Zanxing

Chapter 5 – Escape (1)

The water curtain became calm again.

Two red drops of blood were splattered on the soft sand in the cave, which turned the sand into red clusters.

Zanxing leaned against one end of the crack in the rock, looked at the wound on her hand, and felt very embarrassed.

What could be more humiliating than going out confidently to engage in a big fight, only to be beaten up by the demonic monster instead?

She got slapped in the face, and her face hurt. The pain was real.

In the original novel, the Xiao Yuan Pearl could be used regularly. Why did it not work when it came to her? If she hadn’t fled desperately into the crevice of the rock at the critical moment, and the ‘Hu’ couldn’t get in, she would be dead by now.

But…it shouldn’t be like this!

Just now, she had clearly touched the demonic monster’s body. It was hard to describe the feeling, like unmelted cotton candy with a sticky consistency. Her fist definitely smashed the demonic monster’s body to pieces, but after the black spots dissipated like an ant colony, they regrouped extremely quickly.

This guy couldn’t be killed.

No matter how many times she smashed the monster with her fists, there was no impact on the other party at all. It’s so frustrating.

Zanxing sat down against the wall of the cave. There was no specific description of the ‘Hu’ in the original novel, as most of the pen and ink were used to describe the cultivation process of the protagonist, to the extent that she didn’t even know the weakness of the monster.

Was there really no weakness?

Zanxing lowered her head and looked at the ground. The wind from the other side of the water curtain shook her shadow on the ground slightly.

“Fortunately, it can’t see my shadow in the water.” Zanxing said to herself. She could dodge the sand shot from the demonic monster’s mouth, but it would be difficult for her shadow to dodge the shot precisely.

Wait, shadow?

The demonic monster liked to shoot at other people’s shadows, but itself… had no shadow?

With a flash of thought, Zanxing turned around, put her head on the edge of the crack and looked out. The blurred body of the demonic monster passed by from time to time in the water.

If it was in the past, it would be difficult for her to see clearly, but perhaps due to Xiao Yuan Pearl, she could clearly feel the subtleties, and she could see a small black shadow hanging under the ‘Hu’, like a tail.

This black shadow was different from the demonic monster’s body, as it was darker and looked more solid. It wasn’t big, just the size of a palm. It was easily overlooked at first glance, but the difference could be seen when looked closely.

Was this the shadow of the ‘Hu’?

If so, the demonic monster was very cunning. Its main body looked as illusory as a shadow, but its shadow looked exceptionally solid. The ‘Hu’ liked to hide in the water and attack surreptitiously with sand. If the shadow was the weakness of the ‘Hu’, she didn’t know if she could deal with it.

But… Zanxing looked at her injured hand. What if the demonic monster’s shadow was like its body earlier, dissipated when touched, and then regrouped? In addition, there was nothing here that could be used as a weapon.

She couldn’t throw sand.

The demonic monster threw sand at her, and she also threw sand at the demonic monster, what was this, elementary school chickens pecking at each other?

However, sand in the cave was still much better than the black mud spat out by the ‘Hu’. At least there was no fishy vomit-like smell, and the sand looked quite clean and dry. Zanxing squatted on the ground, grabbed a handful of sand, watched the sand leak through her fingers, and suddenly thought of something.

It was clear that the crack in the rock was right in front of the ‘Hu’. Although the demonic monster was huge, it was a mosaic after all. It could be lengthened, shortened, rounded and flattened at will. It was not impossible for it to slip through the crack in the rock. But the cave inside and the water curtain outside were two distinct worlds. At first, she thought it was because of the Xiao Yuan Pearl, but she had just fought with the ‘Hu’, and the demonic monster didn’t show any sign of fear. If it wasn’t due to the Xiao Yuan Pearl, it could only be due to this white gravel in the cave.

Could it be that the ‘Hu’ dared not come in because it was afraid of these grains of sand?

She kept a little sand on her fingertips, put her hand close to the crack in the rock, and when the demonic monster passed by, she catapulted the sand towards the small black shadow.

Zanxing discovered that when she was fighting with the monster earlier, her eyes seemed to be able to see the ‘qi’(1) emanating from her body, and she could manipulate this ‘qi’ as long as she wanted.

At this moment, the ‘qi’ rushed towards the black shadow with the grains of sand, and accurately hit the center.

A hoarse and ugly scream sounded, accompanied by the violent writhing of the demonic monster. The water splashes caused by this swept up the current in the water and almost knocked over Zanxing who was squatting in front of the stone crevice to observe.

She spat, dug a large pile of white sand from the ground and formed a ball of sand. She then squeezed out through the crack in the rock, rushed towards the demonic monster that seemed to be in a state of epilepsy, and threw the sand like a snowball. The ball smashed into the small piece of black shadow that was in a trance.

In an instant, a water column rose into the sky, and the water vibrated violently.

…..

By the water stream, the water surface was calm and waveless. The thrush on the tree cried twice and looked at the person squatting by the stream with its head tilted.

The little servant girl crouched by the water stream, with tears falling to the ground.

Behind her, the elderly coachman sighed and called, “Hongsu, come here, it’s dangerous there.”

“Miss hasn’t come out yet,” Hongsu used her hands to wipe her teary eyes, “I can’t go.”

“Miss will not come out.” The coachman looked sad, “Six days have passed, even if she was not killed by the monster, it’s already…”

It’s impossible for a living person to stay underwater for six days. The Wang family’s carriage had already left, and only the two servants of the Yang family were still stubbornly guarding by the stream. However, everyone knew that it’s impossible.

Hongsu couldn’t help covering her face and burst into tears, “Miss…Miss is gone!”

While she was hiccupping from all the crying, a familiar voice suddenly sounded.

“Sorry, that…”

Hongsu was stunned for a moment. She put down her hands and saw a girl in green looking at her curiously by the stream. Her dress was stained with large chunks of black mud, giving off a fishy smell, and a ray of sunlight fell on her body. Her eyes were as bright as before, and the corners of her mouth were slightly raised, as if she was a little confused and concerned. She said, “You sit so close to the water, aren’t you afraid of being captured by monsters?”

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(1) In Chinese culture, ‘qi’ is the vital energy that circulates through the body.