Chapter 224 – Disguise (2)
Translator: Deep_Blue Editor: Kurisu
Perhaps due to fear that he would snatch all the credit, or perhaps due to fear of the black-robed man himself, he had been assigned to deal with a young lady. The main mission had been snatched away by those two of them.
But it mattered little to him; he had not intended to fight for any credit in the first place.
“ARGH!!!”
Suddenly, a heart-wrenching cry rang out in the distance.
The black-robed man paused in his steps, lifted his head, and peered into the distance.
“Are they done? Looks like it’s time to go back.” He turned around and began heading back towards the path which He Xiangzi had been on.
All of a sudden, he froze and black membrane emerged all around him without warning.
He spun back urgently and lifted his arms.
“BAM!!!”
A blinding flash of red light spun through the air, roaring and howling madly before it smashed into his arms.
The deafening collision resulted in a transparent air current which was compressed tightly before bursting out in all directions.
The red light carried such great force that the robes on the black-robed man’s arms had been ripped apart. His black membrane distorted and ripped apart madly like a bubble blown out of shape in the wind.
“Szzzz…”
With his arms crossed in front of him, the black-robed man pushed out a leg behind him to support himself against the ground. Still, however, his entire body was being pushed backwards by the astonishing force.
One by one, rocks that obstructed his path were shattered. Every inch of the black-robed man’s body was under terrifying stress.
“Divine Bell, OPEN!” The blurred shape of a giant black bell emerged behind the black-robed man.
Without warning, the black bell exploded, releasing strands of transparent lines like tentacles which attached to his back.
The black-robed man’s strength seemed to increase drastically instantly. Finally, he managed to stabilize himself.
The spinning red light finally decelerated and he grasped it tight in his hands
Feeling the firmness of the object in his hands, the black-robed man fixed his gaze on it. It was the weapon of one of the two companions—Crimson Long Halberd!
Black smoke emitted from his boiling hands. Likewise, the long halberd was glowing red and bent out of shape from the intense friction and collision.
“This…!” The black-robed man sucked in a breath of cold air. He lifted his head and gazed in the direction from which the halberd had flown towards him. Without even looking, he knew that the pair had probably come to an unfortunate end.
“RETREAT!” he suddenly shouted sternly.
Near him, three men had reduced He Xiangzi to a bloodied state. Barely hanging onto her breath, she was near the point of irrecoverable damage. It was at such a juncture near success when they suddenly heard their master’s order to retreat.
The three of them glanced at He Xiangzi reluctantly. But they had no option to disobey their master’s order to retreat immediately.
“This Prime Devil Sect…” The black-robed man gazed meaningfully in the direction from which the halberd had flown. He knew that this was a warning. From the difference between the moment when he had heard the sound of the halberd and the moment when the halberd collided with his arms, he could roughly estimate the distance from which the halberd had been thrown.
‘Such a great distance, yet such massive force. This is a warning, isn’t it?’ Without any further thought, the black-robed man led his three disciples in hasty retreat towards the mouth of the cavern.
“Hoo… Hoo..”
He Xiangzi knelt on the ground, her sweat mixing with her blood and falling to the ground.
“Finally… it’s over.” She had never felt this tired before.
Even when she had fallen out with teacher and been out by herself at her husband’s place, she had never felt so tired.
During the fight earlier, all it took was mere seconds’ delay for her to fall into dire straits. It forced her to exploit every ounce of potential and energy in her every single second to handle every move.
He Xiangzi understood that she would have been killed in the first few moves had it not been for the fact that the three of them had been toying with her right from the beginning.
And that final shriek in the air and deafening boom. Perhaps the reason why those three had left was related to that boom.
“Senior Apprentice Sister, are you alright?” Suddenly, a familiar voice rang out beside her ears.
With all her might, He Xiangzi forced her eyes open, only to see the blurry image of Lu Sheng. Lu Sheng, who was supposed to have left a long time ago, was presently standing before her.
“Junior Apprentice Brother Lu? No, hasn’t Junior Apprentice Brother Lu left? Don’t try to mislead me with illusions!!” He Xiangzi shouted as she struggled to get up.
“I haven’t lost!!” Although her face was so swollen that all that was left of her eyes were two thin slits, Lu Sheng could see the unwavering will in her eyes.
Lu Sheng stared at He Xiangzi. He felt an inexplicable respect for her.
“No matter who, regardless of their strength and status, if they can truly put their lives on the line for a decision they’ve made, that person deserves respect.
Because every person’s life happens only once.” Lu Sheng walked over and gently held He Xiangzi in his arms and comforted her.
In actual fact, He Xiangzi was no longer able to see clearly.
She had lost too much blood and her wounds were too severe. She had long since lost her sense of sight. But sensing by instinct someone approaching, she had forced her eyes open by her will. Her legs, however, were truly no longer capable of supporting her, leaving her in a half-kneeling position on the floor.
“Alright, Senior Apprentice Sister, it’s me, it’s me.” Lu Sheng’s voice rang out, carrying a profoundly reassuring tone within it. “Everything’s fine now. It’s really fine now.”
As Lu Sheng’s voice continued, He Xiangzi’s tightly wound body finally softened.
Lu Sheng comforted her for a long while before she understood that she was not experiencing an illusion.
“It’s really you, Junior Apprentice Brother… why did you come back? Where’s teacher?? Is teacher alright?!” He Xiangzi asked anxiously.
“Teacher’s fine too,” Lu Sheng said gently. “I encountered enemies too. After dispatching them, I got worried and so came back to take a look.”
“You met enemies too??” He Xiangzi immediately wound up in anxiety again. “Don’t blame teacher! I’m the one, I’m the bait! They shouldn’t have known the position of the secret passageway. Oh yes, it must have been Fei Huangzi!” She gnashed her teeth. “That traitor. He might have known the existence of the passageway!”
“Alright, alright. Rest well now…” Under Lu Sheng’s reassuring words, fatigue and exhaustion finally washed over He Xiangzi, who slowly fell asleep in his embrace.
Lu Sheng lifted her up and swiftly returned to the stone wall and placed her back in her own cave. After that, he went back to look at his fainted teacher.
Grand Elder was covered from head to toe in wounds. He lay on the bed without so much as a twitch; it was unclear how long it would take before he woke up.
Only now did Song Zi’an appear. He floated into view and strode up to Lu Sheng.
“What happened exactly? How did teacher become like this?” he asked with an ugly expression on his face. “I heard the sounds while in the cemetery. But it wasn’t time yet and without teacher’s boost, I couldn’t come out at all.”
“Senior Apprentice Brother Song Zi’an. Where were Senior Apprentice Sister White Face and the others when such a thing happened in the sect? Why didn’t she come out?” Lu Sheng asked without even turning his head.
“Don’t you know about Senior Apprentice Sister White Face?” Song Zi’an sighed and sat on the ground. “She’s not a living person at all. She’s a deceased soul who turned into an Anomaly a long time ago. There’s no way to interact with her at all. Although she’s still handling many sect duties everyday, they’re all fixed routines established when she was alive. Like the void, her body’s unable to appear in the normal zone. You can’t meet her unless you enter their designated Anomaly zones.
It’s just like the small caves on the side of the walls when you first entered the cavern. When you saw Senior Apprentice Sister White Face that time, she was moving about only in that small zone.”
“Anomaly?” Lu Sheng had not expected such an explanation.
“We can only appear after it turns dark. The toll of the bell is the marker that divides our domain of activity. Well, I’m an exception—I can maintain my consciousness. But Senior Apprentice Sister White Face…” Song Zi’an’s face turned ugly. “Even if it was teacher who entered her area, she would not be able to differentiate between him and the enemy.”
“Is it dark now? Oh, why didn’t the bell toll today?” Lu Sheng asked all of a sudden.
Song Zi’an was caught by surprise too. “Oh, yea… why didn’t we hear anything today?”
Lu Sheng stood up all of a sudden and peered through the window.
Under the stone wall and beside the stone pillar, a woman with her head covered entirely in white cloth stood carrying an axe in her hand. Spots of blood covered her body.
Lu Sheng frowned at the sight of her. On the surface, she looked clearly composed. But inexplicably, he sensed rage bellowing within her.
Despite the distance between them, he sensed that suppressed rage clear as day.
“Oh, she’s here indeed.” Song Zi’an came up beside Lu Sheng. “Perhaps senior apprentice sister recalled certain memories about some important people. That’s probably why she did not ring the bell today.”
“What’s she trying to do?” Lu Sheng did not believe that an Anomaly who had lost control of itself could recall any emotions. Was it not like that for the little girl from Song Manor previously? She had almost killed her own biological brother and put her whole family in harm.
“No idea. Right now, even I don’t dare to go near her.” Song Zi’an shook his head. “But how did we avert the disaster this time? When those intruders passed by the cemetery, I could sense the terrifying power on them even from a distance. They had black membrane as powerful as teacher’s.”
“I’m not sure. Things were the way they were by the time I got back. Teacher in a coma and senior apprentice sister almost dead.” Lu Sheng shook his head in feigned ignorance.
He naturally knew that Song Zi’an had not been present. Given his acute senses today, it was extremely difficult for people to hide their presence around him.
Even that Snake realm black-robed man who had just left did not detect his position. Lu Sheng was the one who had first sensed him. That was the result of Noblemen’s neglect of their physical body, relying wholly on secret arts and the power of their bloodlines mutated from the radiation of Divine Weapons and Devil Blades.
In actual fact, when the body attained a certain level of strength, its five senses could become incredibly developed.
“What do we do next then?” Song Zi’an looked at Lu Sheng. Although this disciple had entered the sect for only a short period of time, he made others feel safe.
“I’m guessing that some mysterious man must have saved us. Since he’s not willing to leave his name behind, there’s no need for us to make wild guesses. When the time for us to know comes, I’m sure we will know,” Lu Sheng said seriously. “Right now, our priority is to help teacher and senior apprentice sister recover from their wounds.
Those black-robed men were forced into retreat today. They’ll surely be more way of us. Before they figure out who’s helping us, I don’t think they’ll come back easily.”
“That makes sense!” Song Zi’an nodded. “It’s a pity I can come out only at night and can’t be of much help. But among the sects that teacher’s on good terms with, you can write to the sect mistress of the Fine Garden Sect and ask for their help.”
“The Fine Garden Sect?”
“Mm. When they were young, their sect mistress—Madam Qing Kong—and teacher were… ahem, ahem, ahem.” Song Zi’an pretended to cough instead of finishing his sentence.
Lu Sheng turned around only to see Grand Elder glaring at Song Zi’an, his face black.
“Big-mouth!” Grand Elder chided.
“Teacher! You’re awake?” Lu Sheng and Song Zi’an hurriedly walked to the side of the bed.
“I’m awake. Let me handle the rest. You’ve worked hard, Little Sheng, Zi’an,” Grand Elder breathed out.
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