CH 76

The “Roving Dragon Chases the Phoenix” move was a combination of the “Roving Dragon Follows the Moon” and the “Danyang Cloud Dispelling Fists” moves. It had a high emphasis on speed, with all four hands moving as one to deliver a solid impact.

In fact, the moves in the Danyang Divine Martial Arts and the Divine Dragon’s Howl could be combined at all levels of cultivation, but Chen Ziqi had only managed to master the Roving Dragon Follows the Moon at this time. 

Dan Yi’s toes tapped lightly on the ground, and his body shot forward like an arrow toward the insane old woman. He was two cultivation levels up from Chen Ziqi, and as such, he was the primary attacker in this formation. He pushed his third-level cultivation neili to the limit, and a resonant phoenix call could be heard as he charged at the Abbess Liaoji.

“Ha! You’ve got a death wish!” the old witch said, laughing disdainfully. She channeled her powerful, hundred-year-old cultivation energy into her palms. If Dan Yi really tried to land a blow on her, she’d smash all his meridians to smithereens.

Dan Yi wasn’t dumb enough to meet her head on. Just as they were about to make contact, he suddenly hung back and threw Chen Ziqi at her. Chen Ziqi’s body was like a roving dragon in flight, snaking behind the old nun and landing a few loud slaps on the back of her head with satisfying “smack smack smack!” sounds.

Those slaps were infused with neili and contacted the unprepared old witch’s head with full force, stunning her for a few moments. 

Dan Yi pulled Chen Ziqi back by his ankles and arranged him on his back again, leaping up at the same time and kicking hard at the old nun’s ribs.

“You little brats are quite interesting, hehehe!” the old witch cackled. The third level of cultivation in the Danyang Divine Martial Arts was sufficient to injure her, and she backed up a few steps, cackling wildly as she pressed down on the part that Dan Yi kicked with her hands.

“Get me right in front of her eyes,” Chen Ziqi said, taking a mouthful of the Spicy Eye Water. His words were bold, but between them, they both knew that the six of them present here weren’t nearly enough to defeat this old nun. It was imperative that they find a way to flee.

Dan Yi didn’t say anything. He signalled with his hand, and the three black-clad men leapt up, flying in three different directions. They raised their hands and shot three small arrows out their sleeves at the old nun’s vital points.

Yühu had finally collected herself by this time, and crawled toward the stone door as fast as she could.

Yühu pushed hard with all her might, but the stone door refused to budge. It probably had some mechanism one had to work in order to open it. She felt about the area and found that there were movable stones carved with words next to the door. There were about twenty of these square movable stones, all with different words carved on them. The words carved on the stones didn’t make any sense at all when put together.

“What on earth is this?” Yühu muttered to herself, tilting her head and narrowing her eyes at the stones.

【盈，悟，专，锐，清，而，之，乎……】 

The twenty words were arranged in a totally random manner.

Meanwhile, the old nun suddenly released her neili and shattered the three wooden arrows in mid-air. In the midst of the flying splinters, Chen Ziqi whipped out, got close to the old nun’s face and sprayed Spicy Eye Water out of his mouth.

Chen Ziqi was too close and there was no way for the old witch to dodge. She got sprayed full in the face and immediately hit back at Chen Ziqi with her palm.

Dan Yi pulled Chen Ziqi back with greater force on seeing this. The move had been a whiplike one to begin with, so Chen Ziqi was already on the way back when he started spitting the spicy water out of his mouth and didn’t get hit by the old nun. He fell back into Dan Yi’s embrace. 

“AHHHH!” the old witch screamed. The Spicy Eye Water was incredibly potent. Abbess Liaoji released her neili in an explosive blast and started hitting out wildly, sending palm blasts in all directions.

“Be careful!” Dan Yi yelled, holding Chen Ziqi tight as he fell to the ground and rolled. He managed to dodge a powerful palm blast and leapt toward the door with all his might.

“I’ve got it!” Yühu exclaimed. She had a sudden burst of brilliance. Eight of the characters made up the one of the lines in the first chapter of the Taisu Wuxin Gong: 持而盈之，揣而锐之!

Lfg tjcvr rtbbx jr rtf qgfrrfv atf rabcf mtjgjmafgr lc bgvfg. C ugjalcu rbecv mjwf ogbw atf rabcf vbbg, jcv Tüte qertfv jujlcra la fzmlafvis, yea… atf vbbg gfoerfv ab yevuf. 

“Qtja’r ublcu bc?” Jtfc Ildl jrxfv, gecclcu bnfg klat Gjc Tl.

“P atlcx atlr vbbg tjr rbwf wfmtjclrw atja cffvr ab yf jmalnjafv rlweiajcfberis bc atf batfg rlvf jr kfii!” Tüte kjlifv. Vtf kjr rb vlragjeuta atja rtf kjr bc atf nfguf bo afjgr.

“You will all die today!” the maddened old witch screamed. She was holding her eyes with one hand, and she used her other hand to send a strong palm blast in their direction.

Chen Ziqi couldn’t speak; his tongue was still suffering the painful aftereffects of the Spicy Eye Water. He passed the Spicy Eye Water antidote to Dan Yi and gestured to him to speak quickly. 

“I’ll give you the antidote. Don’t kill us!” Dan Yi said loudly. He picked Chen Ziqi up in his arms and leapt in front of the stone table, picking up the teapot and handing it to Chen Ziqi.

Chen Ziqi quickly took in a few mouthfuls of cold water and spat them out.

“The antidote… bring it here now!” the old witch shrieked. She was really in high dudgeon now, and she smashed the stone table to smithereens in one blow. This drug was just too potent – she was so old that her eyes hadn’t produced tears for years, but now, tears flowed unceasingly down her cheeks, and her entire face was swollen. She looked absolutely frightful.

Dan Yi threw the bottle over to her. 

The old witch couldn’t wait to use the antidote, and after opening the bottle, she poured all of its contents into her eyes. The burning sensation in her eyes disappeared immediately, but it was suddenly replaced by an intense pain that was even worse. Chen Ziqi suddenly remembered what the Thousand Poisons Sect Leader said – the Spicy Eye Water antidote would cause blindness if used in too great a quantity! Crap, he’d forgotten to tell the Abbess Liaoji how much of the antidote to use!

“AHHHH!” the old nun fell on the ground and rolled around in agony. The neili in her body started to expand. It seemed that, if it didn’t stop expanding, it would soon be enough to blast this cave into nothingness.

“Careful!” Dan Yi shouted, pulling Chen Ziqi into his arms and using his body to block a shockwave of neili that emanated from the old nun. Yühu’s neili wasn’t enough to block this, and she fainted right away.

“Dan Yi!” Chen Ziqi screamed, his eyes widening as he saw the old witch’s neili start to manifest physically behind Dan Yi. 

“CREAAAAK…”

The stone door suddenly ground open. Everyone in the cave didn’t stop to think; they just leapt right out of the newly opened door.

The person standing outside the door was Dan Yi’s black-clad subordinate who had been left behind to copy down the words carved into the stone wall.

“Close the door!” Chen Ziqi yelled. The black-clad man quickly operated the closing mechanism, and the stone door closed with a grating sound. 

Before they could even heave a sigh of relief, there was the sound of a huge explosion, and a few cracks appeared in the thick stone door.

“Shit!” Chen Ziqi swore.

The four black-clad men sprang into action without another word. They caught hold of him and flew upwards as fast as they could. The empty space in front of the stone door had an opening above through which light shone, and it was just enough for one person to pass through.

Dan Yi immediately changed back into a little red bird and hopped into Chen Ziqi’s clothes. Chen Ziqi felt like his world was spinning, then suddenly he found himself tossed out of the hole they were flying towards. The old witch’s furious roar sounded from behind them. 

Chen Ziqi’s body hung in the air for a fraction of a second after being tossed out of the hole, and in that very instant, two big black birds grabbed hold of his arms with their claws and went into a sharp nosedive.

“Ahhhh!” Chen Ziqi couldn’t help screaming in fright. He’d never flown so fast before, and he swallowed many mouthfuls of air with his screaming. Before he knew it, he was at the foot of the mountain, and the two birds set him down gently on the grassy bank of a small stream.

“Tweet!” Dan Yi chirped. He wriggled out of Chen Ziqi’s clothes and turned back into human form.

Chen Ziqi immediately made a beeline for the stream and started rinsing his mouth vigorously. The small amount of water from the teapot earlier had not gone very far in quenching the fire in his mouth. 

“Is it really that hot?” Dan Yi asked curiously. He was squatting beside Chen Ziqi and patting his back comfortingly.

Chen Ziqi gave him a sideways glance, then grinned wickedly. “Of course! If you don’t believe me, why don’t you try it for yourself?” he said. The moment the words left his mouth, he slung an arm around Dan Yi’s neck, pulled the latter towards him and planted a firm kiss on his lips.

Dan Yi was completely caught off guard by this fiery kiss. He stared blankly at Chen Ziqi for a few moments, not knowing how to respond.

Yühu had been unconscious when she was taken out of the cave and had been set down on the grass next to Dan Yi and Chen Ziqi. She was awakened by the droplets of water thrown up by the gurgling stream, and the first thing she saw was the two  handsome young men kissing each other. 

“… …” Yühu blinked hard. Surely she was dreaming?

The effects of the Spicy Eye Water had been lessened by Chen Ziqi’s rinsing, and it was only slightly spicy now. That kiss, however, had made that slight spiciness fiery hot, and the heat spread from Dan Yi’s lips all the way into his heart. He felt like he was going to burn up.

Before Dan Yi could say anything, Chen Ziqi suddenly yelled in pain. He lowered his head and grabbed hold of his fingers with his other hand.

“Qiqi” Dan Yi exclaimed. He pulled Chen Ziqi into his arms and took hold of his injured hand, wanting to take off the handkerchief binding his fingers together to have a better look. 

“Now’s not the time,” Chen Ziqi said, stopping Dan Yi from doing so. He looked around. “We should leave asap. That old nun is going to run out any minute now.”

Dan Yi nodded briefly. “Tell Diao Lie where this cave is,” he instructed one of the black-clad men. That old witch was a disaster waiting to happen, and she couldn’t be left alive.

“Yes, sir!” the black-clad men said in unison. They used the Cyclone Step to fly swiftly away.

The loyal Dark Cloud Envoy would never remain behind when his Palace Master went to the Suxin Sect. However, Dan Yi had ordered him to stay at the foot of the mountain so as not to attract attention. 

Chen Ziqi looked at the stunned-looking Yühu and felt a little sorry for her. He had originally thought that she would be fine because the three old nuns who had originally been chasing them hadn’t seen her face and wouldn’t know who she was, but the old witch in the cave had seen her features clearly. She would be finished once that woman complained about her to the Abbess Wuyin.

Chen Ziqi sighed. “Yühu, the Suxin Sect is in chaos now. Why don’t you come with me for now and return when things have settled down?” he said. This girl really looked like Xiaoru, and that made him feel a bit more for her than he ordinarily would have.

“Go with you? To the Cloud Palace?” Yühu asked, looking at Dan Yi. This person had not been by her Chang Qi gege’s side earlier and had materialised out of nowhere when she woke up in the cave. Yu Linglong said that Chang Qi gege was King Jian, so could he be the Cloud Palace Master’s lover?

“Nn,” Chen Ziqi said, rubbing his nose. They’d only ever seen each other twice, but she had really helped him out this time, and he couldn’t just leave her be, not when he knew she was very likely to get into trouble. 

“It’s not too late for you to come back after Liaoji dies,” Dan Yi said.

“D-dies?!” Yühu exclaimed in shock. She then realised what Dan Yi was really saying. “You guys are going to kill the Supreme Abbess?”

“She’s gone insane because of the last chapter of the Taisu Wuxin Gong, and she’s no longer the great and honourable Abbess Liaoji you revere,” Chen Ziqi persuaded.

In the past, Chen Ziqi’s teacher in the palace, Professor Luo, had spoken of the famous people in the martial arts world, and one of them was Abbess Liaoji. It was said that she had a strong sense of justice and often helped the weak and downtrodden. She was really a great female warrior back then, nothing at all like the raving old woman they’d seen in the cave who seemed more demon than human. 

Despite her insanity, the Suxin Sect had continued to put her on a pedestal; its disciples were faithful by nature, and even if their founder was mad, the Abbess Wuyin still followed her instructions unswervingly. The only thing they did do on account of her insanity was to lock her up in the cave.

Before long, two palanquins floated over, and Diao Lie came towards them in great strides, kneeling before Dan Yi. “Palace Master,” he said.

—

The author has something to say: Mini- theatre 

Yühu: Director, this script seems rather off

Director: What’s wrong?

Yühu: Didn’t we agree that after surviving this life and death situation, the male lead and his female companion would live happily ever after?

Qiqi: This is considered a happily ever after 

Yühu: Bullshit! This is obviously a live-action GV!

Birdie Gong: (Takes off his pants) We just had a little kiss, how is this a GV?

Qiqi: Exactly, how is this a GV? _(:з」∠*)_

Yühu: … I need the antidote for Spicy Eye Water right now