Chapter 1008: 【Save Me】 (Part 1)

Du Tianhuo was like a war god bathed in flames all over, the green flames burning around his body making his physique look much larger and more imposing. His weapon was a meteor hammer; the burning iron hammer shot toward Hu Xiaotian's face like a meteor chasing the moon.

Hu Xiaotian didn't even regard Du Tianhuo's martial skill, although Du Tianye had shown considerable strength when he lifted the bronze bell just now; in the present world, few could defeat him head‑on with internal force. What he feared was Du Tianhuo's fire‑setting technique. He aimed his Eyebrow Knife at the direction the flaming meteor came from and slashed out—clang! —a sharp ring, and then he saw the flames clinging to the fire meteor scatter, instantly turning into a sky‑filling blaze that surged toward Hu Xiaotian.

The point where the Eyebrow Knife met the flaming meteor also took on green flames, which spread rapidly along the blade toward the hilt; just now the Blade Demon FengXingyun had been driven back by the flowing fire.

Hu Xiaotian had expected this; after the clash, his body swiftly retreated. The Void Great Law formed a void vortex in his Dantian Qi Sea, and the sky‑filling flames he had scattered with a slash were drawn by this powerful suction, like moths to a flame, flinging themselves wildly at Hu Xiaotian.

Du Tianhuo saw the situation and was overjoyed, thinking he could surely burn Hu Xiaotian to ashes, yet the sky‑filling flames did not touch Hu Xiaotian at all; instead they clung to the blade of his Eyebrow Knife. Hu Xiaotian waved his Eyebrow Knife, the flowing fire on the blade extending into a two‑zhang‑long fire serpent. After gathering power, he used the blade as a sword, attempting to unleash one move from the Seven Slays of Heaven Sword. He had never expected to be able to emit sword qi, but this time he succeeded in one go; the fierce sword qi, together with the flowing fire, shot toward Du Tianhuo.

Du Tianhuo had thought Hu Xiaotian was surely dead, but he never imagined Hu Xiaotian could control the flames he himself had emitted—a situation he had never encountered before, except perhaps his own master could do so. Du Tianhuo raised his meteor hammer and whirled it toward Hu Xiaotian. The iron chain of the meteor hammer was cut by the sword qi Hu Xiaotian emitted in the void; the burning hammer missed its target, whistling past Hu Xiaotian's side and crashing into the gate of the Great Heroic Treasure Hall with a boom, sending flames shooting up.

The flowing fire Hu Xiaotian emitted had already reached Du Tianhuo's front; Du Tianhuo faintly felt an unprecedented sense of danger approaching. Instinctively he retreated backward, but his retreat speed was far slower than that of the invisible sword qi. The flowing fire, intertwined with the invisible sword qi, slashed against Du Tianhuo's outer armor, causing the flames on the armor to suddenly intensify, shooting up more than two feet high.

Hu Xiaotian's invisible sword qi actually failed to cleave Du Tianhuo's outer armor, although he had succeeded in projecting his sword qi this time. However, the Eyebrow Knife was not the Heavy Sword Hidden Edge he was skilled with, so he could not wield it with ease to exert maximum power; even the Blade Demon FengXingyun's sword qi after changing weapons was greatly reduced, let alone Hu Xiaotian, a half‑learned novice. Moreover, Du Tianhuo's outer armor was not ordinary—it was fire‑resistant and could also deflect blades; ordinary swords could not pierce it in the slightest.

Although Hu Xiaotian's strike had no effect, Du Tianhuo was shaken by the diminished sword qi and staggered back several steps, feeling as if his chest had been struck by a heavy hammer, oppressively dull. A surge of heat rose in his throat, and a rush of hot blood surged in his chest. Du Tianhuo forcibly swallowed the blood that threatened to burst out, clenched his fists, crossed his arms over his chest, and the blazing flames on his outer armor spread like a blanket toward Hu Xiaotian.

Hu Xiaotian met change with constancy, still employing the Void Great Law. He gathered his powerful internal energy onto the Eyebrow Knife, which became like a magnet drawing the surrounding flames toward the blade.

Du Tianhuo's pupils suddenly contracted; his hidden ultimate skill proved utterly ineffective before his opponent. While he launched all the flames from his outer armor toward Hu Xiaotian, he leapt into the air, twisted his body mid‑flight, spread his arms, and the flames on his armor reignited, turning him into a burning fire bird with wings of blazing fire, soaring toward the rear courtyard of Gu Shan Temple.

Hu Xiaotian gave a cold snort, dragged his knife, performed the Art of Soaring, and rose more than three zhang into the air. Du Tianhuo's movement could not compare to Hu Xiaotian's Art of Soaring; he had thought he could escape Hu Xiaotian, but upon looking back he saw Hu Xiaotian dragging a blazing flaming long knife, descending from high altitude toward him.

Du Tianhuo shook his arms, and the flames on his arms shot toward Hu Xiaotian like two fire arrows. Hu Xiaotian slightly rotated his right wrist, the Eyebrow Knife caught the fire arrows within it, the flames on the blade grew fiercer. Hu Xiaotian raised the long knife with both hands, first executing the Move "Lift Fire to the Heavens," then immediately following with "Power Split Mount Hua." The simplest sword technique, in his hands, unleashed its greatest power; internal energy wrapped in flames formed a seven‑zhang‑long flame in the void, propelled by the invisible sword qi, shooting forward at astonishing speed and instantly arriving behind Du Tianhuo. Du Tianhuo silently cursed his misfortune; at this moment his only hope was that his outer armor could withstand Hu Xiaotian's astonishing strike.

Yet this time Hu Xiaotian exerted about half of his power; even the Blade Demon FengXingyun would not dare to clash head‑on with it, let alone Du Tianhuo, whose martial skill was far inferior.

This blade qi and flame actually split Du Tianhuo's outer armor in half; Du Tianye's flesh could not withstand it—his whole body was cleaved in two in mid‑air, falling to the ground without blood spouting, because the flames' temperature was so high that it instantly seared his wounds shut, sealing his blood vessels.

Hu Xiaotian landed on the ground, gazed at Du Tianhuo's corpse, and a faint smile appeared on his lips. At that moment he heard a heart‑rending wail: "Old fire, old fire!" A black shadow rushed toward them like a ghost from afar.

The comer was Du Tianhuo's wife, Miao Yinghong. Seeing the corpse on the ground already reduced to ashes, leaving only two halves of the outer armor, Miao Yinghong wailed as she threw herself onto Du Tianhuo's corpse, gazing at her husband turned to ash, she went mad, her hair floating up strand by strand, her eyes bloodshot and filled with hatred as she stared at Hu Xiaotian: "I will kill you!"

Hu Xiaotian understood the vicious methods of the Variegated Gate; this time he would not give them an opening. He tapped his toe, shot forward like an arrow, and swung his Eyebrow Knife horizontally at her body.

Miao Yinghong never expected Hu Xiaotian's movement to be so swift; she, who prided herself on her agility, found no chance to evade before him. Seeing the long knife already at her face, she could no longer dodge, she laughed hysterically and submitted to Hu Xiaotian's blade cutting her body in two; at the same moment, Miao Yinghong's body spurted out dense droplets of blood like rain.

Hu Xiaotian had prepared for this; after striking his target he swiftly retreated, yet even so a few specks of blood stained his skin.

Looking at the couple fallen at his feet, Hu Xiaotian let out a long sigh. The Variegated Gate's martial arts may not be top‑tier, but these people excel at poison and deceit, making them harder to deal with than many experts.

Hu Xiaotian put away his Eyebrow Knife, looked around, but saw no trace of Xue Lingjun and the other two. He was greatly alarmed—had the Blade Demon taken advantage of his battle with Du Tianhuo to come here and abduct them?

Just as Hu Xiaotian was about to leave, a sudden scream came from nearby; he hurried toward the sound and saw a dry well. Looking down with his keen eyesight, he saw two figures below and heard Yan Nujiao panic: "Second brother, step back…"

Hu Xiaotian fixed his gaze and saw Yan Boguang stripped down to only a pair of **, lunging at Yan Nujiao without restraint; Yan Nujiao struggled desperately, but her sleeve was torn off by him.

Hu Xiaotian silently cursed Yan Boguang as a beast, daring to lay hands on his own sister; he leapt from the well mouth and kicked Yan Boguang in the leg, knocking him unconscious. Hu Xiaotian said: "Miss Yan, don't panic, I'm here."

Yan Nujiao, hearing Hu Xiaotian's voice, went limp like a deflated balloon and sat weakly on the ground. Hu Xiaotian's eyesight was extraordinary; even in the dark well bottom he could clearly see several golden needles inserted into her forehead and temples. He reached out to help her pull them out.

Yan Nujiao said: "Wait, let me speak… I… I and my second brother have both been afflicted by the Seven‑Degree Peach Blossom Rain… This drug is obscenely evil; if Sir Hu had not arrived in time, I… I fear we would have no face to meet our ancestors."

At this point Hu Xiaotian finally understood what had happened; he could not believe that woman would be so vicious as to devise such a vicious revenge—just thinking about it made one's blood run cold. If he had arrived a step later, a human tragedy would have been inevitable. Hu Xiaotian comforted Yan Nujiao: "It's fine; that woman I killed, I'll take you to look for the antidote."

Yan Nujiao shook her head: "Listen to me to the end; if we delay any longer it will be too late… Although I can neutralize this poison, I don't have enough time to prepare the antidote… Now the only way is for a man and woman to unite to dispel the toxin…" Saying this, her face flushed with embarrassment; although Yan Nujiao is naturally open‑minded, she is still an unmarried woman of the Ying lineage—such words would never be spoken to Hu Xiaotian unless it were a matter of life and death.

Hu Xiaotian secretly thought: Is Yan Nujiao trying to get me to save her?

Yan Nujiao bit her lip and whispered: "Please save my second brother!"

Hu Xiaotian stared, eyes wide: "How can I save him? I have no interest in men!" In fact he understood Yan Nujiao's meaning; she could prepare the antidote and also rescue Yan Boguang, but she herself is also infected with the Seven‑Degree Peach Blossom Rain, now as helpless as a mud‑bodhisattva crossing a river—she cannot save others. If not for her clinging to consciousness by stimulating acupoints with golden needles, she might have lost her mind.

Yan Nujiao still thought Hu Xiaotian did not grasp her meaning, so she gathered courage and pressed on: "Please save me… you can rest assured, I will never pester you again, nor will I mention this to anyone… just pretend it never happened…"

Tonight Zhangyu ran into some trouble, so the second update was only finished now, making Zhangyu reluctant to make light promises; however, having said today I would compensate, I will surely write another update to fulfill the pledge! (To be continued~^~)