Decisive Battle (I)
A blood-red moon hung low, casting an eerie halo across the mountains. Seven figures pierced the night mist, silently approaching the mine entrance like sharp blades. Six longswords glowed a faint blue in the moonlight, their blades etched with fluorescent coral pink, gleaming eerily in the darkness.
Before entering the cave, Su Baiwei took out two bamboo whistles and handed them to Sally and Doudou respectively: "The cave is winding and accidents may happen. Use the whistle as a signal to determine the direction when something happens." Then, she made a simple agreement with everyone on the meaning of several whistle sounds.
Everyone nodded solemnly upon hearing this. Sally and Doudou took the bamboo whistle and kept it close to their bodies.
The mine was only big enough for four people to walk side by side. A cold wind blew in from the depths, bringing with it a rotten and moldy smell.
Rainbow Cat stepped in first, and the long rainbow sword drew a stream of hot light in the darkness, illuminating his tense profile.
Lan Tu at the end of the team held the Ice Soul Sword, and the sword exuded a biting coldness. Her eyes were calm as she scanned every corner in the darkness.
"The Seven Swords are coming!"
Suddenly, a scream rang out from the cave, followed by the piercing sound of golden bells, which echoed off the stone walls.
The sound of noisy footsteps surged from the front and back of the team. The first group of medicine men rushed out of the darkness, their eyes gleaming green and their steps stumbling.
Hongmao swung the Changhong Sword in his hand, and the dark blue fluorescence on the sword flashed along with the blade. Coral powder seeped into the medicine man's body through the wound. The few people rushing in the front suddenly froze and stood still.
The face of one of the medicine men caught Su Baiwei's eye, and she was momentarily lost in thought. The image of Carpenter Liu, smiling and handing her a small wooden bird to amuse her, years ago, seemed to resurface before her.
Daben roared, "You're in the way!" His powerful internal force surged forward, and those stiff figures fell to the ground like puppets with broken strings.
Su Baiwei's eyes flickered, her lips pursed tightly, her nails digging deep into her palms. A sharp pain came over her, but she suppressed her surging emotions and hurried to catch up with the group.
"Follow closely!" Rainbow Cat's long sword flashed continuously, and streaks of light shot out. Every time he swung, the figure that was rushing towards him would freeze in place.
Doudou, holding the Yuhua Sword, stood guard on Su Baiwei's left, scanning the front with vigilance. Sally, clinging to her right, held the Ziyun Sword horizontally before her, her cold gaze flickering behind her. Wherever Lan Tu's Bingpo Sword swung, a layer of frost covered the pursuers. Dada's Whirlwind Sword moved as swiftly as the wind, striking at every elusive target.
The pile of drug addicts in the depths grew larger and larger, nearly blocking the path. The group could only move forward, stepping over the stiff bodies scattered on the ground, their boots making a dull thud as they landed. Doudou quickly passed by, still muttering under his breath, "Sin, sin..."
"This is endless!" Da Ben roared, swung his Thunder Sword fiercely, and repelled several figures that rushed towards him. "These ghosts are getting more and more!"
Su Baiwei frowned. The battle had lasted for a long time, but she hadn't even seen the shadow of a core medicine man.
At the bend ahead was the abandoned mine entrance marked on the map. However, medicine men continued to pour out of the main mine tunnel, making it difficult to discern their direction. They battled their way to a fork in the road. Su Baiwei stepped forward and tapped lightly on the stone wall several times, receiving a hollow echo.
"Sally!" She raised her hand and pointed to the stone wall.
Sally understood, and the Purple Cloud Sword came out. With a flash of purple light, the stone wall broke open, revealing a secret passage that was only wide enough for one person to pass through, and it was bottomless.
Su Baiwei looked at the narrow path and her heart sank: if it was a trap set by the enemy, once they went deep into it and were attacked from both inside and outside, they would be in a desperate situation in an instant.
The long rainbow sword immobilized another wave of oncoming medicine men. Rainbow Cat's gaze swept across the pitch-black branch road, his heart trembling. He glanced at Su Baiwei beside him, instantly weighing the pros and cons. With a swift swing of his sword, he pointed decisively at the main mine tunnel and declared firmly, "Proceed as planned! Doudou Dada, you must hold this place!"
"Okay!" Doudou and Dada responded in unison.
Su Baiwei hurriedly shouted to her companions, "Remember the whistle!" Her voice was almost drowned out by the roars and golden bell noises around her.
Doudou and Sally nodded heavily.
"Lan Tu," Su Baiwei quickly reminded, "Don't go too deep. Be careful of ambushes!"
"Understood!" Lan Tu swung the Ice Soul Sword in her hand, creating a frigid sword flower that froze the enemy before her. As she swung her sword, her gaze quickly swept across the dark side road. Hongmao and Su Baiwei were being engulfed by the darkness. A flicker of worry flashed in her eyes, and the sword's gleam grew even sharper. "Da Ben, Sally, clear the way!"
The three men increased their offensive power greatly, with sword lights crisscrossing, forcibly tearing a gap in the enemy group and advancing fiercely.
At the same time, Doudou and Dada staggered, standing back to back at a fork in the road. Their offense and defense intertwined, weaving a curtain of light in the dim mine.
Hongmao and Su Bai left the main team and quickly slipped into the side road.
As soon as I stepped inside, the surrounding hustle and bustle was instantly cut off, replaced by a heart-wrenching silence. The air was dull and filthy, filled with a strange smell of metal and corruption.
The path wound downward, a rugged and difficult path. Water droplets occasionally dripped onto the slippery rock walls, the sound remarkably clear in the silence. The Changhong Sword was the only source of light. Its radiance stretched the two men's shadows into elongated shapes, casting them across the uneven rock face. They swayed with the light, resembling ghosts.
Hongmao led the way, holding the Longhong Sword across his body, taking every step with extreme caution. Su Baiwei followed closely behind, a silver needle between her fingers, the tip of the needle gleaming with a cold blue light, her gaze sweeping over every inch of the stone wall and ground.
After walking for about half an incense stick of time, the passage remained bottomless. Su Baiwei suddenly stopped and lifted a loose gravel from the corner of the wall with her toes. A faint footprint appeared underneath, but it was quickly obscured by fresh dust, as if someone had hastily covered it up but failed to completely erase it.
"Chen Jin once said that the defenses here were weak." She lowered her voice, but it was still clear in the narrow passage. "These traces were most likely left by them. They were afraid we would see them, so they hurriedly covered them up."
Hongmao leaned over, brushing his fingertips across the faint mark. He said in a deep voice, "It seems Chen Jin's information is true." He slowly stood up and glanced around. "Be careful, I'm afraid there are many enemies."
The two of them immediately lowered their steps and held their breath as they moved forward.
The deeper she went, the stronger the fluctuations of Qi became. All signs matched those of a Mother Gu Formation, yet her unease grew. Though the Qi was strong, it hinted at something amiss, like a turbulent undercurrent beneath the surface of calm waters. Having never truly encountered a Mother Gu Formation before, she found it difficult to judge.
A little further ahead, the view suddenly opened up. A vast natural grotto appeared before us. In the center stood a man-made stone platform, densely engraved with runes, faintly glowing with a dark red luster, like dried blood. A powerful and sinister aura emanated from the center of the platform.
"This is it!" Su Baiwei's eyes narrowed. "The strongest point of Qi is the same source as the core of the mother Gu!"
“They’re coming!”
"Quickly protect the formation!"
"Go and report to the Hall Master!"
Several roars suddenly echoed in the mine, and several figures fled in panic in one direction. Su Baiwei's eyes suddenly turned cold, and a silver light flashed between her fingers. Several silver needles pierced the air and accurately penetrated the acupoints of the men. The men froze, frozen in place, unable to move.
At that moment, a sharp golden bell chime suddenly rang out from above. Su Baiwei and Hongmao looked up simultaneously, only to see a figure standing on a high stone platform. It was Ding Kui. He clutched a golden bell and sneered, "You've managed to get us this far... Now that you're here, don't even think about leaving. Experience the 'Core Medicine Man'!"
Before he finished speaking, dozens of medicine men emerged from the surrounding shadows. Their eyes shone with a green light, their skin had a dark blue metallic sheen, and they moved as swiftly as the wind, like a swarm of corpses crawling out of a tomb, rushing straight towards him.
Rainbow Cat shouted: "A long rainbow pierces the sun!"
He swung the Changhong Sword, and a red light burst from the blade, like a red dragon emerging from the abyss, slashing forward with a rolling wave of heat. Wherever the sword energy struck, the medicine man was knocked back to the sides, making a series of metallic clanging sounds.
Taking advantage of this moment, Su Baiwei leaped up, like a white crane flying through the sky, flashed through the gap cleared by the Changhong Sword, and landed lightly on the stone platform opposite.
She had just stood firm when the medicine men behind her rushed forward again and surrounded Hongmao in a blink of an eye.
Su Baiwei held her breath, her gaze swift as it swept across the blood-tinged runes. A cold light flashed, and a silver needle was already between her fingers. Her internal energy surged, following the trajectory of the spiritual current, locking onto several key nodes that maintained the formation's operation. The needle tip, condensed with internal energy, was about to penetrate the key node when something strange happened.
The dark red runes suddenly burst out with a dazzling blood light, the entire cave shook violently, and the roar was deafening.
Just before the needle tip touched the rune, Su Baiwei abruptly stopped, tapped the stone platform with her toes, and quickly retreated. But it was too late.
She collided with an invisible barrier, and a massive recoil ricocheted her back to the center of the stone platform. Simultaneously, the runes on the ground beneath her feet and the dome above her head blazed brightly, and several blood-red rays of light shot out.
Whoosh whoosh!
The blood-red light rope completely blocked her escape route. Before she could even stand firm, the spiritual chain had already wrapped around her ankles.
A shimmering light swirled within the formation, its powerful restraining force not only blocking her movement but also steadily devouring her internal energy. Su Baiwei's heart trembled. In the instant before she was completely restrained, her left hand swiftly reached into her bosom, pulled out a bamboo whistle, and pressed it to her lips. However, another blood-red chain burst through the air, wrapped around her wrist, and yanked back. Her grip loosened, and the bamboo whistle flew out of her hand.
In a split second, she twisted her body with all her might, narrowly catching the bamboo whistle in her mouth as it was about to fall to the ground. More blood-red chains burst out from the boiling blood, wrapping around her arms and waist, and finally forcibly pulling her limbs apart, dangling her in a "big" shape at the center of the formation, where the blood was most intense.
The bamboo whistle let out three short and one long whistles, and the shrill sound penetrated the stone wall.
In the distance, Doudou and Dada, who were fighting with the medicine man, changed their expressions drastically when they heard the screams.
"Bai Wei!" Dou Dou exclaimed in surprise.
The two exchanged glances, each seeing shock and horror in the other's eyes. Dada immediately shouted, "Go!"
Doudou looked towards the dark and narrow passage, feeling uneasy. He grabbed Dada, who was about to rush in, and said, "What if we go in and our escape route is blocked? Wouldn't that be a trap?"
Dada's sword flashed, instantly freezing several medicine men in front of him. He said in a deep voice, "Three short and one long signals are the most urgent signals we have agreed on. We will never use them unless absolutely necessary. If Bai Wei is captured, there will be no hope of breaking the formation. Besides, Hongmao is also inside." He said resolutely, "For my brothers and for the people, what's the harm in sacrificing my life?"
Doudou's heart trembled when he heard this. Although he was still afraid, he no longer hesitated: "Let's go!"
With a wave of his Yuhua Sword, a green light filled the sky, like a torrential downpour, temporarily forcing back the enemies in front of him. Dada simultaneously swung his Whirlwind Sword, a whirlwind of energy that cut off his retreat. Without further ado, the two men dashed off in the direction of the whistle, their bodies like lightning, towards the source of the whistle.
Elsewhere, Lan Tu, charging forward with all her might, also heard the whistle. Her heart sank, and the force of her sword faltered. She suppressed the fear welling up in her heart, her Ice Soul Sword blazing brightly as she shouted, "Da Ben, clear the way! Sally, cover the rear! Retreat!"
Upon hearing the order, Da Ben let out an angry roar, the muscles in his right arm flexed, and he swept the Thunder Sword forward with devastating force, blasting away the medicine man who was blocking the road.
Sally's figure was elusive, the sword following her. With a flick of her wrist, several purple sword shadows burst out, blocking the pursuers behind her. She responded in a deep voice: "Go!"
Lan Tu's sword moves swirled, and icy sword energy poured out, forming a thick ice wall on the three people's retreat path, greatly slowing down the pursuit.
Outside the trap, Hong Mao was already in peril. Dozens of core medicine men surrounded him. Tempered with secret elixirs, their bodies were as hard as iron, making it impossible for the Changhong Sword to cut through them. The fluorescent coral powder etched on the sword's blade was unable to penetrate their bodies, rendering it completely ineffective. Although he had anticipated this, Hong Mao was still startled. Now, he was alone, surrounded on all sides, and faced with enemies on all sides.
The medicine men surged forward, roaring incessantly and attacking with ferocity. Though Hongmao danced with the Long Rainbow Sword with impenetrable precision, he was still struggling. Every block, every evasion, was measured by the millimeter. His clothes were already ripped to shreds, his body crisscrossed with wounds, blood stained almost to the bone, leaving him looking like a bloody corpse.
He panted heavily, each breath ripping through his entire body in agony. His strength was rapidly draining away. Bai Wei... what was happening inside the formation? That whistle... He didn't dare to dwell on it. Had the plan failed? Was he truly destined for ruin? A shadow of despair descended, but the fire in his eyes remained unceasing. He was sustained solely by an unyielding will and concern for his companions.
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