"How do you feel?"
"I'm fine. These wounds won't kill me."
"That's good."
In the dark forest at night, a campfire burned. After helping You An tend to his wounds, Li Chen sat silently beside him.
Nearby lay the battlefield, left in disarray after their deadly struggle. Scattered steel needles and arrows littered the area. The three corpses of Zuo Hao, the Sword Slave, and Zuo Shan lay there, along with Zuo Shan's and Old Hou's puppets strewn everywhere. Blood had sprayed across the ground, staining a large patch red.
After resting for a while, Li Chen rose and told You An, "I'll clean this place up."
You An sucked in a breath. "What's there to clean up? Just burn all this stuff in one fire. Don't bother with the blood. There shouldn't be any demon beasts here. If some blind brute really does come looking for food, I'll butcher it with one stroke."
Li Chen managed a smile. "All you do is act tough. Even your intestines were cut through. Let's see how you kill a demon beast now. Just don't get eaten."
You An shook his head and sighed. "If some beast in the mountains really ate me, I'd accept it. We hunt demons for a living, after all. You could say we'd have it coming, couldn't you? But Brother Hou died unjustly. These people killed him for nothing. What a calamity out of the blue!"
Li Chen wasn't sure whether his eyes were deceiving him, but a few glistening tears welled up at the corners of You An's eyes, reflecting the firelight. This was the same man who had once said that even if someone beat his own father to death before his eyes, he could only swallow his grief and focus on staying alive first.
Li