Chương 168: Old Gu

Looking at the lifeless corpse which lay on the floor, the humans present felt like they were in a dream. The yin soldier was dead! And from the beginning to the end of the battle, it was like a one sided slaughter. The yin ghosts were slaughtered by the violent rain sealing formation while the yin soldier was casually killed by the old man.

The difference between them was difficult to measure, but one thing was certain; the old man's achievement in the soul path was probably comparable to those earth shaking human deities! The old man looked around and ensured that all the yin ghosts were dead before he waved his hand and dispersed the formation on the floor. He turned to the hundred or so humans alive.

"The yin soldier is dead. You can all leave now. The seniors from the four regions have arrived and are rushing towards the center of the forest. You can all head there too if you want to be safe." One of the peak spirit level humans stood up and cupped his fist with a bow.

"Senior has shown us great graciousness by saving our lives. I, Ma Qing will forever be grateful to senior. If this lowly one has anyway to repay senior's grace, I will not hesitate to do…" He was cut short by the old man, "Alright! You can go now. I understand" he yawned. The spirit level master didn't mind the indifferent tone of the old man as he bowed again and flashed away, disappearing into the cave passage leading back to the surface.

The others also stood up and bowed respectfully, some of them even politely invited the old man to their continents before they left. Some of them were impressively from the four regions with hegemon forces backing them. The old man paid no heed to them all and remained standing leisurely. After all of the people left, the old man turned to look at a group of people who were crowded together around a battered palace.

"That kid…" he muttered. As Long Feng was unconscious and the origin spirit palace was damaged, the hundreds of long clansmen, Yan jian, hua Liuli and Li Yue'er all crowded around him. Long Feng was currently in a very bad situation. Many of his bones were broken in multiple locations, his meridians were almost severed, his dantian was very dry as his aura fluctuated, his soul world was in tatters and his vitality was weak. The casualties went on and on.

In short, he was extremely lucky to be alive considering his situation. His breath was very faint and he was covered in blood from head to toe. All the healing pills of the group had been fed to him, but it was like he wasn't taking anything. Nothing was showing any effect at all. The atmosphere around them was solemn as they sat around him. Long Feng had been the one to bring them together here, and with him in such state now, they could do nothing other than to wait and hope he could somehow recover.

"If you keep staring at him like that, he will most probably die very soon you know…" an old voice casually spoke. Looking at the speaker, it turned out to be the old man with unfathomable soul cultivation. He was walking over slowly with a kind smile. All of them had witnessed the power of this seemingly weak old man when he single-handedly went against the whole group of yin ghosts and casually slain them all. He was a terrifyingly powerful existence! They were all immediately alarmed as they became cautious.

After all, they didn't know if he was a friend or a foe.

"Don't worry. This old master owes this young friend a favor, although it wasn't very important nor did I expected it. Nevertheless, I can't bring myself to walk away like this. Besides, he is an interesting kid and saving his life may turn out to be worthwhile" the old man slowly spoke. A faint soul power spread out and calmed down all of them, causing them to lower their caution.

"Staying here is dangerous. You should all get into this palace and leave the kid with me. I will try to heal him while I find a safer place to hide" the old man proposed. If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. Indeed, moving with a group of over three hundred people in a place like the yin ghosts forest was simply courting death. The Long clansmen hesitated before they agreed and returned to the origin spirit palace.

Long Yuan remained though, accompanied by Yan jian, Hua Liuli and Li Yue'er. The old clan master of the Long clan also wanted to stay behind but was persuaded to go by Long Yuan and the other clansmen. Long Yuan looked up.

"I'm not going and leaving my son in this state. I will remain out here." Long Yuan spoke decisively. Although he felt great respect and even fear for this mysterious powerful figure, he really couldn't bring himself to leaving Long Feng with a stranger in his condition. The old man nodded understandingly and glanced questioningly at the other trio.

"He is in this state because of me. I'm sticking around." Yan jian explained without looking up.

"I'm also not leaving!" Hua Liuli raised her head and said lightly. Li Yue'er remained silent, but the calm determination on her beautiful face already spoke what was on her mind. Her face veil had been destroyed by the yin soldier, so she could only leave her face exposed untill she got another veil.

"Good. He has such loyal friends, I almost feel envious. Let's gets going then" the old man didn't ask anything more as he slowly walked towards the tattered origin spirit palace. The palace was also in quite an unfavorable state. The doors were shattered, the walls were cracked, the formations laid on it were mostly destroyed, it had fallen by an entire grade; from the spirit grade to the incomplete spirit grade. The old man stood before the palace and placed his palm on it.

His soul power stirred as he found the control core of the palace which was also damaged. Sensing Long Feng's soul imprint in the core, he used his formidable soul power to temporarily isolate Long Feng's soul imprint and take control of the palace.

"Done!" the palace shrank to the size of a palm and landed on the man's palm.

"What did you do?" Yan jian asked with a frown, though his voice remained respectful.

"Don't worry. I only temporarily took control of the palace. It will return to his control the moment he awakens." The man smiled and explained. Yan jian didn't say anything else and they all left this underground territory in silence.

"Urgh!" Long Feng slowly opened his eyes with some difficulty. He immediately groaned in pain. His entire body was sore and painful. There wasn't even an ounce of energy in his dantian, and his meridians were injured. He felt very weak, even weaker than a mortal. But he seemed to be in a much better situation than he expected. He tried to use his soul power to sense his surroundings, only to be stopped by a sudden sharp pain in his head.

He smiled wryly, remembering that he had forcefully burned his soul power in exchange for more power, almost causing the collapse of his soul world in the process.

"Where am I… and Yan jian, Li Yue'er…" he was forced to cut off his thoughts by the pain in his head. He couldn't even think straight and had no memories of what happened after he was grabbed by the yin soldier and an indescribably powerful soul power descended and suppressed his soul. As he was trying hard to remember, he heard hurried footsteps rush into wherever he was.

"Brother Long Feng! You're alive!" Yan jian's teary voice sounded in the dimly lit surrounding.

"Big brother Long Feng, you're awake!" Hua Liuli's voice also sounded right after. Turning his head to look on their direction, he spotted four figured entering through a cave entrance.

"So I'm in a cave!" He thought.

"Or could we all be dead?"

"Sob! * Brother Long Feng! *Sob! Sob!!" Yan jian rushed over to his side while sobbing.

"Are you… crying?" Long Feng asked, surprised.

"Of course I am. You've been unconscious for two days straight, looking like you would die at any moment! Sob! I was so worried. I wouldn't have been able to forgive myself if anything had happened to you!" He replied in a teary voice.

"How are you feeling?" Hua Liuli asked worriedly. Long Feng could finally make out the figures of Yan jian, Hua Liuli, Li Yue'er and his father; Long Yuan.

"I'm alright, you don't have to worry" Long Feng replied gently. Yan jian instantly cut in.

"How is this alright? You were beaten up until you were a hair's breath away from dying. That bastard yin soldier was so ruthless! I would have killed him if he wasn't already dead. He should count himself lucky for dying to someone else!" He shouted.

"But you were too rash, brother Long Feng. You shouldn't have come to save us and send yourself to death. It is all our fault… I…"

"It's fine, really. I'm alright, aren't I?" Long Feng interrupted calmly.

"No, you're not. You sacrificed two levels and fell back to the yin realm from the Yang realm. You also but need your life source. You shouldn't have…" Yan jian closed his eyes in grief as he spoke. He hated himself for being weak, for being unable to protect themselves against the Yin ghosts. He hated that he wasn't able to aid Long Feng at that moment.

"I couldn't stand aside and watch as my only friends were killed. I had to do something, even if it meant loosing my life. What is a mere two cultivation levels compared to your lives? I could sacrifice more if necessary" Long Feng said with a faint smile, shooting a glance at Li Yue'er. Yan jian teared up again.

"Still, it wasn't worth it to send yourself to death. What if you had not survived? Even if we had managed to escape at that point, it will all be for naught without you. I won't be able to ever forgive myself and that will undoubtedly hinder my martial cultivation. I would have preferred to die together""We all survived. That is good enough. Moreover, what are friends for?" Long Feng smiled. Yan jian held Long Feng's hand.

"Brother Long Feng, from this moment, I swear that anyone who hurts you will have to face my rage. I will follow you through thick and thin, and we will conquer higher martial realms together as sworn brothers!"

"Good!" Long Feng nodded. From this moment henceforth, he and Yan jian were sworn brothers and would face opportunity and danger together no matter what happened.

"Alright, enough. I also need some time with my son, don't you all think?" Long Yuan said with a faint smile on his face.

"Father, I've made you worried again" Long Feng said.

"Don't say that. You are safe and that is all that matters. Just try not to do that again though" Long Yuan replied gently.

"Alright, enough of all this. Old Gu is waiting to come in too" Hua Liuli interrupted.

"Old Gu? Who's that?" Long Feng asked, though he already had a faint guess.

"Oh, you aren't really aware of what happened. After you fell unconscious…" Yan jian immediately explained everything that happened in details. Long Feng listened in awe, almost imagining how epic that fight was.

"I must properly thank this senior for saving our lives. Where is he?" Long Feng was aware that if the old man hadn't intervened at the last moment, then he would have lost more than just two cultivation levels even if he did survive. He thus owed the old man a huge favor. He immediately made to stand up, but the pain made him give up and lay back.

"Don't bother. It was something I would have done anyway." An old voice sounded from the cave entrance as an old grey haired man walked in, emanating the aura of the peak spirit level. Long Feng knew without needing to be told that this was old Gu, the mysterious soul cultivation master with unfathomable depths. He could feel a mysterious and elusive aura from this old man which undoubtedly stemmed from the man's powerful soul power.

"Long Feng greets senior!" He immediately clasped his fists while lying down.

"No need to be so polite! Call me old Gu." The old man said with a kind smile as his sharp eyes looked over Long Feng.

"Indeed, heroes come from the youth. I have never seen a brave kid like you, who doesn't hesitate to stake his life for the sake of his friends. Your kinds are quite rare in the current world." Old Gu said with approval. Long Feng laughed wryly, "this Junior almost lost his life if it wasn't for senior's help. My actions were quite laughable actually" he replied. Old Gu smiled.

"It doesn't matter whether you succeeded or you failed. What matters is your determination. With a determined heart, everything is possible."