Chapter 104 : Oh—The Dragon and Tiger Stew Has Arrived
Chapter 104: Oh—The Dragon and Tiger Stew Has Arrived
The ink-black Yin Qi exploded outward as bone-chilling wails of resentment swept across the land like crashing tides.
Almost the instant the black mist exploded,
Fang Chang had already anticipated it.
A bronze phantom entwined with a tortoise and serpent emerged around him. As profound light circulated across its surface, it forcefully tore open a gap through the Yin Qi...
Yet before the phantom of the Black Tortoise Square Cauldron could fully take shape, two bodies crashed into his embrace one after another, one from the front and one from behind.
The first thing that entered his nose was a cool, faint fragrance, more like the sweet scent of skin warmed by body heat.
Fang Chang immediately recognized Cheng Hua.
He sighed inwardly and wrapped an arm around her slender waist.
As for the second body...
A mass of pitch-black hair, thick as cloth, fluttered wildly through the air.
Behind her, white sprays of water split apart as she surged forward.
Like a torpedo, she treated her head as the warhead and rammed straight toward Fang Chang's crotch.
"..."
The Demonic Pill, Little Fang, and Fang Chang were one body, sharing life and death. Their importance went without saying.
Fang Chang could only catch Perfected Yue Han's head with one hand...
At that moment, the Water Sphere Protective Aura abruptly reached complete perfection.
It transformed into a crystal-clear blue curtain of water,
sealing the three of them tightly within.
The next instant, the force of the exploding black mist slammed violently into the watery barrier.
The immense impact struck like a thousand-ton hammer. The water curtain caved inward dramatically as all three were blasted into the air and hurled backward.
Just then, the Birdcage Formation also lost its effect the moment the coffin shattered.
Nothing remained to obstruct them.
The three of them traced a graceful arc through the sky, flying like stones launched from a sling.
The watery sphere crashed deep into the southern forest, sending leaves and mud flying everywhere.
After smashing through several trees, the Water Sphere Protective Aura suddenly shattered while they tumbled. The three remained tangled together, plowing an extraordinarily long trench through the earth before barely coming to a stop.
As a result,
the three of them ended up hopelessly entangled together, impossible to separate.
Fang Chang was pinned in the middle.
His left arm tightly embraced one person's waist, while his right leg was entwined with another's.
The three of them resembled a twisted rope, faces pressed together, breaths mingling, none able to free themselves.
Fang Chang was not quite sure what the soft, rounded object beneath his palm was, so he gave it an experimental squeeze.
The little face before him—Yue Han's—instantly flushed crimson before twisting in pain as she spat a mouthful of sweet, blood-scented crimson onto the side of Fang Chang's face.
"..."
Cheng Hua lowered her head.
Her face was now smeared with dirt, and most of her heroic hairstyle had come loose.
Yet none of it diminished the breathtaking beauty of her exquisitely delicate features.
Her voice, unusually, carried urgency and displeasure.
"If you recklessly do something like this again, be careful or I... won't speak to you anymore!"
"Alright, alright."
Fang Chang wanted to wipe the blood from his face, but one of his hands was trapped beneath Yue Han's buttocks, while the other remained wrapped around Cheng Hua's slender waist, her hand firmly gripping his wrist.
"Could the two fairies please get up first? You're about to crush me to death."
Yue Han was the first to rise.
Like an injured little lamb startled by fright, she retreated weakly into the distance.
Beneath her thick bangs, the visible half of her face was deathly pale.
As Cheng Hua's emotions settled, she returned to her usual cold demeanor.
She slowly stood up.
Only then did Fang Chang notice
that the white icy silk stocking and skirt along Cheng Hua's left leg had been burned away over a large area by the black mist, exposing broad stretches of smooth, jade-like skin along her thigh and calf.
The torn edge of the stocking loosely clung around the top of her thigh. Her skirt had ripped all the way to beneath the curve of her raised buttocks, leaving nearly her entire left leg half exposed, with the alluring boundary between her hips and thighs clearly visible.
Noticing Fang Chang's gaze, she made no attempt to cover herself, merely brushing the mud from her leg.
"What are you looking at?"
"Something beautiful."
"A thigh? What's so beautiful about that?"
"An ordinary thigh naturally isn't anything special. But one as beautiful as yours... is enough to look at... for an entire year."
Cheng Hua looked at him.
Silently, she turned sideways and used the undamaged side of her robe to cover herself.
Only for a year? Then I'd better let you see it less often.
Yue Han hid behind a tree.
She had just coughed up another mouthful of blood onto the trunk and was still dripping blood.
"Rustle rustle—"
Cheng Hua translated,
"She asks why you had those four stabilizing objects."
Fang Chang shook his head.
"I'm just a cultivator who has no influence over the overall situation. How would I know anything about stabilizing objects? I simply picked them up by chance."
"Rustle rustle!"
"...She says that's quite the coincidence. Your luck is very good."
Yue Han was a socially withdrawn fairy.
How easy she was to fool had already been proven earlier when Fang Chang shamelessly shifted the blame onto someone else.
Cheng Hua, on the other hand, had become much more perceptive.
Suspicion lingered in her eyes as she carefully examined him from head to toe.
...Or perhaps it wasn't that she had become smarter.
She had simply always been detached from worldly desires, with a clear Dao Heart, and thus had never cared much about many things.
Fang Chang wiped the blood from his face.
He sensed a pair of eyes staring fixedly at him from within the shadows.
That gaze seemed filled with crimson possessiveness, mournful and lingering, as though silently saying,
I will watch you like this forever and ever.
"Let's set this matter aside for now. There are probably still survivors within the manor. I'll have to trouble the two of you to rescue them... My magical power is exhausted, so I'll follow shortly."
Cheng Hua replied,
"I'll walk more slowly as well."
"There's no need. Fellow Daoist Cheng and Elder Yue Han can go on ahead."
She shook her head.
"I'll walk with you."
"There's no need. My injuries aren't that seri—"
"I want to walk with you."
"..."
Yue Han glanced at the two of them, displayed remarkable tact, and quietly floated away.
Helpless, Fang Chang assigned Cheng Hua a small task.
"There should be two skeletons behind the stone statue and the coffin. With Yue Han present, it wasn't convenient for me. Help retrieve them for me."
"Corpse refinement?"
Cheng Hua's delicate brows furrowed slightly.
"You just said that you had completely distanced yourself from heretical paths."
"Elder Yue Han was here just now. But now it's only the two of us, so there's naturally no need to keep pretending."
"..."
A trace of sweetness suddenly welled up within Cheng Hua, flowing from her throat into her heart.
The words of refusal reached her lips,
only to be transformed by that sweetness.
"This is the last time. From now on, cultivate Canglan Immortal Mountain's proper path diligently. Corpse refinement is ultimately only a minor path."
"Fellow Daoist Cheng is absolutely right."
"You should call me Senior Sister."
"...Senior Sister."
Cheng Hua subtly lifted her chest.
Her back straightened even more, and a faint smile appeared at the corners of her lips.
Her full, rounded peaks pushed forward with the movement, tightly outlined beneath her tattered robes in two perfect curves.
Perhaps because the fabric had wrinkled somewhat, the foremost tips beneath the cloth subtly protruded ever so slightly.
She retrieved a long robe and skirt from her storage pouch, wrapped her disheveled body securely within them, and only then slowly departed, her steps noticeably lighter than before.
Fang Chang could not help but smile.
This fairy, so detached from worldly desires, really was rather adorable.
"Looks like you had quite an enjoyable chat with the fairy."
Zhao Yuntong's mocking laughter came from behind him.
From deep within the forest, a blood-red figure slowly emerged.
Her bright red bridal dress looked as though it had been dyed with fresh blood, making her already pale complexion appear as white as paper.
Fang Chang paid no attention to her mood.
"How is Senior Aunt Zhang?"
Zhao Yuntong let out a soft snort. Her strikingly beautiful yet almost demonic features displayed faint dissatisfaction as she glanced behind her.
There sat a nun clad in black monastic robes, eyes closed, hands pressed together, seated serenely as though upon a lotus platform.
"After the formation dispersed, her cultivation realm began to rise. She's currently in meditation digesting it, so I brought her out."
Fang Chang shook his head.
Zhang Su's breakthrough had been entirely within his expectations.
From the moment she became the manifested incarnation, all the power accumulated by the Demonic Seeds during the Battle Royale would surge into her body.
Then, after he disrupted the Yin-Yang balance of the coffin using the four cardinal stabilizing objects,
not only would it interrupt the manifestation process, but it would also turn all that accumulated power into ownerless energy, allowing Senior Aunt Zhang to absorb it freely.
"I mean, did you do anything?"
"No."
"Really?"
"No."
Zhao Yuntong deliberately avoided looking at him.
"..."
Fang Chang suddenly caught sight of a familiar white figure gliding through the distance.
The white snake slowly crept forward, locking onto an unsuspecting mouse not far ahead.
The white snake suddenly sensed something, turned around, met Fang Chang's eyes—
and froze.
Fang Chang broke into a broad grin.
"Oh—The Dragon and Tiger Stew has arrived."