Chapter 47

"Hey, Brother Crane, take this sword of mine!"

"Watch out!"

"Here I come!"

"Haha, you're hit now!"

...

"Wait, Brother Crane... let's take a break, just a break to rest a bit..."

"Give me a moment to catch my breath... I'm not leaving, Brother Crane, please don't be so impatient, okay?"

The intense battle, or rather, the intense training, continued until it was completely dark, before it finally came to an end.

By then, Su Yi was already pale-faced, completely drained of energy, his left hand so weak it could barely be raised, and his right hand even worse, hastily wrapped in a bloodstained bandage, looking like a second-degree disabled veteran just returned from Afghanistan.

Seeing that the divine crane had finally let him off, Su Yi didn't have the strength to crawl back to the cave. He simply lay down where he was, too exhausted to even greet the crane. In a short while, he was fast asleep.

Fighting with a hundred-pound black iron sword for almost half a day, if it weren't for the unparalleled recovery speed of the *Nine Yang Scripture*, Su Yi would have collapsed halfway through. Even so, he was utterly exhausted, losing all consciousness in his deep sleep.

During his time in the forest, Su Yi was constantly in danger, and he hadn't had a good rest for over ten days. The intense battle with the heavy sword had drained all his mental and physical energy. Now, with the divine crane around, he no longer had to worry about external threats. No one could harm him under its protection! Su Yi had absolute confidence in the crane after personally witnessing its strength!

With his guard down, Su Yi slept soundly for the entire night, only waking up when the sky was bright the next morning.

"Ugh... so bitter~~~!"

As soon as he woke up, Su Yi felt a foul smell in his mouth, almost making him fall back asleep.

He rushed to a nearby pond at the edge of the valley, scooped up some water, and rinsed his mouth several times before feeling better.

Tasting the lingering bitterness, Su Yi winced, but he realized that this taste was similar to the snake gallbladders he had eaten before, only much more intense. It must have been the snake gallbladder the divine crane brought him.

Wait?

Su Yi suddenly remembered that the crane feeding him snake gallbladder seemed fine, but no matter how powerful it was, it was still just a bird. It couldn't possibly use its wings to stuff the gallbladder into his mouth. So, how did it feed him?

...

Su Yi decided it was better not to think too deeply about it.

After washing up, Su Yi took a deep breath, feeling refreshed and invigorated. He moved his right arm slightly, and to his surprise, his injuries had significantly improved overnight. The Nine Yang True Qi in his body was also very active, flowing much more smoothly than usual.

Su Yi sighed inwardly, the divine crane truly lived up to its name. The snake gallbladder it casually provided was more effective than everything he had consumed over the past ten days!

Just as he was musing, Su Yi saw a large figure wobbling into the valley entrance. As it got closer, it was none other than the divine crane. The crane was carrying several several-meter-long venomous snake corpses on its shoulders and a lotus leaf package in its beak, walking confidently over.

"Poisonous Viper?!"

Su Yi was shocked. These corpses were entirely golden with fleshy horns on their foreheads, exactly the treasure he had been searching for for over ten days.

He couldn't believe that what he had been unable to find for ten days, the crane had managed to bring back several of them in just one night.

The crane walked up, put down the snake corpses, and handed the lotus leaf package to Su Yi. Inside were several large snake gallbladders, still fresh with blood, clearly just extracted.

"Brother Crane, did you feed me the Poisonous Viper gallbladder earlier?"

The crane nodded.

"No wonder..." Su Yi understood why the effect was so good.

"Gugugugugugugu..." The crane made a strange sound, then patted Su Yi's shoulder, as if encouraging him.

Su Yi's face turned awkward. He asked, "Are you saying my martial arts are too weak, so you brought me the snake gallbladder to help me train and fight with you?"

The crane nodded vigorously.

Su Yi was speechless, turning away and shedding silent tears. Damn, I've been looked down upon by a bird!

"Gugugugugugugu..." The crane suddenly made a few more sounds, then slapped the black iron heavy sword with its right wing, making the sword fly up and hit Su Yi.

Su Yi quickly caught the sword with his left hand, feeling that it seemed slightly lighter than yesterday. It seemed the Poisonous Viper gallbladder not only greatly benefited his internal cultivation but also significantly increased his strength.

Seeing Su Yi catch the sword, the crane became excited, making strange sounds and charging at him.

"Are you serious? More fighting?" Su Yi cried out, "Can't we take a break?"

The crane ignored Su Yi's cries, charging forward and slamming down with both wings.

Su Yi quickly dodged, shouting, "At least let me bury Senior Dugu's remains properly? I haven't even built the grave yet!"

...

The crane's charge paused for a moment. After a while, it turned around and nonchalantly went to drink from the pond, its back showing a hint of awkwardness.

Su Yi was speechless, realizing that the crane was a martial arts fanatic who forgot everything once he started fighting.

Fortunately, he now had an excuse to avoid the fight.

Su Yi lightly wiped the non-existent sweat from his forehead and started digging the grave with the black iron heavy sword, while the crane watched him intently, seemingly both supervising and urging him to finish quickly so they could fight again.

Holding the heavy sword in his left hand, Su Yi was deeply troubled. His sword techniques were all light and agile, but if he fought the crane, he had to use the heavy sword. After all, the crane, no matter how powerful, was still a bird. Using the Qingming Sword against it might accidentally injure it.

However, the black iron heavy sword was too heavy. With Su Yi's current cultivation, he couldn't use any proper sword techniques, only brute force. And the crane's strength... thinking about how one peck from the crane had nearly crippled his right hand, Su Yi chuckled and decided to double the size of Dugu Qiu Bai's grave.

Today was different from yesterday. With his right hand injured, his work efficiency was much lower. He dug for the whole morning but accomplished less than he did in an hour yesterday. However, Su Yi wasn't in a hurry. Seeing that it was noon, he took the snake corpses, gutted them, and roasted them over a fire.

The crane, which hadn't eaten cooked food in years, immediately devoured the fragrant roasted snake meat.

Su Yi, however, couldn't afford to eat. He took the snake gallbladders and hid to one side. This stuff was unbearably bitter and foul. If he ate it after a meal, he would probably vomit everything out. Better to eat it first.

Struggling to suppress his nausea, Su Yi grimly put one of the snake gallbladders in his mouth.

"Ugh..."

He had intended to swallow the gallbladder whole, but it was too large to fit in his mouth. After much effort, it finally went in, but a slight touch of his teeth caused it to burst, filling his mouth with a soul-crushing bitterness.

Tears streamed down Su Yi's face. This was truly a bitter experience.

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