bloody battle

What's this?

The Gu woman looked at the severed arm that had instantly turned black at her feet, and subconsciously took a step back. Suddenly, she felt a splitting headache.

return!

Who? Who's speaking?

Enraged, the Gu woman looked around and, seeing the blood-covered woman not far away, took a step forward and shouted, "I'm going to kill her!"

Buzzing...

What's that sound? The Gu woman subconsciously looked up and saw five or six palm-sized mosquitoes flying towards her.

return! !

The voice in her mind grew even more shrill. The Gu woman endured the tearing pain, let out a scream, and her evil power surged. The withered dandelion bloomed again, its white fluff dancing in the air, finally condensing into a fierce force that struck the heavily injured She Liuying.

Shooting Shadow stubbornly held on to his body, spitting out a mouthful of blood. In his last moments of consciousness, he seemed to see feathers and white down flying everywhere, intertwined.

Boom!

The mosquito coils above their heads exploded, and the dark red powder was carried even further away by the terrifying force.

She Liuying felt a tightness in his chest and quickly lost consciousness. Lan Fengguang lay not far away, watching countless fragmented monsters tumble and crawl towards the ruined Yanshi Ridge, his vision gradually blurring.

Behind the two, Kou Qiyu casually wiped the blood from his mouth, looked at the little sparrow beside him that had exhausted all its demonic power, and closed his eyes in despair.

"W-what happened?"

Kou Huai knelt on the ground, his internal organs feeling like they were on fire. But with the continued effect of the insect, the feeling gradually lessened, and he became completely unharmed again. Even so, the process of recovering from each serious injury was becoming increasingly agonizing for him.

"What is that?" Exhausted, he felt something land on the back of his hand, with a slight burning sensation.

"Senior brother—" Kou Xiaobai cried out weakly.

Kou Huai looked up, only to see a cold glint in his eyes. Xiu Shen swiftly slashed with his blade, the blood-stained edge flashing across Kou Huai's throat. Blood splattered everywhere, and Kou Huai had no time to react. Scenes flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern, before finally shattering like ice flowers.

Almost simultaneously, Kou Huai swung his scabbard, which was full of nicks and chips, and it grazed Xiu Shen's forehead with perfect accuracy.

A trickle of blood slid down his forehead. Xiu Shen steadied himself and stared intently at the young man who was still touching his neck. In a short moment, his neck had healed completely, without even a scar.

"What's your name?" Xiu Shen asked the young demon master he had never taken seriously for the first time.

Kou Huai sighed wearily and said, "Kou Huai, the Demon Tamer."

"Alright, I'll remember you." Xiu Shen nodded, his gaze icy, and turned to leave.

Then, the monster and the rat-headed flower that appeared at the same time as him also struggled to their feet and followed closely behind.

The monsters and the Rat-Head Flower didn't even glance at Kou Xiaobai and the other wounded demon masters as they passed by.

Kou Xiaobai finally couldn't hold on any longer. She had just breathed a sigh of relief when she felt as if her whole body was falling apart. She crawled shakily to the side of the wounded Xichi and cried her heart out.

“Boar, boar teeth... Waaaaah…”

Kou Huai dragged his weary steps past the sobbing Kou Xiaobai, helped Lan Fusong up, and the two looked at Lan Qizheng and Lan Xun, who were already unconscious on the ground, and exchanged complicated glances.

"Did we... win?" Lan Fusong couldn't believe it.

"I don't know." Kou Huai looked in the direction Xiu Shen led the monsters away and muttered to himself, "But he really left..."

Meanwhile, in the small courtyard, Que Sang silently looked in one direction, pondered for a long time, and sighed, "Ren Xiangxiang, he is very important. We will not let this go. In other words, even without him, this vast Qiling Mountain is not lacking in demons. Farewell."

After saying that, he didn't even look at the two of them, sheathed his short sword, and transformed back into the harmless Yue Shan Que Sang. He even smiled gently at the two of them, then waved his hand, leading the monsters and rats to retreat immediately.

At the same time, all the monsters and rat-headed flowers that had flooded into Yangdian retreated back to Yanshi Ridge as if they had received some kind of order.

Enraged, the Gu woman rushed back to the Corpse Forest. Only after the voice in her mind slowly faded did she see a ground covered with monsters that were temporarily unable to move and crawling around.

The bloodstains spread from the outside all the way into the depths of the cave, and within the upside-down golden robe hanging overhead, the heart was still beating weakly.

The Gu woman withdrew her gaze, looked into the depths, and unconsciously narrowed her eyes.

"You're the one who called me back? You know I was about to take over Yang Palace, and of all times you had to come at this time—"

“Young lady, you still have such a temper… sigh…” The voice belonged to a gentle old man who interrupted the Gu woman’s words unhurriedly, saying directly, “If I hadn’t woken up in advance, I’m afraid everything would have been in vain. You were too careless.”

"Where is he? Don't tell me he ran away?!" The Gu woman suppressed her anger.

The old man sighed again, "I already told you I woke up early. If you take people and chase after me now, you should still be able to catch up, after all..."

"Why didn't you say so earlier!" The Gu woman didn't even wait for him to finish speaking before she swayed and disappeared.

Deep within the cave, another long sigh escaped. "What difference does it make sooner or later... Judging from your appearance, you didn't gain anything there either. I wonder what has become of the Demon Refining Elder's lineage, but the fact that they were able to develop a poison to counteract Gu poison so quickly shows that they still have successors..."

As soon as the Gu woman left the cave, Xiu Shen and Que Sang returned with their men. The Gu woman ignored them and followed the monster and the bloodstains westward.

The worms and the shrews didn't understand, but they still followed closely behind.

Severely wounded, Fuyi fought her way through the monsters and finally broke through the encirclement, but soon discovered that more and more monsters were following her.

She couldn't go to where her people were hiding, but now the wet cliffs had completely become the territory of monsters. As she pondered this, blood trickled down her fingers. She coughed up blood and looked ahead.

That place is called Daoyuankou, as if a giant knife has cleaved a perfectly good mountain in two. It is bottomless and the wind is fierce. Even birds can be sucked down and torn to pieces. No one has ever passed through here, or rather, no one has ever passed through here alive.

As soon as Fuyi stepped onto the mountaintop, a gust of wind hit her in the face, almost throwing her off. At this moment, she was dizzy from excessive blood loss. She had only taken two steps when she suddenly heard a mournful voice behind her.

"Fuyi, I didn't expect it to really be you." Husang smiled and took a step forward cautiously.

Fu Yi snapped back to her senses, immediately took a step back, fixed her gaze on Hu Sang for a moment, then turned to the Gu Nu and Xiu Shen behind him, gave a miserable smile, and asked, "Are you still the same Hu Sang you used to be?"

Her voice was soft and gentle, tinged with helplessness and exhaustion.

"Of course," Quesang blurted out without thinking.

With a single glance from the Gu woman, Qu Sang suddenly took another step forward. "You don't have to die, come here!"

Fuyi shook her head in despair and said sadly, "The one who will die is you." After saying that, she resolutely jumped off the cliff.

call!

A biting wind swept across the bottom of the cliff. He rushed up the cliff with a severed arm, his scarlet blood splattered on his pale face. He sighed, stepped back behind the Gu woman, and explained, "If we go down from here, we will surely be reduced to ashes."

The Gu woman's face was gloomy. She stubbornly took a few steps forward, but was forced back by the strong wind at the bottom of the cliff. In the end, she gritted her teeth in anger and reluctantly returned to the Corpse-Raising Forest.

Boom!

As dusk fell, the sky suddenly became overcast, followed by several claps of thunder, and then a torrential downpour began.

The rain lasted for three whole days.

Three days later, it was still drizzling at dawn, but by the time the sun came out completely, the rain had stopped entirely.

The courtyard was a mess, with not even a complete table and chair. Kou Huai, the injured man, had to figure out how to fix the table and chair himself. He was sweating profusely and grumbling for a long time, and only Ah Chong comforted him.

Recalling the thrilling battle three days ago, he thought he was going to die, but everyone was more seriously injured than the last. His master was alright, but his demon servant Yingfu was gone. He was depressed and locked himself in his room.

Junior Brother Wu Fei was one of the lucky few who managed to escape with only minor injuries thanks to the reliable demon servant. However, his master was in a worse state and had already returned to the Demon Beast Garden. As for Kou Feng, the poison had been neutralized, but he remained unconscious, and it was unknown whether he would ever wake up.

Uncle Lan's legs are probably crippled, Uncle She is seriously injured and still unconscious. The other brothers are also injured or crippled. His second brother Kou Xiaobai is not seriously injured, but his demon servant Xichi is still in danger.

And this junior sister Ren, whom he didn't know very well, had actually developed her own demon-borrowing technique, which was incredibly powerful. However, it seemed to have significant side effects; after returning the demon power, she was completely devoid of energy. If she hadn't mentioned it beforehand, they would have all thought she was already...

Kou Huai couldn't help but feel a little scared. Sure enough, someone who could be taken as a disciple by that old monster Shu Huixin could not be an ordinary person.

As he pondered, he recalled the blood-soaked and disheveled He Wenwen they found when they returned. This eldest disciple, rumored to be Xu Jinnian's illegitimate son, didn't interact with them much. He was gloomy and mean-spirited, always smiling at everyone on the surface, but in reality, he would stab you in the back at the slightest disagreement, making him impossible to guard against. Therefore, he wasn't well-liked or had a good reputation among the disciples. He was surprised to see He Wenwen so badly injured this time, which made him look at him with new respect.

After comparing them, Kou Huai concluded that his injury was the least serious. He looked at his carefully bandaged right little finger and fell into deep thought.

...

A few rays of sunlight shone through the dilapidated roof onto the chipped table. The slightly repaired house was still habitable, but the broken items inside hadn't been cleaned up yet, making it look messy. Magpies were chirping incessantly outside the window, and the person on the bed subconsciously frowned, their fingers curling slightly.

The rushing river pressed down on him, making it hard for him to breathe. He desperately tried to grab Xiangxiang's hand, but was swept away by the surging waves.

His consciousness was wavering. He seemed to hear someone speaking and feel water sliding down the back of his hand. The warm touch made his heart clench.

He didn't know where he had fallen to; he only felt that he was surrounded by darkness, with only a faint light flickering above his head. He thought he saw someone calling his name.

I cried sadly, over and over again.

He tried to climb up, and through the blurry white light, his vision suddenly opened up to a view of green mountains, clear waters, birdsong, and fragrant flowers, as well as a clear pool of water. On the surface of the water, he saw two figures, one red and one white, playing and frolicking on the shore.

He slowly opened his eyes, and the blurry outline began to become clear, gradually sketching out the figures of the two people.

One has a radiant smile, the other is as gentle as water.

"Second sister, look who's here!" The woman in red smiled and waved to him.

He stood there, stunned, as if he couldn't believe his eyes.

The woman in white shook her head with a wry smile, then suddenly shoved him hard.

"You shouldn't have come here, Mo You."

In a daze, the world spun around him. He suddenly opened his eyes and cried out, "Xu'er! Xu..."

The blinding light made him instinctively shield his eyes, his mind a complete mess. He struggled to support his numb body, but then lost his balance and fell off the bed.

Hearing the commotion, Kou Huai, who was outside, pushed the door open and came in. He was surprised to see the scene before him and exclaimed, "I didn't expect you to wake up! Shu Huixin's apprentice is really amazing!"

"Who are you?" Mo You shielded her eyes from the sunlight, looking around blankly. "Where is this... Xiangxiang, where is Xiangxiang?"

"Junior Sister Ren, she's still asleep. As for me, Kou Huai, I'll reluctantly acknowledge you if you call me Senior Brother Kou."