Chapter Thirty-Two: The White Shadow’s Rose Whip

“Hahaha, surprised, aren’t you?” Upon hearing what Zhang Yang said, Xuanwu burst into hearty laughter. “Not only can I recover, I can disassemble my entire body!” As if to demonstrate his next skill, Xuanwu’s body suddenly exploded, shattering into uneven chunks of rock that surged toward Bai Ying. “Just like this—prepare to die! Shattering Rock Barrage!”

As the flying stones rushed toward him, Bai Ying said nothing. He merely swung his whip, slicing the rocks into even smaller fragments.

“Amazing!” Seeing Xuanwu’s body reduced to so many tiny shards, Qin Xiaochuan shouted excitedly, “Cut into such tiny bits—let’s see you recover from that! Go, Bai Ying!”

But the small stones that Bai Ying had shattered reassembled themselves behind him after passing his body.

“I told you, it’s useless,” Xuanwu gloated once more as his body reformed. “Don’t you get it? Die—Shattering Rock Barrage!”

As he spoke, Xuanwu decomposed again and hurled himself at Bai Ying. This time, his body split even more thoroughly, and the fragments, now the size of bullets, shot at Bai Ying at great speed. As Xuanwu launched his assault once more, Bai Ying swirled his rose whip to shield himself. Leaping to dodge the barrage, a glimmer at the corner of his eye caught something among the flying shards—could it be…?

“Hahaha!” Xuanwu laughed boisterously as he saw the wounds his fragments had carved into Bai Ying’s body. “Now you know how formidable I am, Bai Ying! Here, I am in my element. Your whip is powerful, but it’s useless against my immortal body, isn’t it? Hahahaha!”

“Immortal body? What a joke!” Bai Ying stood up, flicked his whip, and sneered, “This may be your battlefield, but your death will come with my next strike!”

“My death? Hahaha, Bai Ying, you’re hilarious. Here, I am invincible! Let your own ignorance be your downfall!” Infuriated by Bai Ying’s scorn, Xuanwu split his body even more completely. The tiny stones, now the size of bullets, shot toward Bai Ying at supersonic speed, propelled by the force of his self-detonation. It seemed Xuanwu was determined to riddle Bai Ying like a sieve.

“Absurd!”

Seeing Xuanwu launch another Shattering Rock Barrage, Bai Ying sneered. After shielding himself with his whip, he charged straight toward Xuanwu. At that moment, they looked like duelists exchanging their final moves, passing through each other as they unleashed their ultimate techniques.

After landing, Bai Ying seemed to have suffered more scrapes from the flying stones—his body bore fresh, bleeding wounds. He quickly pressed his fingers to several acupoints to staunch the bleeding. It seemed he had been too careless in this fight, perhaps because he hadn’t faced a worthy opponent in a long time. Such a lapse in vigilance could be fatal. “Heh…” Bai Ying gave a bitter chuckle and shook his head, then turned to face Xuanwu, a sense of resolution in his bearing—it seemed the outcome had already been decided.

“Hahaha! Have you lost your mind from fear? To think you can still laugh!” Xuanwu, having reassembled himself, heard Bai Ying’s bitter laugh and assumed he had broken his opponent’s spirit. He was full of himself once more. “In this situation, you—what…?!”

As Xuanwu opened his eyes after reforming, he was shocked to see Bai Ying’s body apparently upside down before him—how could that be? Was he seeing things?

“Ahahahahaha! What a sight!” Qin Xiaochuan clutched his belly, laughing uncontrollably at Xuanwu’s reassembled form. After the duel with Bai Ying, Xuanwu’s body had come together in a grotesque configuration: his head was pressed to his abdomen and turned upside down, his tail jutted from his neck as if misplaced, and his arms protruded from his back. Clearly, something had gone terribly wrong.

“What—what is this?” Xuanwu cried out, terror twisting his ugly face. “It’s gone, it’s gone—you, did you…?”

Bai Ying smiled faintly, pulling his left hand from behind his back. In his palm was a glowing stone. “Looking for this?”

“How—how did you get that?” Xuanwu’s demeanor shifted instantly to panic. It was clear that the stone in Bai Ying’s hand was vital to him.

“This is the core stone that allows your body to reassemble after splitting, isn’t it?” Raising the stone, Bai Ying’s gaze turned icy, a glint of coldness in his eyes. “You hid it well with every attack, but I could still sense the unique energy it emitted—unlike the other fragments. I’m good at finding what others value most, for thievery is what I was born for.”

“No, please, wait,” Xuanwu was completely flustered, fear filling his eyes. “Don’t harm that stone!”

“I refuse.”

With a fragrant gust, Bai Ying shattered the core stone in his hand. It burst into white powder and scattered to the ground. As the core stone disintegrated, Xuanwu’s gigantic body collapsed with a crash into a heap of rubble. Apparently, the special stone was the true essence of Xuanwu—but he had chosen the wrong opponent. Against the master thief Bai Ying, repeatedly using Shattering Rock Barrage was nothing short of suicidal. For the now-ruined Xuanwu, it was a pitiful display of folly.

“We did it! Serves him right!” With Xuanwu vanquished, Qin Xiaochuan jumped up in excitement, as if he’d just beaten a boss in a video game and was ready for the next level. At that moment, Bai Ying clutched his stomach and crouched down, evidently badly wounded. “How are you, Bai Ying? Are you alright?”

Seeing him collapse, Qin Xiaochuan hurried to his side and helped him up. The wounds on Bai Ying’s body drew a gasp—his clothes were slashed to ribbons by Xuanwu’s stones, and blood streamed from his cuts, especially a deep gash on his abdomen where Xuanwu’s tail had struck at the start. Blood poured from the wound. Bai Ying reached behind his head, retrieved some fine granules, crushed them in his hand, and applied them to the injury—instantly staunching the bleeding. “I’m… fine!” he said, waving off concern. With Qin Xiaochuan’s support, he rose shakily to his feet. The hemostatic powder seemed to have restored him somewhat—clearly, Bai Ying had many secrets hidden on his person.

“To think even Bai Ying could be wounded like this…” Even Feiyan, usually so composed, broke into a cold sweat at the sight of Bai Ying’s injuries. They had only just defeated one of the Four Sacred Beasts—Xuanwu—who was supposed to be the weakest on the first level. The remaining three monsters above would be even tougher.

Seeing that Bai Ying was alright, Qin Xiaochuan pointed ahead excitedly. “Good, you’re fine—leave the rest to me! Let’s go!” He relished this kind of level-clearing challenge, his favorite type of game. Stepping over Xuanwu’s shattered remains, he was the first to dash up the steps beyond. It seemed he was eager to face the next opponent himself.

After climbing the stairs, they found themselves in another long corridor. Qin Xiaochuan glanced at Bai Ying’s wounds with concern. “Are you sure you’re alright, Bai Ying?”

“I’m fine—still able to move.”

“But those aren’t minor injuries,” Feiyan observed coldly, casting a sidelong glance at Bai Ying, who was pretending nothing was wrong. “Our plans have changed. Without Bai Ying, it’ll be tough to deal with the next three…”

“It doesn’t matter. Leave the next opponent to me,” Zhang Yang protested, bristling at Feiyan’s concern.

“You were trembling with fear before Bai Ying’s victory…”

“Shut up,” Zhang Yang snapped, his face flushing with embarrassment at his teammate’s jibe. “It was just a shock seeing such a monster out of nowhere. I’m fine now.” Noticing the doubt on Qin Xiaochuan’s face, Zhang Yang flashed a mysterious, confident smile and raised his right hand. “While you were training with Master Jinghai, I wasn’t sitting idle. After many attempts, I can now conjure spiritual swords barehanded. Watch!”

With a burst of energy, a spiritual sword sprang from Zhang Yang’s glowing right hand. The blade shimmered with spiritual light and looked thicker and more powerful than the ones he’d first crafted in the dark training room.

“Well? Impressive, right?” Zhang Yang said proudly, brandishing his sword.

Feiyan, perhaps intending to provoke him, remarked, “Oh, so it’s not just an ordinary stick.”

“You bastard! Looking for a fight? Want to see if I can cut you down?”

“That’s enough!” Qin Xiaochuan hurried over to stop them as Zhang Yang, stung by Feiyan’s sarcasm, prepared to challenge him to a duel.