Ch55 - Fight Together

Translator: transcendentwings

. . . Origin giant?

When these words reached Xu Xingzhi’s ears, they had already been torn apart by the hurricane winds, but he was still vaguely able to hear them.

He couldn’t help letting out a breath of turbid air.

In the novella, he had indeed imagined this kind of monster. It was hundreds of meters long, born of a giant serpent, possessing infinite strength, sturdy skin and thick flesh. It was born in the same year the savage wasteland manifested and hibernated underneath it with its cycle of awakening and hibernation rotating once every five years. Once it drilled out of the ground, it would become manic, devour all moving objects and wouldn’t dig another pit to sleep in until it guaranteed that it wouldn’t know of hunger or thirst for another five years.

This torrential sand were the feelers of its sensory organs. Once surrounded by this sand, it would be stained by the origin giant’s scent and marked as prey.

This creature was extremely avaricious and vastly different from others with a similarly cumbersome body, it moved as swiftly as a leopard or as a tiger and its endurance and agility were top-notch. Any prey locked-on by it would be captured and devoured even if it fled thousands of kilometers away.

This creature didn’t avoid congregate living, nor did it avoid solitary life, thus it would come and go in groups occasionally and other times appear alone, but in terms of its tendency to bring the world unto destruction and swallow it, even if only one was born, it would still be a tremendous calamity.

However, this aberration only appeared in Xu Xingzhi’s mind.

Before he was tossed into the savage wasteland, he hadn’t even penned down the appearance of the origin giants.

. . . What exactly did this mean?

The dark sand boiled like golden serpents dancing wildly, the sky and the earth changed color, and the poisonous winds seemed to be wrapped in flames, yet when it hit their faces, their teeth would chatter and their hearts would shudder instead.

Their group, who were originally walking in two and threes, gathered together in an instant.

Qu Chi immediately took off his crimson outer robes and when Tao Xiao called out “Qu-shixiong” in a panic, he had already turned around to cover Tao Xian’s head and face, blocking the first round of the raging sandstorm with his strong and wide back.

Tao Xian heard the sound of sand whipping in the air like a beehive exploding open with a gushing sound. His legs were already weak and he couldn’t help but slump to the ground in a sitting position.

Qu Chi squatted down with him, wrapping the other into his arms.

“Don’t lift your head, don’t look.” Qu Chi comforted softly, “It’s okay ah, it’s fine.”

Zhou Beinan took on most of the burden of the sand for the two behind him while Meng Chongguang hopped off Xu Xingzhi’s back and marched straight into the wasp-like sandstorm. Channeling his spiritual energy into his palms, he erected a huge wind shield to protect everyone behind it.

The wind dropped sharply and everyone was finally able to shed the wind pressure and utter a sound.

Zhou Beinan spat out the yellow sand in his mouth, tossed the spear in his hand aside and plunged obliquely into the half-foot thick sands at his feet: “Lu Yujiu!”

Lu Yujiu stumbled over and the talisman he used to manipulate ghosts had already been summoned by him. He knew what Zhou Beinan wanted, and before he could say a word, he touched his wrist to Zhou Beinan’s in tacit understanding. When their two pulses overlapped, a faint lavender cloud mark rippled out in waves from where their wrists were crossed.

As early as in Hutiao Ravine, Zhou Beinan had retrieved most of his lost power from his own corpse, however, as a ghost servant, Zhou Beinan would still be powerless without Lu Yujiu providing him essence.

As the essence flowed into Zhou Beinan’s body, Lu Yujiu’s complexion gradually turned pale.

Zhou Beinan was no longer that Zhou Beinan of the past. A high-level ghost servant required a ghost master with a stronger cultivation level in order to remain easily controlled.

In the past, Zhou Beinan lacked spiritual power, so he had enough energy to provide to the other, but this time, he was already feeling somewhat powerless.

Even so, he still gritted his teeth and squeezed the essence from his body and pushed it into Zhou Beinan’s wave after wave.

Zhou Beinan could feel that he was clenching his teeth in order to hold on. He wanted to withdraw his hand, but if the ghost master and the ghost servant were to open the channel to each other, only the ghost master could cut it off, as the ghost servant, Zhou Beinan, was unable to put a stop to it.

He gnashed his teeth and called out: “Withdraw! It’s enough.”

Lu Yujiu stubbornly held his ground: “Not enough. Last time, five years ago. . . when you ran into the giant, you. . . almost got your soul scattered. . .”

Five years ago, Lu Yujiu, Zhou Beinan, and Qu Chi set out together to seek the traces of the wasteland’s key fragments, and it just so happened that a smaller origin giant was born.

That giant still appeared in Lu Yujiu’s nightmares to this day. He would never forget until he died that when the giant towering over ten-zhang opened up its pair of eyes that were as dull as a dead fish and pierced Zhou Beinan’s body with its fingers that contained tremendous spiritual power, nearly crushing his soul core into pieces!

If it hadn’t been for Qu Chi’s desperate rescue attempt where he had smashed the giant’s throat at the cost of breaking the bones in his right hand. . .

Lu Yujiu didn’t dare to consider the bloody consequences.

Seeing that Lu Yujiu was about to bite into his lips until they bled, Zhou Beinan knew that he had recalled the incident in the past and felt a faint pain in his heart.

He soothingly coaxed him: “It won’t happen this time. You. . .”

“No.” Lu Yujiu was already completely drained as he rested against Zhou Beinan’s shoulders, his body trembling with weakness, the essence accumulated in his body was almost completely exhausted, “. . . No way.”

. . . It won’t do.

After finally arriving at this point, collecting two pieces of the key shards, almost able to walk out of this wasteland, there’s no way he could allow Zhou Beinan to have any sort of accident at this critical juncture.

He, Lu Yujiu, had already lost too many things, so he couldn’t permit himself to be unable to protect this most important person before him.

—They were going to leave together. Not a single person left behind.

Lu Yujiu, whose pool of essence was nearing its end, seemed to be much lighter as he lay softly against Zhou Beinan’s shoulders, the purple glow of essence emitted from his wrists became increasingly dimmer.

It wasn’t until his strength was completely exhausted that his arm fell powerlessly and the rapidly spinning talisman also fell to the ground, instantly buried by the flying sand.

Xu Xingzhi crouched down, picked up the talisman, and dusted it off.

Zhou Beinan held Lu Yujiu, whose strength was utterly drained, and the arm that was wrapped around the other tightened, embracing the only person he could touch in this world and ordered in a hoarse voice: “. . . Don’t push it and try to force your shixiongs to come out as well.”

“I’m tired enough providing for you alone.” Lu Yujiu wanted to shake Zhou Beinan’s hand off, but it was difficult for him to even lift his arm, “. . . All that I could offer, I already gave. . . You have to come back, come back whole.”

Zhou Beinan clasped the hand that was about to slip and pressed a fierce kiss on the back of the other’s fingers: “Return, definitely.”

After this pledge, he hugged the limp Lu Yujiu and sent him into Xu Xingzhi’s arms: “. . . Xingzhi. Look after him well.”

At this time, the one Zhou Beinan trusted the most was Xu Xingzhi who was bereft of spiritual power.

Xu Xingzhi held Lu Yujiu with one arm and stated in a steady voice: “Don’t worry.”

Meng Chongguang then snatched up Xu Xingzhi’s right hand: “Shixiong, you and Tao Xian, Lu Yujiu and Yuan-shijie take refuge here for a while. Qu Chi will stand guard. Zhou Wang, Zhou Beinan, and I will advance to slaughter the giant and then return.”

Qu Chi couldn’t help but feel anxious: “I’ll go too.”

“What are you going for?” Meng Chongguang’s voice turned cold immediately, “You only need to stay here and guard them. Don’t you always wish to remain by Tao Xian’s side?”

Qu Chi’s voice trembled slightly: “Ah-Wang has never fought with the giants before, I’m afraid she. . .”

The heavy footsteps like thunder interrupted Qu Chi’s voice.

As if a blade was rotating and slashing about against the translucent wind shield, a pair of huge bare feet was reflected in it. The giant foot landed on the pale yellow ground, leaving a deep pit the size of the foundation for a hut.

Xu Xingzhi looked up and found that he could only see the monster’s chin as far as his eyes could reach.

Zhou Beinan’s eyes widened as he blurted out an expletive.

. . . This giant was not even remotely at the same level as the one they had ran into the last time.

However, although it was massive, fortunately there was only one.

Yet before Xu Xingzhi could tell whether he should feel lucky or anxious, he captured a strange child-like laughter drifting across the winds.

Rolling up a wave of yellow sand and charging towards them, there were still two little giants about ten-chi tall!

. . . Mother and child giants?!

It seemed that now they had no choice but to split into groups.

Those two little giants moved faster than their mother and were only 500 meters away in the blink of an eye. As for the female giant who reached the ceiling of sky, her speed was not much slower than that of her children and the roar of the rapid pounding of giant feet made people’s internal organs quake.

As a mortal, Tao Xian couldn’t withstand this. When he crawled out of Qu Chi’s arms, he felt a heart-piercing urge to vomit, and his frail frame was forcibly shaken up off the ground by the rhythmic shocks. Standing wasn’t possible, kneeling also wasn’t acceptable, his sorry appearance made Qu Chi’s face turn pale with heartache.

“How confident are you?” Xu Xingzhi didn’t have time to care about Tao Xian and grabbed hold of Meng Chongguang who was about to leave.

Meng Chongguang kissed Xu Xingzhi’s forehead: “As long as Shixiong is doing well, I’m sixty percent sure.”

. . . Sixty percent.

Xu Xingzhi’s heart sank fiercely, but before he could exhort a few more words, Meng Chongguang turned away from Xu Xingzhi to stare at Qu Chi.

“Qu Chi, protect them” Meng Chongguang especially emphasized, “Even when those two monsters are eliminated, we don’t need you to aid us. I entrust Shixiong’s safety to you. Do you hear me?”

Qu Chi and Yuan Ruzhou were both supporting Tao Xian, who was staggering to and fro, and nodded his head indiscriminately, as if he even had the mind to pay attention to the other’s instructions at this time.

Meng Chongguang embraced Xu Xingzhi’s neck reluctantly again, and after exchanging a deep kiss, he was finally willing to let go: “Shixiong, stay here obediently, lead the others and don’t go anywhere. Chongguang will return shortly.”

Zhou Wang cracked her neck twice, unsheathed her pair of blades that were about the length of half her body and crossed them before her. After striking out a brilliant flame, she smiled at Zhou Beinan, “Uncle, I was not around when that monster hurt you last time, this time I must avenge this grudge for you.”

Zhou Wang’s face was dominated by a dauntless smile, a newborn calf not afraid of tigers, and Zhou Beinan caught the glimpse of a familiar face through her.

. . . Xiao-Xiao’er.

After a transient daze, he forcibly pulled himself out of his reverie, flicked his spear, and drew it in a half-moon arc, as he pointed directly at the giant’s throat: “Zhou Wang!”

“Here.”

“You play the vanguard!”

Zhou Wang raised her eyebrows and answered “yes” crisply. Waving her two blades, thousands of air waves reverberated through the air as she flew into the air, slashing at the belly of the female giant who was only a hundred-chi away from them!

Zhou Beinan, who followed closely behind her, pierced through the clouds with one lunge of his spear, and the long spear penetrated through the sandstorm, gathering a beam of iridescent light that slashed the giant’s throat.

Meng Chongguang pressed his sword down, touched it briefly with his feet, and when he reappeared, he was already on the shoulder of the female giant. Raising his arm to draw his sword in an arc and stabbed towards her huge lantern-like eyes!

Who would’ve guessed that although the mother giant may look ungainly, she still moved agilely like she was flying. When she turned sideways, Zhou Wang’s glinting blades and the shadow of Zhou Beinan’s spear flashed past while Meng Chongguang’s needle-thin glaring sword was waved aside with one hand as she swiped upwards with her palm to slam it against her own shoulder!

Meng Chongguang tapped on the air with his feet once again, and in a flash, he was already 500 meters away from the giant.

He only stayed in the air for a moment before he slammed into the giant’s waist and abdomen.

He was extremely fast and in the blink of an eye, he reached the belly of the giant. There was a bang indicating an explosion of spiritual power and the female giant howled wildly in pain, folding over backwards and crashing to the ground with a boom.

Zhou Wang was overjoyed, she drew her saber and slashed towards the giant’s knee, but after the strike, there was only a defined dang muffled sound, jolting her wrists until they went numb.

It was as if she had encountered an iron wall and was unable to disturb the flesh of this monster at all!

When she looked up, she was even more stunned.

—The female giant had clambered to her feet with some effort, opened her bloody mouth, and let out a roar that vibrated across the sky and the earth towards Meng Chongguang’s smoothly tumbling figure.

The roar pierced through Zhou Wang’s eardrums until all the blood in her body flowed in reverse, making her face turn ashen for a moment.

Unexpectedly. . . even Meng-dage couldn’t deal with this monster?

“Don’t be in a daze!!” Zhou Beinan yelled, swiftly pulling Zhou Wang back to reality, “Hold her back! Aim for her throat! That’s her only weakness!”

Zhou Wang bit her lip hard, forcing herself to snap out of it with the sharp pain. She dashed across the giant’s leg with two steps, her sabers at the ready and slashed towards the giant’s waist with all her strength.

The steel blade in Zhou Wang’s hand shattered and the metal fragments flew out randomly along with drops of blood.

The female giant howled in extreme pain again.

This scream made hope rise in Zhou Wang’s heart, but when she whirled around, she found that her blow that carried all of her strength only left a small cut half-cun deep on her waist!

Although Zhou Beinan, Zhou Wang, and Meng Chongguang struggled, at the very least, they were able to hold back the female giant’s progress.

On the ground, the two little giants had already detected the aroma of their favorite, human flesh, and they giggled as they scampered towards their food.

Qu Chi’s sword turned into seven as he released six to form a sword array, trapping one of the giants, while bracing his remaining sword to meet the giant who was rushing directly at them.

Relying on skin that was as hard as a knife, the little giant revealed a ferocious smile and stretched out a hand to meet Qu Chi’s sword. Who would have thought that this exchange would end with two of his fingers falling to the ground with a corresponding sound and a column of blood gushing out abruptly.

Lu Yujiu, who was protected behind the wind shield, was ecstatic when he saw this: “Qu-shixiong! This one hasn’t trained to have copper-like skin and iron bones yet!”

Xu Xingzhi was not as optimistic as Lu Yujiu and frowned.

The little giant looked at the severed fingers where the blood flowed out, tilted his head slightly, and just waved his fist to strike Qu Chi as if he didn’t perceive any pain at all!

Qu Chi spun around to avoid it, passing through where the fingers were missing, then whisked his sword with his right hand into a dazzling display of sword afterimages like a flower of light,  charging directly over.

The little giant made an agile movement that was completely different from his clumsy figure. With a burst of power in his muscles, he miraculously changed directions and backed away three-zhang. Qu Chi swiftly pressed close, controlling the blade with his fingertips, making the sword bypass his side and with a blue glow, it bounded straight for the giant’s back!

Who would have expected that this monster had predicted it long ago, and when the tip of the sword sliced through the air, making the sand shriek, just when it was about to sink into his neck, he dodged nimbly yet again. Qu Chi used one hand to snatch up the blade that missed and attacked again. He only aimed to make the other back away as far as possible and then wait for an opportune moment to kill him.

But this thing was really troublesome to contend with, Qu Chi fought with the other for more than ten rounds, but still failed to get close to it!

Tao Xian stared at Qu Chi’s repeated separations and entanglements with the giant and clutched Xu Xingzhi’s arm tightly in horror, muttering frantically: “Xu-shixiong. . .”

Xu Xingzhi clenched the folded fan in his hand, his palm moist with sweat.

At this moment, an abrupt change ocurred!

After all, Qu Chi couldn’t take care of two things at once. The Qixin sword formation he was adept at was missing a corner, making it incomplete. The little giant that was besieged by the six swords took advantage of Qu Chi’s inattention, peeled away a corner of the sword array with his arm covered with thick bristly hair, giggling and laughing strangely as he did it. He blew past Qu Chi and galloped straight towards the wind shield where Xu Xingzhi and the others were hiding!

Qu Chi panicked, calling out “Tao Xian”, and wanted to disengage his sword and leave, but the little giant in front of him bit the blade of the sword without retreating and when its giant teeth exerted force, the sword in his hands was completely shattered into shards by the other’s bite!

Since Yuan Ruzhou had become just a bunch of bones, she was no longer able to wield a blade. Facing such a crisis, she could only shout sternly: “Run!! Xu-shixiong, Tao Xian, Xiao-Lu, quickly—”

The little giant rammed straight into the wind shield with a strange smile and with a punch, cracks spiderwebbed across the shield’s surface.

He clasped his hands together and repeatedly smashed against the shield, then within a few strikes, the wind shield collapsed into a screen of leaky wind!

Meng Chongguang in the distance felt a tremor in his heart. Whipping around like a kite, his body was like a shooting star as he zipped straight towards the back of the little giant!

As soon as the wind shield was lost, the few of them were instantly exposed to the sharp teeth of the giant.

Xu Xingzhi grabbed Lu Yujiu, whose limbs were powerless, and Tao Xian, who was at a loss, launching a tirade of curses. On one side he used his elbow, on the other his hand, as he tossed them one-zhang away simultaneously.

In this way, his back was completely exposed to the little giant’s pointed and cold teeth.

Yuan Ruzhou screamed in a high pitched voice: “Shixiong!!”

Before she had time to feel pain or sorrow, her eyes suddenly widened.

—The “Xianbi” in Xu Xingzhi’s left hand turned into a mace without warning and it quickly whirled around along with his body. Followed by a violent roar, it exploded into an attack and struck the monster’s throat solidly!!!

Meng Chongguang also arrived from the rear at this time, piercing the back of the monster’s neck with a sword simultaneously.

The body of the mace and the blade of the sword intersected within the giant’s neck, tearing the monster apart in an instant!

Yuan Ruzhou stared at Xu Xingzhi in a daze, seeing the “Xianbi” of infinite changes in his palm again, she didn’t know whether she wanted to cry or laugh at this moment: “Shi. . . Shixiong. . .”

Author’s Chapter Summary:

Xianbi, heart as one, sharing blood

The translator has something to say: Who said that there is no honor and loyalty amongst thieves