He Yuzhu returns in Siheyuan

Chapter 811 Long Si is injured

Xiao Shuai's face drained of color instantly. The excitement he felt when watching his master shatter Long Jiao's spirits vanished as if doused with a bucket of ice water, leaving only a trembling, panicked heartbeat. He frantically grabbed Long Si's swaying arm, the fabric his palms touched already soaked in blood, sticky and burning his fingertips.

"Master! What's wrong with you?" His voice was trembling with barely suppressed sobs, filled with the unique fear of a young man. "Just now, when you were fighting with Long Jiao and the others, you were still cursing her as a 'despicable villain' with great vigor, the sound of your voice even making the mountains vibrate. How come you turned around and... started vomiting blood?" He looked at the blood foam that kept gushing out from between Long Si's fingers, so red it was almost black, just like the rotten mud in a mountain stream, and his stomach tightened.

Long Si clutched his chest, his knuckles white from the force, yet blood still seeped through his fingers, staining his clothes with a gruesome crimson. His face was as white as paper soaked through mountain mist, even his lips were bloodless. With each breath, a hoarse, guttural sound came from his throat, like a broken bellows straining against him. "I... I'm injured," he said, his voice as faint as a candle flickering in the wind. "Quick... find a secluded place, I need to catch my breath, if I'm too late... it'll be troublesome."

Xiao Shuai belatedly realized that his master's thunderous appearance just now was all a facade! Little did he know that Long Si had been locked in a fierce battle with his demon-possessed son, Long Shishen, for three hundred rounds at the Mountain God Temple. Although the battle was evenly matched, the demonic power, carrying a bone-corroding ferocity, had already shaken his internal organs as if they had been crushed by a heavy hammer, depleting seventy or eighty percent of his divine power. He had just managed to catch his breath, dragging his shaky body, when he was caught in a pincer attack by Long Tian and Long Jiao. Long Tian's heavy punch was wrapped in the Long family's "Mountain-Splitting Force," specifically targeting vital meridians. When he took the hit head-on, he felt his chest explode with a "bang," and he almost couldn't suppress the metallic taste in his throat. Long Jiao was even more insidious. While she cursed fiercely, she silently spewed poisonous breath from her fingertips. The poison seeped into his wounds from the fight, and now it was like countless small snakes writhing wildly in his meridians, burning him to the bone. He couldn't tell this teenager about his suffering, so he could only grit his teeth and swallow the pain.

"Okay! I'll find it right away!" Xiao Shuai didn't bother to ask any more questions. He squatted down with a "thump," his back straight. His coarse cloth jacket clung to his body in the mountain wind, revealing his thin but sturdy spine. "Master, you can climb on my back, I'll carry you, quick!"

Long Si hesitated for a moment, about to say "no need," but his body went limp, his vision blurred, and he almost collapsed. He could only follow Xiao Shuai's strength and weakly climb onto him. Xiao Shuai was just over fifteen, not very tall, and his shoulders still had the thinness of a teenager, but he carried Long Si with surprising stability. Although Long Si was thin, his frame was heavy, causing Xiao Shuai's shoulders to sag slightly, the veins on his neck to bulge like earthworms, and beads of sweat to stream down his face, splashing onto the withered leaves at his feet, leaving dark spots. He gritted his teeth, his steps unsteady, but he didn't dare to stop for a moment, stumbling deeper into the denser forest, oblivious to the thorns tearing his trousers.

After walking for about half an hour, darkness completely enveloped the mountains and forests, with only a few scattered stars twinkling through the gaps in the clouds. The chirping of insects in the forest suddenly became lively, their "chirp" and "croak" mingling with the rustling of leaves in the wind, creating a scene even more serene than during the day. Xiao Shuai finally stopped at the foot of a steep cliff—where a cave was hidden. The entrance was concealed by dense green vines, with withered reeds hanging among them, like a natural curtain. Without a close look, this place hidden behind the rock face would be completely undetectable.

He carefully helped Long Si into the cave. The cave walls were damp and cold, and it was pitch black inside. He groped around and picked up a few fist-sized stones, which blocked most of the entrance, leaving only a narrow crack for ventilation. Through this crack, one could see the swaying shadows of trees outside, but those outside could hardly detect any movement inside the cave.

“Master, this place is very secluded, sheltered from the wind and rain. You can rest here in peace.” Xiao Shuai patted the dirt off his hands, then pulled out an oil paper package from his pocket. Inside was half a dry, hard wheat cake and a gourd that rattled when shaken. This was his two days' worth of provisions. He handed the package to Long Si, his voice a little embarrassed: “This is all I have left. Please have some. I’ll guard the door. No one from the Long family, no matter what, mountain spirits or monsters, will get close!”

Long Si nodded weakly, leaned against the cold cave wall, and slowly closed his eyes to circulate his internal energy. His meridians felt like they were being pierced by countless red-hot needles; his divine power was in a chaotic mess, and even the slightest movement caused him to break out in a cold sweat, which instantly soaked his back. He smiled bitterly to himself—this injury would probably take at least ten days to half a month to heal.

Outside the cave, Xiao Shuai sat down against the rock blocking the entrance, clutching a rusty dagger he had found. His eyes were wide open, like a wolf cub protecting its young, warily watching the dark forest. The night wind whistled through the treetops, carrying the chill of the mountain stream, making him shiver, but he didn't dare blink. His master was so badly injured this time; he had to keep a close watch on him and not let anyone disturb his recovery.

Moonlight occasionally filtered through the gaps in the trees, illuminating his face, which was covered in mud and grass clippings. His eyes shone with an astonishing brightness, reflecting starlight and a stubbornness that rivaled that of an adult.

The council hall of the human race's powerful figures was located in a floating palace hidden in an endless sea of ​​clouds. A huge luminous pearl was embedded in the ceiling, illuminating the intricate runes carved on the beams and pillars, which glowed with a faint spiritual light, subtly radiating an aura of suppression. Huang Shu, the patriarch of the Huang family, and Ye Zhen, the patriarch of the Ye family, huddled in a corner of their guest seats, their brows slightly furrowed, their fingertips unconsciously rubbing their cuffs, remaining silent throughout. They exchanged a silent glance, both seeing a tacit understanding in each other's eyes—during the most intense disturbances of the demon race last night, they clearly sensed several incomparably powerful dragon energies suddenly weaken, flickering like candles burning out, indicating that those dragons had been severely injured in the fierce battle.

The elite disciples sent by the family to investigate had already set off overnight. Huang Shu stroked his gray beard, secretly calculating: if he could find the injured dragons first and seize the dragon pearls containing their primordial power while they were weakened, his cultivation, which had been stuck at his current level for many years, would definitely advance to another major realm. At that time, the Huang family's status among humans would probably be such that even the current major sects would have to show him deference... Thinking of this, a barely perceptible smile crept onto his lips, but fearing that others would see through it, he quickly suppressed it and resumed his inscrutable demeanor.