Chapter Ninety-Six: Two Lines of Bloody Tears

“I’m still standing,” Zhou Yi said, and then he toppled backward.

Before he could hit the ground, Baozi screamed and lunged forward to catch him in his arms.

“Brother Yi. Brother Yi.” Baozi stared with wide eyes at Zhou Yi, who lay cradled against his chest. His face had gone utterly blank.

“None of you are leaving today. You all owe my Brother Yi with your lives. I’m going to kill you all!” Baozi roared, drawing his single mace and charging straight at Minagawa Yuji, who was lying on the ground.

“You can’t kill him.”

With one hand, Minagawa Jingshita seized Baozi’s mace. Baozi struggled several times, but he could not break free.

With a savage cry, Baozi opened his mouth and bit down on Minagawa Jingshita. Minagawa Jingshita had never imagined Baozi would actually bite. Caught completely off guard, he was struck in the ear.

Minagawa Jingshita let out a cry of pain and kicked Baozi in the abdomen. Baozi flew backward, the severed half of Minagawa Jingshita’s ear clenched between his teeth.

Baozi bared his teeth and spat the ear out, wearing a bloodthirsty smile so ghastly it made the skin crawl and sent a chill down the spine.

He was about to charge at Minagawa Jingshita again when Yuan Tingyu rushed up and stopped him.

“True Man Zhou isn’t dead. He isn’t dead.”

Baozi had already nearly gone mad and could not hear a word Yuan Tingyu said. He slipped around him and once more charged at Minagawa Yuji.

“That’s enough. Let this end here,” Minagawa Jingshita said. Then he turned, picked up Minagawa Yuji, and walked out of Mount Mao.

How could Baozi let them leave so easily? He roared and charged again.

The unknown ninja saw him coming and immediately drew his katana to block him, but Baozi did not care in the slightest. He hurled himself straight into the blade.

He raised the single mace in his hand and smashed it down on the ninja’s head.

Only when that mace, heavy as a thousand jin, crashed onto the crown of the skull did the ninja finally realize that this man had gone completely mad and no longer feared death.

But what use was realization now? The blow split the skull wide open. He could not survive.

The people of Mount Mao knew Zhou Yi’s injuries were severe and wanted to carry him back inside for treatment, but Baozi saw them and shouted, “Don’t touch him!”

He rushed back to Zhou Yi’s side, gripping the mace and glaring warily at everyone around him.

“Don’t touch him. Don’t touch him.”

His voice was hoarse and low, like a beast growling under its breath. Two lines of bloody tears streamed from his eyes.

Mu Chen tried to approach him, saying, “He needs treatment now. He needs to be saved.”

Baozi instinctively stepped back two paces, staring at Mu Chen with suspicion.

“Don’t come near me. No one touches him. Get lost. All of you, get lost!”

By the end, his voice had turned heart-rending.

At some point, Xunfeng had already come to Zhou Yi’s side. Glancing at Zhou Yi, it closed its eyes, lay down close beside him, and pressed its mouth near Zhou Yi’s ear, as if softly calling to him.

Baozi looked back at Zhou Yi, whose seven orifices were bleeding, and screamed again, “Brother Yi, get up! Dammit, get up, you brat! Stand up on your own!”

Seeing Baozi distracted, Yuan Tingyu flicked his golden needle from his sleeve with lightning speed. The needle struck the Great Vertebra point at the back of Baozi’s neck.

Baozi took Yuan Tingyu’s strike and his eyes rolled back. He collapsed straight to the ground and lost consciousness.

When the people of Mount Mao saw Baozi had fainted, they wanted to work together to carry both Zhou Yi and Baozi back inside. But the moment Xunfeng saw anyone trying to touch Zhou Yi, it sprang up, baring its teeth at the crowd. If anyone dared lay a hand on Zhou Yi now, it would fight to the death.

Xunfeng had met Mu Chen before and was quite familiar with him. Mu Chen stepped forward carefully, intending to carry Zhou Yi on his back. Seeing that it was Mu Chen, Xunfeng let out a low whimper.

“I’m going to save him. I have to save him,” Mu Chen said, turning to Xunfeng with pleading eyes.

Xunfeng seemed to understand and stepped back two paces to make way. Though it moved aside, it remained on guard.

When a life is at stake, there is no time to waste. No one dared delay any longer, and they quickly worked together to carry Zhou Yi back into the house.

By then, Minagawa Jingshita’s mind was filled with Minagawa Yuji. He was the pride of the Minagawa family, and more than that, he was his own younger brother.

The unknown ninja had been a master beyond the tribulation. A man of such caliber had died beneath Baozi’s hands, but Minagawa Jingshita did not care in the least. What mattered to him now was the man in his arms.

The Japanese ninjas had left five dead behind them. Thus ended one calamity for Mount Mao.

It seemed the matter would end there, but no one knew the true conspiracy had yet to surface.

Zhou Yi had exhausted all his spiritual energy. His liver, heart, spleen, lungs, and kidneys had all been severely damaged, and his blood had congealed into blockage. By now, no blood was even flowing from his mouth or nose.

He was no different from a dead man, except that his soul had not yet left his body. He was merely a false death.

Because Baozi had delayed things, Zhou Yi’s entire body had already turned a deep violet, the result of blood and qi stagnating. They could not afford to wait any longer. If they delayed further, the false death would become a true one.

Yuan Tingyu, besides being skilled in formations and talismans, also had considerable knowledge of medicine. He hurriedly removed the pouch from his sleeve and spread it flat on the table. Pinching a golden needle between his thumb and forefinger, he began to prick Zhou Yi.

The golden needles numbered thirty-two in all, corresponding to the thirty-two Celestial Stars. Once all thirty-two were in place, a thread of spiritual energy arose within Zhou Yi’s emptied meridians. That trace of energy instinctively protected its master, shielding Zhou Yi’s mind ahead of everything else.

Zhou Yi’s fingers twitched slightly, a sign that he was about to awaken. But he had no spiritual energy left at all. Even if he woke now, he would be no different from an ordinary man and would no longer be able to cultivate.

The thirty-two golden needles produced only the faintest result. Yuan Tingyu’s brows furrowed deeply. He turned and took another needle case from the wooden cabinet. When he opened it, there were already seventy-two silver needles inside.

The human body has fifty-two single points, three hundred paired points, and fifty extraordinary points outside the regular meridians. The most critical acupoints correspond to the number of the Celestial Stars and Earthly Fiends, and the points Yuan Tingyu was needling were those one hundred and eight vital locations.

Among them, thirty-six are life-and-death points. If struck, death is inevitable. Yuan Tingyu was needling these fatal points. With even the slightest mistake, not only would Zhou Yi not be saved, he would be sent to the grave in an instant.

In the blazing summer heat, Yuan Tingyu was already drenched in cold sweat. He had inserted one hundred and seven needles. Only the final one remained, and that was also the most crucial.

Yuan Tingyu turned his head and looked at Xunfeng, crouched in the corner. At that moment, Xunfeng was also looking back at him.

The scene of Baozi and Xunfeng guarding Zhou Yi kept replaying in Yuan Tingyu’s mind.

Needle poised between thumb and forefinger, Yuan Tingyu hesitated for a long time, unable to bring himself to strike. If this needle went in too shallowly, it would have no effect. If it went in too deeply, Zhou Yi would die.

Beads of sweat rolled down his cheeks. Cultivators normally regulate their body heat with their spiritual energy, and Yuan Tingyu had long since stopped sweating. Yet at this critical moment, even he could not restrain the sweat sliding down his face.

He turned away, picked up a towel, and wiped his brow. Then he closed his eyes to steady his mind. When he opened them again, they were full of resolve. He pinched the silver needle between thumb and forefinger and inserted it into the Hundred Meetings point, slowly twisting it as the needle sank little by little into the crown of Zhou Yi’s head.

The instant the needle entered, Zhou Yi’s eyes flew open. Spiritual energy surged violently within him, and the golden and silver needles embedded across his body were all forced flying out.

Then a piercing cry tore through the air as he burst straight through the roof and shot into the sky.

Yuan Tingyu had never seen anything like it. He hurried after Zhou Yi. When he reached the martial arena and saw that Minagawa Yuji and Minagawa Jingshita were nowhere to be found, Zhou Yi’s eyes shut again, and he collapsed once more into unconsciousness.

These two chapters were exhausting to write, but at least they are finally finished. Flowers, please... Fellow readers, if you enjoy the story, please click to add it to your bookshelf so you can know the moment it is updated.