I knew they could get attacked, But… rats?

  Jin Yu was stunned.

  Both Haozi and Min Li were battling creatures that barely resembled any normal vermin.

  These weren’t common sewer rats, they were the size of full-grown hounds, their matted fur slick with grime and blood. Muscles rippled beneath their skin as they leapt and clawed, sharp canines flashing in the dim light.

  Their glowing red eyes were filled with a feral madness, and each movement they made came with a low, guttural hiss that sounded more beast than rodent.

  Min Li had deep claw marks trailing across his forearm, and Haozi’s robes were torn and bloodied. Their backs were to the stallions, who reared and stomped wildly, hooves crashing down on the rats and sending a few flying with bone-snapping cracks.

  But more kept swarming, darting low and fast, scratching, biting, and unrelenting.

  A rat as large as a mastiff lunged at Haozi’s side. He barely twisted away, grunting in pain as its claws tore through his sleeve and into his flesh. Beside him, Min Li let out a sharp cry as another sank its teeth into his hand.

  “Master! Help us!” he shouted, eyes wide with a mix of pain and desperation as blood trickled down his fingers.

  The rats hissed louder, almost in triumph, closing in.

  Jin Yu’s expression didn’t change, but the air around him did.

  With a flick of his hand, bursts of Qi exploded outward like invisible blades. They darted through the air in sharp arcs, cleanly severing the limbs of every rat near the carriage. Squeals and wet thuds followed as dozens of the beasts were torn apart mid-leap.

  "Ah!" Haozi screamed.

  A massive rat had latched onto his leg, sinking its jagged canines deep into the muscle and dragging him to the ground with frightening force. Blood sprayed across the dirt as Haozi struggled, kicking and punching wildly.

  Sensing a downed prey, the remaining rats surged forward, their claws scrabbling over one another in a desperate rush.

  Jin Yu narrowed his eyes and flicked his hand again.

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  Boom!

  Several of the charging rats were instantly reduced to a smear of blood and bone, their remains painting the earth with gore, some had their skulls blown open, their brains splattering like crushed fruit.

  Others were sliced cleanly in half, their entrails unspooling onto the blood-soaked earth like coiled ropes. The one gnawing Haozi's leg barely had time to twitch before its head exploded in a mist of red, leaving its twitching body slumped beside him.

  Jin Yu didn’t stop.

  He phased, vanishing and reappearing like a specter of death.

  Each time he appeared, a fresh pile of rat corpses was left behind. One swipe, one strike, one flick of Qi. Blood sprayed in arcs, soaking the ground and dyeing the dying shrieks in crimson silence.

  Screech! Splatter! Squelch!

  Again and again, the monstrous rats surged.

  And again and again, Jin Yu danced through them like a possessed butcher.

  He left mangled bodies, limbs twitching, tails thrashing, lifeless eyes wide with confusion. After several relentless minutes, the wave of beasts finally began to thin.

  No more screeches.

  No more skittering claws.

  Silence reigned, broken only by the panting of stallions and the groans of his companions.

  The battlefield was a ruin of flesh, broken earth, and spilled blood.

  The rat swarm had ended.

  Jin Yu stood tall among the corpses, not a drop of blood on him.

  Calm, cold, and unreadable.

  He turned swiftly and rushed to Haozi, who was groaning in pain. He knelt beside him, his brow furrowed with concern as he helped him sit up gently.

  "Hey... are you okay?"

  Haozi sucked in a ragged breath, clutching his leg, and replied through gritted teeth, "I won't die."

  Jin Yu frowned deeper, wiping the blood off Haozi’s face with his sleeve. "Not on me, brat. I'm sorry I didn't come sooner."

  "It's okay, Young Master," Haozi said, forcing a smile.

  "Give me a minute," Jin Yu muttered and quickly moved to Min Leii.

  "You okay, buddy?" he asked, grabbing his bloodied hand and helping him lean against the carriage for support.

  "I'm okay, Young Master," Min Li answered, breathing heavily. His hair clung to his forehead with sweat. He reached into his spatial pouch and pulled out a pill vial—empty.

  "Ah, I have many pills here," Jin Yu said quickly, checking his spatial ring for the first time since the battle.

  Rows upon rows of items were neatly arranged: vials of pills aligned with precision, separated by colors like a medicine hall display. But he had no clue which one to use.

  He pulled out a vial of white pills first.

  "This one?" he showed Min Li.

  "No, Master, that's a Qi refining pill."

  "Oh." He sent it back in and brought out several others, one after the other. "Which one then?"

  "None of those."

  "Ah! Which color is it?"

  "Blue."

  Jin Yu immediately took out all the blue-colored pills and laid them on the ground.

  "Which one of them?"

  "That one," Min Li pointed to a pill in the center.

  Without hesitation, Jin Yu uncorked the vial and poured all the pills into his palm.

  "Can you eat them all?"

  Min Lei grimaced, his brow twitching in pain. "No, Master. It's one at a time."

  "Oh." Jin Yu nodded and gently fed him one, then poured the rest back in, leaving only one.

  He walked back to Haozi and popped the last pill into his mouth.

  "So... what now?" Jin Yu asked, his gaze falling on the nasty bite on Haozi’s leg.

  "Huh?"

  "Will it just disappear, or does it take a while?"

  "It should fade in a few hours, Master."

  Jin Yu frowned, his voice more urgent now. "Why not just take more? Shouldn’t it heal faster?"

  His tone betrayed his anxiety. He kept staring at the wound, blaming himself.

  I promised to protect him. How could I be so careless?

  Haozi chuckled softly at Jin Yu’s intense expression. "It's just a bite, brother. It'll heal overnight."

  Jin Yu blinked, flustered. "Oh." A faint blush colored his cheeks, and his expression softened.

  Ding!

  The familiar system chime froze him for a second.

  He glanced at Min Li, who smiled slightly .

  "The kids, Master," Min Li reminded him.

  Jin Yu buffered like a lagging screen.

  "Ah!" he suddenly sprang up and disappeared, reappearing beside the carriage in an instant.