ROOOAAARRR!
Firmly balancing both of his feet on a cluster of colorful, fist-sized spheres, he used them to fly away from the pursuing leather-arm ape on his tail.
BOOM! THUD! CRACK!
Xue Hui barely dodged the enormous leather arm that pounced on him from behind.
Flicking his hand, one of the liu-jiaren beneath his feet flew upward into his grasp, pulling him farther away. Meanwhile, the five remaining spheres shot toward the heavily injured leather-arm ape—one targeting its remaining eye, two striking its left shoulder, another hitting its hollow chest, and the last one zooming beneath its foot just before it hit the ground, throwing off the leather-arm ape's balance.
KABOOM! THUD!
The towering leather-arm ape's body fell violently to the ground, rolling fifty meters from where it landed due to its momentum.
Pulling back his small arm, Xue Hui called the liu-jiaren back to him and clustered them together to form a platform to jump onto.
Without acknowledging the demon beast behind him, Xue Hui zoomed away.
ROAR! THUD!
With an enraged roar, the leather-arm ape pushed itself off the ground, bent its knees, and leapt in the direction the smaller boy had fled.
Mid-leap, a hundred feet above the ground, its keen eyes locked onto the boy flying swiftly toward the borders of the ruined Wu Zhen Yi.
If the leather-arm ape could speak, it would have shouted at the boy for his shamelessness—for slaughtering so many of its kind and then fleeing, even after inflicting such heavy injuries upon it.
When the annoying inscription array the boy had been hiding in disappeared, the coward had not even bothered to finish it off, instead the boy bolted away without a second glance.
If the leather-arm ape were not so gravely wounded, it would have long since captured the boy, chewed him to pieces beneath its sharp teeth, and spat him onto the ground in fury.
In its current state, the leather-arm ape would not survive in the outside world any longer. Forget Black Gold–rank demon beasts—even a group of Silver-rank demon beasts would be enough to end its life.
A demon beast that had lived for countless years, the apex of its kind, had been reduced to such a miserable state that it could not even catch a mere Bronze-rank whelp.
And it was all because of that boy.
Drawing upon every last trace of spiritual energy within its battered body, the leather-arm ape opened its mouth. A ball of pure spiritual energy began to condense within its maw, rotating and heating at an insanely rapid speed.
Xue Hui felt an ominous chill run down his spine. He twisted his body toward the leather-arm ape high in the sky and sent all six of his Liu-jiaren a few meters above him. With a series of hand signs, he activated one of their abilities.
Zwhizz!
The Liu-jiaren positioned themselves in a circular formation. Translucent strands of energy linked each sphere together, forming a hexagonal shield.
Fwomph!
CRASH!
The condensed blast from the leather-arm ape's maw slammed into the surface of the hexagonal Liu-jiaren, producing an ear-piercing screech. A powerful shockwave erupted outward, sending Xue Hui crashing violently onto the ground.
Ignoring his broken ribs and dislocated shoulder, he raised his good arm toward the Liu-jiaren and forced them to tilt slightly to one side. The adjustment redirected the devastating beam just enough to keep it from striking him directly. Then he kicked off the ground, propelling himself several meters away from where he had just stood.
BOOM!
The moment he leapt away, the Liu-jiaren shattered into pieces, unable to withstand the pressure any longer. Freed from obstruction, the energy beam returned to its original trajectory and blasted into the ground where Xue Hui had been seconds before.
KABOOM! THUD! WOOSH!
Once again, Xue Hui's small body was hurled violently across the ground by the raging shockwave that exploded at his back.
He cursed under his breath, both from the searing pain of his injuries and from sensing the shattered fragments of his soul weapon returning to his soul.
He would not be able to summon the Liu-jiaren again for some time—not until his soul realm fully restored them.
Taking out a Nine Transformation Pill from his interspatial ring, Xue Hui sat on the ground and swallowed the recovery elixir.
The Nine Transformation Pill was a powerful medicine capable of bringing even the fatally injured back from the brink of death.
It was one of many elixirs Xue Hui had refined through his alchemy back at the Divine Family Mansion before bringing them with him.
Thanks to his unique refinement method, the effects of his Nine Transformation Pill were far more potent than ordinary versions.
Moments after consuming it, a warm surge of energy spread throughout his entire body. His wounds and bruises emitted faint wisps of smoke before sealing shut. Torn flesh knitted together, and scraped skin was replaced with fresh, reddish layers. He grunted softly as he felt his broken bones snap back into place.
THUD!
ROAR!!!
The earth trembled as the leather-arm ape crashed back onto the ground, only a few feet away from where Xue Hui sat.
Thump.
Thud.
Slowly, the leather-arm ape walked toward Xue Hui, each heavy footstep shaking the ground beneath them.
Xue Hui did not bother to run. He remained seated, continuing to absorb the medicinal effects of the Nine Transformation Pill.
With his current strength, there was no way he could outrun a Black Gold–rank demon beast—even one heavily injured from the Black Blood explosion.
What Xue Hui was counting on was that he was close enough for Chen Zhenlong to arrive in time to save him.
Although so much had happened during his escape from the leather-arm ape, the entire sequence had taken no more than twenty breaths—from the moment he fled to the moment the beast caught up to him.
He was not overly worried that Chen Zhenlong would fail to arrive before the leather-arm ape pounced. He still had several protective talismans on him to buy time. And if matters truly reached a desperate point, he could always use the Soul and Blood Ignition Technique to escape.
Activating that technique would delay their journey by one or two months—the time he would need to recover his health afterward.
Seeing that the boy had stopped struggling, the leather-arm ape released another roar, this one thick with killing intent.
Killing intent surged forth, fully bombarding the smaller boy in front of it.
Yet the boy showed no visible reaction. He remained seated, calmly meditating in place.
That only fanned the already blazing fury of the leather-arm ape.
Drawing back its remaining arm, the beast prepared to throw its full weight behind a final punch.
Before it could strike, a figure burst forth like a wind dragon. In a single, fluid motion, Chen Zhenlong slashed his sword across the leather-arm ape's remaining arm, severing it cleanly from its body.
ROAR!
Catching it off guard, Chen Zhenlong stepped in and delivered another decisive slash to the beast's neck, cutting off its miserable roar and ending its life completely.
Its unmoving body fell to the ground.
"That was reckless, Xiao Hui."
After killing the beast, Chen Zhenlong calmly took out an interspatial ring and stored the corpse inside, as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
He was long accustomed to collecting every demon beast he slew—especially with Xue Hui's habit of harvesting their usable parts.
"Which part?" Xue Hui chuckled.
Chen Zhenlong merely shook his head. He could have sworn he heard a muffled voice from inside the Fuzhuang Box calling the boy dumb and stupid.
"I already obtained the Ten Whiskers Water-Attribute Needles. Let's not stay here any longer."
Chen Zhenlong nodded. If another Black Gold–rank demon beast appeared, it would turn into a grueling fight—even for him.
The only reason Chen Zhenlong managed to kill the leather-arm ape was because it had already been gravely injured by Xue Hui's black Blood Blood. All of its focus had been locked onto the boy, allowing Chen Zhenlong to successfully sneak up on it and land a fatal blow.
Without wasting time, Chen Zhenlong grabbed the boy in his arms and rushed back toward the dug tunnel.
Night fell inside the tunnel.
Beneath the blood-soaked Lily Hills, the underground space was illuminated by a glowing talisman crafted from the bones of a demon beast. It filled the cavern with a bright yet soothing radiance.
A few steps away from his daughter and her attendant stood Chen Zhenlong. The older man tapped his foot repeatedly, unable to keep his arms still as anxiety gnawed at him.
Although Xue Hui had just endured a life-and-death struggle and exhausted a tremendous amount of spiritual energy, he had insisted on immediately proceeding with the detoxification of Chen Linlin's poison.
Chen Zhenlong had no idea how long Xue Hui had waited for this moment. From the day he discovered a method to cure her condition, the boy had not passed a single day without hoping he could free Chen Linlin from her suffering.
Letting a drop of blood fall onto the Ten Whiskers Water-Attribute Needles, the needles shimmered with a lilac glow—a sign that ownership had been successfully established.
With steady hands hovering a few inches above Chen Linlin's sleeping body, Xue Hui guided the ten intricate needles into her acupoints.
Chen Zhenlong noted how smoothly the entire process unfolded. His gaze remained fixed on the boy as countless thoughts ran through his mind.
"I'm now going to start removing the Blood-Pungent Butterfly larvae poison from her body, her meridians, and the poisoned spiritual energy within her soul realm. Lord Patriarch, please close all your apertures and avoid absorbing any spiritual energy from the surroundings. The poisoned spiritual energy inside Chen Linlin's withered soul realm has become so condensed that it could even harm a Black Gold–rank demon spiritualist."
Hearing this, Chen Zhenlong immediately sealed all his apertures, completely blocking any surrounding spiritual energy from entering his meridians.
The Demon-Concealing Lamp was already lit, so they did not have to worry about demon beasts outside the tunnel sensing their presence.
Like a guzheng master gently plucking the strings of his instrument, Xue Hui's arms moved with precise and delicate control, his fingers tapping lightly above each needle.
With a subtle upward motion of his small hands, dark yellowish droplets seeped out from the heads of the needles.
Using pure water attributes, Xue Hui separated the yellowish substance into two parts. All impurities were extracted and instantly frozen before being tossed into a jar beside him, while the purified blood essence was guided back into her body.
He repeated this process several more times until Chen Linlin's complexion gradually turned rosy—completely different from her usual pale appearance.
Chen Zhenlong barely managed to stop himself from rushing forward. Seeing his daughter's visible improvement nearly drove him to embrace both children on the spot.
But noticing that Xue Hui remained in deep concentration, he restrained himself.
His arms no longer fidgeted anxiously. Instead, he clasped his palms together and rubbed them intensely, almost to the point of smoke from the friction. It was the only way he could release his overwhelming excitement without disturbing the boy's focus.
Four hours later…
"Lord Patriarch, I will now remove the poisoned spiritual energy within Chen Linlin's withered soul realm."
After receiving a firm nod from Chen Zhenlong, Xue Hui made another pulling motion.
A dreadful energy immediately spread throughout the cave. Chen Zhenlong could almost see the dark aura drifting in the air. The thought that such a vile force had resided inside his daughter's body for so long was both horrifying and infuriating—especially knowing that someone had deliberately planted the poison within her.
Sensing the oppressive aura around him, Xue Hui began reciting the [Creation Origin Ancestral Canon] cultivation technique. Slowly, he refined the poisoned spiritual energy in the air into raw spiritual energy before absorbing it.
The refining process of his cultivation method was of the highest caliber. No matter how dreadful the poisoned spiritual energy was, it was effortlessly processed into pure spiritual energy, cleansing the suffocating aura from the cave.
Two more hours passed.
Chen Linlin stirred awake.
The first thing she noticed was the absence of pain when she moved. Normally, she would need several minutes after waking for the chronic agony to subside before she could move freely.
But now, her body felt light—strangely and wonderfully free.
She pushed herself slightly, and then she felt it.
Her leg moved.
She froze, trying to understand what was happening. Slowly, she attempted to wiggle her toes.
When she saw and felt them move, she instinctively covered her mouth with both hands to stop herself from screaming.
Tears rolled down her delicate, rosy cheeks.
She quickly looked around and saw Xue Hui and her father standing not far from her bed, smiling warmly at her.
She raised both her arms toward them, wanting to embrace them.
Chen Zhenlong gently nudged Xue Hui forward, and the boy stepped into her arms.
"Hui-Hui… I can feel my legs. I can really, really feel them!"
The little girl could no longer hold back. Tears of relief, joy, disbelief, and gratitude burst forth all at once. Xue Hui simply nodded and gently rubbed her back.
Chen Zhenlong closed his eyes, struggling to restrain his emotions. Not wanting to cry in front of his daughter, he walked toward the two children and wrapped them both in his embrace.
The words he could not voice were conveyed through that firm, trembling hug.
End of Chapter 20