Twelve disciples. Coming from two directions.
They emerged from the ruins with the coordinated movement of people who had been following for some time. Grey Peak robes on six of them. The other six wore no distinctive color — mercenaries hired for the realm's duration, which was a tactic Wen Dao hadn't considered but should have.
Pei Tao was leading them. His face was cut from an earlier encounter — he'd clearly had a rough day in the realm, which hadn't improved his temper.
'The agreement with Fang Lie ended when the realm opened,' Pei Tao said. 'New environment. New rules.'
'Does Fang Lie know you're doing this?' Wen Dao asked.
Pei Tao smiled. 'He doesn't run every operation.'
Twelve against three. Most of them at Level Three or Four. Pei Tao himself at Level Four.
'Give us whatever you took from that tower,' Pei Tao said. 'Do that and we let you walk out.'
Wen Dao looked at him for a long moment.
'What makes you think I'll believe that?' he said.
'Because it's the better option than twelve against three.'
'That assumes the other option is unacceptable,' Wen Dao said. 'Is it? Let me think about that.'
Pei Tao had clearly not expected calculation. He expected fear or defiance. Calculation confused him.
In that second of confusion, Wen Dao moved.
Not toward Pei Tao. He pushed Li Meng and Cai Rong in opposite directions.
'Run. Different routes. Meet at the entry point.'
He went straight at the group from the left side. Not to fight twelve — to create chaos in the grouping.
He hit the first person hard in the stomach as he passed — not a fight hit, a keep-them-busy hit — and ran between two of them who hadn't closed the gap fast enough.
He was through.
Behind him, shouts. Six of them chased him. Six stayed on Li Meng and Cai Rong.
He ran through the ruins, using the narrow gaps between collapsed structures — gaps he had noted on the way in. His pursuers were Level Three and Four. Faster than normal humans. But the terrain was even.
He reached a wide cleared section. Bad ground — no cover, his pursuers would catch him in open space.
He stopped running. Turned. Waited.
The six pursuers came through a gap and spread out in a line.
He looked at them. All male, all young, all confident.
'Six against one seems like certainty,' he said. 'Let me ask you: what do you each plan to do when I go directly at the one who hesitates first?'
Two of them glanced at each other. Just for a second. The question had made them check their own group.
That was the hesitation he needed.
He went at the gap between the glancers — the spot where coordination would be worst for one fraction of a second.
He hit the left one in the throat — not enough to damage, enough to make them gasp and stop — pushed off him, ducked under the right one's grab, came out the back and kept moving.
One down temporarily. One confused.
Two of the remaining four grabbed him from behind.
Real grip. He couldn't break it. They lifted and he went horizontal.
He drove his heel backward into the knee of the one on his right. The grip loosened on that side. He torqued his body, used the loosened grip as a hinge, and came around fast with his elbow meeting the face of the person on his left.
Broke free.
Hit again. Running again.
He kept them occupied for forty minutes. He didn't win. He couldn't win six on one at their cultivation levels. But he didn't need to win — he needed to take up time and exhaust them.
By the time they cornered him against a collapsed wall, all six were breathing hard.
He was breathing very hard.
'Give up the items,' one of them said.
He was about to say something when a new voice came from the ruins above them.
Calm. Flat.
'Leave him.'
They all looked up.
Fang Lie stood on a ruined wall overhead. His arms were folded. His expression was ice-cold.
Pei Tao — who had apparently followed after sorting out Li Meng and Cai Rong — appeared from behind. He looked up at Fang Lie with visible shock.
'You made an agreement,' Fang Lie said to Pei Tao. His voice was very quiet and very precise. 'You broke it without authorization. We are leaving.'
Pei Tao went red. 'He has things from the central tower—'
'Leave. Him.'
A silence. Then Pei Tao looked away.
The Grey Peak members pulled back.
Fang Lie looked down at Wen Dao.
'Next time,' he said simply.
He left.
Wen Dao leaned against the wall and breathed for a while.
Li Meng and Cai Rong found him fifteen minutes later. Both bruised but intact. Li Meng had managed to keep his collected items. Cai Rong had lost two of his but kept his token.
They walked back to the entry point.
He made it through the realm exit with three hours to spare.
Inside his robe: the complete Iron Question Fist. Two pills. The jade pendant warmer than it had ever been.
He was not done with this world. Not even close.