Chapter 729

Peng Yijiang's fist had already approached Xi Yan, the green phosphorescent fire still could not successfully block the insect carapace; Peng Yijiang sacrificed the outer insect carapace as the price, exchanging for another punch striking Xi Yan—this deal was profitable no matter how you looked at it, he did not believe Xi Yan could still withstand his two heavy punches.

Xi Yan's rotating body suddenly halted, likewise throwing a punch toward Peng Yijiang; Peng Yijiang's eyes had been injured by the poison needles beforehand, he could not see the scene before him, relying solely on listening to the wind to locate and launch his attack. Xi Yan's right hand not only wore a glove, but also had three steel needles each about half a foot long clamped between her fingers. Her technique was extremely strange, the speed of her strike extremely fast, yet the steel needles made no sound of tearing the air.

Peng Yijiang, unaware of the deception, had his fist land squarely on the steel needles; by the time he realized and tried to retract his fist, it was already too late—the steel needles broke through the insect carapace, pierced his fist, and sank deep into his finger bones. Peng Yijiang screamed in agony; at the same moment, two differently colored lights burst onto his insect carapace—the white light was the previous white snake, the golden light was the ever-dormant golden snake. The two small snakes burrowed into the carapace and swiftly approached Peng Yijiang's flesh.

Peng Yijiang bit his tongue tip, his entire insect carapace suddenly swelled up—with a bang! —the carapace actually split into pieces, turning into a sky‑raining shower of insects that swept toward Xi Yan. If not to evade the attack of the two poisonous snakes, Peng Yijiang would not have discarded the insect carapace he had painstakingly gathered.

Xi Yan had long anticipated Peng Yijiang would use this move; as he dispersed his carapace and launched his attack, she had already retreated, her silver flute emitting a sharp whistle. At that moment, from outside the palace walls came the flapping of wings—hundreds, even thousands of crows flew in, that flock of crows swooped toward the poisonous insects scattered all over the ground and in the air, beginning to peck at them.

The two small snakes were also blown away along with the dispersing insect carapace; upon landing, they immediately twisted and continued their pursuit of Peng Yijiang.

Hu Xiaotian brandished Hidden Edge Sword and swung it fiercely—tonight's efficiency was really too low; since his duel with Li Yishui, he had not once successfully emitted sword qi.

Li Yishui had a mouthful of rainwater; his cheeks puffed up and down like a toad's, then suddenly he spat out a puff of poisonous mist with a pooh! —this fellow was repeating his old trick, spitting poison juice and mist being his specialty. Hu Xiaotian hurriedly stepped back. At this moment Peng Yijiang was also forced back by the two small snakes to the center of the courtyard; suddenly he shifted his attack target, waving his right hand—five black, sharp claws actually detached from his flesh and shot toward Hu Xiaotian's back.

Xi Yan let out a cry of surprise—she could not have imagined that Peng Yijiang, in such a state, could still launch an attack at Hu Xiaotian, and it was already too late to go rescue him.

Although Hu Xiaotian's back faced Peng Yijiang, his extraordinarily keen perception still sensed the opponent's sudden assault; his body performed a near‑ground‑level backward lean to dodge the claws aimed at him, and his large sword followed the motion, thrusting backward. The sword tip was still three feet away from Peng Yijiang.

Peng Yijiang had thought this sword would never hit him no matter what, yet his lower abdomen suddenly felt a sharp pain—Hu Xiaotian's sword qi, in this move, actually succeeded in being released, silently piercing Peng Yijiang's lower abdomen.

Peng Yijiang was shocked beyond measure—Hu Xiaotian had actually reached the stage of emitting sword qi externally, and what frightened him even more was that the sword qi had precisely pierced his dantian; the extremely sharp sword qi penetrated his abdomen, his dantian qi sea, which had always been emanating from his lumbar vertebrae. Peng Yijiang's true qi instantly scattered; he clutched his abdomen and staggered backward, his shattered lumbar vertebrae unable to support his body. At this moment two lights leapt up from the ground—it was the golden snake and the white snake seizing this rare opportunity, viciously biting the arteries on both sides of his neck.

Hu Xiaotian had not yet had time to straighten up when Li Yishui's next wave of attack arrived—the iron tube aimed dozens of black water arrows at his body, all of them shooting past. To avoid Peng Yijiang's sneak attack, Hu Xiaotian had left his whole body exposed; now wanting to block the all‑penetrating black water arrows was impossible. He could only close his eyes to prevent the black water from scalding his eyes, feeling countless stinking black water striking his face and body.

Seeing his sneak attack succeed, Li Yishui had not yet had time to rejoice when a black long whip swept in from the side, crack! —it lashed his neck, tightening like a spirit snake around his throat—yet it was Xi Yan who arrived, using the long whip Li Yishui had previously dropped to strangle his throat.

Li Yishui had to abandon the iron tube, using both hands to grab the whip, heedless of the barbs sinking deep into his palm flesh.

Xi Yan angrily said: "Antidote!"

Li Yishui's mouth corner revealed a mad smile, his cheeks puffing up again.

At this moment the door of the inner court was slammed open, a great iron hammer flew in like a windmill, whistling, and smashed squarely onto Li Yishui's face—Li Yishui's mouthful of poison had not yet had time to spray out before the hammer completely smashed it into his stomach; the hammer shattered his brains, obviously he could no longer live.

It was Zhou Mo and Xiong Tianba who arrived just in time; after Xiong Tianba smashed open the gate, seeing the scene before him, he did not ask any questions, swung a flying hammer and blasted Li Yishui to death. Moreover, because Li Yishui's throat had been bound by the long whip, he had lost the ability to dodge; otherwise he would not have been so miserably smashed to death by a child's hammer.

Seeing Li Yishui smashed dead on the spot, Xi Yan's mind went blank at once; then she looked at Hu Xiaotian lying face‑black in the mire, she did not have time to look at Hu Xiaotian, hurriedly rummaged through Li Yishui's belongings—Li Yishui had dozens of bottles and jars on him, most looking alike; seeing the scene, Xi Yan became so anxious she was about to burst into tears.

Xiong Tianba and Zhou Mo, seeing the tragic sight, immediately ran to Hu Xiaotian's side; Xiong Tianba said: "Uncle Hu..."

Xi Yan shouted sternly: "Get lost! Don't touch him!"

The child was startled, thinking: I didn't provoke you, why are you so fierce? Zhou Mo frowned, because Xi Yan still wore Cai Lan's mask, he could not immediately recognize her true identity; feeling resentful, a little palace maid dares to shout at me—old man, my status is surely higher than yours! Yet he was cowed by Xi Yan's aura, his mouth muttered twice, finally still daring not to retort.

Xi Yan picked up those porcelain bottles one by one, smelled them, and found a bottle; she returned to Hu Xiaotian's side, aligning the bottle's mouth with him.

Hu Xiaotian had just inhaled a lot of the stench, his head felt dizzy from the fumigation, but he had not lost consciousness; smelling that stench again, he felt his chest churning, he sat up abruptly and vomited a huge pile with a wah!

Seeing Hu Xiaotian's face mottled blue and white, Xi Yan worried: "Does the skin on your face hurt?"

Hu Xiaotian said: "It doesn't hurt!" He reached out to touch.

Xi Yan said: "Don't touch!" Unfortunately the reminder came too late—Hu Xiaotian's finger had already touched the poison‑stained face; at this moment the rain grew heavier, after being washed by the rainwater, the black poison on Hu Xiaotian's face was cleaned off in a moment, revealing his originally fair and smooth complexion.

Xi Yan blinked her eyes, hardly able to believe what she saw—the black water arrows of the Banlan Sect were among their most sinister hidden weapons; if struck by a black water arrow, the skin would instantly burn and rot, yet Hu Xiaotian seemed completely unharmed—how could that be? Had the black water arrows failed? Or was Hu Xiaotian himself immune to all poisons? Remembering Hu Xiaotian's forced kiss on her and her punishment for him—originally she wanted his mouth to swell for at least three days and three nights, yet unexpectedly not even an hour had passed before Hu Xiaotian had fully recovered to normal; it seems his physique is extraordinary. Especially this facial skin—it's really thick. Anyway, as long as Hu Xiaotian is fine, Xi Yan's anxiously hanging heart finally settled.

Outside came sounds of chaos; Hu Xiaotian said to Zhou Mo and Xiong Tianba: "You two go guard the gate first—no one may enter unless it's Huo Shengnan herself; whoever dares to enter this courtyard, kill without mercy!"

"Yes!"

After the two left, Peng Yijiang's lifeless body slowly collapsed to the ground; the poisonous insects all over the ground were eaten clean by the crows, yet after the crows ate the poisonous insects they were themselves killed by the poison—crow corpses lay everywhere. Xi Yan looked around, suddenly her throat heated, she puffed out a mouthful of fresh blood—this blood spurted onto Hu Xiaotian's face.

Hu Xiaotian had been frightened by Li Yishui's spray, feeling like one who, after being bitten by a snake ten years ago, fears even a well rope; he shrank his neck, and only when he saw the blood at Xi Yan's lip corner did he realize what had happened; he grabbed her fragrant shoulders in one pull, preventing her from falling into the mire.

Xi Yan panted: "I am injured…… all this can only be left to you to clean up……"

Hu Xiaotian nodded, reached out, and lifted the human‑skin mask from her face; beneath the mask was Xi Yan's true face—now she was as delicate and beautiful as a white camellia, lovable and pitiable, no longer the former sinister and vicious demoness.

Lying in Hu Xiaotian's embrace, Xi Yan felt an unprecedented warmth and steadiness; she wearily closed her beautiful eyes, crystal‑like water droplets glittering on her long black lashes, unknown whether they were rain or tears.

Hu Xiaotian recalled how she had been helpless and at a loss after he was poisoned, recalled her reprimand of Xiong Tianba, and suddenly a nameless feeling stirred in his heart; he held Xi Yan and walked out of the wind and rain, into the corridor, back to her room. Outside he heard the urgent sound of horse hooves—reinforcements had already heard the news and were rushing over.

Hu Xiaotian laid Xi Yan on the bed, stretched out his big hand, gently brushed aside the messy hair in front of her forehead, lowered his head, gazed at her pale cherry lips from blood loss, hesitated a moment, then finally leaned down and lightly pressed his lips to her smooth forehead; Xi Yan's delicate body trembled slightly, her fists unconsciously clenched. Her mind went blank, her delicate body felt as if on fire, her lovely cheeks bloomed two unavoidable blushes.

Hu Xiaotian whispered, using only a voice they could both hear: "Sleep easy, with me by your side, no one can harm you!"

Fourth more delivered, thanks to brothers and sisters for your support—proved that the Medical Union's readers have infinite potential; as long as we unite, everything is possible.

Zhangyu also happily discovered that his energy exceeded his imagination; indeed, even in this ordinary, uneventful period he could still burst forth, and even harvest over a hundred monthly tickets—thanks to your support, I have no reason not to strive!

Brothers gave face, Zhangyu must keep his head down and keep typing! Also, brothers with monthly tickets, look at Zhangyu's diligent typing and give a bit more encouragement! (To be continued~^~)