Chapter 810: Chapter 809: Circling Back_1
The "Crossing the River with a Single Reed" technique allowed him to move freely, but it wasn’t an agility skill. If it weren’t for Shi Xiaole’s extraordinary reflexes, he would have found it difficult to deal with so many bows and crossbows.
Even if he could manage, he couldn’t avoid being attacked by the two Fire Stiffs. Yet, even so, Shi Xiaole’s situation was still very dangerous, and he could be caught up with at any moment.
"Flame Light Breaks the Day!"
Unexpectedly, Bai Ruiting didn’t take the opportunity to flee. The ruler in her hand emitted beams of light, clearing a large area of bows and crossbows for Shi Xiaole.
Concentrating his mind, Shi Xiaole cleaved with his sword, forcing back the two Fire Stiffs. Regrettably, he didn’t severely wound them and instead provoked their ferocity, causing them to charge at him together.
What was worse, a flame sword light cut through the bows and crossbows, slashing horizontally at him. It came exactly after Shi Xiaole made his move, forcefully pushing him towards the Fire Stiffs.
Shi Xiaole looked towards the distant Fire Kylin Real Person, who allowed a fleeting smile to cross his lips before he turned his head, never to look back again.
"Brother Shi!"
This was Su Yichen’s loud yell.
"Young Hero Shi!"
Sun Wei and the others watched helplessly as Shi Xiaole got closer and closer to the Fire Stiffs. They wanted to move in to rescue him, but the instinct to survive was like an invisible hand, pushing them to move forward.
Xu Fang bit her lip, a struggle flashing across her pretty face as she vividly recalled Bai Ruiting’s question to Shi Xiaole—If, after you save me, I still stand by and watch, will you still save me?
Just before, Shi Xiaole had shown his answer with his actions—he saved her twice again, preventing her from being harmed by the Fire Stiffs.
Would she be that ungrateful person once more?
Making her decision, Xu Fang suddenly felt lighter. She turned around with a smile and rushed towards Shi Xiaole, unleashing her deadly moves in rapid succession.
"Has this woman gone mad?"
The few Earth Immortals on Fire Kylin Real Person’s side couldn’t believe their eyes and stared in shock.
The huge fist of the Fire Stiff came at him, and before it was even close, Shi Xiaole already felt the terrifying heat that could burn flesh and bone. The Vigorous Air protecting his body began to emit a popping burning sound, and destruction was imminent.
In the nick of time, the Red Left sword flew automatically out of its sheath, performing the "wind calamity."
Being unable to project his mental power did not mean he was unable to use it. The key to the "Controlling Sword with Qi Skill" lay in the harmony between the mind and the sword, irrelevant of whether mental power was released or not.
At the same time, Shi Xiaole wielded the Tiger Abyss sword in his right hand, executing a stronger "wind calamity" and attacking the two large Fire Stiffs separately.
Boom!
Bang!
The sounds of explosions, near and far, echoed through the tunnel, and two circles of energy rippled out like waves caused by giant stones thrown into a lake. Within those ripples, all the bows and crossbows were shattered.
Another loud noise followed.
It turned out that a farther away Fire Stiff had knocked the Red Left sword flying, and its right leg, which it kicked out, was blocked by Shi Xiaole’s open silver umbrella. The overbearing and vigorous force that rushed forward was dispersed by the light that shone on the surface of the umbrella.
Even so, Shi Xiaole was still sent flying back straight, colliding with the new volley of bows and crossbows. He forcefully shifted his body laterally just in time to crash into the left wall.
Crack.
A large crack suddently split open on the ground, and from it, an incomparable suction force emanated; no matter how Shi Xiaole struggled, he was still forcefully dragged downward.
"Brother Shi, catch this!"
At the critical moment, a white silk flew out from Bai Ruiting’s sleeve, which the bows and crossbows seemed unable to pierce.
Whiz!
Just then, unfortunately, the flame sword light struck the white silk, knocking it off course. This delay caused Shi Xiaole to be completely pulled into the endless darkness, and the two Fire Stiffs approaching him were not spared either.
The ground closed up again.
"You old thing, you deserve to die."
Suddenly free from danger, Bai Ruiting felt not a hint of excitement, only staring at Fire Kylin Real Person with murder in her eyes.
"Whether I deserve to die is not for you, a girl, to decide, but as for you, so concerned about that boy, why not keep him company?"
Fire Kylin Real Person let out a strange laugh, greedily eyeing Bai Ruiting as she withdrew the white silk from her sleeve.
...
Falling from the darkness, the sucking force grew stronger and stronger, Shi Xiaole felt as if his body was being torn apart. At a certain moment, an alarm went off in his heart, and without thinking, he used the silver umbrella to shield himself from below.
Bang!
A force that could cut through everything, darker than darkness itself, split on either side of the silver umbrella, shaving off half of Shi Xiaole’s protective Vigorous Air. Attacks kept coming moment after moment, and if it weren’t for the silver umbrella, Shi Xiaole would have been chopped to pieces.
"Could this be the Demonic Vigorous Wind?"
The Demonic Vigorous Wind, existing in one of the world’s top ten perilous places, Soul Losing Hill, where almost no one comes out alive.
The reason Shi Xiaole recognized it was because he had encountered it before when exploring perilous places with the Demon Marquis and others in the eight states. (See Chapter three hundred and fifty-one)
But the Demonic Vigorous Wind here was obviously more than ten times stronger than what he had faced before; no wonder it could generate such terrifying suction.
With the defense of the silver umbrella and his own reaction speed, Shi Xiaole narrowly, but safely, landed on the ground after about a quarter of an hour, yet his body still had several dozen not-so-deep wounds.
Although he did not know if the Demonic Vigorous Wind could kill the Fire Stiffs, to be safe, Shi Xiaole dared not linger. After placing the silver umbrella into the system space, he randomly chose a direction and darted out.
He could not see around him, but this didn’t trouble Shi Xiaole.
With Controlling Sword with Qi Skill in motion, the Red Left Sword led the way from afar, and with the sense provided by Sword Heart Enlightenment, he probed ahead at all times, ready to react to any emergencies.
An hour later, Shi Xiaole’s power was exhausted, and he had to stop.
"According to legend, the finest Fire Stiffs possess intelligence almost equal to humans, with unpredictable methods, but those two Fire Stiffs obviously didn’t belong to this category and probably couldn’t catch up to me."
Shi Xiaole took a slight breath of relief.
This time it was truly a narrow escape from death; a single misstep would have led to irreversible doom. And the architect of all his miseries was undeniably Fire Kylin Real Person, who had repeatedly set traps for him.
The image of the enemy’s face flashed in his mind, Shi Xiaole suppressed the urge to kill; thinking too much was useless now. The situation here was still unclear; better to recover his power first. So he sat down cross-legged and began to cultivate his Dragon Gate Divine Skill.
Three hours passed unknowingly, and Shi Xiaole fully recovered his strength.
As before, he led the way with the Red Left Sword, held the silver umbrella in his left hand, and grasped Tiger Abyss in his right, carefully navigating the darkness, hoping to find a way out.
This too seemed to be a corridor, but it was exceedingly long. Shi Xiaole couldn’t remember how many turns he had taken or circles he had gone in. Moving forward with his Flying Skill, he stopped and started until three days later.
Click.
The Red Left Sword made contact with a barrier.
Shi Xiaole halted his steps, only after ensuring there were no dangers ahead did he step forward and, after feeling the surface for a moment with his hand, he immediately discovered a stone door, which he pushed open with effort.
As the light grew stronger, Shi Xiaole could finally see the scene behind the stone door, startling him almost to the point of fleeing on the spot!
It was a not-so-large space, first catching his eye was a lawn and flowerbed about thirty yards in diameter—only the grass was withered, the flowers wilted, seemingly untended for many years.
As his gaze shifted, he saw three coffins, two of which were opened, and the middle one sealed with a strip, a hot energy that quickened one’s blood flow slowly emanating from it.
Could this be the place where the Fire Stiffs were first discovered?!
Seemingly due to some cosmic mistake, he had circled back.
To leave, or to stay?
After hesitating for a long time, Shi Xiaole steadied his breath and eventually walked out. Going back now might mean encountering the Fire Stiffs again; better to look for a way out from here.
