"Don't let him swallow the pill!" Van heard Delphine scream, "Once he eats it, he will enter berserk mode and be twice as strong for fifteen minutes!"

"f.u.c.k!" Van shouted.

The pill was already halfway down the b.a.s.t.a.r.d's throat!

[What to do?] Van thought.

Shua!

At that instant, another figure ran into the area. Two thin metal objects flew.

"VAN, CATCH!" A familiar voice shouted.

[Ryan!] Van exulted. He s.n.a.t.c.hed the harpoons out of the air.

Weng!

Van exerted the full strength of his Copper Buddha state and brilliant copper light filled the snowy night. His muscles bulged.

The harpoons sailed through the air.

Snkt! Snkt!

The two harpoons stuck into the a.s.sa.s.sin's throat!

The a.s.sa.s.sin felt two sharp pinp.r.i.c.ks of pain in his throat.

"Rggaaaah…!"

The pill was pincered between the two harpoons. It could not go down!

The a.s.sa.s.sin panicked. At that moment -

A ma.s.sive wolf slammed into the a.s.sa.s.sin's back.

"Hurrk!" The a.s.sa.s.sin's face changed colour.

Pu!

A purple pill came flying out of the a.s.sa.s.sin's mouth!

"Good boy, Blackie!" Van shouted. The wolf howled.

The a.s.sa.s.sin was going crazy, [No! If I don't go into berserker mode, I won't be able to fight with my torn Achille's Heel!]

Van yanked back on the harpoons.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The a.s.sa.s.sin screamed through his ruined throat. He flew for several metres before he forcefully yanked the harpoons out from his own throat. Blood rushed out of the big artery in his neck, forming a puddle of red in the snow.

The a.s.sa.s.sin rolled to Van's feet. He pulled out his dagger once more and stabbed at Van's feet.

Van had experienced too much blood loss to react fast enough. The dagger stabbed into his leg.

At that moment, a grey-haired boy appeared in the a.s.sa.s.sin's peripheral vision. A silver-half mask covered his face.

BANG!

A silver bullet shot out of Ryan's fingers and impacted the a.s.sa.s.sin's temple.

Despite his high cultivation, the a.s.sa.s.sin felt dizzy from the impact. This was because he was not a body cultivator – he might have resisted the damage from the qi, but he could not resist the momentary disorientation. Adding to that, he had lost of a lot of blood and was extremely pained by the torn Achille's heel.

Van did not miss the opportunity.

"Look away!" Van shouted. He grabbed the a.s.sa.s.sin's head with both of his hands. The copper light surrounding him grew brighter and brighter. It made his skin appear orange and almost transparent.

The a.s.sa.s.sin's hands came up and grabbed Van's wrists, trying to pull them off him. The two of them duelled silently.

Van grit his teeth.

[More. I need more power!]

Van suddenly felt his flesh responding to his call.

[Something's happening!]

WENG!

The copper light abruptly turned a cold silver. Van knew the moment had come; a single twist was all it took.

There was a sickening crack. The a.s.sa.s.sin took his last breath.

Silence.

Van looked away. He saw his two hands. The last of the silver glow was just fading from them. It was as if Van's arms had been coated in a layer of liquid mercury.

[Is this… the next stage of my Thousand Saints Sacrifice body cultivation technique…? The Silver Buddha state…?]

Van looked up and hazily saw two figures standing some distance away. Delphine's eyes were shut tightly, and Ryan was looking at him with a pale face.

A large shape bounded towards Van and s...o...b..red all over him. Blackie enthusiastically licked Van's face.

Van tiredly batted the tongue away.

"Go away, Blackie…I'm so tired…"

Blackness edged his vision.

Van slumped into the icy snow.

His name was the last thing he heard.

____

[A few hours later.]

Delphine stared worriedly at the fire.

Van had still not woken up.

The bleeding had been stopped and the relevant herbal solutions had been applied to the wounds. Delphine had treated Van herself.

Despite seeing Van's mostly-naked body, she had felt too numb to blush. What if… he didn't wake up?

Delphine bit her lip. She didn't even know if Van had already lost too much blood or not. She was an apprentice alchemist, not an apprentice healer!

Sniffling, Delphine lifted the lid of the cauldron she was brewing a solution with. If she made it correctly, it would replenish his blood. If she didn't… the results weren't worth thinking about.

She thought about the ready-made solutions in her waist pouch and wanted to hit herself. She was really dumb!

[I made all those poison-cancelling solutions, tiredness relieving solutions and hunger relieving solutions…why didn't I made a single blood-replenis.h.i.+ng one!?]

Delphine was ready to tear her hair out.

Ryan saw her pitiful appearance and felt even worse. He sat heavily upon the wooden sled. The silver half-mask was in his hand.

[Why am I so weak…? If I had noticed faster, reacted faster… we might not be in this situation…]

The silver masked gleamed.

The two figures were silent; they did not exchange a single word throughout the night. Each contemplated their failures and shortcomings before the bright glow of the campfire and in the coldness of the snowy night. Each swore that they would become better and improve themselves.

Sometime later, Delphine succeeded in making the blood-replenis.h.i.+ng solution. After she fed it to Van, she collapsed into a tired heap.

Ryan placed her under the blanket on the sled and then returned to his seat to stare at the camp.

He kept vigil the entire night.

____

When Van woke up, he had a pounding headache. He opened his eyes only to shut them a split second later – the brightness of the snow in the daylight sent painful stabs into his brain.

The sound of something dropping entered his ears.

"Van!"

Van heard Ryan exclaim. The grey-haired boy had dropped a bunch of wood meant for the campfire onto the snow. He knelt at Van's side.

Van blinked blearily at him.

"Van!" This time, a girlish voice.

Delphine's face appeared soon after. Her face was pink from the cold.

"Arf!"

A moment later, Blackie appeared in Van's vision. The giant wolf leaned close and tried to lick his master.

Van squinted.

[Hn. When I squint my eyes, it really looks like I have three dogs of various sizes looking at me eagerly.]

He opened his eyes wider and once more saw Ryan, Delphine and Blackie peering at him with eager looks on their faces.

[Yep. A grey dog, a pink dog, a woof dog.]

"I'm fine," Van said, before standing up. He had to shake his crazy thoughts from his head.

Ryan was alarmed when Van tried to stand up. He immediately went to Van's side and helped him stand.

At that moment, Van noticed that the deepest wound over his heart had been st.i.tched. He looked at Delphine and saw her face grow redder.

"Apart from my headache, I feel good," he a.s.sured them, "My mouth feels a little dry though."

Delphine nodded sharply, "Your headache is from the dehydration. Here."

She pa.s.sed him a bowlful of melted ice. As she watched him drink, she remembered something. She pulled out a cloth-wrapped dagger and gave it to Van.

"We took this from the a.s.sa.s.sin's body."

Van recognised the dagger with red inscriptions. He took it into his hand and inspected it. He was only interested in its monetary value.

"Ryan has the bow," Delphine explained when Van looked in askance at her. Ryan nodded and showed him the silver bow.

Delphine's eyes suddenly narrowed.

"Why were there a.s.sa.s.sins after you?"

Gulp gulp

Van kept drinking until his belly was full. He pa.s.sed the bowl back to her when it was empty.

"Another outer disciple in the sect tried to steal something off me and I beat up his little gang pretty hard. When he tried to go after me himself, I thrashed his a.s.s so hard he had to use an escape talisman to get away."

"I guess he was so angered he wanted nothing better than to see me dead," Van said nonchalantly.

Ryan's brow rose, "…It wouldn't be the Blood Crow Gang, by any chance?"

Van nodded, "Precisely them. The Red Chicken Gang's Boss was probably the one who sent the a.s.sa.s.sins."

Ryan choked. Red Chicken Gang?

Red Chicken Gang!

Half an hour later, Ryan finished roasting some snow hare over the flames.

The trio ate and drank quietly.

At length, Van coughed, "Well. Time to hit the road again. Time waits for no cultivator."

"Are you sure you should be moving so soon?" Delphine asked.

Van rolled his eyes. He showed off his muscles.

"See? I'm a body cultivator. We heal faster than most. I'm fine."

A few minutes later, the campsite was emptied. A sled being pulled by a giant wolf could be seen disappearing in the distance.

As they rode away, Van stroked his red armour and his obsidian battle axe. He was darkly amused.

[f.u.c.king h.e.l.l. Wore it the whole b.l.o.o.d.y day in case someone attacked out of the blue, took it off to p.i.s.s by a tree and got caught without them with me!]

[What's a bloke to do?]

Van felt Jet take amus.e.m.e.nt from his situation.

[ You can cut a hole in the front,] Jet said snidely, [And the back as well, just in case you need to do a big one.]

The ring spun, [In all seriousness, kid. That was atrocious. Do not underestimate the lengths your enemies will go to in order to catch you unprepared and unawares. This must not happen a second time!]

Van nodded.

[I understand, Jet.]

___

Two hours later, the trio pulled into Pollog.

It was a small towns.h.i.+p consisting of squat houses constructed entirely out of logs. The roofs were covered in dirt to keep the heat inside the homes. Gra.s.s had been planted in the dirt as their roots compacted the soil and prevented it from eroding away.

From a distance, the first thing Van saw was the numerous columns of thin black smoke that emitted from the towns.h.i.+p's chimneys. As Van and the rest rode into the town, the townspeople stopped their activities and looked at them curiously.

The trio continued until they arrived at a thin, long building in the middle of town. This was the local garrison.

____

[Inside the garrison.]

"Sir! Your father might be the Great General of Cloud River, but that does not mean you can run roughshod over the rules. I can not give you all of our militia!"