Bai Yunsheng clashed with Chu Xiu. Their collision created a shockwave that sent the corpses flying a few meters.
The two men exchanged blows. Chu Xiu's attacks were mostly successful, while he dodged Bai Yunsheng's.
This cat-and-mouse game was getting on the dark-haired man's nerves, and while he was mentally cursing his opponent, he was also plotting his escape.
Chu Xiu, who seemed to be lazily dodging Bai Yunsheng's attacks, was also landing successful counterattacks. These were mostly repeated attacks on his existing wounds.
"Damn, you bastard! You keep hitting the same spot! I'll catch you and…" — Before he could finish his thoughts, a single kick from the green-haired man sent him flying.
Bai Yunsheng's fiery fists also died out.
Bai Yunsheng crashed back into the wall and fell to the ground with a thud.
Winning in pain, he coughed from the dust and clutched his still-bleeding wound.
— Tsk, you fucker! — he cursed through his teeth and looked at Chu Xiu.
— Tsk-tsk, Master Bai! Cursing is bad~
Chu Xiu said with a haughty smile.
Bai Yunsheng struggled to his feet and charged again. Although he was physically stronger, the green-haired boy was more agile and successfully dodged.
This was getting on Bai Yunsheng's nerves.
"Damn, this little frog is so annoying! I need to limit the space I have to dodge!" — flashed through Bai Yunsheng's mind as Chu Xiu dodged again.
Bai Yunsheng infused his fists with Qi and began to strike.
This time, thanks to his Qi energy, his attacks were faster and more powerful. Chu Xiu found it harder to dodge.
Bai Yunsheng's fiery fists struck swiftly, piercing the walls they touched.
At one point, a blow landed squarely on Chu Xiu's torso, sending him flying backwards.
"Cough!" Chu Xiu spat out blood. He even felt several of his organs being damaged.
Bai Yunsheng thought for a moment and looked at the fist he'd used to strike him.
— Humm... I thought I got him... — he said out loud, looking at the green-haired man.
Chu Xiu struggled to his feet, clutching his stomach and gritting his teeth in pain.
— It's just that my cultivation level is higher than yours, Master Bai. That's why I was able to survive that attack... Each stage increases physical stats several times over and increases Qi energy... — he replied with difficulty.
Bai Yunsheng raised an eyebrow. What do you mean, cultivation can improve physical stats?
— What do you mean? Isn't it just increased longevity? — he asked, approaching Chu Xiu.
Chu Xiu didn't understand the question and looked at Bai Yunsheng as if he were crazy.
— It's a well-known fact! Even children know that...
Bai Yunsheng paused for a moment and then suddenly lunged at him, preparing for another attack.
This time, he used Qi energy, coloring his fists with colorless flames and accelerating his attack.
Chu Xiu attempted to block the attack, but at the last moment, Bai Yunsheng switched his Qi energy to Yang energy, coloring his flames crimson and intensifying his attack, striking Chu Xiu's block.
The blow was powerful enough that Chu Xiu felt like his bones had been broken.
Bai Yunsheng began to attack again, but his flames suddenly vanished.
"Huh?" — He looked at his hands in surprise, and that momentary hesitation gave Chu Xiu the opportunity to escape.
Staggering, the green-haired boy ran as fast as he could.
Bai Yunsheng looked after him in frustration and sighed.
"Here comes that cliché, where the character hesitates for just a moment and the bastard immediately runs away!"
Without thinking, he ran after him.
On the way, he tried using his fire fists several times, but neither his Qi nor Yang energy worked.
"Oh, come on, did I really use up all my energy that quickly?!" — he thought.
Chu Xiu, noticing that Bai Yunsheng couldn't use his technique, sped up. Right now, his goal was to escape. He didn't want to take any risks.
Reaching a dead end, he pressed the button, opening a secret passage and ran through it. The passage immediately closed behind him.
"Fuck, the bastard escaped!" — Bai Yunsheng thought, running toward the passage he'd come through.
— Like in all of canon events, this underground 'base' is about to collapse!
And just as he spoke these words out loud, the ground began to tremble and the walls began to crumble.
— Shit, who made me say that?! — he sighed dejectedly and sped up, as the ceiling behind him began to crumble and fall to the ground.
***
On the surface, Xiao Ran and Yue Yang searched for Bai Yunsheng, the little fox worried about her master.
Xiao Ran caught a familiar scent, and together with Yue Yang, they arrived at a lonely house on the outskirts of the village, on the way to the Yanshi Sect.
— Hmm? That's Chu Xiu's house... — Yue Yang said, puzzled.
Xiao Ran caught a whiff of a familiar scent and ran toward the house.
— Xiao Ran, wait! — Yue Yang didn't have time to stop her when the ground suddenly began shaking.
She grabbed the child and jumped back just as the house they were heading toward collapsed. A huge hole appeared where they had been standing.
— What the...? — Yue Yang asked, stunned, as Xiao Ran pointed toward the house.
— Master! — Xiao Ran shouted.
Yue Yang looked in the direction the child was pointing and saw a figure emerge from the smoke.
She immediately ran toward the figure, holding the child.
As they approached the figure, they recognized him and were shocked.
Before them stood Bai Yunsheng, covered in wounds, dirty, and breathing heavily.
Yue Yang immediately took his hand and helped him steady himself, while Xiao Ran ran to his side and looked at him with tears in her eyes.
— Master! Master! Master!
Bai Yunsheng smiled with difficulty and stroked her head.
— I'm fine, Xiao Ran... I'm just a little tired...
— A little?! You're barely alive!!! What were you doing there?! — Yue Yang asked loudly and began searching for healing pills in her sinuses.
Having found the necessary medicine, she placed it in Bai Yunsheng's mouth. He swallowed, feeling relief as the wound on his side began to heal.
Yue Yang waited for the wounds to begin to heal and then asked quietly.
— What the hell happened here? And what were you doing in Chu Xiu's house anyway?
After the large wound on his side healed, Bai Yunsheng took a deep breath and began his story.
— Chu Xiu is behind all of this... He is the cause of this illness!
He began explaining everything from the very beginning. How he met Chu Xiu, how he entered his house and found the secret room with the Yanshi Sect people, and his entire plan.
With every word, Yue Yang's eyebrows rose, and her lips trembled...
— N-no way... Chu Xiu can't... — She couldn't believe it all.
In her memory, Chu Xiu was a lonely and weak boy, hated by everyone.
Despite the hatred, he grew up a kind person and never harmed anyone.
And considering he grew up with her, she couldn't believe it at all.
After Bai Yunsheng finished his story, Chu Xiu himself emerged from a rock near a tree.
"Oh! Here comes the protagonist!" — Bai Yunsheng snorted in his mind and tried to use his fire fist again, but still couldn't.
"Fuck..." — he cursed.
Chu Xiu was coughing and breathing heavily. His condition was no better than Bai Yunsheng's, who had escaped the secret chamber.
His arms were in terrible condition. His bones were visible from the wounds, shattered. His body and cheek were covered in bruises from Bai Yunsheng and the collapsed secret chamber. His clothes were torn and disheveled, and his energy was nearly drained.
"Strange, I didn't think I drained him of his qi! Did he really use it to collapse that place and survive?"
"In other words, he won't be able to fight back now!" — Bai Yunsheng's mind raced with hundreds of ways he planned to beat Chu Xiu, but Yue Yang beat him to it.
She stood before Chu Xiu and whispered in a trembling voice,
— Chu Xiu... Could it be that you... — She couldn't finish her sentence. She couldn't. Her expression was a mixture of shock and disbelief.
Chu Xiu himself chuckled. Out of nowhere, he took a healing pill and swallowed it.
— I believe Master Bai has already told you everything... — he chuckled.
— What a shame... And I wanted you to see the sect burn to the ground!
The faint smile on his face grated on Bai Yunsheng's nerves. Xiao Ran pressed herself against him, while Yue Yang continued to stare at him.
— I have nothing to say...
Yue Yang whispered, gritting her teeth. Everything she believed in had been destroyed, and more than half of her sect's disciples had suffered because of this guy.
Bai Yunsheng watched this, only thinking to himself.
"Hmm... Maybe I should use power of friendship and convince him to join our team?"
Without warning, Bai Yunsheng drew Yue Yang's sword from its sheath and chopped off Chu Xiu's head.
"Fuck power of friendship!" — he exclaimed in his mind.
Yue Yang froze. Her eyes widened as her friend's head rolled across the ground. It all happened so quickly that she didn't have time to react.
After a moment of confusion, Yue Yang let out a loud scream and ran toward Chu Xiu.
— No! No! No! No!
She screamed, disbelieving what was happening, clutching his head to her. "Why? Why did you do this?!"
Bai Yongsheng said nothing. He simply wiped his sword indifferently and tossed it at her feet. He picked up Xiao Ran and began to walk away.
Yue Yang wanted to stop him. She wanted to scream, to demand an explanation for why he had done this. In an instant, she had lost her sword, and in the next, her friend's head was rolling across the ground.
She sobbed. Tears streamed down her cheeks, but Bai Yongsheng said nothing. Xiao Ran, who had witnessed cruelty many times before, said nothing, but she felt sorry for Yue Yang's little sister.
While the young girl mourned her friend, Bai Yongsheng, carrying the fox girl, walked past Master Bo.
— You won't say anything? — he quietly asked the old man.
Master Bo only sighed.
— What should I say? He deserved it... However, you could have at least given him the chance to say his last words...
Bai Yunsheng chuckled.
— Perhaps I should have. But I didn't want to give him the chance to pull something! Like a secret suicide technique where, after death, a person explodes and takes the enemy with them!
Master Bo rubbed his beard and looked silently at his granddaughter.
— Perhaps you're right...
Bai Yunsheng hugged Xiao Ran tighter and continued walking.
— I destroyed the source of the disease that was consuming the Yanshi Sect! And gave your granddaughter the motivation to become stronger. What an incredible person I am! — He chuckled out loud. Master Bo merely smiled faintly and closed his eyes.
Thus ended the story of the Yanshi Sect. Young Master Bai, arriving at a mid-ranking sect, learned of a mysterious illness that had afflicted the sect's disciples. He discovered the cause of the illness, fought the source, and defeated it. With a deep sense of victory, he continued on his way. No one saw him off. No one thanked him for saving him. He merely held the fox girl tighter in his arms and headed off into the sunset...
Meanwhile,
A young man with half-black and half-white hair was undergoing rigorous training.
His master forced him to run 10 circles around the sect, swing his sword 10,000 times a day, and fend off her random attacks.
Zhou Yulong didn't complain about the difficulty of the training and said nothing. On the contrary, he enthusiastically carried out what was asked of him.
The other disciples from the White Jade Sect's outer courtyard looked at him in amazement.
— Hey, is this really the same Zhou Yulong who always avoided training and chased after Sister Yuhua?
— It seems someone hit him hard on the head during the martial arts tournament, which knocked him out cold!
— Hey, Brother Yulong! Don't think that just a little training will make Senior Sister pay attention to you!
The White Jade Sect's outer disciples laughed at their fellow disciple and whispered about him, but Zhou Yulong himself was so focused on his training that he didn't hear them at all.
"Damn! Even though I regressed, I couldn't prevent the disaster, and many people still died in the end!" — He gritted his teeth.
He remembered the screams of the people. He remembered the bloodshed. And he remembered the city of Wujiang descending into chaos. Everything was just like in his past life.
However, despite the knowledge from the future, he couldn't change anything. Or rather, he didn't do so and let everything unfold.
As a result, the event from his past life repeated itself. However, this time, the main culprit, Yan Pantu, also came under attack.
During the battle, someone used a powerful destructive technique and destroyed him with a single attack.
"And again, some events are unlike those in my past life..."
While he was lost in thought, he didn't notice a figure approaching him.
Recovering from his thoughts, he looked at the figure and was surprised.
— You've returned, foolish disciple... — the source of the voice said quietly and stood before the boy...
To be continued...