44 Faustian Bargain

The wind blowing from outside the small barn blew sand through the small gaps between the planks of the wall. In the dead of night, the only sounds that could be heard were the howling of the wind and the soft sound of people inside and outside the barn unsheathing their swords from the scabbards. After the sound subsided, the front door of the barn flew open, sending the door flying forward and landing against the back wall. Standing outside the barn are the ten men in black Jeet had saw earlier. 

"Kill them." The lead assassin said as he stared at Chinua, who was standing in the right corner with Drystan.

Nine assassins, all in black, burst into the barn from outside and rushed toward Chinua. Naksh rushed forward, swinging his katar at the first assassin in black who rushed into the barn. The assassin bent back to avoid Naksh's katar, but then Naksh's left hand had stabbed the assassin's abdomen, causing the assassin to fall to the ground, and Naksh savagely attacked the deceased. After stabbing him more than a dozen times and confirming that the assassin was indeed dead, Naksh jumped forward and ran straight towards the leading assassin who was still standing outside the barn.

Seeing Naksh clearing the way for them, Chinua shouted, "Khawn, take Hye out!" She blocked the oncoming sword with her dagger while kicking another assassin with her legs as the assassin walked towards Drystan.

Swinging his sword, he knocked down the assassin who rushed towards Khawn and Hye, the blow from Jeet's sword pushed the assassin towards the door, as Khawn pushed the lurching assassin in the chest hard, knocking the assassin out of the door and the assassin fell to the ground ten feet away from Naksh. Naksh did a backflip and landed on the fallen assassin's chest and stabbed the fallen assassin's face directly with his right katar. Then Naksh quickly raised his right hand and blocked the lead assassin's sword with his left katar. The lead assassin's blow caused Naksh to slide backwards towards the entrance of the barn.

Inside the small barn, Jeet is fighting with four assassins, while Chinua moves from the right corner of the barn to the other side of the barn, trying to protect herself from another four assassins.

In the left corner of the barn, the seriously injured Drystan tried his best to protect himself from further injuries and the violently punches that was thrown at him. Drystan managed to knock off the assassin's sword to the ground, so the assassin jumped on top of Drystan, and they began wrestling on the ground as they began punching and kicking each other.

After a few minutes, the assassin climbed on top of Drystan, grabbed his sword, and thrust it into Drystan's face, but Drystan quickly turned his head to the right, and the assassin's sword pierced the ground next to Drystan's face. With this movement, Drystan punched the assassin's left chest hard, knocking the assassin off Drystan's abdomen. The assassin quickly reached out and grabbed Drystan's left foot. Drystan kicked the assassin in the face with his right foot, causing the assassin to let go of Drystan's left foot. This also give Drystan the opportunity to quickly get up and quickly crawl to the sword impaled on the ground a few feet away from him. Drystan knew the assassin would follow him, so as soon as he grasped the hilt of his sword, he turned and swung his sword at the assassin. The sword only cut half of the assassin's neck as it got stuck, so Drystan quickly withdrew the sword and kicked the dying assassin away from him.

In the right corner of the barn, Chinua was kicked hard by an assassin, and the assassin's kicked sent Chinua flying landed on the wagon full of peanuts sacs. Chinua quickly rolled off the wagon, as an incoming sword pointed directly at her waist. The moment her feet hit the ground; she threw a peanut sac at the incoming sword. The sword sliced ​​open the peanut sac and another assassin kicked the wagon, pushing Chinua against the wooden wall.

The assassin on the wagon slashed at Chinua's head with a sword. Chinua used all her strength to push the wagon far enough, and the tip of the assassin's sword scratched the skin outside of Chinua's neck. Chinua crossed her arms over her chest as she saw two assassins flying towards her with their feet, which struck her in the forearm and sent her through the wooden wall.

"Chinua!" Jeet shouted.

Seeing that Chinua was driven out and possibly seriously injured, Jeet knew that he had to get rid of the four assassins fighting him as soon as possible and then go to aid Chinua. Instead of fighting the four assassins, he quickly backed away to the right corner, knowing that if he fought them in the corner, he could fight the others as well, giving Chinua time to get up and run away.

Drystan stood at the left corner, watching Jeet fight the remaining assassins, trying to prevent them from escaping through the broken wall to harm Chinua, Drystan was impressed by Jeet's determination. As he watched, he thought to himself that now would be a good time to escape, but as he took four steps toward the door, he realized that he would not survive until morning alone. Once the assassins kill Chinua and the others, they will come to capture him. Now he faces a difficult choice.

Drystan closed his eyes and sighed, "Ah...fuck." He rushed forward with his sword and swung it at the assassin who was about to rush towards Jeet. He quickly walked over to Jeet and kicked the assassin Jeet was holding onto the ground.

Jeet turned to looked at Drystan and said, "You finally decided to help."

Drystan chuckled and said, "Sooner or later I have to choose a side. Now it seems that you may have the upper hand, so here I am."

Jeet sneered and said, "Let's kill them first.

Outside of the barn, Chinua on the ground quickly rolled to the left, and one of the assassin's swords also broke through the broken wall and stabbing at Chinua. Due to the darkness and wind speed, Chinua couldn't see the assassin who swung his sword at Chinua clearly. All she saw was the flashing light of the assassin's sword trying to stab Chinua. Lying on the ground, Chinua had no choice but to roll to the left to avoid being stabbed until she came to a stop. Chinua thought she had hit a rock or barrel, but when she looked up, she saw a person sitting on the sand with a wooden shackle hanging around his neck. Chinua could not tell whether the person was a man or a woman because the hair obscured the person's face.

As soon as Chinua sat down, the assassin's sword came straight at her and the stranger. Afraid that innocent bystander would be accidentally injured, Chinua used her right arm to push the person away, and the sword pierced her flesh, nailing her right shoulder to the side of the wooden cangue.

When Khawn saw the assassin pull a dagger from the side of his belt, he rushed towards Chinua. He grabbed the assassin by the back of his shirt, pulled the assassin back and away from Chinua, and punched the assassin hard in the stomach, knocking the assassin against the side of the barn. 

The injured assassin stood up slowly and rushed towards Khawn, still holding the dagger, but Khawn grabbed the assassin's right hand and hit the assassin's forearm, breaking the assassin's arm. Khawn grabbed the dagger from the assassin's hand and began stabbing the assassin repeatedly. 

Jeet and Drystan walked through the damage wall and looked at Khawn, who still continued to plunge the dagger in his hand into the dead assassin's body. 

"Hey, kiddo," Drystan said. "You can stop now. The loser is obviously dead."

Khawn looked up and saw that Keet and Drystan were also covered in blood. "You two... where are the others?" he asked.

Jeet spat on the ground and said, "Of course they are dead. We're not crazy enough to stab a dead man twice." He quickly turned to the right, thinking it might be another assassin, but it turned out to be Naksh walking towards them. "Is he dead?"

Naksh said, "He got away."

Jeet laughed and said, "Brother, you are getting weaker. I fought with nine assassins and killed them all, but you couldn't deal with one assassin."

Drystan said, "You fought with nine assassins, but you didn't kill nine assassins."

"Ah!" Chinua screamed in pain.

"Ah, don't move too much. I can barely see. Ah...this is not good," Hye said, ripping Chinua's shirt even more. "I can't treat your wounds out in the open."

"Just do it," Chinua said, grunting in pain. "This isn't the first time you've seen me without any clothes on."

"That's not the point. I can't treat you here because you're actually nailed to this board. We have to remove one side of this board," Hye said.

"Then remove it," Khawn said worriedly.

"Kid, do you know why this man is wearing this wooden cangue?" Jeet asked.

Khawn shook his head.

Naksh said, "Because he is a criminal from Tanggolia." Naksh looked at the man sitting motionless on the ground. "What crime have you committed?"

The man did not raise his head to respond but chose to look at the ground.

Jeet glanced at Naksh angrily and said, "Get out of the way." He pushed Naksh away from the man sitting on the ground and took the dagger from Khawn's hand. Jeet inserted the dagger between the thick plywood, twisted it a few times, and the wooden cangue popped open.

Hye turned to the men and said, "Go in and see if those huts are vacant. I need a clean bed and privacy to tend to Chinua's wounds."

Chinua watched the others move toward the huts; her eyes falling on the prisoner's hands. She noticed that the man's knuckles were covered with calluses. The man's hand reminded Chinua of King Batukhan's hands. With such hands, Chinua knew that the man sitting next to her was not an ordinary criminal, but when she looked at the man, she found that the man was a dead man walking among the living.

Chinua gasped in pain and said, "Warriors like you should not be treated so cruelly. Sell your life to me and I will ensure that you die with dignity."

The man turned to looked at Chinua and said, "Save my family, and my life is at your disposal."

Chinua said, "Deal..." 

Hye asked, "Where is your family?"

The man looked at Chinua and Hye for the first time, he said, "They are being held in Haishi City by Xin Zhiyuan. They will be publicly executing in the fall. Knowing this, do you still want to make a deal with me?" He stared at Chinua with a pair of hateful eyes.

Chinua said, "Deal." Chinua looked at the man again. "What's your name?"

The man looked at Chinua and said, "Suo Zhi."

The moment Chinua heard this man's name, she felt all the pain in her body suddenly healed. "Sou... Zhi... the Sou Zhi?" Chinua's trembling voice sounded.