13. A Blade Cast in Wind and Shadow

After the beggar left carrying Liu Dazhuang, two heads furtively peeked out from the stairwell of a residential building.

“Boss, did you see that just now?”

“Shh! Keep your voice down.”

“My god, that was terrifying. My heart’s still pounding.”

“Yeah. What do you think he is? He’s even more frightening than any emissary we’ve ever met.”

“Forget it. Let’s grab the others and find the emissary. We can’t afford to delay his business.”

The two whispered back and forth, then one picked up a cloth sack from behind him. Together, they hurried off and melted into the darkness.

Meanwhile, Lu Feng and Lin Doudou finally arrived.

By now, the storm had long ceased. Whatever means the beggar had used, the high-rises that had crumbled in the tempest stood tall and unscathed once more.

It was as if nothing had ever happened.

Except for the dozen or so people sprawled across the ground.

As soon as they got out of the car, Lin Doudou led her team toward the bodies. A few of them still clung weakly to life.

Lu Feng’s figure became a streak of red light, darting into the ground floor of a residential building.

Previously, the entire area had been blanketed with hypnotic power; now, everyone within was lost in slumber. Not even the earlier commotion had roused them from their dreams.

Lu Feng had been here once before. He remembered the uncle who had treated him decently enough. But the man was proud—he never wanted to embarrass Lu Feng’s mother nor force Lu Feng to do anything.

After that, Lu Feng never returned.

Now, revisiting this place, everything had changed. He had inexplicably become a traveler between worlds; his sister and the others had had all memory of him erased.

Drawing on the layout from memory, he headed to his sister’s room.

No one.

He walked softly into his mother’s room.

No sign of his sister.

He searched every corner, but she was nowhere to be found.

Where had his sister gone?

A sense of unease crept over Lu Feng.

Why was the incident centered on this very neighborhood?

Why had his sister disappeared?

How had these people been injured?

“Lu Feng, there’s a Bing Dundun toy in the stairwell,” Lin Doudou called as she reached the window. She understood now—Lu Feng’s urgency was because of his sister.

She alone knew all of Lu Feng’s details and background.

Lu Feng took the toy from her, closed his eyes, and a crimson light surged from him.

Lin Doudou, familiar with his talent, could sense Lu Feng’s mood at a glance.

Time stopped. Air froze.

Lu Feng’s consciousness drifted through this suspended space.

No, he needed to look back.

Could he rewind time?

His awareness reversed, retracing the flowing river of moments, seeking all that had transpired here...

He found it.

Lu Feng’s expression froze as the scene unfolded vividly in his mind.

Two people, shielded by hypnotic power, slipped into the room, scooped up his sister, and carried her out.

They reached the stairwell. Outside, a storm raged, a crowd battled with a beggar...

Finally, the two melted into a narrow alley.

Without delay, Lu Feng’s body became a blur, racing in the direction they’d disappeared.

Lin Doudou quickly recovered and, grabbing a man in black beside her, gave chase.

...

...

When Liu Dazhuang slowly came to in a derelict building, the beggar was gone.

His wounds had been dressed—clearly the beggar’s doing.

But the beggar had killed his teammate right before his eyes.

And all he could do was watch helplessly.

He was steeped in a deathly gloom, the word “traitor” swelling ceaselessly in his mind.

It wasn’t until he heard voices from downstairs that he crept quietly to the window.

Below.

Three people had surrounded a youth.

The boy stood there, wreathed in red light, like a living flame.

“Where is my sister?” the youth asked coldly.

“Relax. You don’t know how much trouble I went through just to lure you out,” said the man in black robes before him.

“Where is my sister?” the youth repeated.

“You’re no fun! I really don’t get what the teacher’s so afraid of,” the man in black said, disappointed.

“Where is my sister?”

The third time the youth repeated the question, the red glow shimmered even brighter, dazzling around him.

“Heh, angry now? I hear you have dual traversal abilities—I’d like to see that for myself,” the black-robed man teased.

Dual traversal? Could he be...?

Liu Dazhuang didn’t have time to finish the thought before everything around him seemed to be swallowed by silence, even his own thoughts and breath frozen in place.

“Oh? You’re already resorting to isolation? Seems the teacher overestimated you. Works for ordinary travelers, but against me? Not enough.”

The black-clad man yawned, utterly indifferent to Lu Feng.

Lu Feng was stunned. The man could disregard his spatial power. For someone with no real combat experience, it was a crushing blow.

“Show me everything you’ve got, then—I’d rather not waste time.”

Provoked, Lu Feng’s mind surged, the red light on his body flared, spikes of ice thrust up from the ground, his eyes blazed with piercing rays...

“Kill!”

With Lu Feng’s shout, the space around them shattered, ice spears charged with murderous intent shot at the man in black, and two beams of blinding red light leapt from his eyes.

The man in black waved a hand lightly—every ice spear vanished before him, the beams of red light stopped by a barrier conjured from a flick of his sleeve.

With a single gesture, all became nothing. The man’s strength was unfathomable.

Before him, Lu Feng seemed utterly helpless; he had already thrown in everything he had.

But it wasn’t really Lu Feng’s fault—this was only his second day since crossing worlds. He barely understood his own abilities, and he’d already been dragged into two battles.

According to the monk, Lu Feng retained only a trickle of spiritual power.

Now, that power was nearly spent; he collapsed, drained.

“Pity, I’d hoped to play a bit longer. You’re so weak it’s boring. Guess I’ll just kill you now.”

“You’ll have to kill me first.”

As the man in black spoke, a powerful voice boomed from above, followed by a figure dropping from the sky.

Liu Dazhuang landed beside Lu Feng, shot him a faint smile.

“My name is Liu Dazhuang, Ninth Bureau of Time.”

He drew his curved blade, turned to the man in black, and said, “You’ll have to kill me first.”

The man in black looked at Liu Dazhuang with disdain, clearly thinking him overconfident.

“Hmph! Makes no difference who dies first—so you’ll go first.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Dazhuang lunged, blade in hand.

He took two steps before the man in black flicked a finger—and Liu Dazhuang’s sword-wielding arm was severed without a sound.

Thud.

Liu Dazhuang dropped to his knees, writhing in agony, his body contorted in pain.

“No! You can’t beat him!” Lu Feng cried out.

“It’s fine... I can still... Promise me you’ll die after me...” Liu Dazhuang, bloodied and trembling, barely managed to speak.

Slowly, he braced himself with his right hand, staggered to his feet, and, clenching his fist, limped toward the man in black.

“Don’t... come back...!”

Liu Dazhuang smiled gently at Lu Feng and ignored his plea.

Branded a “traitor” by his teammates, he was now proving himself with his actions.

The man in black sneered, flicked his hand, and sent Liu Dazhuang’s remaining arm flying.

Liu Dazhuang trembled, his face scraping the ground.

“Get back here, damn you!” Lu Feng’s eyes brimmed with tears as he shouted at Liu Dazhuang.

Liu Dazhuang glanced back with another faint smile, then staggered upright, step by step advancing on the enemy.

At that moment, he seemed a fool. Facing certain death, yet unflinching.

Perhaps from the instant he leapt down, he had already accepted his fate.

He feared being called “traitor” more than he feared death.

The man in black was finally enraged by Liu Dazhuang’s stubbornness. With a roar, he unleashed a palm strike, the force of it sharp as a blade, slicing through Liu Dazhuang’s legs.

Blood sprayed, Liu Dazhuang’s body hurled backward, tumbling to the ground beside Lu Feng like a battered training dummy.

Lu Feng’s eyes were blurred with tears, his whole body shaking.

He could hardly comprehend how a stranger, for the sake of “Ninth Bureau of Time,” would sacrifice his life for someone he’d just met.

He couldn’t fathom the faith that burned in these people’s hearts—to keep advancing on the enemy after losing an arm, to continue forward even without both arms.

He couldn’t understand how this man, whom he met for the first time today, could leave his last smile for him, his stubbornness for the enemy—just as Lu Feng himself had refused to yield to life’s hardships time and again.

He crawled over and cradled what remained of Liu Dazhuang’s body.

Liu Dazhuang’s body spasmed, his eyes shining with light, his lips moving in a whisper:

“I am a traveler of time, boundary of order!”

“If darkness descends, I will tread the stars and plunge into the abyss.”

...

His voice faded, his convulsions grew weaker.

Until, at last, he stilled.

“Ah...”

Lu Feng could hold back no longer; his roar shook the heavens.

Gently, he laid down the stiffening body, closed his eyes, and slowly rose to his feet.

A chill wind blew, but the fire in his heart blazed ever brighter.

Though all around was silent, inside him a deafening cry resounded.

In this world, it seemed only he and the broken body beside him remained.

“I am a traveler of time, boundary of order!”

“If darkness descends, I will tread the stars and plunge into the abyss.”

As his words fell, the winds stirred.

A tempest swept forth, the power of multitudes pouring into him.

Snow glowed against the sleeping sky, the world bright as day.

Flames swept the land, burning fiercely across the universe’s vault.

The youth walking in the vastness glimpsed the rising sun on the horizon.

In this moment, he was no longer the lonely soul he once was.

In this moment, he had met a fool named Liu Dazhuang.

In this moment, he was the traveler of time.

In this moment, he was master of space.

His eyes snapped open, and the two henchmen standing beside the man in black crumbled instantly to dust.

A beam of light slashed across the man in black, leaving a searing wound.

Terror and disbelief twisted his features.

As he tried to raise his hands to strike back, he found himself powerless.

The boy wreathed in flames strode toward him, each step tolling his death knell, until suddenly he stood at his side.

The boy’s eyes were hollow; the look he gave was as if seeing a dead man.

Now he understood why the teacher wanted this boy dead.

As the youth slowly raised his right hand—its slender, sharp fingers reflected in the man’s pupils, stabbing deep into his soul—the boy spoke softly:

“His name was Liu Dazhuang, of the Ninth Bureau of Time. And you dared to kill him.”

With that, the boy snapped his fingers.

The man in black vanished without a trace.

As darkness closed in, the boy’s vision swept past Liu Dazhuang and the slanting blade, a voice echoed in his ears, and a tear slid from the corner of his eye.

“My name is Liu Dazhuang, Ninth Bureau of Time.”

A blade angled in the wind, carrying away a dream of the stars.

A blade angled in the wind, for the sake of a young man.

...

After Lu Feng fell, a small girl crept out from a hidden cloth bag in the corner.

She approached Lu Feng, gently touched his forehead with her finger, and a golden light sank into him.

She stroked his face, tears streaming from her eyes.

Brother, you’re such a fool!