Little Alpaca – Chapter 192
by Little PandaVolume 5: Tribulation of All Beings
The figure was incomplete. Even at this less-than-far distance, Yi Qiu was certain she hadn’t seen wrong.
The man had lost his right arm. The unsupported sleeve fluttered gently in the night wind, and a shade of crimson that the gauze bandages couldn’t contain was faintly visible at the stump.
His face was deathly pale and far more haggard than before. Yi Qiu stared blankly for a long while before she dared to step forward and identify him.
“He… He, He Xiuzhu?”
The newcomer was none other than the most prized disciple of the Qin Immortal, Chu Tinglan, from the Xianlu Sect’s Liuxian Pavilion. He was also the cannon fodder supporting character2 from the original novel who, after being humiliated by the male lead in a competition, was supposed to have walked step by step down the path of villainy, filled with resentment.
But ever since the trial tournament ended last year and the original novel’s plotline was completely altered, Yi Qiu hadn’t paid much mind to this cannon fodder from the book.
Later, she and You Yan had recuperated in Moshui twice—once at an inn in the city, and once at the Xianlu Sect’s Guest House. Both times, she had crossed paths with him a few times, but they’d had no further contact.
She couldn’t say they were familiar with each other, but the man’s appearance and bearing were quite outstanding. It was impossible not to recognize him after seeing him so many times.
But it had been a while. How had he ended up like this?
Yi Qiu hesitated before walking forward and asking with a frown, “Your… your hand, what happened…?”
“It’s nothing to be concerned about,” He Xiuzhu said, then looked at You Yan with a frown. “I must ask you two to return with me to the Xianlu Sect. The two young ladies who were previously stationed here are now heavily injured and are recuperating at the Xianlu Sect.”
“Heavily injured?!” Yi Qiu couldn’t help but be astonished.
Was this Fei really that terrifying? Even the Fuzhu and the Huodou fighting to the point of serious injury couldn’t kill it?
He Xiuzhu’s expression was grave. “They have something they wish to tell you two in detail. I didn’t know where to find you, so I could only wait here.”
He Xiuzhu said that Yue Zhuo and Jian Li had told him this was a barrier set up by You Yan. Now that the barrier was destroyed, You Yan would sooner or later return to check on it. So he figured that as long as he kept watch here, he would definitely be able to wait for You Yan.
He had indeed waited for them, but it seemed they had returned much later than expected…
Yi Qiu looked up at You Yan, lost in thought.
The original novel had written that this Ferocious Beast carried a deadly poison. Where it entered water, the water would dry up; where it entered grass, the grass would wither. Its appearance heralded a great plague across the world.
To think that after all their precautions, it had still managed to come to the Mortal Realm.
No wonder, no wonder the rivers of Moshui City had dried up, and the common people all seemed to have contracted a strange illness…
After a moment of contemplation, Yi Qiu subconsciously tugged on the corner of You Yan’s sleeve, her eyes filled with worry. “You Yan…”
You Yan pondered for a moment, then frowned. “Let’s go take a look first.”
As she spoke, You Yan turned to look at the blood-colored Fusang tree and remained silent for a long time. Suddenly, she channeled spiritual energy into her palm and performed a magical art that even Yi Qiu couldn’t comprehend before finally turning to leave.
On the way back to the Xianlu Sect, Yi Qiu asked He Xiuzhu about the recent situation in Moshui City.
She wanted to know what on earth had happened here, but it had all been too sudden. Even He Xiuzhu couldn’t explain it clearly.
About ten days ago, resentful qi had suddenly surged throughout Moshui, so much so that even the Fusang branches scattered around the city could barely suppress it.
After the Qin Immortal discovered the abnormality of the resentful qi in the city, he sent He Xiuzhu to leave the mountain and investigate. He had followed the trail of resentful qi all the way here, only to discover a Yin-Attracting Magic Formation that contained immense spiritual power.
Such a terrifying formation had instantly sent him into a panic. He was about to return to the Xianlu Sect to report to the Three Venerables when he was captured by the people guarding the formation.
Jian Li and Yue Zhuo had always remembered what Jiang Yuyao said before she left.
Jiang Yuyao had said that this matter was too risky and that Jiang Xuan must absolutely not find out.
Even though Jian Li and Yue Zhuo had never met He Xiuzhu, with their cultivation levels, they could easily identify the techniques of the Xianlu Sect’s Liuxian Pavilion.
To keep the matter a secret, they tied He Xiuzhu up without a second thought—and though there was no proof, Yi Qiu had every right to suspect that “tying him up” was Yue Zhuo’s idea.
Considering that this person was a fellow sect member of Jiang Yuyao and Luo Mingyuan, they only tied him to a nearby tree and would even go to feed him twice a day.
Neither Jian Li nor Yue Zhuo were the type to keep their mouths shut, so during this “kidnapping,” He Xiuzhu had more or less learned the purpose of the formation’s existence.
It turned out that a terrifying ancient Ferocious Beast was about to appear in the Mortal Realm, and this formation was meant to deal with it.
After learning this, he had repeatedly assured Jian Li and Yue Zhuo that he would absolutely not leak a single word of this to the outside world. Unfortunately, he couldn’t gain their trust and could only remain trapped here.
He could see that the resentful qi gathered here had nearly reached its limit, and the barrier was on the verge of collapse.
Sure enough, three days ago, the sky and earth suddenly began to shake.3
At that moment, though it was broad daylight, the world was plunged into darkness. Only a bone-chilling yin and resentful qi lingered around the entire Mass Grave.
He Xiuzhu said that in that instant, a fierce wind howled and thunder suddenly crashed. Tattered, withered grass, caked with mud, was swept up into the sky. It ultimately gathered above the blood-colored Fusang tree, and, tinged with blood and black smoke, slowly condensed into a vortex that looked like an abyss of despair.
Yue Zhuo suddenly appeared by his side. With a flick of her fingertips, a flash of spiritual power severed the ropes binding him.
“Mortal, go. This is not something you can handle!”
As the black-clothed young woman spoke, she suddenly bent over and let out a low roar, enveloping herself in a ball of scorching flames. Before He Xiuzhu’s eyes, she grew black fur and sharp beastly claws, transforming bit by bit into a giant black dog.
With every step it took, the barren earth beneath its paws would ignite with scorching flames.
A mere mortal could not withstand that momentary searing heat. He Xiuzhu knew his cultivation was far inferior to these yao beasts, so he quickly raised his Protective Spiritual Power and retreated into the distance.
But just as he was about to leave, a ferocious-looking behemoth leaped out from the bloody vortex in mid-air with a roar.
Its body was like that of an ox, its head was white, and it had two giant horns. On its forehead grew a single, massive eye that resembled a deep abyss, and behind it trailed a long, black snake’s tail. The immensely large black dog, standing before it, seemed small by comparison.
The moment it landed on the ground, all the surrounding yin and resentful qi converged toward it. Many of the Resentful Spirits that had been perfectly quiet within the barrier began to wail in agony.
Wailing, they were sucked into the terrifying Ferocious Beast’s body, ultimately vanishing from this world.
The next second, a golden-red spiritual light suddenly flashed, suppressing all the yin and resentful qi.
And within that suppressive formation, another Killing Formation was erected.
In an instant, flames shot to the sky, and a torrential downpour4 began to fall from the gloomy heavens. The rainwater transformed into blades upon meeting the fire, and, burning with fierce flames, they all stabbed toward the massive Ferocious Beast.
The Ferocious Beast just shook its head, let out a low roar, and gave its enormous body a powerful shake. A bloody black mist instantly blocked the tens of thousands of rain-blades.
The black dog raised its head and spat flames. At the same time, a four-horned white deer suddenly appeared between heaven and earth. Its antlers, glowing with a soft white spiritual light, grew wildly like tree branches, condensing all the rainwater in the world into water pillars that reached the clouds.
Scorching flames soared up from the ground along the water. Countless pillars of flaming water then sped toward the massive, ox-like Ferocious Beast.
The huge beast immediately channeled its spiritual energy to defend itself. When all the spiritual powers collided, the resulting explosion of light was so blinding that a mortal couldn’t possibly open their eyes.
He Xiuzhu said the blinding light flickered between heaven and earth for a long time. He could only hear the crash of giant waves upon the land, the searing of fierce flames, and the roars and wails of savage beasts.
The terrifying heatwave, the horrifying yin and resentful qi, and the massive fluctuations of spiritual power—each one made it difficult for him to endure.
Born a human, he had striven to cultivate for over a decade. No matter how much his master affirmed him or how much his fellow disciples respected him, in front of these Ferocious Beasts, he was still like an ant.
When all the spiritual light dissipated, all that remained before his eyes was a sea of fire that even a downpour couldn’t extinguish.
He Xiuzhu subconsciously wanted to flee, but then he heard a whimper, like that of a puppy. It was so faint, yet it somehow reached his ears.
In the end, he used his spiritual power to force a path forward, returning to the already ruined formation.
He saw the heavily injured, unconscious white deer and a tiny black puppy on the verge of death.
He also saw a behemoth, dripping dark green blood and continuously emitting a scorched smell.
Flames still lingered on its body, and most of its hide had been burned away.
But it was still alive, its breathing already extremely faint.
It stared at the human before it with its one, bloodshot eye. Its gaze seemed to be a threat, and a bone-chilling yin and resentful qi still lingered around its body.
He saw its flesh regenerating at a speed visible to the naked eye.
This Ferocious Beast would bring disaster to the Mortal Realm.
He had to kill it, he told himself.
So he drew the sword from within his qin, gathered all the spiritual power in his body into his hand, and, entering through that giant eye, viciously pierced its skull.
Hearing this, You Yan couldn’t help but say softly, “Overestimating your own abilities.”5
He Xiuzhu gave a bitter smile and shook his head, not refuting her at all.
He had indeed overestimated his abilities. The backlash from that one sword strike was the loss of his right arm.
Only after he had stabbed it did he realize he couldn’t pull the sword out. Accompanied by a strange, low roar that still echoed in his ears, the yin and resentful qi instantly coiled around his arm along the blade’s length.
He saw his own hand, starting from the palm and fingertips gripping the sword, begin to rapidly decay. An intense pain, piercing the heart and boring into the bone,6 assaulted him in an instant, nearly shattering all his reason.
At that very moment, the little black dog, on the verge of death beside him, used the last of its strength to spit out a ball of fire, scorching the arm that had been corroded by the Fei’s deadly poison and instantly shocking him back to his senses.
The flames delayed the spread of the poison. He immediately gathered his spiritual power into a blade, severed his right arm, and, dragging his injured body, carried the white deer and the little dog back to the Xianlu Sect.
Hearing this, Yi Qiu couldn’t help but suck in a breath of cold air.
The last time she saw Little Pig Trotter roast himself was scary enough. She hadn’t expected the Xianlu Sect to have so many hardcore people. Here was one who roasted himself, then immediately chopped off his own hand, and could still run around after chopping it off.
“Then… then what happened to the Ferocious Beast?”
He Xiuzhu said that he had returned to that place with people later that night, but he never saw the Ferocious Beast’s corpse again.
It wasn’t until the white deer woke up that he learned the beast’s spiritual aura was still present; it had not truly died.
“It’s still not dead?” Yi Qiu said in shock. “Didn’t you pierce its brain? How could it possibly survive that?”
“It’s my fault for being useless. I should have…”
“That would also have been completely useless,” You Yan interrupted him coolly, her voice heavy. “A mortal cannot withstand the backlash from its Protective Spirit. That one sword strike was your limit. You didn’t know where its vital point7 was. Even if you had struck again, you would have only thrown your own life away for nothing.”
You Yan paused for a moment before continuing, “That Ferocious Beast’s regenerative ability is so strong that as long as it isn’t killed, it can recover in no time. If you hadn’t heavily wounded it again and taken the Fuzhu and Huodou away before it recovered, I’m afraid those two really would have perished there.”
Yi Qiu frowned and pressed, “So what do we do now?”
“It should still be very weak,” You Yan said. “The resentful qi in Moshui is extremely thick right now. It definitely won’t be willing to leave.”
“But…”
That’s the creature that the Fuzhu and Huodou couldn’t kill even in a pre-arranged Killing Formation! Even if it’s weak now, it’s not something to be trifled with, right?
She really didn’t want You Yan to take any more risks.
You Yan said faintly, “Let’s hear what those two Ferocious Beasts have to say first. I’m not about to risk my life for mortals.”
Yi Qiu: “…”
Hey, hey, hey, is it really okay to say that kind of thing in front of a mortal?
“Whatever it is, we’ll talk about it after Jiang Yuyao and Luo Mingyuan get back,” You Yan added.
“So are we going to find them?” Yi Qiu couldn’t help but ask.
“Just wait. I’ve already told them.”
“Eh?” Yi Qiu tilted her head, looking baffled. “When did that happen?”
Footnotes
- The Fei (蜚) is a mythological creature from the Classic of Mountains and Seas. It has the body of an ox with a white head, a single eye, and a snake’s tail. Its appearance is said to cause widespread plague.
- Cannon fodder (炮灰, pàohuī) is a popular term in Chinese webnovels, especially transmigration stories. It refers to a minor character whose only purpose is to be defeated or killed by the protagonist to advance the plot.
- Original: 天摇地动 (tiānyáodìdòng), an idiom describing a world-shaking event, like a massive earthquake.
- Original: 瓢泼大雨 (piáopō dàyǔ), an idiom for a torrential downpour.
- Original: 不自量力 (bù zì liàng lì), an idiom meaning to attempt something far beyond one’s capacity.
- Original: 钻心刺骨 (zuānxīn cìgǔ), an idiom describing an intense, piercing pain.
- Vital point (命门, mìngmén), literally ‘gate of life,’ refers to a fatal weak spot on a body.
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