ROAR!
Firmly balancing both of his feet on a cluster of Liu-Jiaren, he used the soul weapon to fly away from the pursuing leather-arm ape.
BOOM! THUD! CRACK!
His eyes widened as he flew to the side, barely dodging the enormous leather-arm ape's huge body as it pounced on him from behind.
Flicking his hand, one of the Liu-Jiaren beneath his feet flew into his grasp, and he used it as leverage to carry himself away.
As the five remaining spheres shot toward the heavily injured leather-arm ape with blinding speed, they whistled through the wind. One shot straight toward its remaining eye, two struck its left shoulder, another slammed into its severely burnt chest, while the last one slipped beneath its foot, tripping the beast onto its back.
KABOOM! THUD!
The towering leather-arm ape crashed violently to the ground, its enormous body rolling fifty meters due to its momentum.
Pulling back his small arm, Xue Hui called the Liu-Jiaren back to him. He jumped onto them, using the hovering spheres as a platform.
Without looking back, Xue Hui tore through the wind like an arrow released from a bow, flying away from the beast.
ROAR! THUD!
With an enraged roar, the leather-arm ape pushed itself off the ground, bent its knees, and leapt toward Xue Hui.
Mid-leap, hundreds of feet above the ground, its keen eyes locked onto the escaping Xue Hui, who was flying at great speed toward the borders of the ruined Wu Zhen Yi.
Seeing this, the beast let out a deafening roar. If the leather-arm ape could speak, it would have shouted at Xue Hui for his shamelessness.
After slaughtering its kind, Xue Hui then tried to flee, leaving the severely injured leather-arm ape behind without even trying to finish it off. All because the annoying inscription array Xue Hui had been hiding in had vanished.
This enraged the leather-arm ape to no end. If it weren't gravely wounded, it would have long since captured Xue Hui, chewed him to pieces with its sharp teeth, then spat his remains onto the ground.
With its current state, the leather-arm ape had lost its ability to survive in the outside world.
Forget being able to defend itself against Black Gold-rank demon beasts.
The leather-arm ape no longer had the strength to protect itself even from a group of Silver-rank demon beasts.
It had lived for countless years and had become the absolute ruler of the Wu Zhen Yi Ruins.
But now, it had been reduced to such a miserable state that it could not even catch a mere Bronze-rank twerp.
And it was all because of that little boy.
Drawing upon every last trace of spiritual energy within its battered body, the leather-arm ape opened its mouth. A ball of pure spiritual energy began to condense within its maw, rotating and heating at an insanely rapid speed.
Xue Hui felt an ominous chill run down his spine. He twisted his body toward the leather-arm ape high in the sky and sent all six of his Liu-Jiaren a few meters above him. With a series of hand seals, he activated one of their abilities.
ZWHIZZ!
The Liu-Jiaren positioned themselves in a circular formation. Translucent strands of energy linked each sphere together, forming a hexagonal shield.
FWOMPH!
CRASH!
The condensed blast from the leather-arm ape's maw slammed into the surface of the hexagonal Liu-Jiaren, producing an ear-piercing screech. A powerful shockwave erupted outward, sending Xue Hui crashing violently onto the ground.
"Urgh!"
Ignoring his broken ribs and dislocated shoulder, he raised his good arm toward the Liu-Jiaren and controlled them, tilting the shield slightly to one side. The adjustment redirected the devastating beam just enough to keep it from striking him directly. Then he kicked off the ground, propelling himself several meters away from where he had just stood.
BOOM!
The moment he leapt away, the Liu-Jiaren exploded into pieces, unable to withstand the pressure any longer. Freed from obstruction, the energy beam returned to its original trajectory and blasted into the ground where Xue Hui had been standing seconds before.
KABOOM! THUD! WHOOSH!
Once again, Xue Hui's small body was hurled violently across the ground by the raging shockwave that exploded behind him.
He cursed under his breath, both from the searing pain of his injuries and from sensing the shattered fragments of his soul weapon returning to his soul realm.
He would not be able to summon the Liu-Jiaren again for some time, not until his soul realm fully restored them.
Taking out a Nine Transformation Pill from his interspatial ring, Xue Hui sat on the ground and popped the recovery elixir into his mouth.
The Nine Transformation Pill was a powerful elixir capable of bringing even the fatally injured back from the brink of death.
It was one of many elixirs Xue Hui had refined through alchemy back at the Divine Family Mansion before bringing them with him.
Thanks to his unique refinement method, the effects of his Nine Transformation Pill were far more potent than ordinary versions.
Moments after consuming it, a warm surge of energy spread throughout his entire body. His wounds and bruises emitted faint wisps of smoke before sealing shut. Torn flesh knitted together, and scraped skin was replaced with fresh, reddish layers. He grunted softly as he felt his broken bones snap back into place.
THUD!
ROAR!!!
The earth trembled as the leather-arm ape crashed back onto the ground, only a few feet away from where Xue Hui sat.
Thump.
Thud.
Slowly, the leather-arm ape walked toward Xue Hui, each heavy footstep shaking the ground beneath them.
Xue Hui did not bother to run. He remained seated, continuing to absorb the medicinal effects of the Nine Transformation Pill.
With his current strength, there was no way he could outrun a Black Gold-rank demon beast, even if it was heavily injured.
What Xue Hui was counting on was being close enough for Chen Zhenlong to arrive in time to save him.
Although so much had happened during his escape from the leather-arm ape, the entire sequence had taken no more than twenty breaths, from the moment he fled to the moment the beast caught up to him.
He was not overly worried that Chen Zhenlong would fail to arrive before the leather-arm ape attacked him. He still had several protective talismans to buy himself time. And if matters truly reached a desperate point, he could always use the Soul and Blood Ignition Technique to escape.
Activating that technique would delay their journey by one or two months, the time he would need to fully recover afterward.
Seeing that the boy had stopped struggling, the leather-arm ape released another roar, this one thick with killing intent.
Yet the boy showed no visible reaction. He remained seated, calmly meditating in place.
That only fanned the already blazing fury of the leather-arm ape.
Drawing back its remaining arm, the beast prepared to throw its full weight behind a final punch.
Before it could strike, a figure burst forth like a wind dragon. In a single, fluid motion, Chen Zhenlong slashed his sword across the leather-arm ape's remaining arm, severing it cleanly from its body.
ROAR!
Catching it off guard, Chen Zhenlong stepped in and delivered another decisive slash to the beast's neck, cutting off its miserable roar and ending its life.
Its lifeless body fell to the ground with a heavy thud, disturbing the dust beneath it.
"That was reckless, Xiao Hui."
After killing the beast, Chen Zhenlong took out an interspatial ring and stored the corpse inside, as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
He was long accustomed to collecting every demon beast he slew.
Since Xue Hui had a habit of harvesting their usable parts.
"Which part?" Xue Hui asked, chuckling to himself.
Chen Zhenlong merely shook his head. He could have sworn he heard a muffled voice from inside the Fuzhuang Box calling the boy dumb and stupid.
"I already obtained the Ten Whiskers Water-Attribute Needles. Let's not stay here any longer."
Chen Zhenlong nodded. If another Black Gold-rank demon beast appeared, it would turn into a grueling fight, even for him.
The only reason Chen Zhenlong managed to kill the leather-arm ape so easily was because it had already been gravely injured by Xue Hui's Black Blood Burst. On top of that, all of its attention had been locked onto Xue Hui, allowing Chen Zhenlong to sneak up on it and land a fatal blow.
Without wasting time, Chen Zhenlong grabbed Xue Hui and rushed back toward the dug tunnel.
Night fell inside the tunnel.
Beneath the blood-soaked Lily Hills, the underground space was illuminated by a glowing talisman crafted from the bones of a demon beast. It filled the cavern with a bright yet soothing radiance.
A few steps away from his daughter and her attendant stood Chen Zhenlong. The older man tapped his foot repeatedly, unable to remain still as anxiety gnawed at him.
Although Xue Hui had just endured a life-and-death struggle that exhausted a tremendous amount of his spiritual energy, he had insisted on proceeding with the detoxification of Chen Linlin's poison.
What Chen Zhenlong was unaware of was that Xue Hui had waited a long time for this moment to arrive.
From the day he discovered a method to cure her condition, the boy had not passed a single day without hoping he could free Chen Linlin from her suffering.
Letting a drop of blood fall onto the Ten Whiskers Water-Attribute Needles, the needles shimmered with a lilac glow, a sign that ownership had been successfully established.
With steady hands hovering a few inches above Chen Linlin's sleeping body, Xue Hui guided the ten intricate needles into her acupoints.
Chen Zhenlong noted how smoothly the entire process proceeded. His gaze remained fixed on the boy as countless thoughts ran through his mind.
"I'm now going to start removing the Blood-Pungent Butterfly larvae poison from her body, her meridians, and the poisoned spiritual energy within her soul realm. Lord Patriarch, please close all your apertures and avoid absorbing any spiritual energy from the surroundings. The poisoned spiritual energy inside Chen Linlin's withered soul realm has become so concentrated that it could even harm a Black Gold-rank Demon Spiritualist."
Hearing this, Chen Zhenlong quickly sealed all his apertures, completely blocking any surrounding spiritual energy from entering his meridians.
The Demon-Concealing Lamp was already lit, so they did not have to worry about demon beasts outside the tunnel sensing their presence.
Like a guzheng master gently plucking the strings of his instrument, Xue Hui's arms moved with precise and delicate control, his fingers tapping lightly above each needle.
With a subtle upward motion of his small hands, dark yellowish droplets seeped out from the heads of the needles.
Using pure water attribute energy, Xue Hui separated the yellowish substance into two parts. All impurities were extracted and instantly frozen before being tossed into a jar beside him, while the purified blood essence was guided back into her body.
He repeated this process several more times until Chen Linlin's complexion gradually turned rosy, completely different from her usual pale appearance.
Chen Zhenlong barely managed to stop himself from rushing forward. Seeing his daughter's visible improvement nearly overwhelmed him with excitement.
But noticing that Xue Hui remained in deep concentration was enough to restrain him.
The process took four hours of grueling work on Xue Hui's part, and he felt exhaustion beginning to creep into his body.
"Lord Patriarch, the poison is no longer in her body. I will now remove the poisoned spiritual energy within Linlin's withered soul realm. Protect yourself, Lord Patriarch."
After receiving a nod from the older man, Xue Hui made another pulling motion.
A dreadful energy immediately spread throughout the cave. Chen Zhenlong could almost see the dark aura drifting through the air. The thought that such a malignant force had resided inside his daughter's body for years was both horrifying and infuriating.
Especially knowing that someone had deliberately planted the poison within her.
Sensing the oppressive aura around him, Xue Hui began reciting the verses of the [Creation Origin Ancestral Canon]. Slowly, he used the refining abilities of his cultivation technique to transform the poison into pure spiritual energy.
Two more hours passed.
Rustling sounds could be heard as Chen Linlin stirred awake.
The first thing she noticed was the absence of the pain she usually felt every time she woke up. Normally, she would need several minutes after waking for the pain to subside before she could move.
But now, the pain was gone, and her body felt strangely light. It was a freeing sensation she had not felt in a very long time.
She pushed herself up slightly, sitting on her makeshift bed.
That's when she felt it.
The sensation in her lower body had returned. Her heart pounded as she felt her toes move.
She froze, trying to comprehend what was happening.
This time, she tried to wiggle her toes again, to see if she could truly move them.
Tears rolled down her delicate, rosy cheeks as she saw them twitched.
She looked around and saw Xue Hui and her father standing not far from her makeshift bed, watching her with warm smiles.
She raised both her arms toward them, beckoning them to come closer.
Chen Zhenlong gently nudged Xue Hui forward. Xue Hui approached her and was immediately pulled into her embrace.
"Hui-Hui... I can feel my legs. I can really, really feel them!"
The little girl could no longer hold back her tears.
Relief, joy, disbelief, and gratitude poured out all at once. Xue Hui simply smiled and gently rubbed her back.
Watching the scene, Chen Zhenlong closed his eyes, struggling to restrain his emotions. Not wanting to cry in front of his daughter, he walked toward the two children and wrapped them both in his embrace.
The words he could not utter at that moment were conveyed through that firm, trembling hug.
End of Chapter 20