Comprehending Myriad Techniques as Woodcutter

Chapter 183: Chapter 156: Bountiful Harvest

Mu Chaoyun stood still for a moment, observing in silence. Once she confirmed that Deng Wan was well and truly dead, she hurried back the way she came.

Xie Yuan had already struggled to sit up. He was leaning against a large tree, grimacing in pain.

He coughed twice. His gaze fell upon the long trail of blood Deng Wan had left in the distance, and he sighed with a complex mix of feelings.

’The life force of a Grandmaster is truly tenacious.’

Xie Yuan was certain that anyone else, even a martial artist at the Qi and Blood Metamorphosis Realm, could not have possibly run so fast after being nearly sliced in two. Nor could they have crawled so far after taking a full-force palm strike from Mu Chaoyun, let alone plot a final, desperate counterattack.

When he saw Mu Chaoyun approaching, she seemed to relax slightly upon noticing that he could still move.

Her slender figure came to a stop before him. Xie Yuan struggled to get to his feet, but only managed to stagger.

That first axe strike had taken all his strength, and the second had completely drained his Blood Qi and internal energy. His meridians were now empty and his bloodline quiescent. He was utterly spent, in no better condition than Mu Chaoyun.

On top of that, he had been struck by a shockwave from Deng Wan’s power, injuring his internal organs. He truly didn’t even have the strength to stand.

A slender hand reached out to him. Xie Yuan raised his own to take it, but his strength failed him mid-air, and he collapsed back onto his rear.

But Mu Chaoyun was also at the end of her rope. When Xie Yuan pulled on her, she lost her balance and tumbled to the ground as well.

The two of them looked at each other, speechless. Mu Chaoyun shifted away awkwardly, but they still ended up leaning against the large tree together, shoulder to shoulder and hand in hand. Sitting there, she let out a long sigh.

The great battle was over. The cost had been immense, but...

They were alive, and Deng Wan was dead.

A wave of immense relief washed over them both.

Xie Yuan turned to look at Mu Chaoyun. Her face was flushed a deep red, tinged with purple. Though the strange color contrasted with her naturally pale skin to create a unique, striking beauty, still...

’A purplish flush after a fierce battle... it’s a clear sign of overdosing on some kind of medicine.’

He asked with concern,

"How are you feeling?"

Mu Chaoyun gently shook her head. She wanted to say she was fine, but what came out was,

"Why didn’t you leave?"

Xie Yuan smiled.

"I told you, didn’t I? I can’t just stand by and watch you get bullied."

He winked, his smile radiant.

Mu Chaoyun stared at him, momentarily stunned. She then turned her head away, lightly pursing her lips.

Then she let out a breath and nodded.

"If it weren’t for you, the outcome would have been uncertain. That axe technique of yours... did you just master it? I can’t believe it could actually injure Deng Wan."

Even with Mu Chaoyun’s normally placid and unruffled demeanor, her face was now a mask of astonishment. She simply couldn’t comprehend it.

’Even if Deng Wan were just a wooden training dummy, he’d be a Grandmaster Level one.’

’Xie Yuan is an External Training practitioner. Even if he used every ounce of his strength, he shouldn’t have been able to break Deng Wan’s skin after hacking at him all day.’

Even with her distracting ninety percent of Deng Wan’s attention and power, it was still shocking and incomprehensible that Xie Yuan’s two axe strikes had nearly cut the man in two.

Mu Chaoyun blinked, sizing up Xie Yuan. She could only attribute his feat to the power of the Black Celestial Book.

Xie Yuan was noncommittal. He merely lifted a hand, only to let it fall limply.

"This is the price. We’re both half-crippled now. Put us together and maybe we’d make one functional person. But our teamwork... we were truly of one mind."

His coordination with Mu Chaoyun had been seamless, their timing perfect. That was the only reason they’d succeeded.

After spending so much time together and often training side-by-side, achieving this level of synergy wasn’t surprising. However, he recalled that they’d had a similar tacit understanding even during their first encounter with Lu the Third, which was truly remarkable.

Mu Chaoyun sounded a little flustered but didn’t argue. Instead, she asked curiously,

"How were you so certain you could have a breakthrough with the Black Celestial Book?"

To her, this was even more incomprehensible than his ability to injure a Grandmaster.

No one in the world understood the Eight Trigrams Lotus better than she did. Therefore, for Xie Yuan to bet on it had seemed like a fool’s gambit to her.

And yet, Xie Yuan’s gamble had paid off. Had he really been so confident?

Xie Yuan didn’t know how to explain, so he just said,

"I felt like I had a sort of connection with it, too. I just had a feeling a breakthrough was close."

Mu Chaoyun was skeptical but could offer no other explanation.

She sized Xie Yuan up and down. ’Could his luck truly be so heaven-defying?’ she wondered.

The dense fog from the array had already dissipated. The two of them sat in the woods as dappled sunlight filtered through the canopy. A gentle breeze caressed their cheeks, bringing with it a refreshing and leisurely feeling.

If not for Deng Wan’s corpse lying in the distance, it would feel as if they were on a picnic, and they would have been tempted to sit there a while longer.

After resting for a moment, Xie Yuan and Mu Chaoyun finally regained a bit of strength. They helped each other to their feet; it was true that only by leaning on each other could they stand steady.

"Are you sure he’s dead for good?"

Xie Yuan asked, looking at Mu Chaoyun.

Mu Chaoyun nodded.

"Even if he wasn’t dead a moment ago, he’s bled out by now. A Grandmaster might be powerful, but he’s no god."

Xie Yuan nodded, a glint in his eyes.

He picked up the heavy, black whip. Without a Grandmaster’s control, it looked just like an ordinary horsewhip.

Then, he and Mu Chaoyun shuffled over to Deng Wan’s corpse. He prodded the mangled, bloody wound at Deng Wan’s waist with the whip. The sight made Mu Chaoyun’s eyelid twitch, and she felt a phantom ache in her own waist.

After confirming that Deng Wan was as dead as could be, an excited Xie Yuan took out his long knife, sliced open the man’s clothes to reveal a hidden inner pocket, and pulled everything out.

There was a stack of silver notes, a box, a token from the Golden Dragon Trading Company, and a few other miscellaneous items. Nothing more.

Xie Yuan counted the silver notes and gasped.

There were six large-denomination notes of one thousand taels each. Including the smaller bills, the total came to over sixty-six hundred taels.

He shot Deng Wan’s corpse a strange look. ’Is this the kind of fortune a Grandmaster has? Who carries this much money around just for a trip out?’

’Well, it’s all mine now!’

"Deng Wan was with the Golden Dragon Trading Company for many years," Mu Chaoyun explained. "The company operates across the borderlands, so it’s not surprising he had access to such wealth."

Coming from a major clan, she wasn’t particularly moved by the silver notes. She simply picked up the box, inspected it for a moment, then opened a hidden mechanism. Looking at the large, ant-like insect inside, her eyes widened slightly in surprise before she nodded in understanding.

"No wonder. So this is a Thousand-Mile Ant."

"What’s a Thousand-Mile Ant?"

Xie Yuan asked curiously.

"The Thousand-Mile Ant is a rare, exotic insect from the Western Regions, also known as the Blind Worm. Its ability to find people and follow trails is second to none; it can track a target from a thousand miles away. Deng Wan must have been using this to follow us the whole time."

Mu Chaoyun nodded, then picked up the whip again. After appraising it for a moment, she remarked with a nod,

"This Profound Weapon should radiate a brilliant golden light. It’s a righteous weapon, truly wasted in the hands of a corrupt man like Deng Wan."

Xie Yuan curiously examined the whip. It was pitch-black, about the length of his forearm, and looked no different from an ordinary horsewhip. He couldn’t see anything special about it.

"It certainly doesn’t look as incomparably powerful as it did a moment ago," Xie Yuan commented.

Mu Chaoyun said calmly,

"A Profound Weapon’s power depends on its wielder. Without Grandmaster Level Inner Strength infused into it, it won’t display its miraculous properties. Like this..."

She squeezed her hand, and a bolt of golden lightning suddenly flared from the whip. It was about to spiral up the weapon’s length when, with a soft FIZZ, it abruptly died out, leaving the whip as just a pitch-black, ordinary-looking object once more.

The forest fell silent for a moment. Not a sound was heard.

Xie Yuan couldn’t help but blink. ’That’s it?’

’It’s like a lighter out of fluid.’

Mu Chaoyun put the whip away, her face impassive.

"Just like that. Ahem, these other items aren’t worth looking at..."

Her cheeks flushed as she quickly changed the subject.

’If my internal reserves weren’t so depleted, I wouldn’t have messed up so badly.’

Fortunately, her complexion was already unnatural, so Xie Yuan didn’t notice a thing.

After taking stock of their loot, the two exchanged a look. It was a good haul.

One Profound Weapon, a box with an exotic insect, and a large sum of silver notes—a bountiful harvest indeed.

Mu Chaoyun mulled it over for a second, then said,

"You can’t use the Profound Weapon, so how about I..."

"You can do what you think is best with it."

Xie Yuan waved his hand dismissively.

"Why are you being so formal? Didn’t you already use the Celestial Cyan Fruit for my sake?"

Seeing how readily Xie Yuan agreed, Mu Chaoyun lowered her gaze slightly.

’So many people who were inseparable allies one moment would turn on each other over the spoils of battle the next. A Profound Weapon was a treasure more than capable of inciting a life-or-death struggle.’

’She knew Xie Yuan wasn’t that kind of person, but seeing him give it away without a second thought still moved her heart.’

But as Xie Yuan had said, even though she hadn’t intentionally given him the Celestial Cyan Fruit, the subsequent Spiritual Liquid she had used was far more valuable than a mere Profound Weapon. Besides, after supporting each other on the run, studying the Black Celestial Book together, and facing life and death side-by-side, their bond had long surpassed the value of any material object.

As Mu Chaoyun was lost in thought, she suddenly heard Xie Yuan ask,

"Miss Mu, I thought my recent progress was just from effective training, but it was the Celestial Cyan Fruit... It couldn’t have been easy for you to catalyze it for me, right?"

Mu Chaoyun saw Xie Yuan’s gaze fixed on her and replied with a placid expression,

"It didn’t cost me much..."

"What I mean is, how did you catalyze it for me? You didn’t sneak over and do something to me in the middle of the night, did you?"

Xie Yuan asked suspiciously. He clearly recalled the time Mu Chaoyun had gotten up in the middle of the night to sneak some food.

Mu Chaoyun’s face flushed hot again. ’How can he say things like that?’

’Even though it’s technically true, why does it sound so crude coming from his mouth?’

She retorted, both embarrassed and annoyed,

"Don’t be ridiculous!"

Her reaction only made Xie Yuan more suspicious. He looked her up and down and pressed,

"You really didn’t?"

"Do you really have the energy to be talking such nonsense?"

Mu Chaoyun pursed her lips and said icily.

She took out her Eight Trigrams Plate, performed a quick calculation, and stiffly changed the subject.

"We should... go."

Mu Chaoyun’s words faltered. She froze, her expression changing.

Seeing this, Xie Yuan immediately asked,

"What’s wrong?"

"It’s still all paths of peril... There’s only one path of survival. How can that be?"

Mu Chaoyun cried out in disbelief.

Xie Yuan’s brow furrowed at her words. He watched as she quickly scanned their surroundings.

The woods were deathly quiet, with no sound other than the wind rustling through the trees.

Mu Chaoyun’s brows furrowed deeply, her expression a mix of shock and uncertainty as she spoke rapidly,

"Killing Deng Wan should have resolved at least half of our crisis. How can this be... Has Lu the Third caught up? But why hasn’t he shown himself?"

She was baffled. This result made no sense to her.

Xie Yuan didn’t understand divination, so he just frowned and said,

"Then should we leave as soon as possible?"

Mu Chaoyun put away the Array Plate and nodded silently.

"Let’s go. Lu the Third might be right behind us."

Both of them were in terrible shape, but they had no choice but to pack up their spoils and, leaning on each other for support, stumble forward.

A light breeze swept through the woods, causing the leaves to rustle.

Deng Wan’s body lay quietly on the ground, the pool of blood beneath it long since dried.

Suddenly, the leaves of a nearby bush parted.

A pair of boots stepped out, coming to a halt before Deng Wan’s corpse.

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