So what if we become enemies? We were bound to end up enemies sooner or later anyway.
Hearing Kunpeng's challenge, Gungun grumbled inwardly. Then it opened its bear paws, and a suit of black divine armor and a helmet appeared in its grasp. It began putting them on as though no one else were there, bolstering its defenses for fear of getting caught in the fighting and injured.
Having lived with Gungun for hundreds of thousands of years, Houtu thought nothing of what it was doing. She knew it was terribly afraid of dying whenever it faced an enemy stronger than itself. Still, hearing its thoughts again left her somewhat surprised.
What does it mean, we were bound to end up enemies sooner or later?
Oh, you mean Ao Yue would have become Eastern Emperor Taiyi's guardian and opposed our Witch Race, and then Kunpeng would oppose us too? The heirs of the Dragon Race and the Phoenix Race, along with the Demon Race, would all turn against our Witch Race?
Surely our Witch Race's situation... wouldn't be that dire?
After pondering this, Houtu hesitated briefly, then raised her head and answered Kunpeng, "I have no intention of interfering in the affairs of the Dragon Race and the Phoenix Race, but I will not let you run wild on Mount Buzhou!"
"Hand Ao Yue over to me. I can finish him off somewhere else."
"No. You must leave Mount Buzhou's territory immediately. This is the homeland Father God left to our Witch Race!" Houtu refused to yield an inch.
"Houtu, you've gone too far! Aah!" Kunpeng roared in fury. With a beat of his wings, he plunged straight toward Houtu. Because of his enormous size, Gungun and Ao Yue, who was still lying on the ground, were also within the range of his attack.
"You started a battle on my Mount Buzhou without your host's permission, yet you accuse me of going too far? The villain is crying foul first! Gungun, stop him!" Houtu said coldly as she watched Kunpeng swoop toward them.
"Huh?" Gungun turned around and stared blankly at Houtu, who was treating Ao Yue.
Me? Stop Kunpeng?
"Ah! You treat him. I'll deal with Kunpeng." Seeing Gungun's expression, Houtu sighed helplessly and changed her instructions. Then she leaped up and struck at Kunpeng.
Bam! First, she drove Kunpeng back with a punch. Then she landed on both feet and drew upon the power of the earth, meeting Kunpeng's claws with her fists as he repeatedly swooped down. Each collision unleashed another violent tremor.
Watching their fierce battle, Gungun blinked, feeling as though it had narrowly escaped disaster. Then it turned toward Ao Yue, who was still lying on the ground, and walked over on all fours.
"Hey, brother, are you all right?" Gungun asked Ao Yue.
"Didn't you... say I was beyond saving?" Ao Yue asked hoarsely, his face darkening at the sight of the big, fat face looming into view. Houtu's brief treatment had improved his condition somewhat.
"I said you were basically beyond saving. But you're lucky-you met me. How about this? Promise to get me some spirit fruits in the future, and I'll save you. What do you say?" Gungun asked after giving it some thought.
"Spirit fruits?"
"Yes. Yellow Central Plums, Ginseng Fruits, nine-thousand-year Ren Water Flat Peaches-any of those will do. I'm not picky," Gungun said casually, completely oblivious to Ao Yue's increasingly dark expression.
"Those spirit fruits you mentioned... I can't get any of them," Ao Yue said through gritted teeth.
"Huh? You're that useless?" Gungun asked, sounding rather disappointed.
"You..."
"Forget it, forget it. Since you can't get those spirit fruits, I won't ask you to repay me." Speaking with simple sincerity, Gungun took a small red banner and a gleaming golden pearl out of its portable small world.
At the sight of them, Ao Yue's pupils contracted. "The Vermilion Bird Banner and a Dragon Pearl! Where did you get those?" he exclaimed.
"The Vermilion Bird Banner suddenly fell out of the sky while I was sleeping and landed right in front of me. As for the Dragon Pearl, I once saw a dragon fighting a phoenix. The phoenix defeated the True Dragon and took his Dragon Pearl, but just as the pearl came into its grasp,
"the phoenix died from its own grievous injuries, so I picked it up," Gungun said without batting an eye. Its voice was so soft and adorable that it was hard to suspect it was actually lying. "Is that so? Then your luck is simply... hmm?" Ao Yue was marveling at its fortune when his expression suddenly changed. As he examined the iron-eating beast before him, he realized that not only did it possess extraordinary innate origins and formidable cultivation, but faint traces of merit also surrounded it. It was blessed with tremendous fortune. That... explained how it had obtained two treasures so easily.
The last trace of suspicion in Ao Yue's heart vanished.
"Your soul is damaged, but the damaged portion hasn't completely dissipated yet. Once you've absorbed this Dragon Pearl's essence, it should recover. As for the cold, sinister magical power Kunpeng left inside you, I'll use the Vermilion Bird Banner to dispel it," Gungun said. Then it stood up, plopped down beside Ao Yue, and handed him the Dragon Pearl. It gently waved the Vermilion Bird Banner toward him, sending wisps of Lihuo Light into his body.
Feeling his injuries gradually heal and his pain ease, Ao Yue took a deep breath. A glimmer of gratitude flashed in his eyes as he looked at Gungun. He accepted the Dragon Pearl and said, "Thank you. I will surely repay today's kindness someday."
With that, he began absorbing the essence within the Dragon Pearl.
As the Ancestral Dragon's eldest legitimate son, he was a True Dragon through and through. Absorbing the essence of another Dragon Pearl was even easier for him than refining an ancestral witch's pure blood was for Gungun, so his injuries began healing at a rate visible to the naked eye.
Of course, though the improvement was visible, he would still need at least several hundred years of recuperation to recover completely. Kunpeng's attacks had simply been too terrifying and insidious.
Boom! Boom! Boom! ... Meanwhile, Kunpeng and Houtu's battle raged like a blazing fire. Kunpeng repeatedly struck at Houtu from different directions while she stood on the ground, only to be sent flying by one punch after another, coughing up mouthful after mouthful of blood. At first glance, he truly looked rather pitiful.
In truth, Kunpeng was no weaker than Houtu. But his earlier fight with Ao Yue had consumed a considerable amount of magical power. After that, Gungun had rammed him in a sneak attack, and Houtu had struck him with her palm. In his current state, he naturally could no longer defeat her.
After a dozen or so exchanges, black light flashed around Kunpeng, and he assumed his Innate Dao Body: a young man in a long black robe, with a gaunt, sinister face. Standing upon a white cloud, he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and looked down at Houtu. "Ancestral Witch Houtu, you certainly live up to your name. I concede defeat today, but the days ahead are long. Sooner or later, I will collect the karmic debt you owe me."
"Hmm?" Having said that, Kunpeng turned toward Gungun and Ao Yue beside it, then reached out and grasped at them from a distance. Both immediately felt a powerful suction pulling at their bodies. A moment later, they hurtled uncontrollably toward Kunpeng.
"Waaah!" Gungun flailed its limbs in panic, clutching the Vermilion Bird Banner tightly as it yelled.
"Kunpeng, how dare you!" Alarmed, Houtu hastily summoned the power of the earth, trying to raise a towering mountain between Kunpeng and the other two to cut them off from him. At the same time, she shouted fiercely at Kunpeng.
"Hmph! What wouldn't I dare-"
Clang!
Before Kunpeng could finish, a bell toll that cut across the ages suddenly rang out, freezing space and time in this place.
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