Who Was the Hunter, and Who Was the Prey?

Atop the walls of Ji Town, a man named Hexi Qing gazed into the distance.

An ordinary person might have seen nothing, but Hexi Qing's hawk-like eyes could clearly make out the tiny flicker of fire far away.

"Just as expected."

He punched the wall beside him and turned to the grassland armored soldiers behind him.

"Pass down the order. Without my command, no one is to leave the city."

"This..."

The grassland soldier hesitated, and for a moment, he did not even know whether he should relay the order.

After all, to everyone present, an order forbidding them from leaving the city was clearly an act of cowardice.

They were warriors tempered by the freezing winds north of the desert, proud eagles soaring through the skies. How could they shrink from battle?

"This is an order! It is to keep you alive!"

Hexi Qing kicked the grassland soldier twice, sending the messenger straight down from the battlements.

Before long, however, the nine-foot-tall Muer Shu climbed up onto the walls.

"Big Brother, the brothers have some objections."

Leaning close to Hexi Qing, Muer Shu lowered his voice.

"We agreed before that we would not sheathe our blades for three days. Yet only one day has passed, and now you want the brothers to retreat into the city. Isn't that a bit..."

Muer Shu did not finish, but the expression on his face said everything.

They had clearly seized a great victory, yet with a single word, they were suddenly supposed to switch to defending the city. What was that supposed to mean?

Were they really going to say that their entire vanguard army had been trapped within the city by one mere man?

"What else? Do you want them to go out and die?"

Hexi Qing closed his eyes, though his brow remained deeply furrowed.

The instant he saw that faint flame, he had confirmed his earlier suspicion. The monster who had killed his younger brother had indeed entered his current realm—no, it could not even be called a monster anymore, because Hexi Qing now clearly understood that the other party had not lost his reason to the blood Baleful Intent.

A monster that had lost its mind knew only how to slaughter everything before it without distinction, fighting to the death until the end. Those were easier to deal with.

But a person...

A person would avoid battle. A person would run.

That was the truly troublesome part.

Southern Chen had an old saying: when two tigers fought, one was bound to be injured. Yet on the grasslands, when one fierce beast encountered another, it would instead deliberately avoid it—because even beasts understood that they possessed the power to truly kill one another. Such a battle was meaningless; it was better not to fight at all.

And now, Hexi Qing found himself in precisely such an awkward situation.

The murderer who had killed his younger brother had indeed stepped into his current realm, and he had clearly realized the mortal enmity between them as well. That much was obvious from the fact that he had come all the way from Yang Family Fort to Ji Town. He was plainly here for Hexi Qing.

Yet this enemy, with whom he shared a life-and-death grudge, had no intention whatsoever of risking his life against him.

Through sneak attacks, the man had killed many armored soldiers, and it was plain to the eye that he intended to kill even more.

Someone else might have thought he was simply fighting, seeking an opportunity to stake everything against Hexi Qing.

But to Hexi Qing, who had long stepped into this realm, it carried another meaning.

"He is hunting. He intends to grow stronger by killing you."

Drawing in a deep breath, Hexi Qing clenched his fist.

Just as they had done to the Jizhou Governor's Office.

They had used the lives of Ji Town's residents as the price to gather enough blood Baleful Intent for the armored soldiers and himself. Then, in an overwhelmingly powerful stance, they would smash through the city in one blow and cut down Ji Town's commanding governor, Liu Yanran, amid the ranks. To outsiders, it might have looked like a perfectly timed assassination raid, but only Hexi Qing himself knew that the core of this strategy lay in the blood Baleful Intent itself.

Like rolling a snowball through ice and snow, it would grow larger and larger, rolling ever bigger.

But now, that very strategy was being used against him.

The fiend who had killed his younger brother was also growing stronger by slaughtering the armored soldiers under his command. And unlike Hexi Qing's original method, the other party was alone. True, one man alone could not kill many at a time—but if he was determined to flee, these grassland armored soldiers could not catch him either.

Like a bloodsucking mosquito, like a fly that could never be driven away.

But Hexi Qing was more inclined to see this enemy as a wolf in the wilderness.

Wild wolves were patient creatures. They would trail behind their prey all the way, even across several mountain ridges, waiting until the prey had lost its strength and been drained of its final drop of blood.

"That is why I had you all return to the city. Right now, I am the only one who can contend with him."

At this, Hexi Qing opened his eyes.

"With the city walls as cover, he does not know where I am, so he will hesitate. Or, in the Southern people's words, he will be afraid to strike the rat for fear of breaking the vase... He does not want to face me head-on yet, so he will not take the initiative to attack the city. As long as the walls shield you, you will be safe."

"Big Brother, you..."

Muer Shu, built like an iron tower, was overcome with shame and grief.

As a warrior, Muer Shu had never feared battle. At that moment, he desperately wanted to charge out and kill that life-and-death enemy with his own hands—but he could not do it. Even Hexi Qing, who seemed capable of anything, regarded that monster so seriously. If Muer Shu went out, could he really defeat him?

If he could not, he would be killed, and that monster's blood Baleful Intent would only grow more vigorous. Yet if he did not fight, how could he, a warrior, retreat?

Before climbing the battlements, Muer Shu had been so tormented by this that his head had nearly split apart.

But now, Hexi Qing had given him a third answer.

Hexi Qing had chosen to protect them, to protect them weaklings who could not fight that monster.

"Big Brother... Big Brother..."

Muer Shu could not help bursting into tears.

It was clearly the care of this elder brother, yet to Muer Shu at that moment, it hurt even more than being killed.

For accepting protection meant admitting that he was weak.

Making a warrior admit his weakness was worse than cutting him into a thousand pieces!

"It is fine. This is normal."

Hexi Qing gently patted Muer Shu's shoulder.

"When I was driven out of my tribe back then, was I not even weaker? It was just that no one could protect me then. I still had my younger brother with me, so I could only risk my life myself... Sometimes, admitting your weakness is not a bad thing. Only by knowing your weakness can you walk toward true strength."

"Yes, Big Brother."

Wiping away his tears, Muer Shu gritted his teeth.

Yes, just as Big Brother had said, he now understood how frail he truly was when facing a genuinely powerful opponent.

But precisely because of that, his desire to grow stronger had never burned so fiercely.

He had to grow stronger. He had to become stronger still. Only by becoming strong could he stand at this elder brother's side and protect him.

"It is all right. It is not a major matter."

Seeing Muer Shu regain his resolve, Hexi Qing smiled as well.

"As long as you all remain in the city, that monster will have no one to kill, and thus no chance to keep growing stronger. Then I will seize an opportunity, go out, and cut that monster down with a single stroke. That will be the end of it."

"Rest assured, Big Brother, none of us will leave the—wait?"

Remembering something, Muer Shu suddenly froze.

"Big Brother, do you remember when the Azure Sheep Tribe was supposed to send out its troops?"

"The Azure Sheep Tribe said three days later. One day has already passed... Damn it!"

Looking toward the distant grasslands, Hexi Qing's face turned ashen.

Indeed, if he led his armored soldiers in holding the city, that monster would fear damaging the vase while striking at the rat and would not dare launch a direct assault to kill people.

But could the Azure Sheep Tribe's soldiers not be killed?

The second update was quite late. I am truly sorry. I will go sleep for a while, then continue when I wake up.

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