บท 36: Rainbow Layered Lingzhi
The fight between the Venom Clawed Leopard and the two Late Foundation cultivators raged on. And Chu Fan silently watched as sparks and explosions flew about. For every attack, the cultivators countered, slowly wearing down the Venom Clawed Leopard. But that sweet satisfaction and momentum the two cultivators had was soon coming to a halt.
From repeated clashing with the leopard's claws, the handsome swordsman's blade began to dull and chip away as his short sword made contact with the claws of the leopard. And the ugly talisman user was also quickly becoming drained as he spent much of his energy forming hand seals and chanting away without any real breaks. The Venom Clawed Leopard had been waiting for this moment in particular. It knew that a prolonged fight would be in its favor as man's weapons had a lifespan, whereas its claws could always regrow and it still had not bear its fangs.
*Shatter* With a mighty swipe aimed at the swordsman, the leopard shattered the blade in two; sending the swordsman flying back. He knelt on the floor and pulled out a spare short sword from his storage and spit a mouthful of blood, he had been injured internally from the force of the leopard's blow.
A talisman flew over and exploded right in the Venom Clawed Leopard's face, temporarily blinding it. It rolled about on the floor as the ugly talisman user ran to his elder brother's aid, feeding him a pill. Sensing that they were now fighting a losing battle, the talisman user pulled out a handful of talismans. He threw them into the air, where they floated in formation, and started forming hand seals and chanting, he was preparing his ultimate attack that would ensure that they were able to retreat alive.
Seeing this, Chu Fan knew it was his queue to take action. He darted at the cave while the two parties were distracted. He moved faster than he had ever before, only making a high pitch whistle in the wind.
The instincts of the Venom Clawed Leopard were pushed to the max; it was ready to fight to the death, dragging the two cultivators along with it. And when Chu Fan made his move, for a brief second, it noticed Chu Fan's presence. The leopard jumped up and ran towards its cave, aiming to kill Chu Fan.
"RAWR!"
It was furious, thinking it had been fooled by these three humans. As it roared, tears could be seen streaming down its face as it felt it had been wronged. It was not fair to have to face three cultivators at once.
The handsome swordsman noticed that the Venom Clawed Leopard was distracted, he did not care what it was that had distracted the leopard. All that mattered was that an opening to attack had presented itself and now was the best time to attack. He leapt into the air and thrust his blade into the leopard's back.
"Hiss!"
The searing pain of cold steel entering its back made the leopard cry out. It rolled about, clawing at it's back. It had sunk its claws into the swordsman's leg and flung him off like a ragdoll. The sword remained and went in deeper as it rolled on it's back, reaching to pull the blade out of it's back. Finished with his chanting, the talisman user, held his hands together and pointed his index fingers at his target, the sword on the Venom Clawed Leopard's back.
*Rumble* *Rumble* *Boom*
Lightning fell down and struck the blade, before the deafening cry of thunder shook the surrounding area. The Venom Clawed Leopard seized in place for several seconds before finally grabbing hold of the blade and flinging it from its back towards the talisman user, stabbing him in the left shoulder. The charred leopard collapsed with a mouthful of blood and the talisman user followed suit, vomiting blood.
The leopard simply refused to give up and tried to stand, but could only stumble about and fall back down with its chest heaving as it breathed its last couple of breaths. Both the cultivators consumed a pill and sat up revolving their qi to heal their wounds as fast as possible. It was a mere waiting game now; who would die first?
.................................................
Inside the cave, Chu Fan lit a torch and walked about discovering many things. The Venom Clawed Leopard was a very clean magical beast. It had a bedding area as well as a designated food storage area and bathroom area.
He shook his head as he remembered his reason for entering the cave in the first place.He began scanning the cave and noticed something in the corner of his eyes. It was a little tree stump near the Venom Clawed Leopard's bed area. On this stump were many little kidney shaped disks that were glossy. Upon closer inspection, they were also rainbow in color. Chu Fan knew what he was looking at now.
"Rainbow Layered Lingzhi, what a find! So this is the treasure that Venom Clawed Leopard is willing to stake its life on? What a simple creature?"
He skipped along the way and bent over to admire the holy sight that was the many oversized lingzhi with mesmerizing color patterns. He did not pick the lingzhi at all, he merely plucked the dead wood from the earth and placed it inside his tablet storage. He had a brilliant idea scheming in the back of his mind. With a sinister smile, he calmly walked to the entrance of the cave and took a peak at the situation outside.
The two cultivators had both been infected by the Venom Clawed Leopard's poison and were too focused on slowing down its effects. The least that they could do was live long enough to see their enemy die, giving them the final laugh.
On the other side, the Venom Leopard Struggled to it's feet, continuously vomiting blood as it approached the two cultivators. It was going to burn its blood essence and core to deliver a final blow to the two cultivators. Noticing the Venom Clawed Leopard's approach, the two cultivator's looked at one another and smiled bitterly.
"It seems that this is the end of our journey together. It has been a pleasure fighting alongside you brother. I am happy to die in battle alongside you."
"Brother, though we were born on different day, may we enjoy each others company as we leave the mortal plain together. I regret nothing in life and am honored to have been your brother in arms."
They clasped hands at one another and shut their eyes, waiting for death. The Venom Clawed Leopard raised its right claw high and swiped.
*Shiiing* A flash of light ran past the two cultivators eyes, making them open their eyes. On the ground beside them laid the right fore leg. The two were shocked silly and could only leave their mouth hanging open. Even the Venom Clawed Leopard was shocked and could only wonder why its blow did not land, it also looked down to find it right leg laying on the floor between the two cultivators. What scared them most of all, is that no blood dripped from the Venom Clawed Leopard's wound
"Ah, Ah. I haven't even begun questioning you two yet. I can't have you both dying just yet."
Chu Fan stood behind the two men, with his Heaven Cleaver in his right hand as he wagged his left index finger back and forth, disagreeing with their acceptance of death.
The Venom Clawed Leopard would lose its balance and fall over screeching in pain. It rolled around, writhing in pain.
"MRRREEEEOW! MOWOW! HISSS!"
It stood up and leapt at Chu Fan, who disappeared in a flash and appeared in midair right underneath the magical beast. He waved his knife about, though his movements seemed slow and inelegant, his cuts were precise and powerful enough to dismember the Venom Clawed Leopard in mere seconds. He landed on the floor first, followed by a rain of magical beast body parts.
He had killed the Venom Clawed Beast effortlessly and instantly. In fact, he pitied if for the amount of suffering that it had went through while fighting the other two cultivators. He clasped his hands together and offered a prayer to the beast.
The two cultivators were at a loss of words and blinked for many seconds. What took them several minutes to do could not even hold a candle to Chu Fan's measly couple of knife swings in such small amount of time.
"D-did he just?!"
"You stole our kill, damn fatty!"
They were both angered, Chu Fan had used them to weaken the magical beast and take advantage, keeping everything for himself. Coughing up blood, they hurled insult after insult at Chu Fan.
"Fu&* your ancestors to the 18th generation! Green tea bit&%! This smells of dog fart."
"Damn Freshwater Turtle! You scumbag! You just love to eat soft rice don't you."
Chu Fan turned a deaf ear to those insults. After offering his prayers to the Venom Clawed Leopard, he collected its body parts and retrieved its core. He then stacked a couple of rocks for it at the cave entrance. He then turned to face the two injured yelling cultivators.
He walked up to the handsome one, who's face was turning whiter by the minute and he took out a bottle. The handsome man, flinched a little.
"Su-surely you don't plan to poison us. It won't have any effect as we will both die anyways."
Chu Fan chuckled and poured out the contents of the bottle. In the bottle was just a bunch of red pepper powder.
"Hehe! You know your lucky that the Venom Clawed Leopard's poison is merely a blood thinner that makes you bleed out."
He smacked the handsome man on the leg, covering his wound with the pepper powder. The handsome man stood up and jumped in pain.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU*************************!"
While screaming, he passed out. He fell back on the floor, sleeping peacefully. Chu Fan turned to look at the ugly man, who was attempting to crawl away. Chu Fan simply walked over and grabbed the man by the shoulder and pinched the nerves behind his neck and right shoulder. Chu Fan utilized a small amount of qi to cause a disturbance in the ugly man's qi fluctuation, effectively knocking him out.
For this man, Chu Fan needed to stitch him up a bit before covering his wound with the pepper powder. Seeing as he no longer needed to stay in the area, he dragged the two men back to his campsite and prepared to question them, thoroughly.
When the two men woke up, Chu Fan had already set up a campfire and prepared a meal for all of them. Chu Fan was stoking the fire when he noticed the two men pretend to remain asleep. They both did not want to be tortured by Chu Fan.
"You two can quit it with that silly act. Get up and eat, you'll need the energy to heal those wounds."
*Grumble* The two men were actually very hungry, and smelling Chu Fan's cooking, they could not hold back. They both got up and filled a bowl of fish soup for themselves. They were about to dig in but hesitated just in case Chu Fan poisoned the food.
Chu Fan laughed at the two cautious fools.
"Haha! You indeed have reason to doubt me of poisoning the food. But I simply respect food too much to ruin it with poison."
Chu Fan grabbed the ladle and gulped down the soup, he then motioned his hands for them to eat up. The two men waited to see if their would be a delayed reaction, after waiting a minute or so, they began to drink. This annoyed Chu Fan a bit as this soup was not one he made to be served cold.
"Drink it before it gets cold, the flavor won't be as good if I have to warm up the soup later."
The two men quickly emptied their bowls and got seconds. Chu Fan got serious and looked at the tow men enjoying their soup.
"So! Who is it that ordered you two inner-sect disciples to follow me?"
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