Chapter 42: Nine-Headed Snake (Part 2)
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Xu Yan indeed had to run, because the bandits in Yuan Mountain Stronghold hadn’t yet reached the time for the poison to take effect.
He wasn’t certain whether he could handle an innate martial artist, but he was absolutely certain he couldn’t handle the growing number of Yuan Mountain bandits.
When Lu Hai made his move, a group of cooks had all come out to watch the excitement. Though they stood far away, there was no guarantee they wouldn’t come to help. As long as Lu Hai was injured, with one command from him, countless bandits would surely gather.
Fleeing into the mountains, Xu Yan’s purpose was to avoid everyone’s eyes and ears. Otherwise, he would definitely be on a dead-end path.
The two pursuers gradually moved away from the stronghold. Lu Hai ran extremely fast, much faster than ordinary bandits – this was the strong physique brought by years of cultivation. However, Xu Yan’s speed wasn’t slow either. The fifteen-year-old youth’s body was naturally agile, and years of stone-throwing skills had made Xu Yan’s physical condition far superior to ordinary people.
Most importantly, there was Xu Yan’s eyesight.
The deep mountains at midnight were rugged and uneven, overgrown with weeds, scattered with rocks everywhere, and filled with many crooked old trees. Vines often hung down from the trees. Fleeing through mountain forests was inconvenient, especially at night. Places with heavy tree shade could block the moon, creating pitch-black areas where one couldn’t see whether there were mud puddles or tree roots underfoot.
What appeared as darkness to ordinary people wasn’t so in Xu Yan’s eyes.
As long as he concentrated all his attention on his eyes, his left eye could see the surrounding scenery clearly even in darkness where one couldn’t see their own hand. However, this ability couldn’t be sustained for too long, and overusing his eyes would be very uncomfortable.
Xu Yan rarely used his left eye’s night vision ability unless he was searching for medicinal herbs for his master in the deep mountains and was delayed until late at night. To avoid nocturnal beasts, otherwise a half-grown child like him staying in the deep mountains until midnight would inevitably become prey for wild animals.
Wild beasts rarely appeared around Yuan Mountain Stronghold, and even if they did, they had long been hunted and turned into food. However, Lu Hai pursuing from behind was a true fierce tiger. Xu Yan had no choice but to activate this night vision ability unknown to anyone when fleeing into the deep mountains, specifically running toward dark places. For a time, no matter how fast Lu Hai was, he couldn’t catch him.
Lu Hai couldn’t see clearly in very dark places. Even a third-meridian martial artist’s ability to observe in all directions couldn’t see the surrounding scenery in pitch darkness, let alone him, an innate martial artist who had only opened one meridian.
The chase continued for more than half an hour. The two had already moved far from Yuan Mountain Stronghold. Xu Yan’s speed grew faster and faster, while Lu Hai, driven to fury, pursued relentlessly. The two circled around in the mountain forest, chasing endlessly.
Just as Xu Yan was trapped in the crisis of being hunted, the first scream appeared in Yuan Mountain Stronghold at midnight.
The scream came from the big house on the west side of the stronghold. The fat leader who was gathered with a group of subordinates gambling suddenly cried out and fell to the ground, clutching his stomach and rolling around. This was the same person who had threatened Xu Yan in the kitchen during the day to empty his chamber pot. He liked spicy food, so Xu Yan had specifically increased the amount of chili for him. Naturally, the poison mixed in the chili would also be more concentrated.
The nearby minions discovered their leader’s stomach pain and hurriedly gathered around. At this moment, the fat leader’s entire face began to contort, with bean-sized sweat drops dripping continuously. He clutched his cramping stomach and roared: “Quick! Quickly find me a doctor! Are you all blind? Go quickly! I’m dying of pain! Ah!”
There was no doctor in Yuan Mountain Stronghold. Qi Yuan Mountain was over a hundred li from the nearest town. Looking at this person’s condition, even if someone went to find a doctor, he would have died long before they returned.
In the middle of the night, the bandits were unwilling to leave the mountain. They all hesitated and made excuses, passing the responsibility from one to another. Finally, a thin bandit couldn’t avoid it and steeled himself to go out and find a horse. If he walked, he wouldn’t reach his destination even by dawn.
With one foot inside the door and one foot outside, the thin bandit who was about to look for a horse suddenly felt severe abdominal pain. He screamed and fell to the ground, rolling around like the fat leader, in extreme agony.
One person having stomach pain was nothing, but two people having the same symptoms was somewhat strange.
Before the bandits in the house could figure out what was happening, more people began suffering from abdominal pain. The house filled with wailing sounds like a haunted house. Two bandits who were temporarily unaffected were so frightened their scalps went numb, and they stumbled out of the house.
Upon leaving the wooden house, the two bandits realized that it wasn’t just the big house that had become haunted – the entire Yuan Mountain Stronghold was filled with wailing sounds. Those painful howls were extremely tragic.
The full moon hung in the sky on this Mid-Autumn night.
The original bandit stronghold had finally become a slaughter field. In this earthly hell, fierce demons ran rampant!
These weren’t true ghostly spirits but came from human hearts. At this moment, they silently watched everything from above the stronghold, with neither joy nor sorrow in their eyes.
Since the destruction of Riding Cloud Temple, the small Taoist had released the fierce demon in his heart for the second time, transforming into a monster. He wanted to slaughter this entire stronghold, to devour all these man-eating tigers!
Human hearts were like demons. Since the Yuan Mountain bandits had long ago released the devils in their hearts, killing and harming people without restraint, then they should all die. This was the violence hidden deep in Xu Yan’s heart, and also the resentment left by the Zhao family girl in the well.
“What are you all howling about?”
By the latrine, Zhang He clutched his stomach with trembling legs. He couldn’t even remember how many times he’d been to the latrine today. This morning he had casually picked two wild fruits in the mountains for a snack. After eating them, his stomach began churning violently. Never mind the evening’s roasted lamb – he hadn’t dared drink even a sip of water today, yet he still had diarrhea.
“What kind of fruit was that? Next time I can’t casually eat wild fruits. This is life-threatening. Oh my mother…”
Leaning against the wall, Zhang He listened to the ghostly wailing from the stronghold for a while. He thought those bandits were making noise because their gambling had gotten heated, so he didn’t think much of it. When his stomach rumbled again, he hurriedly rushed back into the latrine – he wouldn’t be coming out for at least half an hour.
The wailing from the stronghold couldn’t travel very far – at least Xu Yan, who had fled into the deep mountains, couldn’t hear it.
If he couldn’t hear it, Lu Hai, who was pursuing relentlessly not far behind, certainly couldn’t hear it either.
“Little bastard, don’t let me catch you!”
After chasing for nearly an hour, such desperate flight made even an innate martial artist feel tired. Lu Hai cursed breathlessly: “Today I’m definitely going to dismember you!”
Whoosh!
Following Lu Hai’s cursing, the sound of something cutting through wind suddenly came from the darkness ahead.
Quickly raising his hand, Lu Hai immediately used his long blade to protect his face from the moment he heard the wind sound. Worthy of being a first-meridian innate martial artist, this kind of defense while running at high speed was surprisingly fast.
With a crisp “clang,” a stone slightly larger than a bird’s egg struck the blade face, sparking a shower of tiny sparks in the darkness.
The hand holding the blade went slightly numb, and Lu Hai’s heart jumped in alarm.
A stone with this kind of force – if he hadn’t blocked it in advance and it had really struck his head, getting a big bump would be minor, but having his eyes smashed would be terrible.
In the tree shadows ahead, the little Taoist’s figure was no longer fleeing but standing silently in place. Lu Hai cautiously protected his vital points with his long blade and shouted: “Didn’t expect it – you actually have some skills, kid! Why aren’t you running anymore? If you’re not running, then die!”
Suddenly raising his blade, Lu Hai’s body charged forward fiercely. The moonlight was intense. Though he couldn’t see Xu Yan’s face clearly, he could determine the other’s position. With a full-force strike carrying dim flowing light, he slashed down violently.
