Chapter 13 I'll do anything for you, as long as you never leave...
The cold candlelight flickered within the glass wall, its flame leaping for a moment, almost jumping out from the top of the lamp, before quickly dimming again. Xiao Huaiyuan suddenly felt a burning pain travel from the void to his body, yet the suffering he could feel was only one-tenth of what Fu Ming had endured.
He shouldn't have let Fu Ming leave the Tianyan Sect.
Xiao Huaiyuan's usually indifferent pupils turned sinister, and he unleashed his spiritual power to its fullest extent, crushing the mineral crystals blocking his path into dust. Fortunately, everyone else was focused on breaking through the path before them and had no time to notice the cold, Styx-like aura emanating from Xiao Huaiyuan.
Mount Taixuan has numerous hollow caves, most of which are connected by mine tunnels and underground rivers. Compared to Xu Yan's unrestrained style of destroying everything in sight, Xiao Huaiyuan's actions are more in line with Fu Ming's philosophy of precisely controlling spiritual power. He uses the soul lamp to guide him in searching for the optimal route, and his actions are extremely restrained, without damaging the mine's structure.
Now that we've alerted them, the mastermind behind this must have noticed and will probably take action against Fu Ming.
It's not too late to start killing after we find our senior brother.
After about fifteen minutes of shaking, the world finally calmed down. Fu Ming, who was tied up like a crab by the vines, tried his best to dodge, but was still hit hard several times. He wondered if he would be buried by the collapsing rocks before being thrown into the lava.
It was obvious that Xu Yan was behind this. Hopefully, he could arrive while I was still conscious—otherwise, I'd just have to dig out a few bones from the ground or the fire to see Xiao Huaiyuan.
Thinking of Xiao Huaiyuan, that blockhead who had lacked emotions since childhood, shedding tears, Fu Ming couldn't help but want to laugh.
The vine that had been pulled from Fu Ming seemed to have no end, wrapping itself completely around his body. Even as it bound him, the treacherous vine had protruding soft thorns that dug firmly into Fu Ming's flesh. Whether it was demonic energy or the sticky sap from the vine thorns, a sharp, gnawing pain, like a thousand insects gnawing at his bones, tormented him until he was drenched in cold sweat and bleeding profusely.
Was he in this much pain when he became possessed by a demon thirty years ago?
Fu Ming didn't remember much either. His consciousness was blurred due to excessive blood loss. To prevent himself from falling into a coma, he squinted and watched the good show on the other side of the stone chamber.
The "master" must have had his plans ruined by someone. He paced back and forth in the room in agitation, slammed his fist on the table, and pointed at Chen Chong's nose while cursing him.
Chen Chong apologized repeatedly and hurriedly poured a basket of gravel into the secret passage, his wrist flicking out a pungent, acrid sulfurous fumes. Before long, the frenzied howls of beasts rose and fell, echoing through the stone slabs.
Another tremor shook the ground beneath his feet, making Fu Ming almost bounce off the ground. He could only vaguely sense thousands of troops scattering and rushing along the honeycomb-like mine tunnels.
The system finally went online and broadcast an announcement: "Ding dong, the [Xuanluo Sect Beast Tide Attack] event has been loaded. The task is quite difficult, so please do your best to complete it!"
"System, my clone is about to die, you... you have to tell me how to deal with this beast tide, right?"
"Searching for strategies—Dear host, did you drop the gold strategy for a perfect clear or the silver strategy for a no-damage clear?"
"C, I want the normal walkthrough." Fu Ming couldn't help but roll his eyes.
"Oh, actually it's all the same strategy, my friend. Just fill in the rift in the demon realm and lock the rampaging monsters in the mountains!"
Fu Ming rolled his eyes at the system again.
What's the difference between this and a riddle about how many steps it takes to put an elephant in a refrigerator? Tell me how to mend a crack!
"Cough cough, don't rush. Actually, there is a way. As long as we use high-purity spiritual power to cleanse the cracks, we can suppress the demonic energy back to the demon realm."
It's easy to say, but the problem is, where is Fu Ming going to find enough pure spiritual energy to repair the rift in the Demon Realm? With his weak body, which is barely good enough for the late Foundation Establishment stage, it's unrealistic.
However, sending demonic energy back to the demon realm does not necessarily have to start from this point.
Before he could figure it out, Fu Ming was dragged away without any mercy, his face being smeared on the floor as usual. That was a face he had spent three hours meticulously crafting!
The journey was long and arduous. As time passed, the ground grew increasingly scorching, making Fu Ming's mind even more hazy.
"It seems too easy for you to die like this."
"Well!"
A scalding hot rock slashed open Fu Ming's neck, and a hundred times concentrated demonic energy poured into his blood vessels like liquid. The excruciating pain instantly shattered all his defenses. Fu Ming immediately coughed up blood from all seven orifices, fainted on the spot, and his face, as pale as paper, was not much different from that of a real dead man.
Seeing the miserable state of the person he hated most in his life, Chen Chong was very satisfied and kicked Fu Ming into the surging lava crevice.
Fu Ming was falling, just like countless other humans and monsters, whether alive or dead, who had been treated the same way before.
He was getting closer and closer to the lava.
until.
He opened his scarlet eyes.
The vines binding Fu Ming exploded with a roar. He summoned his sword and stabbed it into the rock layer, barely hanging on the edge of the cliff. His cultivation level rose steadily, from Foundation Establishment to Golden Core, then to Nascent Soul, and finally stopped at the mid-Nascent Soul stage.
A tiny figure rose into the air from the flames. His white-gold Tianyan Sect disciple robes were stained crimson with blood. From a distance, he looked more like the Demon Lord Fu Ming, who was awe-inspiring throughout the three realms, than Fu Ming, the head disciple of the Tianyan Sect.
Fu Ming chuckled and twisted his wrist, making a few cracking sounds. He gripped the heavy sword, which was as long as a knife, and, abandoning all techniques, slashed down at Chen Chong's head—this was his most skilled and proficient fighting style.
Thank you so much for sending me this magical energy; it's exactly what I like to use.
Xiao Huaiyuan rushed as fast as he could, but he was still a step too late.
The connection of the soul lamp was inexplicably severed behind the stone door, where a slender man with a wooden-grain mask stood blocking the way. Xiao Huaiyuan scanned him with his divine sense; he was a wood-manipulating cultivator at the Nascent Soul stage, and his fluctuations were unstable.
He immediately suppressed the man with his golden magic seal, spreading out a forbidden magic domain, and then swung his longsword with the force of ten thousand jin to slash down!
"Sect Leader Xiao, there are some things that it's best for a gentleman like you not to know."
Wherever the sword's power reached, everything turned to dust. Unexpectedly, the masked male cultivator's figure slowly turned and fell, transforming into a half-shattered wooden puppet.
It was nothing more than a phantom attached to a puppet.
As the phantom vanished, the soundproof array set up by the man also became ineffective, and only then did the sound of the monster's hooves resound throughout the entire mine tunnel.
"I will go and rescue Mingchen by myself. You all go and deal with the beast tide."
After issuing this brief order, Xiao Huaiyuan charged into the passage he had just carved out, completely disregarding how the others should act.
The flame of the soul lamp in his hand suddenly flickered, then fell into a deathly darkness. The impending extinguishing of the soul lamp's flame signified that its master's life was hanging by a thread.
The stone chamber is not here.
The secret passage isn't here.
The blood, still wet, dripped all along the way, forming large and small pools, speckled and disordered patterns. Xiao Huaiyuan was nearly driven mad; he could almost picture how his senior brother had been roughly dragged here and tortured in every way.
He hated these despicable people, but he hated himself even more—his carelessness and helplessness.
Finally, amidst the raging, boundless flames, he saw the person he missed most.
Fu Ming was practically kneeling in the blood. With his last breath, he pierced Chen Chong's chest. His long, black hair, reaching the ground, flowed in the pool of blood. His pupils were a burning, fiery light. The scene was frozen in time.
Xiao Huaiyuan rushed forward and embraced Fu Ming, but this exceptionally weak body had no heartbeat, no pulse, and no breath. Even in such a sweltering environment, his body temperature remained icy cold.
Firefly-like streams of light frantically flowed into Fu Ming's body. Xiao Huaiyuan tirelessly used his spiritual power to cleanse Fu Ming's meridians, which were tainted by demonic energy, over and over again, while his hands holding Fu Ming trembled continuously.
Just now, Fu Ming, who had lost his five senses, was consulting the system.
"How much longer can this avatar be used?"
"three."
"Three days? Three hours?"
"Two, one..."
The countdown is over.
System: The situation has changed! Xiao Huaiyuan has pulled your clone back from the brink of death.
Fu Ming suddenly coughed, and when he opened his dull peach blossom eyes again, tears unknowingly streamed down his face and dripped onto Xiao Huaiyuan's hand.
He was waiting to mock Xiao Huaiyuan's ugly crying face, but he ended up crying first.
The adult male's body temperature made him dizzy, and this forceful posture, which was almost like being held in someone's arms, was still too awkward for Fu Ming, who was a proud and arrogant man.
Fu Ming tried to turn his head away but couldn't, because Xiao Huaiyuan clung to him like a koala. He was completely exhausted at the moment, and it was even more impossible for him to break free from his tall and strong junior brother.
Is this person really that affectionate with their apprentice?
Maybe it's because he lacks love.
Having been used to the role of the eldest brother, he subconsciously patted Xiao Huaiyuan's back as he used to, but Xiao Huaiyuan only got closer to him instead.
Xiao Huaiyuan's face was always stern and upright, without a trace of evil. But at this moment, he stared mournfully at Fu Ming's disfigured and bleeding face, his eyes remaining motionless for a long time, which was somewhat creepy.
"Senior brother, I really..." miss you so much.
"Don't..." leave me again.
"Um?"
Fu Ming, who had just come back to his senses, stared blankly back. His vision had not recovered much, and his hearing was completely gone. All that could be heard was a monotonous buzzing, and he could not hear a single word.
At this moment, Xiao Huaiyuan's mouth was opening and closing in front of him, but it was impossible to tell what he was saying.
Forget it, never mind.
The system task hasn't been completed yet.
The person with a large reserve of pure spiritual energy is both far away and right before our eyes—isn't that Xiao Huaiyuan?
With his face covered in blood, Fu Ming pursed his lips, and more blood spilled out. After his chaotic blood and qi calmed down a bit, he forced a dry, awkward smile at Xiao Huaiyuan.
"Master, cough cough, as you can see, my injuries were caused by demonic energy..."
"Can we fill in the crack?"
What Fu Ming didn't know was that, in the eyes of those with ulterior motives, his disguise was extremely clumsy, yet exceptionally endearing.
Xiao Huaiyuan gently brushed Fu Ming's lips with his fingertips, wiping away the blood. He had already examined Fu Ming's body while infusing him with spiritual energy; Fu Ming's body was severely depleted, his spiritual power exhausted, and there were burn marks from demonic energy throughout his meridians. Demonic energy wouldn't seep in so quickly; it must have been caused by him forcibly drawing upon demonic energy.
"good."
I'm willing to do anything for you.
As long as you... never leave me.
A note from the author:
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I wasn't feeling well today, so I'm a little late.
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