The color of the clouds was like spilled ink, pressing down on the mountain peak layer by layer. Thick mist surged up from the bottom of the cliff, enveloping the entire mountain forest in a damp and cold atmosphere. The gale howled, swirling the forest leaves into a wild dance, making a sobbing sound like the ocean tide. The moonlight struggled through the gaps in the clouds, torn into thousands of pieces and spilled onto the stone walls of the cliff, like a net woven from thousands of threads of cold silver.
Lin Dalu knelt among the scattered rocks, the Xiang'er in his arms gasping for breath. His robes were entirely stained with dark red blood, his face was pale and cold, and only his arms holding his beloved remained as firm as iron. Xiang'er's lips bore a strange blue-purple hue, her eyes were half-closed, and her long eyelashes cast sorrowful shadows below her eyes. The mountain wind brushed past her temples, a few strands of frost-white hair sticking to her forehead, making her look even more haggard.
"Xiang'er, why are you so weak?" Lin Dalu's voice was hoarse as his fingertips lightly wiped the cold sweat from her forehead.
Xiang'er opened her lips slightly, her breath fluttering like a thin silk thread, "It's the Needle Qi of Fu Shanhai from Spring Harmony Hall; it broke my cultivation spirit power."
Hearing this, Lin Dalu felt as if he had been struck by lightning, and his whole body shook violently. The image of that amiable white-haired old man, Fu Shanhai, instantly appeared in his mind. When that man smiled, the kind lines at the corners of his eyes were deep; he held silver needles and practiced medicine to help the world—how benevolent he seemed. How could Spring Harmony Hall, which saved the dying and healed the injured, be involved with the Yin Spirit Pavilion? "So that's how it is," he murmured to himself, his knuckles turning white from clenching his fists too hard, "How could he be in league with these villains?!"
Seeing the blue-black Qi lingering around Xiang'er's chest and her breath scattering like a flickering candle in the wind, this bloody truth could no longer be doubted.
In the distance, Diao Zeyi forced himself to sit up, his cold gaze sweeping over Zhuo Huan, "Fu Shanhai? Who is that?"
Zhuo Huan coughed up a large amount of black blood and said with a distorted face, "A physician from Spring Harmony Hall, just a Mortal."
"That's right." Xiang'er raised her hand with a bitter smile, her fingertips trembling as she brushed aside the hair at her neck. On her snow-white skin, three blue-black needle marks as fine as ox hair were clearly visible, faintly forming an eerie array pattern. "It's these three needles; he used the needles to transform spirit, causing my spirit power to reverse, sending all my life force to the Sacred Relic. As soon as my cultivation rose, it was entirely dissipated."
Lin Dalu felt a sharp pain in his heart as if pierced by a blade, suddenly recalling the anomaly when Fu Shanhai applied the needles in Spring Harmony Hall. After those three needles were placed on her neck, Xiang'er's face turned red instantly; at the time, it was only thought to be the miraculous effect of medical skills, but who would have thought it was the planting of this calamity!
Diao Zeyi let out a sneer, his voice as raspy as a broken gong, "On the verge of death, and you actually blame a common physician? Fang Yun, you truly are pathetic!"
Bloodshot veins erupted in Lin Dalu's eyes, yet he keenly perceived something strange: Diao Zeyi, as an Outer Pavilion Elder of the Yin Spirit Pavilion, actually did not know Fu Shanhai? There must be a hidden story. However, the situation was critical; he gently placed Xiang'er on a flat stone and picked up the Green Vine Sword. The emerald light on the sword blade flowed, illuminating his determined face.
"Xiang'er, rest assured, I won't let them get near you again." Lin Dalu stood tall and steady like a pine, the tip of his sword pointing far at Diao Zeyi.
Diao Zeyi approached with his injured body, barely gathering his spirit power. His withered palm made a grasping motion in the air, and the rubble on the ground all floated up, "Boy, even if you are a bit strange, you are ultimately nothing more than a mortal body. Offending this old man, you won't have a good end!"
Lin Dalu showed no fear, his sword swirling with light, "Old thing! As long as I still have a breath, don't you dare hurt her again!"
His shout echoed through the mountain forest as he trod the Seven-Star Step, his sword light erupting like a cascading galaxy, and the Seven-Path Ornate Sword was continuous.
Their figures crossed under the moon, sword and fist clashing with techniques to produce brilliant radiance. Although Lin Dalu was clashing with a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator with a mortal body, Diao Zeyi was currently heavily injured and found it extremely difficult to exert spirit power. Lin Dalu, however, relied on a burst of solitary courage and fought more bravely as the battle went on. The Green Vine Sword hummed incessantly in his hand, and wherever the emerald light passed, it left deep sword scars on the rocks.
Unable to win after a long time, Diao Zeyi became flyblown with rage. He folded his palms to form a hand seal, forcefully urging his spirit power, "Withered Vine Technique, Rise!"
In a booming giant noise, several deep fissures opened in the ground. Vines as thick as a bowl erupted from the earth, their bodies entwined with strange spirit light, coiling toward Lin Dalu like giant pythons. Lin Dalu slashed several, but even more vine shadows pressed toward him. A vine branch took the opportunity to entwine his left leg, its sharp thorns instantly piercing his flesh, leaving visible blood scars.
"A Mortal dares to talk about protecting someone? What a joke!" Diao Zeyi sneered and urged the technique; more vines drilled out from underground.
At the critical moment, a giant vine as thick as a hug swung through the air, the gale it brought snapping all the surrounding old trees!
In the flash of a spark,
"Weng,"
Lin Dalu's lapels suddenly puffed out, and a circle of golden light flew from his chest. Ancient seal script flowed on the light ring like a rotating galaxy, and the "Fu" character in the center erupted with blinding golden light! The giant vine touched the golden light and instantly shattered inch by inch, turning into a sky full of wood chips.
The momentum of the light ring did not stop; it suddenly split into six light blades, crossing into a profound formation and booming toward Diao Zeyi with the force of ten thousand tons of thunder!
"Boom!"
[Illustration ↓]
https://i.postimg.cc/5NCgckzC/Q0013D1.jpg
The mountain-shaking giant noise echoed through the clouds. Diao Zeyi screamed and flew backward a hundred and eighty feet, slamming heavily into a rock wall. The stone surface cracked like a spider web, and blood overflowed from the corner of his mouth, shimmering with a strange luster under the moonlight.
"This is actually an Offensive Array, comparable to the full-strength strike of a late Foundation Establishment Stage cultivation! This boy, how is it possible!" Diao Zeyi was struck with terror and no longer dared to underestimate this mortal youth.
Lin Dalu's gaze was cold, and he was just about to step forward to deliver a final sword strike,
"Ah!" Xiang'er's shrill scream suddenly rang out.
Lin Dalu's mind was thrown into chaos, and he turned and rushed back. He saw Xiang'er's whole body trembling violently, her mouth constantly overflowing with blood foam carrying blue light, and the spirit light on her chest flickering unsteadily. He hurriedly picked Xiang'er up, his voice trembling, "Xiang'er! Hold on! How can I save you?"
"It's all Fu Shanhai; he's the one who harmed you! It's him! Fu Shanhai!" Lin Dalu gritted his teeth, a towering fire of hatred igniting in his eyes.
Suddenly,
A wisp of black Qi surged from Xiang'er's glabella, swift as a venomous snake, and instantly entered Lin Dalu's glabella!
[Illustration ↓]
https://i.postimg.cc/RVHdrbtt/Q0013E.jpg
"Ugh, ah!" Lin Dalu roared in pain, spirit light erupting wildly around him. The Green Vine Sword fell to the ground with a "dang-lang" sound; he stood frozen for a moment, his eyes losing their spirit, and he fell straight backward.
Xiang'er held onto her last consciousness, her tears falling like rain, "Lu Lang, could it be that you are also a Profound Yin Spirit? No wonder I couldn't be more than a hundred feet away from you; so, the Sacred Relic has found you on its own."
"Lu Lang, I'm the one who harmed you."
Her slender hand fell powerlessly, and she finally lost consciousness.
The mountain wind rose again, the forest leaves rustling like weeping. Zhuo Huan crept out from behind a rock, his cold gaze scanning back and forth between the two of them. He cautiously tested with spirit power several times, and after confirming that Lin Dalu was indeed unconscious, he dared to approach step by step.
"This boy indeed has no spirit power fluctuations, but the power of that array just now was strong enough to shatter mountains and crack rocks. How could that be?" Zhuo Huan murmured to himself.
At this time, Diao Zeyi coughed up blood and stood up, his voice hoarse, "How is that boy?"
Zhuo Huan bowed and reported, "He's fainted; his breath is weak. He is indeed a Mortal."
Diao Zeyi gritted his teeth and growled, "Impossible! How could I mistake the power of that Offensive Array?!" He pondered for a moment, a strange light flashing in his eyes, "Search him, see if there's anything strange!"
Zhuo Huan sneered and squatted down, roughly tearing open Lin Dalu's clothes. The moonlight revealed Lin Dalu's solid chest, and finally, inside the inner layer of his undergarments, a red Storage Pouch was found. The "Fu" character embroidered with gold thread was brilliant with light, identical to the previous array.
"Elder, this object is strange! The patterns on it are very similar to the array just now!"
Diao Zeyi forced himself to walk over and took the Storage Pouch to examine it closely. The "Fu" character seemed to move like a living thing, faintly emitting a heart-palpitating fluctuation. He urged his spirit power, attempting to open the Storage Pouch, but it suddenly erupted with a scorching golden light, so hot that he hurriedly let go.
"Even a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator cannot open it?" Diao Zeyi's face changed drastically, thinking to himself, "Perhaps it's a high antiquity restriction; it cannot be opened unless by the owner." He narrowed his sinister eyes and cold-snorted, "I'll take this object for now. This boy might have heavenly secrets; spare his life for now and take him along with that Fang Yun back to the Yin Spirit Pavilion."
Just at this moment, Diao Sandai also leaned against a rock and stood up, his face as pale as a ghost, but his gaze becoming increasingly venomous.
The three were about to act when they suddenly heard a faint murmur from Lin Dalu on the ground, "Xiang'er..."
The voice was as light as flying willow down, then dissipated into the night wind.
The thick clouds closed again, and the moonlight gradually faded. A few remnant rays fell among the mountain stones, reflecting the two of them lying dependent on each other. Diao Zeyi took back his Green Vine Flying Sword, and the three of them took Lin Dalu and Xiang'er, turning and disappearing into the thick mist. Just as they departed, unbeknownst to Diao Zeyi and the other two, a speck of shimmering white light flew from Xiang'er's waist and silently entered her glabella.
The cry of the night owl grew distant, and only the sound of the wind remained in the world like a lament, as if sighing for this destiny interwoven with conspiracy and true emotion.
The night was silent, and the stars shone in silence.
——(End of Chapter)