“Him! He…”
Bailian, now a captive, watched this unfold, her pale face flooding with shock, her heart churning with waves of disbelief.
She’d missed Lin Yun’s beast-slaying earlier.
But now, his strength was crystal clear!
She’d never imagined the ‘cripple’ she scorned was this formidable…
Lin Yun waved, 128 swords returning to hover before him.
He grabbed Bailu, flying to Bai Yongzhi’s side.
“Uncle! Are you alright?”
Bailu rushed to help him up.
“I’m fine, badly hurt, but it won’t kill me,” Bai Yongzhi said, face ashen.
Bailu exhaled in relief.
“Uncle, we owe this to Lin Yun, or I… I’d be in their hands too,” she said.
Bai Yongzhi’s eye twitched, recalling his past treatment of Lin Yun, unsure how to face him now.
He looked at Lin Yun, expression tangled, “Th-thank you.”
“No need to thank me, thank Bailu, I acted for her sake,” Lin Yun said evenly.
Bai Yongzhi wasn’t evil, but his scolding, threats to expel Lin Yun, and constant ‘cripple’ jabs were etched in memory.
Lin Yun saw himself as upright, not a saint, he couldn’t repay spite with kindness.
Gratitude he’d repay tenfold, grudges he’d hold just as firm!
The battle had mostly ended.
Most Bai guards were dead, a few surrendered, too broken to fight.
All Bai youths entering the ravine, save Bailu, were now captives.
Bailian, seized earlier, knelt in the dirt, disheveled and pathetic.
“Uncle Yongzhi, save us!”
The Bai youths, pale and frantic, cried out.
The green-robed second-rank Mahayana, whom Lin Yun had blasted into the woods, emerged.
“Senior brother, except those three, the rest are dead or ours,” a short man reported.
The green-robed man spat blood, his face venomous, eyes blazing.
Lin Yun’s blow had humiliated him—how could he not burn?
And his two first-rank Mahayana allies had just died by Lin Yun’s hand!
He glared at Lin Yun’s trio, fury locking on Lin Yun.
“Your people are mine now, want them alive? Do as we say!” he snarled.
“Doesn’t matter to me, kill them all, it’s nothing to me, I’ve no ties here, some I even despise, go ahead,” Lin Yun shrugged.
“You…” The man’s eye twitched, his scowl deepening.
Bailian and the Bai youths panicked at Lin Yun’s words.
“Senior Lin Yun, please save us!” Bai Tong begged, now calling him ‘Senior.’
He’d seen Lin Yun dispatch two first-rank Mahayana and wound a second-rank, his divine sense awe-inspiring.
Only Lin Yun could save them—Bai Yongzhi was too wounded.
“Senior Lin Yun, save us! Please!” the others chimed in.
“Shut it!” The green-robed man, enraged, dragged out a Bai youth.
It was Bailian.
“Kid, I don’t buy your bluff, you’re faking! I’ll count to three, don’t yield, she’s dead!”
He pressed his weapon to Bailian’s neck.
“Chop her quick, I’d love that,” Lin Yun smirked.
Death’s shadow loomed, Bailian trembled, pale, dizzy with dread.
“S-Senior Lin Yun, save me! Please!!!”
She dropped to her knees, shrieking, eyes pleading.
Her past arrogance now turned to groveling!
“Die!”
The green-robed man, face twisted, swung his blade.
“No!”
Bailian screamed, unwilling.
She regretted now—never dreaming the ‘cripple’ she mocked was her only hope, karma perhaps?
Lin Yun didn’t intervene.
*Slash!*
The blade took her head, blood spraying.
Bailian was gone.
Her eyes stayed wide, screaming her final defiance.
The Bai youths, seeing her die, quaked, some collapsing in terror.
Lin Yun faced the man, shrugging, “I told you, they mean nothing to me, you can’t leverage them, kill or spare, up to you, you’re not escaping anyway.”
“Brother Lin Yun!”
Bailu tugged his sleeve with slender hands.
“Big brother Lin Yun, if you can, save them, please, for me,” she begged, eyes earnest.
“Those Bai brats, not one treated you well, most kicked you when you were down, why pity them? You’re too kind,” Lin Yun shook his head.
He’d seen it all—Bailian and others hounded Bailu, her orphan status making her an easy target.
Even Bai Tong’s ‘kindness’ was lust-driven, Lin Yun’s seasoned eyes saw through it.
“They’re… they’re still Bai family,” Bailu murmured.
Bai Yongzhi pleaded too, “Lin Yun, I misjudged you, punish me later if you want, just save these Bai kids!”
“If I act, it’s only for Bailu,” Lin Yun said calmly.
He looked up at the foes.
They moved again.
“Kid, don’t yield, I’ll kill another!”
The green-robed man, snarling, dragged out Bai Tong.
“Senior Lin Yun, save me! Save me!” Bai Tong shrieked, voice shrill with fear.
He didn’t want Bailian’s fate!
