Yu Di focused on the bonds. As he suspected, Reis was not much farther from being a Core Formation cultivator in power levels. The difference between them though was that Yu Di was a Core Formation cultivator. And a damned good one at that, being that he had been a Demigod after all.

  With a flex of his Qi, he snapped the black Qi technique holding him in place.

  That caused all Reis’s men to flinch.

  Reis didn’t. He took a step back, eyes narrowed, and fists up. He was the tiger on the defensive. Those were probably the most dangerous.

  Yu Di dusted himself off. He glanced at Vimala to see that she was still alive.

  “I’m not with her,” Yu Di said. “However, I don’t take kindly to being murdered either. So I’m not sure what to do here.”

  “Leave her,” Reis said. “You seem to be about as strong as me. A fight with me and my men here wouldn’t go well for you. I will allow you to leave here.”

  Hearing that, his men formed a line with Reis.

  A non cultivator and a group of mortals against Yu Di. He could take them on, but Reis was right. A fight with them might mean he’d lose, especially if it’s protecting Vimala, the person who wanted to kill him. He should still win though.

  Of course, that would be the case if Yu Di hadn’t woken up earlier that morning. He hadn’t had time to build enough Qi in his core to perform any real techniques. He might as well be holding the biggest, strongest crossbow without a bolt.

  “You’re right,” Yu Di said. “I don’t want to deal with any of this. If you would all be so kind as to make a hole for me to pass.”

  Reis’s men stepped aside.

  Reis kept his hands up, glaring at Yu Di.

  “Please, Yu Di, don’t leave me here,” Vimala shouted. “What would Ying Fusu say when you go back without me? What would your daughter say?”

  That made Yu Di pause.

  Reis pounced with a fierce punch, his fist filled with a deadly black Qi.

  Yu Di rolled with the punch, stepping aside, and then in front of Vimala. He couldn’t believe that he was finally dealing with someone who was within his power level. If this man was any of Ying Fusu’s guards or high priest Kutan’s men, he’d be blown to shreds.

  Yu Di picked up Vimala by the back of her tunic, holding her like a stray cat. He called upon whatever Qi he had in his core and focused on his killing technique. Normally it would obliterate everyone that it hit, but with this pitiful Qi it would only tickle the mortals.

  None of them moved to attack.

  Reis stood back, focusing on his own technique. A small, dense, black ball of Qi formed between his hands. As far as Yu Di could tell, it would encase them in a ball and choke the air from them.

  “Were you serious about the waterfall?” Yu Di asked.

  “What?” Vimala answered.

  “That there’s a way to survive down there?”

  “Yes, but—”

  Yu Di wrapped his arms around Vimala’s waist and jumped down the waterfall.

  Curse unlocked: .2% lifted.

  The fall wasn’t as bad as Yu Di thought. It couldn’t have been more than a hundred feet from where they stood to where they landed in the water. The only good news was that they were still alive.

  Otherwise, Yu Di had a broken arm and either cracked or bruised ribs. He was having trouble breathing. It might be a punctured lung or it could be a former Goddess of Miryana lying on top of him like a sack of rice. If he hadn’t been using his Qi to hold the pain at bay, he would have fainted from the pain.

  Yu Di took as deep a breath as he could before rolling Vimala off him. His breathing eased, but there was definitely something wrong with his lungs. He looked up toward the ledge from which he jumped. Reis and his men didn’t follow.

  It didn’t mean they wouldn’t chase them afterwards. Yu Di had to get out of there as fast as he could and hopefully meet up with Ying Fusu again. That was the only safe harbor he could think of. But first, he had to make sure the precious Goddess was still alive.

  Yu Di kneeled down beside Vimala. With his unbroken arm, he held two fingers above her nose. She was still breathing. He prodded and poked her in other places. Nothing was bleeding. She didn’t have any bruises on her head. The lady looked fine, so why wasn’t she waking up?

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Yu Di released his Qi to resist his pain. The stabbing pain radiated up from his arm. He gritted his teeth.

  He placed two fingers on Vimala’s wrist. He pushed a little of his Qi into her body to sense what was wrong. All her meridians were fine. All her body parts were fine. The only thing wrong was her head, but Yu Di knew that. This time, it was a physical block, though.

  Yu Di tapped Vimala on the forehead gently. Each time, he sent a little Qi into her mind. He hoped it would wake her up.

  A rush of blinding white Qi pushed out from her medallion. It washed over Yu Di in a comfortable embrace. His pain receded a little. He made sure it went away by suppressing it with his Qi.

  Vimala opened her eyes. Those green eyes stared at Yu Di before recognition hit her like a slap to the face.

  “What are you doing to me?” she yelled. “I will kill you before you destroy my city. I didn’t have resolve back then, but I will this time.”

  “Calm down woman,” Yu Di said.

  “Who are you to tell the Goddess of Miryana to calm down? I will blast you to a million pieces.”

  “Vimala,” Yu Di growled.

  That calmed her down. It reminded Yu Di of Yu Lin. He’d have to use that voice with her from time to time. It only worked for a short time before she’d do something else that annoyed him.

  “I need to know if you can get up and walk,” Yu Di said. “Running is preferable. Reis and his men might come for us.”

  Vimala looked around, as if Reis could appear at any moment. One moment she was the fierce mama bear looking to tear Yu Di limb from limb, and now she became the prey bunny afraid of being eaten by the tiger. At least it got her moving.

  She got up as quickly as she could while fighting the water clinging to her clothes. She tried to wring as much water out of her hair as she could, but her clothes stuck to her.

  Again, Yu Di was struck by how beautiful Vimala was. There was no doubt about the reason this woman was chosen to be the Goddess of Miryana. He felt compelled to get down on his knees to pray. But now was not the time.

  “Which way?” Yu Di asked.

  Vimala looked up toward the ledge and then around. The only light that came down was from the ledge and the very narrow opening where the waterfall came down.

  “It’s too dark. I can’t see which way to go,” Vimala said.

  “I thought you knew how to get out of here,” Yu Di said.

  “If you had waited for a second or two for me to explain where to jump, we wouldn’t be in this mess. You’re lucky we hit the water where we did. Otherwise, we would have hit rock and died instantly.”

  Yu Di wasn’t sure that they had hit the water exactly. He could feel the blossoming pain in his back. If they hit the water, it was probably very shallow. He’d have to worry about that later.

  He focused on his storage ring and took out a glowing lantern. He passed it to Vimala.

  Now that the bottom was lit, Yu Di realized he was indeed lucky. The waterfall was a few feet away. If he fell toward that, he might have gotten sucked down from the sheer force of the water. He probably would have survived, but not while holding onto Vimala. Then, a few feet to his right, he would have hit solid rock.

  Demigod body or not, he didn’t have the Qi to protect himself. The moment he made it back to Ying Fusu’s inn, he was going to spend the next few days reinforcing his core and his cultivation. This felt worse than before he ignited his core.

  “This way.” Vimala trudged out of the murky waters toward a dark section of the cavern.

  “You'd better not be leading me to another trap,” Yu Di said.

  “No, you saved my life when you could have let me die.”

  Yu Di got the feeling that she was leaving something out. He wouldn’t be surprised if she went back to wishing him death once they’re back with Ying Fusu. But battered and beaten as he was, he didn’t have a choice but to trust her.

  Vimala walked with a confidence as if she had been down there many times in the past.

  Yu Di grunted every time he bumped into a dark part of the cavern wall. He couldn’t carry his own lantern. His left arm was broken beyond his current ability. He needed his right arm free in case they came under attack again. He held whatever Qi he could gather in his right hand.

  When was the last time he had been in this much pain?

  There was a time Yu Di drank the forbidden elixir from his alchemist friend. It’s been so long, he had forgotten his name, but never that elixir. He had those ingredients memorized. There was no elixir in the history of this world that allowed a cultivator to jump an entire realm permanently.

  It would have killed Yu Di after 50 years if he hadn’t reached the realm of Demigod before then.

  Yu Di remembered the pain from the elixir vividly. It felt as if every bone of his body was broken repeatedly.

  “Do you need a break?” Vimala asked.

  “No, we have to escape before Reis finds us,” Yu Di said.

  Vimala frowned.

  “He won’t find us unless he jumps down from the ledge. The only other way to the waterfall is through a maze of tunnels. Only a priestess or the Goddess of Miryana could find their way through.”

  Yu Di closed his eyes and bit his lip.

  “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?”

  “You looked like you were fine before.”

  Yu Di ignored Vimala and sat down. He crossed his legs and gently placed his broken arm across his lap. A burning raced through his body. He closed his eyes.

  He pushed his Qi through his meridians to get a general picture of his body. His arm was broken in three places. That would be the priority. The next was his breathing. It wasn’t a punctured lung, but some bruising of some kind. Finally, he checked his back. It was one giant bruise.

  How does that happen?

  These injuries individually couldn’t kill him, but collectively and with his lack of Qi, they might.

  “Vimala, are we safe here?” Yu Di asked.

  “What do you mean?” Vimala said.

  “I need to fix up my injuries. I can’t be disturbed for a while. If anyone does, I will die of my injuries. Are there any monsters or anything or anyone else that can disturb us?”

  “No.”

  “Can I trust you to protect me while I do this?”

  Yu Di studied those green eyes for any deception. He hated to do this, but if it was his life or hers, he’d rather kill her in one swift strike now and heal himself than let her betray him again.

  Vimala looked down and nodded.

  “I swear on my life, my city, my powers of the Goddess that I will protect you.”

  Yu Di squinted hard against the darkness. He had to trust her. In the end, he couldn’t kill her, not even for his own life. He couldn’t do that to Ying Fusu.

  He took out his jade tablet to check on his status:

  Current Power: Realm 1, Stage 3, Level 1 (Core Formation)

  Remaining Lifespan: 14 minutes

  Current Status: Cursed (14.2% lifted)

  Overall Power: Fourth Realm, End Stage, Peak level (Demigod)

  Yu Di dropped the tablet onto his lap. He hadn’t realized he had closed his eyes for a moment. Did he read it right? 14 minutes?