Not to mention the others, even Cheng Yuan was stunned by Ye Huaiyao’s move. He knew the swordsmanship of the Chensu Sect by heart, but he had never imagined that it could one day unleash such power.
A sense of incongruity flashed through his mind, and he immediately realised that the true situation was far from optimistic.
The leopard’s hide was hardier than armour, and with demonic energy augmenting its power, it was not to be underestimated. For Ye Huaiyao to wound it with a single sword strike despite having no spiritual power was already an extraordinarily impressive feat.
But that was because his technique had been exquisite, his speed swift, and the element of surprise had played a considerable part. Now that he had enraged the leopard, the slightest misstep might result in even his sword being snapped. At that point, things really would be over.
—At this moment, apart from Ye Huaiyao and Huaijiang, no one knew that he was actually facing the legendary Leopard King rather than an ordinary leopard. Otherwise, they would have been even more astonished.
Cheng Yuan had been thinking about Ye Huaiyao all these years. He had yet to get his hands on him, so naturally he was unwilling to let him die just like this. He immediately rushed over to help.
His spiritual power was abundant. Before he had even reached them, he had already struck the Leopard King’s back with a palm.
Cheng Yuan had several hundred years of cultivation behind him, and his spiritual power was abundant. There was nothing ordinary about this strike.
But what he had never expected was that his palm force did not strike the leopard at all. Instead, it seemed to be “sucked” into the ring of flowers and plants beside it.
Cheng Yuan stared in astonishment. The plants, having absorbed his spiritual power, instantly grew several inches taller, then began trembling and thrashing towards him with claws and fangs.
Cheng Yuan instinctively swung his sword horizontally, sending blades of grass flying in all directions, but the spiritual power on his sword was drained once again, causing the flowers and plants to flourish even more vigorously.
Several fellow disciples hurried over to stop him. “Careful! That’s Soul-Devouring Grass!”
One disciple, in trying to shield Cheng Yuan, had a shallow cut opened on his hand. He could not help but spit out a curse. “Damn it, there are so many strange things in this bloody Ghost Wind Forest!”
Soul-Devouring Grass had broad, thick leaves. It flowered in spring and summer and withered in autumn and winter. Its vitality was extraordinarily vigorous. It could devour a cultivator’s spiritual power, growing stronger as it fed, and could reach a height of three or four zhang. Only the fire from the mouth of a Lang Bird could burn it to nothing.
However, although the Lang Bird was not as divine as the Phoenix, it was itself a rare divine beast, and an even rarer one at that. There was nowhere they could find one at such short notice.
Chu Liang, however, had a sudden thought and asked Yan Lin, “Fellow Daoist Yan, I remember that Young Master Yuan’s mount is a Lang Bird. I wonder whether your sect has any means of contacting him and borrowing it?”
The moment they heard the words “Young Master Yuan”, everyone from Xuantian Tower wore displeased expressions. Even Yan Lin, who was normally good-natured, could not help showing a trace of displeasure.
Chu Liang understood the source of their reaction. The “Young Master Yuan” they were referring to was Yuan Xian, the young master of Guiyuan Manor, who had also entered into a Dao companion’s pact with the Illustrious Sage when they were children.
Cultivators lived long lives, and the path to the Great Dao was difficult. It was inevitable that they would sometimes need someone to accompany them, and they often did not care particularly about gender. However, the Illustrious Sage and Yuan Xian’s relationship existed in name only. They had been betrothed, but had never formally married.
The two of them could barely meet a few times a year, and their feelings for each other were even fainter.
According to legend, their pact had come about because both of them possessed unusual destinies and had been born into a time of great calamity. Their elders, seeking to avert the disaster, had taken it upon themselves to have the two of them press their fingerprints onto the contract.
Later, the Illustrious Sage died while answering the calamity. Countless people mourned his death, while Yuan Xian was freed from the pact and was quite content to enjoy his freedom.
Less than a year later, he even declared that he had found someone he loved, earning a severe reprimand from the Elder Lord of the Manor before he finally settled down for the time being.
At the time, everyone in Xuantian Tower was still immersed in grief. Even according to the ordinary obligations of friendship, Yuan Xian ought not to have behaved so conspicuously. His attitude had, to some extent, affected the relationship between Xuantian Tower and Guiyuan Manor.
Although Yan Lin had never even met the Illustrious Sage, he had grown up hearing stories about this martial uncle and had no particular fondness for Yuan Xian either.
Chu Liang knew that there had always been some tension between the two sides. Given the present circumstances, however, there was no other choice, which was why he had bitten the bullet and asked Yan Lin.
Yan Lin hesitated for a moment. Then he thought of Ye Huaiyao, who was still trapped inside. They could not possibly allow private grievances between the two sects to cut off the other’s chance of survival. He was ultimately a kind-hearted man, and sighed, “Human life matters… Very well, but I can only do my best. I don’t know whether Young Master Yuan will find it convenient. I’m afraid the journey there and back will also take some time.”
Yan Lin immediately tried to contact Yuan Xian with a spirit-communicating talisman. The other side agreed, but Yuan Xian was slow to arrive. Other demonic creatures continued to dart out from time to time, wearing away at everyone’s strength and patience.
Cheng Yuan had only managed to drag out the rescued female cultivator. Now, as he watched clumps of Soul-Devouring Grass form a natural barrier, keeping Ye Huaiyao trapped behind it, his face was frighteningly grim.
This was quite a situation. The people outside were all working in groups of two or three to deal with a single leopard, while Ye Huaiyao, whose spiritual power had been crippled, was the only one trapped inside the ring of Soul-Devouring Grass with the Leopard King. Fortunately, he had no spiritual power, so he would not draw the Soul-Devouring Grass’s attacks as well.
This Leopard King possessed both the agility and cunning of a human and the nimbleness and ferocity of a beast. It was extremely difficult to deal with.
As Ye Huaiyao fought it, Huaijiang could only watch helplessly from within his sea of consciousness. He could not intervene, and the frustration was almost unbearable. He could not help reminding him, “You don’t have the strength. No matter how exquisite your moves are, they’re just an empty show. Don’t meet it head-on. If your sword breaks, you’re completely finished!”
Ye Huaiyao wiped away his sweat and, in the midst of his frantic struggle, smiled. “Senior, getting itchy to fight?”
Huaijiang snorted. Before he could answer, he saw that Ye Huaiyao had completely ignored his advice. With a move called “Unwavering Resolve”, his sword pierced straight through the centre, thrusting forcefully towards the Leopard King in a head-on clash.
Huaijiang was so angry that he nearly rolled his eyes.
The smile on this youngster’s face was always refined and handsome, making him look the very picture of respectability. Yet stubborn was truly stubborn, and he would not listen to half a word anyone said.
The Illustrious Sage had the capital to be wilful and reckless, but could his present condition possibly be compared with the past?
Using one’s own weakness to challenge the enemy’s strength. Was he trying to get himself killed?
He had not even finished rolling his eyes, and was already wishing he could roll up his sleeves and go in himself, when he saw Ye Huaiyao change his technique.
“Unwavering Resolve” was a straight thrust. The Leopard King raised a paw and struck towards the middle of the sword, but before its paw could touch the blade, Ye Huaiyao twisted his wrist. The sword swept through an arc, and the exquisitely soft and graceful “Spring Breeze and Willow” flowed effortlessly from his hand.
This technique had been created by a female cultivator among the predecessors of Xuantian Tower. In Ye Huaiyao’s hands, its delicate softness was stripped away, replaced with an added dash of elegance and freedom. Flecks of sword-light flashed as the blade swept downwards from his waist towards the Leopard King’s lower body.
It was an excellent move, but his opponent had no appreciation for it. Relying on its thick hide and coarse flesh, the Leopard King did not care whether Ye Huaiyao stabbed its chest, legs or waist. It bent its knee and suddenly sprang into the air, then drove both feet heavily into Ye Huaiyao’s chest, kicking him flying.
Had this been in the past, Ye Huaiyao could have directly shaken it into nothing more than a leopard skin. But now he could not withstand it. His whole body was thrown backwards and crashed to the ground with a loud “bang”.
Hearing the impact, Huaijiang’s eyelids twitched. He felt he was about to die of anger and said resentfully, “Serves you right!”
After cursing him, he added irritably, “If you don’t want to die, go lie over there and let me handle it. I’ll give your body back once the fight is over. Surely that’s acceptable?”
Ye Huaiyao coughed up a mouthful of blood, then used his toes to flick up a stone from the ground and struck it away with his sword. “I’m half-dead, perhaps, but I’m not quite dead yet.”
His hand lacked strength, but the stone he struck flew with perfect precision, just as the Leopard King happened to be charging towards him. It was effectively charging straight into the stone itself, taking another blow to the forehead.
The Leopard King was not afraid even of a sword, let alone a little stone. After a brief moment of bewilderment, it once again pounced ferociously towards Ye Huaiyao.
This time, Huaijiang said nothing.
After several days together, the two had come to understand each other’s temperaments. He knew that Ye Huaiyao was gentle on the outside but unyielding within, and certainly not a man without a head on his shoulders. Whatever he did, there had to be a reason.
After they had fought for another short while, Huaijiang noticed that Ye Huaiyao changed his moves extremely quickly, with each attack aimed at a different point. It was clearly a form of probing.
—He was searching for the Leopard King’s weakness!
The Leopard King was, in essence, still a beast. It had temporarily taken human form because it had devoured a human heart. There was one part of its body that was particularly soft, and that was where its weakness lay. As long as it was attacked with full force, it would reveal its true form.
Although Ye Huaiyao’s probing meant that he would inevitably suffer some losses himself, it was also the most effective method available to him at present.
Huaijiang watched him climb to his feet, wipe away the blood, and smile as though it were nothing. A strange feeling suddenly welled up within him.
Back then, he had had nowhere to reside, so he had chosen to awaken Ye Huaiyao and lodge himself within his primordial spirit. One reason was that he knew the other’s true identity was extraordinary. The other was that he had taken a liking to Ye Huaiyao’s present circumstances.
Having roamed the martial world for so many years, Huaijiang knew all too well that the higher a person stood, the more they feared falling from their pedestal.
In Huaijiang’s eyes, this Illustrious Sage, known as “the most fortunate man in all the mortal realm”, this Lord Yunqi, praised as “the dream that intoxicates the mortal world, a marvel granted by Heaven”, had suddenly lost all his cultivation and been reduced to an ordinary disciple. He should have suffered an enormous psychological blow and would easily have been tempted into surrendering his body in exchange for power.
So he had awakened Ye Huaiyao. So he had repeatedly tried to make the other ask for his help and surrender control of his body. And so he came to realise:
It was impossible.
Because it seemed that only now had Huaijiang truly begun to understand the Illustrious Sage, Lord Yunqi.
His brilliance had never lain in the position he occupied. Ye Huaiyao wielded his longsword. First came “Clear Song Beneath the Moon”, followed by “The Famous Scholar Topples the City”, and finally “Cold Fragrance at the Sleeve”. The three sword techniques flowed together in a single seamless sequence. Without a foundation of consummate skill, they would have been impossible to execute. Feints and real attacks blended together, making it impossible to tell where the sword-tip was truly aimed.
This time, the Leopard King, which had originally been pursuing him relentlessly, suddenly retreated when Ye Huaiyao’s sword swept towards its right shoulder. It then turned sideways and struck again with its paw.
But that extremely slight movement instantly allowed Ye Huaiyao to identify its weakness.
He thought, “This Leopard King relies on its thick hide and fearlessness. Whenever it encounters an attack, it never even bothers to dodge. Why, then, did it retreat only when I struck towards its right shoulder? It seems that its weak point is there.”
With this thought, Ye Huaiyao abandoned the deliberate probing he had been doing moments before. With a move called “The Vast Sea in Turmoil”, he swept his sword horizontally towards the Leopard King’s neck. As expected, the Leopard King neither dodged nor evaded. It reached out with its claws to seize the sword, but grasped only empty air.
There was a soft “shick”. After a feint of the sword-tip, the strike became real, and the blade pierced straight through its shoulder.
Outside, the people guarding the area had exhausted every kind of magical treasure, desperately seeking a way through the barrier formed by the Soul-Devouring Grass. Before they could succeed, golden light suddenly shone from within. A leopard’s roar rang out, so powerful that the leaves overhead rustled and fell.
There was a young man who was the son of an elder of the Eight Immortals Sect. He had never had many interests in life, except for a particular fondness for handsome men and beautiful women.
He had originally been on very good terms with Ji Lanying. Earlier, when he had seen Ye Huaiyao outside, he had been utterly astonished by his beauty and had immediately developed a one-sided fondness for him, born of the simple, sincere heart of someone who loved beautiful faces.
During the rescue earlier, this young man had been exceptionally enthusiastic. Now, hearing that something unusual was happening inside, he hurriedly squeezed his way over, shouting loudly, “What’s happened? What happened inside? Is there danger?”
Cheng Yuan said in a low voice, “The leopard has been forced back into its original form.”
