Chapter 43

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Chapter 43

As if reading his mind, Fu Lu smiled, “Just those people, wanting to counter me by holding my son hostage? They sure don’t know their own strengths, why do you think I was ranked number one of the seven masters?”

Wu Yanfu smiled slightly, “If your son wasn’t a Gu Mu, you wouldn’t be worth anything.”

“Haha, you think I’m still at the level from back then?” Fu Lu touched the head of the young male in his arms as he lifted the nine holed bili towards his lips, “Tian Su, back in the Yue Yin Palace, I was in second place because I wasn’t able to beat you, but it might not be so now. Plus, you had help from others back then!”

As he finished, he softly blew into the bili, along with a high note, seven figures emerged on both sides of the bloody water, landing on the bridge’s pier. They formed a Seven Killing Formation, the bows and arrows in their hands all aimed directly at Bai Tan. The seven’s movements were all perfectly in sync, yet their heads were all being pulled as if they were string puppets.

Puppets? No wonder they could get past the “Awakened One’s” attack. This type of cheating! Bai Tan snickered disdainfully, he collected neili within him, a great wind stirred around him as his clothing flew around, creating a formless barrier.

“Such a scene and event, it sure is ironic, isn’t it?” Fu Lu chuckled, “That day, you ordered them to aim for that little evildoer in secret just like this, pretending to be fighting against the ‘Mara’ Wu Yanfu by yourself. Shooting him three times in a row, causing fatal injuries to him, all of the Yue Yin Palace couldn’t not respect you. Too bad, you still lost to him.”

Bai Tan’s heart tightened, giving the white-haired male a disbelieving look.

Fu Lu started to laugh out loud, he picked up a bow, with no arrows, he stared at Bai Tan, and slowly extended the bowstring fully.

“That day, your savior Tian Su did just so, shoo, and directed ten arrows at your shizun all at once. One arrow shot his shoulder, one arrow shot his abdomen, one arrow shot his kneecap. Your shizun only blocked and didn’t attack, having to endure three shots. Forced to allow them to come to the front of his body, even before the blades connected with him, the blade’s wind had already shaken and broken his meridian channels. He was spitting out fresh blood, ah ya ya, that scene of slaughter, it was so much more interesting than what happened at The Great Assembly of Wu Lin!”

Bai Tan stood there stunned, his eyes widened, for a moment, all his ears heard were the blurry and chaotic noises from his memory.

But Fu Lu’s hand happened to let go then, the seven people behind him raised their bows, numerous arrows immediately flew at him.

“Be careful!” Wu Yanfu yelled, he turned around to protect the young male behind him. He grabbed onto his hands, spun around and jumped, blocking off the attacks with the swinging of his blade. Bai Tan reacted fast, instantly pairing up with his attacks, the two stuck their bodies close together. It was as if they were one person, with ten fingers intertwined, the cold air of Shiyue exploded, its blade was like lighting. Their sleeves were like an umbrella, deflecting all the oncoming arrows, in the blink of an eye, they broke through the web of arrows.

“Lin’er.”

Fu Lu held onto the bili’s body, Fu Lin blew into it softly, an odd flute sound came out. It was like the sobs of a woman and the cries of a child; it was so pitiful that it pierced the ears.

The Gu Ren moved upon hearing it, while the bow and arrow formation kept the two trapped, he vigorously sprinted over. His movements were extremely fast, so fast that many after-images appeared in an instant, appearing from unpredictable directions around the two. His skills were actually one level above the “Awakened One”, he could dodge the blade attacks swiftly. Countless little venomous bee-like insects crawled out of his ghost vines, even the ghost vines on Wu Yanfu’s body couldn’t block them, there were so many times where they were so close to getting to Bai Tan’s body.

Then he recognized that the little insects were the “Illusion Bugs” that the palace master of Yue Yin Palace raised, they could create illusions, they were a gu insect that was stronger than the Soul-Bewildering Butterflies. Wu Yanfu’s eyes sharpened, he pushed Bai Tan away with his palm, then blocked the venomous insects with his bare hands, “Use ‘Zhu Tian Hua Mo Zhang’, use the blade like an instrument, disturb the sounds!”

Bai Tan landed on the bridge pier, even though he watched as Tian Su went against the oddly fast Gu Ren, his own movements weren’t too panicky or slow, he used “Cui Hua Zhe Zhi Shou” to calmly handle the situation. His posture was elegant and smooth, all from the fact that he was taught by Wu Yanfu, he couldn’t help but be secretly surprised, then he immediately followed the other’s instructions. As he half-kneeled on the bridge-pier, he used the fingerings of “Zhu Tian Hua Mo Zhang” on the blade, as if he was playing the konghou. The wind from his palm merged into one with the blade, Shiyue trembled constantly, letting out beautiful high-pitched notes, instantly breaking through the strange, sorrowful flute sound.

Fu Lin let out a “kuh” as he threw up a mouthful of fresh blood, causing him to cough violently as the flute sound stopped.

The Gu Ren’s movement stilled, Wu Yanfu hit his star acupoint with one finger, he howled painfully and immediately cowered behind Fu Lu and Fu Lin.

Wu Yanfu glanced back at Bai Tan, his heart was delighted…

The little fox really was talented, able to learn anything that he was taught.

But Bai Tan avoided his eyes, he still couldn’t dismiss Fu Lu’s words from before.

Seeing Fu Lu move behind the seven-person arrow formation, looking like he had the intention of escaping, Wu Yanfu quickly chased after and Bai Tan wasn’t gonna be left behind either. The master and disciple attacked at the same time, with a strong atmosphere and force, they beat all the puppet bow and arrow users to a pulp. Nearing Fu Lu’s front, they coincidentally reached out at the same time to grab at the Rengu Nian Beads around his neck.

Fu Lu saw and dodged it as fast as he could, he had to worry about protecting the treasure on his neck, but also care for his son in his arms. In the end, he couldn’t dodge fast enough, the Rengu Nian Beads that were held together by a flexible web of the sky spider was pulled harshly by three different people’s hands at the same time, it broke instantly. Under the clashes of three different neili, the beads all fell apart!

None of them knew the beads couldn’t be separated from the string, upon the separation, many of them fragmented on the spot. Once Fu Lu saw, he obviously couldn’t just let it happen, he screamed as if he’d gone mad, grabbed the few that hadn’t broken and took them. Then also reached his hand out to hit the rest of the beads harshly, he’d rather destroy them than let them be stolen by someone else.

In an instant, over half of the beads fell into the bloody water, Bai Tan and Wu Yanfu were fast in both eyes and hands, yet each of them could only get half of them respectively. Fu Lu’s face was ferocious, he let out cracking sounds as he chewed the mouthful of beads in his mouth and swallowed them down. He then grabbed Fu Lin from the side, jumped onto the Gu Ren’s back, before they turned and jumped down to the bloody water under the bridge.

Wu Yanfu looked down from the bridge, seeing that Fu Lu and the others had already escaped, and knowing that the bloody water was full of corpses, the beads contaminated by the murderous aura wouldn’t have the ability to save a life anymore. Thinking of Si You’s life being on the brink, pain filled him, his heart tightened, he turned to look at Bai Tan and interrogated, “You also got the Rengu Nian Bead, right?”

Bai Tan held on tight to the half bead in his hand, hiding behind his back, “What about you?”

Wu Yanfu didn’t open his mouth to answer, he got closer to him step by step, Bai Tan’s expression turned cold. Knowing that if this half-bead was stolen, then he would never get the chance to know the events of that year, so how could he let Wu Yanfu steal it. He turned and escaped towards the cave at the end of the stone bridge and came face to face with Mi Lansheng and the others.

Bai Tan sprinted fast, putting the Rengu Nian Bead into Mi Lansheng’s pocket, he yelled loudly as he pointed at Wu Yanfu behind him, “Sect Master Mi, I was only able to get half of a Rengu Nian Bead, there’s another half in that person’s hand!”

Wu Yanfu stared at Bai Tan, his brows furrowed, he took a few steps back then used qinggong, leaping across the bloody water like wind, disappearing into the mist in an instant, no one could see his figure anymore. “Our sacred treasure was……” Mi Lansheng looked at the half of a bead in his palm, his face was blue.

Bai Tan was worried that the Old Sa Man won’t fulfill his promise, so he explained, “I’ve* tried my best. Fu Lu was extremely despicable, afraid that the Rengu Nian Beads would be stolen by others, once he saw that he wasn’t able to protect it anymore, he destroyed them with his own hands.”

“How could that happen?! It was definitely you evildoer who did this on purpose!” Mi Lansheng spit his words out harshly, his tiger-eyes were burning with fire. The Tu Luo Po Zhang Jue within his sleeve was already taken out, attacking in his direction. Bai Tan reacted extremely fast, holding up Shiyue to take the hit, with an instant “keng” sound, icy air shot out, fire sparks poured out.

“I* did it on purpose?” Bai Tan’s whole expression was covered in frost, his phoenix eyes froze, “Good, good! Yeah, it was me* who stole your Rengu Nian Beads, swallowed it in one go, all for eternal life and to walk over the world, so what about it?! If you don’t think I’m* of worth, then compete against me on the stage of The Great Assembly of Wu Lin!”

Once he finished, he went from anger to laughter, he raised his head up as he lifted up his sleeve sown in full silver lines to wipe his lips, smiling in extreme satisfaction, as if he’d really swallowed the Rengu Nian Beads and could live for hundreds of years now.

“You!” The veins on Mi Lansheng’s neck protruded, “The Great Assembly of Wu Lin, for such a traitor like you, you aren’t worthy of participating! From today onwards, you are an enemy to the three thousand disciples of our sect! We won’t allow for you to exist under the same sky as us!”

“Then let’s wait until I have the spot of Wu Lin Overlord and talk. Sect Master Mi, the future is still long.” Bai Tan finished, then pushed him, he waved his sleeve and walked towards the stone cave by himself, not even caring about the unconscious Ji Du.

“Sect Leader Bai, wait.” The Old Sa Man who’d been silent the whole time finally opened his mouth, yet Bai Tan didn’t pay him any attention. He turned a deaf ear as he used qinggong, coldly going far away with large meteor strides.

Mi Lansheng stuffed the half of a Rengu Nian Bead into his sleeve in pain, then spoke angrily, “Elder, why did you want him to stay? He broke his promise and ate the Rengu Nian Beads himself, such an arrogant evildoer, it is best to kill him!”

The Old Sa Man shook his head, letting out a long sigh, “That isn’t it when Sect Leader Bai walked by earlier, my old self could see clearly that Sect Leader Bai’s soul was almost gone. He doesn’t have much time left, how could he be one that swallowed the Rengu Nian Beads, sect master didn’t see and truly wronged him.”

“That……” Mi Lansheng suddenly didn’t know what to say, why had that little evildoer pretended like that then? If what he said was true, all the Rengu Nian Beads were destroyed by Fu Lu, then didn’t that mean there was no hope of getting them back anymore?

“Sect Master, there is no need to panic now, my old self thinks that not all the Rengu Nian Beads could’ve been destroyed. As long as there is a slight hope, Sect Master must not be discouraged.” The Old Sa Man turned towards the stone cave, walked into it shakily as he slowly spoke, “Sect Leader Bai fought to get the Rengu Nian Bead with all his might to give it to us, it was definitely because of what my old self had promised him before. Even though he only got half a bead, but he didn’t swallow his words, my old self should also carry out my promise. Even though he’s still so young, he is about to die, it isn’t easy for him either.”

“That’s because he committed such a sin of killing his own shizun, now there’s karma.” Mi Lansheng replied after turning his neck, thinking of Bai Tan’s pretentious attitude just now, stuffy air filled his chest. An indescribable bitterness formed in his mouth……so he was……close to his death?

Thinking of it, his steps sped up, chasing after.

Bai Tan traveled in the stone cave by himself, the fire fold[1] in his hand emitted a weak light, yet it wasn’t able to disperse the thick black darkness all around, leaving countless strange figures disappearing and reappearing on either side of the cave.

He didn’t dare turn his head to see what those shadows were, afraid that he would lure Wu Yanfu’s soul over again. But he couldn’t stop contemplating the past event that Fu Lu mentioned, the confusion within him became even heavier, almost drowning out the fear.

If Fu Lu wasn’t just trying to separate them, then that year, the old demon was……

Was hurt from the three shots in order to save him?

Translator: Crispyfry

Proofreader: Grumpykit

QC: Xiao

Translator’s Comments: Excuse me Wu Yanfu??? Wh- Wu- Wha- he just ran off like that, I thought he knew of Bai Tan’s situation of almost-bouta-die since he was all powerful and shits, and I honestly forgot about Si You’s existence completely but Wu Yanfu just gotta go and save him I guess

Xiao’s Comments: How could he have known? Bai Tan never told him…this isn’t looking too good…sigh…

Translator’s Notes:

[1] Fire fold (火折子) – a tight roll made from rough straw paper that’s been burnt, then it is stored in a bamboo-made tube, the fire can be activated from one blowing onto it sharply or shaking it, and it can last for a long period of time. https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E7%81%AB%E6%8A%98%E5%AD%90/738583

Chapter 42 Chapter 44

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