Chapter 70: Night of Fire V

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Run.

Three miles go by in the blink of an eye with a single use of Ground Contraction. No longer is Liu Jin limiting himself by remaining close to the ground. Instead, he dashes towards his home as fast as he can.

The building he is about to land on crumbles.

His feet touch the street next to it as he shifts directions with Ground Contraction. A horse neighs in surprise. Liu Jin’s eyes flick over to it and see the invader riding it.

Meng Yue’s knife flashes.

Liu Jin has no time to fight the soldier, but wounding the horse’s leg to cause it to fall over is a simple matter. He vanishes in a blur of speed before the soldier even realizes what is happening.

Faster.

He needs to get home. He needs to get to his father.

Should he and his father have moved into the Xiao Sect? The thought drifts into Liu Jin’s mind, and he lets it linger there for a while as the world around him blurs.

Certainly, the option had always been open to him. If he and his father lived inside the Xiao Sect, his father would be safe inside the compound right now. Xiao Nan and Xiao Zheng would have both been close at hand when the attack began. Liu Jin would have never needed to part from his father’s side.

How cruel it is to think of what could have been.

In the end, it is a moot point. His father would have never accepted moving away. He likes being a doctor in the outer districts. It is one of the many things Liu Jin admires about him.

His body zigs and zags as he tries to move through the city without encountering the soldiers. Their numbers keep growing and growing while the number of citizens in Liu Jin’s way only seems to decrease. Liu Jin tries hard to not think about what that means.

Dark purplish smoke rises in the distance. Liu Jin feels his heart freeze.

His house is in that direction.

Liu Jin grits his teeth and cloaks his body with Qi. His feet stomp on the ground as he accelerates into and through a house.

He’s almost there! He’s almost there!

He just needs to take his father and leave. If he uses Art of the Roaming Thief properly, he should be able to avoid the invaders and get his father to safety. In fact, he probably won’t even need to leave the city. There is no way Patriarch Xiao Zheng can lose. There is no way Xiao Nan can lose. Yes, Elder Brother was just being overdramatic back there. That is all.

Almost there! Yes, a few blocks more. That’s all!

Almost… almost…

“Father!”

He runs into the cloud of smoke, uncaring of how it could affect him. Even as the soldiers around him die, Liu Jin continues moving. Poison of this level is nothing to him.

“Father!”

The word comes from his lips as though it were a prayer.

This cannot be happening. It cannot be happening. This cannot possibly be real!

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“Father,” Liu Jin says for the last time, his voice weak and defeated, his eyes blurry with tears.

Never before has Liu Jin wished he were a better doctor than at this moment. He wishes he could fix his father by the simple act of willing it. Instead, Liu Jin is just a good enough doctor to know the wound on his father’s side is fatal. He could mend it, but his father has already lost far too much blood, and his organs have been damaged. He could remove the poison from his body, yet that would just prolong his father’s suffering.

If his father could use Qi, his body might be able to survive, but that is not the case.

Weakly, his father raises his hand and touches his cheek, brushing Liu Jin’s tears away. His father’s lips move, but he is too weak to form any words.

In the end, Liu Jin can do nothing but hold his father as his eyes close for the last time.

How long does he stay holding his father’s dead body?

A second? A minute?

More?

For Liu Jin, it doesn’t matter. It is as if time itself has stopped, as if the world has lost all color and sound. He looks around yet cannot bring himself to believe this is reality. Even the scent of ash and blood feels fake.

“Ugh, to think so many of us would die to poison. The general will surely laugh at this.”

Ah.

The invaders.

“Brother, that boy, isn’t he still alive?”

They are still here.