Author: 哔哔 (Bi Bi) / Jin Gang Quan

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 37

Huo Fenghua retched for ages and still couldn’t bring the pill back up. Outside, across a courtyard, there was a loud commotion like people were fighting. Suddenly, a purple figure flipped over the roof and landed in the courtyard in front of the alchemy room.

Gu Guangji was patting Huo Fenghua’s back. He lifted his head and said, “I told that Feng kid to hold off that old demon Zixi. Useless!”

Still dry-heaving, Huo Fenghua couldn’t help snapping back, “You keep calling him an old demon. Of course Feng Tianzong can’t beat him.”

Gu Guangji shot him a look. “That’s not right. Why are you speaking up for that Feng kid? Your Senior Brother likes speaking up for Feng-kid too! One or two of you, always siding with outsiders.”

The young Taoist who’d been trembling in the corner saw Zixi appear. Terrified of being killed, he bolted outside, shouting as he ran, “Master! The alchemy didn’t fail! The Qi-Gathering Golden Pill was refined!”

Zixi was striding this way. He froze mid-step. Joy exploded across his face. “Where is it?”

The young Taoist stopped and pointed at Huo Fenghua. “He ate it!”

The ecstatic look on Zixi’s face froze. “What?”

The young Taoist’s face was smeared with furnace ash, tear tracks cutting clean lines through the grime. “I couldn’t snatch it back. They stole it and ate it.”

Zixi’s chest heaved violently. His eyes were bloodshot with rage. The healthy flush on his face swelled into a purplish red. His hands curled into claws as he lunged toward Huo Fenghua, roaring, “I’ll cut open your stomach and take my golden pill back!”

The moment the words left his mouth, a long whip snapped toward his neck, blocking his advance. Feng Tianzong had caught up.

Zixi spun. His five fingers, hard as iron hooks, clawed at Feng Tianzong’s shoulder. Feng Tianzong ducked aside. His whip swept toward Zixi’s waist but this time Zixi didn’t dodge. He let the whip wrap around him, then seized it and yanked hard causing Feng Tianzong’s footing to break. He stumbled two steps forward before he managed to brace himself again.

Gu Guangji looked out the window and clicked his tongue. “Useless!” With that, he slapped a hand onto the window frame and shot out like a dart, diving straight for Zixi’s back.

Zixi released Feng Tianzong’s whip and turned to meet Gu Guangji head-on.

Huo Fenghua braced one hand on the window ledge. He’d completely forgotten about retching now, staring as Gu Guangji and Feng Tianzong fought Zixi from front and back in the courtyard.

The young Taoist stood there in a daze, not knowing what to do. Huo Fenghua discreetly waved at him. “Run!”

The young Taoist looked at him, face streaked with tears. “Run where?”

Seeing how hopelessly dumb the boy looked, Huo Fenghua sighed and stopped bothering. He turned back just in time to see Zixi’s steps grow messy under the combined pressure of Gu Guangji and Feng Tianzong. His face turned purple from the strain, Zixi retreated.

At that moment, Zixi sprang backward with a fluttering movement and landed on the far side of the courtyard. While still in midair, he pulled a small gourd from his robes, popped the cap, and poured several pills into his mouth.

Huo Fenghua shouted, “He’s popping pills!”

After swallowing them, Zixi’s aura surged violently. His face shifted from purple to a dark, almost blackened shade. He slammed a palm toward Gu Guangji, who’d rushed up. Gu Guangji met him palm-to-palm and was driven back by that brutal internal force, nearly crashing into the opposite courtyard wall.

“Master!” Huo Fenghua cried out in alarm.

Feng Tianzong didn’t dare meet him head-on. He whipped toward Zixi’s face, moving his feet as he dodged the heavy gusts of Zixi’s palm strikes.

Gu Guangji used the opening to scramble back up, rubbing his bruised lower back with a grimace. “That old demon takes pills to spike his power like this, isn’t afraid of backlash killing him on the spot?!”

Huo Fenghua shouted, “Master, Feng Tianzong can’t hold on much longer. Get in there!”

Gu Guangji glared at him with displeasure, but seeing Feng Tianzong truly was barely managing, he lunged back into the fight.

Right after Huo Fenghua shouted, he suddenly felt his dantian turn hot and swollen. He had no idea what was happening. He pressed a hand to his lower abdomen and immediately felt a current of internal power rush into his palm, surge along the meridians of his arm, enter his torso, and then pour back into his dantian.

What the hell? He stared blankly. Not just his dantian, even his heart began pounding hard, heating up. In seconds the heat spread through his entire body.

His legs went weak instantly. He slumped on the window ledge and called out, “General, I’m so hot—”

Feng Tianzong was gripping the whip with both hands, trying to choke Zixi with it. Hearing Huo Fenghua, his face changed. He glanced over. The distraction earned him a sharp elbow to the chest causing him to stagger back two steps.

Zixi seized the advantage. He feinted past Gu Guangji and chased Feng Tianzong, grabbing the whip’s tail and looping it around Feng Tianzong’s body to shove him toward the wall. At the same time, with a slick slide of his foot, he skimmed under Gu Guangji’s airborne strike, caught both of Gu Guangji’s legs, and flung him up into the air.

Then Zixi slapped a palm to the ground, borrowing force like a great bird skimming water, and shot straight to the window, right in front of Huo Fenghua.

It was all one seamless chain of movements. By the time Feng Tianzong and Gu Guangji stabilized and rushed over, Zixi already had one hand clamped around Huo Fenghua’s throat, lifting him up, while the other hand drove five fingers toward his abdomen, trying to rip him open and dig out the pill.

Feng Tianzong’s voice went hoarse. “Huo Fenghua!”

Huo Fenghua felt like he was melting from the heat. Suspended in the air, feet unable to touch the ground, he grabbed at Zixi’s wrist. The instant he made contact, he felt a long, deep current of internal power pour violently into his palm, racing along his meridians straight back to his dantian.

Zixi’s fingers, already touching Huo Fenghua’s lower belly, suddenly lost their strength and clawed at nothing. Horror flashed across his face. He realized his internal power was being sucked away by Huo Fenghua in an endless stream. He tried to fling Huo Fenghua off, but it was as if his wrist had glued itself to Huo Fenghua’s palm. No matter how he pulled, he couldn’t break free.

“Let go of me—” Zixi’s voice trembled as he said it, just as Feng Tianzong and Gu Guangji reached the window.

Huo Fenghua was suffering too. His body was already overheated and swollen, and now this massive influx of internal power made his meridians and dantian feel like they were about to burst apart. He yelled as well, “You let go of me—”

Feng Tianzong reached out to shove Zixi away, but Gu Guangji grabbed his hand. “Don’t move rashly!”

“What’s going on?” Feng Tianzong demanded.

No one could answer him.

In only a short span of time, Zixi’s once-full cheeks rapidly caved in. He aged before their eyes, as if instantly entering the last moments of his life. When the last thread of his internal power was sucked out, his hands finally released Huo Fenghua’s wrist. With nothing left to support him, his body slid down the wall to the ground.

Huo Fenghua also collapsed. He rolled on the floor in agony. That burning, swollen sensation was driving him insane.

Feng Tianzong and Gu Guangji jumped through the window into the alchemy room, but neither dared touch him at that moment.

Huo Fenghua’s dantian was surging with power, yet his body was limp and weak. He was burning miserably. He tried to tug at his clothes but couldn’t manage it. Tears leaked from the corners of his eyes.

Feng Tianzong crouched beside him.

Huo Fenghua reached out a hand to him. “General… I feel awful…”

Feng Tianzong sucked in a breath.

Gu Guangji said awkwardly, “No. If you touch him now, he’ll probably suck your internal energy away too.”

Huo Fenghua understood. He pulled his hand back against his own body and said in pain, “Then don’t touch me. Help me take my clothes off.”

Feng Tianzong made up his mind. He lifted Huo Fenghua from the floor. “Not here. We can’t strip you here. We’ll get back first, then take them off. Move.”

They didn’t bother with Zixi lying there, drained of all power. They left the temple immediately. Feng Tianzong originally planned to bring Huo Fenghua back to the inn first, but as soon as they were out, the Celestial Master Temple started searching the whole town for them.

Feng Tianzong had no choice but to pack up, take Huo Fenghua, and leave Fengming Town together with Gu Guangji.

As they rode, Huo Fenghua was wrapped in cotton cloth, his hands bundled inside so he couldn’t move them. Leaning against Feng Tianzong’s chest, he whimpered, “I want to take my clothes off…”

Feng Tianzong said in a low voice, “Not yet.”

Huo Fenghua’s voice was soft and weak. “I’m so hot. I’m about to explode.”

Feng Tianzong still only said, “Hold on a bit more.”

Huo Fenghua went quiet for a moment, then made a sound. “Bang!” He said, “I exploded.”

Feng Tianzong finally couldn’t take it anymore. To Gu Guangji, who was riding ahead of them, he said, “Senior, let’s find a cave and rest before we continue.”

He was afraid that before Huo Fenghua actually exploded, he himself would be driven mad first.

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