Awakening the Divine Spark

While Lee was borrowing pants from one of the attackers, Edward quickly brought him up to speed.

"After you saved me, Elder Wang took me as his disciple." He said, "The problem is that there are no techniques for my ... peculiar situation, and now I have to invent everything myself. Earlier I used the move I call Lighting Explosion. The end result is kind of good, but afterwards I’m basically useless."

"How did you sneak up to him like that?" This was what baffled Lee the most.

If the guy really was ready to become an elemental lord, he couldn’t be sneak attacked that easily. Of course, he might’ve lied, but Edward’s next words made Lee doubt it.

"He was clearly some kind of monster, and I had to prepare the attack for quite some time." Edward said, "What you saw was only the aftermath. In fact, I began my charge from over there."

Lee looked at the spot twenty yards away where Edward was pointing at, and shook his head with a sigh.

"I have no reason to lie." Edward said with a shrug, "Master said that it’s the fastest speed anyone under the level of elemental lord can achieve. And I’m completely soundless while performing that move."

"So basically it’s a one-hit assassination technique." Lee said.

"You can say so." Edward nodded.

"Wait ... you said master?" Lee asked.

"Yes, Elder Wang took me as his personal disciple." Edward said.

"... everyone has cool things happening to them ..." Lee said with a sigh, but looked at the sword in his hand and inwardly grinned.

He wasn’t a sword expert or an artificer, but Soulcleaver was clearly a treasure. The thin, three and a half feet long sword, with the blade barely two fingers wide, felt over ten times heavier than it should have, even if it were made out of lead.

It didn’t have a hand guard, and after sheathing it, the grip together with the scabbard resembled a heavy walking stick, wrapped in black, worn out leather. It was primitive and elegant at the same time, but unfortunately with how Lee currently was, he had no strength to wield it.

Edward didn’t know Lee was being sarcastic, and with a serious expression said, "There is nothing more cool than what you did, my young friend. Not only you somehow brought me back to life, you even tried to save the guy earlier! It was obvious that it was a deadly endeavor, but you ..."

Lee had a different opinion, but didn’t intend to argue. Edward’s words reminded him of Jian Wuji, and he rushed over to check his condition.

Even under the weak lighting of distant fire, it was obvious Wuji had lost large amounts of blood. His face was deadly pale, but he still had a pulse. It was barely there, just a faint tingle under Lee’s fingers.

But at that moment Lee felt panic overtaking him. All of the sudden the whole situation felt too real – for some reason he was scared that at any moment the weak pulse might stop, and he would be the one to feel it go.

The prior fighting, and even the threat of death, was something he experienced as an observer, as if it didn’t have anything to do with him. But now, even it wasn’t him lying mutilated on the ground, the idea of sensing a life disappear was terrifying.

"Please, save my brother!" Lee heard Jian Tianyu say. His voice was weak, and he was still coming to his senses, but his first thought was about his older brother.

Lee would’ve loved to help, but the best thing he could do was to go and look for someone from the Healing Hall. Unfortunately, with how many fights were happening around the sect, those guys surely had their hands full. Moreover, Jian Wuji had lost so much blood, it was wonder he was still alive.

Tianyu’s words were kind of addressed to heavens, but for some reason Edward took them seriously.

He asked, "Lee, can you save him?"

"What the fuck do you expect me to do?" Lee involuntarily blurted, but then realized he let the stress affect the choice of words, and said, "I’m afraid at this point only elder of the Healing Hall can attempt to do anything."

"You brought me back to life, and you can do it again!" Edward said, "I’ll try to find someone who can help, but meanwhile you keep him alive! I believe in you!"

Lee watched the guy disappear in the darkness in disbelief. Not that he gave a crap about the I believe in you! part. It didn’t matter what Edward believed in – there were limits to what a puny human like him could do.

’Right!’ Lee realized, ’There are things I could do!’

He wasn’t an elemental lord who could work miracles, but he had the common sense.

Jian Wuji was an incredible talent, compared to Lee – a monstrous talent. Besides that he probably trained his ass off for years and years, and that was what gave him the tenacity to stay alive this long. All Lee had to do was to make sure Wuji was still breathing when the help arrived, or at least do his best to do so.

"Get some clean water!" He instructed Tianyu before rushing away, "I’ll go grab bandages!"

Tianyu’s earlier plea was purely instinctual, and he actually never expected his neighbor to do anything. He had noticed the fellow disciple before, but the guy never seemed to be particularly reliable. Moreover, Tianyu was still in daze and reluctant to leave Wuji alone. After all, every breath his brother took might be his last.

’Ok!’ Lee thought while running, ’Properly wash the wounds, and bandage ... wash, bandage! ... wash, bandage!’

He threw Soulcleaver under his bed, grabbed a small heap of bandages from the backpack, and ran back. After the training in Serrakar Plateau he decided that half of his spatial bag’s space from now on would be reserved for necessities, including the first aid kit – several boxes of bandages and few jars of ointments.

He still wasn’t clear on how the ointments worked, but bought them following Xiao Lian’s suggestion nevertheless.

When Lee returned to Jian Wuji, his brother was still kneeling besides him, lifelessly staring at his body. Lee’s first thought was that it was already too late, but Wuji still had a pulse.

"Tianyu! Water!" Lee helplessly said, but it was obvious the youngest brother barely registered anything that was going on.

After realizing he won’t get any help, Lee sighed, ran to the closest residence, and poured a whole barrel of water on himself to wash off the dirt and blood. Then grabbed a large basin, filled it with water from another barrel, and rushed back.

Washing Jian Wuji’s wounds was like washing a large piece of meat. He didn’t bleed much, though, probably because there was not much blood left in his body. The job felt weird, moreover, Lee wasn’t sure how to proceed.

The deep wound across the chest was probably the priority since the hand lying next to Wuji, attached by a thin layer of skin, was most likely lost. Awkwardly lying next to the owner, it already looked like a foreign object, but Lee knew that the guy without his sword-arm would probably rather die. At least he would if he were in Wuji’s shoes.

’Fuck it!’ Lee said to himself, and finished washing the arm first.

Then he pressed it to the shoulder, the place it was cut off, and secured with a bandage. He had no clue if it was possible to save it, but at least he did his best.

Dealing with the large cut across Jian Wuji’s chest it was more complicated. Besides the fact that Lee wasn’t sure whether he should move the guy at all, he wasn’t strong enough to lift him with one hand in order to bandage with the other.

Unfortunately, Tianyu was useless. Thus the best thing Lee could think of was to cover the wound with clean bandages, tucking their ends below Wuji’s body, kind of securing them.

"Well, now it’s up to you, buddy!" Lee softly said with a sigh.

The problem was, he knew that any expectations of Jian Wuji pulling through like this were ridiculous. If help didn’t arrive right now, he’d die.

’Wait! I thought that when he was cut!’ Lee realized the paradox.

From the moment the attacker defeated Wuji in one move, Lee already thought him as being dead. But it had been how long? Hundred? Or two hundred breaths had passed? But the guy was still hanging on!

’In that case ... maybe Edward was right! Maybe there is something else I can do?’