At this moment, Liu Bei and Guan Yu were resting beside a wind-sheltered ice cave. The bonfire had long been extinguished by the wind and snow, and the two were dozing off wrapped in cotton robes. Suddenly, the ground trembled violently, snow slid down rustlingly, and the ice blocks at the edge of the ice cave cracked one after another, making a "crackle crackle" sound.
"No good! Is it an earthquake?" Liu Bei was suddenly awakened, stumbled to his feet, and grabbed the warhorse beside him.
Guan Yu also became alert instantly, holding the Green Dragon Crescent Blade in his hand, and stared solemnly at the south: "It's not an earthquake. There's a huge exotic beast running!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the southern sky was suddenly swept by a violent wind and snow! At first, it was just sporadic snow grains, but in the blink of an eye, they turned into goose-feather snow. Then the wind howled, and the sky full of wind and snow, like a black tide, darkened the sky and covered the sun, and the visibility was instantly less than three feet. In the wind and snow, a huge black shadow could be faintly seen moving rapidly. Wherever the black shadow passed, trees were uprooted, ice blocks were blown flying all over the sky, and the snow on the ground was rolled up several zhang high, forming a moving snow wall.
The blizzard became more and more violent. The strong wind, carrying ice grains and snow blocks, hit people hard. The world was in chaos, with only the roaring sound of the wind and snow, as if the entire world was about to be swallowed by this violent blizzard.
"Tha... that's what?" Liu Bei's face turned pale, and his voice was almost drowned in the strong wind.
As the black shadow approached, the three finally saw clearly that the huge black shadow was actually a giant centipede, and the one running desperately in front of the centipede was exactly Zhang Fei!
"Third Brother!" Liu Bei and Guan Yu exclaimed at the same time. Liu Bei was so scared that he sat down on the snow, his legs weak—he never expected that Zhang Fei would provoke such a terrifying exotic beast. Seeing this, Guan Yu's eyes flashed a trace of determination, and he shouted loudly: "Elder Brother, don't panic! I'll go save Third Brother!" After speaking, he held the Green Dragon Crescent Blade in his hand, leaped into the air, and rushed towards the Obsidian Centipede Monster and the violent wind and snow.
Seeing someone blocking its way, the Obsidian Centipede Monster became even more furious. The poisonous mist sprayed from its mouth became more intense. Its segmented legs suddenly kicked the ground, and its huge body jumped into the air, pouncing at Guan Yu. Six segmented legs, carrying the sound of tearing the air, like six steel knives, directly attacked Guan Yu's vital points.
Guan Yu was fearless. His phoenix eyes narrowed, and the internal energy in his body and the dragon energy in the blade erupted instantly. The Green Dragon Crescent Blade glowed with a dazzling blue-gold light, and the green dragon pattern on the blade seemed to come alive, letting out a shocking dragon roar. He swung his blade horizontally, and the blue-gold blade energy, wrapped in dragon energy, slashed at the segmented legs of the Obsidian Centipede Monster like a silk ribbon.
With a loud "clang", the blade energy collided with the segmented legs, and sparks splashed everywhere in the wind and snow. The segmented legs of the Obsidian Centipede Monster were extremely hard. The blade energy failed to cut them off, leaving only a shallow white mark. Guan Yu was shaken back repeatedly, his qi and blood surging, and he was secretly shocked: the shell of this exotic beast is actually so hard!
Taking the opportunity, Zhang Fei ran to Liu Bei's side, helped the weak Liu Bei up, and gasped for breath: "Elder Brother, this monster is too powerful! I didn't mean to provoke it!"
Liu Bei calmed down, forced himself to be steady and said: "Third Brother, now that things have come to this, there's no need to say more! Quickly join forces with Second Brother to kill this monster!"
Zhang Fei nodded, gripped the Zhangba Divine Spear tightly, and the fear in his eyes was replaced by anger. He shouted loudly, leaped into the air, and the spear in his hand, carrying majestic Suanni aura, stabbed straight at the scarlet compound eyes of the Obsidian Centipede Monster—the most vulnerable part of the exotic beast.
Sensing the danger, the huge head of the Obsidian Centipede Monster suddenly turned sideways. The spear flew past the compound eyes and stabbed fiercely at its carapace. With a loud "clang", sparks splashed, the spear was bounced off several feet, leaving only a shallow dent on the carapace.
"Evil beast! Take this!" Seeing this, Guan Yu swung his blade again. This time, he aimed at the gap where the Obsidian Centipede Monster's segmented legs connected to its body—where the carapace was relatively weak. The blue-gold blade energy streaked across like lightning, and with a "puchi" sound, it finally cut off one of the Obsidian Centipede Monster's segmented legs.
"Hiss——" The Obsidian Centipede Monster let out a shrill hiss. Black blood spurted from the wound, which was extremely stinky and permeated in the wind and snow. It was completely enraged, and unfolded its wind control technique. The blizzard around it suddenly became more violent! The strong wind howled, rolling up countless ice blocks and broken wood, which smashed at the three like cannonballs. The ice surface on the ground cracked on a large scale, black water surged, and the entire Penli Marsh trembled violently.
Liu Bei quickly dodged, and at the same time shouted loudly: "Second Brother, Third Brother, this monster is proficient in wind control technique. We can't fight it head-on; we need to find its flaws!"
Guan Yu waved the Green Dragon Crescent Blade, and the blue-gold blade energy formed a semicircular barrier, blocking the incoming ice blocks and broken wood one by one. Zhang Fei, on the other hand, held the Zhangba Divine Spear and kept moving around in the wind and snow, looking for an opportunity to attack. The blizzard was getting more and more fierce, and the three's vision was completely blocked. They could only judge the position of the exotic beast by hearing and breath, and every attack consumed a lot of mental energy.
The Obsidian Centipede Monster's attacks became more and more fierce. Its huge body hovered in the wind and snow, sometimes diving down to pierce with its segmented legs, sometimes spraying poisonous mist to cover, and sometimes sweeping with its long tail. Although Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were assisted by divine weapons, they gradually felt strenuous. Every time Guan Yu waved the Green Dragon Crescent Blade, he had to resist the resistance of the strong wind, and the blue-gold light gradually dimmed; although Zhang Fei's Zhangba Divine Spear was fierce, he still couldn't break through the Obsidian Centipede Monster's carapace, and could only occasionally cause minor injuries in the gaps.
"Second Brother, this monster's shell is too hard! I can't break it!" Zhang Fei shouted out of breath. His strong outfit had been blackened by the poisonous mist, and his face was covered with snow water and sweat.
"Third Brother, it just woke up from hibernation and must be weak. Hold on!" Guan Yu said in a deep voice, and swung his blade again, the blade energy directly attacking the soft armor where the Obsidian Centipede Monster's head connected to its body.
As Guan Yu said, the Obsidian Centipede Monster had not eaten for several months during hibernation and was already weak. The previous fierce battle had exhausted a lot of energy, and its movements gradually became slow. Seeing that it couldn't win for a while, it wanted to end the battle quickly. It suddenly opened its mouth wide and sprayed a black demon wind. In the demon wind, there were countless sharp wind blades, like dense arrow rain, directly attacking the three.
"No good!" Guan Yu was shocked, and quickly protected Liu Bei behind him. He joined forces with Zhang Fei, waving their sword and spear together to form a solid defensive barrier. The wind blades hit the barrier, making a dense "ding ding dang dang" sound, and sparks kept flashing in the wind and snow.
At this critical juncture, a trace of determination flashed in Zhang Fei's eyes. He shouted loudly, pouring all his internal energy and Suanni aura into the Zhangba Divine Spear. The orange ethereal light of the spear shaft surged, turning into a huge Suanni phantom, roaring out of the wind and snow, and pouncing straight at the Obsidian Centipede Monster.
Seeing this, Guan Yu also quickly urged his last internal energy. The blue-gold light of the Green Dragon Crescent Blade reached its peak. A green dragon phantom jumped out of the blade, standing side by side with the Suanni phantom, and together they crashed into the Obsidian Centipede Monster's head.
"Boom!" With a earth-shaking loud noise, the two great divine beast phantoms hit the Obsidian Centipede Monster's head hard. The Obsidian Centipede Monster's carapace was finally cracked, and black blood gushed out, splashing all over the snow. It let out a shrill hiss, its huge body rolled several times on the snow, and could no longer maintain the wind control technique, falling heavily on the ice surface.
Taking the opportunity, the three launched a fierce attack. Guan Yu's Green Dragon Crescent Blade cut off several of the Obsidian Centipede Monster's segmented legs in succession, while Zhang Fei's Zhangba Divine Spear stabbed fiercely into the crack in its head. The tip of the spear stirred, and black blood gushed out. The Obsidian Centipede Monster was on the verge of death, and its scarlet compound eyes gradually lost their luster. It struggled to get up, but could no longer move.
Finally, it let out an unwilling hiss, twisted its huge body, and fled to the north.
The blizzard gradually subsided. The three sat down on the snow, gasping for breath, sweating profusely, their clothes soaked, and their faces and bodies covered with black poisonous blood and snow. The previous fierce battle had almost exhausted all their physical strength.
"Fina... finally got rid of it..." Zhang Fei lay on the snow, saying weakly, his eyes full of gratitude for surviving the disaster.
Guan Yu nodded, wiped the blood off the Green Dragon Crescent Blade, and said in a deep voice: "This exotic beast is too powerful. If it weren't for being weak just after waking up from hibernation, we would probably not be able to win today."
Liu Bei also recovered, looked at the huge back of the Obsidian Centipede Monster, and felt lingering fear in his heart: "Thanks to Second Brother and Third Brother for fighting desperately to protect me, otherwise I would have died today. This trip to Penli Marsh is really a narrow escape from death."
Zhang Fei said regretfully: "It's just that the bastard escaped, which makes it hard for me to vent my anger!"
Guan Yu smiled and said: "Third Brother, don't be wronged. The centipede's hard shells scattered on the ground—if we collect them and make a few sets of excellent armor when we go back, wouldn't that be great? Hahaha~"
After hearing this, Zhang Fei laughed instead: "Hahaha, exactly! Let me collect them. When we go back, the three of us brothers will each have one set."
At this moment, a figure suddenly appeared in the wind and snow. The figure was wearing a moon-white Taoist robe, holding a fly-whisk, and walked slowly in the remaining wind and snow, his steps light as if walking on snow without leaving a trace.
Seeing this, the three became alert instantly and quickly gripped their weapons. Guan Yu struggled to stand up, and shouted solemnly: "Who is coming?"
The figure gradually approached, revealing a lean face with white beard and hair, but a ruddy complexion and calm eyes. It was Shi Guangyuan, a famous Taoist scholar and a friend of Zhuge Liang.
"You three virtuous brothers don't need to panic. I am Shi Guangyuan, sent by Kongming to welcome you." Shi Guangyuan smiled slightly, and waved his fly-whisk gently. The remaining wind and snow around him gradually subsided.
Seeing this, Zhang Fei immediately shouted dissatisfiedly: "Mr. Shi! Just now we fought desperately with that monster, but you watched the show from the sidelines. Why didn't you help earlier?"
Shi Guangyuan laughed loudly: "General Zhang, calm down. If you hadn't been greedy for prey and insisted on hunting wild boars, how could you have woken up this Obsidian Centipede Monster? This is a test set by Mr. Kongming for the three of you, intended to temper your will. Unexpectedly, the three of you were able to kill this monster with your own strength, which is really admirable."
Hearing this, the three suddenly realized. It turned out that Mr. Kongming had already calculated that they would pass through Penli Marsh and knew that the Obsidian Centipede Monster was hibernating here. All this was within Mr. Kongming's calculation. Thinking of this, admiration for Zhuge Liang arose in the three's hearts.
"Mr. Kongming is indeed resourceful and foresighted!" Liu Bei cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, Mr. Shi, for coming to guide us. Otherwise, we would probably really get lost in this wind and snow."
Shi Guangyuan waved his hand: "Mr. Xuande, you don't need to be polite. Mr. Kongming has long been in Woyun Thatched Cottage, waiting for your arrival. You can follow me there quickly."
After speaking, Shi Guangyuan turned around and walked towards the depths of the marsh through the snow. He seemed to know the terrain here like the back of his hand, and his steps were brisk.
Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei quickly followed. The remaining wind and snow gradually dissipated. The afterglow of the setting sun penetrated the clouds, sprinkled on the ice marsh, and reflected a dazzling light.
The road ahead was still covered with thin snow, but the three were full of hope in their hearts. They knew that this time, they would finally meet the hermit Mr. Wolong, and the great cause of restoring the Han Dynasty was about to usher in a new historical opportunity.