The snow before them thickened and the road became harder and harder to walk on. Both of them rode their swords flying low in the air. The cliff’s edge was frozen with ice caverns and caves of every size on it.
Bai Zi Hua easily dispelled every magic formation and trap that they met. However, they had yet to see a single demon. He had a bad premonition, yet he could not tell what it was.
He lowered his head and told Hua Qian Gu: ” Be careful, they know we are here.” A fearsome battle was inevitable. Nonetheless, Hua Qian Gu’s cultivation was no longer weak. Moreover, with him around, this was a good chance for training. He did not worry about it at all.
“There it is.” Bai ZI Hua closed his eyes and focused. He could feel the life force of every living thing within a 100-mile radius.
Both of them flew down the ice mountain, following the icy wall. Mid-wall, there was an ice cavern. Hua Qian Gu kept her sword and walked in two steps. Suddenly, she felt the ground disappear beneath her feet and a huge pit appeared beneath her. Within the pit, a blazing flame burned. She let out a scream. Her body could not float up and instead fell straight into the fire, the flames swallowing her in that instance.
“Xiao Gu!” Bao Zi Hua gave a loud shout. He saw her fall to the ground, curled into a ball, struggling. She looked like she was in immense pain.
Upon hearing Bai Zi Hua’s voice, Hua Qian Gu’s brain suddenly cleared. When she looked again, she was sitting on the ice, as if nothing had happened.
“What happened? Where is the hole? Where is the fire?” Hua Qian Gu felt the icy surface around her.
Bai Zi Hua immediately understood and helped her up.
“It looks like the one who came this time is Lan Yu Lan Feng. She is well versed in the art of illusions and mind control. She specializes in creating illusions to numb and harm her opponents. Even if it is false, if your brain believes it, your body will also be harmed. You must always remember, that what your eyes see may not be real. You must remove all other thoughts and guard your heart well. You must not give her a chance to take advantage of.”
“There is actually has something like that!” Hua Qian Gu thought to herself that it was a good thing that Lan Yu Lang Feng was not at Tai Bao Mountain last time. Otherwise, Hua Qian Gu could not have lasted so long since Lan Yu Lan Feng could morph into people’s likeness or tried to take control of her mind.
She struggled to move forward a few steps. She felt her whole body aching from the fall and the burning heat from the fire. yet, she could not see any wounds. She rubbed her temple and kept telling herself it was false, it was a misconception.
After a long while, the pain and burning feeling finally faded. As she prepared to enter the cave, women dressed in white suddenly floated in the air around her. Their sleeves danced in the wind. There were over a hundred of them. Every one of them was as pale as corpses and looked out of place among the wind and slow.
Hua Qian Gu stepped back two steps and rubbed her eyes hard: “This…… This is fake too, right?”
“This- – is real.” Before Bai Zi Hua’s words finished, he had already drawn his sword.
The women in white ferociously pounced on him, one after another. Bai Zi Hua’s Heng Shuan Sword suddenly flashed with a brilliant light and in that instance, all the women around them turned to ashes.
Bai Zi Hua lowered his head and looked around: Terrible, where did Xiao Gu go?
“Shi Fu!” Hua Qian Gu was so scared that she almost lost her soul. She suddenly saw a red-robed person appear behind her Shifu. It was Sha Qian Mo!
“No!” everything happened too quickly. Sha Qian Mo’s Xuan Tian Umbrella suddenly gave out a brilliant light and transformed into a sharp sword that stabbed into Shi Fu’s chest. Shi Fu quickly stabbed Sha Qian Mo in the abdomen as well. The two rapidly fell off the cliff. Hua Qian Gu was terrified and had no time to think of anything else. Without saying a single word she followed them down the cliff.
Even though this ice peak was so high that it entered the clouds, it was not so high that it would take such a long time to reach the ground. Hua Qian Gu was extremely anxious as she continued down the cliff, yet she could only see layers of cloud continually floating up and past her. Her body started to become warmer and warmer and the snow and ice gradually disappeared. Green gradually appeared before her.
When she reached the bottom, the sky had already turned dark. A round moon hung high in the air. The surroundings had transformed into a picturesque one of green mountains and streams, almost like paradise on earth.
Hua Qian Gu pulled out the Duan Nian sword and cut her hand hard. Blood spattered out. Yet the scenery around her remained unchanged. She felt even more flustered. She no longer cared if the surroundings were real or false and only wanted to quickly find Bai Zi Hua.
As she began running, she shouted: “Shi Fu – – Shi Fu – -” Her voice startled birds and beasts around her. Yet she had yet to find Bai Zi Hua or Sha Qian Mo.
She went in circles for half a day and realized she was lost. She rode her sword and tried to fly up. Yet the round moon still hung high in the sky and she could not see any traces of the snow or ice.
Crap! She had separated from Shi Fu!
Hua Qian Gu calmed herself down and tried to scry for Shi Fu’s whereabouts. However, there seemed to be some kind of barrier blocking her from seeing anything.
As she was flying in the middle of the air, a giant lake suddenly appeared before her. Under the moonlight’s mild glow, the lake glistened like crystal. The lake’s surface was filled with lotus flowers. A few cranes skimmed the lake’s surface.
Suddenly, she heard a loud splash. Hua Qian Gu lowered her head to look and was shocked by the scene before her. A seductive long hair woman emerged from the water. Under the moonlight, she opened her arms and at that moment all the color in the world focused on her solely.
As Hua Qian Gu took a closer look, she covered her mouth in shock. The woman’s lashes were long, lush, and thick like a layer of chiffon, covering her pupil that glowed like a black pearl. Her luminous fair skin was covered in tiny fish scales. The fins on her arms were like dancing butterflies, thin and fragile, they glistened, as though they broke with the slightest touch. The woman stretched her neck towards the moon and gave a long howl, letting out a strange sound. Yet this was the most beautiful sound that Hua Qian Gu had heard in her life as if it passed through every cell in her body.
Water droplets flew in every direction as the woman leaped from the water, forming an elegant silhouette against the round moon. At the bottom of her body, there was a fishtail!
“Mer, Mermaid!”
Hua Qian Gu rubbed her eyes. However, the water that flew towards her told her this was not an illusion.
The mermaid’s figure quickly morphed into countless figures in midair, waving a giant trident in their hand and pouncing on her.
Hua Qian Gu did not know why she suddenly could not use her 5 element mystics. It was as though there was a barrier surrounding this entire space.
“You are Lan Yu Lan Feng? You are…” You are actually a mermaid!
“Yes.” Lan Yu Lan Feng looked at her and laughed. Her voice sounded like an illusion dream.
“Am I different from what you expected? You are called Hua Qian Gu, right? Bai Zi Hua’s disciple? I had long heard Yun Yi and the rest mention you. But this is our first meeting.”
Lan Yu Lan Feng’s specialty was an illusion, hence her other magic wasn’t very powerful. Hua Qian Gu’s sword skills had improved tremendously and could somewhat come to a draw with her. Looking at the many identical faces around her, she did not know which one was real.
She felt more and more restless and anxious. She did not know what happened to her Shifu either. Even though she knew Sha Qian Mo could not be here and what she saw earlier was definitely an illusion, and those were merely tricks to separate her from her Shi Fu, she could not help but feel distracted.
“Where is my Shi Fu?”
“Your Shifu? He has probably been sucked into the Shen Nong Cauldron by Chun Qiu Bu Bai and his people. By now he probably has already disintegrated into ash. Among them, I have the lowest cultivation, hence I was sent to deal with you!”
“Rubbish!” Hua Qian Gu lost her cool. How could someone like her Shi Fu be caught so easily? She clearly knew that Lan Yu Lan Feng was trying to distract her, yet she could not help but worry.
Tang Bao had awakened long ago and could see everything clearly from the sidelines. However, no matter how it tried to scream at her, scratched and bit her to wake Hua Qian Gu up from falling into the illusion, she could not hear anything. It was as though they had been separated into two different worlds. As Tang Bao watched her sink deeper and deeper into the illusion, unable to escape, she knew that Qian Gu was in trouble.
Hua Qian Gu gritted her teeth. She thought to herself, as long as I subdue you, I don’t believe I cannot break out of this illusion.
As she said that, she lunged forward with the Duan Nian sword, and attacked with the speed of flowing water. Executing each stroke in the sword manuals with perfection.
She bit her lip hard and forced herself to calm down. Her sight and mind gradually cleared and she quickly identified Lan Yu Lan Feng’s real body. The sword quickly slashed through the illusions, slashing across her arm, scraping off quite a few scales.
The moment Lan Yu Lan Feng was injured, the fissure appeared in the northwest of the sky, revealing a yellow piece of the sky. Lan Yu Lan Feng became more and more exhausted as the battle passed. She thought to herself: This small girl was actually so powerful. F*ck, Yun Yi, he actually scammed me!
Hua Qian Gu stretched her hand to seal her acupoints, However, her body was as slippery as a mudskipper and circled around her. Her fishtail slammed her on the back viciously. Hua Qian Gu bore with intense pain and attempted a backhand stab. However, she suddenly saw the person before her transformed into Bai Zi Hua. She got a great shock and tried to hold back her sword. Even though she knew that it was just a deceptive hallucination, her sword still involuntarily stopped.
Lan Yu Lan Feng took hold of this opportunity. A thin long and green fish spike covered in poison suddenly grew from her elbow and aimed toward Hua Qian Gu’s chest.
All these happened too quickly. When Hua Qian Gu finally reacted, a person suddenly flew from the sky and stood before her blocking the blow. Even though he had a shield of aura around him, the fish spike still lightly pierced into his body. Black blood began flowing out.
“Shi Fu!” Hua Qian Gu was shocked dumb. She hastily supported the unstable white figure before her.
Lan Yu Lan Feng laughed heartily and changed back into her original form: “This is too interesting. Even though you knew that I was a fake Bai ZI Hua, you still could not bear to attack me!”
“Shi Fu! Shi Fu!” Hua Qian Gu looked at the man on the ground who was growing paler by the moment and hastily sealed a few major acupoints around his body. Tremblingly, she dug out some Qing Xin pills and flusteredly fed it to him.
“Don’t waste your efforts. This is not an ordinary poison. It was made of the Shen Nong Cauldron. There is no antidote. Demons, Monsters, Gods, or Immortals, nobody can escape from it. Even if he is Bai Zi Hua, there is no help.”
As Hua Qian Gu saw the silver glow around him weaken, she knew that Lan Yu Lan Feng was not lying.
Lan Yu Lan Feng pointed the trident straight at her: “Get up, and avenge for your Shi Fu.”
Hua Qian Gu could no longer hear or see anything. She was hunched over and forcefully sucking the poison out of Bai Zi Hua’s body.
Lan Yu Lan Feng creased her brows: “Have you become stupid? Didn’t you hear me tell you this is poison from the Shen Nong Cauldron? Or do you want to die together with your Shi Fu?”
Hua Qian Gu’s lips trembled, she stared straight at Bai Zi Hua with her eyes wide and round as though she had gone mad. Her expression raised goosebumps all over Lan Yu Lan Feng’s body.
This was her fault. This was all her fault. She had harmed Shi Fu. Shi Fu, you must wake up!
Lan Yu Lan Feng helplessly shook her head: “Actually I only wanted to kill Bai Zi Hua. As for you…forget it, you can’t live anyway.”
She slashed down at Hua Qian Gu with her trident. Hua Qian Gu only cared about sucking poison out from Bai Zi Hua and did not dodge.
Suddenly, she heard a light sound “pang”. Lan Yu Lan Feng’s trident had been repelled. A person arrived from the fissure in the northwestern sky, his white robes flowing in the wind. It was Bai Zi Hua again!
“Xiao Gu!” Bai Zi Hua saw Hua Qian Gu grasping on and drinking from a small intricate silver bottle, blood was flowing from the corner of her lips. With a sweep of his sleeve knock the bottle to the ground.
This illusion was created by Lan Yu Lan Feng using the Shen Nong Cauldron. Even though he could sense her, it took him a long time just to find the entrance. He was extremely anxious.
Hua Qian Gu dropped the silver bottle in her hand and raised her head. She looked at him dumbly. Why was there another Shi Fu?
Bai Zi Hua had never seen her eyes reflecting so much despair like this before, it made his heart ache. He helped her up.
Hua Qian Gu reached out to feel his face and reached out again to touch the other poisoned Bai Zi Hua who is lying at her feet. However, the poisoned Bai Zi Hua had already disintegrated into tiny little pieces of light.
“Shi…….Shi Fu……” She mumbled, before viciously spitting out a mouth of black blood and collapsing in his embrace.
She thought he was dead. She thought she had made him die!
Bai Zi Hua transferred his internal energy to suck out the poison within her.
Hua Qian Gu quickly shook her head and struggled to leave his embrace.
“No! Shi Fu! This is a poison from the Shen Nong Cauldron! You will not be able to neutralize it!”
Bai Zi Hua could not consider so much anymore. Without saying a word, he dragged her back and sealed her occupants. He lightly tapped between her brows and sucked as much of the poison out of her as he could. With her cultivation, if he had still delayed, she would be dead.
Lan Yu Lan Feng quietly waited at the side. This was the opportunity she had been waiting for. She took advantage of Bai Zi Hua’s distracted state. She removed the illusion of Bai Zihua and at that moment the entire area around them became blurry and muddled, could not see anything clearly.
That’s terrible!” Tang Bao shouted. She saw all the surrounding trees, constellations, flowers, birds, and lakes becoming flat surfaces and was sucked into a giant green copper cauldron.
“Gu Tou Mama, hang in there. I will go find reinforcements” as it said that it struggled to fight to get out of the gravitation restricted. it turned into a beam of green light and flew towards the ice and snow, disappearing from view.
On the other hand, Bai Zi Hua who was carrying Hua Qian Gu was sucked into the Sheng Nong Cauldron
“Bai Zi Hua, even though my illusions do not affect you, I managed to trick your little disciple. When you snatched the Pan Gu Axe last time, you were rushing back to Tai Bai Mountain and let me get away. That was your biggest mistake. I know that nobody in this world can subdue you, Chang Liu High Immortal. However, you are now lethally poisoned and trapped within the cauldron. Even if you do not die from the poison, the fire inside the cauldron will burn you to death. I do not believe that you will not be turned into ashes!”
Hua Qian Gu only felt the unbearable pain of her organs being burnt. Her limbs were pulled so tight and the surrounding air was about to break. Her surrounding was all muddled and blurry and she could not see anything. She could only see waves and waves of intense red and heat waves radiating toward her. Immense pressure was so oppressing that she could barely breathe. Every inch of her body was on the verge of breaking and it felt as if her body would be crushed to dust.
“Shi Fu!”
She panicked and hurriedly searched around her. Shi Fu will be alright! Shi Fu will be alright! This is all just an illusion!
Suddenly, a ball of silver light along with a cool breeze blew out of her face. A pair of warm and familiar arms pulled her into his bosom.
“Shi Fu!” Hua Qian Gu almost cried. She snuggled into that silver light, hugging him so tight that she would rather die than let go.
Bai Zi Hua was still expressionless. However, he was so deadly pale. While suppressing the poison in his body, he embraced her, simultaneously protecting Hua Qian Gu from the cauldron injury.
Hua Qian Gu knew that they were in a crisis situation. They were trapped within the Shen Nong Cauldron and Shi Fu had been poisoned by the lethal poison on her behalf. If this dragged on any longer, both of them would be burned to ashes.
“Shi Fu, it’s all my fault. I have harmed you…” Hua Qian Gu’s voice trembled. She wanted nothing more than to die here as long as able to help her Shi Fu not suffer anymore.
Bai Zi Hua shook his head. He hugged her small figure that was curled up in his embrace tightly. With the vicious flames incinerating them, the shield of silver light protecting them was getting weaker and weaker. The poison was also gradually eating into his immortal body. He knew that he could not last much longer.
“Shi Fu’s huge calamity had arrived. It has nothing to do with you. If I was not so careless to bring you here, you would not have been burdened by me. Focus all your energy on your diaphragm. I will help you escape from the cauldron.”
“I don’t want! I don’t want!” Hua Qian Gu struggled as hard as she could, kicking and hitting with all her strength. She knew that her Shi Fu was going to use the last of his energy to save her and sacrifice himself. She did not want, she did not want! At most, she will die in this cauldron!
“Xiao Gu” Bai Zi Hua hugged her tight. His body began to tremble from the intense pain inside and outside his body.
“Listen to Shi Fu!” This Shen Nong Cauldron was an Instrument of the Gods. If they dragged on for another hour, all his internal energy would be lost. And there would be no way for her to escape!
Even under his protection, Hua Qian Gu could still feel the pain. This showed how much Shi Fu was suffering. She wanted to hug him from the back so she could shield him from some of the flames. However, he had steadfastly locked her in his embrace. With the last of his strength, he tried to give her a small place where she was protected.
She could feel Bai Zi Hua concentrating all his energy on her body and releasing her hand slowly. Hua Qian Gu slowly floated upwards, yet he was sinking deeper and deeper into the flames. Hua Qian Gu tried hard to reach out to grab him, however, she continued flying higher and higher.
As she watched the distance between her and Bai Zi Hua grow, she thrashed, struggled, and cried like a child.
“ I don’t want! I don’t want! I want to die together with Shi Fu!”
Bai Zi Hua’s body startled with a soft sigh. He clasped both palms together as if he was meditating while sitting on a lotus, prepared to use the last of his strength to seal the Shen Nong Cauldron to prevent the Demon Gods from rebirth.
Hua Qian Gu watched Bai Zi Hua disintegrate into tens of thousands of tiny light particles.
She could no longer bear the pain and let out a world-shaking cry. Her body momentarily became as clear as glass before transforming back. In that split second, a weird mark appeared between her eyebrows, her eyes pupils turned purple, and within them, countless patterns and scenes appeared in every manifestation of nature.
Bai Zi Hua saw her flying towards him and hugging him tightly. His disintegrating body was pieced back little by little and his vitality life slowly returned.
“You are actually is…….” Bai Zi Hua could not stand it and spat another mouth of blood.
Suddenly, two figures shot out from the Sheng Nong Cauldron like shooting stars. Lan Yu Lan Feng spat out blood and staggered back a few steps. She stared disconcertedly at the two figures who had broken free from the cauldron.
Impossible! How could this be! Bai Zi Hua clearly had been poisoned with such a lethal poison! How could he still have such powers to break free!
Hua Qian Gu kneeled on the snow and hugged him from behind. She let out a world-shaking howl, so sorrowful that it crushed one’s heart from hearing it. Lan Yu Lan Feng’s ears were bleeding and she could not move her body under the power of the scream. Even Bai Zi Hua felt his chest hurt.
“Xiao Gu!” Bai Zi Hua looked at her awfully despair’s appearance, he exhausted all effort and shouted with all his might.
Hua Qian Gu was stunned. The light around her vanished and she immediately returned back into her original appearance: “Shi Fu! Shi Fu! You are still alive?”
“I am Still alive……” Bai Zi Hua weakly shook his head. No wonder he could not read her fate.
Hua Qian Gu wanted to smile at him. However, the muscles on her face had been stiffed still and she could not make any expression. She could only hold his hands tightly and tremble. Just a little, just a little more and she almost would have lost him. What was she going to do?!
“Be careful!” Bai Zi Hua forcefully pulled her away. At that moment, Lan Yu Lan Feng’s trident broke through the ice.
“Shi Fu!” Hua Qian Gu saw blood continually flowing from Bai Zi Hua’s mouth. That dark red color was so piercing that she wanted to cry.
“You think just because you can escape the Shen Nong Cauldron, you can escape?”
Lan Yu Lan Feng has increased her attacks. Hua Qian Gu defended with Duan Nian sword, however, her hand was still trembling and she had yet to recover from the earlier shock that she almost lost him.
The snowstorm was getting heavier and heavier. Lan Yu Lan Feng drilled into the ice from time to time, swimming as freely in the ice as she did in the water.
Hua Qian Gu could not help but worry about Bai Zi Hua. Suddenly, many white-robed women appeared in mid-air. Bai Zi Hua tried to use the last of his strength to defend himself, however, he was unable to.
As she saw Bai Zi Hua’s situation become more and more dangerous, getting more and more of injury to his body, Hua Qian Gu could no longer care about anything. She rushed up to Lan Yu Lan Feng’s trident. Her two hands grabbed tightly onto the two sharp blades on each side, while the longest blade in the center reached between her brows. Her hands were covered in blood and the blood that flowed down the blades of the trident. The trident started to corrode and turned green.
Hua Qian Gu gave a loud shout as she used all her internal energy to tear apart the trident’s head.
Lan Yu Lan Feng was shocked. She quickly dove into the ice. However, Hua Qian Gu was extremely fast and followed the sound of her under the ice to quickly stab her through the ice wall.
There was a tragic scream as the ice surface cracked open to reveal Lan Yu Lan Feng who was screaming in agony as her tail twisted around the ice.
Hua Qian Gu quickly returned to help Bai Zi Hua up, before riding her sword to break through the attack from women who looked like Jellyfish demons.
She did not know how far she had flown. Everywhere is the vast ice sheet, one can not see the end. Hua Qian Gu had completely lost her direction. Waves and waves of demons swarmed out. Hua Qian Gu could not withstand their endless barrage of attacks while protecting Bai Zi Hua. She was already exhausted.
She no longer had the strength to ride her sword, so could only hide in the valley. She carried Bai Zi Hua on her back, using all of her effort to slowly step forward.
Bai Zi Hua lay on her back, spitting out mouthful after mouthful of blood, endlessly. Hua Qian Gu’s entire back and collar were dyed red. She could not tell whether it was his blood or her own blood.
“Shi Fu! You must hang on! Shi Fu….” Hua Qian Gu trembled and cried so hard that she no longer had any voice. her small figure was barely half of Bai Zi Hua’s height. She struggled to carry him, and almost crawled while moving forwards.
Looking at the white snow covered with drop after drop of blood. Her heart was in so much pain almost suffocating. She did not know how far she had walked and Bai Zi Hua had been completely unconscious.
Hua Qian Gu’s feet slipped, and both of them rolled down to the snowy slope. Hua Qian Gu was dizzy and staggered to stand up, then rushed to hug Bai Zi Hua’s body tightly. Desperately kept transferring internal energy to him.
“Shi Fu! Shi Fu! you must wake up!” Hua Qian Gu touched his icy cold face which was almost like a corpse.
Bai Zi Hua in his half-conscious state smelled the scent of blood and grabbed Hua Qian Gu’s hand into his mouth.
Hua Qian Gu reacted.
“Blood? You want blood?” Hua Qian Gu placed her wound beside Bao Zi Hua’s lips and squeezed hard. Drop after drop of fresh blood flowed into his mouth.
noveldream 