Chapter 57: A seamless battle
The moment the Tianshi beast's claws slapped down, Qi Qing had already thought of the cause of his own death.
Poor sense of direction.
His short life was full of bad luck. His cannon fodder senior brother was upgraded to cannon fodder master, the plot line went astray, and he was coveted by his apprentice... Now that he died here, it can be said that his remaining energy was put to good use.
The young man was filled with sadness and had been brewing his emotions for a long time, but the expected revolving door did not come.
At the last moment when his sight disappeared, he seemed to see a black shadow rushing into his arms.
Then I felt nothing.
After an unknown amount of time, the darkness suddenly cracked open, and bright light shone in. Qi Qing covered his eyes with his hands and staggered a few times, as if he was "vomited" out.
He fell to the ground with a thud, and his first reaction was to reach into his arms.
——Nothing. The black shadow that just rushed over seemed to be his illusion.
At this moment, two bright purple lanterns suddenly lit up before his eyes, shocking Qi Qing so much that he trembled all over.
This is... the eye of Tianshimon!
He kicked his legs back and quickly stood up, holding the ice sword in his hand.
The pressure was overwhelming, even stronger than the previous Spirit Transformation Stage. When his back hit the stone wall, cold sweat had soaked Qi Qing's clothes.
If he were hit by a slap from such a huge monster, it would probably not even leave a complete corpse.
The pupils of Tianshimon slowly shrank into thin lines and elongated, which was a sign of launching an attack.
Qi Qing's palms were covered in cold sweat and his heart was pounding. He and Tianshi Beast were facing each other, and neither of them dared to look away first.
At the moment when the taut string was about to break, the whimpering of a cub suddenly sounded from not far away.
The Tianshi beast turned around instantly, and the force of its tail almost threw Qi Qing away.
He quickly bent down, and finally had a chance to look around, and immediately gasped.
This was undoubtedly the lair of the Tianshi beast. Hundreds of night-shining pearls were inlaid in a scattered manner, illuminating the entire cave like daylight. The lair was about the size of a playground, and although it was dark, he looked up and immediately met two or three purple pupils.
There are far more than two celestial lion beasts in this cave!
What was even more horrifying was that less than a hundred steps in front of him, dozens of corpses were piled up in a mess.
Although the corpse had not rotted, it was very shriveled, as if all the blood and essence in the body had been sucked out, leaving only a layer of skin wrapped around the bones.
Among the cultivators who entered the secret realm, countless people were hunted and killed by the heavenly lion beasts.
Qi Qing took a few deep breaths and forced himself to calm down.
If he cannot escape, he will become one of these "reserve food".
The celestial lion beast looks similar to a lion, with all white hair, two horns on its forehead, and thick skin and flesh. Its body alone is enough to withstand a full-strength attack from a master of the Spirit Transformation Stage, and it can even fly in the air for a short period of time. At first glance, it seems that it has almost no chance of winning.
But Qi Qing knew that their weakness lay in their pair of crystal-like horns.
As long as they could contain it head-on and then wait for an opportunity to cut off its horns, the Tianshi beast would suffer backlash and be unable to fly in the air. Its strength would be greatly reduced, leaving it with only brute force.
The question is... who will contain the front?
Tianshimon didn't give him time to think.
A black shadow flashed by, Qi Qing dodged hastily and almost bumped into the claw of a celestial lion beast.
That was a close call!
He stepped back reflexively, perhaps because he was too nervous, and a slight heat rose on his back.
The newly joined Tianshi beast saw that its attack missed, so it roared and pounced again. The one that had checked on the cub also came back, its fangs pressed against his back.
Under the double attack, Qi Qing only had time to avoid fatal injuries and prepared himself for serious injuries.
——But the severe pain did not come.
He was blown away by a huge force and hit the stone wall heavily. He gasped in pain and when he looked up again, he was shocked to find that the two celestial lion beasts were blocked by a black shadow.
He didn't know how to describe the inexplicably familiar black shadow. It was not a real person, but a mass of condensed mist. Its outline vaguely resembled a human figure, but it was so blurry that it was difficult to identify.
It has no facial features, no details, it just "stands" there quietly, making the two ferocious beasts feel as if they are facing a formidable enemy.
Noticing Qi Qing's gaze, the black shadow moved slightly, as if turning its head to look back at him.
Qi Qing understood, covered his left arm and said "thank you", then flew away without hesitation, anxiously looking for an exit.
Why did the shadow save him? Was it the thing that attacked him in Yunzhou Inn? How did it follow him here? Or... was it the resentment of the monk who died tragically in the cave?
The timing was urgent and Qi Qing had no time to study it carefully. More and more celestial lion beasts jumped down from the rock wall and joined the hunting game.
Despite the black shadow's constant protection, Qi Qing still had several horrific wounds on his body, and more blood was stained on the ice sword.
——No, I can’t run away anymore!
If this continues, he will surely die.
Although he didn't know why the black shadow helped him, he could use this to deal with Tianshimon first, and then be on guard against the black shadow's sneak attack.
I'm going to die anyway, so I might as well take a few people with me.
Qi Qing turned around suddenly as his mind raced.
The black shadow was fighting with the nearest Tianshimon, and when it noticed his movements, its attack slowed down slightly.
It acted decisively, and the black mist rushed towards Qi Qing like a living thing, as if to protect him.
"Listen to me!" Qi Qing waved away the black mist and refused its protection: "How about we join forces to kill them? No matter if you are the regret of a fellow Taoist, or an unknown person who sees injustice..."
He emphasized: "Anyway, if we continue to waste time, no one will benefit!"
The black shadow remained silent, but the black mist brushed past gently, as if wiping the blood off Qi Qing's face.
"Are you listening to me?" Qi Qing wiped the blood randomly, feeling a surge of anger, and said angrily: "The situation is urgent, and you still have time to wipe the blood? Why don't you mend my clothes and embroider a flower at the same time!"
He threw out his ice sword, barely blocking the sharp claws that were approaching him. Several celestial lion beasts had already formed a siege.
"If you don't say anything, I'll take that as your consent. I have a way to defeat them. You just hold them back head-on!"
Unexpectedly, the black shadow really listened to his words, and immediately turned the spearhead, strangling the Tianshi beast closest to Qi Qing. Black gas suddenly rose up, like several sword energies, and the strong wind scratched bloody marks on the thick fur of the Tianshi beast.
A mere ant could actually hurt him. The Tianshimon was furious and slapped the black shadow with its huge palm full of pressure.
Good opportunity!
Qi Qingzu stomped hard on the stone wall, and his body soared into the air like an arrow. He twisted his waist in the air and landed heavily on the head of the slightly smaller celestial lion beast.
The beast sensed something was wrong and tried to throw him off, but the black shadow suddenly tightened its attack and the black mist wrapped around its limbs like chains.
One up and one down, the coordination is perfect.
Qi Qing seized the opportunity, dug his five fingers deeply into the base of the animal's horn, and cut it off with an ice knife!
"roar--!"
The shrill howl made the cave echo so loudly that the lion beast immediately slowed down. A long sword appeared in the black shadow's hand and pierced its throat in an instant.
The beast's blood spurted out, splashing hotly on Qi Qing's body. He wiped his face and was almost nauseated by the strong fishy smell.
The first battle was a victory, and the black shadow seemed to have fully understood his tactics. The cooperation between them became more and more tacit, until they faced the largest Tianshi beast. Qi Qing was exhausted and his body slowed down slightly, and he was almost pierced through by a claw.
The black shadow suddenly grabbed him down, protected him and rolled him to the ground, avoiding the follow-up attack from the Tianshimon.
"Ahem... I made a mistake. Sorry." Qi Qing swallowed the fishy sweet taste that rose to his throat, but saw a black shadow suddenly reaching into his collar, fumbling a few times, and accurately took out the pill and stuffed it into his mouth.
...How does it know where the elixir is hidden?
Qi Qing was stunned for a moment, and the black shadow let go of him and stood up.
Although the Tianshi beast also suffered many injuries, it became more ferocious and locked all its pressure on Qi Qing, obviously wanting to deal with him first.
However, the shadow didn't give it any chance at all.
The long sword broke through the air, and the figure rushed straight towards the Sky Lion Beast with the posture of dying together. Qi Qing's pupils suddenly shrank, and his heart rose to his throat: "Be careful!"
The ice sword was unsheathed immediately afterwards, Qi Qing jumped up, and the black shadow was dispersed by the beast's paw.
——The next second, it gathered again above the head of the Tianshimon.
After making a feint to the east and attacking in the west, it imitated Qi Qing, raised the sword high up at the horns of the Sky Lion Beast, and chopped it down fiercely.
“Ugh—!”
With a mournful cry, the huge beast body fell to the ground with a loud bang, collapsing like a small mountain.
The whole cave trembled, and Qi Qing fell down again. The wound was burning with pain, but his whole body relaxed involuntarily.
Surprisingly... survived.
He let out a long breath and then realized that he was covered in animal blood and looked miserable. His face, ear tips and chest were all hot, as if he had been roasted on a fire.
The ice sword fell to the ground with a clang. He couldn't hold it anymore, so he simply let go and his wrist, which had exerted too much force, fell to the side.
The black shadow jumped lightly from the body of the heavenly lion beast and walked silently to his side.
"Thank you very much." Qi Qing was so tired that he didn't even want to raise his eyelids. He asked in a hoarse voice: "Do you have any unfulfilled wishes? If I can help..."
The black shadow did not answer, but squatted down, and with a familiar movement - it reached into his arms again.
Qi Qing let it search, after all, the most valuable things were the pills refined by Yue Ji.
Sure enough, the black shadow again skillfully took out a few porcelain bottles, uncorked them and poured the pills into his palm, one by one, two by two, mixed them together like medicine, and stuffed them all into his mouth.
"Wait... ahem, this isn't meant to be eaten!"
Qi Qing dodged, but Liang Sisi's hand held his chin and fed him all the pills one by one.
What he didn't expect was that the elixir he had randomly put together actually had a miraculous effect. In just a moment, all his limbs and bones felt warm, the pain in his wounds dropped drastically and became almost negligible, and his almost exhausted spiritual power was fully replenished by the Qi-repairing elixir.
He touched his throat in surprise: "You also know this?"
Seeing that he was much better, the black shadow stood up, neatly cut open the head of the nearest celestial lion beast, and took out an inner elixir glowing purple.
Qi Qing quickly used his sword to support himself, staggered to his feet and said, "Leave one for me."
His hands were unsteady, and the black shadow silently dealt with the second one for him. However, he quickly threw the inner elixir into the storage ring as if he was afraid that it would be snatched away.
Qi Qing covered his mouth and coughed weakly twice, "This... is for Yue Ji..."
The shadow suddenly stopped.
Qi Qing wanted to take the third one, but just as he took a step, his legs went weak and he fell to the ground.
He finally realized belatedly that—
My own body seemed terribly hot.
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