Guide sur le vent et la fumée

Chapitre 39

Knowing her parents' temperaments, Yun Chan didn't say much, but just struggled to drag them away.

Qin Hu sighed, "Not only will you not be able to save us, but you yourself will also be unable to escape that demon's clutches. Xiao Chan, listen to me, go by yourself."

Yun Chan's tears finally streamed down her face: "It's my fault, no one can save me."

We can't save Qianjun, we can't save Jiyue, are we just supposed to watch helplessly as so many people, even our parents, die?

Qin Hu suddenly stared at her: "Xiao Chan, you just said you would kill that demon, was that true?"

---

Xia Yi was entangled with Lou Lou and couldn't break free. He caught a glimpse of Yun Chan seemingly kneeling beside Yun Tianhai and Qin Hu, which fueled his anxiety. He glanced around, and the two Qingtu Sect protectors behind him immediately understood, brushing aside the enemies blocking their path and fiercely attacking Yun Chan.

They stood beside her, supporting her from both sides, partly to protect her and partly to monitor her.

Yun Chan was forcibly pulled away from her parents. Her body was restrained and she was filled with anger and frustration: "You..." Before she could finish speaking, her speech was silenced by acupressure.

The situation quickly deteriorated. The Qingtu Sect, with its superior numbers and the assistance of the Qianjin Palace, gradually overwhelmed the Moge, causing increasing casualties. Only the battle between Xia Yi and Lou Lou remained evenly matched.

If the Ink Pavilion falls, the Qingtu Sect's next step will be to massacre all the other sects. Everyone understood this, but they were helpless and could only watch the fight between Xia Yi and Lou Lou with bated breath.

Unable to speak or move, Yun Chan's despair grew stronger and stronger until she finally closed her eyes and refused to look.

Even when she learned from Lou Lou that she had been afflicted with the incurable Canglan disease, she had never been so heartbroken.

At that time, she thought, what's wrong with dying together with Xia Yi?

In the end, even this was not something I could ask for.

Two women's exclamations rang in her ears. Yun Chan opened her eyes in a daze and saw Lady Guiyue lying on the ground not far away, while Zi Ying was covered in blood, but still rushed towards her with her soft sword, her eyes bloodshot.

The two Qingtu protectors beside Yun Chan immediately stepped in to block her, but Zi Ying was already bloodthirsty. She allowed two sharp blades to pierce her chest, her steps unwavering, her soft sword steadily thrusting forward, determined to pierce Yun Chan's throat.

.

Noticing the commotion over there, Lou Lou frowned slightly. Xia Yi finally got a chance to shake him off and flew towards Yun Chan like lightning. Seeing that Yun Chan was within reach, Xia Yi threw her long sword at Zi Ying in mid-air.

The soft sword ultimately missed Yun Chan's throat by a hair's breadth. Zi Ying's arm was severed and fell to the ground. She spat out a mouthful of blood and finally lowered her head, never to move again.

Xia Yi grabbed Yun Chan and, as if possessed, pulled her into his arms without a care in the world.

Lou Lou chased after him from behind, but was held back by the Qingtu cult members. He snorted coldly, and his blade flashed wildly, slashing and killing a group of people.

Xia Yi ignored what was happening behind him, focusing only on holding the person in his arms tightly. Suddenly, a piercing pain shot through his chest, and he paused, then slowly cupped Yun Chan's face in his hands, seeing her face covered in tears.

Xia Yi's face was a little pale, and she forced a smile: "Xiao Chan, don't cry."

Yun Chan's speech was still impaired, so she couldn't speak. She could only shake her head and slowly push him away while crying.

The two Qingtu Sect protectors beside him were terrified upon seeing this.

A short sword was embedded in Xia Yi's left chest, and blood flowed incessantly. Yun Chan's hand was still gripping the hilt of the short sword, and the tears in her eyes were almost as plentiful as the blood flowing from his eyes.

Xia Yi reached out, as if to wipe away the tears on her face, and leaned forward, causing the short sword to pierce a little deeper.

One of the Qingtu Sect protectors finally reacted. Seeing that the sect leader had been injured by Miss Yun, he was shocked and immediately struck Yun Chan with a palm.

Whether she noticed the palm strike behind her or not, Yun Chan simply stood still, neither dodging nor flinching.

The palm strike, imbued with full force, landed on Xia Yi's back with a loud crack, accompanied by a gasp.

No one saw when he used his body to block Yun Chan.

Xia Yi held his little cicada safely in his arms. After taking a blow, the short sword was pierced deep into his chest, with only the hilt sticking out. He seemed to feel no pain at all, and only said in a hoarse voice, "Little cicada, don't cry."

Little Cicada, keep it up!

Yanshan. Inside the underground palace of the Qingtu Sect, the atmosphere was somewhat somber. The Left Protector was the first to speak out in reproach: "Qingqi, if you hadn't selfishly released Miss Yun this time, how could our sect's grand plan to destroy the righteous path of the martial arts world have failed at the last moment?"

"All our efforts were in vain?" Qingqi's expression was inscrutable. "You should be thanking me for giving everyone such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

A strange glint flashed in the Left Protector's eyes: "What do you mean?"

"What do you mean? Is it that the Left Protector can't think of it or doesn't dare to think of it?" Qingqi finally let out a high-pitched mocking voice. "The Sect Leader is now seriously injured and unconscious. If we want to get rid of Honglu's control, do we have a better opportunity than now?"

Upon hearing this, the men in yellow below exchanged bewildered glances.

Now that the sect leader is severely injured and powerless to resist, it is indeed feasible to take this opportunity to coerce Honglu into giving up the antidote. However, thinking of the consequences of failure... silence fell over the main hall of the underground palace. No one objected, but no one dared to speak.

Qingqi sneered: "Do you want to be controlled by Honglu forever? Now that Miss Yun is in our hands, are you afraid that the sect leader won't give us the antidote?"

A commotion finally broke out below. The temptation of the proposal was too great; no one wanted to live a life where their lives were constantly at risk. A ruthless glint flashed across everyone's face.

---

Yun Chan opened her eyes to find herself in a dimly lit room. She had been here once before; she remembered it as the underground palace beneath Yanshan Mountain. Her mind went blank; she couldn't recall why she was here.

After lying in bed for a while, the scenes before she lost consciousness quickly replayed in her mind.

In the main hall of the South China Sea Sect, the leaders of various sects are poisoned, and the Ink Pavilion and the Green Map Sect are engaged in a fierce battle.

Xia Yi collapsed onto her, and the situation on the field reversed. There was no one else in the Demonic Sect who could rival Lou Lou.

The two protectors of the Qingtu Sect made a quick decision to take their leader and leave.

Although Xia Yi had fainted, the hand holding hers remained tightly clenched, impossible to pry open. The Left Protector had briefly considered cutting off her hand, but seemed still haunted by the scene of the sect leader sacrificing himself to protect her, and ultimately could only resort to acupressure to strike her.

Take the bag with you.

And she did not resist.

Many more died on the way back; the Qingtu Sect lost almost half of its forces before finally escaping the Mo Pavilion's pursuit. Xia Yi regained consciousness several times during the journey, but only released her hand, whispering hoarsely in her ear, "...Little Chan..."

"...Quickly...go."

Her memory ended there, and Yun Chan fully regained consciousness. She tried to get up to find Xia Yi, but found that her acupoints were still locked and she couldn't move her body.

The door was pushed open, and footsteps approached. Yun Chan looked up and saw that the person who came in was Jin Jia.

Jin Jia hesitated for a moment before standing in front of her bed, but still released her speech acupoint.

"Where's Xia Yi?" Yun Chan's voice was a little hoarse, as if she hadn't been wet in a long time.

The man in golden armor only replied with one sentence: "Still alive."

Yun Chan then fell silent.

After staring at her for a long time without being able to discern any emotion in her eyes, Jin Jia took a deep breath, his face seemingly apologetic: "I also wanted to live, I'm sorry for offending you." After saying that, he reached out to pick her up.

Remembering Xia Yi's words urging her to hurry on the way, Yun Chan immediately realized: "You want to betray us?"

Without answering, Jin Jia picked her up and was about to leave.

Yun Chan remained calm: "Help me release my pressure points, I'll walk myself." Seeing that Jin Jia was unwilling, she added, "He's here, I won't run away."

---

All the rooms in the underground palace were similar. A slightly larger stone chamber in the southwest corner was the cult leader's room. At this moment, the door to the chamber was open, and Xia Yi lay unconscious on the bed. Her wounds had only been hastily treated to stop the bleeding, and the bandages were stained bright red, looking quite painful.

It was shocking. A dozen or so men in yellow robes were already standing inside, along with Qingqi and his two protectors.

Everyone looked tense until they saw Jin Jia bring Yun Chan over, at which point they relaxed a little.

The two protectors glanced again at Xia Yi, who lay on the bed, his condition unclear. Given the sect leader's usual formidable power, the two protectors were still somewhat hesitant, not daring to harm him even though he was seriously injured. However, now that they had Miss Yun as a bargaining chip, the group was bolder.

After much discussion, someone suggested, "First, lock his collarbone, sever his tendons in his hands and feet, and then slowly interrogate him for the antidote to Honglu."

This was the safest approach, and everyone nodded in agreement. The only question was, who would make the first move? Everyone looked at each other, but no one actually did anything.

Qingqi sneered, "You've already gone this far, what are you still afraid of? Even if you want to back down now, it's too late."

The Left Protector sneered, "Since that's the case, then go and do it."

Having discerned their motives for betrayal, Yun Chan calmly stated, "He has already damaged his heart meridian; further torment might kill him, and then you won't get anything out of him." She then glanced indifferently at the crowd, "If you intend to use torture to extract the antidote, well..."

It works the same for me.

Torture Yun Chan would be far less stressful, and using her as a threat would be far more effective. The Right Protector immediately ordered, "Go and wake the Sect Leader..."

Suddenly, a person rushed in from outside, shouting in a panic: "Reporting to the Protector, the people from the Ink Pavilion and the major sects have attacked Yanshan!"

The expressions of everyone in the room immediately changed.

"Damn it, we've been tricked. The Mo Pavilion's decision to abandon the pursuit midway was a ruse; their real intention was to secretly follow us and find our sect's lair!"

"It seems that old fellow surnamed Li from the South China Sea Sect has also sided with the righteous path and cured all the poisons of the major sects!"

The sect had already suffered many casualties in the previous battle, and now it had no strength left to deal with the attack from the righteous path. Moreover, the sect leader was dying, so who could go out to fight Lou Lou?

The Left Protector no longer hesitated: "Quickly find out the antidote for Honglu, then leave."

Qingqi quickly stepped forward and pulled Xia Yi, who was still unconscious on the bed, up. Immediately, someone brought a basin of cold water and poured it on him, then drove a steel needle deep into his palm. Xia Yi groaned and woke up in excruciating pain.

The man in golden armor held a sword to Yun Chan's neck, his voice trembling slightly: "Sect Leader, hand over the antidote for Hong Lu."

"Useless thing, what are you trembling for!" The Right Protector kicked away the golden armor and placed his palm on Yun Chan's crown. "Master, we also want to survive. As long as you hand over the antidote for Hong Lu, your subordinates will definitely not make things difficult for you."

Xia Yi's face was deathly pale, one hand was nailed to the bed board, and blood spread along the edge of the bed to the floor. It was unknown how much more blood she could bleed. Yun Chan lowered her eyes, unable to bear to look any longer.

Xia Yi's eyes gradually focused, and she said in a deep voice, "Release her."

The Right Protector urgently asked, "Antidote!"

Xia Yi shifted his gaze to the eastern corner of the stone chamber, and said in a low, hoarse voice, "The second shelf from the left, move the Kun position on the Bagua diagram... to the Qian position..." It seemed that even saying just one sentence had exhausted his strength; Xia Yi had to stop and catch his breath for a moment before...

He continued, "The secret compartment... contains the recipe for the antidote..."

"Given so readily?" The two guardians exchanged a glance, somewhat hesitant.

However, there was no time to worry about that now. The righteous forces were closing in from the outside, and the situation was urgent. Soon, one of them couldn't contain himself and ran to the shelf, where he found a Bagua diagram. Overjoyed, he immediately turned the diagram.

The world was turned upside down, but the expected hidden compartment did not appear. Just as the man turned around to question him, a loud crash was heard. Everyone turned around and was horrified to see the huge stone door at the entrance of the stone chamber crash down.

Realizing he had been tricked, the man anxiously rotated the Bagua diagram again, but the stone gate did not react at all.

"Does the leader intend to trap everyone to death in this stone chamber?" The Left Protector was shocked and furious, pointing at Xia Yi: "You..." Before he could finish speaking, the ground shook, and stones, soil, and beams fell from the ceiling, and the entire stone chamber seemed to be collapsing.

A faint smile appeared on Xia Yi's pale face: "If you hand over the antidote, will you really let me go? I'm going to die anyway, so why should I give it to you? We might as well all die together."

The Right Protector gripped Yun Chan's neck tightly, his eyes bulging, and roared, "You don't even care about this woman's life?"

Xia Yi coughed up another mouthful of blood. He didn't even glance at Yun Chan and said coldly, "She stabbed me in the back, why should I care about her? It's better to let her come and keep me company in the underworld."

A stone fell and hit Xia Yi's hand, which was pinned to the bedside. He didn't make a sound, as if he didn't have the strength to dodge, or as if he had fainted.

The collapse inside the stone chamber worsened, with sand and gravel constantly falling, quickly obscuring their vision. Panic gripped them. The Right Protector angrily tossed Yun Chan aside and shouted, "Quick, find the exit!"

Once Yun Chan was free, she immediately ran towards the half-dead Xia Yi. The stone chamber was shaking violently, and rubble and stone slabs kept hitting her. She stumbled and struggled to reach his side, then used her body to shield him.