"H-help..."
Hearing the young man's agonized cries for help, Lian Youming's eyes filled with pity, but there was nothing he could do. He could only crouch down and press his hand over the neck that was leaking blood and air. Even if they did not know each other, even if they had never met, once someone asked, he was willing to lend a hand.
Lian Youming respected every life. Beneath his irreverent laughter and banter, whether toward himself or others, he would give them sufficient respect whenever he could. Even enemies he might encounter in the future, mortal foes and peerless rivals, could be allowed to die with dignity.
Just as with saving the girl beside him, Lian Youming might question her identity, but he had never regretted helping her.
He simply could not stand by coldly and watch someone weak suffer humiliation and torment before his eyes.
Even if he had harbored suspicions before intervening, he would never have remained unmoved.
Because as long as it was only a suspicion, he could have guessed wrong.
Between wrong and right, bad and good, he wanted to choose good.
That was his true nature, and it was all but impossible to change.
Having lived two lives had by no means given him a perspective and rationality that stood above ordinary people. On the contrary, Lian Youming cherished everything he had now even more, and loved life even more deeply, sincerely and ardently, with a heart full of enthusiasm rather than being swayed by advantages and disadvantages.
Unfortunately, the wounds were too severe.
He could cover the wound, but he could not stem the ebbing of life.
The young man lay on the ground, the light rapidly fading from his eyes.
"Ah, what a pity!"
Lian Youming closed the young man's eyes and sighed, then took the two large gold bars from inside his clothes.
These people could only have broken in ahead of him because something had happened on Li Da's end.
Lian Youming even had reason to believe that during the two months he had spent waiting, Li Da might already have sent people inside to investigate.
But from the looks of it, those who had entered had little hope of surviving.
The girl beside him, named "Xiao Li," watched everything he did, watching very closely-the pity in his eyes, the sigh from his lips, and that undisguised kindness.
She, too, let out a soft sigh. "Ah."
Lian Youming turned to glance at her. "I don't know whether you're putting it on or playing a part, but keeping the act up this long really takes talent. When you apply to university someday, go for acting. You'd win awards no matter what... That bastard Li Da really screwed me over. This damned place is way too scary."
When the girl did not answer, Lian Youming was about to continue exploring ahead, but he suddenly noticed that her gaze had changed. Her face was bloodlessly pale, her eyes fixed straight on him, her pupils trembling as though she had been scared witless.
"Don't mess around. I scare easily."
The corner of Lian Youming's eye twitched. Her expression was practically identical to Liu Dabiao's when he had seen the golden cat that night.
There was something behind him.
In the very instant he spoke, Lian Youming aimed his gun behind him without thinking, gripped the military spike in his left hand, and spun around with a slash.
A cold gleam swept through the air. His eyes darted around. There was nothing before him, but a severed piece of clothing fell to the ground.
Overhead.
Almost instantly, Lian Youming raised his gun and fired, his left hand pulling the terrified girl behind him in the same motion.
So fast.
In the wavering, leaping firelight, a figure climbed as swiftly as flight, hands and feet sliding along like an enormous gecko. He clung upside down overhead, hair hanging loose, his eyes gleaming with a chilling light. As he shifted about, he merely reached down through the air and pressed down Lian Youming's raised right hand.
The shot missed. Hanging upside down, the strange man shot out his other hand like a claw, swift as lightning. In a single reach and withdrawal, he tucked the screaming girl beneath his arm, lifted her off the ground, and sped toward the other end.
"Stop!"
Alarmed by the sight, Lian Youming hurriedly put away his pistol. With a tiger's roar, he mustered his Qi and leaped up, seizing the strange man's right leg.
"Hm?"
But the moment he grabbed it, he felt a strange, spiraling Unusual Force erupt beneath the man's flesh, fierce and domineering. A tremor shook Lian Youming's right hand loose.
"Coiling Silk Force?"
Lian Youming cried out in surprise.
Was this man an expert from the Taiji Gate?
But he was not about to give up. He powered both fists, kicked off the wall, and sprang up. His fists swung like twin hammers, the wind of his blows pounding the air like drums.
Hearing his cry, the strange man glared fiercely back. He moved his single arm, deflecting and gathering, sealing and closing. It seemed soft and boneless, yet was as troublesome as a steel whip, shifting left and right, meeting hardness with softness. He actually blocked both of Lian Youming's fists.
With skills like these, he was definitely an expert from the Taiji Gate.
Lian Youming's expression grew grave, and he could not help saying, "Stop fucking acting! This one's tough. Hurry up and do something!"
But when he looked again at the girl beneath the strange man's arm, she had actually fainted.
Lian Youming's heart went cold. Had she gotten so caught up in her act that she had fooled herself? How could she faint just like that? Wasn't she an expert from the White Lotus Sect?
Then he looked at the strange man again. If this was the one who drank blood to cultivate, the consequences did not bear imagining.
After barely a dozen exchanges, that fierce force had shaken Lian Youming's Qi and blood into turmoil, forcing him to retreat several steps.
Just as he tried to catch his breath, a gust of force followed close behind, striking toward his chest. One of the strange man's arms twisted and wound like a nimble snake. Forming a phoenix-eye fist, he broke through Lian Youming's two fists and tapped his chest lightly, like a chick pecking grain.
With that tap, an indescribable force immediately spread outward from a single point, flowing from Lian Youming's chest into all four limbs, striking through every sinew and bone and leaving his entire body stiff and numb.
"What kind of technique is this!"
Staggering backward, Lian Youming felt as though his acupoints had been sealed. His hands and feet grew sluggish and numb, and he toppled straight down.
His gaze shifted slightly. Breathing out gently, he hurriedly mobilized his muscles and internal breath, for that punch had driven a strand of Unusual Force into his body.
This Unusual Force was particularly peculiar, like a bowstring snapping and vibrating, making every muscle in his body tremble without cease, tingling, aching, and weak, as though a nerve had been struck. It seemed similar to the "Coiling Silk Force" the Mountain-Guarding Old Man had taught him, yet there were differences. Still, it likewise destroyed his balance and was extraordinarily strange.
Fortunately, his Golden Bell Cover was gradually maturing, his sinews and bones had grown strong, and his muscles constantly drew inward. With a slight tilt of his body, he regained his ability to move.
Surprise also appeared in the strange man's eyes, but he did not linger to fight. Carrying the girl, he turned and darted away in another direction.
"Put her down."
His expression grim, Lian Youming pursued without falling behind. Now he actually hoped Xiao Li really was some expert from the White Lotus Sect.
Wind howled past their ears as one fled and the other pursued. Unexpectedly, the tunnels branched in every direction. Following the man through turn after turn, he soon found himself unable to tell which way he was going.
Just as anxiety burned within him, three figures suddenly flashed out of a side passage.
"You little brat! You got away earlier. Let's see what you do now."
They were actually the same three White Lotus Sect fiends who had chased him on the mountain.
Rather than being alarmed, Lian Youming was delighted. He hurriedly said, "This is bad! That girl's been taken! Hurry up and save her."
The three exchanged glances. Then a woman dressed like a wealthy lady spoke. "Have you lost your mind, boy? That girl has nothing to do with us. She was just someone we grabbed at random down the mountain."
Hearing this, Lian Youming could not help drawing a deep breath, his face paling inexplicably.
"You weren't deliberately putting on an act?"
The woman teased, "What do you take yourself for? Some irresistible prize? Putting on an act? You're so young, yet your head's full of nonsense. Would we need to go to all that trouble for a greenhorn fresh out of the nest like you? All we had to do was follow you. As for why he ran into your room, it was only because this lecher arrived a little late and didn't know you were in that wooden cabin. Pure accident."
The woman looked toward a burly man beside her, the very one who had abducted Xiao Li.
Lian Youming's expression immediately flickered between light and shadow.
"So it was all a coincidence?"
The woman said with a smile, "Of course it was."
Lian Youming stood rooted to the spot.
I guessed wrong?
Xiao Li really was an ordinary person.
"Fuck!"
With an angry curse, he turned, intending to keep searching for the strange man.
But the three beside him moved in unison and surrounded him.
The woman arched her slender brows, her expression strange. It was hard to tell whether she was marveling or sighing, and she also seemed to be mocking him. "Boy, you can barely save yourself, yet you're still thinking about someone else? Listen to us and be good. Lead the way, and since you're so kindhearted, we'll take you out with us once we get what we want. There's something incredible in this place. Go alone, and you're sure to have only one chance in ten of surviving. Besides, don't get your hands on those things only to lose your life before you can spend them."
"Come on, let us share in the good fortune too. This damned place twists and turns every which way. Who the hell knows where the exit is?"
More people came out into the passage, following the voices.
Among them were three familiar faces: the very three who had tried to surround and kill him on the truck.
The woman warned him again, "Boy, you'd better not get any funny ideas. For every wrong turn, I'll take off one of your arms."
Surrounded, Lian Youming could only sigh helplessly.
In the end, he simply was not strong enough.
(End of chapter)
Before you continue