Chapter 11
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Translator: transcendentwings
Editor: teaff
Xu Xingzhi wasn’t able to hear the words that followed clearly.
The fragrance of plants penetrated his seven meridians and eight veins and softened his hands and feet. Meng Chongguang’s whispers by his ears turned into a bay of spring water and lulled him to sleep without warning.
He had another strange dream.
In the dream he transformed into a fish and was entangled with fragrant bait. The fragrant bait was soft and warm, as if it had come alive, and was carefully kissing his tail. Xu Xingzhi wasn’t hungry either, he only circled around to play with it, allowing it to rub against his scales.
And when he turned around, the fragrant bait stretched out countless tiny tentacles that latched onto his body and drew him into an endless current.
Xu Xingzhi wanted to struggle, but its tentacles were flexible and tough. He was quickly entangled until his bones creaked and was then dragged into a cluster of soft coral.
Xu Xingzhi jolted awake with his waist and knees sore and soft. Bursts of pain shot through his lower abdomen when he moved.
Xu Xingzhi placed his hand on top of his stomach and it was as if he could still feel the soft feelers pushing and prancing all over.
. . . He was unaware of when he returned to the bedroom, lying on the bed with both feet shackled, unable to move an inch.
Meng Chongguang, on the other hand, was tightly hugging his waist from behind. He slept very sweetly as gust after gust of warm air caressed the back of Xu Xingzhi’s neck, making him very ticklish.
It seems that after he fainted today, he had taken the initiative to speak to Meng Chongguang and explained his intentions for coming to the savage wasteland using a mix of half-truths and lies. Consequently, Meng Chongguang thought he was trying to reconcile and erase the old grudges between them in one shot; that’s why he dared to act so presumptuously and boldly.
Beyond the window, the color of the sky was still indistinguishable as usual.
Xu Xingzhi wiped away the cold sweat that beaded on his forehead and let out a long breath.
Meng Chongguang heard his movements and unconsciously tightened his grip: “. . . Wu, Shixiong. . .”
Xu Xingzhi was flustered by his grip and tried to pry his arms off. While Meng Chongguang’s arms looked slim, they were as wiry as if forged by steel. He yanked for a long time yet they didn’t even budge.
Xu Xingzhi had just experienced this kind of immovable state in his dream, so he felt very displeased that he had to experience it again in reality now.
He flipped over in his imprisonment with difficulty and tried to push Meng Chongguang away from the front.
In the gap created as he turned around, Meng Chongguang for better or for worse inched forward even closer and hugged Xu Xingzhi tighter than before.
. . . Xu Xingzhi’s lips brushed over something warm and soft.
The soft touch on the lips caused Meng Chongguang to snap his eyes open abruptly: “. . . Shixiong?”
Xu Xingzhi felt a little awkward and brought his arm across Meng Chongguang’s chest as a barrier and pushed him back a bit: “I can’t breathe.”
Meng Chongguang took the initiative to bring his forehead over: “Does Shixiong not like it this way?”
Xu Xingzhi: “. . .”
Shidi, please show some respect.
Meng Chongguang had an innocent expression on his face: “This way, Shixiong won’t be cold ya.”
Xu Xingzhi was indeed deathly afraid of the cold, and so for Meng Chongguang to hold him tightly like so, other than being unable to move, it was indeed really warm.
Meng Chongguang’s body temperature was neither too hot nor too cool, the temperature was just right, nice and comfortable like a winter jacket that was tailored a size too small, encasing Xu Xingzhi within until he had nowhere to escape to.
However, since Xu Xingzhi didn’t like to be restrained, Meng Chongguang relaxed the muscles in his arms slightly and prompted: “Shixiong, you should sleep for a while longer.”
We Wlcuhtl kjr olcjiis jyif ab ijs vbkc j ilaaif wbgf mbwobgajyis, tf ilutais ragfamtfv tlr rbgf kjlra jcv rdelcafv ja atf abq bo atf yfv.
We Wlcuhtl vlvc’a mibrf tlr fsfr rb Zfcu Jtbcuuejcu rajgfv ja tlw vlgfmais: “Qts vbc’a sbe riffq?”
We Wlcuhtl: “. . . Ktfgf’r iluta bearlvf.”
The sun doesn’t exist in the savage wasteland, there is only a wheel of light that hangs in the sky on the west side all year round like a moon. However the light was so worthless, it was like a piece of fruit candy that would melt at any time. As such, the wasteland didn’t distinguish between day and night and a gloomy light uniformly shone from morning to night. Light existed, but it wasn’t bright. Time seemed to be permanently frozen at the dusk of a cloudy day.
Xu Xingzhi sobered up quite a bit due to the light rub on his lips. In addition, the ambience for sleep no longer existed at all. Although Xu Xingzhi was tired, he had no desire to fall asleep anymore.
After a brief moment, the rays of light in the room disappeared little by little until it was completely swallowed up.
Xu Xingzhi was surprised; when he turned around, he only saw vines climbing with a rustling sound and forming a dense net of foliage by the window. It slowly cut up the light beyond the window inch by inch until it was completely isolated outside.
The room sank into a deep darkness.
Meng Chongguang lowered his voice and asked cautiously: “Shixiong, is this okay?”
Xu Xingzhi couldn’t see Meng Chongguang’s face clearly anymore, but his milk dog voice that was trying to please him strangely made his heart soften: “Pretty good.”
Meng Chongguang’s voice was soft: “Aren’t I well-behaved?”
Xu Xingzhi almost laughed out loud: “Not bad.”
Meng Chongguang begged: “Then. . . Can Shixiong give me a hug?”
Xu Xingzhi: “. . .”
“For just a moment.” Meng Chongguang pestered, “Just treat it as a reward. . .”
Before the last syllable fell, Xu Xingzhi pulled him into a single-armed embrace. Then as if he was afraid that the other might think it was fake, Xu Xingzhi patted him on the back slightly with his left hand.
Xu Xingzhi’s body had a cold constitution so when his left hand came into contact with the other’s back, the ice cold temperature made Meng Chongguang shiver. The spot that was touched was numbed for a moment before it was set aflame.
Meng Chongguang was frozen on the spot, both surprised and happy.
Xu Xingzhi didn’t know why he had just hugged him. He only vaguely had the notion that if he didn’t hug him, Meng Chongguang would have overthought it. Then if he made a fuss, making something out of nothing using Jiu Zhideng as his launchpad, the matter would never end.
He commanded softly: “Don’t make trouble. Sleep.”
Meng Chongguang didn’t speak, he only grabbed the collar of Xu Xingzhi’s robes and buried his head against his chest. Without making any noises, he really did seem like some sort of small pet.
Xu Xingzhi wasn’t annoyed by his intimate snuggling, on the contrary. a bit of sleepiness was rubbed out of him instead and he soon fell asleep within a quarter of an hour.
When Xu Xingzhi entered dreamland, Meng Chongguang wiggled his way out of his embrace, held his hand very lightly, and placed the hand directly against the top of his own head. He moved it in a petting motion and squinted his eyes in comfort.
. . . The head, the back, the shoulders, and cheeks. No matter where it was on the body, as long as it was Shixiong who was doing the touching, he liked it very much.
Xu Xingzhi, on the other hand, dreamed of little Meng Chongguang again.
Or to be more accurate, it was the memories of the original owner that broke into his mind again while he was asleep. The memories continued to unfold from the previous breakpoint.
. . . After noticing the unusual flash of light from a jade bead around his neck, Xu Xingzhi arrived at Taihua Mountain with his legs still weak.
As soon as he thought back to that image of the arthropod creeping around in Wen Xuechen’s palm, goosebumps continuously broke out along Xu Xingzhi’s back.
But once he saw the few disciples who were dragging around their weapons and armor, rushing towards him, all those thoughts flew away in a flash. He charged forward in a few strides and grabbed a Fengling Mountain disciple who was dressed in white-robes like himself: “What happened?”
When those disciples who were dressed in the robes of the various other sects saw Xu Xingzhi, it was as if a beast’s young saw its mother. They swarmed over and encircled Xu Xingzhi in a panic.
That disciple was already so frantic that his lips and face lost all color and he couldn’t stop trembling: “Xu-shixiong. . . Xu. . . Xu. . .”
Xu Xingzhi grabbed him by the color and smacked him on the crown of his head with his fan: “Speak!”
The disciple’s voice carried a crying tone, his knees were weak, and his entire body was nearly hanging off of Xu Xingzhi’s: “We only wanted to retrieve the feathers and scales of the Feiyi. . . We didn’t know that we would startle it into wakefulness. . .”
Xu Xingzhi knitted his eyebrows together.
Taihua Mountain was as high as a couple thousand meters and it was the habitat of the exotic monsters called Feiyi. They had six legs and four wings and fed on fresh blood. They spent most of their time in a deep slumber, yet were extremely sensitive; once they were awakened, they would go berserk and vow to slaughter all trespassers.
A terrifying roar traveled through the forest, its voice like thunder. A row of trees tumbled down, sending dust and smoke flying everywhere and the tsunami of spiritual energy collided with these young outer sect disciples until their legs quivered and their voices were muted in fear.
Xu Xingzhi took a rough headcount and questioned: “Is there anyone still in the forest? How many of you came to gather scales in total?”
That disciple looked around in a circle: “It seems there is one person missing, he, he said he would act as a buffer. . .”
Color drained from Xu Xingzhi’s face immediately: “Didn’t I warn you all that if you angered an abnormal monster then you have to run away quickly? Are any of these ancient beasts something that any of you from the outer sect can casually handle?”
He harnessed his spiritual aura, generated an undercurrent under his feet, and shot straight towards the forest.
Approaching the epicenter of the explosion of spiritual power, Xu Xingzhi saw a young disciple dressed in Qingliang Valley’s robes caught in the claw of a six-legged four-winged snake-like behemoth.
The Feiyi’s body was covered in gleaming, sharp scales and its enormous and bulky head reared up high as it continuously spat out small bouts of flames every now and then.
It aimed its huge snake maw at the incessantly struggling youth.
Seeing that the youth was about to be lit up like a candle by the Feiyi, Xu Xingzhi leapt twice in the air and hurled the folded fan in his hand out like a streak of lightning with one hand.
The folded fan morphed into a dual-edged trident broadsword in midair and brutally stabbed into the back of the Feiyi’s head.
The blade shattered into pieces the moment the tip of the blade came into contact with the Feiyi after a loud clanging sound.
The carapace encasing the Feiyi’s body was sharp and durable. It stood to reason that this one strike wouldn’t be able to do much to it, but it was enough to attract its attention briefly as planned.
Xu Xingzhi flipped his right hand and all of the shattered pieces of the blade returned to him and reconverged into the folded fan.
In a few moments, Xu Xingzhi stepped on top of the Feiyi’s expansive head loftily and arrogantly. He forced its head down one notch then took a few running steps down its sticky, repulsive spine. After calculating a position about 7 inches down, he transformed the folded fan into a Yuchang blade once again.
Xu Xingzhi circulated all the spiritual power he possessed in his body and the edge of the blade vibrated in response as it carved a huge chunk of the Feiyi’s flesh at that spot 7 inches down!
The Feiyi was in agony and howled wildly. Naturally it loosened its claw and lunged forward to bite Xu Xingzhi instead.
The youth fell from the Feiyi’s claw. Xu Xingzhi saw that he was about to hit a rock and immediately transfigured the Yuchang blade into a swath of white silk and whipped it through the air like an arrow. It wrapped the youth up from head to toe just in time and with a backhanded pull, the teenager who was wrapped up like a zongzi flew upwards and directly fell into Xu Xingzhi’s arms.
Now that the person was successfully rescued, Xu Xingzhi saw no need to pester this monster any further.
He carried the youth and glided ahead.
That Feiyi saw red. He was injured, so how could he just give up so easily. It roared in anger and immediately gave chase.
Although it looked clumsy and fat, it actually moved swiftly like a peal of thunder. Every time it took a step forward, the energy and blood in Xu Xingzhi’s body would also be rattled once.
. . . It was really so f*cking hard to shake off.
Xu Xingzhi was racking his brains to come up with a method to lose his tail when he felt an abnormal wave of power emanating from his arms.
The Feiyi behind him suddenly roared thunderously again.
Xu Xingzhi glanced intently and saw a rotting skeletal tiger with only half of its body remaining emerge from the ground and latch onto the Feiyi’s tail with all its might. It freely allowed the Feiyi to tear into it until its flesh and blood was spilled everywhere yet it still remained unmoved.
The appearance of this strange skeletal tiger won them precious time to escape.
Xu Xingzhi was startled and couldn’t help but lower his head to look down into his arms.
The youth in his arms was encased within the white silk such that only a pair of eyes remained visible, but that pair of eyes was suffused with a turquoise green color akin to a fox demon.
Several places on the white silk were already soaked with the blood from his wounds, but he still gritted his teeth and manipulated the skeletal tiger, who had already been dead for who knows how long, to entangle with the Feiyi without any regards to its life, never letting go.
. . . His entire body clearly radiated with an undisguised forest green ghostly aura.
Xu Xingzhi was only able to gain time to stop and breathe when he finally flew out of the Feiyi’s hunting grounds.
He unwrapped the white silk from around the youth and transformed it into a bamboo tube to draw some water from the clear stream nearby.
The youth’s injuries were not light and he had also just used up a lot of his energy. It would be very difficult for him to move without Xu Xingzhi in his current state.
Recovering his senses from the perilous fight just now, the youth knew that his actions of arbitrarily utilizing Ghostly Cultivation’s spiritual energy had exposed his identity. He agonized over it and bowed his head where his gaze crossed with the torn edge of his light colored robes, wishing that he could just bury his head into his chest.
Xu Xingzhi handed him the water container and asked straightforwardly: “You practice Ghostly Cultivation? You’re a descendant of Mingya Country?”
The youth didn’t dare to react to that nor did he dare to speak up.
Xu Xingzhi calmly stated: “As far as I know, Mingya Country was already completely destroyed six years ago.”
The youth was so nervous he almost started to cry out loud: “Xu-shixiong. . .”
Xu Xingzhi didn’t give him any time to recover: “As a descendant of the Ghostly Clan, why do you want to enter Qingliang Valley? What are you scheming?”
The injured teenager slid onto his knees on the ground in a panic and lifted his face: “Xu-shixiong, I didn’t deliberately enter the Immortal Sects. . . it’s just that both my parents are dead and there was nowhere I could go. I just happened to see that Qingliang Valley was recruiting talented outer sect disciples with spiritual roots, so I just. . .”
The youth had a pretty cute baby face and when he pursed his lips, there was even a deep dimple on one side of his cheek. At this time, his eyes had already returned to a black color from its previous light green. They were round, unblemished, and filled with pure panic.
From his actions just now, Xu Xingzhi judged that this was just a little ghost who had just started to cultivate a bit of the Ghost Clan’s skills and was also very likely a mix-blood between the union of a human and ghost. He probably had dual roots at birth and was found to be able to cultivate both paths; not only could he practice the arts of the Ghostly Clan, but also the righteous immortal arts.
And also most likely because of his special physique, Qingliang Valley who had accepted him, thus didn’t notice his abnormality.
He had just sacrificed himself for all of the disciples of the various sects who had provoked the Feiyi. So although his actions were tantamount to stopping a car with a mantis’ arms and extremely foolish, because of this act of loyalty, Xu Xingzhi didn’t possess that much malice towards him.
He crouched down and asked calmly: “Don’t rush, speak slowly. First tell me, what is your name?”
The youth bit his lip, his voice barely audible: “Lu. . . Lu Yujiu. . .”
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
Translator: transcendentwings
Editor: teaff
Xu Xingzhi wasn’t able to hear the words that followed clearly.
The fragrance of plants penetrated his seven meridians and eight veins and softened his hands and feet. Meng Chongguang’s whispers by his ears turned into a bay of spring water and lulled him to sleep without warning.
He had another strange dream.
In the dream he transformed into a fish and was entangled with fragrant bait. The fragrant bait was soft and warm, as if it had come alive, and was carefully kissing his tail. Xu Xingzhi wasn’t hungry either, he only circled around to play with it, allowing it to rub against his scales.
And when he turned around, the fragrant bait stretched out countless tiny tentacles that latched onto his body and drew him into an endless current.
Xu Xingzhi wanted to struggle, but its tentacles were flexible and tough. He was quickly entangled until his bones creaked and was then dragged into a cluster of soft coral.
Xu Xingzhi jolted awake with his waist and knees sore and soft. Bursts of pain shot through his lower abdomen when he moved.
Xu Xingzhi placed his hand on top of his stomach and it was as if he could still feel the soft feelers pushing and prancing all over.
. . . He was unaware of when he returned to the bedroom, lying on the bed with both feet shackled, unable to move an inch.
Meng Chongguang, on the other hand, was tightly hugging his waist from behind. He slept very sweetly as gust after gust of warm air caressed the back of Xu Xingzhi’s neck, making him very ticklish.
It seems that after he fainted today, he had taken the initiative to speak to Meng Chongguang and explained his intentions for coming to the savage wasteland using a mix of half-truths and lies. Consequently, Meng Chongguang thought he was trying to reconcile and erase the old grudges between them in one shot; that’s why he dared to act so presumptuously and boldly.
Beyond the window, the color of the sky was still indistinguishable as usual.
Xu Xingzhi wiped away the cold sweat that beaded on his forehead and let out a long breath.
Meng Chongguang heard his movements and unconsciously tightened his grip: “. . . Wu, Shixiong. . .”
Xu Xingzhi was flustered by his grip and tried to pry his arms off. While Meng Chongguang’s arms looked slim, they were as wiry as if forged by steel. He yanked for a long time yet they didn’t even budge.
Xu Xingzhi had just experienced this kind of immovable state in his dream, so he felt very displeased that he had to experience it again in reality now.
He flipped over in his imprisonment with difficulty and tried to push Meng Chongguang away from the front.
In the gap created as he turned around, Meng Chongguang for better or for worse inched forward even closer and hugged Xu Xingzhi tighter than before.
. . . Xu Xingzhi’s lips brushed over something warm and soft.
The soft touch on the lips caused Meng Chongguang to snap his eyes open abruptly: “. . . Shixiong?”
Xu Xingzhi felt a little awkward and brought his arm across Meng Chongguang’s chest as a barrier and pushed him back a bit: “I can’t breathe.”
Meng Chongguang took the initiative to bring his forehead over: “Does Shixiong not like it this way?”
Xu Xingzhi: “. . .”
Shidi, please show some respect.
Meng Chongguang had an innocent expression on his face: “This way, Shixiong won’t be cold ya.”
Xu Xingzhi was indeed deathly afraid of the cold, and so for Meng Chongguang to hold him tightly like so, other than being unable to move, it was indeed really warm.
Meng Chongguang’s body temperature was neither too hot nor too cool, the temperature was just right, nice and comfortable like a winter jacket that was tailored a size too small, encasing Xu Xingzhi within until he had nowhere to escape to.
However, since Xu Xingzhi didn’t like to be restrained, Meng Chongguang relaxed the muscles in his arms slightly and prompted: “Shixiong, you should sleep for a while longer.”
We Wlcuhtl kjr olcjiis jyif ab ijs vbkc j ilaaif wbgf mbwobgajyis, tf ilutais ragfamtfv tlr rbgf kjlra jcv rdelcafv ja atf abq bo atf yfv.
We Wlcuhtl vlvc’a mibrf tlr fsfr rb Zfcu Jtbcuuejcu rajgfv ja tlw vlgfmais: “Qts vbc’a sbe riffq?”
We Wlcuhtl: “. . . Ktfgf’r iluta bearlvf.”
The sun doesn’t exist in the savage wasteland, there is only a wheel of light that hangs in the sky on the west side all year round like a moon. However the light was so worthless, it was like a piece of fruit candy that would melt at any time. As such, the wasteland didn’t distinguish between day and night and a gloomy light uniformly shone from morning to night. Light existed, but it wasn’t bright. Time seemed to be permanently frozen at the dusk of a cloudy day.
Xu Xingzhi sobered up quite a bit due to the light rub on his lips. In addition, the ambience for sleep no longer existed at all. Although Xu Xingzhi was tired, he had no desire to fall asleep anymore.
After a brief moment, the rays of light in the room disappeared little by little until it was completely swallowed up.
Xu Xingzhi was surprised; when he turned around, he only saw vines climbing with a rustling sound and forming a dense net of foliage by the window. It slowly cut up the light beyond the window inch by inch until it was completely isolated outside.
The room sank into a deep darkness.
Meng Chongguang lowered his voice and asked cautiously: “Shixiong, is this okay?”
Xu Xingzhi couldn’t see Meng Chongguang’s face clearly anymore, but his milk dog voice that was trying to please him strangely made his heart soften: “Pretty good.”
Meng Chongguang’s voice was soft: “Aren’t I well-behaved?”
Xu Xingzhi almost laughed out loud: “Not bad.”
Meng Chongguang begged: “Then. . . Can Shixiong give me a hug?”
Xu Xingzhi: “. . .”
“For just a moment.” Meng Chongguang pestered, “Just treat it as a reward. . .”
Before the last syllable fell, Xu Xingzhi pulled him into a single-armed embrace. Then as if he was afraid that the other might think it was fake, Xu Xingzhi patted him on the back slightly with his left hand.
Xu Xingzhi’s body had a cold constitution so when his left hand came into contact with the other’s back, the ice cold temperature made Meng Chongguang shiver. The spot that was touched was numbed for a moment before it was set aflame.
Meng Chongguang was frozen on the spot, both surprised and happy.
Xu Xingzhi didn’t know why he had just hugged him. He only vaguely had the notion that if he didn’t hug him, Meng Chongguang would have overthought it. Then if he made a fuss, making something out of nothing using Jiu Zhideng as his launchpad, the matter would never end.
He commanded softly: “Don’t make trouble. Sleep.”
Meng Chongguang didn’t speak, he only grabbed the collar of Xu Xingzhi’s robes and buried his head against his chest. Without making any noises, he really did seem like some sort of small pet.
Xu Xingzhi wasn’t annoyed by his intimate snuggling, on the contrary. a bit of sleepiness was rubbed out of him instead and he soon fell asleep within a quarter of an hour.
When Xu Xingzhi entered dreamland, Meng Chongguang wiggled his way out of his embrace, held his hand very lightly, and placed the hand directly against the top of his own head. He moved it in a petting motion and squinted his eyes in comfort.
. . . The head, the back, the shoulders, and cheeks. No matter where it was on the body, as long as it was Shixiong who was doing the touching, he liked it very much.
Xu Xingzhi, on the other hand, dreamed of little Meng Chongguang again.
Or to be more accurate, it was the memories of the original owner that broke into his mind again while he was asleep. The memories continued to unfold from the previous breakpoint.
. . . After noticing the unusual flash of light from a jade bead around his neck, Xu Xingzhi arrived at Taihua Mountain with his legs still weak.
As soon as he thought back to that image of the arthropod creeping around in Wen Xuechen’s palm, goosebumps continuously broke out along Xu Xingzhi’s back.
But once he saw the few disciples who were dragging around their weapons and armor, rushing towards him, all those thoughts flew away in a flash. He charged forward in a few strides and grabbed a Fengling Mountain disciple who was dressed in white-robes like himself: “What happened?”
When those disciples who were dressed in the robes of the various other sects saw Xu Xingzhi, it was as if a beast’s young saw its mother. They swarmed over and encircled Xu Xingzhi in a panic.
That disciple was already so frantic that his lips and face lost all color and he couldn’t stop trembling: “Xu-shixiong. . . Xu. . . Xu. . .”
Xu Xingzhi grabbed him by the color and smacked him on the crown of his head with his fan: “Speak!”
The disciple’s voice carried a crying tone, his knees were weak, and his entire body was nearly hanging off of Xu Xingzhi’s: “We only wanted to retrieve the feathers and scales of the Feiyi. . . We didn’t know that we would startle it into wakefulness. . .”
Xu Xingzhi knitted his eyebrows together.
Taihua Mountain was as high as a couple thousand meters and it was the habitat of the exotic monsters called Feiyi. They had six legs and four wings and fed on fresh blood. They spent most of their time in a deep slumber, yet were extremely sensitive; once they were awakened, they would go berserk and vow to slaughter all trespassers.
A terrifying roar traveled through the forest, its voice like thunder. A row of trees tumbled down, sending dust and smoke flying everywhere and the tsunami of spiritual energy collided with these young outer sect disciples until their legs quivered and their voices were muted in fear.
Xu Xingzhi took a rough headcount and questioned: “Is there anyone still in the forest? How many of you came to gather scales in total?”
That disciple looked around in a circle: “It seems there is one person missing, he, he said he would act as a buffer. . .”
Color drained from Xu Xingzhi’s face immediately: “Didn’t I warn you all that if you angered an abnormal monster then you have to run away quickly? Are any of these ancient beasts something that any of you from the outer sect can casually handle?”
He harnessed his spiritual aura, generated an undercurrent under his feet, and shot straight towards the forest.
Approaching the epicenter of the explosion of spiritual power, Xu Xingzhi saw a young disciple dressed in Qingliang Valley’s robes caught in the claw of a six-legged four-winged snake-like behemoth.
The Feiyi’s body was covered in gleaming, sharp scales and its enormous and bulky head reared up high as it continuously spat out small bouts of flames every now and then.
It aimed its huge snake maw at the incessantly struggling youth.
Seeing that the youth was about to be lit up like a candle by the Feiyi, Xu Xingzhi leapt twice in the air and hurled the folded fan in his hand out like a streak of lightning with one hand.
The folded fan morphed into a dual-edged trident broadsword in midair and brutally stabbed into the back of the Feiyi’s head.
The blade shattered into pieces the moment the tip of the blade came into contact with the Feiyi after a loud clanging sound.
The carapace encasing the Feiyi’s body was sharp and durable. It stood to reason that this one strike wouldn’t be able to do much to it, but it was enough to attract its attention briefly as planned.
Xu Xingzhi flipped his right hand and all of the shattered pieces of the blade returned to him and reconverged into the folded fan.
In a few moments, Xu Xingzhi stepped on top of the Feiyi’s expansive head loftily and arrogantly. He forced its head down one notch then took a few running steps down its sticky, repulsive spine. After calculating a position about 7 inches down, he transformed the folded fan into a Yuchang blade once again.
Xu Xingzhi circulated all the spiritual power he possessed in his body and the edge of the blade vibrated in response as it carved a huge chunk of the Feiyi’s flesh at that spot 7 inches down!
The Feiyi was in agony and howled wildly. Naturally it loosened its claw and lunged forward to bite Xu Xingzhi instead.
The youth fell from the Feiyi’s claw. Xu Xingzhi saw that he was about to hit a rock and immediately transfigured the Yuchang blade into a swath of white silk and whipped it through the air like an arrow. It wrapped the youth up from head to toe just in time and with a backhanded pull, the teenager who was wrapped up like a zongzi flew upwards and directly fell into Xu Xingzhi’s arms.
Now that the person was successfully rescued, Xu Xingzhi saw no need to pester this monster any further.
He carried the youth and glided ahead.
That Feiyi saw red. He was injured, so how could he just give up so easily. It roared in anger and immediately gave chase.
Although it looked clumsy and fat, it actually moved swiftly like a peal of thunder. Every time it took a step forward, the energy and blood in Xu Xingzhi’s body would also be rattled once.
. . . It was really so f*cking hard to shake off.
Xu Xingzhi was racking his brains to come up with a method to lose his tail when he felt an abnormal wave of power emanating from his arms.
The Feiyi behind him suddenly roared thunderously again.
Xu Xingzhi glanced intently and saw a rotting skeletal tiger with only half of its body remaining emerge from the ground and latch onto the Feiyi’s tail with all its might. It freely allowed the Feiyi to tear into it until its flesh and blood was spilled everywhere yet it still remained unmoved.
The appearance of this strange skeletal tiger won them precious time to escape.
Xu Xingzhi was startled and couldn’t help but lower his head to look down into his arms.
The youth in his arms was encased within the white silk such that only a pair of eyes remained visible, but that pair of eyes was suffused with a turquoise green color akin to a fox demon.
Several places on the white silk were already soaked with the blood from his wounds, but he still gritted his teeth and manipulated the skeletal tiger, who had already been dead for who knows how long, to entangle with the Feiyi without any regards to its life, never letting go.
. . . His entire body clearly radiated with an undisguised forest green ghostly aura.
Xu Xingzhi was only able to gain time to stop and breathe when he finally flew out of the Feiyi’s hunting grounds.
He unwrapped the white silk from around the youth and transformed it into a bamboo tube to draw some water from the clear stream nearby.
The youth’s injuries were not light and he had also just used up a lot of his energy. It would be very difficult for him to move without Xu Xingzhi in his current state.
Recovering his senses from the perilous fight just now, the youth knew that his actions of arbitrarily utilizing Ghostly Cultivation’s spiritual energy had exposed his identity. He agonized over it and bowed his head where his gaze crossed with the torn edge of his light colored robes, wishing that he could just bury his head into his chest.
Xu Xingzhi handed him the water container and asked straightforwardly: “You practice Ghostly Cultivation? You’re a descendant of Mingya Country?”
The youth didn’t dare to react to that nor did he dare to speak up.
Xu Xingzhi calmly stated: “As far as I know, Mingya Country was already completely destroyed six years ago.”
The youth was so nervous he almost started to cry out loud: “Xu-shixiong. . .”
Xu Xingzhi didn’t give him any time to recover: “As a descendant of the Ghostly Clan, why do you want to enter Qingliang Valley? What are you scheming?”
The injured teenager slid onto his knees on the ground in a panic and lifted his face: “Xu-shixiong, I didn’t deliberately enter the Immortal Sects. . . it’s just that both my parents are dead and there was nowhere I could go. I just happened to see that Qingliang Valley was recruiting talented outer sect disciples with spiritual roots, so I just. . .”
The youth had a pretty cute baby face and when he pursed his lips, there was even a deep dimple on one side of his cheek. At this time, his eyes had already returned to a black color from its previous light green. They were round, unblemished, and filled with pure panic.
From his actions just now, Xu Xingzhi judged that this was just a little ghost who had just started to cultivate a bit of the Ghost Clan’s skills and was also very likely a mix-blood between the union of a human and ghost. He probably had dual roots at birth and was found to be able to cultivate both paths; not only could he practice the arts of the Ghostly Clan, but also the righteous immortal arts.
And also most likely because of his special physique, Qingliang Valley who had accepted him, thus didn’t notice his abnormality.
He had just sacrificed himself for all of the disciples of the various sects who had provoked the Feiyi. So although his actions were tantamount to stopping a car with a mantis’ arms and extremely foolish, because of this act of loyalty, Xu Xingzhi didn’t possess that much malice towards him.
He crouched down and asked calmly: “Don’t rush, speak slowly. First tell me, what is your name?”
The youth bit his lip, his voice barely audible: “Lu. . . Lu Yujiu. . .”
Translator: transcendentwingsEditor: teaffXu Xingzhi wasn't able to hear the words that followed clearly.The fragrance of plants penetrated his seven meridians and eight veins and softened his hands and feet. Meng Chongguang's whispers by his ears turned into a bay of spring water and lulled him to sleep without warning.He had another strange dream.In the dream he transformed into a fish and was entangled with fragrant bait. The fragrant bait was soft and warm, as if it had come alive, and was carefully kissing his tail. Xu Xingzhi wasn't hungry either, he only circled around to play with it, allowing it to rub against his scales.And when he turned around, the fragrant bait stretched out countless tiny tentacles that latched onto his body and drew him into an endless current.Xu Xingzhi wanted to struggle, but its tentacles were flexible and tough. He was quickly entangled until his bones creaked and was then dragged into a cluster of soft coral.Xu Xingzhi jolted awake with his waist and knees sore and soft. Bursts of pain shot through his lower abdomen when he moved.Xu Xingzhi placed his hand on top of his stomach and it was as if he could still feel the soft feelers pushing and prancing all over.. . . He was unaware of when he returned to the bedroom, lying on the bed with both feet shackled, unable to move an inch.Meng Chongguang, on the other hand, was tightly hugging his waist from behind. He slept very sweetly as gust after gust of warm air caressed the back of Xu Xingzhi's neck, making him very ticklish.It seems that after he fainted today, he had taken the initiative to speak to Meng Chongguang and explained his intentions for coming to the savage wasteland using a mix of half-truths and lies. Consequently, Meng Chongguang thought he was trying to reconcile and erase the old grudges between them in one shot; that's why he dared to act so presumptuously and boldly.Beyond the window, the color of the sky was still indistinguishable as usual.Xu Xingzhi wiped away the cold sweat that beaded on his forehead and let out a long breath.Meng Chongguang heard his movements and unconsciously tightened his grip: . . .Wu,Shixiong. . .Xu Xingzhi was flustered by his grip and tried to pry his arms off. While Meng Chongguang's arms looked slim, they were as wiry as if forged by steel. He yanked for a long time yet they didn't even budge.Xu Xingzhi had just experienced this kind of immovable state in his dream, so he felt very displeased that he had to experience it again in reality now.He flipped over in his imprisonment with difficulty and tried to push Meng Chongguang away from the front.In the gap created as he turned around, Meng Chongguang for better or for worse inched forward even closer and hugged Xu Xingzhi tighter than before.. . . Xu Xingzhi's lips brushed over something warm and soft.The soft touch on the lips caused Meng Chongguang to snap his eyes open abruptly: . . .Shixiong?Xu Xingzhi felt a little awkward and brought his arm across Meng Chongguang's chest as a barrier and pushed him back a bit: I can't breathe.Meng Chongguang took the initiative to bring his forehead over: DoesShixiongnot like it this way?Xu Xingzhi: . . .Shidi, please show some respect.Meng Chongguang had an innocent expression on his face: This way,Shixiongwon't be coldya.Xu Xingzhi was indeed deathly afraid of the cold, and so for Meng Chongguang to hold him tightly like so, other than being unable to move, it was indeed really warm.Meng Chongguang's body temperature was neither too hot nor too cool, the temperature was just right, nice and comfortable like a winter jacket that was tailored a size too small, encasing Xu Xingzhi within until he had nowhere to escape to.However, since Xu Xingzhi didn't like to be restrained, Meng Chongguang relaxed the muscles in his arms slightly and prompted: Shixiong, you should sleep for a while longer.We Wlcuhtl kjr olcjiis jyif ab ijs vbkc j ilaaif wbgf mbwobgajyis, tf ilutais ragfamtfv tlr rbgf kjlra jcv rdelcafv ja atf abq bo atf yfv.We Wlcuhtl vlvc'a mibrf tlr fsfr rb Zfcu Jtbcuuejcu rajgfv ja tlw vlgfmais: Qts vbc'a sbe riffq?We Wlcuhtl: . . . Ktfgf'r iluta bearlvf.The sun doesn't exist in the savage wasteland, there is only a wheel of light that hangs in the sky on the west side all year round like a moon. However the light was so worthless, it was like a piece of fruit candy that would melt at any time. As such, the wasteland didn't distinguish between day and night and a gloomy light uniformly shone from morning to night. Light existed, but it wasn't bright. Time seemed to be permanently frozen at the dusk of a cloudy day.Xu Xingzhi sobered up quite a bit due to the light rub on his lips. In addition, the ambience for sleep no longer existed at all. Although Xu Xingzhi was tired, he had no desire to fall asleep anymore.After a brief moment, the rays of light in the room disappeared little by little until it was completely swallowed up.Xu Xingzhi was surprised; when he turned around, he only saw vines climbing with a rustling sound and forming a dense net of foliage by the window. It slowly cut up the light beyond the window inch by inch until it was completely isolated outside.The room sank into a deep darkness.Meng Chongguang lowered his voice and asked cautiously: Shixiong, is this okay?Xu Xingzhi couldn't see Meng Chongguang's face clearly anymore, but his milk dog voice that was trying to please him strangely made his heart soften: Pretty good.Meng Chongguang's voice was soft: Aren't I well-behaved?Xu Xingzhi almost laughed out loud: Not bad.Meng Chongguang begged: Then. . . CanShixionggive me a hug?Xu Xingzhi: . . .For just a moment. Meng Chongguang pestered, Just treat it as a reward. . .Before the last syllable fell, Xu Xingzhi pulled him into a single-armed embrace. Then as if he was afraid that the other might think it was fake, Xu Xingzhi patted him on the back slightly with his left hand.Xu Xingzhi's body had a cold constitution so when his left hand came into contact with the other's back, the ice cold temperature made Meng Chongguang shiver. The spot that was touched was numbed for a moment before it was set aflame.Meng Chongguang was frozen on the spot, both surprised and happy.Xu Xingzhi didn't know why he had just hugged him. He only vaguely had the notion that if he didn't hug him, Meng Chongguang would have overthought it. Then if he made a fuss, making something out of nothing using Jiu Zhideng as his launchpad, the matter would never end.He commanded softly: Don't make trouble. Sleep.Meng Chongguang didn't speak, he only grabbed the collar of Xu Xingzhi's robes and buried his head against his chest. Without making any noises, he really did seem like some sort of small pet.Xu Xingzhi wasn't annoyed by his intimate snuggling, on the contrary. a bit of sleepiness was rubbed out of him instead and he soon fell asleep within a quarter of an hour.When Xu Xingzhi entered dreamland, Meng Chongguang wiggled his way out of his embrace, held his hand very lightly, and placed the hand directly against the top of his own head. He moved it in a petting motion and squinted his eyes in comfort.. . . The head, the back, the shoulders, and cheeks. No matter where it was on the body, as long as it wasShixiongwho was doing the touching, he liked it very much.Xu Xingzhi, on the other hand, dreamed of little Meng Chongguang again.Or to be more accurate, it was the memories of the original owner that broke into his mind again while he was asleep. The memories continued to unfold from the previous breakpoint.. . . After noticing the unusual flash of light from a jade bead around his neck, Xu Xingzhi arrived at Taihua Mountain with his legs still weak.As soon as he thought back to that image of the arthropod creeping around in Wen Xuechen's palm, goosebumps continuously broke out along Xu Xingzhi's back.But once he saw the few disciples who were dragging around their weapons and armor, rushing towards him, all those thoughts flew away in a flash. He charged forward in a few strides and grabbed a Fengling Mountain disciple who was dressed in white-robes like himself: What happened?When those disciples who were dressed in the robes of the various other sects saw Xu Xingzhi, it was as if a beast's young saw its mother. They swarmed over and encircled Xu Xingzhi in a panic.That disciple was already so frantic that his lips and face lost all color and he couldn't stop trembling: Xu-shixiong. . . Xu. . . Xu. . .Xu Xingzhi grabbed him by the color and smacked him on the crown of his head with his fan: Speak!The disciple's voice carried a crying tone, his knees were weak, and his entire body was nearly hanging off of Xu Xingzhi's: We only wanted to retrieve the feathers and scales of theFeiyi. . . We didn't know that we would startle it into wakefulness. . .Xu Xingzhi knitted his eyebrows together.Taihua Mountain was as high asa couple thousand metersand it was the habitat of the exotic monsters called Feiyi. They had six legs and four wings and fed on fresh blood. They spent most of their time in a deep slumber, yet were extremely sensitive; once they were awakened, they would go berserk and vow to slaughter all trespassers.A terrifying roar traveled through the forest, its voice like thunder. A row of trees tumbled down, sending dust and smoke flying everywhere and the tsunami of spiritual energy collided with these young outer sect disciples until their legs quivered and their voices were muted in fear.Xu Xingzhi took a rough headcount and questioned: Is there anyone still in the forest? How many of you came to gather scales in total?That disciple looked around in a circle: It seems there is one person missing, he, he said he would act as a buffer. . .Color drained from Xu Xingzhi's face immediately: Didn't I warn you all that if you angered an abnormal monster then you have to run away quickly? Are any of these ancient beasts something that any of you from the outer sect can casually handle?He harnessed his spiritual aura, generated an undercurrent under his feet, and shot straight towards the forest.Approaching the epicenter of the explosion of spiritual power, Xu Xingzhi saw a young disciple dressed in Qingliang Valley's robes caught in the claw of a six-legged four-winged snake-like behemoth.The Feiyi's body was covered in gleaming, sharp scales and its enormous and bulky head reared up high as it continuously spat out small bouts of flames every now and then.It aimed its huge snake maw at the incessantly struggling youth.Seeing that the youth was about to be lit up like a candle by the Feiyi, Xu Xingzhi leapt twice in the air and hurled the folded fan in his hand out like a streak of lightning with one hand.The folded fan morphed into adual-edged trident broadswordin midair and brutally stabbed into the back of the Feiyi's head.The blade shattered into pieces the moment the tip of the blade came into contact with the Feiyi after a loud clanging sound.The carapace encasing the Feiyi's body was sharp and durable. It stood to reason that this one strike wouldn't be able to do much to it, but it was enough to attract its attention briefly as planned.Xu Xingzhi flipped his right hand and all of the shattered pieces of the blade returned to him and reconverged into the folded fan.In a few moments, Xu Xingzhi stepped on top of the Feiyi's expansive head loftily and arrogantly. He forced its head down one notch then took a few running steps down its sticky, repulsive spine. After calculating a position about 7 inches down, he transformed the folded fan into a Yuchang blade once again.Xu Xingzhi circulated all the spiritual power he possessed in his body and the edge of the blade vibrated in response as it carved a huge chunk of the Feiyi's flesh at that spot 7 inches down!The Feiyi was in agony and howled wildly. Naturally it loosened its claw and lunged forward to bite Xu Xingzhi instead.The youth fell from the Feiyi's claw. Xu Xingzhi saw that he was about to hit a rock and immediately transfigured the Yuchang blade into a swath of white silk and whipped it through the air like an arrow. It wrapped the youth up from head to toe just in time and with a backhanded pull, the teenager who was wrapped up like azongziflew upwards and directly fell into Xu Xingzhi's arms.Now that the person was successfully rescued, Xu Xingzhi saw no need to pester this monster any further.He carried the youth and glided ahead.That Feiyi saw red. He was injured, so how could he just give up so easily. It roared in anger and immediately gave chase.Although it looked clumsy and fat, it actually moved swiftly like a peal of thunder. Every time it took a step forward, the energy and blood in Xu Xingzhi's body would also be rattled once.. . . It was really so f*cking hard to shake off.Xu Xingzhi was racking his brains to come up with a method to lose his tail when he felt an abnormal wave of power emanating from his arms.The Feiyi behind him suddenly roared thunderously again.Xu Xingzhi glanced intently and saw a rotting skeletal tiger with only half of its body remaining emerge from the ground and latch onto the Feiyi's tail with all its might. It freely allowed the Feiyi to tear into it until its flesh and blood was spilled everywhere yet it still remained unmoved.The appearance of this strange skeletal tiger won them precious time to escape.Xu Xingzhi was startled and couldn't help but lower his head to look down into his arms.The youth in his arms was encased within the white silk such that only a pair of eyes remained visible, but that pair of eyes was suffused with a turquoise green color akin to a fox demon.Several places on the white silk were already soaked with the blood from his wounds, but he still gritted his teeth and manipulated the skeletal tiger, who had already been dead for who knows how long, to entangle with the Feiyi without any regards to its life, never letting go.. . . His entire body clearly radiated with an undisguised forest green ghostly aura.Xu Xingzhi was only able to gain time to stop and breathe when he finally flew out of the Feiyi's hunting grounds.He unwrapped the white silk from around the youth and transformed it into a bamboo tube to draw some water from the clear stream nearby.The youth's injuries were not light and he had also just used up a lot of his energy. It would be very difficult for him to move without Xu Xingzhi in his current state.Recovering his senses from the perilous fight just now, the youth knew that his actions of arbitrarily utilizing Ghostly Cultivation's spiritual energy had exposed his identity. He agonized over it and bowed his head where his gaze crossed with the torn edge of his light colored robes, wishing that he could just bury his head into his chest.Xu Xingzhi handed him the water container and asked straightforwardly: You practice Ghostly Cultivation? You're a descendant ofMingyaCountry?The youth didn't dare to react to that nor did he dare to speak up.Xu Xingzhi calmly stated: As far as I know, Mingya Country was already completely destroyed six years ago.The youth was so nervous he almost started to cry out loud: Xu-shixiong. . .Xu Xingzhi didn't give him any time to recover: As a descendant of the Ghostly Clan, why do you want to enter Qingliang Valley? What are you scheming?The injured teenager slid onto his knees on the ground in a panic and lifted his face: Xu-shixiong, I didn't deliberately enter the Immortal Sects. . . it's just that both my parents are dead and there was nowhere I could go. I just happened to see that Qingliang Valley was recruiting talented outer sect disciples with spiritual roots, so I just. . .The youth had a pretty cute baby face and when he pursed his lips, there was even a deep dimple on one side of his cheek. At this time, his eyes had already returned to a black color from its previous light green. They were round, unblemished, and filled with pure panic.From his actions just now, Xu Xingzhi judged that this was just a little ghost who had just started to cultivate a bit of the Ghost Clan's skills and was also very likely a mix-blood between the union of a human and ghost. He probably had dual roots at birth and was found to be able to cultivate both paths; not only could he practice the arts of the Ghostly Clan, but also the righteous immortal arts.And also most likely because of his special physique, Qingliang Valley who had accepted him, thus didn't notice his abnormality.He had just sacrificed himself for all of the disciples of the various sects who had provoked the Feiyi. So although his actions were tantamount to stopping a car with a mantis' arms and extremely foolish, because of this act of loyalty, Xu Xingzhi didn't possess that much malice towards him.He crouched down and asked calmly: Don't rush, speak slowly. First tell me, what is your name?The youth bit his lip, his voice barely audible: Lu. . . Lu Yujiu. . .
