The cultivators attacked without mercy, but the Seven-Colored Illusion Butterflies were no easy prey either. Unlike before, when they had clung to the stone walls and allowed themselves to be slaughtered, the butterflies now swooped down one after another and circled around the cultivators in flight.
Compared with these cultivators, Xu Ziqing truly did not even have the strength to “swat a butterfly.” He could only remain beneath the smoking pipe and watch the battle as closely as he could, hoping to learn at least a little that he might ponder later in his cultivation. Once he made up his mind to do so, he was able to calm himself and watch the battle between humans and butterflies with a steady heart, and the fear he had felt before vanished at once.
Elio’s Notes: “Not even the strength to ‘swat a butterfly’” is a playful twist on 手无缚鸡之力, an idiom for being so weak that one lacks even the strength to restrain a chicken.
Suddenly, he heard someone let out a miserable cry of “Ah!” and could not help frowning.
These Seven-Colored Illusion Butterflies were no ordinary butterflies. Each had two sharp fangs in its mouth, and if one managed to land on someone, it would bite off a chunk of flesh!
Xu Ziqing looked toward the cry and saw a gray butterfly clinging to the arm of a youth in yellow. The youth’s face was contorted, clearly in terrible pain.
The youth reached out and tore the gray butterfly away, but the flesh had already been mangled by its bite. Black blood spurted from the wound, and black light shrouded his entire arm. The poisoned blood seemed about to travel upward and invade his heart meridians; once that happened, he would likely be beyond saving.
Yet in the middle of such a battle, the yellow-clad youth had no chance to tend to his wound, while everyone around him was struggling merely to hold on, much less spare a hand to help. Seeing how perilous his situation was, Xu Ziqing had no time to think. He forced the little spiritual power he possessed over the surface of his body, rushed out at once, and dragged the youth beneath the smoking pipe!
Xu Ziqing was not reckless or overconfident. He had recognized the youth and simply could not stand by and watch him die. He still remembered that when he had first entered the secret realm, he had nearly lost his life to a Mottled Demon Snake, and it was this very youth who had inadvertently saved him. Xu Ziqing had received his favor and naturally ought to repay it.
The poisoned blood had left the yellow-clad youth cold and rigid all over. He had thought the odds were against him, only to be seized by someone and dragged, staggering, to a relatively safe spot. When he looked up, he saw a small youth whose face was unfamiliar and who seemed several years younger than himself.
“Thank you for saving me.” The yellow-clad youth knew enough to be grateful, but after managing those few words, all strength left his body and he could barely force out another syllable.
Xu Ziqing grew somewhat flustered at the sight. After thinking for a moment, he said, “That gray butterfly seems highly poisonous. With your arm injured, I’m afraid the poison…” He seemed to remember something and continued, “Young Master, since matters have come to this, it may be better to sacrifice the limb to save your life. I once saw a milky-white pill that could regrow flesh and stop bleeding. Its effects were remarkable.”
His experience was limited. He had only once seen Xu Zifeng give this pill to Xu Chengwu, whose arm had nearly been severed, yet it had returned to normal in only a few breaths. It had seemed extraordinarily effective. Now that the poisoned blood was clearly on the verge of reaching this youth’s heart, Xu Ziqing remembered it and naturally told him what he knew.
The yellow-clad youth understood at once. His eyes had already begun to cloud, but now a trace of clarity returned to them. Struggling, he drew a dagger. It was extraordinarily sharp and surely capable of slicing through iron like mud, yet it could not quite be called a magical artifact. Although faint spiritual light glimmered over it, it was only close to becoming one.
His hand faltered and the dagger fell to the ground. He said, “I can’t move now. I’ll have to trouble you to cut off my arm and shave away the flesh from it.”
Xu Ziqing froze. He had never imagined that the task would fall to him. But the yellow-clad youth was drenched in cold sweat and too rigid to move, while everyone else was occupied… Xu Ziqing gritted his teeth and picked up the dagger.
The matter was urgent. Even though Xu Ziqing had never before seen blood, he could no longer afford to hesitate.
Taking a deep breath, Xu Ziqing gathered spiritual power in his palm, seized the yellow-clad youth’s right hand, raised the dagger, and slashed with all his strength. Swish!
The arm came away at the shoulder, exposing stark white bone. The yellow-clad youth convulsed from the pain, but it was as though strength suddenly returned to him. He pulled out a silk ribbon, bound it around his shoulder, and stopped the bleeding.
Xu Ziqing examined the severed arm more closely. It had already turned almost entirely black, with only a little healthy flesh remaining near the shoulder. Had they waited even a moment longer, the poison would likely have crossed the shoulder and surged toward his brain.
Thank goodness. Thank goodness.
The yellow-clad youth swallowed a pill, and his complexion improved considerably. He looked at Xu Ziqing again. “Thank you. If you hadn’t come to my aid so selflessly, I would already be dead.”
“You’ve already thanked me. There’s no need for such formality.” Seeing that the youth no longer remembered him, Xu Ziqing did not explain. He merely smiled and pointed the dagger toward the severed arm. “Shall I remove the poisoned blood and rotting flesh for you now?”
The yellow-clad youth’s tone softened. “Then… I’ll trouble you.”
Xu Ziqing grasped the arm by the healthy portion and used the dagger to shave away the skin and flesh that had already begun to rot and stink. The poison did not seem to have penetrated the bone, which remained snow-white and showed no sign of corrosion. Seeing this, the yellow-clad youth let out a breath of relief.
Before long, all the rotten flesh had been removed, leaving only the intact bare bones of the arm.
By then, the yellow-clad youth’s bleeding had stopped. He picked up the bones and placed them in his storage pouch. Then he took out an emerald-jade bottle no larger than a little finger and handed it to Xu Ziqing. “You saved my life. These mere five Fasting Pills are a small token of my gratitude.”
Xu Ziqing was startled, but he had no intention of accepting them. He had only been repaying the youth’s earlier favor, so how could he take a gift in return? He declined. “It was only a small effort. I can’t accept such a valuable gift.”
The yellow-clad youth had not expected Xu Ziqing to refuse. They were not even from the same family, and for a life-saving favor like this, never mind a few Fasting Pills, even asking him for a magical artifact would have been reasonable. Yet this small youth not only refused to exploit the debt, he turned the gift down altogether. Was he after something greater, or did he truly possess such breadth of character?
Xu Ziqing felt rather helpless, but he truly could not accept the Fasting Pills, so he had no choice but to explain what had happened before. “Young Master, perhaps you don’t remember, but on the first day after entering the secret realm, I nearly fell victim to a Mottled Demon Snake. It was only because you and your elder brother captured that snake that I was fortunate enough to survive. What I did today was merely repayment for what happened then. There is truly no need to take it to heart.”
Only then did the yellow-clad youth understand. That day, he had merely wanted to present his elder brother with a small gift, so he had naturally driven away the weak cultivator who had nearly died in the snake’s jaws. He had never expected the act to be repaid now. Since that was the case, he put away the Fasting Pills. Either way, neither of them owed the other anything now, and from this incident he had also seen something of Xu Ziqing’s character. If fate brought them together again in the future, perhaps they could become friends.
“Very well, then,” he said. “I am Wei Qing, the fifth son of the Wei family. May I ask your name?”
Xu Ziqing cupped his hands as well. “I am Xu Ziqing, nothing more than a menial worker in the Xu family’s Hundred Herbs Garden.”
Hearing Xu Ziqing’s status, Wei Qing could not help being surprised. He looked Xu Ziqing over. His clothing was indeed plain, yet the bearing revealed in his few words was quite good and did not resemble that of a lowly laborer accustomed to years of hard work. Moreover, if this small youth truly held such a position, how had he obtained a place in the Linyuan Secret Realm? Wei Qing did not think the youth had any reason to lie, and even if he were lying, the claim was far too extreme to make sense.
After turning it over again and again without finding an answer, Wei Qing, straightforward by nature, simply stopped caring. The person before him was still the same person; what did his status really matter?
Seeing no contempt in Wei Qing’s eyes, Xu Ziqing could not help admiring the Wei family’s upbringing. Since Wei Qing called himself the Wei family’s fifth son, he was likely of the direct line. Xu Ziqing had also met Tian Liang of the Tian family’s direct line, but in character the two were worlds apart.
Having spoken this far, neither of them said much more. Neither had any means of joining the battle, so they could only continue watching from where they stood.
Xu Ziqing and Wei Qing’s exchange was only a small interlude. The battle between the cultivators and the Seven-Colored Illusion Butterflies remained exceptionally fierce.
The cultivators gradually became familiar with the gray butterflies’ lines of attack and began to get the hang of fighting them. No longer at a disadvantage, they slowly fought the butterflies on more equal terms.
Xu Zifeng spun and sent his sword flashing out, gray butterflies rustling down all around him like autumn leaves stripped by a gale. Meng Wanqin and Tian Tao fought with even greater, almost frenzied force. Their two families had lost no fewer than twenty or thirty people, every one of them an outstanding member of the clan. How could the two of them not be heartsick with grief and regret?
In the blink of an eye, more than half the gray butterflies had been killed or wounded, yet great clouds of gray suddenly drifted out from deeper in the cavern. Butterfly after butterfly flew head to tail, forming an unbroken mass, wave after wave without end.
No sooner was one mass killed than more arrived. Even though the cultivators had already grasped how to kill the butterflies, despair still inevitably began to creep into their hearts. Spiritual power and cultivation were not inexhaustible. If the spiritual power in their dantians ran dry, this cavern might well become their burial ground.
Xu Ziqing held his breath, his gaze fixed entirely on Old He. He knew that he was relying wholly on the steward’s protection. Powerful as the smoking pipe was, someone still had to control it. If anything happened to Old He, Xu Ziqing would certainly fare no better. Besides, the old man had always taken good care of him, so naturally Xu Ziqing could not help worrying.
Fortunately, although Steward He was nearing the end of his lifespan, his spiritual power remained deep and sustained. He had not been fighting the butterflies with the desperation of someone staking his life, but had focused first on protecting himself, so even now he remained full of vigor. Only his tightly furrowed brow showed that he too was worried about the situation in the cavern.
The cultivators had now fallen squarely into the Seven-Colored Illusion Butterflies’ trap, yet these butterflies were clearly not creatures of savage, indiscriminate slaughter. Why, then, were they fighting with such utter disregard for their own lives? Had some trouble befallen them, or were they simply trying to block the cultivators’ advance? Unless it was necessary, even demon beasts such as these would hardly choose to fight so many cultivators head-on.
There was never any shortage of clever people in the world. After contending with the gray butterflies for so long, they each began to have thoughts of their own.
Xu Zifeng had been deeply unwilling to accept being tricked by the demon beasts earlier. After slaughtering the gray butterflies for a while, however, he gradually calmed down and regained his usual clarity of thought.
No matter how numerous the gray butterflies were, drifting like tufts of down, they were still only offspring. If the entire cavern was filled with the young butterflies, where was the mother?
The true leader of the Seven-Colored Illusion Butterflies was the mother butterfly. If they could kill her, the offspring swarm would collapse on its own. Since all the young butterflies were circling inside the cavern and they had encountered nothing else on the way in, then the mother butterfly had to be…
Xu Zifeng spun once more, clearing a swath of butterflies with his sword, then sprang forward and shot toward the depths of the cavern!