These Wings Came Just in Time

Xu Sheng had just clicked the login button for "Soul Domain" when the ground suddenly vanished beneath his feet.

Before he could even cry out, he had fallen into a patch of grass.

Wait, he was in already?

Matching him with a Martial Soul had made him wait a full half hour. Now he wasn't even given time to get his feet under him!

Xu Sheng propped himself up and sat down, feeling his arms and then his face. His limbs were all there, and he looked the same. Even the scar on his palm from childhood was still there, but his phone was gone.

Blades of grass prickled against his neck, making it itch. He was about to brush them away when a shout rang out ahead.

"Behave yourself! Just try moving again!"

A carriage sat crooked beside the road. An old man in gray lay in the ditch, his arms raised to protect his head. Three men surrounded the carriage: one was prying open a chest, another was trying to loop a rope around the old man, and the last was kicking at the carriage shaft.

Xu Sheng froze.

This opening didn't look much like a welcoming ceremony.

"Brother Yu, there's another one!"

The man prying open the chest spotted him first and pointed at the grass. Xu Sheng had only just stood up when a large, furry hand seized his clothes and slammed him back onto the dirt slope.

His back hit the ground, and his vision swam. When he looked up again, a young man with yellowish pupils was glaring viciously at him. Stripes covered the back of the man's hand, and a faint Wang character had even appeared on his forehead.

Martial Soul Possession?

"Did I say you could get up? Stay down!"

The young man kicked at him, and Xu Sheng hurriedly rolled aside. Dirt flew into his face, but he didn't bother wiping it off, patting himself down first.

He had fallen that hard, yet it hadn't hurt?

Several lines appeared on the right side of his vision.

[Martial Soul: Archangel Sanguinius]

[Current Soul Power: Level 10]

[Soul Rings: None]

[First Arrival Protection: 48 seconds remaining]

Xu Sheng stared at the first line, his breath catching.

Sanguinius? His Martial Soul?

"Still looking? Didn't you hear me tell you to behave?"

The young man reached for him again, but this time Xu Sheng didn't shrink back. The name of his Martial Soul had barely flashed through his mind when his shoulder blades suddenly grew hot, and two snowy-white wings unfurled from his back!

The wind pressed a swath of grass flat as a surge of power rushed into his limbs. Xu Sheng pushed against the ground and rose straight to his feet, raising a hand to clamp down on the tiger claw reaching for him.

The young man froze, then swung his other hand and smashed it into Xu Sheng's face.

Xu Sheng's head snapped back, but his feet didn't budge.

It still didn't hurt!

He glanced at the countdown. Forty-one seconds left. Well, there it was: his opening chance to save his life!

"Let go!" The young man tugged again, but couldn't pull free. He immediately grew angry. "I'm a level-eight Ironback Tiger, and I can't even hurt you?"

This time, Xu Sheng understood.

He was a player too. No wonder he had announced his level right away.

"You had a good time hitting me just now, didn't you? My turn!"

He gritted his teeth and pressed the man's hand down. As the young man leaned over, Xu Sheng slammed into him. They crashed into the carriage beam together, rocking the carriage violently, and a chest inside thudded as it rolled toward the far side.

The carriage beam cracked, and the flesh on the young man's face quivered with it.

Xu Sheng looked down at his own hand, then at him.

A level-eight Ironback Tiger, and that was all?

The look made the young man flush with anger. He ducked his head and wrapped his arms around Xu Sheng's waist, trying to throw him down. Xu Sheng planted both feet and instead forced him to bend at the waist.

At the same time, a rope snaked around from beneath the white wings and jerked tight around Xu Sheng's arms.

Damn! The protection kept him from getting hurt, but it said nothing about keeping him from being tied up!

"Grab his legs! Get him down!"

The man behind him pulled desperately on the rope, dragging Xu Sheng half a step back. The young man ducked to grab his knees, but the old man in the ditch struggled to his feet and swung his whip, lashing it hard across the rope-puller's face.

"Let go of him!"

"Old Liang, you're asking for death!"

The man covered his face and let go. Xu Sheng jerked his arms outward, and the loop of rope slid off his wings. He spread them with a shake and shot to the other side of the carriage beam.

They really worked!

Xu Sheng stumbled as he landed, but his hand had already caught the iron chain securing the cargo beneath the carriage. Seeing him unsteady, the young man lunged at once, but Xu Sheng turned around the beam and pulled the chain up.

The young man tripped and fell face-first into the dirt.

"Young man, catch the sword!"

The old man pulled the short sword from his waist and tossed it over, sheath and all.

Xu Sheng caught the sword and planted a foot on the young man's back. The young man pushed up with both arms, but before he had risen half an inch, Xu Sheng stamped him back down, grinding his face hard into the mud.

"Who was telling whom to stay down just now?"

Xu Sheng drew the sword and held it against the back of his neck.

The young man tried to turn his head, but the tip pressed into his flesh, and a bead of blood rolled down his neck.

"I've never learned to use a sword. Move again, and don't blame me if it goes in!"

At those words, the man under his foot didn't dare move.

Seeing how badly things were going, the other two had already begun backing away.

The man who had been whipped ran first, his hand over his face. The one prying open the chest looked at the white wings, then at the sword behind his companion's neck. He dropped his iron bar, turned, and chased after the other man.

"Come back! Both of you, come back!"

The young man shouted himself hoarse, but neither of them even looked back.

Xu Sheng couldn't spare a hand to chase them. He could only loop the iron chain around the carriage beam and ask the old man to use the cargo rope to tie the man's hands securely behind his back.

The final loop tightened just as the countdown before Xu Sheng's eyes reached zero.

He had only just put away his wings when the young man suddenly struggled again. Xu Sheng instinctively reached out to hold him down, and his wrist was forced backward.

"Hiss-"

That really hurt!

Xu Sheng switched hands and pinned his arm down again, then asked Uncle Liang to add another knot.

This guy really wouldn't stop! Xu Sheng gripped his aching wrist, growing angrier the more he thought about it, and cinched the knot one notch tighter toward the inside.

"Robbing people is one thing, but you even beat the driver?"

The young man took a few breaths and glared up at him. "That old man wouldn't let go! Besides, I wasn't planning to kill him. What's it to you?"

The old man looked down at the blood on his leg and angrily raised his whip.

"You've got the nerve to say that! Who cut my leg?"

"Don't bother arguing with him yet. Your leg's still bleeding." Xu Sheng freed one hand to support the old man. "I heard him call you Old Liang. Is your surname Liang? I'll call you Uncle Liang. Is there anything on the carriage to stop the bleeding?"

Uncle Liang caught his breath, crouched beside the carriage for support, and lifted the chest lid that had already been pried loose.

Bundles of dried medicine were wrapped in oiled paper, with a dozen or so bottles of medicinal liquid beside them. One bottle had broken when the chest rolled, and its faint bitterness had already seeped into the wood. The old man checked the contents, and his expression eased when he saw that most of them were still there.

"This load is for the physicians at the Main Hall. As long as the medicine's here, that's what matters. We couldn't let them drag it away."

Xu Sheng's interest stirred. "The Main Hall? The Spirit Hall?"

"The Spirit Hall Main Hall in Soto City. The carriage has the hall's emblem on it."

Uncle Liang pointed at the side of the carriage. Half the cloth covering it had been torn away, revealing a clear emblem underneath.

Xu Sheng stared at it, forgetting the pain in his wrist for a moment.

Before entering the game, he had planned to go to the Spirit Hall first and find a way in.

Now that he even had an Angel Martial Soul, wouldn't he be wasting these wings if he didn't go? He could have someone teach him cultivation and find a way to hunt for Soul Rings. That had to be better than a newcomer wandering aimlessly around the continent. He still hadn't figured out where he was, yet a carriage from the hall had come right to him.

Taking that beating really wasn't all bad.

"Uncle Liang, let me take you back. Your leg makes it hard to get around, and I wanted to ask about something at the hall anyway."

"All right, all right. Sorry for the trouble." Uncle Liang glanced behind him again. "Your Martial Soul is beautiful. You fell so hard just now. You weren't hurt, were you?"

"I'm fine everywhere else. I just twisted my wrist."

Xu Sheng handed the short sword back, but Uncle Liang waved it away repeatedly, telling him to keep it for protection. The old man limped up onto the carriage shaft, and Xu Sheng led the horse from beside the ditch back onto the road, then lifted the securely bound young man into the carriage.

"My name's Yu Duo." The young man leaned against a medicine chest, his face dark. "You'd better think carefully. Those two aren't my only friends around here."

Xu Sheng tested the knots and made sure they hadn't come loose before looking up at him.

"Like those two just now?"

For a moment, Yu Duo had no answer.

Xu Sheng looked in the direction they had fled.

"Then you'd better make a few more. If they run that fast, two won't be enough."

Yu Duo's face stiffened, and he was about to speak again, but Xu Sheng had already lowered the carriage curtain and gone to help Uncle Liang sit securely.

The wheels began turning again, and Xu Sheng finally had time to look at the game interface.

The local channel was lively. Someone had awakened a Hoe Martial Soul with an initial Soul Power of level two and was asking if there were any farming teams. Someone else had started at level nine and was urgently looking for people to hunt a Soul Ring. A level-ten Sword Martial Soul user had announced himself only three times, and people were already lining up to call him big brother.

Xu Sheng couldn't help touching his shoulder.

He was level ten too, and he had an Angel Martial Soul!

With an opening like this, surely he couldn't do badly?

While he was still pleased, another message popped up in the channel.

"Shrek took in a few new students today, and Tang San's already joined. There's still time to go meet him. Anyone want to team up?"

A string of replies followed immediately.

All right, everyone seemed to know which path they wanted.

Xu Sheng looked a few more times before closing the interface. Shrek had its opportunities, and the Spirit Hall had its benefits. At the very least, he needed to take Uncle Liang back first, and he couldn't bring the man in the carriage all over the city.

Soto's city gates had already appeared ahead.

Yu Duo struggled inside the carriage. Xu Sheng lifted the curtain and used the sword sheath to pin his arm, then turned and asked, "Uncle Liang, do you remember what those two who ran away looked like? Once we reach the hall, we need to tell them about everything."

"I remember! I'd recognize them even if they turned to ash!"

"Good. I saw their faces too. I'll help you identify them."

Uncle Liang nodded, finally feeling a little more at ease, and went on about how a physician at the hall could look at Xu Sheng's hand. Xu Sheng listened, but a recruitment message suddenly popped up in the corner of the channel.

"The Main Hall's last medicine carriage tonight-anyone still available to meet it? Level tens first. Follow Mr. Zhou and become part of the first core group."

His smile gradually faded, and his gaze shifted from the message to the medicine chests in the carriage.

"What's wrong, young man?"

"Uncle Liang, how many people know the route for this medicine delivery?"

As he spoke, he opened the recruitment message and noted down who had sent it.

The carriage rolled over the stone road, and the Main Hall's spire came into view at the end of the street. The hall guards at the entrance saw that Uncle Liang's leg was covered in blood and hurried down the steps to meet them.

"Uncle Liang, how did you get hurt so badly? Who did this?"

"The one in the carriage, and two others who ran away! Luckily, this young man helped, or we wouldn't even have kept the medicine."

Uncle Liang hurried to get down, but the moment his leg touched the ground, he hissed in pain. A guard reached out to support him and told a companion to check the carriage. Yu Duo had just opened his mouth when they seized him by the shoulders and escorted him inside through a side door.

"Tell us inside. A deacon will come to question you."

Xu Sheng helped carry the last chest of medicine off the carriage. Afraid to strain his injured hand, he supported the bottom of the chest. He had just set it down securely when Uncle Liang urged him to rest.

"We're here now. Why should you still be working? Come sit down!"

"It's put away. I'm fine." Xu Sheng rubbed his wrist and, while someone went to fetch a physician, asked quietly, "Uncle Liang, is the hall still taking people in?"

Uncle Liang paused, then smiled. "Of course! You want to stay? That's perfect. When Deacon Du gets here, let him have a look at your Martial Soul... Here he comes, that's him!"

A middle-aged man in hall robes came briskly down the steps. He first examined Uncle Liang's injury, then asked whether any medicine chests had been lost. Only after hearing the old man's account did he turn to Xu Sheng.

Xu Sheng quickly straightened up and cupped his hands toward him.

"My name is Xu Sheng. I'm level ten, and I don't have a Soul Ring yet. I heard I could learn cultivation here, and I'd like to join the Spirit Hall. What do I need to do?"

Now that he had said it, he felt more settled.

The road was already beneath his feet. He had to take the first step and give it a try!