Wuwangyuan-7
Bu Jiu turned his back to Ji Wang and curled up in the shadows in the corner for about half an incense stick's time.
Ji Wang never went over to disturb them, only occasionally glancing over there. He saw the pair of fox ears go from tense to trembling slightly, and finally seem to droop down a little, as if they were doing some kind of mental preparation.
Finally, the figure moved.
Bu Jiu slowly stood up and moved towards Ji Wang, stopping only when he reached Ji Wang's legs where he was sitting cross-legged.
Bu Jiu raised his foot, his toes slightly awkward, and gently kicked the outside of Ji Wang's calf.
The force was very light; it was less of a kick and more of a tentative and hesitant touch.
Ji Wang opened his eyes from his semi-meditative state and looked up at him. Bu Jiu quickly turned his face away, his gaze drifting to the other side of the stone wall.
"What's wrong?" Ji asked gently, with a knowing smile.
Bu Jiu pursed his lips, his gaze quickly sweeping over Ji Wang's face before shifting away just as fast. He mumbled a few words indistinctly: "Arm..."
"Um?"
“…Open up.” Bu Jiu’s voice was even lower, as if the two words were being held in his mouth.
Ji Wang felt incredibly soft-hearted looking at his forced composure.
He didn't tease Bu Jiu any further, nor did he hesitate at all. He immediately released his arms, which were originally in a breathing mudra, and opened them open to Bu Jiu, making a gesture of complete acceptance: "Come."
Bu Jiu's gaze lingered on the open embrace for a moment, then, as if making a final decision, he stepped forward and slipped inside.
His movements were a little clumsy, and he even bumped into the person in front of him, causing him to lean back slightly. Seeing that Ji Wang quickly adjusted, he then wrapped his arms tightly around Ji Wang's waist.
Bu Jiu buried his face deep into Ji Wang's neck, and his tail spontaneously wrapped around him, binding the two of them even more closely together.
Ji pulled his arms back, holding the person who had taken the initiative to embrace him tightly in his arms.
He could feel Bu Jiu's heart beating too fast in his chest, and his head burying itself in his neck, rubbing against him and looking for the most comfortable position.
Bu Jiu's muffled voice, carrying a damp heat, came from the crook of his neck: "...I've wanted to do this for a long time."
"I was afraid of being too abrupt," he added in a low voice, his voice filled with suppressed grievances, "I was afraid you'd think it was too fast, or... not right."
He was afraid that getting too close would frighten him when he was still "Ji Wang," that being too eager would seem frivolous, and that this feeling, which had spanned a long wait, would be too heavy or unfamiliar for Ji Wang, who had just awakened his memories.
Ji Wang lowered his head, his chin gently brushing against Bu Jiu's soft hair: "Hug me if you want, rub against me if you want. You can do whatever you want. Now, and even more so in the future."
Bu Jiu paused her rubbing against his neck, and then Ji Wang felt a slightly damp touch on the side of his neck—like a careful, hidden kiss.
"Where do we go next?" Ji Wang glanced around at the simple but temporarily safe shelter, then looked back at Bu Jiu. "We can't stay here forever. I want to finish what I need to do here as soon as possible. Then, I want to go home."
The word "home" he spoke so naturally clearly did not refer to the Bu Nian Temple, which they could no longer return to, nor to the temporary cave behind the waterfall, but to a place where they could stay together peacefully.
Bu Jiu remained leaning against him, and upon hearing this, she revealed her plan in detail: "I brought you to Wuwang Plain for only two things."
He shifted, as if trying to look up, but only pressed his cheek closer to Ji Wang, as if that would make his speech flow more smoothly.
"The first thing was to help you find your past. It seems that it has been accomplished now."
Ji Wang gave a soft "hmm" and gently stroked his back with her hand.
"The second thing..." Bu Jiu's tone became more serious, "is to find the 'Reverse Scale Shuttle'."
Ji Wang paused, "The Reverse Scale Shuttle?" He repeated it subconsciously, as if a blurry fragment flashed through his mind. A blazing forging furnace, the strange metallic luster flowing through it…
“Ah… I remember now.” Ji Wang nodded. “This thing is sharp enough to break through all laws, and it can especially interfere with the power that comes from the same source as me. I originally intended to use it as a backup plan against the ‘Lord’… but I don’t think I had time to complete it.”
“Hmm.” Bu Jiu’s voice lowered. “That incident happened too quickly. I only had time to hide the half-finished prototype in the array of Wuwang Plain. But too much time has passed, and this place has undergone drastic changes and the landscape has changed... Now, I don’t know exactly where it is sealed.”
Ji Wang understood. This was not just about finding a weapon, but also a test of his newly awakened power and memories.
"We've found the Reverse Scale Shuttle, so what? Can we deal with 'Your Excellency' immediately?" Ji Wang asked directly.
Bu Jiu shook his head: "No. But at least we have something that can truly threaten him, instead of just running away. And I suspect that Ling Gu is also looking for it; he won't allow something that can restrain his master to be out there."
“Okay, leave it to me,” Ji Wang agreed.
Bu Jiu then stepped back a little, stood up and brushed off his clothes, completely ignoring the drooping lips of the person in front of him when his arms were empty.
"What do I need to do?" Ji Wang looked at Bu Jiu, asking for specific methods. "I'm still a bit rusty with these things..."
"Close your eyes, concentrate, and sink your senses to the deepest part, trying to communicate with your origin," Bu Jiu instructed. "Since you personally crafted it, there must be some connection between you and it. There's no need to deliberately search for a direction, just like... how you sensed the stone tablet before."
Ji Wang crossed his arms and looked down at the cliff below.
“Oh…” he drawled, shaking his head as if he had discovered something interesting yet troublesome, “So you were hiding here.”
He turned his head to look at Bu Jiu, who had followed him, a smile playing on his lips: "Back then, in the rush, you really knew how to pick a place to hide."
Bu Jiu walked to his side and followed his gaze down the cliff. There, deep within the precipice, mist swirled, and jagged rocks were vaguely visible.
Both of them could clearly feel an unusually powerful and violent aura coming from the bottom of the cliff. This aura was different from the chaotic and deathly silence of Wuwang Plain itself. It carried the ferocity of living beings and a trace of alertness that had been provoked.
Clearly, something was lurking below and had sensed their earlier probing.
“There’s something guarding that place,” Ji Wang said.
Bu Jiu's eyes narrowed slightly, locking onto a massive, indistinct outline in the mist: "It seems that the chaotic atmosphere here over the years has also given birth to a gatekeeper."
Ji Wang also dropped his joking expression, carefully sensed it for a moment, then suddenly raised an eyebrow and looked at Bu Jiu: "Did you notice? That thing's aura... seems to react to you a little? Not aggressively, more like... a suppressed unease?"
Upon hearing this, Bu Jiu carefully sensed it and found it to be true.
The violent aura below the cliff contained a hint of fear of the demonic power emanating from him, as if he had encountered a natural enemy or a superior being.
Bu Jiu pursed his lips, pondered for a moment, and then looked at Ji Wang: "Then I'll restrain it and create openings. You..."
Before he could finish speaking, Ji Wang had already taken it, his eyes sparkling with eager excitement: "You hold it in, I'll take care of it."
He tilted his head and looked at Bu Jiu: "What do you mean, Lord Ghost King? Your injuries can't withstand any more strain. This time, give me a chance to prove myself?"
Bu Jiu looked at him.
The person before him vaguely resembled the composed features of Daoist Yun Shen, yet his eyes shone with a light unique to Ji Wang.
Bu Jiu nodded: "Okay. I'll make it behave. Be careful, and make sure it's done quickly."
"Don't worry." Ji Wang grinned and drew his sword from his waist. He flexed his wrists, and spiritual energy began to flow slowly around him, carrying a faint, more profound aura than before.
Bu Jiu said no more, took a step forward, and stood at the edge of the cliff. He suppressed the hidden pain caused by his internal injuries, and a powerful demonic energy rose from his body. Although it was not as vast as it was at its peak, it carried the pressure of a superior and surged down the cliff like an invisible tide.
In an instant, the churning mist at the bottom of the cliff seemed to be stirred up by an invisible hand, and the huge black shadow hidden within it let out a deep, angry roar.
The demon's aura became noticeably disordered. The trace of fear within its ferocity was amplified. It wanted to resist this pressure, yet instinctively felt fear, causing its movements and aura to momentarily freeze.
Ji Wang touched the edge of the cliff with his toes and jumped off.
Instead of falling directly into the monster, he used the protruding rocks on the cliff face to lightly deflect the force several times, instantly locking onto the darkest shadow—a monster that resembled a giant lizard, but was covered in dark bone armor and had several pairs of covered eyes!
The monster, intimidated by Bu Jiu, reacted a beat too late. Ji Wang seized this fleeting opportunity, channeling the sword technique he had just comprehended into his body. A brilliant flash of lightning suddenly ignited at the tip of his sword.
It was no longer the ferocity of drawing symbols out of thin air, but a more precise and thunderous strike.
Ji Wang marveled at his own learning speed. The next moment, the sword light, carrying lightning, pierced towards the point where the monster's eyes met in the center of its head.
The monster, in pain, let out a deafening roar, its massive body twisting wildly, its long tail sweeping across and shattering large sections of cliff face rock.
Having landed a successful blow, Ji Wang did not linger in the fight. He nimbly dodged and weaved between its claws and tail sweeps, occasionally thrusting his longsword to target weak points such as gaps in the bone armor and joint connections.
Bu Jiu stood on the cliff, his demonic power continuously pouring out, like heavy shackles firmly restricting the monster's movements, preventing it from exerting even 70% of its full power, and making it unable to leap or climb up to attack.
His face was a little pale. Maintaining this level of suppression was taking a toll on his current condition, but he still kept the situation under control, creating a relatively safe environment for Ji Wang.
Ji Wang fought with increasing ferocity, gradually merging his accumulated experience from his previous life with his agile skills in this life, making his swordplay increasingly fluid and ruthless.
Finally, after the monster's frenzied pounce was forcibly slowed down by Bu Jiu's oppressive aura, Ji Wang grabbed a soft, fleshy opening below its neck that wasn't covered by bone armor.
"Pfft!"
Dark green, foul-smelling blood spurted out. The monster's massive body convulsed violently a few times, letting out a mournful cry of despair, before crashing to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Ji Wang landed lightly on a rock, slightly out of breath, looking at the motionless monster, and flicked the blood off his sword.
He looked up at the cliff and reached out his hand to Bujiu: "Shall I catch you?"
Bu Jiu smiled, exerted force with his feet, and in a few leaps, he was back in front of Ji Wang. Although he landed steadily, he still reached out and held Ji Wang's hand.
"It's resolved." Ji Wang's tone was relaxed, his eyes looking at Bu Jiu's face with concern. "How are you?"
“It’s alright.” Bu Jiu shook his head, his gaze falling on the cave guarded by the demon beside him. “It should be safe down there now. The Reverse Scale Shuttle is very likely in the nest.”
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