Book 3 Chapter 20 – Mr. Kong

　　The sun rose and set again. The stars s.h.i.+fted and the moon traversed the sky. As dusk slowly set once again after three whole days of bloodshed, a combined attack of the guardians blew the last stone golem into pebbles. The ground now covered with craters, torn segments of vine and shards of golden armor. The river had dried up, and Bi Fang decapitated laid motionless on the ground. Less than two hundred of them were still standing.

　　The tip of Li Huaibei's sword had been chipped, and innumerable fissures ran down the blade's body. The girl he had promised to marry lied in his arm with her armor fragmented and her hands shaking. Fu Shan's gourd was broken, and he was busy applying a bandage to his bleeding calf. Leader Ma was tending another guardian who had almost half of his body missing.

　　The guardians who remained were mostly wounded and had to support each other to stay standing. Instead of smiling after the long-awaited victory, most of them had a grave expression and looked at the entrance of the small village; none of them had managed to even take a single step in that direction, and it was without the shadow of a doubt that inside of it they would find the greatest danger. Their expectations were answered by the appearance of seven figures in the mist, right at the entrance to the village. The seven villagers were of all ages and s.e.x, and the man who had the pan was amongst them.

　　"Why?" One of the elders sighed while looking as if he pitied the guardians. Judging by the voice, he was the one who tried to convince the guardians to leave earlier.

　　"Pfft, Heaven's Laws." The child who stood amongst them showed a scornful look which seemed unfit for his age.

　　"Let's just end this quickly." One of the woman, dressed in antique-style clothing, said as she unfolded a scarf with an embroidered Kyrin.

　　"Let me do it. You're better off staying out of this. Otherwise, you'll become tainted as well." The man with the pan stepped forward and said in a voice that revealed some frustration. The mist that shrouded his face slowly dissipated.

　　'Mr. Kong?' Li Yiming was bewildered when he saw the face of the man. 'The man who created an army out of beans is Mr. Kong?' This face was all too familiar to Li Yiming, especially after Bai Ze had told him that no one would be able to remember his face due to his Dao technique. Li Yiming constantly thought of Mr. Kong, of his thick eyebrows and his odd smile.

　　The man who led the seven villagers had a slim figure, and he was not too tall nor too short. A pair of thick eyebrows hung above his flat nose bridge, and his eyes glittered like two black pearls. Aside from the slightly unsettling smile, he looked exactly like Mr. Kong. However, there was also something different about him. The Mr. Kong Li Yiming knew was someone placid, relaxed and refined, if not in attire then certainly in att.i.tude. However, this Mr. Kong, under his diabolical smile, seemed to conceal a volcano that was about to erupt.

　　"So you finally decided to show up?" The man dressed in blue jumped into the air, supported by lotus flowers. He was one of the few guardians who was strong enough to turn the tide of the battle around earlier, and his surviving colleagues all respected him.

　　"Why do you bother?" Mr. Kong had a golden toothpick between his teeth. He trotted forward at a leisurely pace, as if he was taking a stroll more than anything.

　　"I have nothing to say, since things are already as they are. Lotus Heart—Liu Yi, here to learn from you." The lotus flowers faded from the man's feet and merged into his body. He jumped further upward, and, with each step he took, new rainbow-colored lotus flowers blossomed beneath his feet, turning the previous ones into orbs of light that spun around his body. ¹

　　"A lotus with every step? He's Liu Yi! Lotus Heart Liu Yi!" Someone from the crowd of guardians yelled, and it seemed like the spectacle brought some morale back to them.

　　"Liu Yi? I knew this guy liked to show off, I didn't think that he was a Sage." Fu Shan collapsed onto the ground with a weak smile.

　　"Look at it, Little Yu." Leader Ma turned his head around and glanced at Li Huaibei. He picked up his weapon and held it horizontally, in front of his chest. "I've heard about him and his power since a long time ago. I didn't think that I'd be fighting my final battle alongside him."

　　Leader Ma spoke quietly, but his words did not escape the ears of anyone present, since all were guardians with heightened senses.