The Rise of the Divine Oracle

Chapter 20 - The Angry Warlord

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He gets closer and whispers: "Wen Ning?"

The kids were shocked when Wen Ning suddenly opens his eyes to reveal nothing but black then without warning seizes Wuxian by the throat and lifts him off the ground.

Wuxian grabs the hand strangling him and tries to loosen it's hold.

Linao was the first to react and yells at the rest to surround Wen Ning: "Cousins we must do something! I will try to distract him enough to let go first then we will all fight him together."

Linao rushes over and with her sword tries to slash Wen Ning. Before she can get close, a set of pointy chains whips towards her and she's pushed flying back a few paces into the ground.

Qiao takes out a talisman to summon a rope to bind the chains but his spell is blown back when Wen Ning opens his mouth and yells, unleashing energy all around him. Wuxian was starting to lose consciousness. He drops his flute and loosens his grasp on the hand choking him. Lijian, the closest to them, yells in distress: "We need to act fast! He's going to kill Master Wei!"

They all look at each other and with a shared nod rushed in at the same time with aiming swords. Wen Ning sees their approach and drops an unconscious Wuxian on the ground and strikes them all with his chains. It took two swings but the cousins were all left on the ground cradling their injuries and struggling to get back up. Wen Ning lets out another angry yell then jumps up the hill and disappears from view.

With the threat temporarily gone, Morui was the first to recover and rushed over to check on Wuxian: "His breathing is labored! What should we do?"

Lijian, the only cultivator between them with medical training, comes closer and checks Wuxian's pulse: "His pulse is weak but I think he will be fine." He checks his throat: "This will be painful when he wakes up but I don't see any permanent damage."

Qiao starts to freak out a little: "His Excellency is going to kill us all! Did you see how protective he was of Master Wei before we left?"

Linao shushes him: "That's not important now! We need to figure out a way to get out of this predicament. We need to return Master Wei to be examined by a healer but we cannot guarantee that we won't encounter Master Wen, or whatever that was, on our way back."

Morui looks at her older cousin: "You're right, we need to figure out what we're dealing with."

Lijian hums and says: "I think Master Wen was possessed. Did you see his black eyes?"

They all nod in agreement and Qiao shivers in fear: "Do you think he's possessed by the evil warlord spirit we talked about earlier?"

Mingyi scoffs: "Since he is originally a fierce corpse himself, I am not surprised if he is."

Before any of them could comment more, a moan is heard coming out of Wuxian as he slowly starts to wake up. He opens his eyes to see five worried looking youths looking down at him. He opens his mouth to ask what happened but his throat burns with pain. He swallows painfully and brings his hand to knead his aching neck. Lijian pulls his hand away and says: "Master Wei, your neck and throat are severely bruised. Do not speak or it will worsen your condition." Wuxian blinks his eyes and nods.

Linao helps him into a sitting position and explains what happened when she sees the look of confusion in his eyes: "We decided to take you back to get treated by our clan healer. Can you walk?" He nods but when he stands and starts to sway, they set him back down to rest for a few minutes before they try again.