Wounded Luo Yun

Luo Yun stood before the nine prisoners, the Moon Eclipse Sword pointing diagonally at the ground.

His breathing gradually steadied.

Not one of these people was innocent.

His father had said they were spies for enemy nations, evil soul masters who slaughtered civilians, traffickers who abducted children, and bandits who razed villages.

Every single one of them had the blood of the innocent on their hands.

Luo Yun recited this silently in his heart.

Therefore, they deserved to die!

Luo Yun charged forward, sword in hand.

The first strike was aimed at the thin, middle-aged man closest to him.

The man's weapon was a single-edged blade, and his grip was clumsy; he clearly wasn't accustomed to using a sword.

The angle of Luo Yun's thrust was tricky, a move Luo Shang had taught him.

Feint high, strike low.

The tip of the sword went straight for the man's throat.

The middle-aged man raised his blade to block.

But the Moon Eclipse Sword suddenly dipped in mid-air, the tip darting toward his thigh.

The man's reaction wasn't slow; he leaped backward, barely dodging, though his pant leg was sliced open, revealing the grimy skin beneath.

"You little brat!" the man cursed, his face flushing red.

"I'm going to mince you today!"

With that, he brandished his blade and charged.

Luo Yun sidestepped the first strike, caught the second with a horizontal block of the Moon Eclipse Sword, then pushed off to deflect the man's blade, leaving a shallow cut on his arm.

The man let out a miserable cry, clutching his arm as he retreated, blood seeping through his fingers.

Luo Yun did not pursue.

He turned his gaze to the second prisoner.

A hulking, bald man covered in thick muscle, wielding a heavy sword.

The heavy sword weighed at least forty or fifty pounds, but in his hands, it felt as light as a wooden stick, swung with ease.

"Little one, your swordsmanship isn't bad," the man grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth, "but you're still too green."

He brought his heavy sword crashing down.

Luo Yun did not meet it head-on.

He guided the Moon Eclipse Sword to the side, offloading the force of the heavy blade.

However, the man suddenly kicked out, sending Luo Yun stumbling back two steps.

With that retreat, three other prisoners charged simultaneously.

A blade, a sword, and a dagger attacked from three different directions at once.

Luo Yun's heart skipped a beat.

He remembered what his father had taught him.

When surrounded, don't try to block everyone at once; strike the closest, then the most dangerous, and leave the rest to your footwork.

He ducked under the sweeping blade, parried the thrusting sword with the Moon Eclipse Sword, and shifted his body to the side, barely evading the dagger.

The entire process took less than a breath, but beads of sweat had already broken out on Luo Yun's forehead.

Luo Shang stood in the back, arms crossed, his expression unreadable.

The adjutant stood by his side, watching the battle unfold, his brow furrowed.

He opened his mouth to say something, then held his tongue.

After a while, seeing Luo Yun surrounded by three men and nearly injured several times, he finally couldn't help himself.

"My Lord, the young master..."

Luo Shang raised a hand, cutting him off.

The adjutant froze, looking at Luo Shang.

Luo Shang's gaze remained fixed on Luo Yun in the arena, his face devoid of expression, but having followed him for over a decade, the adjutant could naturally guess a part of his thoughts.

Thinking of this, the adjutant sighed, stepped back, and said no more.

In the arena, Luo Yun had already taken down three men.

He had only rendered them unable to move for the time being, stopping short of delivering a lethal blow.

Luo Yun panted heavily, sweat rolling down his cheeks.

It wasn't that he couldn't kill them; he simply didn't want to.

Although these people were guilty of heinous crimes, having to personally drive his sword into their bodies, watching their blood gush from the wounds, and listening to their screams—

He still found it somewhat hard to bear.

Luo Shang's brows furrowed slightly, but he remained silent.

The fourth prisoner, a middle-aged man wearing glasses, had been circling the perimeter, not rushing to strike.

Instead, he was waiting for an opportunity!

Luo Yun had just repelled the fifth prisoner and was turning to deal with the sixth, leaving his back exposed.

A perfect chance!

The bespectacled man moved suddenly.

The dagger in his hand thrust out silently, aiming not for a vital spot, but for Luo Yun's back.

Luo Yun sensed the chill behind him.

Instinctively, he dodged to the side; the dagger missed his spine, but the tip grazed his left arm, slicing open a gash.

Blood surged out instantly.

It wasn't particularly deep, but it hurt.

Luo Yun let out a muffled groan and retreated two steps, pressing his left hand against the wound as blood seeped between his fingers, staining his sleeve red.

It hurt.

The bespectacled man gripped his dagger, watching the blood on the blade, his eyes lighting up.

He turned his head to look at Luo Shang, a near-maniacal smile on his face.

"I wounded him! I wounded him!"

"Does the word of the dignified King Frost Extreme still count? Let me go! Let me go!"

Luo Shang glanced at him without a word, merely nodding slightly.

The adjutant understood and waved a hand at the soldiers behind him.

Two soldiers stepped forward, grabbing the bespectacled man's arms from left and right, and dragged him toward the prison exit.

The bespectacled man was ecstatic.

After being locked up for so many years, he was finally getting out.

His mind was already beginning to calculate what he would do once he was free.

Before leaving.

He looked back at Luo Yun, who was clutching his wound in the arena, and curled his lips into a smug grin.

"Little brat, thank you."

Luo Yun watched his back disappear beyond the gate, his grip tightening on his sword.

The remaining men went mad.

The departure of the bespectacled man was like a shot of adrenaline injected into the veins of the remaining prisoners.

Their eyes turned red, and their breathing grew heavy.

The hope of escape was right before their eyes!!!

A bearded middle-aged man rushed up wielding a blade, his technique more ferocious than the others, every strike aimed at Luo Yun's vitals.

He wasn't trying to wound Luo Yun; he was trying to kill him.

Luo Yun parried his blade, but the impact forced him back two steps, his arm numbing.

Another prisoner rushed in from the side, kicking Luo Yun in the shin.

Luo Yun stumbled and dropped to one knee; the prisoner raised an iron rod and brought it down toward his shoulder.

Luo Yun rolled on the ground, and the iron rod slammed into the spot where he had just been kneeling, emitting a dull thud as the stone floor cracked.

Fortunately, the blow hadn't landed on him, or it would have been unbearable.

Do these people want to kill me? Luo Yun felt a surge of irritation.

He rolled twice, and before he could stand, the third prisoner's blade was already upon him.

Luo Yun had no time to rise and could only raise his sword to block.

Blade met sword, sparks flying.

His arm couldn't withstand the force; the Moon Eclipse Sword was pressed down toward his face, the blade nearly touching his nose.

The prisoner looked down at him from above with a cruel smile.

"Little brat, your life is mine."

"Heh!"

Luo Yun gritted his teeth, his knee pressed into the ground, and used all his strength to shove the opponent's blade away before kicking him in the knee.