chsdbacks Chapter 27: Ripples Beneath the Surface
Chapter 27: Ripples Beneath the Surface
"Huff, huff..."
The intense running left Zhang Ping panting heavily, his chest feeling like it was being pulled by a bellows.
Even with his late-stage Tempering Realm physique, carrying three living people through a narrow alley in a short time left him feeling sore and numb, and his blood and qi churning.
After rushing a few more blocks, he suddenly stopped and shoved the three of them into the shadow of a dilapidated abandoned house.
"Stay put and don't make a sound!" His gaze swept over Lu Wanrou, the only one who was awake, and his voice was tense.
Lu Feng was seriously injured and unconscious, Xiao Qing was also unconscious from the bumpy ride, only Lu Wanrou, with her arms tightly wrapped around his neck, her pale face pressed against his sweaty shoulders and neck.
"Brother Zhang!" Seeing him turn around, Lu Wanrou grabbed his sleeve in a panic, her knuckles turning white.
"I'll take care of the tail at the back!" Zhang Ping's voice was slightly hoarse.
"Watch out!" Lu Wanrou caught a glimpse of the strange blood-red lines appearing on his forehead and bridge of his nose. Her heart skipped a beat, and she instinctively reached out to touch them.
Zhang Ping stepped aside, his gaze lingering briefly on her face before disappearing into the darkness outside.
With three steps, his body swelled up!
A dull roar of energy exploded from his body!
The ferocious bull-headed beast pattern instantly covered his entire chest, and the bloodthirsty aura steamed up, making even the air thicker.
"Perfect timing to collect some materials!" He twisted his neck, making a cracking sound.
A layer of illusory fox phantom covered his body, and the overflowing blood and qi fluctuations were forcibly suppressed back to the early stage of body tempering.
In an instant, three enormous fox shadows rushed in, accompanied by a foul stench!
The bloodthirsty beastly eyes scanned back and forth, finally locking onto him.
"Whoosh—"
Three spirit foxes in the late stage of skin tempering!
Zhang Ping's eyes flashed with ferocity. He grabbed a broken, thick roof beam from the ground, twisted his waist, and swung it out like a giant club!
The speed of the attack far exceeded the fox spirit's expectations. The enormous fox shadow at the forefront didn't even have time to let out a wail before it was violently whipped away like a tattered sack! A heavy, muffled impact rang out, and the roof beam snapped in response.
Zhang Ping remained unfazed and pulled another one from the ruins.
"Trying to sneak a bite? Are your teeth strong enough...?"
Inside the abandoned house, Lu Wanrou covered her ears tightly, her cold back pressed against the peeling paint on the walls. Every tremor from the ground made her shudder, her heart leaping into her throat.
We can only pray that the pursuing fox isn't too powerful... Zhang Di, you absolutely must win...
After an unknown amount of time, the tremors finally subsided. Lu Wanrou mustered her courage and cautiously peeked out from the cracks in the broken walls.
In the distance, three enormous black fox corpses lay in pools of blood, the ground around them riddled with deep pits, and broken beams scattered about.
"Dead...dead?" Her tense nerves suddenly relaxed, and she was about to call out—
A shadow suddenly loomed overhead.
Immediately afterwards, a figure landed heavily in front of her, with only a few tattered rags hanging on its strong limbs.
"Ah—!" Lu Wanrou screamed, her face instantly turning bright red.
"Brother Zhang! You...you..."
She glared at Zhang Ping with a mixture of shame and anger, but her gaze swept over the several new bloodstains on his muscular body, and her anger subsided considerably.
This must have been the result of a fierce battle; the clothes must have been damaged in the fighting as well.
Thinking of this, her ears burned even more, and she hurriedly lowered her head.
"Didn't I tell you to keep quiet?" Zhang Ping had no time to talk about his sister. He forced himself to activate his beast pattern to finish the battle quickly. Although it was just a few superficial wounds, the earth dragon regeneration beast pattern would heal them quickly, but it still took a lot of energy.
Only when he caught sight of Lu Wanrou's evasive gaze did he realize that he was barely clothed.
"Cough..." He cleared his throat casually, his gaze sweeping over the ruins, and grabbed a slightly larger piece of rag to hastily wrap around his waist.
"Let's go somewhere else."
Although the battle just now was swift, the commotion was not insignificant. If it had attracted a spirit fox at the Body Refinement Realm, it would have been disastrous if we had been bogged down.
Lifting up the unconscious Lu Feng and Xiao Qing, Lu Wanrou instinctively wrapped herself around him from the front. Her arms couldn't encircle his broad chest, and her two plump, long legs tightly wrapped around his waist, securing herself firmly.
Zhang Ping sprinted forward again. Amidst the jolting, Lu Wanrou felt increasingly hot.
He had been so focused on escaping that he hadn't noticed anything amiss, but now Zhang Ping was only wearing a tattered cloth, and the discomfort from running was getting worse and worse.
Her cheeks burned. Thinking of Zhang Ping's background, a thought involuntarily surfaced in a corner of her mind: No wonder he was the top courtesan in that kind of place...
Zhang Ping finally chose an abandoned farmhouse on the southern edge of the town. He had deliberately erased all traces of his journey. The building wasn't badly damaged, so it shouldn't be the main direction of the fox invasion.
He used a thick wooden bar to prop up the dilapidated door panel, and then sprinkled a ring of pungent powder around it to mask the presence of a living person.
"Phew—that should hold out for a while." He exhaled a breath of stale air and turned his gaze to the north of the town.
A faint, intense explosion could be heard from there, and the flames illuminated half the sky.
"The museum owner and the others..."
He withdrew his gaze, having no intention of offering any assistance.
Short people seek shade; they'll live a life of ease and comfort.
"Brother Zhang, is that... a tattoo on your chest?" After settling in, the awkwardness lessened slightly.
Lu Wanrou's gaze fell on the bull's head pattern on his chest, which hadn't completely faded, and she asked curiously, "You seemed to have one on your face before... wait, what happened to it?"
Before she could finish speaking, she noticed that Zhang Ping's face was smooth, without a single wrinkle or crease.
"A tattoo?" Zhang Ping suddenly realized that he had forgotten to dispel the power of the bull-headed beast tattoo while busy looking for a place.
He looked at Lu Wanrou, pondering how to make an excuse.
"Is it a cultivation technique?" Lu Wanrou looked at it carefully again. The pattern was slowly fading away, clearly not the tattoo of an ordinary slave.
"Hmm, I guess so, a symbol of the minotaurs." Zhang Ping readily agreed, pulling out a set of coarse cloth farm clothes from the corner of the room and putting them on.
Lu Wanrou wanted to ask more questions, but Xiao Qing, who was beside her, let out a soft moan and slowly woke up. She groggily saw everyone was there, and a weak smile immediately bloomed on her face: "Ah... Madam!"
"Xiaoqing! How are you?" Lu Wanrou immediately stepped forward to ask with concern.
"Madam, I'm fine, just a little dizzy and... nauseous..." Xiaoqing rubbed her temples, her face pale.
Once Zhang Ping confirmed that Lu Feng was out of immediate danger, he swiftly climbed onto the roof, activated his spirit fox to conceal himself, and silently sensed the movements of the distant battlefield.
"What a pity about the corpses of those three spirit foxes..." he couldn't help but feel regret.
Although its exact value is unknown, the materials from the later stages of the tempering process for mythical beasts must be quite valuable.
The circumstances at the time were indescribable, and he took it with him...
......
"Master, in town..."
Surrounded by small hills
Quan Hongyan covered her right shoulder, where a bright, bloody hole pierced through her shoulder blade, and the light behind her could be vaguely seen.
Those who survived the ordeal were all covered in wounds.
Chongxin leaned on his broadsword, which was stuck in front of the giant fox corpse that was over ten meters long. His eyes were as sharp as an eagle's, but he could not hide his exhaustion.
Upon hearing his apprentice's words, he subtly glanced to his right.
Lu Qiang stood with one foot on the corpse of a slightly smaller spirit fox, his energy still vigorous and his spirit vigorous, seemingly unharmed. He said loudly, "Brother Chong! The main force of the spirit foxes has been wiped out; it's time to return to reinforce the town!"
His tone was resolute, his gaze intense, fixed intently on Chongxin.
"Brother Lu, the matter of returning to provide reinforcements cannot be rushed." Chongxin seemed oblivious to the urgency in his voice, his tone calm.
"The fierce battle has just ended, and our disciples all need to recuperate. Returning to reinforce now would not only be of no use, but would likely only increase casualties."
He turned to Quan Hongyan and ordered, "Have everyone treat the wounds on the spot, clean up the battlefield, and take all captured spirit foxes for the public good; no one may keep any for themselves!"
"Yes!" Quan Hongyan bowed her head and accepted the order.
No one paid any attention to Lu Qiang standing to the side.
Lu Qiang's knuckles were clenched so tightly behind his back that they turned white, and the veins on the back of his hands bulged.