"Pfft," Qian Duoduo and the He Lou Clan members simultaneously spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.
However, the sharp thorn failed to penetrate the Golden Claw Armor, while the Golden Rooster Sword pierced straight through.
They both fell from the air to the ground, motionless. The He Lou Clan member was dead, while Qian Duoduo's Spiritual Qi temporarily failed to connect, requiring a moment to recover.
Yu Yixiang rushed forward, kicked the He Lou Clan member away, and embraced Qian Duoduo, "Junior Brother Bu Huan..."
Qian Duoduo looked at her anxious Face, a sudden sweetness in his heart, and smiled, but blood gushed from his mouth again, "I'm fine."
Yu Yixiang's tears welled up again, and she asked with a smile, "Really fine?"
"I'm fine. Feel." Qian Duoduo placed her hand on his chest, letting her feel the hole the sharp thorn had made in the Golden Claw Armor, "It didn't pierce through."
The hole was actually not shallow, a full half-inch deep. The first layer of the Golden Claw Armor, the golden rhinoceros hide, was already broken, and the inside was deformed, with a raised lump.
If Liu Boli hadn't refined the artifact so well, if the hole had gone through, Qian Duoduo would have been finished.
Yu Yixiang reached out and pulled Qian Duoduo, returning to the tortoise shell tent, "Take off your outer robe."
"What for?" Qian Duoduo instead wrapped his blue robe tighter with his arms.
Wang Longyu came over and hit Qian Duoduo's hand, "Let's check the injury inside and apply medicine. What did you think it was for?"
Whoosh, Qian Duoduo's Face immediately turned red. On the Mengyuan River bank, being chased by Yu Yixiang had left him traumatized. He dared not look at others' bodies, nor did he like others looking at his own body.
Qian Duoduo chuckled and said, "You know, this raised part of the Golden Claw Armor is quite uncomfortable for me."
He removed his robe and armor, used the Wolf Fang Black Iron Hammer to flatten the damaged area, and then put them back on.
After taking two packets of Medicinal Pills for wounds, Qian Duoduo packed up the tent and said to Yu Yixiang and Wang Longyu, "Let's go."
Suddenly, Wang Longyu put an arm around Qian Duoduo's shoulder, "Junior Brother Bu Huan, seriously consider my suggestion. You two go—"
"Having fought this far, I can't give up. If we're going to turn a profit, we do it together; if we're going to lose money, we lose it together," Qian Duoduo growled in a low voice.
"Let's go," Yu Yixiang looked at Qian Duoduo softly.
The three of them, Qian Duoduo, constantly changed their route, evading several pursuits from the He Lou Clan members. According to the map in the Jade Slip, they were about an hour away from the edge of the deep trench.
However, Wang Longyu's legs trembled incessantly, and he could barely stand even with crutches. Yu Yixiang was not much better, holding her wooden staff with both hands, her entire body leaning on it.
Neither of them mentioned again letting Qian Duoduo leave. Qian Duoduo felt that their three hearts were already connected.
"There's a cave over there. Let's go in and rest for a bit." Qian Duoduo knew that even if he wanted to leave now, he couldn't.
The night grew deeper, the snow heavier, and their injuries more severe. Below Qian Duoduo's knees, he had also lost all sensation.
Supporting them both into the cave, Qian Duoduo found several stones and sealed the entrance tightly, then lit a fire inside.
"Come, everyone, gnaw on a piece of the world's finest delicacy. I raised these myself." Qian Duoduo took out his Treasure Trove from the Golden Toad—Spirit Chicken legs.
Yu Yixiang and Wang Longyu sat around the fire and took them without hesitation.
They were giving Qian Duoduo Face.
Spirit Chicken legs were considered food only for the lowest-level people in the sect. Qian Duoduo guessed that Yu Yixiang and Wang Longyu might not have eaten, or perhaps never eaten, such low-end fare for many years.
The world is stratified, and each stratum has its own food and rules. These man-made things constitute what is called nobility and baseness.
"When we return to the sect, you two owe me a big meal in return," Qian Duoduo told them. In the firelight, Yu Yixiang and Wang Longyu smiled and nodded. After taking a few Medicinal Pills, some color returned to their Faces, and their breathing stabilized.
"We—" Qian Duoduo stood up, just about to call for them to continue fleeing to the deep trench.
Boom! A loud bang came from the cave entrance, and the stones blocking it were smashed open by brute force.
Qian Duoduo turned around, using his body to block the flying stones.
In the cold wind, the flickering firelight illuminated a person outside the cave.
That person was a burly man, at the Ninth Level of Qi Condensation cultivation, holding a long axe. The axe handle was as thick as a spirit chicken egg, and the axe head was as large as a rice pot.
"Haha, the Young Clan Chief is indeed wise, knowing that in this heavy snow, you couldn't escape far and could only hide in a cave. I've searched over twenty caves, and finally dug out you rats!"
Before the burly man could finish his arrogant words, the three of them, Qian Duoduo, had already unleashed their full-strength attacks.
Qian Duoduo threw the Cold Flame Pure Snow Spear, piercing directly at the man's heart. Yu Yixiang's silver sword shot out, striking towards his neck. Wang Longyu threw his wooden sword, stabbing upwards from the ground towards the man's lower abdomen.
With his Spiritual Qi exhausted, Qian Duoduo collapsed to the ground, immediately bit his tongue, chewed on a Qi Return Pill, struggled to his feet, and holding the Golden Rooster Sword, rushed out of the cave.
Outside the cave, the burly man held the axe handle in his left hand, thrusting it towards Wang Longyu. The rice-pot-sized axe head had flown off to who knows where. The combined attack of the three, Qian Duoduo, had severed the burly man's right hand.
Behind Wang Longyu, Yu Yixiang lay on the ground, unconscious. Wang Longyu sat half-submerged in the snow, holding up his wooden sword, like a pitiful ant trying to resist the tearing bite of a giant insect.
Just as the axe handle was about to strike the wooden sword, Qian Duoduo squeezed the hilt of the Golden Rooster Sword forcefully, and a loud rooster crow shot directly towards the burly man's Face.
The burly man had no time to dodge and took the full force of the sound wave attack, swaying dizzily for a few moments. Before he could recover, the Golden Rooster Sword was already plunged into his throat.
But at that moment, relying on instinct, the burly man's axe handle also struck Qian Duoduo's thigh.
The pain was excruciating! Qian Duoduo leaned on the axe handle with his left hand, cold sweat continuously pouring down his forehead.
Yu Yixiang struggled to get up, her left arm dangling limply. As she walked up to Qian Duoduo, her tears flowed again.
"Your hand?" Qian Duoduo asked with a smile.
"I'm fine, your leg—" Yu Yixiang extended her right hand and helped Qian Duoduo pull out the axe handle. Blood flowed down his skin and into his boot.
The blessing in disguise was that the axe handle had not pierced his bone.
Yu Yixiang pulled out a handkerchief, on which a beautiful Phoenix was embroidered. She used the handkerchief to bandage Qian Duoduo's wound. Qian Duoduo reset her dislocated left hand. Wang Longyu lay on the ground, clutching his waist, his legs trembling uncontrollably.
"Let's go together, back to the sect, for a big meal." Qian Duoduo lifted Wang Longyu and applied medicine to his sprained waist.
In Qian Duoduo's Spiritual Awareness, whistling sounds echoed from several directions in the forest.
The He Lou Family members were converging here.
The forest was as cold as a tomb. Snowflakes seemed to bury everything in this world, falling endlessly.
"Junior Brother Bu Huan," Yu Yixiang said with tears on her Face, smiling as she walked over and reached out to touch Qian Duoduo's Face, two rays of light shining from her eyes, "Don't be foolish, you can still walk. Escape by yourself..."
Wang Longyu's lips trembled, and he said indistinctly, "Quick."
"I won't!" Qian Duoduo grasped Yu Yixiang's hand. Yu Yixiang before him was ten thousand times more beautiful than when Qian Duoduo first saw her in the sect.
"Several of my Meridians are broken..." Yu Yixiang broke free from Qian Duoduo's hand and said with a faint smile, "As long as you escape and report to the sect, the He Lou Family won't dare to do anything to us. We can still meet alive and have that big meal."
"No..." How could Qian Duoduo not hear that this was a beautiful lie, a lie so beautiful it made his heart tremble.
"Go!" Wang Longyu trembled slightly all over and roared loudly. He desperately picked up his wooden sword and aimed it at his throat.