I'm really not the Saviour! (我唔係救主囖!) [danmei/BL xuanhuan]

48 - Why does the antagonist have such good plot armour?

A/N: CW: Gore and death and stuff

***

Sitting on the back of a gigantic spiritual tiger as it tore across the countryside was a new experience. Yuen Muk had ridden a horse once or twice as a child, and he had experienced the occasional privilege of being carried by his Master. Then there were the times when, playing around, Gaam Yuk Ying had picked him up and run while carrying him.

This was different from all of those experiences. Unlike a horse, where the back would stay relatively flat, a tiger's back muscles tensed and stretched, and the shoulders and hips see-sawed slightly up and down with each spring. Yuen Muk flattened himself, clinging to the thick fur and skin around Gaam Bing's neck, to prevent himself being blown or thrown off.

The route to Tsun Dzan would take them down from the mountains, and across the wide plains thick with silvergrass, to where the temple stood not far from the eastern coast...

Gaam Bing changed direction at the same time that Yuen Muk smelt the faint stench of blood and ash coming from a little way south of where they were headed.

"Mou Dang Sect?" Yuen Muk squinted into the distance. They were still too far away to see much, but the smell seemed to be coming from the location of the main stronghold of the sect. Soon, plumes of smoke could be seen rising from between the mountain peaks, and there was no mistaking it.

Gaam Bing burst out into the jumble of red brick, green-roofed buildings that formed the Mou Dang Temple Complex to find it a seething mass of fighting figures. Demons and humans alike fought each other viciously, and equal numbers of corpse from both sides lay amongst the smouldering rubble.

On the one hand, it seemed like the most proficient cultivators of the sect had gone to Tsun Dzan, so the remaining Mou Dang disciples struggled against the demon horde. On the other, the demons seemed to have improved their martial prowess. A familiar demon seemed to be directing the soldiers, a tall humanoid with red skin and large earlobes who caught sight of Yuen Muk and gave him a wicked grin.

The demon ducked, just in time, as another couple of familiar figures flashed overhead.

The first was a young woman, with a pretty nose and mouth, and staring eyes far too large for her face. Teem Djeung Baak whooped wildly as she dodged and weaved between the battling humans and demons, red sparks trailing from her fingers.

Gaam Yuk Ying was a hair's-breadth behind, swords in hands. He couldn't properly swing Lo Fu Ngaa with the other fighters around, and Teem Djeung Baak was twisting about too much to be properly skewered by Yiu Tsing.

Reaching the middle of the courtyard, Teem Djeung Baak whirled to face Gaam Yuk Ying. His swords closed on her throat.

"Bang!" she said.

The courtyard exploded.

Temporarily blinded, Yuen Muk immediately reached out with his internal energy, feeling the scorched earth. Gaam Yuk Ying had thrown himself clear at the last moment, and as Teem Djeung Baak, chaos achieved, leapt lightly away from the ruined temple, he landed beside Yuen Muk.

"I'm going after her."

"Me too." Chan Bik hopped past and disappeared into the woods so rapidly that she barely registered as a blur even to Yuen Muk's vision.

Yuen Muk had barely nodded when Gaam Yuk Ying and his Master flashed away after the two women. Recovering his vision, bit by bit, he took in the situation. Dozens of humans and demons lay dead and dying, hit by Teem Djeung Baak's explosive attack. Those on the edges of the blast looked dazed, but further into the collection of buildings, demons and humans continued to fight. Those demons who weren't fighting were scooping up food and weapons.