Clouds gradually piled up in the sky, followed by the rumble of thunder.
Swish.
Suddenly, a Black-Clad Man appeared beside Sweeping Mountain Tiger and his two companions.
The figure, wearing a black mask with Silver Thread, was none other Zhang Rongfang, who had just defeated Xue Chengyu.
His gaze swept over the three people on the ground, and a look of regret appeared in his eyes.
"Qing Su".
"Here!" Qing Su quickly approached from behind and knelt on one knee.
"This person is still breathing. Take him back for treatment." Zhang Rongfang pointed at Ding Yu.
"This person was born with his heart on the right side, so it can be said that he was not destined to die."
Qing Su was stunned for a moment, then stepped forward to check and found that Ding Yu was indeed still breathing, and her face immediately showed surprise.
"Go." Zhang Rongfang said, then quickly chased after Xue Chengyu in the direction he had left, disappearing into the Lin Li in the blink of an eye.
He hadn't gone far into the forest when he suddenly stopped, lunged upwards, and used his Eagle Claw to land on a tree branch.
Puff.
A mouthful of blood gushed from his mouth. It was quickly covered by a hand and slowly slid down his robes.
He had previously overused the Critical State, causing injury to his body. Then, in his final attack, he used Fivefold Heavy Mountain, which damaged his internal organs.
But the immense power of that attack also frightened Xue Chengyu, who immediately turned and fled.
In his situation, he would never risk his life for a moment of impulse. So he turned and fled.
He thought Zhang Rongfang could deliver a second blow like that.
Zhang Rongfang kept putting on a brave face in order to avoid being exposed.
Once he arrived here, in a secluded place, he could no longer hide his feelings and felt a sense of relief.
The counter-damage from the Fivefold Heavy Mountain and the terrifying recoil from Xue Chengyu's fight erupted simultaneously.
That is to say, he had just completed the Golden Core stage, and since he had not been injured much before, his life force was extremely high and his energy loss was minimal.
As a result, the internal organs are extremely strong.
At this Attribute Panel, his health had dropped by thirteen points, leaving him with only 32 points.
Once the Critical State was resolved, the injuries all rushed back up at once.
'It's alright, my life force hasn't continued to decline, so my condition has clearly stabilized. The self-healing resistance of the Golden Core cultivator is truly remarkable. No wonder those seventy- or eighty-year-old Nascent Soul, even with head injuries from falls, can recover quickly and without any lasting impact.'
Zhang Rongfang recalled Void One Daoist and the Wen Xiu from Qinghe Temple, and gradually understood.
If it didn't have real effects, the Great Dao Sect wouldn't have flourished so much. Nor would so many Martial Cultivators have switched to cultivating Civilian Skill.
Many Martial Cultivator, upon reaching a certain age, will supplement their training with Civilian Skill.
After tidying himself up a bit, he looked up and gazed in the direction Xue Chengyu had left.
"I'll let you off this time. But next time, it won't be so easy."
He soaked his sleeves with blood and turned to head towards the Golden Wing Tower headquarters.
The Ten Thousand Mile Villa still needs his help to save the day.
Although he was seriously injured at this time, he could still easily deal with some martial artists below the Eighth Grade without much effort.
The more skilled a person is like him, the easier it is to crush opponents who are weaker than him, and the less damage they suffer.
However, it's different if it's Ninth Grade who engages in a direct confrontation. Every head-on clash actually leaves subtle damage.
After all, forces are reciprocal.
Even a drop of water can wear away a stone; even with such a large difference between the stone and the water, something bad will happen.
Not to mention that the differences between people are far less significant than that.
***"The Unfamiliar Mosquito Net"
Ding Yu slowly opened her eyes, still slightly dazed.
His mind was a complete blur, with the last vestiges of the sounds he heard before he lost consciousness remaining.
By then, his vision had become blurry due to excessive blood loss.
I could only hear people talking around me.
"This person's heart was born on the right side. Take him back."
The voice was muffled, then it turned out to be a woman's voice.
Then he lost consciousness.
Now, Ding Yu slowly sat up, feeling an unbearable pain in her left chest.
But he knew he had been given a second chance at life.
He was born with an exceptionally strong physique, but this time he was still instantly killed by that mysterious man with a single palm strike.
That speed!
It was terrifying. His consciousness barely registered what was happening, but his body couldn't keep up at all.
When he was hit in the left chest, he only managed to raise his right hand halfway.
He hurriedly used his Breaking Limit Skill, but it was still too late.
One palm strike.
He lost.
If he hadn't been born with a heart on the right side, he would be dead by now.
Ding Yu closed his eyes, recalling the astonishment of his two brothers before their deaths, stunned and unable to believe it.
Those scenes kept flashing through his mind.
He raised his hand and covered his face.
Tears were seeping through her fingers.
"If only I hadn't been so arrogant in the first place..."
He was the one who harmed his two brothers; he was too arrogant. That person... He closed his eyes, desperately trying to recall that person. Although he couldn't see the face, he still remembered that Deep Blue Dragon Mask!
"You're awake?" A cold female voice sounded from beside the bed. "When we found you, you were already on the verge of death. You lost too much blood and your sternum was broken. Although we gave you medicine and set your bones, whether you survive or not depends on yourself."
"I didn't expect you to actually survive," the woman said coldly.
"Did you save me?" Ding Yu lowered her hand and wiped away the tears on her face.
"No, it was my family who discovered you were still breathing. Otherwise, no one would have noticed, and you would have died anyway lying there," the woman replied.
"Who is your father? I, Ding Yu, will remember this life-saving grace. I will repay it in the future!" Ding Yu said in a deep voice.
"My master is the Golden Wing Tower Spirit Envoy you are about to challenge," the woman replied coldly.
Ding Yu opened her mouth, but for a moment she didn't know what to say.
The opponent he originally intended to attack actually became his savior.
"Now that I'm saved, what about my two brothers? What about them?" Ding Yu paused for a moment, still clinging to the last glimmer of hope as she asked.
"They're completely dead. They all had their hearts pierced, and they died instantly."
The other party's answer completely extinguished his last glimmer of hope.
Ding Yu's face turned deathly pale. After a moment of silence, he suddenly rolled over and got out of bed.
"I want to go see them!"
Despite the intense pain throbbing in his chest, his face remained expressionless, as if the pain wasn't his own at all.
Qing Su glanced at him and noticed the blood seeping from his chest.
"Come with me."
She turned and led the way out of the room.
Ding Yu then noticed that there were faint traces of smoke and fire everywhere where she was lying.
It looks like there was just a big fire here.
The two walked out of the room, where the place was in a mess, and many people were cleaning up.
These people were all dressed in monochrome black or white outfits, and wore the same Black Mask on their faces.
The mask only revealed a pair of eyes, without any patterns, smooth and unforgettable.
He looked at himself and realized that he was also wearing similar pure white clothes, but without a mask. The clothes were also looser.
"On the day we challenged you to a duel, our Golden Wing Tower headquarters encountered a formidable enemy, and we have only just repelled them," Qing Su explained briefly from the front.
Ding Yu didn't speak, but stared blankly at her surroundings.
As he passed by a building ruin, his pupils suddenly contracted as he saw rows of corpses laid out on the ground.
The corpses were neatly arranged, and someone was spraying liquid mist onto them with something like a shower head.
Rows upon rows of corpses, at a glance, numbered no less than a hundred! And at the very edge, he immediately spotted the bodies of his brothers, Xu Xin and Sun Xiaohui.
Looking at the two corpses, Ding Yu's eyes welled up with tears.
He rushed forward, trembling, and knelt down beside the two men.
Tears fell to the ground drop by drop.
"Grass!!"
Suddenly, he slammed his fist hard into the ground.
Bang bang bang bang!! Punch after punch, blood began to seep from his chest, but he was completely unaware.
"The master said you owe him a life. Remember to repay it," Qing Su reminded him softly from behind.
"Also, if you want revenge, you can go to him. He knows who killed your brother."
Ding Yu knelt on the ground, her teeth clenched tightly.
Qing Su, standing behind him, watched his pained back and suddenly felt a strange sense of loneliness.
Even if one cultivates martial arts to the level of Ding Yu, what good will it do in the end? In Jianghu martial world, people come and go, and a moment's carelessness can mean the difference between life and death.
No one can guarantee that they will live to the end.
She suddenly understood why the Golden Wing Tower was primarily a place for hiding things.
Why do many organizations and Lineage value harmony?
Why do so many people, despite their own immense strength, still form cliques and leverage others' influence?
In the entire Wu Mountain, apart from the adults, how many people are stronger than Sweeping Mountain Tiger Ding Yu?
But what about now?
If Ding Yu hadn't insisted on courting death, why would he have implicated his two brothers? At this moment, Qing Su suddenly understood many things. She also understood what she wanted to pursue in the future.
The highest level of victory in military strategy is to achieve victory without fighting.
So that's the principle? Whether it's forming cliques to leverage power or hiding in the streets, the same principle applies: valuing harmony above all else.
The ultimate goal is to avoid war.
They use their power to intimidate others, forcing outsiders to submit and retreat, becoming so powerful that they dare not make a move.
Conceal yourself so that the enemy cannot find you to take action.
By treating others with kindness, one can prevent them from even feeling hostility, let alone resorting to violence. In this way, as long as there is no war, one will not be harmed and can continue to exist.
"Actually, you're quite lucky." A short man walked slowly over; it was Bao Ning, who was also injured.
He glanced coldly at Ding Yu.
"If the master hadn't severely injured that Sea Dragon Jiaoren first, and you hadn't been so reckless as to provoke him, you probably wouldn't even have left with a whole corpse."
"Sea Dragon Jiaoren?!" Ding Yu was suddenly shocked.
"That guy... someone that strong, he was still seriously injured???"
His heart skipped a beat, and he looked up, staring intently at Bao Ning.
"Can't you see he's covered in blood?" Bao Ning replied. "After that guy was severely injured, he tried to run away, but the three of you stopped him. Tell me, what would your reaction be if you were in his shoes?"
Ding Yu closed his eyes, recalling that time. The masked man was indeed covered in blood. So, I can't even beat a seriously injured person?! He couldn't believe it. Recalling his previous actions, he felt a sense of desolation.
"Wait a minute!" He suddenly froze, "You just said that your master severely injured the Sea Dragon Jiaoren!?"
"Otherwise what?" Bao Ning sneered.
Ding Yu was in a daze as he looked at the corpses of his brothers on the ground.
He remained silent for a long time.