Yu Ye closed his eyes as a strong fragrance filled his nostrils. He swallowed hard, shouting angrily, “You dead monkey! Bring me food quickly!” His voice was filled with utter indignation.
The monkey was originally supposed to deliver the message, but this place lies thousands of miles away from the Demon City. Back then, he was captured by Qingye while riding a divine eagle here; even for him, traversing such vast distances on foot would have been no easy task, let alone for the monkey.
Along the route, one must cross eighteen major rivers and traverse vast grasslands teeming with tens of thousands of large blue wolves. Even if a monkey manages to reach these grasslands, it would likely become mere prey for these wolves.
After half a day had passed, the monkeys still hadn’t brought the peaches. When Ye Yu opened his eyes, he saw Master Xuan standing proudly beside him—how could the monkeys dare approach?
He was seen tearing into the golden-brown pork thigh with large bites; a drop of oil fell onto Ye Yu’s mouth. After licking it, he felt a burning sensation in his stomach.
“Quickly seek a master! Hurry up!” Master Xuan shouted repeatedly, tapping his head with a pig leg bone, driving him to fury yet leaving him utterly helpless.
“Very well, go ahead and pay your respects—if you kowtow to me three times, I’ll take you as my disciple!” Ye Yu said, gritting his teeth. Just as he finished speaking, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his mouth—he had already been captured by Master Xuan.
“Heh heh, what a stubborn little boy! As a master sorcerer who has dominated the entire realm, I’ve never bowed to anyone—yet now I must admit my respect for you. Well, I truly admire your character, so I’ve decided to reward you with something special,” he said.
Night Yu was overjoyed upon hearing this. “This old man must be mistaken—he seems ready to give me pork to eat. Heh heh, the more harshly I scold him, the more he’ll likely give me. How can such a foolish person serve as my master?” he thought.
The master priest reached into his robe and retrieved an object the size of a fist. Given the sweltering heat, a pungent odor filled the air—it was precisely the large internal elixir extracted from the snake’s body.
Ye Yu was utterly astonished, “Do you want me to eat this?” Just as he thought this, the Master Xuanyuan expelled his inner elixir, and a golden liquid immediately flowed into Ye Yu’s mouth. The taste was unbearable; immobilized by the Master, Ye Yu could not resist struggling. In his panic, he swallowed the entire inner elixir whole.
“Haha, my dear disciple—how does it taste?” Master Xuan said with a smile, then shook Ye Yu’s body vigorously to facilitate the rapid digestion of those precious liquids. In reality, this action was unnecessary; Ye Yu was already hungry, and the substances were immediately absorbed upon entering his gastrointestinal tract.
“Ugh, this is unbearable! Bring me water immediately!” Ye Yu shouted, feeling a surge of fire rapidly erupt from within him, turning his eyes bright red.
“Ha ha, enjoy yourself,” said Master Xuan as he drifted away. By the time he returned, the monkeys had already eaten up half of the remaining pork on the mountain peak. He couldn’t help but smile wryly, sat cross-legged, and watched Nightfeather’s movements closely.
“Wow! It’s so unbearable—I’m about to explode!” Ye Yu exclaimed, rapidly tumbling through the air and twisting the four green vines into a single bundle. The vines then began rotating in the opposite direction, causing him to feel dizzy and disoriented as he performed rapid alternating rotations in both directions.
“Wow!” The monkeys on another hilltop watched Nightfeather bounce in the air, all stunned into silence. The four green vines were coiled together and swaying wildly up and down; how could the monkeys dare touch them? They stood there with wide-eyed wonder, some even covering their eyes out of fear, yet still couldn’t resist stealing glances through their fingers.
Two hours later, he still hadn’t stopped. By then, the sky was growing darker, dark clouds gathered everywhere, and soon a fierce storm broke out—with lightning flashing repeatedly around him.
But Ye Yu couldn’t give a damn about such things. An overwhelmingly powerful force surged through his body, utterly uncontrollable; he was driven to madness, eager to tear everything before him to shreds.
“Um, if this power isn’t released, things could go badly,” thought Master Xuan. He immediately leaped up, guided by his qi as he soared through the air, and suddenly swung his blade with a swift motion, creating four shadowy blades that flew toward Ye Yu. The monkeys watching erupted in loud screams.
Four blade shadows severed four green vines. The master retracted his blades at his waist, reached out, and grabbed the four vines—each over three feet long and connected to Ye Yu’s limbs—with one swift motion. Then he lifted Ye Yu into the air and descended onto a spacious area in the distance, setting him down safely.
With a sharp “whoosh!” Night Feather performed a somersault and stood up steadily. His eyes were bloodshot as he let out a strange cry of “uw! uw! uw!” at the lightning-filled sky—a voice deep and terrifying that sent intense unease through Master Xuan. The black blade on his body trembled violently, reacting strongly to the sound.
“Bad luck—the boy’s叫声 sounded just like that of a beast! Could he be a beast in disguise?” thought Master Xuan. He reached out to grasp the black blade and shouted loudly, “Stop!” His cry drowned out the thunder in the sky. Ye Yu turned his head; his eyes, gleaming with sharpness, locked onto him. Suddenly, he let out a loud cry and charged at him at lightning speed.
“With such incredible speed, even a Holy Swordsman would be no match for him!” the master thought to himself. He swiftly drew his waist knife and hurled it, blade and sheath included, toward the cliff; the knife sank deep into the hard rock.
He strode forward with great strides, unleashing a powerful palm strike that sent the utterly frenzied Ye Yu flying away—with his own mind slightly shaken in the process.
“Ah!” Ye Yu roared loudly and charged forward again with frenzied momentum; as his limbs moved swiftly, the four green vines coiled around him like serpents.
The mystic, swift as lightning, seized the green vine on his right leg and swung it violently, sending him flying through the air.
Night Feather roared, knocking down the bowl-sized pine tree it had struck with a single palm strike, then kicked a massive rock at Master Xuan before charging at him wildly.
“This creature is imbued with an inexhaustible force—a power that is utterly overwhelming,” thought the mystic. Without moving an inch, he shattered the incoming stone with a single palm strike, then delivered another gentle blow to Ye Yu’s chest, sending him flying once again.
That single palm strike had shattered Ye Yu’s entire strength, yet he recovered completely in an instant. He landed on his feet, letting out a strange “Ho! Ho!” sound as his eyes seemed to emit a blue glow; then he charged at the Master again, his palms interlocking in a powerful collision that crashed down onto the Master’s head.
The invisible pressure descended upon him like a small mountain. As it neared his head, the mystic raised his left palm above his chest and extended his right palm forward without hesitation. A thunderous explosion erupted—the solid rock beneath his feet split open, and Ye Yu was sent flying back into the air.
“What tremendous strength! If I hadn’t already attained the level of a Divine Swordsman, I would have suffered serious harm,” sighed Master Xuan.
He rose with his qi, intercepting Ye Yu mid-air. His palms flew swiftly, striking him relentlessly from head to toe—all aimed at releasing the stagnant energy within his body and restoring the flow of qi.
The pair landed again; the spot was now close to the riverbank, where the thunderous roar of water was deafening. Ye Yu flipped up from the ground, shattered a bluestone with his hand, and then turned and ran away.
“Haha, where are you going?” Master Xuan said with a laugh, soaring through the air and appearing right in front of him.