Awakening the Divine Spark-Chapter 126: Xiao Lian.

Even though he wasn’t sitting in a direct sunlight, it was torturing to spend a whole day without a drop of water. In addition, the smell was so disgusting, even the guy guarding the cage was trying to sit as far as possible, while not letting the door out of his sight.

It was clear that the place was more of a hideout than a stronghold, and the captors didn’t feel like home. They were armed with crude spears or axes, and some even had bows, and Lee couldn’t understand how he actually was caught by them.

Even though he was young and relatively weak, he considered himself to be experienced enough to not fall in hands of common bandits. But here he was.

From the few discussions the bandits had during the shift change, Lee found out they were going to move the captives the following day. Apparently there was a sect that happily bought slaves to mine something, and either it or the place it was located at was called Blackwater.

Lee lost his staff somewhere on the way and his bag was taken away. Since he was back to being a pauper, there was nothing he could lose and he began to plan how to get out. The other captives were unlikely to be able to help, thus the only thing he could do was to wait for the nightfall.

To concentrate when everything was soaked with the stench of shit and urine, was almost impossible. Nevertheless, Lee spent the day focusing on the sparks in his abdomen.

Even though he didn’t have proper techniques yet, after listening to few lectures, he slightly modified the one Tess taught him. Either because of that or because this world was different, the characteristics of the elemental particles began to change. They weren’t like the rubber he had to work with while breaking in Lunax’s vault, but acquired this strange liquid form.

During the past months Lee managed to purposefully summon droplets of water on his palm, and even on his forehead during matches with Xie Wuking. The last exercise, of course, was a mix of fun and practical application, and drastically improved his capability to sense the water particles within.

It was amusing to watch Xie Wuking noticing his fake perspiration, assuming he was tired, or in pain, but unfortunately that was all Lee was capable of.

With the earth particles it didn’t go as easy, but mostly because Lee avoided to test anything in public. He noticed that whenever he did anything with the earth element, for example harden his palm or fist, it glowed with yellowish hue. For now he didn’t intend to disclose the fact he owned a beast spark, thus he could only practice the earth element in secret.

Fortunately, bandits didn’t strip him or take his gloves. That meant Lee technically had a weapon, or at least something like a weapon. He wasn’t positive he could knock out one of the bearded guys guarding the cage, though. If he couldn’t, he would have to improvise.

Before the sun set, six more captives were brought in, and Lee could finally figure out the best way to get out of the cage. As it turns out, there was no lock – the door was locked the way as if this was an outhouse in the country, and judging by the smell, it actually was.

The newcomers nicely fit in, sobbing and crying together with the earlier captives, meanwhile Lee moved closer to the wooden door.

He patiently waited for the darkness to fall, hoping that the guard at some point would doze off. If he was careful enough, there was a chance he could actually slip by unnoticed.

There was one problem, though.

"Lee!" Someone whispered from the other side of the rubble the guard was sitting at.

Lee didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at Xiao Lian’s bravery, but the guy did come to save him. Unfortunately he couldn’t figure out in an instant whether he should reply or warn his friend, or distract the guard who for some reason didn’t react at all.

Lee was certain the guard wasn’t sleeping and that only meant the guy was patiently waiting for the intruder to show his face.

The moon had just crawled over the treetops and the stars weren’t enough to properly illuminate the ruins.

It was hard to tell whether Xiao Lian was coming or not, but when Lee heard the guard standing up, he hissed, "There’s a guard!"

The timing turned out to be perfect, because Xiao Lian was crawling right next to the guard, and, purely on instinct rolled away, toward the spot where Lee’s voice came from.

"Intruders!" The guard wasn’t a complete idiot and immediately raised the alarm, but fortunately the help didn’t arrive right away.

The guard already had the axe in hand and cleaved at the spot Xiao Lian rolled to.

"Keep your distance from him!" Lee instructed, "Even if you don’t know where he is, wave your sword! Your reach is wider!"

Xiao Lian was grateful for the instructions, but so was the guard. He immediately changed tactics and didn’t let the intruder close to him, at least not close enough for the whistling sword to cut him. Xiao Lian, on the other hand, was doing his best to somehow cleave the opponent, madly waving his sword around.

The guard kept jumping to the side, then back, then back again, and from what he heard, Lee judged Xiao Lian was getting desperate. Reinforcements could arrive any moment and he would join Lee in the cage right after. That is – if he was still alive.

Lee could hear distant sounds, but it seemed that someone was fighting behind the stone wall and he couldn’t see. But he also didn’t have time to think.

After another evasive maneuver, the guard bumped into the cage’s wooden beams. Through the gaps between the beams, Lee immediately grabbed him by the shoulders, and shouted, "Now! Kill him!"

The next moment he realized why Han Li warned them to not cut themselves with the swords. Turns out it wasn’t a joke.

It wasn’t that Xiao Lian’s sword cut through the bandit like a knife. He stabbed his opponent, but the leather gear the guy wore didn’t offer any protection, and to Xiao Lian it felt like he had stabbed water.

Lee, on the other had, felt a burning sensation in his abdomen when Xiao Lian’s sword pierced through the bandit, and afterwards through him as well.

’Seriously?’ Lee thought, ’After all the slashing and waving he suddenly decided to stab?’

But the situation was more hilarious than tragic. He was still alive, thus Lee was certain he only needed a good night’s sleep to heal.

"Slash him, slash him!" Lee ordered and jumped back, tripping on the other captives.

He only heard how Xiao Lian smacked the guard several times, but it sounded more like a butcher at work than a fight.

"The door!" Lee commanded again, and got up, ignoring the pain. Then he said to the captives, "It’s up to you if you want to escape!"

He wasn’t strong enough to take care of himself, to not speak of saving anyone.

"Brother Lee!" He heard Xiao Lian’s excited shout, "Take this!"

In the darkness Lee saw Xiao Lian passing him a branch, that turned out to be his short staff.

"You dropped it by the tree you told me to climb!" Xiao Lian explained, but Lee immediately shushed him.

"Good! Now let’s keep quiet! Follow me!"