Help Me Up, I Can Still Fight

Guo Huai slowly stood up, blood spilling from his mouth. His back was blackened, and flames still flickered in places, but he paid them no mind.

He looked at the transparent barrier in the air. It was gradually fading, and a pearl that had lost its spiritual glow rolled to the ground.

"The Azure Guardian Pearl. Very good!"

Guo Huai was beside himself with rage. He knew he had fallen into a trap, and that the Internal Affairs Bureau had known about this entire operation long ago.

Otherwise, they couldn't have made preparations so specifically tailored to counter them.

There was a mole!

Who was the mole?!

He turned his gaze toward the wreckage of the van. A fierce fire was raging there, and a body covered in blood and soot was crawling out of the flames.

In an instant, Lu Yuan's earlier unusual actions flashed through Guo Huai's mind, and he understood everything.

"It was you!"

"So it really was you!"

"You're not dead. That's wonderful!"

Guo Huai grinned viciously and kicked a short knife up from the ground. The cultists had originally brought the knives to slaughter the parents, and now they lay scattered everywhere.

The four cultivators who had joined the attack had all been blasted away and were struggling to get up. The nearest one managed to stagger in front of Guo Huai.

After exchanging a punch with Guo Huai, the cultivator was knocked to the ground and lay there, unable to rise.

Guo Huai's cultivation was not low; he had simply been caught in a scheme.

There was no one left between him and Lu Yuan.

Guo Huai looked down at Lu Yuan, who was struggling desperately, and a cruel smile appeared on his lips.

"Now, enjoy yourself!"

A knife plunged into Lu Yuan's back and pierced through his chest, pinning him to the ground.

Lu Yuan screamed as a great gush of blood welled up from his throat.

Guo Huai felt resistance through his hand and was slightly surprised.

"You actually trained in the Body-Protecting Shield?"

"All the better. I don't want you dying too quickly!"

Guo Huai hated Lu Yuan to the bone. With the operation a failure, he no longer wanted to escape. Now he only wanted to torture Lu Yuan to death.

Leaving the knife in Lu Yuan's back, Guo Huai had no intention of pulling it out. He held his right hand like a blade, intending to disembowel Lu Yuan himself. It would take the surrounding cultivators a little while to reach them, giving Guo Huai enough time to savor the pleasure of tormenting his enemy.

He held the detonator in his hand. At the end, he would set off the bomb and perish together with everyone else.

That was Guo Huai's plan.

But his vicious grin ultimately froze on his lips.

A blade's gleam flashed past like a bolt of white silk. Guo Huai's head fell and rolled to Lu Yuan's feet.

Only when Ji Yin put away his blade did the piercing sonic boom catch up from behind. To rescue Lu Yuan, he had broken the sound barrier with his own body, and now radiating tears covered him.

But he paid them no mind. To a cultivator, they were only minor wounds. Lu Yuan's injuries were far worse.

"Kid, hang on!"

Ji Yin turned Lu Yuan over.

The Body-Protecting Shield had strengthened Lu Yuan's body to some extent, so he had not died in the explosion.

But he barely had a few breaths left. Although Guo Huai's knife had not struck a fatal spot, the wound through his chest and back was frightening enough.

Blood poured from Lu Yuan's mouth as he clutched Ji Yin tightly.

"...My parents... sister..."

"All right, don't go saying your last words. You're not going to die!"

Ji Yin took out a pill wreathed in a brown spiritual glow.

The moment Lu Yuan saw the pill, he opened his mouth wide and stretched out his neck, waiting to be fed. The gesture left Ji Yin baffled.

"Why are you opening your mouth?"

He placed the pill in his palm, which glowed faintly, then pressed it against Lu Yuan's lower abdomen.

Lu Yuan heard a muffled thump, and immediately felt a powerful current of heat surge rapidly upward from his lower abdomen.

The jolt nearly made him spring off the ground, as though he had been shocked by a defibrillator. Fortunately, Ji Yin kept his hand pressed against him.

"Don't move. Wait for the medicine to circulate fully."

Hearing this, Lu Yuan struggled to control his body and stop thrashing.

As the heat spread through him, he felt as though ants were crawling through every limb and bone, a particularly tormenting sensation.

But he watched as his wounds stopped bleeding, and even saw specks of starlight deep inside them. It was truly wondrous.

"Using an Essence Restoration Pill on you was a waste."

Ji Yin smacked his lips with some regret. He couldn't claim reimbursement for this pill, which meant he was paying for Lu Yuan out of his own pocket.

"But at least your life is saved."

Glancing at Guo Huai's fallen corpse nearby, Ji Yin was overcome with emotion.

"That was a hair's breadth away!"

The Essence Restoration Pill was indeed remarkably effective. Before long, Lu Yuan regained a little strength. He spat out the clotted blood in his mouth and half propped himself up. A knife was still sticking out of his chest.

"You can't pull the knife out. If you do, you're dead," Ji Yin warned. "The Essence Restoration Pill isn't a cure-all. Be good and go to the hospital for surgery."

By now, Internal Affairs Bureau personnel on the perimeter were cleaning up the battlefield, several cultivators who had taken part in the fighting were tending their wounds, and some police officers were maintaining order and evacuating the crowd.

Reports were also coming in from the other teams: the cultists had all been caught in one sweep. The Internal Affairs Bureau had completely thwarted the cult's attack, though the bureau had suffered some casualties as well.

Ji Yin called two people over and arranged for them to take Lu Yuan to the hospital.

"Wait," Lu Yuan asked. "If I don't go to the hospital like this, how much longer can I live?"

Ji Yin was baffled. He looked him over.

"You could probably last another ten-odd hours. The Essence Restoration Pill keeps you stable."

"That's good." Lu Yuan let out a long breath. "Help me up. I'm taking the college entrance exam!"

Ji Yin opened his mouth several times, wanting to persuade Lu Yuan to abandon his unrealistic idea and go straight to the hospital. But in the end, he gave up. Lu Yuan simply wasn't a normal person.

"You've got guts! I'll take you to the exam site myself!"

The exam site at Guanghua School had yet to open, and a large crowd of students and parents had gathered at the entrance.

People had yet to learn of the deadly attack that had taken place nearby, and everyone's eyes were fixed on the gate. An interview was underway at the entrance, drawing a great deal of attention.

A coolly beautiful girl stood in the middle of the crowd, surrounded by reporters interviewing her, with cameras set up all around.

"Who's that?" an onlooker who didn't know what was going on asked.

"Don't you know? That's Li Tao, this year's chief student of the Divine Land."

"Oh my god, the chief student! She's so pretty, and she's that good at studying too?"

"She's more than just good at studying. I hear her True Essence is over 185!"

"Good lord! Is this what they mean by someone else's child?"

"No wonder they're interviewing her."

In front of the many cameras, Li Tao was calm and poised, shining brightly, just like her title, the Shining Morning Star.

Growing up, she had seen countless grand occasions and given far too many interviews to care about any of this.

If the principal hadn't insisted, she would never have wasted her time dealing with these stupid reporters.

But since she was facing the cameras, Li Tao didn't hold back from showing off her image as a perfect young lady.

Ding Lin, a reporter from Ning City's local television station, was there too. Holding up her microphone, she asked:

"Li Tao, are you worried about how difficult this year's exam will be? There have been rumors online these past few days that this year's papers will be very hard."

Li Tao smiled. "I've never seen an exam paper that was difficult. Hearing you say that has made me a little interested."

Ding Lin nearly choked on the answer. Can't you talk normally?!

Her eyes darted around, and she decided to lay a trap for Li Tao.

"You're so confident, Li Tao. Are you planning to take first place in this year's college entrance exam?"

Li Tao looked utterly puzzled. "If I'm not first, who else could it be?"

This time, Ding Lin couldn't get a single word out and retreated awkwardly.

A reporter at the side rushed forward and continued the questioning.

"Li Tao, which university are you planning to apply to?"

"New Capital Cultivator University."

"Wow, that's one of the Four Greats. Do you have any plans for university life?"

"Yes. I'll soon become New Capital Cultivation University's chief ace. I'll always be the champion!"