"Don't die~"
Ren Yuanhao, who should have lost all hearing, suddenly heard a voice that was both earnest and as soft as heavenly music.
"Don't die, little brother."
Ren Yuanhao felt his face being cupped by a pair of soft, trembling hands. He slowly focused, his pupils contracting, and suddenly everything before him became clear.
That fairy was actually Ying Caiwei!
"Caiwei sister?"
He naturally didn't dare to speak, and Ying Caiwei didn't speak either. Her pretty face was flushed red. Just as Ren Yuanhao's senses were slightly recovering, the surging pool water suddenly churned up a white wave, as if something had split the water!
While still surprised, two emerald lights shot forward. The waves parted, and bubbles surged upwards like boiling water. As they drew closer, both their faces suddenly changed!
"Holy cow, such a big snake!"
"DiDi, detected host's adrenaline soaring, heart rate unstable, recommend stepping forward to increase positive review probability!"
"Damn, such a huge serpent, and I'm unarmed, how can I confront it head-on!"
"Who says you're unarmed? You're really lucky, kid. Take a good look at what's sneaking into the rock body to your lower right!"
Before the system's voice faded, Ren Yuanhao held his breath. Disregarding the poison of the black蛊噬心, his internal energy surged out, and he pulled Ying Caiwei towards where the cold light shone.
Using the Dragon Ascending to the Clouds Hand in the water, Ren Yuanhao barely managed to pull Ying Caiwei away from the python's first wave of attack. The python's speed in turning back was also faster than expected. The icy pool water suddenly stirred into a vortex, and the current seemed to magnetically pull towards the two.
Their figures stalled. At this moment, Ren Yuanhao had already glimpsed the long sword stuck into the rock body. A green light flickered. Although some distance away, he could still feel its sharpness from its cold blade. The hilt was wrapped in bandages, dancing up and down in the current, but his body could no longer advance another step!
Ren Yuanhao ungratefully thought of Captain Luffy, who possessed the Gomu Gomu no Mi, the man who aspired to be the Pirate King!
"Damn, can't you just give me a Luffy buff?" Ren Yuanhao impulsively communicated with the system in his skull.
"DiDi, item not found, please verify before-"
Ren Yuanhao's heart sank, and his body was uncontrollably pulled back by the current. Just then, a fishy stench surged from behind them. Ren Yuanhao could even imagine the giant python opening its maw, its saliva falling like torrential rain in fine threads, its teeth like unsheathed long sabers, its bite force capable of tearing apart a wild ox!
From somewhere he couldn't fathom, Ren Yuanhao, holding Ying Caiwei with one hand, felt his dantian empty like the deep sea. He had unconsciously activated the Star Absorbing Technique, and by chance, it counteracted the pulling force of the current.
The great snake lunged, missing its bite. The icy pool water surged into its body, causing it to pause slightly.
Ying Tiande, leaning on his cane at the edge of the Sword Washing Pool, frowned. The pool's water flow was in disarray. The dried bamboo stalk used for ventilation had submerged, rendering it useless, and his heart leaped into his throat.
"Senior Sister, please help our junior sister. Your cultivation here is the highest..."
Zhi Xuan, who was already innocent and lively, seeing that the two still had a chance of survival, disregarded her sister's repeated meaningful glances and pleaded earnestly.
"Help her?" The senior sister clutched her short sword, her single hand trembling frantically. "This person is no longer our junior sister, but a degenerate misled by that lecherous fellow. You want me to help her? Not a chance!"
"But he did save us!" Zhi Xuan pushed her sister aside. Her expression changed, and she murmured softly, "Uncle is right, it's not junior sister who has changed, but you, Senior Sister! Aren't you afraid of Master's disappointment?"
"Master? Disappointment?" The senior sister sneered coldly, like a demon. "Ridiculous. It seems you've also been misled by that lecherous fellow. I'll purge the sect on Master's behalf!"
The senior sister's short sword reflected the lightning. With a slight point of her toe, she twirled the sword and lunged towards Zhi Xuan's face!
This strike completely lacked the senior sister's usual ethereal grace. Instead, it resembled a killing move of a bandit chief using a Miao sabre, a blade that tasted blood.
"You don't even spare your fellow disciples, and you have the audacity to call yourself righteous!"
The moment the voice spoke, the pool erupted with water as high as two or three people. Half a snake's body shot skyward like rotten wood, blood mist splattering. Ren Yuanhao, wielding the lightning-bright long sword and holding Ying Caiwei, used the snake's body, cleanly severed in half, to instantly surge onto the pool. With a mere flick of his long sword towards the senior sister's dancing blade, a resounding dragon's roar was heard. The short sword instantly snapped into two pieces!
The broken sword trembled wildly in the senior sister's hand. Ren Yuanhao's long sword pointed directly at her face, its light as bright as lightning, blinding her.
"I don't know the rules of your Qingfeng Sect. I only know that a sword should never point at a fellow sister!"
After saying this smug remark, Ren Yuanhao suddenly coughed up a mouthful of viscous black blood. The long sword plummeted into the muddy ground. If not for Ying Caiwei and Zhi Xuan supporting him from either side, he would have collapsed into the mud again.
The senior sister's gaze was not on Ren Yuanhao at all, but fixed with greedy longing on the long sword stuck into the soil.
"This is the blade Master has always wanted, it's too beautiful~"
Just as the senior sister reached for the sword's hilt, Ying Tiande suddenly roared.
"Don't touch it! This sword is ferocious, its malevolent energy is immense. Your cultivation is insufficient, and you will only be harmed by it!"
"Hahahaha, ridiculous. That lecherous fellow can touch it, but I cannot?"
"That's because this brother's cultivation is already above yours, and he coincidentally possesses a divine technique to restrain the ferocious sword's malevolent energy. You, why should you?" Ying Tiande had exceptional eyesight. He naturally recognized the sword's extraordinary nature, and more importantly, he knew that anyone who could wield such a sword was no ordinary person!
How could the senior sister listen to advice? With a cold laugh, she reached for the hilt before being warned, sneering, "Calling the Star Absorbing demonic art a divine technique is already a laughable pretense. Do you know how many righteous cultivators have died by this technique throughout history?"
She slowly reached out, suddenly mobilizing her internal energy, and instantly gripped the hilt.
Seeing that her persuasion was useless, everyone held their breath and watched. After about ten breaths, with no abnormality, the senior sister's smile became even more unrestrained. "Well, didn't you say I couldn't touch it? Let me draw this sword and then chop off the lecherous fellow's head to offer to the sword!"
She laughed wildly, unleashing her full might, her eyes like weeping blood, as if she had already seen Ren Yuanhao's head being severed by the sharp sword, blood splattering the scene. However, no matter how she channeled her energy or exerted force, the long sword that was diagonally inserted into the soil remained motionless!
"I refuse to believe I can't pull it out!"
The moment the senior sister placed her other hand on it, she was suddenly pushed back by an invisible force wall, flying backward extremely awkwardly.