A crimson alert flashed across Lin Mo’s retina faster than Gate Captain Hu Bao’s falling blade.
[URGENT BENEVOLENCE DISTRESS ALERT!]
[TARGET: GENERAL MENG TIE (GOODNESS: 96 / 100) — MORTAL DANGER DETECTED!]
Down at the stone pillory, seven-year-old Xiao Ya screamed as Hu Bao’s jagged black halberd whistled toward her head.
General Meng Tie did not hesitate for even half a heartbeat.
Despite the dark iron hooks piercing his collarbones and sealing his Early Golden Core dantian, the one-armed officer let out a guttural roar. He wrenched his body forward against the chains. Iron links tore into his flesh, spraying fresh blood across the frost-covered pillar as he threw his scarred right shoulder directly between the orphan girl and Hu Bao’s strike!
At that exact instant, a thread of pure white sword-qi shot down from the clouds above the moat.
CLANG!
