Chapter 279 (2/2)
The white shards of bones activated by the old monk's Psyche Power began to beat on his body like a storm. He suffered hundreds and thousands of heavy blows and blood spewed from his body without stopping. The bones in his body cracked and broke.
Ning Que fell to the ground heavily with a loud crack. More blood splattered on his s.h.i.+rt. It was fortunate that the bones had fallen to the ground after leaving the Bone Mountain as a storm and did not attack again.
Neverending pain radiated from all parts of his body as if all the bones in his body had broken. Ning Que frowned. He set the podao on the ground and leaned against it to get up, but succ.u.mbed to the pain. He fell on a knee heavily.
The old monk's face was pale and his cheeks were sunken. His pupils were bright and his body wavered lightly. It was evident that he had paid an enormous price countering the sudden attack from Ning Que. Several decades of power and the bite of flesh he had consumed earlier had long been expended. However, no matter how weak he was, he still controlled Ye Hongyu under his palms.
Being separated from the Qi of Heaven and Earth was a scary existence for cultivators. There were several feats of Taoism that cannot be completed without the Qi of Heaven and Earth. This was especially since Master Lotus had previously hurt their sense of perception with his high state. They were unable to use their perception to control their bodies. Cultivators in this situation were like calligraphers without their brushes and musicians without their instruments. They were aware of what to do, but had lost all abilities and would surely fall into a total despair.
But Ning Que was unlike most cultivators in the world. He had just learned about cultivation. In the past ten years, he had fought on the thin line between life and death. He did not depend on any Taoist Laws or flying swords, but on the three swords behind his back and himself.
Even the impact on his sense of perception by Master Lotus could not force him into a total despair. That was because his control over his physical body was stronger than anyone could imagine after numerous battles. He could control his bones and muscles. He had tightened and loosened his muscles at a high speed during the long conversation they had previously. He had wanted to relax his body, leaving the control the sense of perception had over him.
One had to acknowledge that Ning Que was really good at combat. This was especially so when he was in a situation that seemed to be utterly hopeless, where he was weak and the enemy was strong. He would become especially calm and his will to combat would become even stronger then. It was a pity that the difference in abilities between the two was so large that even the will to combat or a.n.a.lysis could not help to mend the gap.
”The control you have over your body is so strong?”
The old monk looked at Ning Que who was kneeling on the ground with a look of surprise. His brows floated in the air as he sighed. ”Even though the Desolate Man are strong in both spirit and body, but the connection between their body and perception is not as good as yours. It is hard to imagine that there is a wayfarer of the Academy in this generation that would be so well suited to cultivate in the Devil's arts. It's such a pity, such a pity.”
Ning Que was severely injured and could no longer hold the hilt in his hands tightly. His body wavered, but he eventually fell to the ground once more. He did not listen to what the old monk had to say clearly. Instead, he wiped the blood off his lips and coughed painfully twice.
Everything had happened too quickly. Mo Shanshan was not mentally prepared for this at all. Now that Ning Que was lying in a pool of blood, her eyes were filled with worry. However, she had no way of getting closer to see how he was doing.
Ning Que looked at her expression before he slowly maneuvered himself against her back with great difficulty. He coughed painfully again before saying in a weak voice, ”I won't die for now, but I really can't move anymore.”
The old monk looked at him and got even happier as he looked on. He said in a pitying manner, ”Such a talent. If you weren't a disciple of the Academy, I would want to teach you all my skills and see how you would end up in the future.”
Ning Que had once thought that he was a genius in cultivation. However, he had only entered the cultivation path after much difficulty. Once he had gotten on the path, he had seen too many true powerhouses. There were Second Brother, Chen Pipi and other weirdos like them. And then, he had met the Calligraphy Addict and the Tao Addict who were geniuses too. That was when he had gotten rid of such stupid notions and realized that he was but just an ordinary person in cultivation.
That was why he could not help feeling that something was odd when he heard the old monk's lament. The corners of his lips flicked up with difficulty. He panted and said self-mockingly, ”I only have ten clear acupoints in the Snow Mountain and Ocean of Qi. How could I be a talent?”
The old monk looked at him and said weakly, ”If you wish to cultivate in the Devil's arts, so what if you only had one clear acupoint?”
Ning Que leaned against Mo Shanshan's back weakly. He looked at the old monk in the Bone Mountain and smiled with difficulty. He said, ”Master, I am willing to cultivate in the Devil's arts under you. Will you let all of us go? Why do we have to fight to our deaths?”
The old monk looked at him pityingly. He answered weakly, ”Is this the time to make such jokes?”
Ning Que coughed twice and gasped, ”It is not a joke, I can swear on this by the name of the Headmaster of Academy.”
The old monk smiled laboriously, ”Ke Haoran and I have been life-long enemies. I know the truth of the Academy better than anyone else in the world. I might believe others, but I know that there is no one trustworthy from the Academy.”
Ning Que could not help laughing loudly when he heard that. However, pain wracked his chest and he started coughing violently again.
The old monk looked at him puzzledly, ”Why did you choose that moment to attack if you could have held back? Even though the timing was good, it was still a little too early. Would it not have been better if you waited for the moment when I start devouring her flesh?”
Ning Que coughed up fresh blood and replied, ”It was indeed too early, but I do not like watching people eat human flesh.”
The old monk's expression turned vicious when he heard the words ”human flesh”. He said coldly, ”I have been chewing on bones and dried meat. In the end, the meat had turned into dried dregs. Do you think they taste good?”
The old monk looked at the young couple leaning against each other and said bitterly, ”The human flesh that I have eaten when I traveled the world was because they were part of my plan and because I wanted to make myself stronger. Do you think I'm a crazy pervert who likes eating human flesh? Do you really think that human flesh tastes good?”
The old monk thought of the black robes that had floated by the Devil's Palace decades ago. He smiled rather lunatically and said, ”Ke Haoran sealed me in this jail away from the world. He forced me into eating human flesh. And then, there was a fellow who came here. He wouldn't release me or kill me no matter how much I begged. Instead, he got me another ten bodies and left them for me to eat. He said that this was a reward from Haotian. If I am a devil eating humans, what are they?”
He looked at Ye Hongyu who was still beneath his palm. Her face was pale as she pursed her lips stubbornly, unwilling to beg or cry out in pain. He looked at Ning Que and said icily, ”This Taoist woman is the first fresh meat I've eaten in decades. It already tastes better than anything else. Do you want to try it?”
Ning Que looked at the haunted eyes on the old monk's face. He said after a moment of silence, ”No, I know that it doesn't taste good.”
Mo Shanshan who was leaning against his back weakly did not understand that. She thought that he was just speaking factually. Everyone knew that human flesh didn't taste good without having to eat it personally.
However, the old monk had understood. Surprise filled his worn face and the enmity in his eyes turned into sympathy and benevolence. He sighed in admiration, ”The Academy is indeed the Academy. I admire them.”
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