fight all three of us?" Sara's beautiful face twisted with mockery. "In your condition?"
I said nothing, conserving my strength. My ridians were damaged, my internal energy nearly depleted. All I had was my physical body and years of combat instinct.
Zhang swung his mace in a vicious arc. I ducked under it, feeling the air disturbed by its passage. Too close. My reflexes were dulled by exhaustion.
"Not so mighty now, are you?" Zhang taunted.
I countered with a swift kick to his knee. He grunted in pain but recovered quickly. Lin stepped in with a flurry of palm strikes. I blocked the first two but the third caught in the ribs. Pain exploded through my chest.
Sara's fan sliced through the air. A thin line of blood appeared on my cheek. She smiled, triumphant.
"Is this truly the man who killed three Guild Elders?" Lin asked, circling . "Pathetic."
I spat blood onto the ground. "I'm still standing, aren't I?"
Zhang charged again. This ti, I grabbed his wrist as he swung, using his montum to throw him into Lin. They collided with a satisfying thud.
Sara attacked from behind. Her fan, edged with concealed blades, slashed at my back. I twisted away but not fast enough. Another cut opened across my shoulder blade.
"You're running on borrowed ti," she whispered. "Why not make this easy on yourself?" This text was acquired from *.
I answered with a backhand strike that caught her across the jaw. She stumbled back, surprise flashing in her eyes.
The crowd around us had grown. Dozens of onlookers, maybe hundreds, watching the spectacle of my downfall. Their faces blurred together into a mass of morbid fascination.
Lin recovered and launched a spinning kick at my head. I blocked with my forearm, bones jarring painfully against bone.
"What we really want," Lin said conversationally, as if we weren't in the middle of combat, "is your cultivation technique."
My breath caught. So that was it.
"Everyone knows you cultivated faster than should be possible," Sara added, dabbing blood from her split lip. "We want that secret."
I laughed, the sound ragged and harsh. "You think there's so shortcut? So magic formula?"
"Don't play dumb," Zhang growled, swinging his mace down in a crushing blow.
I sidestepped, but my damaged body betrayed . The mace caught my shoulder. I heard sothing crack. White-hot pain lanced through .
"Share your technique," Lin demanded, "and we might let you live."
I straightened, ignoring the agony in my shoulder. "There's no technique to share."
Sara's eyes narrowed. "Liar."
She launched forward, her movents fluid and deadly. Her fan slashed across my chest before I could react. Another line of fire blood across my torso.
Zhang followed imdiately, his mace connecting with my back. I crashed to the ground, my vision swimming.
"The mighty Liam Knight," Sara taunted, standing over . "Reduced to groveling in the dirt."
"Kill him," Zhang urged. "We can search his body for clues."
Lin shook his head. "Too public. Too many witnesses."
"We all know witnesses can be handled," Sara replied coldly.
The crowd, sensing the shift in mood, began to back away nervously.
"I'll give you what you want."
My voice was steady despite the pain racking my body. All three of them stared at with surprise as I struggled to my feet.
"You'll... share your technique?" Lin asked cautiously.
"Yes," I lied. "But not here. Not now."
Sara laughed incredulously. "You expect us to believe that?"
"The technique requires specific preparations," I continued. "et tomorrow in Shiglance City. I'll have everything ready."
"This is a trap," Zhang growled.
I shrugged, wincing at the pain the movent caused. "Think what you want. But my technique isn't written down. If you kill , you get nothing."
Lin studied carefully. "Why would you suddenly agree to share?"
"Because I recognize reality," I said, eting his gaze directly. "I'm dying anyway. My ridians are destroyed. What good is a technique to a dead man?"
A tense silence fell over the street. I could almost see the calculations running behind their eyes.
"He's playing for ti," Sara said finally.
"Maybe," Lin conceded. "But if there's even a chance..."
"Shiglance City," I repeated. "Tomorrow at noon. The old temple on the east side."
Before they could respond, a new voice cut through the tension.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
All heads turned. Eamon Greene stepped forward, his expression grim.
"And who might you be?" Sara asked dismissively.
Eamon straightened. "A disciple of Jackson Harding."
The na sent a visible ripple through the crowd. Even Lin's composed face showed a flicker of unease.
"Jackson Harding doesn't take disciples," Zhang challenged.
"Publicly, no," Eamon replied smoothly. "But Master Knight here is under my teacher's protection."
It was a lie, of course. A desperate bluff. But Eamon delivered it with perfect confidence.
Lin exchanged glances with his companions. "We have no quarrel with Jackson Harding."
"Then we have no problem," Eamon said. "My friend here will et you tomorrow as promised."
Sara's eyes narrowed suspiciously, but she made no further objection.
"Very well," Lin said finally. "Tomorrow at noon. But if this is a trick..." He left the threat hanging.
Sara stepped closer to , her voice low enough that only I could hear. "If you don't show, I'll personally find everyone you care about. I'll start with that pretty woman in the black cloak trying to hide in the crowd."
My blood ran cold. Sofia. She was watching from the shadows.
Sara saw recognition in my eyes and smiled. "Tomorrow, then."
As the three masters departed, the crowd began to disperse. Only when we were relatively alone did I allow myself to slump against the nearest wall.
"That was insane," Eamon muttered, helping stand. "Jackson Harding? Really?"
"It bought us ti," I said through gritted teeth.
"Ti for what? To bleed out sowhere else?"
Sofia erged from the crowd, her face pale with worry. "You don't have a special technique to give them, do you?"
"Of course not," I admitted. "But they don't know that."
"They'll kill you when they find out," Eamon said.
I nodded grimly. "Which is why I need to be gone before then."
"You're in no condition to travel," Sofia objected.
"I don't have a choice." I straightened, ignoring the pain. "I need to find sothing called the Center Jade. It's said to be in the mountains north of Shiglance City."
"The Center Jade?" Eamon repeated skeptically. "I've never heard of it."
"Few have," I lied smoothly. "It's an ancient artifact that can heal damaged ridians."
It was complete fiction, but I needed them to believe I had a plan, a purpose. The truth—that I was buying ti while having no real solution—would only invite pity I couldn't bear.
"I'll go with you," Eamon offered imdiately.
I shook my head. "No. They'll be watching. I need to go alone."
Sofia touched my arm gently. "At least rest tonight. Leave at dawn."
I reluctantly agreed. As we made our way back to our temporary lodgings, Sofia fell behind for a mont. I didn't see her take out her phone, didn't notice her fingers flying over the keys.
I didn't know that in that mont, she was sending a desperate ssage into the night:
"Lord Pavilion Master, Master Knight has been ambushed. Soone will co to kill him tomorrow. Please hurry and save him..."
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