Get Out of Yunmeng Marsh

Inside the mountain cave, Yuanzi restored his Immortal Body. Silver light around him blocked the Roaring Beast's attacks. Seeing the silver light damaged, Yuanzi felt somewhat ashamed and enraged. He growled, "Wretch! If your vital energy were unharmed, this old man might fear you somewhat. But you only recently laid a Beast Egg—how could you be this old man's match? Be obedient and become this old man's Guardian Spirit Beast!"

As he spoke, Yuanzi raised a hand and sacrificed an Immortal artifact shaped like a collar. With a flash, the collar landed atop the Roaring Beast's head. A cluster of radiance spilled down, and the Roaring Beast's body rapidly shrank.

"Roar!" The Roaring Beast let out a mournful howl. The purple patterns across its body blazed brightly, nearly breaking free of its flesh.

"Not good!" Yuanzi cried out in alarm. Disregarding the collar, he hurriedly contracted his Immortal Body, the silver light vanishing like the stub of a candle extinguished in the wind.

Boom... With a deafening blast, the purple stripes across the Roaring Beast's body were fully exposed. The space within several hundred zhang of it collapsed at incredible speed, catching Yuanzi's Immortal Body within. A phantom twisted amid the spatial collapse and fled!

As the earth shook and the mountains swayed, Yuanzi's Immortal Body emerged in a distorted shape behind Xiao Hua. Its silver light was extraordinarily dim, and several drops of crimson blood still fell with the wind.

Having just steadied himself in midair, Yuanzi looked up in astonishment. From the mountain peak a thousand zhang above him and Xiao Hua, fist-sized Gilded Flames rained down like hail, completely blanketing an area several acres wide. Not only was that space sealed off, but an aura of destruction was rapidly filling it!

In truth, it was not only the few acres around the two of them. Across hundreds of thousands of li, clusters of fireballs were falling like a rain of flame. When the flames fell into the marsh waters, some were submerged while others erupted with roaring detonations. Heaven and earth alike were drowned in fiery color! It was simply that the few acres where Xiao Hua stood were particularly unusual.

Xiao Hua, meanwhile, desperately activated his escape technique. Yet the Gilded Flames filled the entire space, even denser than the purple bubbles from before. His black robe had long since been smashed apart, wounds had appeared on his Infant Body, and even his Pearl Shirt had been battered full of tears.

"Eh?" Yuanzi's eyes revealed a strange light when he saw Xiao Hua. Then he reached out, sweeping a Pure Void above both himself and Xiao Hua, and laughed. "Follow this old man out!"

Xiao Hua's Infant Body burned with pain, and he was in grave danger. Seeing Yuanzi act, he hastily moved, borrowing that fireless Pure Void to fly out.

Turning back to see the Gilded Fireballs striking the mountain peak, Xiao Hua felt as though he had survived a great calamity. He hurriedly bowed. "Many thanks, Senior, for lending a hand..."

"Haha, there is no need for courtesy with this old man!" Yuanzi's expression abruptly changed amid his laughter. His huge hand grabbed down from thin air as he said, "To obtain such a pure Nascent Soul Body is truly an unexpected delight for this old man!"

"Damn it!" Seeing Yuanzi turn his face faster than turning the page of a book and the space around him seal shut, Xiao Hua flew into a rage. He pulled the Ruyi Scepter from his space and, with a whoosh, charged forward.

Boom... The Ruyi Scepter struck the silver giant hand, and the hand's radiance was extinguished.

"Strange!" Yuanzi's expression changed as he exclaimed, "This old man's fortunes are truly ill-starred today. Why have I encountered nothing but formidable opponents?"

As he spoke, Yuanzi's silver giant hand changed from a grasp to a slap. Though Xiao Hua's Ruyi Scepter could break techniques, when Mana was overwhelmingly powerful, even tremendous force was helpless. As a mountain weighing nearly ten thousand jun descended, Xiao Hua only shattered one corner of the silver hand before being slammed down himself!

Before his body could fall, Xiao Hua hastily put away the Ruyi Scepter and activated his light escape, hoping to flee for his life. Yet Yuanzi's offhand voice rang out beside his ear again. "Do not leave..."

As he spoke, Xiao Hua felt the surrounding space fill with peach blossoms. Even the passage through which he had merged into light and shadow was blocked. When the peach blossoms closed in, hundreds upon hundreds of them sealed Xiao Hua, leaving both his Infant Body and Immortal Power unable to move in the slightest.

Seeing a peach blossom descend toward his glabella, Xiao Hua knew his soul was about to be erased. He could not help but smile bitterly. "They say that to die beneath peony blossoms and become a ghost is still romantic. What does it count as for Xiao to die beneath peach blossoms?"

Suddenly, a delicate, pouty face surfaced in his mind. Was it not Nie Qianyu? (For Nie Qianyu, see Volume One of Exiled Immortal.)

"To die beneath a peach tree and become a ghost is still romantic. Little Fish, Brother Ren has been presumptuous!" A gentle smile appeared at Xiao Hua's lips. That awkward first love truly left one knowing nothing!

The peach blossoms grew ever larger, and Xiao Hua smiled as well. He murmured, "On Mid-Autumn night, the Mid-Autumn moon; within the Mid-Autumn moon, a Mid-Autumn immortal. The Mid-Autumn immortal plants cassia trees, then cuts cassia branches in exchange for reunion. Reunion is not found only at Mid-Autumn; in separation, Mid-Autumn alone brings sleeplessness. People gather and scatter—it is the way of the mortal world. The moon sets, the sun rises, and another cycle begins."

At death's door, Xiao Hua could not help thinking of reunion. Could those unbidden verses be an old vow he was destined to repay?

"Which Immortal friend dares flaunt his might in Yunmeng Marsh?" At that moment, an embarrassed and furious voice rang out amid the unending rain of fire. "Do you hold my Azure Jade Gate in no regard?"

Yuanzi was startled at those words. Though the newcomer had not acted, the peach blossom that was to kill Xiao Hua's soul could no longer fall. Yuanzi turned toward the source of the voice and asked, "Who is it?"

Not far away, amid blazing flames, a silver humanoid nearly a hundred zhang tall slowly walked out of thin air. Wherever it appeared, all flames were blocked away. Moreover, with every step, a mark resembling green jade appeared beneath its feet. Though the silver humanoid seemed far away, after only several dozen steps, it had arrived before Yuanzi.

"This Prefecture Lord is Shuobing!" The silver humanoid did not disperse its silver light and merely said coolly, "Immortal friend, when you came to Yunmeng Marsh, did you report at my Helan Que?"

Yuanzi looked at the silver humanoid. After a moment of silence, he said, "This old man had urgent business and came in haste. I did not pass through Helan Que!"

"Mm..." The silver humanoid's tone remained cold. "So you entered Yunmeng Marsh without this Prefecture Lord's permission?"

"Immortal Friend Shuobing..." Yuanzi began to explain, but before he could finish, the silver humanoid said, "Call me Prefecture Lord!"

Yuanzi gritted his teeth and explained, "Prefecture Lord, do not Immortals ordinarily enter Yunmeng Marsh as well? Why has it changed when it comes to me?"

"Are you saying this Prefecture Lord has failed in guarding Yunmeng Marsh?" The silver humanoid's tone became even colder than ice. With a wave of its hand, an ancient green-jade talisman fell before Yuanzi. "This is this Prefecture Lord's tiger tally. You may take it to Azure Jade Gate and raise your objections before my Sect Master!"

Yuanzi swept a glance over the ancient green-jade talisman and smiled. "How could that be? Prefecture Lord, you labor tirelessly in guarding Yunmeng Marsh. How could I possibly go around stirring up trouble?"

The silver humanoid grabbed the green-jade talisman and said coldly, "Since that is so, why are you not getting the hell out?"

"You!" Yuanzi gnashed his teeth, but after looking at the ancient green-jade talisman, he narrowed his eyes and said, "Many thanks for the reminder, Prefecture Lord. This old man will get the hell out at once!"

As he spoke, Yuanzi swept his sleeve, and the peach blossoms surged around Xiao Hua. He rose to leave, while Xiao Hua looked at the silver humanoid, opened his mouth, yet said nothing.

"Leave that Nascent Soul behind, then get out yourself!" Shuobing did not move, merely speaking indifferently.

Yuanzi's body stiffened. "Why?"

"Very simple! In the place guarded by this Prefecture Lord, bullying the weak with strength is strictly forbidden!" Shuobing answered righteously.

Yuanzi narrowed his eyes at Shuobing and said word by word, "What if this old man refuses to let him go?"

Shuobing replied casually, "If you believe you can leave Yunmeng Marsh, then please, do as you wish..."

"Hmph..." Yuanzi fell silent again for a long while, then snorted coldly. With a wave of his hand, Xiao Hua was smashed onto the ground like a pellet, and Yuanzi withdrew the peach blossoms covering him.

By the time Xiao Hua struggled up from the ground, Yuanzi had already vanished. Xiao Hua did not even know when he had left.

"Why did you not call for help just now?" Shuobing looked at Xiao Hua with great interest.

"If Senior wished to save me, there was no need for this junior to speak—Senior would save me regardless." Xiao Hua looked around and saw that the rain of fire above him had been swept clean, knowing Shuobing had done it. He hurriedly said respectfully, "But if Senior did not wish to save me, then even if this junior called out, Senior still would not save me. And if this junior rashly spoke, I would only put Senior in a difficult position."

"Actually..." Shuobing looked at Xiao Hua and asked again, "The moment you saw me appear, you already knew in your heart that I would save you."

"Indeed!" Xiao Hua nodded. "Senior was this junior's final life-saving straw. This junior's life and death rested on a single thought from Senior."

"Alas, your life and death rest on a single thought from me, but my life and death rest on whose single thought?" Shuobing sighed and rose into the air. "Leave Yunmeng Marsh soon. A little Nascent Soul like you could easily die here!"

"Thank you, Senior..." Xiao Hua respectfully bowed in salute. Then, remembering something, he hurriedly added, "Oh, right, Senior. There are Toad Faced Toad eggs inside that cave, though I do not know whether the Beast Eggs were damaged when the Roaring Beast self-destructed!"

"Oh?" Shuobing paused in surprise and looked at Xiao Hua. "You came for the Toad Faced Toad?"

"Yes. That Toad Faced Toad was slain by Yuanzi, and he took its remains as well. One of our companions was a Mortal Immortal named Jing Sheng. I do not know whether he is dead or alive, but since Yuanzi was injured, Jing Sheng probably could not have survived either!"

"No wonder he did not dare act—so he was injured!" Shuobing nodded slightly. Silver light flashed around his body, and a green-jade humanoid flew out from within the silver light, ignoring the rain of fire and clusters of Gilded Flames as it entered the mountain cave.

A moment later, Shuobing rose into the air again and said, "Your injuries are quite severe. This is an entry and exit token for the Helan Que Immortal Market. There will be a rather large trading fair at Yanyu Immortal Market, so you might as well go take a look. There is a Roaring Beast carcass in the cave. Perhaps you can trade it for some things at the Immortal Market. I will leave it to you."

Immediately, a ball of green light passed through the rain of fire and fell before Xiao Hua.

Xiao Hua was overjoyed. He accepted the crystal shard within the green light and was just about to speak when Shuobing had already disappeared. The green-jade humanoid that had entered the cave was nowhere to be seen either. Xiao Hua did not dare be negligent and still bowed respectfully in thanks.

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