This was the inside the shell of the Xuanwu of Slaughter—how could there be any light?
Wei WuXian spun around. As he had thought, a large pair of golden eyes was inches away from him.
He had just realized that the thundering snores had disappeared, while the orange glow was coming right out of the pair of Xuanwu eyes!
The Xuanwu of Slaughter flashed its criss-crossed fangs, an arrangement of black and yellow, and roared through its open mouth.
Wei WuXian was standing just between its fangs. Attacked face-front by the waves of the roar, his ears felt as though they were about to explode and even his entire body began to hurt. Watching as it it lunged toward him, Wei WuXian stuffed the bundle of iron rods into its mouth. Both the timing and position was just right. Not a second over or an inch under, it locked into the upper and lower jaws of the beast!
While the beast was unable to close its mouth, Wei WuXian stabbed an entire bundle of arrows into the most delicate part of its skin. Although the arrows were thin, Wei WuXian had tied five into one bundle and stuck it so deep into the beast’s flesh so that even the feather fletching had sunk in. It was as though they were a poisoned needle. Under the extreme pain, the Xuanwu forced its mouth shut so much that all of the iron rods between its fangs curved. The half-a-dozen straight rods were immediately pressed into the shape of a hook by its intense bite. Wei WuXian stuck a few more bundles of arrows into its soft skin. Ever since it was born, the beast had never been at so great of a disadvantage. It was mad with pain. Its snake-like body writhed as hard as it could within its shell and its head smashed around as well, causing the mound of corpses to churn with the force of a landslide. Wei WuXian was almost entirely submerged in the rancid limbs. The Xuanwu of Slaughter widened its eyes, magnifying the hideous yellow. Mouth opening, it seemed as though it wanted to swallow everything up. The corpse mound slid toward its mouth at the speed of a flood. Wei WuXian was struggling, swimming against the current, when he suddenly grabbed onto an iron sword. His heart sank. The piercing wails sounded within his ears again.
Wei WuXian’s body was already sucked into the mouth of the Xuanwu. Seeing that the beast was about to close its mouth, sword in hand, Wei WuXian used the same technique again and stuck it between the jaws of the beast.
The internal organs of hundred-year-old beasts like this one were usually capable of erosion. If one were to be swallowed, they’d melt into a wisp of smoke in an instant!
Wei WuXian grabbed firmly onto the sword. Like a pick, he was fixed to its mouth, unable to go either way. The Xuanwu of Slaughter slammed around for a while. It couldn’t swallow the pick no matter what, unable to close its mouth, but it didn’t want to loosen its mouth either. It finally shot out of its shell!
It was afraid of how Wei WuXian stung it while it was within its shell. As though it wanted to escape, it tried as hard as it could to squeeze its body out, so hard that the delicate flesh that had been hidden under its armor was revealed as well. And Lan WangJi had already positioned the chord before the hole of its head. He had been waiting since long ago. As soon as the Xuanwu rushed outside, he pulled the chord tight and strummed across it. The bowstring vibrated and cut into its flesh!
The beast could neither go in nor come out, suppressed by the two’s attacks. It was a deformed beast and not truly divine. It never had much intelligence to begin with. Under the pain, it had gone completely insane, waving its head and its tail as it rampaged within the dark water. It tumbled inside a large whirlpool, stirring up crashing waves. But, no matter what it did, one of the two stuck firmly to its mouth so that it couldn’t eat anything while the other used a chord to strangle its thin vital region, cutting into it inch by inch. As the cut deepened, its bleeding also worsened!
Lan WangJi pulled tightly on the chord, refusing to loosen up for even a split second. He held for six hours.
Six hours later was when the Xuanwu of Slaughter finally ceased to move.
The vital region of the beast had almost been parted with the rest of its body due to Lan WangJi’s chord. Having overexerted his strength, his own palms were also covered in blood and gashes. The titan of a shell floated above the water. The pool had already been dyed a purple shade of red visible to the naked eye. The odor of blood was so thick that it could be mistaken for a pond from purgatory.
With a plop, Lan WangJi leaped into water and swam toward its head. The Xuanwu’s eyes were wide open. Its pupils had already dimmed, yet its mouth still bit down tightly.
Lan WangJi, “Wei Ying!”
No sound came from within the beast’s mouth.
Lan WangJi reached out at once, grabbing the two rows of fangs and forcing them apart. Swimming in water without anything that he could use to support himself, he could only open them after straining for quite a while. Inside, he saw a black iron sword stuck within the mouth of the beast. Both the tip and the handle had pierced deep into its flesh. The blade had already been forced into a curvature.
Wei WuXian’s entire body was curled up in the shape of a shrimp. Head facing down, his hands still clenched onto the not-so-sharp blade of the sword. He had almost slid into the throat of the Xuanwu. Lan WangJi grabbed his lapel at once and pulled him out. As soon as the Xuanwu’s jaws loosened, the iron sword slipped into the water and sunk to the bottom.
Eyes tightly shut, Wei WuXian lay limply over Lan WangJi’s body, one arm around his shoulder. Holding his waist, Lan WangJi floated over the bloody water with him, “Wei Ying!”
His hands trembled slightly. Just as he was about to touch Wei WuXian’s cheek, Wei WuXian suddenly shivered and woke up, “What’s happening? What’s happening? Is it dead? Is it dead?!”
He flopped lightly, causing both of their bodies to sink deeper into the water. Lan WangJi’s arm tightened around his waist, “It is!”
Wei WuXian’s gaze was blank, as though he had trouble realizing what was going on. He only replied after thinking for a while, “It’s dead? It’s dead… Great! It’s dead. Earlier on it kept on screaming, screaming as it rolled around, and then I fainted. Oh right, the hole! The hole underwater. Quick, let’s go. Let’s get out through the hole.”
Lan WangJi sensed that his behavior was strange, “What is wrong?”
Wei WuXian was suddenly energetic, “Nothing! Let’s get out as soon as possible. There’s no time to lose.”
There was indeed no time to lose. Lan WangJi nodded, “I will take you.”
Wei WuXian, “There’s no need…”
Yet, Lan WangJi’s right arm was still wrapped like an iron belt around his waist, stating in an irrefutable tone, “Breathe in.”
Going underwater in such a daze was probably not the best idea. Wei WuXian didn’t like to force himself, either, and nodded. The two took in a deep breath and dove into the water.
A moment later, two splashes bursted from the purple-red water. The two slunk out again.
Wei WuXian spat out a mouthful of the bloody water and wiped his face, covering it with the purplish red. He looked even worse than before, “What’s wrong?! Why isn’t there a hole?!”
Jiang Cheng had indeed said that there was a hole in the bottom of the pool able to let half a dozen people pass through at once, and the other disciples did indeed already escape from the hole. Wei WuXian had originally thought that it couldn’t be found because it was blocked by the Xuanwu’s body, but the corpse of the Xuanwu was already in a different place, yet there was still no hole where its body used to be.