Chapter 160
Chapter 160
The gates before us were almost fully closed, leaving only a fist-wide gap. Behind me, something brought one foot down on the ground with a thunderous boom.
Even without looking back, I had a pretty good idea what it was.
Whatever had been hidden inside the statue behind us, if it wasn’t a zombie, then only one other possibility remained — that creature resembling both an ox and a tiger… Qiongqi!
We had previously speculated that there might not be a real Qiongqi on Niuhu Mountain. After all, such a creature belonged in ancient mythology. What existed in reality might be nothing more than a Formation constructed around the myth.
That was why I would rather believe the thing bearing down on us was a zombie refined to a high level.
At that moment, I didn’t even dare make any sudden movements for fear of triggering its predatory instincts.
But it kept drawing closer, its presence looming directly overhead.
I jerked my head up and found myself staring straight into the face peering down at us.
It wasn’t a zombie. It was an enormous… beast.
It looked like a tiger, but its body was massive, and a pair of ox horns grew from its head. More terrifyingly, a small pair of fleshy wings sprouted from its back.
I didn’t know whether those wings could support its enormous body in flight, but surely they weren’t there for nothing.
Was it… really Qiongqi?
If Qiongqi truly existed in this world, did that mean the other three great beasts were real as well?
I didn’t dare think about it, but neither did I dare move. All I could do was stand there, holding the violently trembling Guo Zhen in my arms.
Just as I was at a complete loss, unable to find any way out of this predicament, a fan shot through the narrowing gap in the gates.
The fan snapped open, and concealed blades flew from its ribs with sharp whistles, burying themselves in the giant beast’s flesh.
A roar exploded above our heads. Immediately afterward, the heavy gates were pulled open from outside, and a snow-white fox leaped in. Seven snowy tails whipped through the air, forming a vast, fluffy mass that radiated tremendous power.
“Xiao Jiu, get everyone out of here! Leave this to me!”
Hu Yulin’s voice rang out. A gust of wind sprang up from nowhere and sent Guo Zhen and me tumbling out through the gates.
We rolled several times across the ground. By the time I scrambled to my feet, the Temple gates had already closed again.
From inside came the beast’s roars, the sounds of battle, and repeated crashes as something slammed into the walls and gates.
The ground was shaking so violently that every time Guo Zhen barely managed to stand, she fell again. Several wounded people were also lying outside the Temple.
“Xiao Jiu!”
Li Qingying and Hui Moqiong rushed over together. Li Qingying immediately hoisted Guo Zhen onto her back. Hui Moqiong was about to push open the Temple gates when I grabbed him.
I shook my head. “Liu Junyan told me to inform you. Get everyone off Niuhu Mountain immediately.”
“Retreat?” Hui Moqiong replied without hesitation. “This young master has never run from a fight.”
“No one is asking you to run from a fight,” I said gravely. “Qiongqi has already appeared. It’s impossible to end this while leaving both Grand Formation sites untouched. The moment either Grand Formation is activated, anyone who stays behind will be nothing but cannon fodder.”
Hui Moqiong wasn’t stupid. He glanced at the Temple gates, then slammed a frustrated fist into the wall. Afterward, he sent out a signal ordering his disciples and grand-disciples to withdraw at once.
With Li Qingying carrying Guo Zhen, I stayed close to protect them while Hui Moqiong brought up the rear. The four of us prepared to leave.
The wounded people sprawled across the ground groaned and cried out for help.
But we ignored them.
The ground was shaking far too violently. It meant the Formation inside the mountain was rapidly activating, and a catastrophic upheaval could happen at any moment. How many of them could we possibly save?
Besides, there was something deeply suspicious about their presence here in the first place.
Why risk our lives saving them, only to discover we’d rescued an enemy?
Even more terrifyingly, when we raced down the mountain while every bird and beast on Niuhu Mountain fled for its life, quite a few people were still setting up formations at the foot of the mountain.
They had come for the Dragon Aura. After lying low for years, they had finally gotten the opportunity they had been waiting for.
The greater the chaos on Niuhu Mountain and the more violently it shook, the more hope they had.
Hui Moqiong immediately flew into a rage. “Oh, now you’ve done it! At a time like this, you’re still trying to steal my Seventh Master’s fortune? You’re all dead!”
With that, he charged at them.
I left him to it and turned to Li Qingying. “Sister Qingying, I’m afraid I’ll have to trouble you to take Guo Zhen back.”
“Her parents are waiting at the road into town. They’ve been there half the night,” Li Qingying said. “I’ll take her over now and come right back. Xiao Jiu, you… all of you, be careful.”
As she spoke, she glanced involuntarily at Hui Moqiong, who was busy pummeling those people.
I nodded, then reminded her, “What Guo Zhen went through tonight will be far too difficult for her to process. I’ll ask someone to visit her home and help counsel her through it. Please let her parents know. Also, the Fake Ascetic Monk drained her vital essence, so tell them to find a nutritionist who can help her restore her vitality properly.”
In Guo Zhen’s condition, it would take at least a year or more for her body to recover. More importantly, her psychological trauma would be even harder to heal.
Li Qingying committed everything to memory, then left with Guo Zhen on her back.
Things were too chaotic at the foot of Niuhu Mountain, and none of our calls would go through. Once I got back, I would contact Master Hui Quan and ask him to visit the Guo Family and perform a ritual for Guo Zhen to help her work through the trauma.
After Hui Moqiong finished beating up that group, he strode over while rolling up his sleeves. Just as he was about to speak, an earth-shaking roar erupted, nearly rupturing our eardrums.
Immediately afterward, a powerful Formation lit up in midair above the Temple’s main hall, then began pressing downward inch by inch.
As the Formation descended, blade-like streams of True Qi shot out from within it and plunged into the ground below.
Roars of agony rang out one after another.
That direction… Was that Hu Yulin?
“The Nine-Tailed Sky-Covering Formation.” Hui Moqiong narrowed his eyes and chuckled. “Looks like Hu Yulin still has a conscience after all.”
Confused, I asked, “The Nine-Tailed Sky-Covering Formation? But when I saw his true form earlier, he clearly only had seven tails.”
“That’s right. He’s only cultivated seven tails so far,” Hui Moqiong said. “But even seven-tailed foxes are vanishingly rare within the Fox Clan. He’s using his seven-tailed body to power the Nine-Tailed Sky-Covering Formation. He’ll probably have to enter seclusion for quite a while after this. He’s overtaxing himself far too much.”
My heart trembled slightly.
Hu Yulin… wasn’t a bad person…
Boom!
A deafening explosion came from the Temple. After erupting in a blinding flash of white light, the Nine-Tailed Sky-Covering Formation vanished in an instant.
Something slammed heavily into the ground.
Immediately afterward, a deep, lingering peal from the Bronze Bell rang out without warning, echoing endlessly through the mountain forest.
Hui Moqiong sucked in a sharp breath and murmured, “The Bronze Bell is ringing, but who struck it? Was it Seventh Master? No, I have to go take a look.”
He was about to rush back up the mountain when a burst of golden light suddenly flared to life. I grabbed Hui Moqiong and stopped him.
We stood at the foot of the mountain, staring up toward the Temple.
Unlike before, the golden light did not vanish in a flash. This time, it remained for a very, very long time.
When it first appeared, we could even see bloody energy scattering throughout the golden radiance before slowly gathering together again.
The bloody energy condensed into droplets, and the droplets merged into a sphere.
The blood sphere grew larger and larger as the wails of ghosts and the howls of wolves drifted across the mountain wilderness.
Then, without warning, the ghostly wailing abruptly ceased. Hui Moqiong shouted, “Holy shit!” grabbed me, and ran…