Xue Huai’s whole body tightened in an instant.
He still has lingering palpitations about the last trial. On the misty peak, he always thought that the arrow behind him came from his inner demon from his previous life and did not possess any real form, so he did not pay attention to it either.
However, now that he saw this shiny and new arrow under the cliff, nine out of ten, this arrow in front of him was aimed at him from the last time.
Someone wants to kill him.
But what kind of person can accurately shoot this arrow from a distance through clouds and mist that he himself cannot even see?
This is a very strange feeling. It was as if he were being watched by a venomous snake in the dark. Xue Huai will never forget, it was precisely because of this arrow that he remembered when he died in his previous life.
That feeling… is like a reunion of old friends.
Before he could sort out his thoughts, he suddenly saw the gluttonous ghost screaming agitatedly.
“Xiao Tao?”
The gluttonous ghost roared angrily into the sky, revealing sharp claws and teeth.
Xue Huai followed its gaze but saw nothing except a gray white sky.
Is there someone up there? At that moment, this thought flashed through Xue Huai’s mind.
He reached out, picked the gluttonous ghost up, and comfortingly touched its head. Then he looked up and tentatively shouted a few times, but no one responded to him.
The echo lingers in the deep canyon, appearing particularly quiet and desolate.
The gluttonous ghost is still restless, as if there is a threat in the sky that deeply fears it.
Xue Huai couldn’t figure it out and could only pat its head to comfort it. “It’s fine, Xiao Tao. Your mother will come and pick us up.”
As soon as the words fell, Xue Huai suddenly heard the sound of birds vibrating their wings.
The gluttonous ghost jumped out of his arms alertly, squinting its eyes to scrutinize the creatures hovering at the entrance of the canyon.
The figures of three green birds appeared in their sight, probing into the sky and then folding their wings, wanting to hover downward. But the gap between the mountains is too narrow, and the green birds’ broad bodies cannot pass through. Their wings scrape against the rocks, sweeping away a large amount of vines and dust.
Coming this fast? He was a bit surprised.
Xue Huai even had time to laugh. “Xiao Tao, it seems that your mother is not very reliable. It was someone else who found us first.”
The distance between the top and bottom is too far for him to hear their voices clearly. He could only vaguely hear the leading green bird shouting at them, telling them not to worry.
Then Xue Huai saw a long rope hanging from the distant rock wall, probably hoping that they could climb up through the rope.
Xue Huai moved and felt a sharp pain in his ankle, making it almost impossible for him to walk on the ground.
He was panting slightly.
“Xiao Tao, go pick up the rope.” He instructed.
The gluttonous ghost obediently picked up the rope.
Xue Huai reached out and quickly began to tie the knot skillfully. He tied the rope to the gluttonous ghost’s body, wrapped it a few more times, then intertwined and tied his own waist. One person and one beast were tied together, intending to wait for someone to pull them up together.
Xue Huai’s feet hurt as soon as they hit the ground. After enduring the pain and finishing everything, cold sweat had already emerged from his head. When he barely climbed onto the back of the gluttonous ghost, he pulled the rope three times in a regular manner.
Soon, he felt a tightness in his waist. Someone above began to slowly pull them up. After leaving the ground, Xue Huai’s injured foot was suspended in midair, and the pain intensified just like a broken one. He held back and remained silent.
However, immediately afterwards, because they lost their leverage, the ropes above their heads began to sway and slide continuously, with a very large amplitude. Xue Huai was hit against the cliff several times, and his head and face were covered with dust.
Before they climbed up to three or five feet, Xue Huai saw that they were about to collide with an old tree with dead branches. This old tree was very large. If it were in a martial arts legend, it would definitely be the tree that could save a martial arts master after falling off a cliff, but now it has become a barrier that prevents Xue Huai from climbing up.
Xue Huai pulled the rope desperately, hoping that the people above would notice something and help them change direction. However, the direction of the rope did not change, and it shook more and more violently. As they passed through the dense branches, Xue Huai was scratched with several small wounds, and even his hair was hooked along with it.
The branches of the thousand-year-old spiritual tree were as hard as iron, and the gluttonous could not bite them, nor could it be cut off. In desperation, Xue Huai had no choice but to take out a knife and cut off the small piece of hair that was entangled with.
However, after he had finally gotten half of his body through, Xue Huai’s foot got hooked on a branch again—it happened to be the foot that was injured. The intense pain was amplified, forcing him to scream out, and he said in a cold sweat, “Xiao Tao, I can’t, bite off the rope and let me down.”
The gluttonous ghost looked back at him hesitantly, howled a few times, and tried to bite the branches open, but failed—the people above his head suddenly exerted force and dragged them up half a foot. At the same time, Xue Huai couldn’t help but scream out in pain—his ankle was almost deformed by the branches.
The gluttonous ghost quickly grabbed the rope, and with a click, the sturdy rope broke into two pieces out of thin air. Xue Huai and the gluttonous ghost fell straight to the ground.
To suddenly fall to the ground again, Xue Huai was in so much pain that he couldn’t even make a sound this time.
The gluttonous ghost whimpered, crawled over, and licked his cheek. Seeing that he was in pain, it was so sad that its eyes were filled with tears.
Xue Huai patted its head weakly and scolded it in the tone he usually used to bully the gluttonous: “You stupid gluttonous, why didn’t you just bite the rope between you and me? Why did you bite your rope as well? Can’t you go up first and ask Yun Cuo to save me? Stupid Xiao Tao.”
The gluttonous ghost curled up into a ball, feeling aggrieved, and rolled around him.
“Forget it.” Xue Huai closed his eyes, waiting for the severe pain in his ankle to subside slightly, breathing softly. “Let’s find a way out later. I should have left a note to tell the people above me that I was injured.”
Xue Huai always had a feeling that, after being reborn, he seemed to have become sickly and more disaster-ridden. First there was the invasion of evil spirits, then there were the continuous thunder calamities, and there were all kinds of accidents.
Is this the price of starting over again? He thought to himself.
In the lingering pain, he heard the sound of gravel breaking. The gluttonous ghost beside him became agitated again.
Xue Huai reluctantly opened his eyes and looked over, only to find a figure suddenly appearing on the cliff near him. He held two knives and inserted them deeply into the cliff, steadily and quickly moving downward.
Black clothes and white hair.
That figure could not be described as good-looking, and his face was covered in dust and dirt from being scraped against the steep cliffs. Compared with his usual elegant demeanor, he was far inferior.
Xue Huai looked at the back of the figure and suddenly laughed.
He thought to himself, Even if this valley suppresses spiritual energy, it’s just a suppression after all. No matter how intense the pressure is, who can trap a fellow cultivator who cultivated both immortal and demonic, whose immortal cultivation reached the level of karma does not involved, and whose demonic cultivation reached the sixteenth level?
When the voice faded away, he heard Yun Cuo walking slowly towards him.
Xue Huai looked at him and pursed his lips.
Yun Cuo’s face was filled with obvious anger and anxiety: “What happened? How did it turn out like this, Xue Huai? I shouldn’t have let you out.”
Xue Huai felt that he was a little too anxious. In the past, he would come to collect herbs every day, and Yun Cuo would never say anything. But after they came back from Dongzhou this time, Yun Cuo became anxious and seemed to be very insecure.
But the current situation is obviously not suitable to discuss this topic with him.
Xue Huai was very obedient and let Yun Cuo pick him up without moving.
He asked in a low voice, “The green bird can’t fly in, and my foot is injured. You can use the two knives to go up alone, but you can’t bring anyone with you. Young Master Yun, we can’t get out, what are you going to do?”
Yun Cuo didn’t say anything. He put him on a relatively flat rock, lifted up his trouser pants, lowered his eyes to check his injuries, then took off a pair of jade pendants from his waist and used torn cloth to fix them up to make a splint for him.
He started getting angry with him again.
“Aren’t you a medicine cultivator? Why can’t you even bandage yourself?”
Yun Cuo’s voice was hard and firm. “You’re already injured like this.”
Xue Huai looked at him calmly and said, “Because I knew you would come.”
Yuncuo’s face looked a little better, but he was still angry with him. He stayed silent and picked him up.
Xue Huai said, “Don’t scold me anymore. I am wrong, Young Master Yun. You look so fierce.”
He looked at him and smiled, his eyes bright.
“……” Yun Cuo was speechless after being looked at by him and could only complain in a low voice, “You are always like this, Xue Huai.”
After a pause, he lowered his voice and told him aggrievedly, “I didn’t scold you. I certainly won’t be mean to you.”
Xue Huai said nothing. He smiled and put his arms around his neck, letting the gluttonous ghost jump up and nestle in the gap between them.
Yun Cuo held him steadily and walked towards another cliff. Xue Huai felt him adjusting his posture, he put one hand around his back and knees, picked up the long sword on the side with the other hand, and swung it out smoothly.
That action was so casual and leisurely that Xue Huai initially thought that he would lead him up the mountain like he did when he came here. Unexpectedly, Yun Cuo just swung a sword light on the ground, and the sword light penetrated deeply into the rock wall.
After the spiritual power was weakened, the sword light became less conspicuous. Xue Huai raised his head and saw that Yun Cuo’s eyes were glowing red with a scorching brilliance.
This is a sign that Yun Cuo was gathering his strength. His power of the sixteenth levels of the Demonic cultivation has been fully utilized, and after it has weakened, it is like a rainbow piercing through the sun, splitting open the mountain and rock that have existed in front of them for millions of years.
Rolling thunderbolts surged out of the ground, vibrating their eardrums.
Xue Huai felt a warm barrier enveloping him.
At this moment of landslide and earth-shattering, he still had time to think that his accident of falling off the cliff would probably be recorded in the history of the Murong Mountain Manor.
In order to save a person, he split open a mountain. This is Yun Cuo’s style. Xue Huai remembered that the last time he went to the Demon Realm to find him, this man also stayed in a cave full of spiritual energy. He couldn’t even use a little bit of magic, but Yun Cuo could cultivate meditation there.
The vast expanse of heaven and earth split in half before their eyes. Xue Huai instinctively closed his eyes to avoid flying sand and stones, but the sand, stones, and wind were all blocked by the barrier.
Yun Cuo tightly pressed him in his arms, silently reciting a spell and ordering the green bird and phoenix to come to him. Amidst the shaking earth and mountains, he was as solid as a rock.
Xue Huai heard a faint smile in Yun Cuo’s voice.
“Xue Huai, I split the mountains this time. How much money do I have to pay as compensation, and how many self-reflection should I write?” Yun Cuo asked.
Xue Huai muttered, “I’ll use my connection with my grandfather to ask for a favor. Considering that you are a hero saving a beauty, I’ll give you a free pass this time.”
T/N: I’m going to update one chapter a day from now on ^^
