Facing Three Springs

Immortal Burial Town had once been home to over ten thousand residents, with several thousand houses laid out in considerable scale. But because it lay too close to the Departed Spirit Mist Domain and was often plagued by strange disturbances, it had gradually become a desolate market with no one living there.

Most of the houses were dilapidated, their doors rotten and tiles missing; their earthen walls would collapse with a shove.

Only during coffin retrieval season would the various Nine Li tribes repair several dozen houses at the entrance of the town for supplies and rest.

But they absolutely dared not set foot within the town itself.

For they had heard a rumor: this was a cursed settlement. Its residents had not moved away—they had all turned into departed spirits, emerging en masse every full-moon night.

By noon, the blazing sun hung high.

The Netherlight Guide Envoy, Li Ling; the Cangli First Seat, Li Songlin; and the clan chief's direct grandson, Cangli, led the coffin-bearing party up the narrow slope of Dragon Slaying Pass, making their way in succession toward Immortal Burial Town several miles away.

Cangli was eighteen or nineteen, handsome and spirited. Riding a Zouwu beast shaped like a massive tiger, with a silver spear over ten feet long in hand, he gazed at the tranquil, peaceful Immortal Burial Town in the distance.

"Why is it so quiet? Where are our people? Fourth Uncle, something's not right." His senses were sharp, and he had detected the anomaly.

Standing on the back of a Green Ox, Li Songlin raised a hand, signaling everyone to stop.

After discussing matters for a moment, Cangli rode the Zouwu beast forward like an arrow, racing toward Immortal Burial Town to investigate.

"They're too damn alert! It's all your fault—why did you kill everyone? Why didn't you leave a few alive to put on a show?"

Shi Jiuzhai put on a Buddha-head mask and viciously berated the three Head Disciples behind him. Then, with a thunderous roar of "Move!", he shot out of Immortal Burial Town like a cannonball, charging toward the beast-riding Cangli.

The next instant, cries of slaughter shook Immortal Burial Town.

All the Earth Wolf King Army soldiers in monk's robes surged out from streets and alleys with weapons of every sort in hand. Quite a few skilled fighters had opened wellsprings of dharma power; moving at astonishing speed, they charged into the coffin-bearing party and immediately began cutting down all in their path.

The distinguished guest in the Buddha-head mask stood gracefully atop the entrance archway, playing a two-foot bone flute.

Its notes were mournful and choked with sorrow, like longing and resentment, like weeping and lament.

Empowered by dharma force, the Sound Wave spread across more than a dozen miles.

Dense, grating shrieks like the cries of night owls rang out among the mountains. One Man-eating Dusk Bat after another, each two or three meters long, flew from the forest.

Their bodies were pitch-black and hairless, crowned with savage humanoid heads.

Their fleshy wings were broad, and their claws sharp as knives.

Over there, the battle had already descended into utter chaos. Taking the opportunity, Li Weiyi and Gao Huan rushed out of Immortal Burial Town and fled through the reeds on the Sui River's bank.

They should have returned to the Sea of Blood and gone to the Bronze Ship. But that direction was the battlefield between the two forces. They could only wait until the fighting died down before circling back.

"I'm never randomly picking up clothes to wear again. That nearly got us killed," Gao Huan said, still shaken.

At the mention of clothes, the two were just about to take off their monk's robes.

Then they suddenly heard pounding hoofbeats behind them, startling countless water birds into flight as they crossed toward the far bank of the Sui River.

A furious shout came from the distance behind them. "Stop them! Don't let them escape and fetch reinforcements!"

In his haste, Li Weiyi glanced back.

He saw two mutated freaks nearly three meters tall, dressed in brown monk's robes, chasing down five Cangli Tribe members on fine horses. They were only a few dozen yards from him and Gao Huan, and would reach them in the blink of an eye.

They had clearly mistaken the two of them for their own again.

Li Weiyi loathed the Earth Wolf King Army's cruelty, but he had never intended to get involved in this slaughter. He simply did not have the strength to involve himself. Someone like Shi Jiuzhai would not even need to lift a hand to kill him.

Reason told him to ignore everything.

The right choice was to flee with Gao Huan as fast as they could.

Zhao Zhizhuo and the other four from the Cangli Tribe each rode a fine horse. When they saw the two figures in monk's robes ahead, their hearts sank to the bottom, their eyes filled with despair.

It was only because the First Seat had fought until wounded and carved open a gap that they had managed to break out, sent to seek aid from the nearest of the Nine Li tribes, the Beast Li Tribe. They carried the lives of five thousand Cangli tribesmen on their backs.

Unexpectedly, the two figures in monk's robes ahead stopped, glanced at them, then fled away even faster.

The flame of hope instantly reignited in Zhao Zhizhuo's eyes.

Whoosh!

The sound of something tearing through the air came from behind.

An arrow flew past, shooting dead one of the five Cangli Tribe members.

It was the mutated freak with ape-like arms. Sprinting at tremendous speed with a two-hundred-pound spine bow in hand, he fired arrows nearly two meters long—one arrow per victim—and shot down three men in succession.

The other mutated freak was shaped like a chopstick.

His legs were more than twice the length of his upper body, covered in dense fur, and his feet had turned into hooves. He ran even faster than the fine horse beneath Zhao Zhizhuo, which had drunk Zouwu beast blood.

Catching up to the fourth Cangli tribesman, he leaped onto the horse, bit into the man's neck, and sucked blood madly as eerie laughter spilled from his mouth.

In the span of moments, only Zhao Zhizhuo remained alive of the five who had broken through.

The long-legged mutated freak flung away the Cangli tribesman whose neck was drenched in blood, then pursued Zhao Zhizhuo. He cast a glance at Li Weiyi and Gao Huan farther ahead, his face full of baleful qi, and shouted coldly, "You dare desert in the midst of battle? What audacity. Even if you flee to the ends of the earth, I'll drag you back and make you beg for life but unable to die."

Li Weiyi had not wanted to involve himself in this slaughter, but upon hearing those words, it was as though the final straw had fallen, tipping the scales in his heart. The thought lingering in his mind overwhelmed reason.

Zhao Zhizhuo had opened two spring apertures. His strength was considerable, but he was already advanced in years.

Wielding a long saber, he fought the pursuing long-legged mutant freak for dozens of exchanges before gradually falling into a disadvantage.

Pfft!

An iron arrow nearly two meters long flew toward him like a spear.

Zhao Zhizhuo pinpointed its trajectory by sound and avoided the vital spots, but it still struck his shoulder, knocking him from his sturdy horse.

It was over!

The five thousand members of the Cangli Tribe would all perish here.

Blood gushed from Zhao Zhizhuo's shoulder where the iron arrow had struck. His bone was damaged, and he could no longer raise that arm; pain had numbed half his body. Yet he still struggled to his feet, prepared for one final desperate fight.

"Can't run now, can you? Hahaha!"

The long-legged mutant freak was also a Martial Cultivator who had opened two springs, but mutation empowered him, making his combat strength far greater than Zhao Zhizhuo's.

His right leg, nearly two meters long, swept through the air. The air shuddered, and the grass and trees several yards around swayed without cease. This kick could snap not only a person, but even a tree as thick as a bowl.

Whoosh!

Like an afterimage, Li Weiyi leaped out from behind Zhao Zhizhuo.

The Yellow Dragon Sword trailed a streak of yellow light.

With a pfft.

A severed leg half a meter long flew out amid a spray of blood.

Before the long-legged mutant freak could scream, Li Weiyi had already sprung into the air, driving one knee into its chest and slamming a palm onto its head. At once, blood flowed from the freak's seven orifices, and it died in the muddy puddle.

Zhao Zhizhuo could scarcely believe it. He had thought heaven had doomed the Cangli Tribe—who would have imagined the enemy would suddenly turn on one another?

"Hurry and fetch reinforcements. I'll hold that one back."

Li Weiyi fixed his eyes on the bow-wielding mutant freak pursuing them from afar and urged him on.

Zhao Zhizhuo realized this was not enemy infighting. This young man before him was risking his life to save him—and at the same time, to save the Cangli Tribe's five thousand people.

But why?

"That Ape-like Mutant is a Martial Cultivator who has opened three springs. Little brother, you must be careful!"

Knowing what mattered most, Zhao Zhizhuo gave this warning and forced his gravely wounded body back onto the horse. But the moment he got up, Li Weiyi pounced and knocked him down.

Whoosh!

An iron arrow howled over the horse's back, nearly piercing straight through him.

The Ape-like Mutant nocked an arrow, bent low as it shifted its steps, and rapidly closed in.

It was huge and powerfully built, with long, muscular arms. Like a giant ape in human form, its gaze remained locked on the dense reeds where the two had fallen.

It drew closer and closer.

A sharp whistle split the air.

A metal shard flew from the reeds.

Whoosh!

Even as the Ape-like Mutant shot an arrow toward where the metal shard had emerged, its body nimbly dodged to the right.

Before the Ape-like Mutant could draw and nock another arrow, Li Weiyi burst from the reeds. He unleashed Yellow Dragon Ascends to Heaven, stepping through empty air five times as he dove toward it.

"You traitor, courting death!"

The Ape-like Mutant swung its massive fan-like hand in a palm strike.

Li Weiyi formed the Overturning Sky Palm Seal, while channeling the hot and cold currents within his body into the Silver Thread Gloves. Silver radiance surged from his palm, as though it had transformed into a square seal three feet wide, and he met the blow head-on.

Before the clash, Li Weiyi had already prepared himself to be injured.

After all, his opponent was a Martial Cultivator who had opened three springs, a realm above his own. And its body was enormous like that of a demon, so its physical strength was naturally beyond anything he could match.

Bang!

The Ape-like Mutant staggered back six or seven steps, its palm aching as though it were about to break.

Li Weiyi was startled. He felt the old man of the Cangli Tribe had judged wrongly—this ape-like monster before him could not possibly have opened three springs. At most, it had opened only one.

So weak—what was there to fear?

Kill!