“What monster is this? Die!” Ye Yu swung his blade at the thick green vines. The vines were incredibly resilient; he had to strike three times before breaking even one. At that moment, countless new vines erupted from the forest, crawling toward him like venomous snakes and completely ensnaring Ga Ga.
“Oh! Oh!” she cried out loudly, urging Ye Yu to leave immediately.
“How is that even possible!” Ye Yu exclaimed in anger. At that moment, the grass beneath his feet sprouted rapidly, tightly entangling his limbs, then swung him back and forth until he was thrown into the air.
Before Night Yu could even react, a thick green vine swept down from above, sweeping him through the air and then throwing him far away with great force.
“Gaga!” Ye Yu cried out. The grass before him fluttered wildly, blocking his view; he tried to fly but simply couldn’t control the force of his qi.
“This… is magic?” Ye Yu could hardly believe what he was seeing. “No, I must hurry and call my master; I have to find him as soon as possible.” He dashed forward, and the grass behind him quickly withered away, leaving only Gaga struggling desperately against it.
“Grr!” A terrifying sound echoed between the bones. “Zing-zing!” The sound of the bones rubbing against each other was utterly strange.
Just as Gaga was about to be dragged into the forest, something astonishing happened.
Suddenly, a strange sound echoed; every bone in Gag’s body dislocated completely. A powerful sword aura surged upward, and hundreds of blue-lit swords flew out, severing the green vines one by one. Then the swords streaked westward like meteors, causing the vines dancing above the forest to retract back into the woods one by one.
Everything has returned to normal; no one noticed anything unusual.
Every bone of Gaga transformed into a sharp sword, effortlessly piercing through the net.
As Nightfeather ran, he looked up to see hundreds of gleaming swords streaking across the sky; a fierce, chilling aura swept over the land, causing surrounding trees to shed their leaves and the sky to change abruptly.
“What on earth happened?” Ye Yu was utterly astonished and accelerated his pursuit of the flying sword in the sky. Yet the sword moved at an astonishing speed, vanishing into the distant horizon in the blink of an eye.
Yu Ye returned to his spot, but he couldn’t find a single one of the thousands of monkeys. At that moment, an unusual noise seemed to emanate from the riverbank not far away.
“Master, where are you?” Ye Yu shouted and ran toward the riverbank. At that moment, he heard a series of cackling sounds— “Oh! Oh! Oh!” —coming from not far away.
“You’ve escaped!” Night Feather exclaimed with joy and hurriedly followed the sound.
On the mountain peak beside that pond, he saw the familiar Gaga; at its base lay the dead crocodile, its body riddled with wounds as if pierced by a sharp sword, and faint red streaks of blood could be seen between Gaga’s bones.
“What on earth is going on?” Ye Yu asked curiously.
Gaga became extremely annoyed; it gently picked him up with its mouth, flew over the pond, and threw him into the water. “Gaga, Gaga!” it cried out loudly.
“Are you telling me to hide under the water?” asked Ye Yu.
Gaga nodded. At that moment, a dull thunderclap echoed from the sky, and an intangible pressure gathered from all directions—its center was none other than Gaga herself. She cried out anxiously, her expression a mix of worry and excitement.
A chilling aura descended from the heavens, sending Ye Yu shivering involuntarily. “A formidable enemy has appeared!” he exclaimed.
Gaga nodded impatiently, then swept his tail lightly; instantly, large stones began falling one after another. Ye Yu quickly dove into the water.
“What on earth happened? Well, this gaga is just too strange—how did it manage to escape? And where did all those monkeys go?” he wondered curiously.
At this moment, the fish in the water became increasingly agitated and followed him deep into the waters—a situation that even the fearless Ye Yu found unsettling.
“Perhaps it was a monster from the forest that chased me out. Gagag can fly—it must be afraid I’m in danger,” Ye Yu thought. He quickly followed the fish and hid at the bottom of the water, when suddenly the surface began to stir.
“These fish must have sensed danger and retreated here. Well, the monkeys must be in the same situation too; I hope they’re safe. Unfortunately, my master must be nearby—I wonder if he’ll emerge from his hiding place to witness this scene,” Ye Yu thought, lost in reverie.
After pondering for a while, he suddenly recalled another issue: “If some truly formidable enemy really entered the water, wouldn’t they block my path here? how terrible, what bad luck, too bad —there’s a glowing stone right here; they’d spot me instantly. I must bury this stone immediately.” With that thought, he hastily drew his knife and began digging a pit at the bottom of the water, but after only a few inches of excavation, he encountered a hard rock.
“Done, but I don’t know when I’ll be able to fill this pit properly—the stone is simply too large,” he thought, inwardly exclaiming how unfortunate it was. He reached out to touch it; the surface was exceptionally smooth. What intrigued him was that the stone was extremely cold, with a persistent chill permeating his hands.
“Too strange—what on earth is this thing?” He asked curiously, and with a swift cut from his knife, he severed one of its horns. The resulting stone fragment immediately lost all its luster.
“Ah, how strange… Could it be that if I chop it into pieces, it will stop glowing?” Night Feather’s curiosity surged instantly, and he raised his knife to strike the red, gleaming stone. Soon his curiosity grew even stronger: this object couldn’t possibly be mere stone, for none of its fragments shattered during the cutting process.
“Perhaps this is just a piece of wood, or some strange metal,” Ye Yu thought. “Well then, I’ll carve it into a sword and give it to my master.” He switched from cutting to carving and devoted himself fully to the task. The black blade was incredibly sharp; in no time, he had transformed the stone into a stick about the thickness of an arm, measuring roughly two feet long and gleaming with a red hue.
At this moment, the fish around him swam restlessly back and forth, clustering closely around him, while a faint yet palpable aura of hostility seemed to permeate the depths of the water.
Yu Ye was utterly astonished. “What kind of enemy could be so formidable? Even those hiding at such great depths would be affected. Could they be here to capture me?” he thought to himself.
At that moment, the stick glowed even brighter yet grew increasingly cold, as if all its light had concentrated within it. Nightfeather hurriedly grabbed the stick and entered the crocodile cave—a structure sloping upward and extending four zhang deep, already teeming with a variety of fish.
“The monster came to capture me—what are you doing hiding here?” Ye Yu thought irritably, then drove numerous fish out of the cave and covered its entrance completely with several large stones.
“Hmph, the monster surely never imagined I was hiding deep beneath the water’s surface. Even if it had gone down there, it wouldn’t have thought there was a cave—and that I was hiding inside,” Ye Yu thought to himself.
At this moment, he no longer felt any sense of hostility, and his mind settled. He continued carving the stone rod in his hand; after a while, he realized, “Oh no, I’ve forgotten! I originally intended to carve it into a long sword, but now I can only make a short one.” After further carving, it turned into an object about a foot long that resembled nothing at all. At this point, the object emitted even stronger light and was exceptionally cold.
“Never mind, I’ll find a better sword for my master later,” Ye Yu finally abandoned the idea of carving it into a sword. Yet he was curious about what might happen if he continued; thus he became even more meticulous. In the end, he crafted a small cylindrical object half a foot long and as thick as a thumb—completely transparent with a red glow shimmering on its surface.
Night Feather placed the black blade on the ground, picked it up with both hands, and examined it closely from all angles; he could faintly sense that liquid was flowing inside.
“These contents are truly rare; I wonder if they’re edible?” Ye Yu curiously placed one end of the cylinder in his mouth and took a gentle bite. “Ah! It’s torn!” He was startled, feeling a cold liquid flow down his throat into his abdomen, and his vision instantly turned pitch black.
“Finally, so these liquids are emitting light,” Ye Yu thought to himself. He lowered his head to examine his abdomen and realized that no light was emanating from his body; only then did he feel somewhat relieved. The liquid transformed into a cold sensation that spread throughout his body and reached his limbs.
Night Feather shivered several times and realized his hands had frozen solid. He quickly sat down cross-legged, gathering his breath to resist the icy cold, but gradually his entire body began to freeze. The cold force proved impossible to withstand; instead, it accelerated its flow throughout his body, causing his consciousness to grow increasingly blurred while the surrounding water slowly froze. Before long, all the water inside the cave had turned solid.
“This is sword energy!” That thought suddenly crossed his mind, and he immediately lost consciousness completely.
At this moment, an atmosphere of intense hostility permeates the air outside.
The mystic, who had been sitting quietly in the cave beneath the waterfall, suddenly opened his eyes. A powerful force was rapidly approaching—a force he knew all too well: the power of a sword.
“A mysterious master has arrived, radiating a strong aura of killing intent. Well, who in the world wields a sword with such prowess? This very aura is enough to intimidate formidable foes, Ye Yu is in danger!” Master Xuan’s heart skipped a beat; his primordial energy surged rapidly throughout his body, and his eyes suddenly gleamed with golden light. Two beams of gold shot forth like sharp swords from the waterfall, then vanished in an instant. He stood up—having now fully attained the Middle Divine Realm.
“Perhaps this is my ultimate state,” thought Master Xuan. He channeled all his energy inward, closed his eyes, and saw hundreds of sharp swords manifest before him. He could not perceive any trace of the attacker’s life force; only the presence of the swords was felt.
Following his heart’s guidance, he opened his eyes again and drifted out of the cave. The waterfall before him split open spontaneously as he flew swiftly through it, soon finding himself in mid-air.
Within a radius of dozens of miles, no living creature could be seen. On a mountain peak, he spotted Gaca—its hollow eyes gazing at the sky, its powerful sword energy intertwining across the heavens, causing the sky to change dramatically; lightning would occasionally burst forth from the clouds, emitting dazzling blue light.
“Well, what a skull with such an intense killing aura—what could this be? Even after death, it still exudes such overwhelming hostility.” The master felt a surge of caution; his mind moved swiftly as he released his combat energy, which transformed into a silver protective light shield.
He stepped forward before Gaga, transformed his finger into a sword, and flicked it outward; sword energy surged forth. With a sharp “zing!” he was utterly startled.
“Good heavens, every bone is as hard as iron!” said the master sorcerer.
Gaga’s tail snapped violently, striking his protective light shield and sending him flying.
“What a terrifying creature—it’s actually a living being! The Creator is truly remarkable; surely its presence scared all the animals away. Not a single monkey corpse was found on site; it seems that Nightfeather has already led them to safety elsewhere.” Master Xuan immediately felt relieved. “Master-level experts are rare—let this monster test my skills.” Just as he thought this, Gagag had already soared into the air, shouting”Oh~ Ou! Oh~ Ou!” as she charged toward him.