Chapter 350: Untitled

The mountain god temple was shrouded in a terrifying vortex of wind; above the mountainside, fierce winds raged, the swirling gales turning like blades among the forests and cliffs, and even though they looked harmless, seeming to have harmed neither trees nor the mountain itself, anyone who dared to step inside would be torn apart by those winds. Bai Lang didn't expect this to stop an Innate Expert; he only hoped it would give him enough warning time.

In three days Bai Lang had more or less healed his bones—at least he could move without problem—and he had dispelled seventy percent of the sword intent and fire energy; such injuries normally, if not fatal on the spot, would dissipate largely in the following days, with the remainder depending on one's ability. Bai Lang estimated that the remaining thirty percent of sword intent and fire energy would likely take him several more months to completely eliminate, and only then could he say his injuries were fully recovered.

"People never know satisfaction; how nice it would be if the water in this bathhouse were hot spring water instead of mountain spring water—it would help heal wounds." Bai Lang sighed. This mountain lacks underground fire because it's not volcanic, so don't expect any hot springs. He did recall a few hot spring. AVI files, but he casually erased them in his mental theater. At this moment it's not appropriate to mess around with such nonsense; Bai Lang knows his limits.

But after thinking it over, this idea still made him quietly laugh, laughing at himself as this foolish person. These random thoughts did relax Bai Lang quite a bit, though it was just a pointless, bird-brained mess—why take it so seriously? Thus his qi became even more unrestrained, and in one breath he eliminated another ten percent of sword intent and fire energy. This guy slumped in his chair, his palms gripping with a creak-creak sound.

At this time Bai Lang wasn't wearing a shirt; he only had on a pair of pants, and frankly his current state wasn't suitable for a shirt—just bandages and splints. This sturdy man still showed his muscular build, jumping slightly under the bandages.

Seven days passed, and Bai Lang removed the bandages and splints from his body. He felt the new flesh that had grown and the wounds that had healed over; with a flick of his fingers he pulled out all the sutures, then stretched his waist, his joints cracking creak-creak all over, making him seem like a great worm stretching. He moved his arms and legs a little, the muscles bulging then relaxing, feeling the strength within his body, and only then did Bai Lang feel at ease.

He broke into a grin, the kind of smile a man-eating tiger would have. If the Six-and-a-Half Hall sent another Innate Expert, Bai Lang had absolute confidence he could cut him down on the spot. He was a hero among Innate Experts, undeniable. Since there was nothing major going on, Bai Lang also summoned that azure phoenix bird, sending a letter to the Minister of Defense's Residence to ask for help finding mud-and-water carpenters to repair the mountain god temple, and incidentally to fix his own backyard—which had become so dilapidated and leaky as to be uninhabitable.

Bai Lang's battle with the five top experts shook the ground for dozens of li around; his own dwelling was shaken as well, and though it didn't collapse, it had become a dangerous building. A large group of craftsmen came to help Bai Lang repair the house. "Sir, what about the mountain god temple in front?" a foreman asked carefully, "Don't overdo it—just put up a roof so the ruined mountain god old man doesn't get rained on." Bai Lang waved his hand and said.

As for his backyard, those craftsmen first demolished then rebuilt; the area wasn't large, so they didn't create any courtyard, just erected a wooden house with a raised floor to keep out the cold, and additionally built a corridor leading to the toilet and bathroom, of course also a kitchen. The training ground remained, and after their tidying it became noticeably larger. Bai Lang grabbed a handful of silver to reward the craftsmen, but he didn't move into the house.

"There's poison..." Bai Lang said to the house after the workers had all left—he had no interest in investigating whether any of the workers harbored spies wanting to harm him, since he knew they possessed no martial arts. The poisonous stuff was just a few pieces of wood, a few pieces of wood with a faint fragrance—nothing unusual, as builders often use scented wood to give rooms a long-lasting delicate aroma.

But this scented wood was toxic; Bai Lang discovered it relying on a few words Qin Lian'er had once said and on his heightened sense of smell and qi perception after becoming an Innate Expert. He couldn't tell exactly what poison it was, but the scent was definitely problematic. He casually pinched a small piece of the scented wood, yet when he smelled it outdoors the toxicity was gone—"High-tech, huh, or a multi-component poison!" Bai Lang cursed.

As expected, it's probably another retaliation from the Six-and-a-Half Hall. This poison makes Bai Lang feel unwell, and likely he can't detoxify it. What is this poison for? Bai Lang thinks it's not a violent poison; rather, it's probably the kind that drains true qi, causing one's power to suddenly vanish after some time. He doesn't want to test it, and the newly built house is currently uninhabitable. "Whatever, worst case I'll just stay in a side room."

Bai Lang himself was watching on the side; of course he's now picked up a bit of craftsmanship, and building another house isn't that hard—it's just not very pretty. "Six-and-a-Half Hall... just wait."

That old man's corpse hasn't rotted to this day, still looking just as it did when he was first beaten to death. Besides, several wild boars and wild wolves died nearby, all reduced to charcoal. One day a bear came, and the result was no different—its whole body was burned through. Bai Lang watched from the cliff, squinting and sighing that Innate Experts really are a disaster; this sort of trash makes even collecting corpses a hassle.

He was placed in an ordinary coffin and buried; it might not rot for decades, and the leaking fire energy could scorch the earth bare for over ten zhang—quite an achievement for a corpse. "I don't know when this corpse will rot; maybe it'll even condense into something." Bai Lang muttered on the mountain; exposed to the open air for half a month it hasn't changed much, and if it starts to rot it will likely take two or three months.

Bai Lang's external injuries have fully healed, but the sword intent and fire energy damage to his internal organs hasn't been completely expelled, so he occasionally coughs or suddenly feels a sharp pain. This makes him all the more eager to wait until he's recovered to go cause trouble for the Six-and-a-Half Hall—which is indeed quite troublesome now: the Fire Old Man perished at Bai Lang's hands, and the Gold Wind Fine Rain Pavilion took advantage to encroach, leading to several fierce battles.

Both sides fielded Innate Experts, but neither lost any masters—according to the ten-day report from the Minister of Defense's Residence. Instead, many underlings died: a gang of ruffians who occupied different streets or trades suffered heavy losses. The Six-and-a-Half Hall lost more than the Gold Wind Fine Rain Pavilion, and was also nibbled at by several other small forces, losing considerable territory. Now the two sides have ceased fire under official mediation and are beginning to lick their wounds.