The sword light had barely pierced through the cave entrance when the monster felt a suffocating sensation, as though its throat had been slit.
A danger like a natural calamity!
In an instant, even the wrinkles carved as deeply as knife marks across the monster's face seemed to split apart. "Huff!" Both heads opened their mouths at once and spat out brilliant tongues of flame. These two sprays of fire were fiercer and more violent than the one the monster had just unleashed, as if even the air inside the cave were about to burn.
It passed through as if nothing existed!
Yet that streak of sword light seemed capable of cleaving even space itself. It cut straight between the flames, and with a single flash, one of the Two-Headed Monster's heads flew into the air.
Blood spurted out. The monster's blood was actually ink-green! Roaring in agony, it lashed the ground with its crocodile-like tail, sending broken stones flying everywhere.
But the youth seemed to have forgotten that the monster was nearby. His unblinking eyes were fixed solely on that faint flying sword.
With a mere flash of sword radiance, that terrifying monster had lost a head. This was power!
When would he possess such power? When could he, like those people, ride sword light and no longer have to stand on the ground looking up?
The youth stared at that sword light, his heart shaking with awe. Yet the sword light had already wheeled around like a glimmer on water and slashed down at the monster again.
Under the faint radiance, the youth saw that the monster was drenched in ink-green blood, making it look even more horrifying. Yet its remaining head was filled with fear and pleading. Its hands curled before its chest as it repeatedly bowed. The youth suddenly felt that this terrifying monster was like a child who had done something wrong and was begging for forgiveness, pitiful beyond measure. Having suffered hardship and loneliness since childhood, the youth was especially prone to sympathy. Seeing the faint sword light about to fall again, he instinctively stepped in front of the monster.
"Idiot!"
Yuan Tianyi's flying sword was incomparably swift. The youth had barely reached the monster when the sword light was already at his chest. Even though the flying sword was linked to Yuan Tianyi's mind and was pulled back in time, it nearly cut the youth cleanly in two. "It wanted to kill you, yet you wanted to save it. Since that is the case, do as you please!" Enraged, Yuan Tianyi directly recalled his flying sword, deciding to leave the youth to his fate.
Shattered rocks came rolling down!
In his fury, Yuan Tianyi's flying sword had shot straight through the cave roof. The roof was formed of hard rock, several zhang thick, yet his sword light cut through it like tofu without the slightest resistance, piercing through it in an instant and rising like a soaring dragon amid wind and rain. The youth shuddered at the sight, thinking that if that flying sword had swept across him, then even if he had been forged from iron, he would have been cut into two pieces. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his chest. Looking down, he saw blood dripping from it. Even though Yuan Tianyi had withdrawn the flying sword instantly, its sword aura had already left a shallow wound on his chest.
After such successive violent exertions, the youth had already been swaying on the verge of collapse. With this new wound added on top, he felt the world spinning even more violently. His legs gave way, and he fell to the ground. The wounds across his body were tugged open, and the pain made him let out another muffled groan.
I saved this monster, but will it still try to kill me? This thought flashed through the youth's mind. When he turned to look at the monster again, however, he found that it seemed utterly terrified of Yuan Tianyi's sword light. It had shrunk into a corner of the cave, curling itself into a ball and trembling violently.
Seeing how pitiful the monster looked, the youth's sympathy surged again. He could not help comforting it, "Don't be afraid. He is one of the rarest people in this world. Since he said he would not kill you, he definitely will not harm you again." The youth held Yuan Tianyi in the utmost respect. Before Yuan Tianyi had accepted him as a disciple, he did not dare call Yuan Tianyi his master and could only refer to him as "he."
The monster seemed to understand his words. Its trembling gradually stopped, though its eyes remained full of terror and fear.
The wounds all over the youth's body ached as if they were about to split apart, while blood continued to flow from his chest. He no longer paid attention to the monster. Tearing strips from his already tattered clothing, he began binding his wounds. By the time the bleeding finally stopped, he had no strength left at all and collapsed onto the ground. After lying there for about the time it took to burn several incense sticks, he heard rustling sounds. The monster had come to his side.
Although the monster had lost a head, it did not seem to be in mortal danger, and the bleeding from its wound had already stopped. The two tiny fiery-red eyes on its remaining head spun like little fireballs. Its mouth hung open and its teeth were bared, making it appear extremely ferocious. "What, are you going to kill me? If you kill me now, I do not have the strength to resist at all. If you want to kill me, then kill me." Looking at the monster's appearance, the youth lying on the ground gave a weak, bitter smile.
"Hiss, hiss." The monster stared at him stupidly for a while, then suddenly nodded repeatedly and bowed to him.
"So you want to thank me, not kill me?" The youth froze, then understood. He immediately shook his head. "No need to thank me. You had one of your heads cut off. Are you all right? Are those fruits yours? I was not trying to steal them. I had simply never seen them before and was curious, so I wanted to pick one and take a look." "Hiss, hiss." Only after speaking did the youth remember that the monster could not understand human speech. Seeing it gesture wildly after hearing his words, he found himself rather amusing and could not help laughing.
When the youth laughed, the monster seemed to feel embarrassed as well. Its curled hands scratched at the grizzled hair on its one remaining head. That action looked even more comical, and the youth could not help bursting into laughter again. The monster also grinned, and for a moment, it no longer seemed ugly or terrifying in the youth's eyes.
"Do you live here?"
"Is this your home? Could you let me stay here for one night? I truly do not have the strength to climb down right now."
The youth and the monster spoke past each other for a while, and he had no idea whether it understood him at all. After recovering a little strength, the youth had just sat up from the ground when the monster suddenly held out a hand. Resting in its palm was a sprig of emerald-green grass, which it offered before him.
"What is this?" The youth saw that the leaves of the emerald-green grass did not look particularly unusual. It merely had a small round bulb-like rhizome, with orderly roots, as though it had been carefully pulled out intact.
"Hm?" The moment Yuan Tianyi saw the monster take out that plant through the Light Splitting Mirror, he paused. A gleam flashed through Old Zhao Nan's amber-colored eyes as well. "Zhanxikezha Grass?"
"I did not expect this Mountain Salamander, which has yet to amount to anything, to know how to repay kindness." Yuan Tianyi did not answer Old Zhao Nan. He merely gave a cold snort, and the Light Splitting Mirror, which had shown every detail within the cave, suddenly vanished without a trace.
The wrinkles on Old Zhao Nan's face smoothed out as he revealed a knowing smile. "Master, he does not judge good and evil by beauty, ugliness, or origins. He is kindhearted. That is something no teaching can instill. And that is precisely what makes Master different from those people outside."
Yuan Tianyi remained silent and slowly raised his head to gaze at the sky. Amid the misty rain, he could see fluctuations of aura that few people in the world could see, yet he still could not make out the karma of this world.
As the youth examined the sprig of emerald-green grass the monster had offered him, he saw it gesture repeatedly, its hands constantly moving toward its mouth. Somewhat startled, the youth asked, "You want me to eat this?"
The moment it heard the youth's words, the monster hissed continuously and nodded without stopping.
"What does this do?" the youth asked again. The monster gestured for a while longer, but he still could not tell what it meant. Because Kongtong had previously tricked him into swallowing the Mò Chà Pearl, the youth was rather hesitant now. But seeing the monster gesture repeatedly with such sincerity written across its face, he hesitated briefly before placing the entire sprig of emerald-green grass into his mouth. The leaves were extraordinarily bitter when chewed, with an indescribable fishy stench. He felt nothing as he swallowed it, but moments later, a warm current suddenly surged up from his lower abdomen. Like fire, it traveled straight through his liver, gallbladder, heart, and throat, then rushed to the crown of his head with a booming crash. The youth could not help crying out, and a stream of white hot vapor actually burst from his mouth.
The youth was both shocked and baffled. He only felt as though his whole body had been immersed in a hot spring, warm and comfortable. In no time at all, he felt full of vigor and could not help leaping up from the ground. To his own astonishment, that leap carried him more than a zhang into the air. When he landed and steadied himself, the youth saw that although some of his wounds had split open and begun bleeding, his entire body was filled with strength he had never possessed before. What is this? How could it be so miraculous? Overwhelmed by surprise and delight, he stretched his arms and legs and could not help shouting aloud.
"Hiss, hiss." The monster gestured again. He still could not tell what it was trying to say, but he could see that it was very pleased and happy as well.
"Now I ought to thank you instead!" Filled with joy, the youth imitated the monster and bowed. "You gave me this to eat. Perhaps I will be able to climb all the way to the mountaintop today."
Upon hearing the youth mention the mountaintop, the monster seemed frightened again and shrank back. The youth hurriedly waved his hands. "Do not be afraid. He is a good man. He only hurt you because he was afraid you would harm me."
The monster hissed and gestured again, but it seemed ultimately too frightened. Carefully, it plucked a fruit from that black-stemmed shrub and held it in its mouth. No matter how the youth tried to explain further, it only bowed repeatedly to him before leaving the cave, climbing down along the iron chain and vanishing from the youth's sight.
By then, the torrential rain had just begun to ease. The iron chain was somewhat slippery, but the youth's strength had greatly increased, and he wanted to climb to the summit as quickly as possible before that strength vanished. Thus, after watching the monster disappear, he once more climbed upward along the iron chain.
At first, the youth worried that he might fail to grip the chain and fall from the mountain. But the farther he climbed, the easier it felt. It was as though his hands and feet contained inexhaustible strength. He climbed faster and faster, until later he was like a spider walking upward along the thread it had spun, his climbing speed more than several times faster than before.
Suddenly, the youth saw that the iron chain was fastened to a pillar-like boulder. With a leap, he vaulted upward. When he landed and stood firm, he discovered that he was already standing atop the mountain!
Mount Luofeng Peaks lay spread out before his eyes!
"I finally made it up!" For a moment, the youth did not know what he felt. His emotions surged like a raging tide, utterly beyond his control.