Chapter 631 – Man of Steel, Li Ran
Translated by: Berrrybunz
Edited by: TN and DeAndreR
"Hold the position, there are three more incoming!"
"Ay Xiang, stay there, leave the right flank to Xiao Lin!"
Li Ran dragged his somewhat lame leg back and forth. He had sustained an injury on his right leg in battle when he was young, which he did not receive treatment on in time, thus leaving his right leg crippled. Losing his ability to fight, Li Ran was forced out of the army, left to wander in the streets until Qin Yu Ran saved him. Qin Yu Ran had joke about it, that they both had the name Ran in their names, so how could she leave him be.
Li Ran shouted loudly, his face that was covered in sweat and mud, which usually had no expression, was actually radiating with a peculiar light.
In truth, many of the bodyguards disliked Li Ran, in a world where the strong was respected, how could a cripple obtain respect? But the young miss was persistent, and although Li Ran could not personally lead in battles, but his skills in day to day management was good, and after long, no one said anything about him.
In everyone"s heart, Li Ran was just a logistics officer, to aid and improve everyone"s daily life.
Until now.
Seeing Li Ran drag his lame leg running up and down and shouting with his coa.r.s.e voice, continuously giving orders, made people feel some respect for him. After being in the family for so long, everyone knew of Li Ran"s leg. As long as he stood for a long period of time on his right leg, there would be a piercing pain, and in an even more serious case, it would swell.
Li Ran"s leg was swollen like a carrot, the arteries and veins looked like earthworms, it was a horrid sight. He ignored the pain, and continued to limp around. The gazes that everyone gave Li Ran were filled with respect.
Strength would earn fear, but bravery and faith could win respect.
~He truly is giving his all…..~
Everyone only had that thought, no one had any refute towards Li Ran"s commands. Such a man of steel was worth fighting for.
But after the continuous waves of enemies coming in, everyone started to respect Li Ran even more. The rumors were that Li Ran was a true officer of an army, but Li Ran had never spoken about it, so everyone treated it as a hearsay. But now, everyone realized that it was not just some rumor.
Li Ran"s orders possessed movement artistry.
Although Qin Yu Ran was not a rich tyrant, but she was famous, enough for her to live amply, and the bodyguards by her side were rather strong as well. Many of them were bestowed to her by the Continent Lords that she had performed for before, and thus they were not weak.
They knew what was what, after a few bouts, they realized that the enemies that were attacking the Moon Manor did not pose too much of a threat, and only left behind a huge pile of corpses, their losses were extremely heavy.
Li Ran was powerful!
This conclusion surprised many people, but more so of joy. After travelling for so many years, all of them had their ample experience, and they knew that what they were experiencing was not easy.
An expert tactician overseeing things was more useful than anything else. Although each of their personal strengths were not weak, they came from all sorts of places, and were more proficient in individual battles. Facing such a scale of defense and protection, they were not that experienced.
With their belief in Li Ran, they became more stable. At the moment, Li Ran was also testing on letting the bodyguards and servants to do more, and started to make simple plans.
He remained calm, giving everyone a sort of calm sense, everyone believed that the outcome rest in Li Ran"s hands.
In truth Li Ran"s heart was not as calm as what he was portraying, instead, he was extremely worried and anxious. The a.s.sault was continuously growing stronger. It started with a group of three to five thieves or bandits, but as it went on, it became a small scale mercenary team.
The Moon Manor was not suited to be guarded, as its land was too big and open. And as it was inside White Sands City, so its construction did not have any thought for defense, giving Li Ran huge trouble.
Without any defensive layout, and a group of different and wandering soldiers, adding a officer that was crippled and unable to battle, Li Ran laughed bitterly, such odds, to be able to fight to where they were, it was considered good.
~Why isn"t Master Meng Nan here yet?~
Li Ran"s only hope was that Master Meng Nan would arrive quickly, so he could stop. He had completely lost feeling in his entire right leg, ~But it"s good, at least I don"t feel the pain.~
Suddenly, small black dots appeared in the sky.
Li Ran"s state of mind was roused, he immediately shouted: "Prepare for incoming enemy!"
All of the bodyguards became roused as they prepared for the enemies. But when they landed in formation, the manor flew into an uproar.
In the center was a person that everyone recognized, he was the man with the most power in White Sands Continent, 2nd Army Commander He Ying.
He Ying arrogantly waved his hand, when one of the captains rushed out and shouted: "From now on, the defense of this location will be handled by the 2nd Army! Everyone, disarm yourselves, if anyone disobeys, you will be killed on the spot!"
Li Ran"s face turned pale, he suddenly realized that He Ying was the true enemy. He had initially thought that the movement were just a few bandits or pirates, but he then realized that all the chaos and mess was for a reason! Everything was planned by a hand in the shadows, and that was most probably He Ying.
Bang Bang Bang, weapons started to fall, all of the servants and bodyguards were ecstatic.
"That"s great!"
"Master He is here, we are all safe!"
"We are saved!"
Qin Yu Ran"s bodyguards looked at each other, then looked at Li Ran.
Li Ran"s throat was dry, but he knew they were at the crossroad of life or death. He thought about the wives and ladies in the manor, but then thought about the young miss, He Ying would definitely not let the Young Miss go, if she were to land in He Ying"s demonic arms, she would only become his plaything.
No!
Li Ran became agitated, he would never agree to that! All of the fear were immediately flung to the back of his head. ~This c.r.a.p of a body was saved by young miss, I will die than let anything happen to her.~
After being agitated, Li Ran calmed himself.
He retrieved the saber from his waist, it was a simple saber. He raised it high like a flag.
"Everyone, touch your hearts, how does Young Miss treat us daily? She groomed the army, it is for this day! I have received the grace of Young Miss, and It is time to repay the grace. Anyone who dares to plot against Young Miss, will have to step over our dead bodies!"
The faces of the bodyguards gradually turned serious, all of them revealing resilience. They were all old veterans with experience, and upon seeing the situation, they knew that the day would be unkind.
"f.u.c.k, those pigheads, they dare to do anything to young miss?"
"Head Li is right, We all know how Young Miss treats us, our lives for young miss, it is worth it!"
Hearing all the bodyguards spewing anger and unkind words, He Ying"s face darkened. The main force of the 2nd Army was not by his side, they were the vanguard unit.
~But, against these fishes, the vanguard unit is more than enough.~
"Qiao An, I will leave this to you, kill everyone." He Ying said indifferently. The skinny tall man revealed a look of mockery in his eyes, causing He Ying to become enraged, and his will to kill soar.
As for the affection of the beauty, would that affect him? He Ying did not care.
Qiao Yi An"s mind shivered, but he replied: "yes!"
With that, he leaped gently and soared into the air, his speed was not fast nor slow, but in the blink of an eye he arrived in front of the formation, and unsheathed his sword in midair, his radiance spewing across the whole place.
All the bodyguards brandished their weapons with roars, and unleashed their light barriers.
The light that Qiao Yi An released was not dazzling, but upon touching the light barriers, it was like a sharp knife slicing tofu, chi chi chi, a few heads flew in the sky, and blood spewed out.
The entire process took a breath, and Qiao Yi An"s movements were free and easy without a trace of flames or qi, it was a pleasing sight.
Li Ran"s face changed, the Silver Winged Swordsman Qiao Yi An was someone he knew, he had seen Qiao Yi An performed many times while following Qin Yu Ran, but to be personally facing it as an enemy, he could feel the difference, the immense pressure on him instead.
The incoming pressure that could not be dodged made people feel despair.
The delightful sword techniques mercilessly took lives, any attempts to defend against the ordinary sword aura were sliced through.
But, they had no way out.
Blood surged into Li Ran"s face, he had lost all of his bargaining chips, and was about to engage in a futile struggle.
"Ah Xiang, concentrate on guarding Young Miss!"
"Xiao Lin, use….."
Chi chi!
Ah Xiang and Xiao Lin"s heads flew into the sky, blood spewed, painting a scene behind their falling bodies.
At that moment, he so badly wished that his own men were a trained and seasoned army, he wished that he was back in his youth, able to depend on himself to turn the tides of battle!
He was old, crippled, and about to die.
Li Ran"s eyes turned red, he roared: "Formation! Circle!"
~If I am to die, then I"ll die!"~
The bodyguards surrounded Li Ran in the center, Li Ran"s eyes were covered with a layer of blood, he was like a wolf, an old wolf on the brink of death.
"As expected of the Silver WInged Swordsman, he is powerful." The skinny tall man praised.
He Ying revealed a pleased look: "He is indeed good, and rare that he is obedient. You should know, all the experts these days have bad tempers."
The tall skinny man nodded: "That is true."
"Wait till I become White Sands Continent Lord, I will control all of them!" He Ying said happily.
Li Ran did not say a word, he stared intently at Qiao Yi An"s graceful yet fatal moves that took lives. Qiao Yi An"s sword gracefully danced around the circle formation, every time it moved, it would take away a few lives.
Li Ran licked his lips, his heart quietly calculating.
Qiao Yi An continued to move, when Li Ran suddenly spoke softly: "Later when I say a name, everyone will rushed towards that position to attack, do not hold back."
The remaining people were extremely tensed, what remained were less than 20 people. At this point of time, everyone knew that they would not live, so they became extremely vicious, since it was their last attack.
Li Ran stared intently at Qiao Yi An"s floating figure, Qiao Yi An"s movements were extremely crafty, but Li Ran had a lot of battle experience, and knew about habits. Habits would often reveal themselves in battle, especially when there were no pressure, where the ones holding advantage would frequently reveal more of their habits.
And with him using names as a position locator, it was an ingenious method, they were all familiar with each other, but Qiao Yi An did not know them.
Qiao Yi An moved left and right, his movements difficult to predict.
Afterimages formed one after another, reflecting in the eyes of the weary.
Li Ran suddenly bellowed: "Dong Bo!"
The bodyguards who were long ready, without any hesitation, gathered all of their energy and struck out!
Qiao Yi An"s eyes suddenly dilated, the extremely chaotic light aura surged right in front of him like a multi-colored wall.
s.h.i.t!
The opponent"s actually predicted and saw through his movements, he was not in time to defend, and could only put strength to draw his sword!
The sword auras continuously released seven to eight rays of light auras, before failing to do anymore.
Qiao Yi An"s body lit up with a light barrier, he extended his left palm and moaned, his body flew out over 60m, he landed on the ground, his hair had become messy, the corner of his mouth revealed a trace of blood.
He stared intently at the cunning group, he could not believe that he was hurt by them.
The bodyguards were celebrating crazily, it was their first time becoming a threat to Qiao Yi An.
But Li Ran"s eyes flashed with a look of disappointment, he knew, they had no more chance left.
Suddenly, his body shook, his eyes staring straight behind He Ying, a black group of figure were rushing towards them like a black tide.
~That is…~
Rumble rumble.
The ground was shaking, the houses were shaking, the air was shaking.