A City Swept by Wind and Snow GL - Chapter 28

◎The monstrous man was ultimately torn to shreds by true monsters.◎

“It hurts! It hurts so much!” Zhang Yongle rolled around, howling like a ghost.

Tang Fei jumped far away, concentrating on observing him. Zhang Yongle screamed for a long time, finally falling silent, curling up into a ball of flesh, lying motionless on the ground.

Tang Fei squinted at the soft lump, walked closer, and poked him with his weapon. Zhang Yongle made no sound, and Tang Fei couldn’t help but mutter to himself, “Did he really die from the pain?”

Just as Tang Fei was about to turn and leave, the fleshy lump suddenly twitched, and a voice full of resentment muttered from Zhang Yongle’s thick arms: “I won’t spare you, absolutely won’t spare you!”

Before Tang Fei could react, Zhang Yongle suddenly sprang up from the ground. His hands crossed and abruptly grabbed Tang Fei’s arm, shouting, “You cut off a small piece of me, I will take a large piece of you!”

Tang Fei knew something was wrong and had already protected his body with gangqi (internal energy). Although he failed to dodge Zhang Yongle’s claw, he was spared a serious injury. Zhang Yongle’s force was rebounded by Tang Fei’s gangqi, ultimately only tearing off a piece of his sleeve. Tang Fei seized the opportunity to retreat, sighing in his heart: “Did that chop miss? By all appearances, he doesn’t look critically injured.” Upon looking at Zhang Yongle’s appearance again, he suddenly realized: he was a eunuch. Something had been gone for a long time. What he had cut was very likely his protruding belly.

Zhang Yongle was furious that he hadn’t succeeded in his move. His whole body rattled, and he squeezed a sentence through his clenched teeth: “I originally preferred a smaller figure and didn’t want to show myself in this state. However, a woman makes herself beautiful for the man who appreciates her. Since you have no intention towards me, I don’t care about how I look in your eyes anymore!”

Tang Fei looked at his massive body and couldn’t help but wonder: Was this what he considered a small figure?

As Zhang Yongle spoke, his body had already grown by a third, making him like a giant. Tang Fei suddenly understood: Bone-Shrinking Technique! Zhang Yongle, who was in the Water Moon Palace with Jinyu (Goldfish), was also a master of the Bone-Shrinking Technique.

“Heh heh, a fully stretched body is much more flexible,” Zhang Yongle stretched lazily, his eyes focused on Tang Fei’s face like a hungry tiger.

Zhang Yongle’s previous movements were already flexible and quick enough. Tang Fei couldn’t imagine what he would be like in his natural state. He quickly shook his Great Thunderclap (Da Pili), and the crescent-shaped weapon suddenly grew a long handle. However, just as he was about to firmly grip the weapon, he saw the Great Thunderclap flying into the distance, and simultaneously flying out was the hand that held the long handle.

Bl00d immediately gushed like a fountain.

Just as he felt the intense pain, Zhang Yongle was already standing behind him, his thick and powerful arm clamping his throat: “No man who sees me in this state can live.”

This was the second time Tang Fei felt the breath of death, the first being when he saw Xifeng use “Thunder Overturn” (Lei Fu).

A crack opened with a creak dozens of feet above his head, letting in a faint ray of light. The faces of several women peered over, watching with keen interest. They said, “He’s dead, he’s definitely dead!”

Agonizing pain and horror filled his body. Tang Fei looked up at the faint light and murmured, “Definitely dead? Are… are they talking about me?”

…

When Zhong Gui (Bell Ghost) said, “Tang Fei is definitely dead,” Xue Qianxun thought he was being an alarmist. Xifeng, because she didn’t want to swallow the strong alcohol, had been suffocated too long inside the giant bell and was currently unconscious. Xue Qianxun ignored Zhong Gui and focused on rescuing Xifeng. She had read Zhuque’s medical books and tried according to the methods: first, she helped her sit up. From behind her, she clenched one hand into a fist, placing the thumb side against the midline between her navel and sternum, then covered the fist with the other hand and squeezed both hands rapidly upward a few times. A moment later, Xifeng frowned and began to breathe weakly. Xue Qianxun was overjoyed and quickly placed her palms against Xifeng’s, inputting lingli (spiritual energy) into her body.

Zhong Gui, being ignored, was extremely unhappy, and at the same time grew more afraid of Xifeng waking up. He said to Xue Qianxun and Jinse, “It seems to you, it doesn’t matter if Tang Fei dies.”

Xue Qianxun glanced at him coldly and said, “Of course, it matters. Who would believe your nonsense?”

Jinse also said: “Xifeng, Tang Fei, and I have all tacitly tested the skills of Charming Purple and Gorgeous Red. Unless they are truly peerless masters, they could perfectly hide their true abilities in their breathing and walking posture. However, a master of that caliber would be unlikely to set up a maze and disguise themselves in that place at that time, nor would they be afraid of the little wolf cub, nor would they easily let the three of us go. We had already considered: even if those four people attacked together, Tang Fei would not lose. Moreover, the Heavenly Origin Martial Arts Tournament invitation from your Water Moon Palace clearly states that the number of people sent out to fight will not exceed the number of invited participants in the battle. Furthermore, Tang Fei is a Divine Thief. Taking treasures from a dragon’s lair or a tiger’s den is as easy as reaching into one’s pocket for him. What he is most proficient at is the art of escape. Therefore, even if there is a rare master among the Charming Purple and Gorgeous Red, in a one-on-one fight, Tang Fei, even if he can’t win, has a sure chance of escaping.”

Zhong Gui laughed loudly upon hearing this, shouting, “Utterly wrong!” Seeing Xue Qianxun and Jinse’s surprised expressions, his eyes showed a triumphant smile. He turned around and called out, “Charming Purple and Gorgeous Red, show them something!”

The rattling sound of iron chains came from the mist, followed by the appearance of four giant bells, each standing with a person on top, and their appearance was: Xifeng, Jinse, Xue Qianxun, and Tang Fei.

Zhong Gui continued, “Some people only make people feel powerful, but there is another type of person who makes people feel terrified. Tang Fei’s opponent—Zhang Yongle—is a person in our Water Moon Palace who can be called terrifying. See for yourselves.”

The people on top of the bells jumped down one after another, simultaneously throwing out something about a foot and a half long, which rolled a few times and reached their front. With just a glance, it stained their vision red.

Even the usually composed Jinse gasped.

Xue Qianxun couldn’t help but exclaim, “Tang Fei’s hand?!” Her arms trembled, and Xifeng’s body, which was being supported, swayed involuntarily.

Jinse seized the moment to support Xifeng and asked Zhong Gui, “Who is this Zhang Yongle you speak of?”

“Besides the word ‘terrifying,’ he’s difficult to describe, and I dare not describe him. Because even in Water Moon Palace, except for three or four people including the Palace Lord, he dares to kill anyone. So the Palace Lord had no choice but to order him to live alone on Taiyin Mountain and guard a certain treasure. In fact, Zhang Yongle was not supposed to participate in this Heavenly Origin Martial Arts Tournament. It’s just Tang Fei’s bad luck; he fell into the mouth of a hungry tiger himself. Well, the small talk ends here. While Xifeng is still unconscious, it’s better to quickly eliminate you, and then, heh heh, let the Charming Purple and Gorgeous Red replace the four of you to approach Zhuque. It’s truly a pity that the Palace Lord will once again have to wait in vain for this year’s Heavenly Origin Martial Arts Tournament. The strength of the Carefree Divine Cult is nothing more than this.” Zhong Gui slowly walked towards Xue Qianxun, his eyes sweeping over Xifeng’s pale face, then over Jinse’s bl00d-stained body. He smiled sinisterly: “Who should I kill first? Oh, Xifeng covered in wounds and with her breath faint like silk, is truly rare. Jinse, why do you also look completely weak? Your sharpness and smile are gone! How about it? The feeling of the zither string penetrating a major bl00d vessel is much harder to resolve than an ordinary pressure point block, isn’t it?” Finally, Zhong Gui fixed his gaze on Xue Qianxun and sighed heavily: “How pathetic.”

The word “pathetic” greatly humiliated Xue Qianxun.

Zhong Gui added, “It’s unprecedented for such a weak person to participate in the Heavenly Origin Martial Arts Tournament, and the fact that you’ve survived until now has to be a miracle. Now, there is no one left to protect you. What should you do?”

Xue Qianxun guarded both Xifeng and Jinse and said, “Then wouldn’t it be as you originally wished? We can fight to the death?”

Zhong Gui laughed: “Don’t think that being able to injure Fifth Charm is so remarkable. She is completely powerless without her zither. If her twenty-three zither strings hadn’t all been used on Xifeng and Jinse, coupled with taking a severe blow from Xifeng, do you think you would have had a chance to approach Fifth Charm? Don’t be smug about that last battle!”

Xue Qianxun was struck to the core and laughed out of extreme anger: “Zhong Gui, thanks to you, I have a desire to kill for the first time in my life.”

Zhong Gui said, “A joke! I’ll let you feel the pain of watching your companions die in front of you first!” Before his voice faded, he had already leapt into the air, detached a giant bell from the iron chain, and plunged it down like a huge mountain. “I’m so looking forward to seeing their heads smashed open!” He charged straight towards Xifeng and Jinse.

Xue Qianxun stood calmly in front of the two. Jinse tried desperately to push her, but she remained motionless. Zhong Gui was shocked by Xue Qianxun’s courage, but the giant bell in his hand smashed down without mercy.

With a loud weng sound, the giant bell was suspended in mid-air, more than a man’s height above the ground. Zhong Gui’s wrist felt an intense pain that traveled up his arm bone, paining half of his body. Greatly shocked and enraged, when Zhong Gui caught the giant bell with his other hand and realized that it was Xue Qianxun who had blocked this fierce blow, he was profoundly shaken.

Xue Qianxun’s arm still maintained the posture of a palm strike, her expression serious and cold, “I’m sorry to disappoint your expectation.” Her tone was calm and understated, yet it carried a high-and-mighty deterrent force.

There was an undercurrent of commotion in the deep tunnel. Zhong Gui was overwhelmed with fear, seeing only Xue Qianxun in his eyes. He must kill her! Before she became even stronger!

Zhong Gui gathered his zhenqi (true energy), poised to strike. At this moment, a low shout suddenly came from mid-air: “Zhong Gui, stop!”

Zhong Gui hesitated for a moment and finally obediently stopped, but he was extremely unwilling, saying, “Little Wolf Cub, do you also have a woman’s compassion? If I don’t kill her now, I’ll be the one killed another day!”

The Little Wolf Cub slowly walked out, a leisurely smile on his face: “Won’t it be fine if you just follow behind me?”

The Little Wolf Cub’s tone clearly showed contempt for Zhong Gui, yet Zhong Gui showed no sign of defiance, lowering his eyes and walking to the Little Wolf Cub’s side. The Little Wolf Cub glanced into the tunnel and smiled faintly at Jinse: “Not bad. In this short half an hour since entering the waterfall, you’ve managed to subdue all the over a thousand bats I ambushed.”

Jinse said, “You’re not bad either. You noticed the moment they were subdued and strengthened your own subduing power. Now, they belong to you again.”

“Of course, after all, I’m a bit stronger than you,” the Little Wolf Cub said without modesty, then his tone shifted, “However, I’m even more looking forward to our match.” He then said to Charming Purple and Gorgeous Red, “Deactivate all the arrays.” Finally, he glanced at Zhong Gui, frowning slightly: “Let’s go.”

Xue Qianxun quickly said, “Little Wolf Cub, give Zhuque back to us!”

The Little Wolf Cub didn’t look back, only dropping a sentence: “Little Sister Yi hasn’t been with me for a while now. Don’t worry, she’s safe and will come back to find you herself.”

Jinse said, “Wait. Where is Taiyin Mountain?”

The Little Wolf Cub paused, smiled softly, and said, “If you want to fight me, you’d better not go to Taiyin Mountain. Now, Tang Fei can’t be saved. It’s important that you protect yourselves.”

After walking out of sight of Xue Qianxun and the others, Zhong Gui finally couldn’t help but say, “Little Wolf Cub, why did you stop me just now? I didn’t use my full strength on the first strike. The next time, Xue Qianxun surely won’t be able to handle it.”

The Little Wolf Cub said, “That’s why Fifth Charm always says about you: besides brute force and arrogance, you have nothing. Fifth Charm could see it at a glance, yet you remain stubbornly deluded. Xue Qianxun’s potential is far beyond your imagination. Also, Jinse was already capable of controlling the over a thousand bats that originally only obeyed me, and Xifeng was already conscious. Perhaps in order not to hurt that little beauty’s self-esteem, the moment Xue Qianxun’s palm strike was launched, Xifeng used gangqi to shake your bell at a speed that Xue Qianxun didn’t even notice. You were completely unaware of all this.”

Zhong Gui’s face flushed crimson.

The Little Wolf Cub smiled faintly, extended a finger, and flicked his bell. The giant bell immediately showed cracks, then shattered into pieces. Zhong Gui’s face turned ashen. The Little Wolf Cub said, “Look. This is Xue Qianxun’s potential. If you had attacked again, it would have been you who was smashed to pieces.”

…

Outside Taiyin Mountain.

A bl00d-soaked man stumbled forward, his body exhausted. The experience just now was like a nightmare worse than any other. Therefore, feeling his own heartbeat and breathing, he couldn’t help but believe his survival was a miracle. Although this miracle stemmed from the words he said, which he was most ashamed of in his life.

—At that moment, when Zhang Yongle’s terrifying large hand clamped Tang Fei’s throat, Tang Fei sincerely looked into the opponent’s bloodthirsty eyes and said softly, “Yongle, I actually still like your original appearance. Grand and dignified, with a queen’s demeanor.”

Emotion is a strange thing, for anyone.

Zhang Yongle melted, melted into the lie that Tang Fei casually produced for survival.

Later, Tang Fei took the opportunity to break free. Zhang Yongle chased him madly, crying and shouting, looking terrifying. Tang Fei only thought that if he was caught, he would surely suffer a terrible death, so he ran and scrambled desperately for his life. Due to his keen intuition for mechanisms and arrays, he discovered that Taiyin Mountain itself was a huge organic whole. In his haste, he recklessly tried to manipulate various mechanisms, hoping to open a way out. However, what greatly exceeded his expectations was that a whole section of the ground beneath his feet split in two, revealing a pond of water exuding a chilling aura.

Tang Fei was dumbfounded. This eerie pond of water did not look like an escape route at all.

Just then, Zhang Yongle cried out in panic, “I’m finished!” As he spoke, he tried to close the mechanism.

However, it was too late. While Tang Fei remained stunned, seven or eight little girls successively surfaced from the water. Their skin was pale with a bluish tint, their pupils were golden yellow, the rest of their eyes pitch black, and the contours of their faces were very beautiful, yet exuding an unspeakable wickedness. The little girls climbed onto the shore one after another. Only then did Tang Fei realize that from the waist down, they had the bodies of salamanders, also silver-white with a bluish tint.

“Heavens, what in the world did Zhang Yongle imprison!” Looking at those monsters, Tang Fei was so horrified that he almost forgot the intense pain in his severed arm.

Immediately following, with almost the speed of a storm, the monstrous girls surrounded Zhang Yongle. Zhang Yongle struggled fiercely to resist, but no matter how many times he hit the monstrous girls away, they would frantically surge toward him again, their movements incredibly swift, and even though they were hit by Zhang Yongle’s powerful attacks, they were completely unharmed.

Perhaps realizing that retribution was inevitable, or for some other reason, the bl00d-fearing and pain-fearing Zhang Yongle showed no signs of desperate struggle. Moreover, not once did he hit a monstrous girl in the direction of Tang Fei. He tried to buy as much time as possible, looking at Tang Fei with deep affection, shouting constantly, “Hurry up and go! Hurry up and go!”

Tang Fei was very surprised, yet his feet were unable to move. He genuinely dreaded Zhang Yongle’s passionate love, yet at this moment, he couldn’t help but feel moved and compassionate.

Tang Fei roared, “A person who sees death and won’t save, and runs away alone, is a coward!”

The Great Thunderclap suddenly transformed into a three-section staff, and Tang Fei jumped over to strike at the girl monsters.

Zhang Yongle’s eyes were filled with panic, satisfaction, and boundless tenderness. His shouts were urgent and hoarse: “Stop! Whoever wants you to save them is a coward! Their resentment towards me has accumulated over time. You can’t save me and will be implicated for nothing! … Get away quickly before they eat me!”

Zhang Yongle struggled to free a hand and pointed in a certain direction: “Farewell forever, Tang Lang.”

“But! Zhang Yongle,” seeing Zhang Yongle in imminent danger, Tang Fei could no longer hesitate, and said loudly, “I’m sorry! A million apologies! No matter if you’re angry or resentful, I can’t let you die believing a lie. Tang Fei is not a hero. This battle is unfair…”

“What battle?” Zhang Yongle interrupted Tang Fei, his expression lost in thought. In a daze, his throat was bitten through by one of the monstrous girls. However, there was no fear on his face. A faint, wry smile actually appeared at his bleeding lips. He murmured earnestly, his voice interspersed with bl00d bubbles: “This is not a battle; it’s an encounter. I know which lie you were referring to. But, in that moment when I believed it, I was so happy, truly so happy, Tang Lang, Tang Lang…”

His voice stopped. The monstrous Zhang Yongle was ultimately torn to shreds by true monsters. All this happened extremely fast. When it ended, Tang Fei was still tightly gripping the Great Thunderclap, at a loss. Fortunately, those monstrous girls were so full of hatred for Zhang Yongle that they only focused on mutilating his corpse, sparing no attention for Tang Fei.

After who knows how long, Zhang Yongle had become a pile of horrific flesh chunks. Tang Fei suddenly snapped back to his senses, turned around, and ran toward the escape route that Zhang Yongle had pointed to with his last bit of strength. As he ran, he kept reciting in his heart: “Yixin Ci, Jinse, Xifeng, Xue Qianxun, we made a promise, we must see each other again, we must.” It was as if, without this affirmation, he might collapse at any moment and allow himself to die.