The battle not far away raged on...
For all his youthful arrogance, Chu Hanyang fell for the stocky Daoist's feint. Impatient, he leaped high into the air, gathered all his spiritual power, and struck with a mighty blow.
In an instant, a violent gale erupted. Wherever it swept, snow vanished without a trace, transforming into sharp shards that hurtled toward the stocky Daoist.
Its power was more than tenfold stronger than before.
"Ha! Well played! Eat this, Daoist's dart!"
The stocky Daoist flicked his wrist. Something shot out from his sleeve, trailing eerie red streaks through the air with ferocious momentum.
Chu Hanyang watched the danger approach, yet he couldn't dodge an inch—his entire aura was completely locked in place.
Exhausted and drained of strength, he let out a roar that shook the heavens. "ROAR~~~"
A sickening squish echoed. A line of blood spurted from his back, a gaping hole piercing clean through his flesh.
The stocky Daoist pressed his advantage relentlessly. His whip lashed out, striking Chu Hanyang square on.
BOOM~~~
Chu Hanyang went flying, crashing right in front of Ren Yi. Mud splattered all over his face and hair.
It had been a close call—he'd nearly been crushed into a meat patty as Chu Hanyang's cushion. Ren Yi couldn't help but feel a surge of relief.
But the collision had exposed his hiding spot. He watched in horror as the stocky Daoist glared at him, his fierce gaze sharp enough to pierce a person's soul.
The transparent girl gasped, grabbing Ren Yi's arm. "Run if you don't want to die!"
Ren Yi gritted his teeth, yanking his hand free resolutely. His eyes darted around, spotting a broken brick on the ground. He picked it up and hurled it at Chu Hanyang.
"You bastard! I'll kill you!" Chu Hanyang's eyes bulged with rage.
A tiger fallen on hard times is bullied by dogs. That this lowly street beggar dared to kick him while he was down was unforgivable.
He might be no match for the powerful, crafty stocky Daoist, but taking out a weak, defenseless beggar like Ren Yi was child's play.
Even with his spiritual energy depleted and his body gravely wounded, Chu Hanyang paid the price of coughing up a mouthful of blood to grab the brick Ren Yi had thrown. Then he hurled it right back.
THUD—it hit Ren Yi dead center on the forehead. His legs went limp, and he collapsed to the ground without a fight.
"Ha! Daring to harm someone right under my nose? Take this!"
The stocky Daoist charged forward like a bolt of lightning. A direct hit would mean a slow, painful death.
Chu Hanyang's pupils contracted sharply. He pulled a round metal sphere from his waist without hesitation, shouting at the top of his lungs. "I'll remember this grudge!"
He squeezed his hand tightly. The metal sphere crumbled like wet clay, releasing a cloud of blue smoke that curled eerily into the air.
"Damn it! It's the Blue Phantom Smoke of the Smoke Demon Sect!"
The stocky Daoist had traveled far and wide, his experience making him recognize the danger instantly. He skidded to a halt, not daring to step within a foot of the blue smoke.
That metal sphere was the Smoke Demon Sect's most prized treasure—only a dozen or so circulated outside the sect each year.
The smoke it released was laced with a deadly poison. Any ordinary person who touched it would have their bones melt and their flesh rot, dissolving into a puddle of slime. It was the ultimate escape tool, making it incredibly valuable.
A full quarter of an hour passed before the smoke finally dissipated without a trace. Chu Hanyang was long gone. The stocky Daoist sighed in frustration. "What rotten luck—trouble just had to find me out of nowhere!"
He'd barely shown his face in Lingbo City when these people had jumped him, yelling for him to hand over the silk pouch or die.
Their brute aggression had made him think he'd run into a bunch of bandits.
He tugged the red silk pouch at his waist, rubbing it thoughtfully. "Cui'er, Cui'er—you've brought me nothing but trouble. These people have sworn vengeance over this lousy trinket."
He'd injured so many Divine Spirit Sect disciples and failed to kill Chu Hanyang, letting a tiger return to the mountain. Who knew when those bandit cultivators would hunt him down and finish him off?
The red silk pouch in his hand suddenly felt like a red-hot potato. He gritted his teeth, tossed it on the ground, and fled without looking back.
By the time Ren Yi woke up, the sky was darkening. Unsurprisingly, he'd been buried under a pile of snow again.
His thin clothes and battered body made him sneeze repeatedly.
"Achoo… Achoo… Achoo…"
Snot dripped and tears streamed down his face, leaving him looking utterly wretched.
The transparent girl took a step back, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "Ugh, you're so dirty!"
"Uh… I am a beggar. Do I really need to be clean?"
Ren Yi scooped up some snow to wash his face. He accidentally brushed the wound on his forehead, and a sharp pain shot through him—jerking his memories of what had happened flooding back.
"Wait a minute… I can talk again? Hahaha! I can finally talk again! This is amazing!"
Ren Yi threw his head back and laughed, overcome with joy, completely forgetting all his recent misfortunes.
The transparent girl rolled her eyes. "It was just a low-level tongue-tying spell—it was never going to last long. What's the big deal?"
If it had been up to her, a lifelong ban on speech would've been a far more masterful move.
"Hey dummy, stop laughing! There's something on the ground—go pick it up and take a look!"
The transparent girl was utterly fascinated by the silk pouch the stocky Daoist had discarded. An inexplicable urge told her it was important—very important, at least to her.
But try as she might, she couldn't touch it.
She was like a shadow in this world—unable to interact with anything except Ren Yi. It was a source of immense frustration.
Her memories were fragmented and hazy. She couldn't remember how she'd ended up like this. Her knowledge of the tongue-tying spell had only popped into her head after watching Chu Hanyang's actions.
Following the transparent girl's gesture, Ren Yi quickly dug the silk pouch out of the snow, looking confused. "Huh? Isn't this the same pouch I traded for buns? How did it grow legs and end up here?"
"Traded for buns? But the pouch was on you this whole time!"
Ren Yi shook his head vehemently. "Impossible! I definitely gave it to the bun shop owner—otherwise, where would I have gotten five buns to eat?"
Even as he insisted he didn't believe her, he found himself reaching into his waistband out of habit. To his astonishment, his fingers closed around another silk pouch.
"Weird… Not only did it grow legs and come back, but it also multiplied—one became two!"
He held one pouch in each hand, examining them closely. The patterns on the two pouches were perfect mirror images—clearly a matching pair. He must have had incredibly good luck to come into possession of both.
Imagining trading them for ten big, fluffy, savory meat buns filled him with contentment. In this bitter cold, a warm meal was the height of luxury for him.
"Why are you being so stupid? Hurry up and open them!"
The transparent girl facepalmed, thoroughly exasperated by Ren Yi's idiotic grinning.
"Uh… I can't, though. These pouches—they're…"
Before Ren Yi could finish his sentence, the pouch that had been completely unopenable no matter how hard he'd tried earlier suddenly slipped open in his hand with the slightest tug.
"Whoa, that's weird! How did it just open like that?"
He'd struggled with it for ages before trading it for buns precisely because he couldn't get it open.
He turned the pouch upside down, but nothing fell out. The fading daylight made it hard to see, so he leaned in closer to peek inside.
"AAAAH! HELP!"
A bloodcurdling scream pierced the air. A moment later, Ren Yi's burly frame vanished from the spot without a trace.
The wilderness stretched empty around them, nothing but the howling of the bitter wind remaining—as if no one had ever been there at all.