Chapter 515: Whale Swallowing Great Method (Lower)

Hu Xiaotian heard the words and couldn't help but be startled: "What is the Whale Swallowing Great Method?"

Zhou Mo said: "It is an evil martial art that can absorb others' inner strength for one's own use, quickly enhancing one's internal power, but because it is too vicious, it is despised by people of the martial world; it is said to have already been lost."

Hu Xiaotian whispered: "Isn't that the Star Absorbing Great Method?" I didn't expect such a thing seen in martial arts novels to actually exist.

Zhou Mo had never heard of the Star Absorbing Great Method, and asked somewhat confused: "What is the Star Absorbing Great Method?"

Hu Xiaotian said: "I also heard it from others; it's almost the same as the Whale Swallowing Great Method you mentioned."

Zhou Mo said: "Whether it is truly the Whale Swallowing Great Method still needs to wait until I see the corpse to say."

Hu Xiaotian said: "There must be experts hiding around us; one has already gone missing, two have died..."

A voice came from behind: Princess Anping's voice: "Little bearded one, what exactly happened?"

The two stopped speaking; Hu Xiaotian turned to look, only to see Princess Anping accompanied by Zi Juan walking toward them, her pretty face also covered with a layer of panic; she had also heard the earlier screams, so she was also somewhat nervous.

Hu Xiaotian stepped forward and smiled: "Princess, don't worry, there's nothing serious..." Before he finished speaking, he heard another scream.

Princess Anping's pretty face instantly turned bloodless, and she exclaimed in alarm: "What exactly happened?"

Hu Xiaotian smiled: "No matter what happens, Princess, don't be nervous; you just need to stay here, and you will be completely safe."

Outside came the sound of hurried footsteps; it was Wen Boyuan mobilizing troops to launch a comprehensive search of Lu Family Village; Zhou Mo whispered: "The enemy is hidden while we are exposed; staying here is not wise."

Hu Xiaotian and he thought of the same place. Although this village is deserted, there are many houses, and one can hide anywhere; the best choice now is to protect Princess Anping and leave, then re-establish camp in an open area—only this way can danger be reduced to the minimum.

Hu Xiaotian had the guards outside find Wu Jing Shan and Wen Boyuan to discuss withdrawing from the village. Not long after, the two arrived together. Wen Boyuan's face was grim; in this short time he had already lost four subordinates, and he hadn't even seen what the attackers looked like.

Hu Xiaotian explained his idea; actually Wen Boyuan also had this thought—this village is really strange, and besides, there are many houses here, the roads are tangled and complex, convenient for hiding, and searching is also not easy.

Wu Jing Shan had been scared out of his wits; hearing they were to leave, he immediately nodded: "Leaving this place is best. Just now outside the village I saw a mound of graves and felt something odd." Since the three had reached an agreement, Wen Boyuan immediately ordered: pack up and leave Lu Family Village at once.

Although most of the troops are brave and skilled fighters, without seeing the enemy's traces they have already lost four lives; everyone feels uneasy and wishes to leave this strange village as soon as possible. However, there are exceptions. The Tang brothers insist on not leaving; so far they have had no news of their younger sister Tang Qingxuan, who suddenly disappeared.

Princess Anping got onto the carriage, seeing Hu Xiaotian always accompanying her left and right. Her heart eased a little, but thinking of Tang Qingxuan's disappearance she frowned again and said gloomily: "I don't know if Qingxuan will be in danger."

Hu Xiaotian said: "It should be nothing serious; perhaps she just went for a walk alone. Let's first withdraw from the village, then after dawn tomorrow we can send people to come search."

Princess Anping nodded; Hu Xiaotian supported her as she got onto the carriage.

Zi Juan held the snowball and followed behind her; as she tried to step onto the carriage, the snowball suddenly broke free from her embrace and jumped down, running straight into the courtyard. Zi Juan cried out in surprise: "Snowball, come back!"

Hu Xiaotian was closest; he lunged forward in a single stride, trying to catch the snowball before it entered the courtyard, but he was still a step too late; the snowball ran into the courtyard and stopped, barking nonstop at something on the ground. Under the moonlight, that thing reflected a pale white glow; Hu Xiaotian stared intently and saw it was a bone. He felt somewhat puzzled—just now it seemed he hadn't seen this thing? Where did this bone come from? He looked around, making sure no one else was nearby, and relaxed.

The snowball grabbed the bone in its mouth; Hu Xiaotian sighed: "Snowball, come here!" He opened his arms to pick up the snowball, but suddenly felt his feet tighten; looking down, he saw a blue silk ribbon tightly binding his ankle. Hu Xiaotian hastily drew his black gold dagger from his waist to cut the ribbon, but as he raised the dagger, a strong pulling force came from the ribbon, and his body was dragged as if riding clouds and mist toward the east side of the courtyard.

The bone in the snowball's mouth fell to the ground with a patter, then it barked loudly; Zhan Peng followed closely behind Hu Xiaotian and rushed into the courtyard, just seeing Hu Xiaotian being dragged backward in flight; he nocked an arrow, aimed at the blue silk ribbon, and shot—whoosh! —intending to sever the ribbon in the middle and rescue Hu Xiaotian.

However, the arrow was about a foot away from the ribbon when it was suddenly struck by a pebble, changing direction and slantingly embedding into the ground.

Hu Xiaotian screamed as he was flung to the corner of the wall, falling to the ground, as if sucked into the earth beneath his feet; his body instantly vanished without a trace.

At that moment several soldiers rushed in after him; Zhan Peng took a torch from one soldier's hand; the spot where Hu Xiaotian was sucked into the ground revealed an opening—this is an abandoned cellar, often used in the countryside to store crops, very common; earlier a soldier had specifically inspected it and found nothing abnormal. Zhan Peng crawled down with hands and feet; the cellar is about two zhang deep; at the bottom it extends sideways, but the soil layer of that side passage has collapsed, blocking the entrance; Hu Xiaotian's whereabouts are now unknown.

Zhan Peng was greatly alarmed; this is no small matter; he patted the collapsed area with his hand; the collapsed area is not small; he didn't know whether Hu Xiaotian had been captured or unfortunately buried underneath; he raised the torch and shouted upward: "The cellar has collapsed—quickly get tools to dig out the soil!"

Hu Xiaotian was first dragged into the cellar; after falling from a height of two zhang, he was tossed about in all directions; before he could react, he was pulled all the way along a winding, twisting underground passage at high speed; Hu Xiaotian kept screaming, having been dragged at least a hundred zhang, when he felt the soil beneath his buttocks suddenly become hard—he should have reached a stone floor; not long after, his buttocks reached the top of a steps; along the sloping steps he was dragged downward, suffering repeated impacts that almost shattered his bones; the pain in his buttocks was almost unbearable, his voice became intermittent due to the jolting of his buttocks on the steps.

Finally reaching level ground, the dragging stopped. Hu Xiaotian, exhausted from this ordeal, had no strength left to stand; he lay sprawled on the ground, groaning inwardly; after a while his numb buttocks began to feel something, burning hot as if two fires were lit; he reached out and touched—his winter trousers were worn through, his buttocks were bare, fearing his skin might also be scraped; amidst the pain, he also felt a bit fortunate—lucky it was his buttocks that hit the ground; if it had been another position, wouldn't his little brother have been worn away too?

After moving his hands and feet a bit and confirming no injury to his bones or tendons, he relaxed; Hu Xiaotian whispered in the dark: "Who are you?" His voice echoed in the darkness, from which he inferred he should be in an open space.

After a while, a delighted voice came from the front right: "Hu Xiaotian, are you Hu Xiaotian?"

From the voice he judged it should be the missing Tang Qingxuan; although Tang Qingxuan is here, the one who dragged him down earlier could not possibly be her—her martial arts are far from reaching this level. She must have been captured before him.

Hu Xiaotian stood up; by now his eyes had slightly adjusted to the darkness; he cleared his mind and listened carefully; since he cultivated the Formless Divine Skill, his perception in all aspects has greatly improved; any movement within a radius of five zhang should not escape his ears; Hu Xiaotian did not rush to answer Tang Qingxuan's question because he knew there was still a extremely terrifying enemy nearby; he must first find him before speaking.

Apart from Tang Qingxuan's breathing, he detected no one else; Hu Xiaotian felt strange—it seemed the opponent's martial arts had already surpassed his understanding; with his cultivation he could not sense them at all. Hu Xiaotian reached to feel for his black gold long blade, but found his waist empty; that black gold long blade must have been dropped earlier; he pulled a dagger from his boot that he had received from Long Xi Yue, and quietly cut the silk ribbon bound around his calf.

In the darkness came Tang Qingxuan's voice again: "Is it you?" She was obviously captured before Hu Xiaotian, very frightened; hearing Hu Xiaotian's voice, she felt as if she had seen a savior, instantly letting go of her past grudges and proactively asked.

Hu Xiaotian responded: "Tang Qingxuan?"

Tang Qingxuan excitedly said: "It's me! I had my acupoints sealed, I can't move."

Hu Xiaotian followed the voice to Tang Qingxuan's front; because it was pitch black below, he couldn't see her current appearance. Tang Qingxuan whispered: "I... I have a fire striker on me."

"Where?"

"In my bosom..." Tang Qingxuan said, then felt it improper; her pretty face flushed slightly; how could she tell him this—if he took the fire striker, wouldn't he have to reach into her bosom?

Hu Xiaotian secretly laughed; if not in this situation, he would certainly have understood her words as a come‑on. He whispered: "Men and women should not be intimate; that's not convenient."

Tang Qingxuan only then remembered this fellow had already become a eunuch, basically not a man, and she had nothing to be embarrassed about. (To be continued~^~)