Tang Ji watched the soldiers surging outside. The young girl, who had always been so timid, had surprisingly stopped crying. She clung to Luo Kong and leaned close to his ear, saying with a faint sob, "Teacher, if you are about to die, you must kill me first. I'm afraid of pain, so please make it quick."
Luo Kong faltered. He knew why Tang Ji had said this: amid an army in chaos, living would be more painful than dying for someone like her.
His arm tightened around Tang Ji. Warm blood dripped onto her face, along with his searing breath, letting the trembling Tang Ji feel a warmth higher than the heavens and weightier than the mountains.
Luo Kong strode forward. The Seven-Star Precious Blade was already covered in mottled bloodstains, but this only made it sharper. Luo Kong charged. Some Western Liang soldiers rushed at him, while others retreated, giving him considerable room to maneuver.
Had Luo Kong been mounted with a spear in hand, he would never have been so constrained. Fortunately, he had donned armor in the rear hall earlier, so he did not have to fight armored men without armor himself.
Luo Kong felt his heart beat faster and faster. The blood throughout his body surged into his limbs and every channel, as though boundless strength lay within him. He shifted Tang Ji behind him, and she hugged him tightly. With the Seven-Star Precious Blade in one hand and a long spear in the other, he charged forward unstoppably.
More than a dozen soldiers in succession died to a single strike each, cowing the Western Liang soldiers. Far fewer dared rush forward. Officers urged them on from behind, but none of them were fools.
For those few coins of military pay, was it worth risking