Chapter 252
Chapter 252
Gritting my teeth, I leveled the Longbow at Snow Phoenix.
As the saying went, one should never seek to harm others, but one must always guard against them.
I still couldn’t be entirely sure whether Snow Phoenix was friend or foe, so aiming the Longbow at her was merely a warning and a means of protecting myself.
Sorrow instantly clouded Snow Phoenix’s eyes.
My distrust had clearly hurt her. She asked sadly, “Sister, do you still refuse to trust me?”
As she spoke, a faint pain throbbed in my chest.
I gave a bitter smile. “Snow Phoenix, you must understand. The moment you came here, you became an enormous threat to me.”
She had consumed the Ice Silkworm, and as a Snow Phoenix, she was capable of suppressing its Gu Poison.
But she had fed me her blood, allowing the Gu Poison to seep into my very bones and blood. It would flare up once every month, and only fresh Dragon Bone Blood could ease it.
If I wanted to rid myself of the Ice Silkworm’s Gu Poison, I would have to undergo Nirvana.
Feng Xianqiu had used that very fact to control me back at the Pawnshop.
Snow Phoenix was the perfect conduit.
Hidden beneath Cangwu Mountain, where the Nirvana Fire protected this place, I was beyond the direct reach of Feng Xianqiu’s Witchcraft. He couldn’t induce a Gu Poison flare-up in me himself.
But he could manipulate Snow Phoenix and use her to affect me.
Snow Phoenix immediately understood what I meant and began to panic. “Sister, you’ve misunderstood. Yes, the Snow Phoenix Clan is indeed under the Right Guardian’s control. And if I take you up now, you really would be captured by him. But this is Cangwu Mountain, and our clan’s territory lies right at its foot. There’s a seventy percent chance we can rescue you.”
Seventy percent!
Those were pretty good odds.
Just as I silently weighed my options, the Wutong Tree leaves rustled overhead once more.
Snow Phoenix and I looked up at the same time, and her expression changed abruptly.
“What’s happening? How could this be?” she murmured.
The Wutong Tree leaves had only just returned to normal, yet now frost was forming across them once again. Clearly, the Formation established by the Six Elders of the Snow Phoenix Clan had been activated for a second time.
This time, the magical power erupting from the Formation was visibly stronger than when Snow Phoenix had descended, and it was pressing downward even faster.
“That’s impossible!” Snow Phoenix panicked. “The Six Elders would never betray the Fire Witch Goddess. Unless…”
“Unless the Six Elders are no longer in control of themselves,” I finished for her.
Once the Six Elders had finished setting up the Formation, Feng Xianqiu could easily have taken control of them or even killed them, then personally seized control of the Formation to descend.
This was the perfect opportunity for him. How could he possibly let it slip away?
The Wutong Tree leaves were turning white at a rate visible to the naked eye. I stared fixedly upward, ready to strike at a moment’s notice.
What I hadn’t expected was for Snow Phoenix to panic first.
She grabbed me and dragged me toward the back.
The cave entrance leading through the waterfall stood open. Snow Phoenix seemed to know what lay beyond it. She was still in human form when she seized me, but in the next instant, she had transformed into the Little White Bird.
With a piercing cry, the Little White Bird suddenly grew several times larger. If she fully spread her snow-white wings, her wingspan would have to be at least a meter.
When had she grown so big?
Had she broken through during her secluded cultivation?
The Ice Silkworm and Dragon Bone Blood must have contributed as well, right?
Snow Phoenix hooked her two sharp talons over my shoulders and lifted me straight into the air. We flew through the waterfall, crossed the tea garden, and sped all the way toward the back of the mountain.
I was so freaking done.
There I was, a full-grown woman, dangling by the shoulders from a giant bird as she carried me through the air, swaying the entire way. I rarely got motion sickness, but she nearly made me throw up.
Still, seeing how frantic Snow Phoenix was, as though she wished she could find a hole and stuff me inside to keep me hidden, the last of my earlier suspicions all but disappeared.
I thought she was going to force her way over the summit behind Cangwu Mountain with me in tow.
The summit was incredibly high, and we had no idea what lay beyond it, but I really had considered taking that risk.
To my surprise, Snow Phoenix didn’t head for the summit. Instead, she carried me over to the willow tree — and flew me straight into it.
Bang!
I slammed hard into the trunk. It hurt like hell!
The impact left me completely dazed. Saying I was seeing stars would have been an understatement.
Before I could recover, Snow Phoenix grabbed me again, preparing to hurl me at the willow tree a second time.
I seriously began to wonder if this was her way of trying to kill me.
“Snow Phoenix, what are you doing?” I roared. “You’re going to smash me to death! Put me down!”
My shout finally brought Snow Phoenix to her senses. Flustered, she hurriedly set me down on the ridge between the fields.
I was just about to ask what she was trying to do when she flew headfirst into the willow trunk herself.
Bang!
The impact was even harder than when she’d thrown me against it.
I covered my face with one hand, utterly speechless.
Snow Phoenix reeled from the collision. After finally steadying herself, she muttered, “So that time really was just a fluke. Someone on the other side must have temporarily closed the passage.”
I stared at her in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
“This is the back side of Cangwu Mountain, and Spirit Butterfly Valley lies on the other side,” Snow Phoenix explained. “My great-grandmother was best friends with the Grand Witch. She once secretly told me that this willow tree was transplanted here from Spirit Butterfly Valley. Willows are yin-aligned, so this one can establish a connection with the tree’s original home. In theory, we should be able to use it to pass into Spirit Butterfly Valley.”
“In theory?” I stared at her in disbelief. “You mean no one’s ever actually tried it?”
Snow Phoenix shrugged.
Fine. So she’d been using me as a guinea pig.
Just then, I noticed smoke curling from Snow Phoenix’s feathers.
She was reaching the limit of what she could endure in Cangwu Mountain’s environment.
The Formation cast by the Six Elders was still active. She could have taken the opportunity to fly back up.
But she hadn’t. She was still trying to save me.
At that moment, the ground suddenly shuddered. A wave of heat seemed to sweep toward us, followed by the roar of rushing wind.
It instantly felt as though thousands upon thousands of insects were gnawing away inside my body. I trembled violently from the pain.
Snow Phoenix grew even more frantic. “Sister, hold on a little longer! Let me think. There has to be another way.”
Before she could come up with one, however, we sensed Feng Xianqiu’s aura.
He had really come down from above.
Snow Phoenix, who had been in a blind panic only moments ago, suddenly calmed down.
She let out a long breath as though she had made up her mind, then charged outside without the slightest hesitation.
Suppressing the agony coursing through me, I forced myself to my feet and followed her.
Feng Xianqiu was already here. If we couldn’t escape, then we had no choice but to grit our teeth and face him!
I tightened my grip on the Longbow, yanked off the Golden Copper Coin, and pinched it between my fingers as I drew the bowstring to its limit. Then I strode toward the waterfall outside the cave.
Before I could leave the cavern, I heard the sounds of fighting, followed by the heavy thud of Snow Phoenix being slammed into the rock wall and her muffled grunt of pain.
She had already been on the verge of collapse, yet to protect me, she was letting Feng Xianqiu use her as a living punching bag.
I stepped out of the cave and planted myself in front of Snow Phoenix, facing Feng Xianqiu.
He had made it down, but he looked decidedly worse for wear.
He was still in human form, but his skin was covered in burn marks. In some places, the skin had been scorched away entirely, exposing raw, crimson flesh beneath.
The moment he saw me, one corner of his mouth curled upward. His eyes shone with smug triumph and absolute certainty that victory was already his…