Chapter 41

When the gunshots rang out, Qin Zunyue was sleeping soundly with his arms around Liu Huaizhao. After waking up with a start, he immediately put on his coat, picked up the gun beside his pillow and rushed outside. Liu Huaizhao followed closely behind him. With a slight movement of his right hand, the Lieyang Knife appeared in his hand.

Outside the tent, Yan Liao was holding a small dagger in his hand, moving quickly among the monsters whose black fog had been blown away by the smoke gun. He used the tip of the dagger to pry open their heads, and the familiar black round beads floated in the air.

"Where is Gongsun Xuan?" Qin Zunyue asked loudly while killing monsters.

"I don't know!" Zheng Shu shouted, "He didn't show up at all."

Liu Huaizhao's expression changed, "I'll go up the mountain now."

After saying that, he turned and walked up the mountain.

Qin Zunyue was about to catch up, but stopped again.

"Brother!" Tong Le dodged the black fog that was rushing towards her, fired a shot at it with the smoke gun, "Don't worry about us, we can handle it."

Qin Zunyue clenched his hands tightly and said, "Be careful."

After saying that, he ran forward a few steps, picked up the backpack on the ground, and caught up with Liu Huaizhao.

"He can't use his spiritual power here, so he can only climb up by himself. Let's catch up with him quickly."

"Why did he release these monsters? To delay us? Wouldn't it be faster for him to climb up secretly?" Qin Zunyue was puzzled.

"Who knows." Liu Huaizhao sighed.

The doubt was soon resolved.

The two climbed up for a while and saw countless muddy monsters waiting for them above.

"Fuck." Qin Zunyue cursed, "So those down there are just stragglers. The main force is waiting for us here."

"You go to the back." Liu Huaizhao raised his hand and swung the long sword. The blade of the Lieyang Sword drew a blade of light in the void, killing all the densely packed turbid monsters in front of him.

Qin Zunyue was stunned and asked, "Don't you think you can't use your spiritual power?"

Liu Huaizhao avoided answering this question, lowered his head and walked forward, "We must catch up with Gongsun Xuan."

What else is he hiding from me?

Qin Zunyue thought.

But now was obviously not the time to bring up the past, so he shut up and walked on.

When the snow gradually covered their feet, Qin Zunyue took out two trekking poles from his bag. They had already changed into hiking boots - these were all prepared by Qin Zunyue in advance, and he didn't expect to actually use them.

Liu Huaizhao initially thought the shoes were ugly, but now he is silent. Regardless of whether they look good or not, this time climbing the mountain seems to be really easier than a thousand years ago.

I don’t know if it’s because of the shoes or the person next to me.

He remembered that a thousand years ago, he climbed this snowy mountain under the protection of his master and various monks. Because they could not use spiritual power, and their spiritual weapons were not as usable as the Lieyang Sword, there were turbid monsters everywhere along the way. It was ridiculous to say that they could not use their spiritual power, but the turbid monsters created by Gongsun Xuan could float in the air and constantly obstruct them.

At that time, Gongsun Xuan even disdained to go into battle himself, but he was not wrong. Without their spiritual power, they were just a group of mortals. Those foul monsters could easily kill them. Even if they barely survived, they would die from excessive blood loss due to the inability to heal their wounds.

He was able to climb Changhuai Mountain alive only thanks to the monks who protected him.

Qin Zunyue keenly noticed that his mood was not right. Just as he was about to speak, he saw a black figure in front of him.

"Gongsun Xuan!" He lowered his voice and asked Liu Huaizhao to look up.

The two climbed up quietly and quickly without making any sound.

But the planned sneak attack failed. Gongsun Xuan did not act alone. His subordinates who were looking around saw Qin Zunyue and Liu Huaizhao. After shouting, Gongsun Xuan also saw them.

He stood up, his black clothes stained with white snow. He gently brushed off the white snowflakes and said slowly, "You actually caught up with me."

He saw the long sword in Liu Huaizhao's hand and said, "This sword is not affected either? Interesting."

Qin Zunyue didn't have time to talk to him about this. He took off the pistol from his waist and quickly killed several helpers around him.

After the last time, he can now shoot without hesitation. If this snowy mountain is destined to be stained with blood, then this blood must not be his and Liu Huaizhao's.

Gongsun Xuan obviously didn't expect him to move so quickly. His face changed and an iron whip appeared in his hand. It was his spiritual weapon.

The spiritual weapon, like the Lieyang Sword, was not affected by the Divine Mountain. When the iron whip and the long sword collided, a spark flew. Liu Huaizhao turned his head to avoid the iron whip that almost hit him and pulled Qin Zunyue behind him.

"Stay away, don't hurt yourself."

The two men fought fiercely, and Qin Zunyue was not idle either. Gongsun Xuan brought a lot of his men, and those who had explored the way for him in front also came back. After knowing that he had a gun, they became much more vigilant. After a while, he had used up all his bullets.

After taking a deep breath, Qin Zunyue took out a dagger and rushed towards the person closest to him.

The discomfort of killing people at close range is much stronger than using a pistol, especially after these people have lost the ability to turn into black mist, they are just ordinary people like him. The blood of the same kind is spilled on his hands and splashed on his face. Qin Zunyue's breath is filled with the disgusting smell of blood.

By the time he had eliminated the men in black around him, he had become accustomed to the smell of blood, and he could no longer tell whether the blood on his body was from the enemy or his own.

He shook his head, cleared his messy thoughts, and began to think about how to help Liu Huaizhao.

Without the blessing of spiritual power, it is actually a competition of physical strength and one's own kung fu. Liu Huaizhao has been forced to practice martial arts by his master since he was a child, and he has never slacked off. Gongsun Xuan is naturally not his opponent. Qin Zunyue can see that and finds that Gongsun Xuan has become unable to keep up.

Sure enough, within a few breaths, Liu Huaizhao pierced his chest with a knife, stabbing him through.

An ordinary person would definitely not survive at this moment, but Gongsun Xuan only staggered a few steps, and soon, the injured part was filled with black mist and slowly recovered.

How could that be!

Qin Zunyue was surprised. Aren’t they not allowed to use spiritual power on Changhuai Mountain?

But Liu Huaizhao was not surprised at all. He just sneered and said, "I can't kill you, but you can't kill me either, right?"

Gongsun Xuan laughed a few times and then said:

Liu Huaizhao was too lazy to refute him and just gripped the knife tightly.

Gongsun Xuan indeed put away the iron whip and said, "How boring! Even if you go up and seal all the turbid monsters, what does it matter? As long as you can't kill me, I will appear again."

After saying that, he took a few steps back and made a "please" gesture like a modern person. "Go ahead, and see how long you can seal me this time."

He had a smile on his face, but his eyes were extremely gloomy.

Qin Zunyue stood next to Liu Huaizhao and said nothing.

Liu Huaizhao raised his chin, his eyes filled with contempt. "Your purpose in coming here wasn't to stop me at all, that's why you released the turbid monster from the foot of the mountain to remind us that you were up the mountain. Time means nothing to you, and the lives of mortals are even less worth mentioning to you. You just like to see us running around exhausted but getting nothing, right?"

"You really are..." Before Gongsun Xuan could finish his words, he was interrupted by Liu Huaizhao. He said in a contemptuous tone: "I'm not talking to you. You're just a puppet. What qualifications do you have to talk to me?"

Gongsun Xuan's expression changed, and the next second, a hoarse voice that didn't belong to him emanated from his body, "How dare a mere mortal say this to me?"

"What? You dare to do it but not to admit it?" Liu Huaizhao sneered.

The sound never came again.

Gongsun Xuan looked at him with a gloomy face, took two steps back and walked down the mountain.

"He's going down the mountain." Qin Zunyue said, "I have to send a signal to Zheng Shu and the others."

He pulled a small communicator from his bag, pressed a few buttons, and sent out the code they had agreed upon in advance.

After finishing all this quickly, he said, "Let's go."

The two men walked up in silence. The air became thinner and thinner. Qin Zunyue took out a portable oxygen cylinder and taught Liu Huaizhao how to use it.

"You really have everything in here." Liu Huaizhao said with a smile, but the smile looked forced.

"Sharpening the knife does not delay the chopping of wood." Qin Zunyue also took two puffs himself.

"Don't you have anything to ask?"

"Let's talk about it after this is over. Since you didn't tell me, you must have your reasons."

"Actually, there's nothing I can't say." Liu Huaizhao leaned on his hiking stick and said slowly, "I told you before that Gongsun Xuan made a deal with the heavy and turbid Qi and gave up his body. I... I'm about the same. I let the clear Yang Qi enter my body."

A thousand years ago, after sealing the turbid demon, Liu Huaizhao suddenly felt unwilling to just seal the demon temporarily. Deep in Kong Yi's memory, he found a way to seal Gongsun Xuan with him for a thousand years. However, there was a crucial point in this method, which was that the spiritual power must be on par with Gongsun Xuan.

But Gongsun Xuan had heavy turbid qi. If he wanted to compete with Gongsun Xuan, there was only one way - to let the clear yang qi enter his body like Gongsun Xuan.

There are many secret methods in Kong Yi's memory, and coincidentally, there is also a method to introduce clear yang energy into the body.

Liu Huaizhao chose to take a gamble.

This method is very dangerous. After all, he is a mortal and he has introduced the Qingyang Qi without authorization. If he cannot withstand the power of the Qingyang Qi, he will explode and die.

Fortunately he succeeded.

This is also the reason why he can practice in a world completely devoid of pure energy a thousand years later.

"So you just said Gongsun Xuan couldn't kill you either."

"Yes, just like the heavy and turbid Qi protects him, the clear and yang Qi will also protect me." After saying this, he glanced at Qin Zunyue nervously, "I'm hiding this from you again, will you blame me?"

Qin Zunyue shook his head, touched his hair, and asked, "Does it hurt?"

Liu Huaizhao held back his tears and said softly, "It hurts. And my chest was stuffy and I couldn't breathe. If only you were here, you could give me an oxygen tank."

Qin Zunyue rubbed the ends of his hair and lowered his voice, "It's my fault."

Without Gongsun Xuan's interference, they quickly reached the top of the mountain.

Liu Huaizhao was wearing a white shirt, almost blending into the snow. Qin Zunyue was watching from a distance, feeling extremely nervous.

The formation was not complicated, and Liu Huaizhao drew it quickly. He told Qin Zunyue not to get close and sat cross-legged in the center of the formation.

In the past, the sealed turbid demon could borrow the pure air from the world, but now it can only use the pure yang energy in his body.

Liu Huaizhao sat in the center of the formation, with the Lieyang Sword standing beside him, feeling the bursts of clear air slowly dissipating from his body.

Qin Zunyue saw the white light on him and didn't know whether it was good or bad. He could only walk around anxiously, but didn't dare to make a sound for fear of disturbing Liu Huaizhao.

Beads of sweat began to appear on Liu Huaizhao's forehead. He kept adjusting his breathing, trying to make the process go faster and faster.

After the sun set, the snow-capped mountains fell into darkness and the temperature kept dropping. However, Qin Zunyue stared at Liu Huaizhao, who was still radiating light, and did not notice the drop in temperature at all.

Finally, when the first ray of sunlight shone on Liu Huaizhao, he opened his eyes.

It worked.

Qin Zunyue saw Liu Huaizhao struggling to stand up with the help of Lieyang Sword, so he hurried over to support him, bent down and picked him up.

"Success." Liu Huaizhao nestled in Qin Zunyue's arms with a pale face.

Qin Zunyue looked at him with heartache. Before he could say anything, he saw the person in his arms spit out a mouthful of blood and fainted completely.