Long Aotian’s Beautiful Butler Has Run Away chapter 165

Chapter 165 Pursuit in the Forest

Rong Xie looked up. The sky was filled with dark clouds, and the hour had grown late, his line of sight gradually becoming blurred and indistinct.

In the chaotic gloom, the red Hehuan Huayao charged out of the Suoling Fazhen, wobbling as it flew towards the outside of the Wuqing Dao Gong‘s perimeter wall.

Clearly, it had suffered severe damage as well and was no longer as arrogant as it had been at the start.

Propping himself against the ground, Rong Xie forced himself to stand. The Guangdian Bailan in his hand gleamed brightly, like a beacon in the twilight.

“Don’t… don’t go!” Rong Xie took a deep breath and shouted, “You are not allowed to leave!”

He chased after it, heading towards that wobbling red shadow.

The Hehuan Huayao‘s strength far exceeded Rong Xie’s; even Bai Zhanglao was no match for it. Even though it was injured, Rong Xie didn’t dare say he had a chance of winning.

Rationally speaking, he should be calling for help right now, summoning the people of Xuantian Zong and telling them a monster was wreaking havoc on their territory, and had even critically injured Bai Zhanglao. Once the Xuantian Zong members found out, they definitely wouldn’t sit idly by. Regardless of any past grievances, they would throw everything they had into hunting down this Hehuan Huayao…

But Rong Xie couldn’t do that, because he had seen Xiao Zhi’s soul!

Right when the Hehuan Huayao turned its flower head to flee into the air, Rong Xie caught sight of the white spirit body hanging behind the flower head. The spirit body’s eyes were tightly shut, its contours distinct—it was unmistakably Xiao Zhi himself.

The moment he saw the spirit body, Rong Xie’s heart leaped to his throat. He scrambled up, brought out his flying magical artifact, the Yunmeng Bianzhou, and gave chase after the Hehuan Huayao.

The Hehuan Huayao wobbled unsteadily, sometimes flying higher, sometimes dipping lower, leaving a trail of red sap along the way. Xiao Zhi’s spirit body clung to its back, swaying with the wind like a kite with a broken string, floating weightlessly, as if a gust of wind could blow him right off.

Rong Xie desperately propelled the Yunmeng Bianzhou, closely trailing behind. Several times he nearly caught up, but the Hehuan Huayao was incredibly cunning and plunged headlong into the woods.

There were too many obstacles in the forest to use a flying magical artifact. Rong Xie had no choice but to put away the Yunmeng Bianzhou and chase on foot—imperceptibly, the surroundings grew even darker. He had run into the mountain forest. Trees closed in from all sides, and thick branches and underbrush blocked out the already fading daylight. The surroundings were pitch black, save for the light of Guangdian Bailan illuminating a small, ethereal blue space.

The red shadow of the Hehuan Huayao drifted near the canopy. On a few occasions, Rong Xie nearly lost track of it. But the next moment, lightning tore across the night sky, lighting up the pitch-black woods as bright as day, allowing Rong Xie to catch sight of that bizarrely enormous flower head once more.

“Halt…”

“Halt!”

At first, Rong Xie chased using a mix of levitation and running. Later, as his spiritual energy grew tight, he pulled flight talismans from his pouch, using and discarding them as he went, scattering them along the path as if they cost nothing.

“Rumble—”

The earth shook and the mountains swayed. A powerful shockwave of spiritual energy unfurled from the distant solitary peak. Rong Xie was flipped over by the tidal-wave-like shockwave, falling back onto the muddy ground.

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“This is…” Rong Xie stared in astonishment toward the direction the shockwave originated from. If he guessed correctly, this must be the spiritual pressure erupting instantaneously from someone successfully passing a heavenly tribulation. When Shen Bingsi ascended to Yuanying, there had been a similar tremor.

Only, this time the shockwave was vastly stronger, and the area affected was much larger!

Recalling the massive lightning strikes earlier, each shaking the mountain forest, they were likely drawn by the person undergoing the tribulation. Rong Xie had been so single-mindedly focused on pursuing the Hehuan Huayao that he hadn’t thought deeply about it. Thinking back on it now, that must have been that person’s tribulation lightning.

Who would be undergoing a tribulation at a time like this? And possessing such immense spiritual pressure after successfully passing it?

A clear answer surfaced. Rong Xie murmured, “Lu Yingqi.”

Having just successfully proven his Dao, Lu Yingqi’s state of mind had elevated, and he had acquired a massive amount of spiritual energy. He wasn’t at the scene receiving the spectatorship of the cultivators, which meant he must have run off somewhere for closed-door cultivation to weather his tribulation. Judging by the strength of this shockwave, it was at least the mid-Fenshen stage…

Rong Xie picked himself up from the ground once more. Ignoring the stinging pain in his palms, he gripped Guangdian Bailan tightly and, stepping over roots and rocks one by one, headed toward the clearing in the woods ahead.

The shockwave from Lu Yingqi’s successful tribulation had not only knocked Rong Xie down, but it had also flipped the flower demon over.

At this moment, that massive Hehuan flower was lying face up, sprawled across the forest clearing.

A cultivator’s spiritual pressure had clearly inflicted heavy damage on the flower demon, whose elemental attributes were inherently countered by it. It lay there silently, resembling an artificial, lifeless floral arrangement used for festival floats or an immortal’s flower pedestal, now discarded here having lost its purpose.

Rong Xie tiptoed closer to the Hehuan Huayao, holding his breath, his eyes unblinking as they locked onto the corner of the white spirit body protruding from the edge of the petals. It was a paper-thin, semi-transparent hand, dangling limply among the blades of grass.

If observed carefully, one could see specks of white light dissipating from the edges of the spirit body. Without the Suoling Fazhen, Xiao Zhi’s spirit body was like a snowflake exposed to the sun, melting away with every passing second.

Rong Xie felt a sharp pang in his heart. There was no time to delay.

Hoping for Lu Yingqi to successfully pass his tribulation and come save Xiao Zhi was nothing short of a pipe dream.

The fate of this master and servant had been permanently severed at the moment of Dao proving. One returned to the embrace of Xuantian Zong with boundless prospects, worshipped by the masses, and was now ascending toward the pinnacle of the Wuqing Dao; the other had sacrificed himself in silence, his spirit snatched by a monster after death, on the verge of vanishing in this desolate, uninhabited primeval forest.

Rong Xie took a deep breath, abruptly raised Guangdian Bailan, and plunged it toward the Hehuan Huayao‘s core.

That spot must be its vital point. Rong Xie had inadvertently discovered earlier that a casual thrust could inflict such massive damage upon it. Now, gathering all his strength to stab it a few more times, he would surely be able to cripple this demonic flower! And rescue Xiao Zhi’s soul from beneath it!

“Bang!”

A burst of eerie red light bloomed, instantly filling Rong Xie’s vision.

Realizing things had gone awry, Rong Xie’s body was sent flying backward involuntarily, his vision blurring—

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The next moment, golden light enveloped him, and someone caught him from behind.

“Bingsi?” Rong Xie looked back in surprise, seeing the familiar shoulders and jawline. A wave of warmth surged in his heart. “How did you find your way here?”

Shen Bingsi didn’t answer him. He simply gave him a firm squeeze with his right arm, then let go, bypassed Rong Xie, and walked toward the flower demon.

The Shengxie Jian gleamed with dazzling golden light, floating continuously by Shen Bingsi’s right side, moving in tandem with him.

Shen Bingsi’s steps were steady and powerful as he walked step by step toward the forest clearing. There, the Hehuan Huayao had erected itself from the ground again and was hovering in midair, flaunting its petals arrogantly, as if gloating over its successful ambush of Rong Xie.

“My, my, Grand Caijieguan Shen,” Xiao Zhi’s voice echoed from the flower disc, laced with mockery. “Your Dao Heart hasn’t shattered yet? Weren’t you coughing up blood terribly earlier? What, you can still fly on your sword?”

Every word from the Hehuan Huayao struck at Shen Bingsi’s sore spots. Rong Xie snapped back to reality, recalling Shen Bingsi’s precarious condition. Approaching so recklessly would likely be dangerous.

“Bingsi, don’t go over there! That flower demon is incredibly cunning! Let’s call for help!” Rong Xie shouted.

Yet Shen Bingsi walked up to the Hehuan Huayao as if nothing were amiss. He grasped the blade of the Shengxie Jian with his right hand, cradled it in his arm, and leaned his upper body slightly back, adopting an entirely nonchalant demeanor. “I didn’t want to come either. But alas, the Shengxie Jian was vibrating so violently I couldn’t even hold it. It insists on beheading the demon and guzzling demon blood, so I had no other choice.”

As he spoke, the Shengxie Jian vibrated as if in agreement, sending out ripples of potent golden light.

The Hehuan Huayao suddenly sank, as if crushed by a weight of ten thousand jun. Its voice took on a layer of suppressed tension. “Worthy of a former Caijieguan, such a big tone—what a pity, a former Caijieguan is still just a former Caijieguan. Without the Mirror Palace backing you, can this Shengxie Jian still unleash the power to slay demons and eradicate evil? Tsk tsk…”

“Let’s see if I have it or not, then,” Shen Bingsi sneered coldly.

With a crisp clang, the Shengxie Jian left its sheath. The golden light that tore through the night sky was like lightning, instantaneously illuminating the entire forest clearing, making even the veins of the Hehuan Huayao‘s petals clearly visible.

It trembled, shrank its form, turned into a cloud of red mist, and vanished with a swish.

“Oh no,” Rong Xie took two steps in pursuit. “It ran away! It’s still holding—”

Rong Xie suddenly swallowed his words.

“Holding what?” Shen Bingsi asked, his voice somewhat unsteady.

Rong Xie’s scalp went numb; he had almost blurted out “holding Xiao Zhi’s spirit body.”

If Shen Bingsi knew the Hehuan Huayao was clutching Xiao Zhi’s spirit body, with his perceptiveness, he would definitely guess that Xiao Zhi still had a chance to come back to life. This would lead him to deduce the unrevealed trick behind Bai Zhanglao‘s Dao-proving formation. If that happened, Bai Zhanglao‘s method would become utterly useless to him.

Although Rong Xie loathed Bai Zhanglao‘s method, he was unwilling to cut off any path that might save Shen Bingsi’s Dao Heart. At the same time, he felt deeply condemned by his conscience. What if Xiao Zhi’s spirit body dissipated? All because of his selfish desire to keep a secret, he hadn’t told Shen Bingsi that the flower demon was holding Xiao Zhi’s spirit body, missing the last chance to save Xiao Zhi…

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Shen Bingsi noticed the worry furrowing Rong Xie’s brow. Knowing that the Hehuan Huayao was extremely important to Rong Xie, he formed a sword control hand seal and said, “I’ll go after it… cough cough cough…”

A sudden fit of coughing made Shen Bingsi drop from the Shengxie Jian.

Rong Xie hurriedly went over to support him, seeing that his profile was as pale as paper and his brows were tightly knit. Clearly, he had been forcing himself earlier, and now that he couldn’t hold on, his true state was revealed.

Rong Xie’s heart sank.

“We’re not chasing it,” he said. He took the Yunmeng Bianzhou out of his pouch and waved his hand. The Yunmeng Bianzhou floated in front of the two of them. Rong Xie helped Shen Bingsi onto the Yunmeng Bianzhou. “We’re going back to find others to chase it.”

“Wasn’t there… cough cough… something very important that got snatched away?” Shen Bingsi forced himself to look up at Rong Xie’s expression amidst his coughing.

“It’s not that important,” Rong Xie closed his eyes.

The Yunmeng Bianzhou slowly ascended, and their field of vision gradually broadened. By now, the dark clouds had scattered, revealing the night sky. A bright moon rose above the sea of clouds, bathing Zhilan Ling in its clear, cold light.

As they approached the Wuqing Dao Gong, Shen Bingsi’s coughing subsided somewhat. Looking down from above, the two could clearly see the situation inside and outside the Dao Gong.

Someone had already discovered Bai Zhanglao‘s injuries. A dense cluster of small black dots had gathered in the open area before the Dao Gong‘s front gate. Closer up, they could see Bai Zhanglao surrounded by the Dao Gong disciples. Cultivators dressed as medical personnel were treating him, the white healing light illuminating the faces of the surrounding disciples.

Rong Xie breathed a sigh of relief. He gripped Shen Bingsi’s arm and steered the Yunmeng Bianzhou to land over there. “Let’s go. We’ll call for help, and also… let the medical cultivators take a look at you.”

“I’m fine. A shattered Dao Heart is a condition medical cultivators can’t cure,” Shen Bingsi said nonchalantly. “You bought back the Guangdian Bailan?”

“Mm… hmm?” Rong Xie realized something and reached around to his lower back. He had casually tucked the Guangdian Bailan there earlier and completely forgotten about it.

“Cough, cough, cough… Don’t take it out,” Shen Bingsi hurriedly said.

Rong Xie looked at Shen Bingsi in confusion, then realization dawned on him. “Could it be that you… reacted this way because you saw the Guangdian Bailan?”

Shen Bingsi took several deep breaths, calming the pain of the backlash in his chest, and said with difficulty, “What else could it be? My Dao Heart is unstable, and seeing our token of love… it’s a blessing I didn’t spew blood right then and there… cough cough cough…”

Seeing Shen Bingsi start coughing again, Rong Xie didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He hurriedly put the Guangdian Bailan away, dropping the subject.

“Right, I’ve been meaning to ask,” Shen Bingsi turned to Rong Xie between coughs. “Why was that monster’s voice exactly the same as the attendant’s? Could Bai Zhanglao‘s closely guarded secret have turned that attendant into a monster?”