Chapter 21: What Are You Doing?

The wind howled, passing through the forest and rustling the leaves. In the dark woods of the distant mountains, it sounded as if women were laughing and crying.

This was no longer the Ning family’s mountain villa in the old mountains, but a vital pass at the foot of Manfeng Mountain.

The bonfire was still burning, but the red fire had a hint of black, a strange black, as if the fire had also been dyed black by the moonlight.

Ning Xuan stood up. With a slight flick of the nearly ten-foot-long Beast-Slaying Saber in his hand, he lifted the curtain of the tent behind him.

The place where his big brother was supposed to be resting was empty.

He retracted his saber, dropped the curtain, and strolled around the perimeter.

As expected, everyone had disappeared.

The black moon hung in the sky, and dawn was approaching. This was a nightmare, a nightmare like an endless hell, a nightmare where failure to refine the record would result in the destruction of both body and soul.

He casually touched his finger to the center of his brow, brewing a killing intent.

Instantly, a line of information floated up:

[One of Nine]

Ning Xuan was stunned for a moment.

[One of Nine] meant that this time, he only had nine cycles, one less than last time.

‘What caused this?’

Soon, he cast this question out of his mind. For him, there was no way to find an answer to this question. All speculation was a waste of time and meaningless delusion.

He silently recited again: ‘I request, the Heavenly Demon Record.’

There was no reaction.

The “Mountain-Crashing Bear” Heavenly Demon Record was not summoned, as if a stone had sunk into the sea.

He was not surprised by this.

When he had requested the record, he had already felt it.

He could only request one record at a time.

And the process of refining the record was the process of slowly stripping the Heavenly Demon’s power and transferring it to himself. This in itself was a kind of record request.

Therefore, in the nightmare world, he could not request an additional record.

However, it didn’t matter…

Compared to the first time he entered the nightmare, Ning Xuan was much calmer.

He began to quickly and skillfully search for usable props or treasures.

You know, last time, the Storm Pear Blossom Needle and the repeating crossbows had helped him a lot.

Soon, he had collected more props than last time, but there were no treasures used by Taoists, nor was there his elder brother’s Heavenly Master’s Seal.

But it was not strange. Although the “Heavenly Master’s Seal” was called a seal, it was very likely not a physical object, but a kind of power condensed by oneself.

Soon, Ning Xuan laid out all the things that had some power, besides the soldiers’ crossbows, shields, and long spears.

One, Four Generations Under One Roof.

This was a uniquely shaped throwing dart, composed of a great-grandfather dart, several grandfather darts, son darts, and grandson needles.

When this throwing dart was used, as long as it hit any target, it would immediately explode, splitting into many secondary darts. The secondary darts would hit again, splitting into son darts, and the son darts would hit again, shooting out dense grandson needles.

If a person with a shield faced this throwing dart, the first hit would be on the shield, and the second hit would shoot out more throwing darts to go around the shield and hit the shield bearer behind.

If this throwing dart was shot into a human body, then… it would explode inside the human body in an instant, producing many, many more hidden weapons.

Ning Xuan had heard Master Zhang mention this “Four Generations Under One Roof.” Master Zhang seemed to be very impressed, even afraid, of the viciousness of this throwing dart, so he had said a little more, and thus Ning Xuan recognized it.

Ning Xuan asked himself, if he encountered this throwing dart, he could certainly use his speed and reaction to dodge it and prevent the opponent from hitting him. But if he was hit by this throwing dart in a cage, he would probably be in great danger, because the Swallow’s Cry Power he had comprehended was only a single force, and had not formed anything like the “protective qi” from the novels of his previous life.

Even if he relied on his physique to endure it, as long as some of the darts in the process of exploding shot into his eyes, nose, or ears, it would be enough to seriously injure him.

This “Four Generations Under One Roof” was a hidden weapon a level stronger than the previous “Storm Pear Blossom Needle.” Both its sophistication and its shooting power were stronger.

If Ning Xuan had had this “Four Generations Under One Roof” when he faced the Mountain-Crashing Bear demon, he would only have needed to try to shoot this throwing dart into the bear’s eye, and then… he might have been able to directly seize at least thirty percent of the opponent’s power.

Two, Many Children and Grandchildren.

This was a large black box.

Ning Xuan had not heard of this from Master Zhang, but from that Young Master Liu of the Fugui Merchant Guild when they were drinking.

Young Master Liu had boasted, “My strength is as strong as many children and grandchildren.”

Ning Xuan had asked curiously, “What do you mean by as strong as many children and grandchildren?”

Only then did Liu Shirong tell him that there was a strange, evil, and lewd person in the Western Regions who had created a terrifying mechanical hidden weapon. Once that hidden weapon was used, the sky would fall and the earth would rend. Various hidden weapons would burst out one after another, covering an entire village, so that besides the person who used the hidden weapon, there would be no other living person in the village. Even hiding in a house was useless, because among these hidden weapons were armor-piercing arrows with super strong power that could directly break through walls.

Ning Xuan had asked curiously, “This is clearly cutting off one’s descendants, why is it called many children and grandchildren?”

Liu Shirong had said, “Because that person is a lewd person, so he gave it such a name, meaning that so many burst out in an instant… you know?”

Ning Xuan was speechless.

However, he had actually found this “Many Children and Grandchildren” today.

He weighed it.

Good heavens, this box probably weighed more than two hundred catties. Carrying it on his back was like carrying a pig.

Three…

Four…

Five…

Although there were still other things, such as poison, they were not worth mentioning compared to the first two.

Ning Xuan put “Many Children and Grandchildren” on his back, put “Four Generations Under One Roof” in his bosom, and then took out the poison and carefully coated the Beast-Slaying Saber with it.

Then, he took a deep breath and began to measure the area of this nightmare.

He would not be empirical.

Last time in the mountain villa, the nightmare area was only as large as the mountain villa. If he passed through it, he would return to the starting point.

This time, he would not take it for granted.

At least, he had to try.

Soon, he had explored an area the size of a mountain villa.

He continued to explore…

One li…

Two li…

Three li…

There was no end to it, and he never crossed the “boundary.”

Just as Ning Xuan wanted to explore further, he suddenly found that the sky was bright. This time, the sky brightened earlier than the last time in the mountain villa, much, much earlier.

The black moon disappeared, and the pale, scorching sun exploded with light on the horizon, as if a fireball had cast its pale light over the area.

In an instant, the dark forests and mountains became a pale white.

Ning Xuan’s whole body immediately tensed up, and the Beast-Slaying Saber in his five fingers also tightened.

He stood in an open space, vigilantly scanning his surroundings, preparing for a big battle.

He was no longer the same as he was at the beginning. He would no longer timidly hide in the rockery.

Suddenly, he felt something looking at him.

He quickly scanned his surroundings.

Nothing!

And a rumbling sound like thunder came from above his head.

“Little fellow, are you looking for me?”

Without even looking, Ning Xuan directly activated the mechanism of “Many Children and Grandchildren.” Countless arrows began to shoot upwards and towards the surroundings with “swoosh swoosh swoosh swoosh” and “thud thud thud thud” sounds.

Only then did he raise his head, and his gaze quickly followed the sound.

Ding ding ding ding ding!!

An endless sound of collision rang out and then fell back.

Above his head was a Bodhisattva with a hunched back, looking down at him.

That Bodhisattva was a full ten zhang tall!

Its whole body was bright, its Buddha head had snail-like hair like a green lotus, its face was like a full moon, with a white tuft of hair between its eyebrows, and its lips had a greedy smile, with fishy saliva dripping from the corners of its mouth…

The mechanism of “Many Children and Grandchildren” was shooting at the Bodhisattva, but it could not harm it in the slightest, like a sudden downpour that did not wet the clothes.

Only when they hit the light on the surface of the Bodhisattva’s body did they scatter and sink deep into the earth. Even hard giant rocks would be deeply pierced, which showed the strength of these hidden weapons.

Without any hesitation, Ning Xuan threw out “Four Generations Under One Roof” again.

That vicious throwing dart instantly hit the Bodhisattva’s golden body, bounced off, split into grandfather darts, bounced again, split into son darts, and then endless fine needles shot out… like jumping spiders.

The golden-bodied Bodhisattva was unmoved, looking down at him with interest, and then asked in a half-smiling voice, “What are you doing?”

Its large hand slowly descended from the sky.

Ning Xuan suddenly understood.

Manfeng Mountain was preparing for a banquet.

And he had run head-on into the host of the banquet.

Ning Xuan’s heart pounded wildly for the first time in a long time.

However, he still took a deep breath. Whether it was a mule or a horse, he would try it first.

He pulled out the poisoned Beast-Slaying Saber, looked at the large hand that was gradually occupying his vision, roared, and the Swallow’s Cry Power rose, and the saber light became violent.

Die!!

The moment he hit the Bodhisattva’s large hand, Ning Xuan felt a sharp pain all over his body, as if a mortal had run head-on into a solid pillar, and he fainted instantly.

The large hand casually picked him up with two fingers, shook him, shook off the Beast-Slaying Saber in his hand and various poisons, and slowly raised him.

The Bodhisattva opened its large mouth.

Thud.

The fingers loosened.

He fell down.

He was awakened by the intense pain.

He felt fine, sharp teeth gnawing at his body, bite by bite, small bite by small bite.

He opened his eyes, but found… he couldn’t see anything.

His eyes were in excruciating pain.

That thing had actually eaten his eyeballs first!!

“So bitter…”

“So bitter, hahahaha!”

“Hahahahahaha!!”

P.S.: I’ve been traveling with my family recently, but basically, my family goes out to play, and I stay in the hotel. I’m about to catch a train, and I won’t arrive until evening.

Today’s second update will probably be relatively late, because even if I get to the hotel, I need to recuperate, adjust my state, and then I can slowly write.

Sorry, sorry