The golden fire ring exploded suddenly, and the Luminous Talisman Sword detonated with a roar, its tremendous power facing directly forward like a wall of fire, striking the woman in red.
A layer of red light first surfaced on her body, dim to the extreme. When the red light met the golden flames, it instantly shattered, with both being extinguished at the same time.
A remnant of the golden flames’ strength harshly struck the woman.
Phut!
The woman in red vomited a mouthful of blood, her sharp five-fingered claws fiercely scratching Lin Xin’s chest, piercing in a small length.
Hiss!
The two were separated by the explosion of flames, with Lin Xin falling to the ground disheartened. He rolled on the ground to dodge and a large chunk of flesh was torn from his chest.
The woman also stumbled back several meters, her claws dripping with blood.
"Damn it!" The woman in red hadn’t expected that casually grabbing a disciple to absorb his Essence Qi would result in encountering such a bizarre and resistant move.
The sword could actually explode!?
"Damn little bastard! I’ll devour you alive!!" She was hurt on top of injury, even more infuriated. She had just grasped a few Qi Cultivator disciples to nourish herself, and now she started to feel a dull pain in her chest. She became consumed by hatred. Her red and luscious small mouth rapidly split open, elongated, and inflated, transforming into something as wide as a bucket.
Woosh... Her dark gaping maw snapped down towards Lin Xin.
With a thunderous boom, another wave of red flames swept across. She suddenly saw the boy had produced another longsword. Her heart skipped a beat, and she swiftly dodged to the right.
If it had been a normal day, such tricks wouldn’t have injured a single hair on her, but now it was different. She had been seriously injured and nearly exhausted by a Spirit Gathering Physique chasing her all the way.
Having avoided the flames, she immediately noticed that these flames were not as threatening as before.
"You dare to bluff me!!"
She was furious. When had she fallen to the point where even an ordinary Innate could mock her?
"You still dare to harm people!!" Just then, from deep within the tunnel, a loud shout suddenly came.
"He Tianhe!!" The woman in red ground her teeth in hatred, but since she couldn’t confront him head-on, she turned and fled.
No sooner had the woman in red left than a white shadow floated into the tunnel. It was a stern-looking young man with only one eyebrow, none other than He Tianhe, who had been relentlessly pursuing her.
He glanced coldly at Lin Xin lying weakly on the ground.
"Stay hidden and be as careful as you can; this witch has been severely injured by me and is desperately absorbing Essence Qi from living people." After leaving those words behind, he rapidly continued the pursuit, vanishing into the tunnel within moments.
It was only then that Xiao Lingling, hearing the commotion, rushed out to find Lin Xin slumped on the ground, his upper body a bloody mess. She also saw the two figures departing in the distance of the tunnel.
"Brother Lin!" She exclaimed in shock.
"This is no place to linger! Hurry and leave!" Lin Xin just managed to take out a Sweet Dew Talisman, using his Inner Qi to constrict his muscles and veins, stopping the bleeding, but he was already pale as death. Inspecting his wound, he saw the flesh vaguely turning black; that red-clothed witch’s claws actually bore poison!
Xiao Lingling hurriedly helped him up, and the two staggered toward the exit of the tunnel.
***************
Supported by Xiao Lingling, Lin Xin moved through the tunnels in a dazed and stumbling manner. They traveled for several days.
He had a total of two hundred Sweet Dew Talismans and over two hundred Poison-Avoidance Talismans on him, all of which were used up in those days, barely suppressing the intense poison of the witch.
Along the way, Lin Xin even vomited two mouthfuls of black blood.
He watched helplessly as his Attributes fell to an extremely weak state. Fortunately, his Defense kicked in at a crucial moment, blocking the witch’s strike, causing her to miscalculate. What should have been a claw attack that would have gouged out his heart ended up being just a shallow penetration, tearing off only a portion of flesh.
The trouble was with the intense poison.
Lin Xin used up all of his Poison-Avoidance Talismans and Xiao Lingling’s as well, just barely keeping the poison from spreading and worsening.
But his body was now extremely weak and frail. His entire Inner Qi was continuously resisting the toxin’s erosion.
After several days of travel, they were almost back to the underground river cave.
The two stood at the entrance of the large cavern, with the sounds of the underground river’s rushing waters faintly audible outside and the cool breeze blowing in from the cave entrance, very refreshing.
In the sounds of the wind, they could vaguely hear voices.
Xiao Lingling became immediately overjoyed, herself also exhausted to the limit, and hastened to get out and seek help with Lin Xin.
"Wait!"
Lin Xin suddenly held her back.
"What’s wrong, Brother Lin?" Xiao Lingling turned back puzzled, but seeing Lin Xin shaking his head at her, she quickly understood.
"I was thoughtless. In such a state, if we go out and someone becomes greedy..."
She bit her lip and propped Lin Xin against the wall.
Lin Xin struggled to sit cross-legged on the ground and started to regulate his breathing. To fight off the poison, he had been barely keeping his Inner Qi at a level where only one-fifth could be used.
Taking out the last Qi Transforming Elixir he received from Song Jing, he placed it in his mouth.
Continuing to regulate his breathing with closed eyes, after a moment, Lin Xin’s complexion faintly regained a bit of color. He suddenly opened his eyes and stood up.
"Brother Lin..." Xiao Lingling hurried to support him.
"No need," Lin Xin raised his hand to indicate, "let’s talk after we get up. I’ve temporarily restored about one-third of my Inner Strength with the Qi Transforming Elixir. I should have no problem walking for the time being."
"I understand," Xiao Lingling nodded, her expression slightly nervous. "The human heart can be treacherous, Brother Lin. Don’t worry, I won’t give anything away."
Lin Xin nodded. "Let’s go." His back bearing his last sword, the Solar Yang Talisman Sword, he strode out of the tunnel entrance.