STNS: Chapter 371 (Patreon)

Several things happened at almost the same time. If Huǒ Yulie’s eyesight wasn’t as good as it was, she would have missed it.

The first thing that happened was shadows leaping out of the ground to create a wall that the flaming projectile slammed into. The fire from her eldest brother’s attack blasted right through it, but the shadows weakened the attack and it was slower than before.

The second thing that happened was someone dropping from the sky. It was Huǒ Shuchang. He grinned widely, spread his feet apart, and held his hands up to accept the flaming projectile. The attack slammed into him with the fury of a storm. His feet slid across the ground, until he was seconds away from touching the barrier, but that was where he stopped. Digging his feet into the hard ground, he reared his fist back and slammed it into the projectile. The sphere of fire was launched skyward.

“Brother… Shuchang…” Huǒ Yulie murmured with wide eyes.

“Hey there, lil sis,” Huǒ Shuchang said with a grin. “I finally caught up to you and--er, where is Jian Wu? Also, what the heck is going on here?”

Huǒ Yulie smiled exasperatedly. “Thou meanest thou didst arrive and fendeth off that assault without comprehending the circumstance?”

Huǒ Shuchang rubbed the back of his head. “Well… more or less…”

“These people are trying to hurt Master,” a voice said from within a shadow.

Everyone, not just Huǒ Yulie and Huǒ Shuchang, glanced toward the source. It was the shadow underneath Huǒ Yulie’s feet. She blinked several times before squeaking in shock as a giant black beast emerged from her shadow. Glistening fur like midnight covered its sleek body, which was both muscular and graceful. There was a scar running down its face over one eye, the left, which was brilliant gold. The right eye, a vibrant blue, contained a  youthful innocence that Huǒ Yulie found surprising.

“Ah, thou art the magical beast comrade of Jian Wu,” she murmured. “What art thou doing within this place?”

“Youmei hid in Master’s shadow, but then, Master told Youmei to hide in your shadow, so that’s what Youmei did,” Youmei said.

The voice that emerged from Youmei seemed at odds with her big body. She sounded like a young girl. Huǒ Yulie would have put the voices age at somewhere between 9 and 10. Maybe it was because she was a magical beast and had not yet matured? She didn’t know enough about magical beasts to say.

“It seems the situation has gotten more complicated than I would have liked,” Shen Yunhai said. His voice reminded Huǒ Yulie of the danger they were in. She turned to him, as did her brother and Youmei.

“Huǒ Pànguó… what exactly are you doing?” asked Huǒ Shuchang.

“Hmph. You should butt out of your better’s business, Shuchang. Don’t make me give you an even bigger beating than I did during the tournament,” Huǒ Pànguó said with a sneer.

Huǒ Shuchang furrowed his brow and glared between the pair. “I might not know what’s going on, but I do know that this man was not part of the tournament. You’re breaking our family’s rules. Do you really think Father will let you get away with this?”

Huǒ Pànguó finally hesitated. He bit his lip and clenched his fists as his eyes darted to and fro. Huǒ Yulie wondered if her brother finally realized what a mistake he’d made, but then, Shen Yunhai placed a hand on Huǒ Pànguó’s shoulder and smiled.

“It doesn’t matter at this point, does it? Huǒ Pànguó has already made his choice. There’s no going back now. I suppose the only thing he can really do is kill you.”

Huǒ Pànguó’s face paled. “What…? No, that’s not what I…”

“Come now. Did you think you could get away with this?” Shen Yunhai grinned, but it wasn’t a nice grin. Dark and ominous, it felt to Huǒ Yulie like she was staring into the abyss. She could only imagine how her eldest brother felt. “Let me lay this down for you, young man. You brought a complete stranger into the Realm of Sacred Fire. That’s already enough reason for your clan to banish you, but on top of that, you attacked their pride and joy, the clan leader’s only daughter. If you let these three live, they will go on to tell your father. What do you think he’s going to do when he finds out what you did? It’s too late for you to turn back now.”

Huǒ Yulie glanced at her eldest brother, who looked like a trapped animal. She had once heard Lord Phoenix use the term “a rat trapped in a cage,” and she felt like that was an apt description for how her eldest brother looked right now.

“Don’t listen to him, Huǒ Pànguó,” Huǒ Shuchang said. “He’s just trying to trick you. I don’t know what’s going on, exactly, but there’s still time for you to turn back. You won’t be able to go back if you take this any further.”

While Huǒ Shuchang was right, his words were the worst thing he could have said, and Huǒ Yulie understood that when she looked at Huǒ Pànguó. His face had turned into an ugly grimace as he glared at Huǒ Shuchang. Flames erupted from his body as if in response to his incredible anger.

With a viscous snarl, he said, “Shut the fuck up! The only reason you can say that is because you’re content with your lot in life! I’m not like you! I have ambitions! Goals! But every single one of you is always getting in my way! You don’t understand how I feel! You’ll never understand how it feels to constantly be compared to your youngest sister, to always have your father ignore your existence even though you’re the eldest! You’ll never understand the pressure I’m under, so don’t talk down to me like that!”

“Heh. Looks like you’ve made your choice. I’ll leave the panther and your brother to you. I can’t afford to take my attention off your sister,” said Shen Yunhai. Huǒ Pànguó did not respond, but instead, he blasted off the ground and flew toward Huǒ Shuchang. The man then turned his attention to Huǒ Yulie, who prepared herself for the next round of combat.

***

“Are you ready, Youmei?”

“Youmei is always ready to protect Master!”

“Then let’s do this!”

Huǒ Shuchang was not feeling too confident about his chances, but he felt better knowing Youmei had his back.

He reared his fist back, flames exploding from the surface, then thrust it forward so fast the air burst. His fist slammed into Huǒ Panguo’s. Their power during that short attack was equal and canceled each other out. However, both of them immediately attacked again, fist meeting fist in a clash that caused flames to shoot everywhere.

“Don’t forget about Youmei!”

Youmei slipped her tail into Huǒ Shuchang’s shadow, which was connected to Huǒ Panguo’s shadow. Vines of darkness sprung up and entangled around the eldest son’s legs. They didn’t remain for long. Flames erupted from Huǒ Panguo’s legs and burnt the shadows to a crisp.

Fire did not actually affect shadows, but light did, and since fire emitted light, it meant shadows were weak to flames.

Before Youmei could move back, Huǒ Panguo spun around and launched a kick that caught Youmei in the side. She yowled in pain as she was sent flying. She was sadly only at the fourth subrealm of the Human Limit Realm and therefore could only provide a distraction at most. However, a distraction was all Huǒ Shuchang needed.

“EAT THIS!!”

Huǒ Shuchang launched another punch and this time caught his oldest brother right in the face. It was the first solid hit he had ever landed on the man. He’d packed a lot of strength into that punch. Huǒ Panguo was launched off his feet and sent flying backward, across the chasm, and slammed into the wall on the opposite side. His body became embedded into the chasm wall.

“Haaah… haaah… I finally did it,” Huǒ Shuchang said with a grin. “I finally hit him! Ya-ha! That felt amazing!”

Huǒ Shuchang did not remain happy for long, as he soon realized Youmei hadn’t gotten back up. He rushed over to the panther and knelt down.

“Oi! You okay?! Can you hear me?!”

Youmei didn’t answer, but she was breathing; she was just unconscious. Huǒ Shuchang sighed in relief. This magical beast was his friend’s companion, and he didn’t know what he would have said to Jian Wu if the man appeared to find his companion dead.

“What do you think you’re doing? Can you afford to look away in the middle of our fight?” someone said behind him.

Oh, shit.

Huǒ Shuchang turned around--then grunted in pain when something rammed into his face with all the fury of a cyclone. It was his brother’s knee. He felt, more than heard, the crunch of his nose breaking. Staggering backward, he moved with the attack to mitigate the damage as much as possible. Blood flowed down his nose, but he had no time to move it back into place, for his brother was already launching his next attack.

“You’ve become arrogant, little brother!”

Huǒ Shuchang might have responded with something cocky, but Huǒ Panguo launched a high kick that nearly got him in the face. He bent his torso back to avoid it. However, he couldn’t avoid his brother’s leg sweep.

“You think I’m so weak that you can take your eyes off me?!”

Huǒ Panguo lifted his leg above Huǒ Shuchang’s head, then brought it down. Huǒ Shuchang rolled across the ground to avoid it. The loud sound of rocks shattering echoed around them as a small crater formed underneath his older brother’s foot. Huǒ Shuchang would have grimaced if he had the time. He didn’t, however, because Huǒ Panguo had already launched his next attack.

[Phoenix Feather Rain]

Huǒ Shuchang felt the surging chi before he saw the technique activate. Huǒ Panguo glared at him with an expression of utter loathing as he moved his hands in intricate patterns, allowing the chi to flow through his meridians and resonate with the phoenix essence inside of him.

Not this attack again…

The atmosphere around them shifted as if the very air had caught fire. A cascade of brilliant flames skin to molten feathers, materialized above their heads. There were hundreds--maybe even thousands. Each feather was suspended in the air with an otherworldly grace, pulsating with a life of their own as they radiated an intense heat that rippled through their surroundings.

“Do you remember this technique? It’s the same one that’s done you in countless times, the same technique that you’ve never been able to master. I’ll teach you what it means to be a frog in a well, Shuchang. You’ll be begging for mercy by the time I’m done with you,” said Huǒ Panguo with a vicious snarl.

Huǒ Shuchang grimaced. Each of these feathers packed enough firepower to destroy a normal cultivator. Huǒ Shuchang would survive, but it would hurt. Of course, that was provided it was just him. Trapped within this technique was another, someone who had no defense against this attack.

“Dammit!”

Huǒ Shuchang threw himself over Youmei as the feathers fell. He circulated his chi through his meridians and let it flow out of his pores, generating an intense heat that forced the atmosphere to shift. He used the heat to create an updraft of wind, which pushed the feathers away from him and Youmei. Each feather gently around him and lightly touched the ground.

That did not stop them from exploding.

Blast after blast rang out in Huǒ Shuchang’s ears, loud enough to make him worry that his eardrums would burst. Scorching hot waves of air washed over him from all directions. The flames weren’t enough to burn, but he did feel like he was being cooked alive. Aside from those who had achieved total mastery of their phoenix blood, members of the Phoenix Clan were not immune to fire. Huǒ Shuchang gritted his teeth as he tried to protect his friend’s unconscious companion.

The flames finally stopped. Huǒ Shuchang looked up, thinking it was over--only to gape when he saw a tiny sphere hovering right in front of his face. It might have looked small. However, anyone who could sense power would be able to tell how much chi had been packed into that tiny sphere. There was so much that even a member of the Phoenix Clan would be reduced to ashes if they got hit with it. Huǒ Yulie would survive since she was completely immune to fire, but Huǒ Shuchang would not.

The sphere rippled, and Huǒ Shuchang knew this was the end. His life quickly flashed before his eyes. All of his regrets felt like they were being laid bare. He still had so much he needed to accomplish, needed to do, and now his life was about to be cut short.

Dammit. If only I was stronger.

As this thought occurred, the sphere exploded, but at the same time, a swath of darkness sliced through it. This black void that contained absolutely nothing created a sucking force that drew the powerful attack in. Yet oddly enough, while the flames were sucked in with impunity, nothing else seemed to be affected. Even Huǒ Shuchang, who sat right there, and the still unconscious Youmei weren’t affected at all.

What… happened?

“What’s going on here?”

Huǒ Shuchang and even Huǒ Yulie and their opponents looked toward the cave entrance. The barrier was gone. He didn’t know when that happened. Standing just outside of the entrance was a person wearing a familiar mask.