Chapter 104: Panic

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A sudden figure flashed across Gan Wen’s bloodshot crimson eyes. With a swift motion, the silver-patterned crescent moon blade in his hand swung down toward the figure’s landing spot, the eerie blade aura shimmering like a wave of crimson surging from flat ground. Su Yuanbai had not yet stabilized his stance; seeing the blade aura resembling a sea wave, he chose to step back a few paces to avoid its edge.

Gan Wen gave Su Yuanbai no chance to catch his breath. Warriors are naturally keen at seizing opportunities. Taking advantage of Su Yuanbai’s residual weakness before new strength fully rose, Gan Wen closed the gap with a quick step, wielding the silver-patterned crescent moon blade in both hands, striking fiercely toward Su Yuanbai’s waist with savage hostility.

Though the handsome man before him was no ordinary foe, Gan Wen was certain this strike would cleave him in two.

“Is it merely demonic energy?”

But the handsome man, confronted by danger, showed no fear or trembling; instead, a hint of regret laced his quiet words. This filled Gan Wen with a foreboding sense of doom. Nevertheless, there was no hesitation in Gan Wen’s strike; the thick, strange red glow enveloping him surged entirely into the silver-patterned crescent moon blade.

The silver pattern turned crimson.

The red light swirling around the blade’s tip unexpectedly intensified, striking Su Yuanbai’s waist earlier than anticipated.

“Blooming flowers.”

Su Yuanbai lowered his gaze, watching the crimson glow from the blade’s tip slash into his waist. He felt pain as blood slowly oozed from the wound. The instant the blood spilled, accompanied by Su Yuanbai’s low whisper, it transformed into clusters of blood-red spider lilies—each blossom more vivid and uncanny than the blade’s red light.

But Gan Wen felt as if he had struck not flowers but a mountain. The ominous feeling deepened, sending a chill through his entire body, prompting him to abandon his blade and flee.

The handsome man did not pursue; instead, his eyes, now inexplicably blood-red, calmly watched after him.

Though Gan Wen did not understand what had just occurred, relief washed over him. A warrior’s pride mattered little now; survival was paramount.

What was happening?

Gan Wen turned his head and found his entire vision flooded with blood-red. Even turning back, the world behind him was drenched in crimson. When he looked down, he found himself inexplicably trapped inside the heart of a blood-red flower.

The petals slowly closed in.

Gan Wen realized his flesh and skin were melting like blood, revealing sinews, bones, and joints. He tried to cry out for help, but without skin to support his jaw, it clattered down into the crimson flower’s center.

His consciousness gradually sank into darkness, never to awaken again.

The blood-red in Su Yuanbai’s eyes gradually faded, returning to their normal hue. He reached out to catch the blood-red petal that rose from beneath Gan Wen’s feet, transformed from the crimson spider lily.

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The blood-red petal pierced through his palm without leaving a mark.

The wound on Su Yuanbai’s waist began to heal. In no time, even the faintest scar vanished without a trace.

“To be wounded and bleed, to feel pain… the spider lily’s divine technique from my memories still works.”

Su Yuanbai murmured softly.

Now, he even sensed a weariness welling up from his core and a draining weakness in his spiritual power. Though the outcome remained unchanged, Su Yuanbai rarely felt such a trace of danger.

Did this mean he could now be killed?

His deep, dark eyes fixed silently on the ruined courtyard.

Wu Yang’s left hand trembled slightly as he gripped the bronze staff of the White Ape and its offspring. A chill ran down his spine; he had witnessed Gan Wen’s death.

A powerful enemy capable of slaughtering him so mercilessly left not even bones behind in the hands of this handsome man.

What was that blood-red flower?

A demonic trick or a Taoist spell?

Was he foe or ally?

An eerie silence spread throughout the courtyard. Wu Yang dared not move rashly. Sometimes, when the power gap was too vast, even the desire to fight could not be roused.

Clack, clack, clack.

Urgent footsteps sounded.

“Wu Yang, your arm is broken?!” Cui Ya rushed from the inner courtyard to the outer courtyard, her pupils dilating as she saw Wu Yang’s right arm still dripping blood amid the wreckage.

“Don’t move.”

Wu Yang warned quietly.

He glanced sideways at Su Yuanbai standing under the eaves nearby.

Only then did Cui Ya notice Su Yuanbai’s presence and understand why Wu Yang had warned her not to move. After a moment of silence, she approached Su Yuanbai.

“Immortal Lord, he’s severely injured and needs treatment,” Cui Ya whispered, lowering her head.

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Her hands clenched tightly at the hem of her garment as she watched the drops of sweat falling to the ground, too afraid to meet Su Yuanbai’s gaze. She even had the illusion that her head might soon fall to the floor.

“All right.”

Su Yuanbai snapped out of his reverie, glanced briefly at Cui Ya bowed before him, then turned to the injured man watching him anxiously, his palm opening slightly.

A blood-red petal spun from his palm, flying over to Wu Yang, who had tried to dodge but collapsed weakly to the ground.

“Pick up your arm. If you agree, it can still be reattached.”

Su Yuanbai spoke calmly and then headed toward the inner courtyard to check on the one who had absorbed the Ghost Gold Sheep.

Wu Yang, wearing a face of despair, saw the blood-red petal drift into his body. Unlike Gan Wen, who was utterly annihilated, the petal healed all the countless wounds on his body.

Recalling Su Yuanbai’s departing words, he quickly reattached the arm that Gan Wen had severed.

To Wu Yang’s astonishment, the severed arm was genuinely reattached as the handsome man had said, leaving only a faint scar where the blade had cut. He could swing it without any discomfort.

“Where did you find this Immortal Lord?! Did you offer your own life as payment? No, that can’t be—the price of your life isn’t worth that much. Could it be your lady also sacrificed her fortunes and life to make him act?!”

Wu Yang looked at Cui Ya, whose face was equally shocked and incredulous. Neither could believe that this Immortal Lord had healed Wu Yang without demanding any reward.

In Cui Ya’s eyes, this Immortal Lord seemed even more unreal and ethereal than someone like Wu Yang, who stubbornly insisted on payment for his services.

“Could it be he wants the lives of everyone in Nanxi Prefecture?”

A terrifying thought crossed Cui Ya’s mind. She looked at Wu Yang anxiously and asked.

“I can’t guess what this Immortal Lord you speak of really wants. I think you should quickly call your lady here—perhaps she can find out what he truly desires.”

Wu Yang shivered as he watched Su Yuanbai’s departing figure. In the Southern Wilderness, Immortal Lords as powerful as Su Yuanbai were not uncommon.

But those Immortal Lords’ demands and the prices they exacted were often far more terrifying than their power.

Once, a prefecture invited an Immortal Lord to exorcise demons. Though the demons were eradicated, no one in that prefecture lived past thirty years for decades afterward.