Chapter 36: Chapter Thirty‑Seven

A counterattack wasn't easy; the distance between the two swordsmen was kept just right, not the sort of reckless advance that would give Bai Lang a chance to pick them off one by one. What else could he do? Run first. He hoped that if he put some distance between them, the two would have to return to the small pavilion to guard the road because of their duty. 'But it looks like those two are dead set on killing me.' Bai Lang thought while activating Grass Flying Lightness Skill.

He felt that the internal force of the Golden Bell Shield was indeed not bad now; the internal force was inclined toward being vast and robust, and while using it for lightness skill couldn't increase its speed, it could at least grant him endurance. However, Bai Lang now felt that if he had that kind of continuous, unbroken internal force—like the Purple Rosy Divine Art pouring down from the heavens—it would surely work wonders for generating internal force on its own. Right now he sensed that the Golden Bell Shield's internal force was beginning to become somewhat difficult to sustain.

His internal force remained solid, but its foundation was gradually draining, and the newly generated trickle could no longer keep up with the consumption. 'All I can do is grit my teeth and hold on; if I launch a counterattack...... once it fails I definitely won't be able to escape, so running is still the better choice.' Bai Lang was also thinking clearly; he knew the best option at present was to flee. As for completing the mission or whatever, that could wait—after all, it's not like he alone has to strive, right?

Moreover, he still harbored a sliver of hopeful thinking, feeling that this didn't seem like Yu Yu's style—perhaps there was another way. Ahead lay a cliff; Bai Lang sensed his chance had come. The two swordsmen behind him appeared to cultivate that sort of sudden, explosive internal force martial art; the situation seemed slightly worse for him, at least in terms of endurance for lightness skill, yet they kept their distance, and Bai Lang didn't dare launch a counterattack.

"Cliff-jumping survival law!" Bai Lang shouted, leaping down without hesitation. The swordsmen behind him halted their steps......

"They didn't come down! Good! Now it's time for me to save myself!" Bai Lang also summoned all the internal force of his Golden Bell Shield, channeling it into both hands, completely ignoring his left shoulder injury, and simply punched the cliff face repeatedly, boring a series of holes that successfully slowed his descent. Moreover, the luckiest part was that halfway down he discovered a platform; in its recessed part lay a cave that was neither shallow nor deep.

Bai Lang crashed heavily onto the platform, rolling into the cave within, and he let out a muffled groan; had the Golden Bell Shield not broken its first barrier, this fall would likely have broken a dozen bones throughout his body. For now, though, it was just some bruising. This impact also burst open the wound he had previously bandaged, causing blood to flow anew, and the injury on his shoulder likewise refused to staunch, blood trailing down his body and arm.

Bai Lang gripped his left shoulder wound with his right hand, gritted his teeth to realign the bone, then, breaking into a cold sweat, bound it with a cloth strip—his clothes were torn further in the process. After this fall, the fellow had essentially exhausted his Golden Bell Shield's internal force by protecting himself with true qi; having barely tended to himself, Bai Lang could no longer hold back and passed out directly.

When he woke, the sky had already darkened; his injuries showed no improvement, and some wounds even felt hot and numb. 'Hmph, this is troublesome. The wound condition isn't good.' Bai Lang tried to gather his internal force, but found the true qi in his dantian scattered and unable to coalesce. He let out a long breath, settled his mind, and slowly guided the true qi to circulate, beginning with the Small Heavenly Circuit, drawing the scattered true qi in the Ren meridian thread by thread and gathering it into the dantian for output.

Thus he slowly gathered the true qi; when he finally collected all the true qi in his meridians, night had grown deep. Naturally, his condition wasn't good either—he began to run a fever. Moreover, having gone a day and night without food, having bled heavily in several fights, he was now utterly parched. Fortunately, moisture condensed into droplets on the cool cave wall; Bai Lang licked the tiny stream formed by those droplets, which at last relieved his thirst, but hunger remained unavoidable.

After gathering the true qi, his spirits lifted, and as the Golden Bell Shield's internal force circulated, the wounds tightened, staunching the slow seepage of blood. 'Time is surely too short......' Bai Lang felt no indignation, rather a sense of unreality; he touched the Yu Yu fish, thinking, 'Again you give me this sort of blow?' Just as he thought that, a voice came: 'Slay Cao Yuqing, mission complete, begin return.'

Bai Lang's vision blurred, and he promptly passed out again.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw a palace—outside it was a misty expanse where nothing could be seen. The few who had been separated from him earlier had also risen from the palace floor, and upon seeing Bai Lang they broke into relieved smiles—their conditions were none too good: Murong Ronghua had lost an arm, Ma Rulong was covered in blood, Murong Jiu Xiu's half-body seemed scorched by fire, and Qin Lianer appeared the least harmed, aside from her pallid complexion.

"Where's the little monk?" Bai Lang, his whole body wrapped in blood‑stained strips of cloth that oozed from everywhere, wasn't in great shape either. "He's dead," Ma Rulong said listlessly. Bai Lang was about to speak when the voice sounded again from the palace: 'Return successful, begin treatment.' Before his eyes suddenly appeared the number 'one thousand'—though he couldn't see anyone else's, he guessed they were likewise looking at their own figures: 'Yeah, this number might be some sort of stage‑clear score, something you see in endless‑flow games. Of course it's personal privacy.'

Next, a pillar of light enveloped him, and he watched the number one thousand begin to tick down—'It's dropping pretty fast!' Bai Lang muttered. But after looking closely at the number, a voice echoed in his ear: 'Trial base reward: one thousand.' Bai Lang let out an 'uh,' though he couldn't very well shout, 'Why don't the points from those I killed count?' His wounds felt as if wrapped in warm water, and the pain vanished. When the score dropped to eight hundred, the light pillar faded and Bai Lang could move freely.

The others were healed just as well—Murong Jiu Xiu quickly produced a mirror to check herself left and right, while Murong Ronghua fondled his arm, thrilled. Since everyone was now cured, the voice spoke again: 'The next mission time is undecided; for now you may trade.' A jade stone in the palace then lit up, projecting many characters onto the air. Bai Lang glanced at it and realized he probably couldn't afford a single item, because the numbers behind were at least four digits—and here, too, they used Arabic numerals.

Martial arts manuals were out of the question—the cheapest ran four digits as well. Then he looked at divine pills and elixirs: 'Hahaha,' Bai Lang chuckled, 'Can't afford those!' Likewise starting at four digits, 'Well, let's check weapons... oh, there's something I can buy!' Scanning the list from back to front was quicker, so Bai Lang soon found a suitable weapon: 'Water‑ground purple gold halberd, three chi six cun long, weighing 8,864 catties. It's also a four‑flanged halberd, the tip an armor‑piercing cone—nice, nice. This pair of halberds costs only eight hundred... oh well, might as well let the wind blow the eggshell wealth to bring peace to the people!'

He didn't think, directly bought this pair of Purple Gold Halberds; a flash of light passed, and on the ground appeared a deer‑antler rack, on which lay the two halberds. Bai Lang picked up one in each hand, the weight satisfied him, and the Purple Gold Halberd's color under the light gave off a faint dark‑gold gleam, its appearance also very good.