Chapter 79 Qi Shi Jiu
Chapter Summary: [The beast's snoring grew louder, the shockwaves heavier, and the mud beneath its feet thicker. Finally, his hand gently touched the beast's concave-convex body.]
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The beast's snoring grew louder, the air currents became heavier, and the mud beneath its feet grew thicker. Finally, his hand gently touched the beast's uneven skin. He slowly continued to feel along the skin, and sure enough, the head and neck were covered in scales, and below that was a rough, hard outer layer, thinning and becoming more fragile the deeper he went.
By this time, the corpse mud had reached Wei Wuxian's waist. Most of the corpses here hadn't been completely eaten; the remaining bodies were in large chunks, so it shouldn't be called corpse mud, but rather a pile of corpses. Wei Wuxian reached behind his back to remove the feathered arrow and the branding iron, but found that the branding iron was stuck in something and he couldn't get it out.
He gripped the long handle of the branding iron and pulled it out with force. At the same time, the tip of the iron pulled something out of the pile of corpses with a soft "clang".
Wei Wuxian immediately froze.
After a while, there was no movement around him, and the demonic beast did not make a move. He breathed a silent sigh of relief, thinking to himself, "It seems that the iron brand was stuck on something. Judging from the sound, it was made of iron? And it was quite long. Let's see if it works. I'm short of weapons. A high-grade immortal sword would be best!"
He reached out and touched the thing; it was long and blunt, covered in rust.
The moment he grasped it, Wei Wuxian heard a scream.
The scream sounded like the heart-wrenching, desperate cries of thousands of people right next to him. A chill instantly ran down his arm and through his entire body. Wei Wuxian jolted, jerking his hand back, thinking, "What is that? Such powerful resentment!"
"Ah—what is this?!"
"If you're going to die, get out of my head!"
Everyone else was groaning, their heads throbbing from the constant wailing, but Xue Yang, who had been half-lying down watching Tianying with an indifferent expression, suddenly sat up abruptly upon hearing these desperate cries, his eyes shining as he looked at Wei Wuxian:
"Senior Wei, are these the materials you used to make the Yin Tiger Seal?"
Wei Wuxian, watching Lan Wangji's brows twitch slightly from the noise filling his head, was worried. Hearing Lan Wangji's excited question, he glanced sideways at Xue Yang:
"Is that right? You still dare to touch it now?"
Xue Yang: ...
Even though I promised to atone for my sins and not to touch the demonic path, you can't take away my desire for hobbies and my thirst for knowledge!
Suddenly, the surroundings lit up, and a faint reddish-yellow light cast Wei Wuxian's shadow, illuminating a jet-black iron sword in front of him. The sword was stuck diagonally into the heart of his shadow.
How could there be light inside the shell of the Xuanwu that was slaughtered?
Wei Wuxian turned around abruptly, and sure enough, a pair of large, golden eyes were right in front of him.
He then realized that the muffled, thunderous snoring had disappeared. And that reddish-yellow glow was emanating from the eyes of the Slaughtering Black Tortoise!
The Black Tortoise bared its black and yellow fangs and roared.
Wei Wuxian stood right in front of its fangs, directly struck by the sonic waves of its roar, his ears nearly exploding and his whole body wracked with pain.
Everyone: ...
The people in that space were in so much pain they couldn't even utter a sound, let alone spare a thought to worry about Wei Wuxian.
This is no ordinary superficial wound from a night hunt; this kind of injury has attacked the entire body, inside and out. It truly lives up to its reputation as a... hundred-year-old tortoise.
Seeing it lunge at him, he quickly shoved the bundle of iron branding irons into its mouth. The timing and placement were perfect, not an inch too much or too little, wedging it between the beast's upper and lower jaws!
Taking advantage of the beast's open jaws, Wei Wuxian forcefully plunged a bundle of arrows into its weakest point of skin. Though the arrows were thin, Wei Wuxian bundled them five together, pushing them deep into the beast's flesh until they were embedded in its tail feathers, like inserting a poisoned needle. In its intense pain, the Slaughtering Xuanwu bent the iron branding pins against its jaws, the seven or eight originally straight pins snapping into hook shapes by its powerful bite. Wei Wuxian then inserted several more bundles of arrows into its softer skin. This beast had never suffered such agony since its birth; driven mad by pain, its serpentine body thrashed violently within its shell, its head slamming against everything, causing the pile of corpses to churn and collapse like a mountain, almost submerging Wei Wuxian in the putrid remains. The Slaughtering Xuanwu opened its eyes wide, its yellow glare ferocious, its jaws agape, seemingly ready to swallow mountains and rivers whole. The pile of corpses slid into its mouth like a torrent. Wei Wuxian struggled desperately, swimming against the current, and suddenly grabbed an iron sword. A chill ran through him, and the piercing screams and wails echoed in his ears again.
Taking advantage of the weakening effect of the sound waves, the younger generation recovered quickly and began to stare intently at Wei Wuxian's agile and nimble figure, occasionally cheering him on, which earned them eye rolls from the elders whose heads were still aching.
Just as the group was engrossed in watching, the wailing and howling in their heads suddenly started again.
Everyone covered their heads: ...Damn it!
Wei Wuxian's body had already been sucked into the mouth of the Slaughtering Xuanwu. Seeing that the monster was about to close its mouth, he grabbed the iron sword and used the same trick again, wedging it between the monster's upper and lower jaws.
The internal organs of this century-old monster are mostly corrosive; if a person is swallowed, they will be instantly melted into a wisp of smoke!
Wei Wuxian gripped the iron sword tightly, like a thorn stuck in its mouth, neither moving forward nor backward. The Slaughtering Xuanwu banged its head for a while, unable to swallow the thorn that wouldn't let it close its mouth, yet it refused to let go, and finally charged out!
Jiang Cheng frowned, rubbed his head, and couldn't help but roll his eyes.
See? It's not just people, even a turtle can be driven crazy by Wei Wuxian.
Terrified of being stabbed by Wei Wuxian inside its shell, it desperately tried to escape, straining to push its body out, exposing the tender flesh previously hidden beneath its armor. Lan Wangji had already laid a string in its head hole and was waiting. As soon as the Xuanwu of Slaughter charged out, he reeled in the string, plucked the bowstring, and the taut string sliced into flesh!
The two men had cornered the beast, leaving it unable to move forward or backward. It was a deformed creature, not a true divine beast, and originally possessed little intelligence. Driven mad by the pain, it thrashed about in the black pool, whipping its head and tail, tumbling and thrashing in a massive whirlpool, creating towering waves. But no matter how frantically it went, one of them held it firmly in its mouth, preventing it from biting or eating, while the other used a string to tightly constrict its vulnerable spots, cutting deeper and deeper into its flesh. The wounds grew deeper and deeper, and the blood flowed more and more!
Lan Wangji gripped the bowstring tightly, not letting go for a moment, and held on for three hours.
The younger generation: ...Good heavens! Three hours!!
Many people cast admiring glances at Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. In the face of hunger, cold, exhaustion, and a demon beast as their opponent, they were able to persevere for a full three hours. Among the tens of thousands of people in this space, how many could do that?
Of course, one sentence inevitably came to my ears:
You should learn more from them!
Three hours later, the Slaughtering Xuanwu gradually stopped moving.
The demon beast's vital points were almost severed from its body by Lan Wangji's bowstring; the force was so great that his palms were covered in blood and wounds. The enormous tortoise shell floated on the water's surface, the black pool now visibly stained a purplish-red, the stench of blood as thick as a hellish infernal pool.
With a splash, Lan Wangji jumped into the water and swam to the vicinity of the snake's head. The eyes of the Slaughtering Xuanwu were still wide open, the pupils were already dilated, but the fangs were still tightly clenched.
Lan Wangji said, "Wei Ying!"
The monster made no sound.
Lan Wangji suddenly reached out, grabbed the upper and lower teeth, and forcefully pried them apart. He was swimming in the water and had nowhere to exert force, so it took him a while to pry them open. He saw a jet-black iron sword wedged in the mouth of the Slaughtering Xuanwu, the hilt and tip of the sword deeply embedded in its oral cavity, and the blade bent into an arc.
Wei Wuxian was curled up like a shrimp, head bowed, his hands still tightly gripping the not-so-sharp blade of the iron sword, about to slide into the throat of the Slaughtering Xuanwu. Lan Wangji immediately grabbed his collar and pulled him out. The Slaughtering Xuanwu's jaws snapped open, and the iron sword slid into the water, sinking to the bottom of the pool.
Wei Wuxian lay limply on him with his eyes closed, one arm draped over his shoulder. Lan Wangji held him by the waist, and together they floated in the blood, saying, "Wei Ying!"
His hand trembled slightly as he reached out to touch Wei Wuxian's face, but Wei Wuxian jolted awake and exclaimed, "What's wrong? What's wrong? Are you dead? Are you dead?!"
Seeing that Lan Wangji called Wei Wuxian several times without getting a response, even though they knew he was alright, everyone was still a little nervous for a moment, wondering if Wei Wuxian had gone into shock.
Then they saw Wei Wuxian fluttering around like a moth that had come back to life, shouting in surprise.
Everyone: ...
You always manage to nip our concern in the bud just when we're about to overflow with it.
Jiang Yanli's tense body only slowly relaxed after she saw the demon beast fall and Wei Wuxian was unharmed.
Back then, Wei Wuxian was taken back to Lotus Pier by Jiang Cheng with injuries all over his body. After recuperation, and because Wei Wuxian was always good at reporting good news and not bad news, she thought it was nothing serious. But now it seems that he has suffered a lot of pain.
Or perhaps, as the older sister, she failed to care for and understand him properly, which led to... him having to shoulder the burden of the whole family alone.
He thrashed about, causing both of them to sink slightly in the water. Lan Wangji tightened his grip on his waist and said, "He's dead!"
Wei Wuxian's gaze was blank for a moment, as if he was having some difficulty reacting. After thinking for a while, he said, "Dead? Dead... Good! Dead. It kept howling and flipping around, which knocked me unconscious. Oh right, the cave! The underwater cave, let's go. Let's get out of the underwater cave."
Lan Wangji noticed his unusual reaction and asked, "What's wrong with you?"
Wei Wuxian perked up and said, "Nothing! Let's get out of here quickly, there's no time to lose."
Indeed, there was no time to lose. Lan Wangji nodded and said, "I'll take you."
Wei Wuxian said, "No need..." Lan Wangji's right hand was still wrapped around his waist like an iron hoop, and he said in an unyielding tone, "Inhale."
In such a dazed state, going into the water would likely lead to an accident. Wei Wuxian, not one to be reckless, nodded, disregarding the blood and filth, and the two took a deep breath and dived into the water.
After a while, two splashes of water broke through the purplish-red surface, and the two emerged again.
Wei Wuxian spat out a mouthful of blood, wiped his face, which was now covered in a purplish-red stain, making him look even more disheveled. He exclaimed, "What happened?! Why is there no entrance?!"
Jiang Cheng did indeed say that there was a water cave beneath the Black Pool that could accommodate five or six people at the same time, and that other disciples from various clans had indeed escaped through that cave. Wei Wuxian had initially thought that the body of the Slaughtering Xuanwu was blocking the way, but now the corpse of the Slaughtering Xuanwu had been moved, and there was no water cave where it had originally been located.
Lan Wangji's hair was dripping wet, and he didn't answer. The two exchanged a glance, both contemplating a terrible possibility.
Perhaps... in its intense pain, the Slaughtering Black Tortoise frantically thrashed its claws, collapsing underwater rocks or kicking something that conveniently blocked this only escape route through the water.
Everyone: ...
Your escape route has been incredibly difficult.
She glanced at Lan Wangji and Wei Wei, and was about to turn away when she noticed that Lan Wangji's expression had turned colder.
After a while, he tightened his grip on Wei Wuxian's hand.
Wei Wuxian noticed it, looked up at those light-colored eyes, and seemed to ask what was wrong.
Lan Wangji shook his head.
Ultimately, he wasn't careful enough back then. Because he was still ashamed and annoyed with Wei Wuxian, he didn't ask any questions even though he felt that Wei Wuxian's reaction was wrong. He even allowed Wei Wuxian to go into the water and fight against the monsters several times.
Although all of this was out of necessity under those circumstances, if his mind hadn't been preoccupied with the affairs of Cloud Recesses, if he could have calmed down and thought things through again, he would surely have found a better way to make both of them safer and less likely to get hurt.
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