The group that managed to search around the area Fang Xing was at happened to be new inner court disciples who hadn’t yet become pupils of the four valleys. Furthermore, whether through fortune or misfortune, two of them actually knew Fang Xing: Meng Xuanzhao was one, and the other was the plump Daoist Yu Sanliang. Since the two had met before because of Fang Xing, they knew quite a bit about each other and a gap of mistrust had formed between them.
Once upon a time, Meng Xuanzhao had been one of the most talented outer court disciples, someone on the same level as Qin Xing’er and Liu Heihu. However, after he’d been scammed by Fang Xing twice, he found himself lacking in resources and the entire event cast a shadow over him, slowing his improvements even further. Because of this, the amount of time he needed to break through into tier four had been two whole years more than people like Qin Xing’er, causing him to fall to the same level as Yu Sanliang.
This was precisely the reason why Meng Xuanzhao’s heart was filled with hatred towards Fang Xing, but ever since Fang Xing had risen to prominence in the sect, he didn’t even dare to reveal his hatred to others, much less try to get revenge; he’d normally just hide in the shadows like a rat and grit his teeth in secret. He originally thought he’d never have the chance of getting his revenge anymore, but he hadn’t expected that—just as Fang Xing reached the highest point possible—Fang Xing would suddenly betray the sect, or that even he would be given the heaven-sent chance to search for the boy himself.
He’d imagined it quite a bit. If he was able to find Fang Xing, he’d take a few stabs at him first no matter what.
It was also because of Fang Xing that Meng Xuanzhao felt no friendliness towards Yu Sanliang. Since Meng Xuanzhao had reached the higher end of tier four not long ago while Yu Sanliang was at the lower end, Meng Xuanzhao treated him with even more disdain.
Of course, none of them actually expected to have any chance of finding Fang Xing; this forest was truly just too large, and Elder Qin’nyao had brought a good six hundred pupils along. For them to find Fang Xing instead of the other six hundred was as unlikely as winning the lottery, but Meng Xuanzhao wanted to say such things just because he could.
The group of four chatted while walking towards the side of the cliff. One of them had good eyes and just as they were about to continue on, he suddenly let out a noise of surprise and rushed to the top of a hill. Next to a giant moss-covered stone, he discovered a cl.u.s.ter of dried, yellowed weeds, as though something had been burning around it. "Within such a deep and secluded forest, why are there signs of something being burned?" the disciple curiously muttered.
The others—who’d initially gotten excited that the disciple might have found something worthwhile—were disappointed to see just a patch of burnt weeds and scoffed at him. "What does such a small patch of burnt gra.s.s matter? Why are you acting so frightened?"
The disciple instead furrowed his brows. "But that’s not right. In this entire wild gra.s.slands, only this small portion has been burned. It cannot be wildfire, or else it would have been this entire area, so maybe this has something to do with the boy. I say, let’s separate and go search around. After all, we came here for precisely this reason—if we let an opportunity sneak past us, coming here would have been meaningless…."
The others felt his words were reasonable. They nodded and separated to carefully conduct their search.
Hiding in the trees not far away, the golden crow secretly lamented in his heart. He’d cleaned up as much of the tracks as he could after pulling Fang Xing into the stone cave, and he hadn’t expected such a small burnt patch would draw the attention of a Qing-Yun disciple. This small patch had been caused when Fang Xing’s temperature had first spiked after he’d been put down from the fall, but at first glance, it looked nearly the same as the surrounding wild gra.s.s.
‘Should I kill these guys?’ The golden crow hesitated. Now that his cultivation level had improved to tier seven, killing these few fourth-tier disciples wouldn’t be a problem, but he was worried it would cause the news to travel faster and bring the attention of the elders. This way, not only would Fang Xing be in trouble, but he himself would be as well.
The golden crow had decided his own life had the highest priority, so he didn’t want to risk anything. Besides, even if the Qing-Yun Sect was alerted and he killed these people, he still wouldn’t be able to save Fang Xing; with how much heat Fang Xing’s body was releasing, the crow didn’t dare to touch him.
"Nn? What’s that strong burning smell? It smells just like… lava…" The disciples that’d been searching didn’t find any more traces, but they could suddenly smell the scent of heavy smoke.
The golden crow atop the tree was also surprised. ‘Don’t think I can save you now. I did my best to cover you up, and you were the one who just had to make such an obvious sign. Isn’t that just looking for death?’ As he held such thoughts, he also knew that the heat surrounding Fang Xing’s body must have risen again to the point even the stones nearby had started to melt—hence the heavy smell.
"There’s a stone cave, and it seems the smell’s coming from there…" Meng Xuanzhao excitedly yelled. He then defensively positioned his longsword in front of his body and headed into the cave.
In the distance, the other three disciples were surprised to hear this and immediately rushed over, afraid Meng Xuanzhao would take all the credit for himself. Once they arrived at the entrance of the cave, they all looked inside and asked, "Is it him?" Before they’d even completed their question, they could hear Meng Xuanzhao’s voice rise up in excitement, "Even the G.o.ds are on my side! Fang Xing, you turtle egg of a b.a.s.t.a.r.d, it seems you still ended up in my hands!"
"It really is him…." The three Qing-Yun Sect disciples followed behind, and two of them immediately took out Message Talismans. They’d already seen that deep inside the cave was an unconscious person leaning against the walls. The heat enveloping him was extraordinary, to the point even the stones around him had been scorched. It was fortunate the robe Fang Xing wore feared neither heat nor water, so it remained intact and kept Fang Xing clothed in front of everyone….
These two disciples didn’t let their excitement go to their heads and immediately prepared to send word to Elder Qin’nyao. After all, simply finding him wasn’t enough to receive credit; only once they’d alerted Elder Qin’nyao would their efforts be acknowledged.
After seeing the unconscious Fang Xing, Meng Xuanzhao immediately pointed his sword towards Fang Xing’s leg. His first thought wasn’t to alert Elder Qin’nyao, but instead to injure the boy and vent his anger.
Three people, two different reactions!
The fourth person had a third kind of reaction, and that person was none other than Yu Sanliang. After rus.h.i.+ng inside and confirming this was indeed Fang Xing, he immediately clenched his teeth. A s.h.i.+ne swept through the tiny eyes on his big round face and his hands began to form a seal. Since his cultivation level was the lowest of the group, he was the last of the four to enter the cave, and so the other disciples all had their backs to him, keeping them from seeing him when he began to form the seals.
Woosh….
A crazed and powerful energy began to pour out from Yu Sanliang’s fat body. The two Qing-Yun disciples who were about to light the Message Talismans were taken aback and turned to shout, "What are you doing?" Yu Sanliang didn’t answer and suddenly dashed towards them with a determined expression.
"This fat pig wants to protect the brat! Capture him!" one of the disciples yelled out in shock while drawing his longsword. The other disciple and Meng Xuanzhao realized what he was trying to do at the same time and rushed towards the plump Daoist. To them, the plump man wasn’t someone to fear; their cultivation levels were all higher than him, after all, and the plump Daoist was usually rather docile as well—soft like a meat bun. In their minds, they saw him as someone easy to deal with.
Yet, no one expected that just as the plump Daoist rushed towards them with a low howl, the illusion of a giant wild boar would form over his head. Its mouth was long and its head was large, and behind its head stood fur standing as straight as needles. Its two tusks were like twin knives, and as its b.l.o.o.d.y mouth opened wide, loud howls came out nonstop. In that moment, the disciple in the front collided with the others following after.
Pah pah pah….
That disciple happened to thrust his longsword out against the wild boar, and his sword broke into eight pieces while the wild boar’s tusk sank into his body. This disciple in the mid of tier four could only release a low groan before his eyes bulged in surprise; he’d never expected before now that he would die to a single strike from this harmless fatty.
"What— what is this dark skill?" the other Qing-Yun disciple and Meng Xuanzhao yelled at the same time. They were very sure this technique the plump Daoist just performed wasn’t any technique from the Qing-Yun Sect, but its power wasn’t something an ordinary foundational skill could achieve.
After scoring a kill, the illusion of the wild boar over the plump Daoist seemed to become even more realistic, and its expression was even more aggressive. Without any pause, he now aimed at the other two and yelled out in a low voice, "This is the Spirit Beast Metamorphosis… that s.h.i.+di Fang gave to me…."
BOOM….
Right after he’d finished speaking, Yu Sanliang had already arrived in the middle of the two disciples, and the illusion of the wild boar became ever more vicious. It turned its head and flipped the other Qing-Yun disciple over before opening its mouth wide and taking off half of Meng Xuanzhao’s arm with a single bite. The boar then turned around and stomped on the person it’d just flipped over, until the disciple died with his bones and chest crushed into pieces.
Meng Xuanzhao stumbled backwards with his own heavy injury, and he suddenly fell right next to Fang Xing. "Don’t… don’t you dare come over here…. Or— or I’ll… I’ll kill him…. Ahhh—!" When he’d realized Fang Xing was lying nearby, he immediately reached out his other arm to grab onto Fang Xing’s body to use as a hostage. However, the moment he touched Fang Xing, he could only let out a pained cry and immediately release his grip when he felt his palm burn.
At the same time, the plump Daoist rushed forward, and the illusion of the wild boar appeared once more. The boar lowered its head in front of Meng Xuanzhao’s chest and sent him flying.
Spurt….
Meng Xuanzhao’s ribs were shattered from the blow. He flew into the air spurting blood and died before he’d even hit the ground.
It was only now that the plump Daoist released a sigh and stopped the illusion of the wild boar. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and muttered to himself, "This Spirit Beast Metamorphosis is actually this powerful? s.h.i.+di Fang is just too kind to me…."