Questioning Heaven, Desiring the Way - Chapter 98
Chapter 98 – You’re Getting Old
“What are you waiting for? You’re going to stick your necks out and let them slaughter you?” The old man’s eyes bulged angrily as he also turned to the rest of the martial cultivators behind him and shouted at them.
“Kill them!”
“We’re going to end this once and for all! I’m going to avenge our ancestors who died and more!”
“Humph! Since our ancestors could defeat all of you, there’s no reason for us to be afraid!”
“Attack them! NOW!”
A fight instantly broke out. Mo Yuluo’s first attack was like a fuse leading to dynamite that instantly exploded the centuries of hatred between the cultivators from the two different schools of thought.
“Young man, you’re not bad, but that’s about it.” The old man slammed Gu Suihan’s sword away with his palm and smiled sinisterly, his brownish eyes as malicious as a snake’s.
“Old thing, you’re really useless, and you’re so useless that you have absolutely no value.” Gu Suihan narrowed his eyes and swung one fist fearlessly toward the old man while secretly thrusting his other hand toward the man’s lower abdomen.
“What a wicked young man!” The old man suddenly bent at the waist when he noticed Gu Suihan’s other hand and narrowly dodged an attack by the younger man’s sword. Unfortunately for him, Gu Suihan’s sword was a foot longer than most, so even though the old man was quite agile, he had only moved sufficiently to dodge a regular sword. He now had a 30-centimeter-long wound.
The old man leaped aside like a leopard and looked down at his wound, which was no longer bleeding because it had completely dried up. He stared rather fearfully at Gu Suihan’s strange sword that was still vibrating slightly and gleaming with blood and murderous Qi.
After this sneak attack, the old man could sense that his already fading blood and Qi had actually reduced by a little. It had probably been absorbed by that strange sword belonging to Gu Suihan.
“How’s that? Old man, you’ve lived too long, so it’s time you returned to the soil,” said Gu Suihan with a smirk as he looked at the angry but frightened older man who didn’t know how to deal with Gu Suihan.
The old man gritted his teeth and glowered at Gu Suihan’s sword with a nasty look on his face. Each time he managed almost to strike Gu Suihan, that weird sword would come toward him from the strangest angles.
“And you think I can’t defeat you?” roared the old man. A bloody mist burst forth from his arms, and something that looked like a tattoo could be seen under his tattered clothing. A huge surge of Qi and blood began to flow out from his body, turning into a faintly red and angular shape that surrounded his fists like a pair of boxing gloves. Runes covered the gloves and exuded a terrifying aura.
“Die now!” The old man was really angry now and swore to kill this hateful young man there and then. His fists carried a heat as hot as flames, singeing the air and filling everyone’s nostrils with a burning smell.
“Inches Away – Ends of the World!” Gu Suihan wasn’t stupid enough to fight him head-on like this. His body wasn’t made from super thick hide or hard muscles like the old man’s since he didn’t cultivate that. He moved nearly a hundred meters away from the old man as quickly as lightning, much to the fury of the old man. His storage ring flickered, and he started flinging countless talismans at his opponent instead.
Mud Wall! Ice Wall! Fire Ball! Lightning! Ice Picks!
Innumerable items, including balls and arrows of fire and electricity, hurtled toward the old man, creating beautiful fireworks in the high skies.
None of those things were able to hold up against the old man’s fists and burst immediately upon impact, but the bloodied mist of Qi and blood around his arms was slowly getting worn thin.
“Inches Away – Ends of the World!” Gu Suihan smirked and flew as quickly as a shooting star to suddenly appear right next to the old man. He swung his sword horizontally to slice the old man in half at the waist.
“The General Crushes the Enemy!” The old man narrowed his eyes suddenly, and all his pores opened when he sensed the sword coming his way. He moved to the side and swung both fists toward Gu Suihan’s sharp sword.
A loud rumbling that sounded like a 10,000-strong army and their war drums coming to take the lives of their enemy resounded loudly through the flying ship. The thick murderous Qi that was usually found among soldiers at war formed a black roaring beast behind the old man.
“So what if you’ve got 10,000 soldiers on your side? I’m still going to chop your head off.” A gleam in Gu Suihan’s eyes shone brilliantly as Questioning Heaven let out the miserable howling of ghosts and spirits. A violent Qi exploded from its blade and turned the whole area into a blood-soaked battlefield.
When the old man’s fist collided with the younger man’s sword, a scene that looked like the whole world was collapsing ensued. The sound of bloodthirsty soldiers and the overwhelming murderous Qi in the air immediately disappeared. All the martial cultivators and Seven Kill Sect disciples who were fighting earlier instinctively moved aside to avoid being within the line of destruction.
The force from Gu Suihan’s sword was equivalent to the maximum force a Peak Foundation Establishment cultivator could unleash.
Everyone exchanged grim glances and looked at Gu Suihan with a terrified look in their eye.
The thunderous sound of the impact rang in the ears of the other cultivators, and everything went black for a long time before they could see anything again. All of them stopped fighting and turned to where the old man and Gu Suihan were fighting earlier.
Several moments later, the dust settled and revealed the two figures.
“You’re getting old!” Blood dribbled from Gu Suihan’s lips, and his face was pale as he leaned against the railing. His clothes were blasted to mere shreds, and he was covered in wounds from head to toe, his bones exposed in some places. Even so, Gu Suihan still had a smile on his face, and he still seemed as domineering as ever, as contemptuous of the world as ever.
The old man did not respond to Gu Suihan’s nasty but exhausted remark. He looked intently at the younger man for a moment, then turned and hobbled away, leaving behind a large pool of blood on the floor. Compared to how confident he was when he first launched an attack on Gu Suihan, the old man seemed frail and hunched over now. It was as though this battle had broken his will.
“We’ve won this time, so we get to stay in the best part of the ship, and we don’t have to worry about them making any trouble for us,” said Gu Suihan with a faint smile as he looked at his fellow disciples and sat down weakly on the floor.
“Are…are you alright?” asked Mo Yuluo. Gu Suihan looked so tired, and the wounds all over his body were terrifying to even look at.
“It’s not enough to kill me just yet. If you’re really worried, then why don’t you help me to a room? That’s better than standing around and asking stupid questions,” said Gu Suihan as he looked strangely at Mo Yuluo after checking how badly wounded he was.
Mo Yuluo froze when she heard these words. Even though cultivators did not care about the social norms of the mundane world, people were still going to gossip if she went to help a man back to a room when there were many other males around to do so.
So when she heard Gu Suihan say something like this so flippantly, she couldn’t help but roll her eyes at him. Her cheeks were a little flushed, but thankfully her face veiled prevented others from noticing that.
After hesitating for a few moments, she could sense everyone staring at her as though they were all cheekily waiting to see what she would choose to do. She gritted her teeth and decided to stop hesitating. She went forward to carefully help Gu Suihan get up, then walked toward the most luxurious set of rooms inside the flying ship.
Gu Suihan was really quite badly injured, so he leaned his entire body against her and let her half carry him. However, when she felt how heavily he was weighing down on her chest, she couldn’t help but tremble in anger and wished she could just let go of him and abandon him there. But she couldn’t do that because everyone else was still watching them from behind.
“You’re doing this on purpose!” hissed Mo Yuluo quietly as her face turned slightly red.
“What do you mean?” Gu Suihan looked at her in confusion.
When he saw the unhappiness in her eyes, he said emotionlessly, “If you’re not willing to, then just let go of me. There’s no need to force yourself.”
“Why, you!” Mo Yuluo glared at him, and her teeth chattered in anger. She gripped him even more tightly and turned her face aside as though she were a little girl throwing a tantrum.
Have I really fallen for him? Wondered Mo Yuluo worriedly. Her expression did not flinch, but her eyes would flutter as she glanced at him from time to time and struggled with her own emotions.
“You can let go now,” Gu Suihan suddenly spoke, snapping Mo Yuluo out of her daze.
“Oh!” she responded before letting go of him and walking away, her heart still confused by her feelings.
Gu Suihan opened the room door and nodded after seeing the luxurious furnishings inside. He retrieved several items from his storage ring and cautiously set up several formations just in case. He then randomly sat down on the thick red carpeting on the floor, closed his eyes, and checked his injuries.
Thankfully, his Ra-Asu skeleton had made his physical body a lot stronger than the average Foundation Establishment cultivator, so even though he was badly injured, they were all external injuries. His Spiritual Meridians were not injured at all.
He swallowed several pills, applied some ointment to his wounds, then lay on the floor and closed his eyes.