Chapter 115: Danger at the Cave Entrance
On the precipitous cliff, two shadows appeared under the bright glow of the moon.
“Shall we start?”
Xiao Yan took a step forward to gaze at the pitch-black space beyond cliff before turning to smile and ask the Fairy Doctor who was clothed tightly in black.
Slightly nodding her head, the Fairy Doctor squatted down to pick up a few pieces of dry sticks before swiftly binding them together, forming two torches. She sprinkled some light yellow powder over them and then found a fire source to light the torches.
“Take this.” Handing over the torch to Xiao Yan, the Fairy Doctor once again fished out a long rope and waved it at Xiao Yan, smiling while saying, “As a man, you won’t let a weak girl like me be the vanguard right?”
Xiao Yan held up the torch and pulled at the rope with all his strength, after making sure that there were no problems with it. He then cast a glance towards the smiling Fairy Doctor, shook his head, and coolly replied, “Let us go down together, I can’t be at ease if I trust my back to someone I have not known for long.”
“You…… do you really have no manliness?”
Being doubted by Xiao Yan made the Fairy Doctor feel indignant. Usually, the mercenaries she met were rather outspoken and straightforward, she rarely saw someone like Xiao Yan who was cautious even towards a weak girl like her who was only a Dou Zhe.
“I only have one life and I can’t afford to gamble with it, acting like a hero in front of a beauty would put myself into danger…… *chuckles*, might as well forget it.” Xiao Yan ignored the Fairy Doctor, his tone remained as calm as water.
“You……”
“Still planning on going down? If there are any more delays, it would be morning.” Xiao Yan slanted back his head as he smiled while asking.
“Go!” Gazing at Xiao Yan’s repulsive smile, the Fairy Doctor could only grit her teeth and stamp her little feet hatefully.
With a faint smile, Xiao Yan tied the rope to a large and sturdy tree. Once more testing it with all his might before spreading his arms to gesture for the Fairy Doctor to enter his embrace, “Come here.”
“I have my own rope, I don’t need your help!” When she saw Xiao Yan’s action, the Fairy Doctor abruptly stumbled back a few steps, her charming face flushing with shades of bashfulness and anger as she exclaimed.
“Alright then. You can go solo but I’d like to remind you that no one can guarantee that there will be no poisonous snakes, scorpions or mice…… under the cliff tonight.” Xiao Yan nonchalantly smiled and said as he shrugged his shoulders.
“You bastard. You will definitely die a horrible death!”
A black shadow ferociously threw itself at Xiao Yan and the latter, extending out his palm, grabbed it with his hand. Taking a look, he discovered that it was the bundle of rope that was originally in the Fairy Doctor’s hands.
“If you dare to try any funny business, I will definitely poison you to death!”
In the wake of the Fairy Doctor’s threat, a fragrant breeze blew towards Xiao Yan. Shortly, a soft and tender body crashed into his embrace.
The soft and tender body that crashed into his embrace felt like it also crashed into the bottom of his heart, causing his heart to tremble uncontrollably.
Sighing deeply, Xiao Yan pushed down the stirring fire in his heart. Xiao Yan reached out with his arm to wrap around the slim waist he had once praised as the highest quality. With both arms tightly drawing the soft and slender waist towards himself, Xiao Yan momentarily lost his wits.
“Are you still not leaving?”
Just as Xiao Yan was enjoying that lovely softness and flexibility, the Fairy Doctor’s indignant voice suddenly flared up in his ear.
“Sorry.”
Xiao Yan laughed, however, his words contained no trace of apology. Once again tightly drawing the beauty towards himself, the tip of his foot lightly tapped off the edge of the cliff. The duo directly plunged into the pitch-black darkness that was under the cliff.
The violent gusts of wind assaulted their ears, stretching their clothes against their respective skins. Xiao Yan’s left hand held onto the Fairy Doctor while the rope bound around his right hand abruptly pulled taut causing their rapidly dropping bodies to slowly become suspended in mid air.
After a long, long sigh, Xiao Yan turned his head to look down at the Fairy Doctor who was hugging him tightly which caused him to let out a mocking smile. His gaze turned over the pitch-black surroundings, softly asking, “Can you tell where the position of the cave is?”
As she heard Xiao Yan asking about serious matters, the Fairy Doctor finally eased the tenseness that had come about from the ‘bungee jumping’. Her gaze swept all around as she muttered to herself before pointing towards one part of the darkness and softly saying, “It should be there……”
Xiao Yan gazed towards the direction the Fairy Doctor was pointing at, lightly nodding his head and reminded her in a low voice, “Hold tight.”
At these words, the Fairy Doctor somewhat hesitated, however when Xiao Yan stepped off the cliff wall with the tip of his foot and their figures once again fiercely flung away, she hurriedly grabbed onto Xiao Yan’s waist in alarm, burying her face into the his embrace
The tips of Xiao Yan’s foot continued to move along the cliff wall and with the help of the pulling force from the rope, the distance between the duo and the cave lessened.
“Throw the torch over.” Once again shortening the distance, Xiao Yan said in a low voice as he tilted his chin towards the dark spot in the distance.
“Oh.” The charming face slightly nodded in understanding as the Fairy Doctor aimed at the dark spot and flung the torch in her hand towards it.
The torch was flung against the walls of the cliff as sparks splashed in all directions. Borrowing these meager lights, Xiao Yan managed to vaguely spot the hidden cave in the distance.
“Huu….” Seeing that they had almost arrived at their destination, Xiao Yan heaved a sigh of relief. Then the hairs all over his body suddenly stood up as a warning flashed across his mind. The tip of his foot pushed heavily off the cliff walls as Xiao Yan’s figure shot outwards.
“Chi……” The faint sound of breaking through the air sounded across the night sky. Xiao Yan borrowed the light of the fire which had yet to go out to identify the thing which had made a sneak attack.
“Cliff Snake.” Xiao Yan’s complexion darkened as he shouted out this name and his facial expression suddenly turned somewhat ugly.
Cliff Snakes, as their name implied, were snake type Magic Beasts which lived within rocky cliffs and was around rank one in terms of strength. This kind of Magic Beast utilizes its long, wing-like body to soar in the sky like a falcon; furthermore since this Magic Beast has a rock attribute, it’s body is hard as rock and thus normal weapons would hardly be able to do any damage to it.
On an ordinary day, even if Xiao Yan met a Cliff Snake alone, he would be in a tangle with victory uncertain. Yet now, because he was in mid air while holding on to the Fairy Doctor, he could not possibly try to fight it. Thus laid the reason why Xiao Yan’s complexion was ugly.
“Cliff Snake? What do we do now?” Having heard Xiao Yan’s cry of alarm, the Fairy Doctor’s delicate body trembled as she hastily asked, she had also heard of information about this Magic Beast.
Xiao Yan squinted at the yellow Cliff Snake which spiralled in the air while glaring coldly at them with its triangular eyes. He muttered to himself for a moment before an idea suddenly came and he asked in a low voice, “Do you still have the powder that can cause people to lose consciousness?”
At this words, the Fairy Doctor’s jet-black eyes spun, short after she nodded before fishing a bag of powder from her bosom and handing it over to Xiao Yan, and said, “This is all that’s left, use it sparingly…… “
Xiao Yan took the bag and poured everything into his hand before gripping tightly. He stared at the Cliff Snake which was about to start attacking.
“Chi……”
With another hiss, the Cliff Snake’s narrow wings flapped. With an ominous glint in its eyes, it dived toward Xiao Yan. In its huge mouth, sharp fangs shined with a cold light.
Coldly gazing at the Cliff Snake which drew ever closer, Xiao Yan’s gripped his fist tighter and tighter.
“Quickly attack it, idiot!” In his embrace, seeing that Xiao Yan had yet to make a move, the Fairy Doctor hurriedly urged him.
Ignoring her urgings, Xiao Yan maintained his silence, yet the Dou Qi within his body had already started to flow through his arteries and veins.
Eyes on the Cliff Snake which was already almost within ten meters of them, the Fairy Doctor clawed at Xiao Yan’s back in anger, “Bastard, I’ll be killed because of you!”
Just as the Cliff Snake was about ten meters from the duo, Xiao Yan finally made his move. His tightly closed fist suddenly opened and within his palm a violent Qi burst out, carrying the white powder. Like a white arrow, it smashed towards the Cliff Snake.
The white powder crashed against the Cliff Snake, suddenly exploding into a cloud of powder, engulfing the Cliff Snake within.
“Thud!”
A yellow figure struggled in the white powder for a moment before rigidly falling from the sky, heavily smashing into the deep valley.
Gazing at the Cliff Snake as it disappeared into the darkness, Xiao Yan finally sighed in relief. At this height, even if it’s body were as hard as rock, it would also turn to mincemeat right?
Xiao Yan lifted his head to take a look at the white powder floating in mid air. Once again waving his palm, a violent Qi suddenly pushed forward, immediately sweeping through the air.
“I can’t believe that you have other skills besides knowing how to bully women.” Although Xiao Yan somewhat cheated in that fight, his calmness even in the middle of that dangerous situation could be clearly seen. Even the Fairy Doctor started to feel a new level of respect for him.
Unenthusiastically smiling, Xiao Yan finally carried the Fairy Doctor in his arms while slowly descending to a spot just outside of the cave. As he gazed upon the cave entrance, he found it densely covered with rubble and the odd bits of wood. His brows wrinkled together and soon after he shook his head helplessly, it looked like there was another round of bitter work in store for him.
Xiao Yan slowly opened his palm, taking in a deep breath, he shouted out in his mind: “Fire Palm!”
As the shout resounded in his mind, a huge pushing force gushed forth from the center of his palm. Like a gale sweeping through fallen leaves, it blew the piles of broken rock and timber into the pitch-black space between the mountains.
Having completed the task, beads of cold sweat appeared on Xiao Yan’s forehead while his breathing also became somewhat hurried. Under the suppression of the pitch-black broadsword on his back, the amount of Dou Qi he could use was not even 60-70% of the Qi Vortex.
After panting slightly for a while, Xiao Yan cast his sight towards the now cleared cave entrance.
Now that the wood and rock wreckage was gone, borrowing the faint moonlight, Xiao Yan and the Fairy Doctor were finally able to catch sight of the cave which had been left behind by some predecessor.
The cave entrance was not very wide, at most it could only fit about two or three people at once. The cave was dark but one could notice a faint light from within, giving it a look of mysteriousness.
Around the entrance of the cave, there were many blade marks but perhaps because of the long passage of time, these blade marks were extremely faint. If it were not for Xiao Yan’s keen eyesight, perhaps he would never be able to find them.
“We’re finally here……”
Laughing with excitement, Xiao Yan hugged the Fairy Doctor. With one last push off the cliff wall, the two figures flew across the air before finally landing steadily at the entrance of the cave.
After landing, the Fairy Doctor quickly separated herself from Xiao Yan’s embrace before sizing up the cave entrance with a look of happiness on her charming face.
“Let’s move and find out what kind of things we might obtain, I hope that they will not disappoint me.”
Xiao Yan lightly smiled at the Fairy Doctor and fishing out a torch, he led the way into the pitch-black cave.
Gazing at the pitch-black interior of the cave, the Fairy Doctor was somewhat hesitant. A moment later she stamped her feet and gritted her teeth before catching up.