Chapter 1911: [Withered Tree Meets Spring] (Part 2)

Yuan Mu said: "Blood Asura, using blood to nourish qi, transforming qi to supplement essence, is an heretical external path. You abandon the proper martial arts and instead indulge in depravity. Know that such heretical skills, though they can achieve astonishing results in the short term, also harbor great danger. When I taught you martial arts back then, did I ever tell you there is a heart method called Withered Tree Meets Spring?"

Ming Hui's expression changed upon hearing this; he strained to break free, but at this moment he felt as if countless roots were seeping into his body.

Yuan Mu said: "The demonic nature of blood and qi can nourish your physique just as it can nourish others; today, this poor monk will teach you that evil cannot prevail over righteousness."

Ming Hui felt the pressure from Yuan Mu's whole body double; those thread-like inner energies, like roots, penetrated his skin pores without hindrance and entered his body. Ming Hui gathered the strength of his Dantian Qi Sea, trying to shake Yuan Mu off him, but the blood-killing inner energy from him not only failed to harm Yuan Mu, instead it nourished him, making his inner strength even greater.

With one waning and the other waxing, the scarlet blood mist around Ming Hui began to gradually fade; for each part that faded on his side, Yuan Mu's pressure increased by one part. Ming Hui felt Yuan Mu truly was like a withered tree encountering spring, rapidly becoming lush and verdant from the nourishment of his blood and qi, while he himself was constantly drained by Yuan Mu, his mind plunging into unprecedented panic. The more he tried to escape, the more he could not escape.

Hu Xiaotian had originally resolved, regardless of what Yuan Mu said, to join forces and kill Ming Hui to preserve Yuan Mu's life, but Ji Feihua stopped him with a glance; the situation on site had already reversed, clearly developing in Yuan Mu's favor. Hu Xiaotian suddenly recalled the story of the cat and the tiger; it seemed that as a master, one must keep a hidden trump card to deal with rebellious disciples like Ming Hui, good-for-nothings.

Ming Hui and Yuan Mu were entangled, inseparable; their bodies simultaneously collapsed onto the snow, clinging together in a ball, rolling down the steep slope like a sphere. Hu Xiaotian was about to give chase when he saw the surrounding snow rolling up like waves. Ji Feihua reacted first, slapping a palm forward onto the snow—boom! —a loud bang, the snow exploded into a large pit, from which a white figure shot up, swift as a fleeing rabbit, lunging straight at Ji Feihua while emitting a sharp howl.

Ji Feihua stared intently; before her eyes was a **** monster with a human shape but covered entirely in white fur, standing a head taller than a normal person, with extremely long arms hanging past the knees, eyes blood-red, feet like bird claws, and when leaping to attack it used both hands and feet.

Ji Feihua struck again with an invisible palm blade from a distance; with her inner strength she had thought it would be enough to cleave the monster in half, but although this palm sent the monster flying sideways, it did not inflict serious damage. The monster rolled in the snow, then rose unharmed, its blood-red eyes fixed on Ji Feihua, then, using hands and feet together, it ran like a leopard and lunged at her again.

Hu Xiaotian looked up and saw that above Fan Yin Shan, too, snow waves were rolling; at first he thought it was an avalanche, but with his keen eyesight he quickly recognized that the rolling snow waves were actually a great army of white-haired monsters advancing toward their position.

Seeing the scene before her, Ji Feihua could not help but change expression; a single white-haired monster was already this formidable, and the monsters coming from Fan Yin Shan numbered far more than thousands. Although everyone in their camp was highly skilled in martial arts, their numbers were too few, and facing a tide-like surge of monsters they were bound to fall into a situation of being outnumbered.

Boom! Boom! Two white-haired monsters leapt from the snow, one left, one right, attacking Hu Xiaotian. He raised his Profound Iron Sword, twisted his body, and swept in an arc; clang! clang! Two sounds like hitting a baseball sent the two monsters flying. They flew over ten zhang, crashing heavily onto the bare rock, yet they did not shatter as Hu Xiaotian had hoped; instead they rose unharmed. The white fur on their backs bristled with anger, their cries grew more shrill; forelegs touched the ground, hind legs pushed off the snow, and their bodies sprang up again.

At this moment, the white-haired monsters surging from the peak were already before their eyes. Ji Feihua slapped the snow with a palm; the accumulated snow surged backward like a tide, quickly piling up a snow wall before her and Hu Xiaotian, and she shouted loudly: "Retreat!"

As Hu Xiaotian and Ji Feihua were preparing to withdraw temporarily to avoid the sharp edge, they heard a low birdcall from the air and saw myriad birds flying overhead, led by the Flying Eagle and the Snow Eagle; it turned out that after Xia Zhangming had rescued and settled Xima, he immediately returned to reinforce, just in time to witness Hu Xiaotian and Ji Feihua's perilous situation.

The Flying Eagle swooped down; Hu Xiaotian leapt onto its back. Ji Feihua activated her wing armor and took to the air, flying low and diving, raising her Light Sword to begin slaying the monsters below; the light blade flashed, cutting a monster in two on the spot. Overjoyed, Ji Feihua told Hu Xiaotian: "These monsters fear the Light Sword!"

Hu Xiaotian sheathed his Profound Iron Sword again and drew the Lone Moon Slash from his waist—as the saying goes, "brine curdles tofu; one thing subdues another." The situation had been urgent; he had only wanted to unleash his deadliest technique, not expecting even the Profound Iron Sword to be useless against these monsters. The Lone Moon Slash and the Light Sword are weapons of the same nature; Hu Xiaotian swung his right hand, sending an arc of light low into the air, with continuous puff! puff! puff! sounds as the white-haired monster tide surged forward, only to collapse like waves.

Seeing that a battle of many against few was about to turn into a one-sided slaughter by Hu Xiaotian's side, Xia Zhangming lacked the means to slay the white-haired monsters; he could only direct the birds to circle in the air to provide psychological intimidation, and the main force for killing the enemy naturally became Ji Feihua and Hu Xiaotian.

Having found the white-haired monsters' weakness, in an instant they had slain dozens of them; the monsters finally realized the opponent's prowess and all turned to flee toward Fan Yin Shan.

Hu Xiaotian and Ji Feihua could not lightly abandon the hard-won victory; they pursued the white-haired monsters straight to the mountaintop, where an abandoned hall stood. The monsters fled into the hall and scattered into the ruins' crevices, vanishing completely in an instant.

Hu Xiaotian leapt down from the Flying Eagle's back, and Ji Feihua landed beside him; at this point not a single white-haired monster remained. There must be some mystery beneath the hall, otherwise so many white-haired monsters would have nowhere to hide.

Hu Xiaotian shouted loudly: "The guests have arrived at your doorstep—why won't you show yourselves?" His voice, full of vigor, echoed throughout the abandoned hall and reverberated long in the distant valley.

After a good while, no one responded.

Ji Feihua coldly said: "Looks like just a shrinking-headed turtle!" The provocation tactic was also useless.

At this moment Liu Yuzhang and Master Xiangyin also arrived one after another; they had not seen the scene of white-haired monsters besieging Hu Xiaotian and Ji Feihua, but along the way they had seen many corpses of those monsters and could imagine how brutal the earlier battle had been.

Liu Yuzhang said with a sinister tone: "Since they refuse to show themselves, let's toss a few Xuanti Lei in, reduce this ruin to dust, and by the way slaughter all the disciples and descendants of that Fan Yin Si!" Though his voice was shrill, its penetrative power was no less than Hu Xiaotian's.

It seemed Liu Yuzhang's words finally took effect; a low voice sighed from underground: "Why must you press us so hard?"

Upon hearing that someone finally responded, everyone's hearts simultaneously filled with surprise and delight.

That voice then said: "You have Xuanti Lei, I don't? You can destroy this place; I can destroy the whole Fan Yin Shan—worst case, we all perish together!"

Everyone had thought the other side had yielded, but unexpectedly his tone suddenly hardened again.

Liu Yuzhang refused to yield: "Then let's try!"

Hu Xiaotian thought that if they came hard it probably wouldn't work; having a red face also needs a white face, he chuckled: "Old sir, actually there's nothing in this world that can't be solved; why don't you come out so we can talk face to face? How does that sound?"

The other side let out a grating, strange laugh: "Kid, you've made a clever scheme; if I were to go out, you'd all gang up on me, treating me like a three-year-old child easy to deceive!"

Hu Xiaotian said: "Old sir, you seem utterly lacking in sincerity?" While speaking, he carefully distinguished the direction of the other's voice, intending to pinpoint their hiding place, but the voice seemed to come from all directions, making it impossible to accurately locate their hideout.

"Sincerity? Forget it! Let that girl come in, and I'll speak with her face to face!"

Everyone was stunned; besides Hu Xiaotian and Liu Yuzhang knowing Ji Feihua's identity, the others were unaware, so their first reaction was: where did this girl come from?

Hu Xiaotian sent a mental transmission to Ji Feihua: "Don't fall for her trick!"

At this moment the old man muttered something unintelligible; nobody heard it clearly, in fact they didn't understand, and they stared at each other in bewilderment. Ji Feihua smiled faintly: "Senior, may I come see you?" By saying this she effectively admitted she was the girl he meant.

Hu Xiaotian still wanted to advise, but seeing Ji Feihua's resolute gaze he knew her decision would not change; his blood surged and he shouted loudly: "May I go see you?"

The old man coldly replied: "Besides her, none of you are qualified!"

Ji Feihua had already stepped slowly toward the right front; amid a rumbling sound, a cave appeared before her—apparently the old man's earlier strange words had already pointed her the way. She gazed at the dark mouth of the cavern, her expression calm as before. Hu Xiaotian's concerned voice reached her ears: "Feihua, don't go!"

Ji Feihua didn't even turn her head, stepping steadily toward the cave.

First update delivered; today I feel alright, striving for two updates! (To be continued~^~)