Burning bright

"Kill them! FOR THE PHOENIX!"

After shouting this, Tao Song raised her fans like an executioner's axes and flew at us.

I hoped against all hope that she would pick a different target, but of course she went right at me and Fen Kuang—the only cultivators around, and the ones who led the soldiers to break her nice wall of fire.

Seeing Fire Qi flash in Tao Song's fans, I didn't wait for whatever ranged attack she was making—I swung with all my strength and threw my (by now badly battered) corpse puppet right at her.

To give her credit, despite the look of shock on Tao Song's face, she barely paused. Her fans went down, and a two-meter-wide wave of fire flew toward me and Fen Kuang.

Fen Kuang jumped in the sky a split second before it landed, leaving me behind to burn. Water Qi flashed in his feet, and he pushed himself off an invisible platform in the air to jump even higher, avoiding most of the attack. The rest was blocked by his Clear Sphere.

('Huh, that's one fancy technique,' a thought flashed briefly in my head. 'Too bad that things happen too fast for me to catch all of it. Maybe later—')

I was hit head-on. The Clear Sphere sizzled and went out in steam—a Qi Foundation-level technique couldn't withstand a Qi Condensation one.

The attack was weakened, but the rest was enough to burn my face. So I met it with the only thing remaining: a twin punch of my fists. Dragon Fists!

It was an idea created by a desperate mind, but it worked. My fires met Tao Song's, negating almost all that was left of the flame wave. The rest doused me with a stinging heat that must've burned my eyebrows, but nothing else.

The riders left and right from me screamed as their skin fried, and their blood boiled. Above me, Fen Kuang shouted, "FOR THE DRAGON!", and launched two Ice Cutters at Tao Song.

She dodged them with effortless grace and threw a second wave of fire in the air.

Fen Kuang ducked under it, but the wave still struck the upper half of his body, destroying his shield and throwing him to the ground. His scream ended as soon as he landed, and I was sure he died there and then.

However, with his noble sacrifice—probably not intended as such—Fen Kuang gave me the time I needed.

My charred, but still functional corpse puppet ran up to Tao Song. I jerked my hand up, making it jump higher than a normal human ever could and slash at the woman with its sword.

Tao Song swirled around the puppet, dodging. Next to her, cavalrymen screamed in horror at the sight of the charred walking corpse, but she only grit her teeth and swung her fans—another wave of fire.

It was shorter and more concentrated, like my Dragon Fists, but hot enough to turn the puppet into nothing but ashes, bones, and thick black smoke. There wasn't enough for me to control anymore, and my technique ended.

There were enough corpses nearby to pick a new puppet, but that required time I didn't have. Almost all my energy was put into running forward as fast as I could—the rest was holding a new Clear Sphere.

Then I almost stepped on Fen Kuang. He was still alive, to my surprise, but his face was mostly melted. Not slowing down, I picked him by the shoulder and threw him on a horse of the nearby soldier.

"Keep him alive! He's important!"

The soldier almost dropped his spear, but caught Fen Kuang, staring at him in shock. Not caring if my order would be obeyed, I kept running forward.

By this point, the Qi in my stomach dantian was fully depleted, but I still had two dantians' worth of Qi left. Plus, there was all the Qi that sustained my body, although depleting that will be suicidal.

But I only had to run to the gate, and the smoke hid my position from soldiers. However—

A blast of fire flashed through the smoke, and I barely dodged, warned only by a flash of Fire Qi in Tao Song's body. In the thick smoke, it was like a guiding beacon.

Sadly, for her, my Qi was also a beacon.

Her fire wave cut through the smoke, letting me see the woman clearly. She was only five meters away, clearly comfortable at this distance. Tao Song's fans didn't look like a melee weapon, and her flying sword was obviously forged for, well, flying.

By chance or because soldiers didn't want to stay near fighting cultivators and become collateral damage, there was a circle of empty space near us.

Tao Song smirked at me. A charming expression on her beautiful face, but also unnerving when it came from someone who could burn me to bones.

"Don't demon worshipers ever get grossed out by your techniques? Or is not having a sense of smell a requirement for being a cultivator in your sect?"

I winced—mostly from the acrid, eye-watering smoke. My Clear Sphere blocked most of it, but the rest was bad enough.

"I should be asking you this, Miss Tao. There wasn't a problem until you started setting things on fire."

The exchange of quips gave me time to catch my breath and bearings. And there, I saw hope.

I wasn't always watching where exactly I was running, as long as it was closer to the gates, but now I recognized the place we were in. This area of the wall was near one of the Circles of Hungry Spirits!

If I ran just a dozen meters past Tao Song, I will be able to activate it, giving her and her cavalry something to worry about.

I threw an Ice Cutter at Tao Song and dashed to the hidden formation as fast as my legs could carry me.

Which, sadly, was much slower than a flying sword carried her.