After Niu Chang left to chase after Shen Sanhua, the two disciples, Wan You and Wei Hong, who had been unable to sleep all night, chose to stay where they were.
"Senior brother, shall we leave now?" Wei Hong asked quietly, her eyelids trembling due to the sleepless night.
Wan You watched attentively in the direction Shen Sanhua and Niu Chang had gone. After confirming that both of them were far away, he let out a sigh of relief.
'Should I leave or should I wait for that senior?' Wan You was torn between his teaching as a righteous sect disciple.
But when he saw Wei Hong, who kept nodding off, he made a decision and chose to compromise.
'I will thank that senior after escorting my junior sister out of this place," he thought.
"Do you want me to carry you on my back?" Wan You asked softly, grabbing Wei Hong's shoulder to keep her from slumping to the ground.
Wei Hong yawned without bothering to cover it, opened her heavy eyelids, and looked at Wan You with dreamy eyes.
"Hehe... Senior brother, carry me on your back." Without making any excuses or feeling flustered, she accepted Wan You's offer in a drowsy state.
Without further delay, Wan You respectfully lifted Wei Hong's small body onto his back, adjusted her position, and started walking without looking back.
They traveled through the forest at a steady pace, neither too fast nor too slow, in order to provide a comfortable ride for Wei Hong.
. . .
Niu Chang watched Huang Zhi as it ran, placing various obstacles in its path to evade the pursuing palms. He scanned his surroundings, searching for something.
'We have already left the dense part of the forest, but we still haven't found them yet. These two are really skilled,' Niu Chang thought, slightly angry, shaking his head.
He saved the two of them, but they didn't even wait for him to say thank you. They truly embody the core teachings of the righteous sect.
'Wait, are they even disciples of the righteous sect?'
Then he spotted Wan You, carrying Wei Hong on his back, skillfully running to ensure his junior sister's comfort.
"Little Zhi, over there!" Niu Chang pointed with his mouth, unable to use his left arm as he climbed and supported himself.
"Don't call me Little Zhi!" Huang Zhi scolded, irritated. "I know where they are; you don't need to point out their location to me."
Niu Chang ignored Huang Zhi's reply and focused on the next development. 'Since Little Zhi is already close to its goal, it must have a big plan that allows it to fight Feng Ning.'
Wan You, utilizing his movement technique with his remaining qi, felt someone chasing them. He turned his head and saw the grotesque appearance of Huang Zhi—a stickman made of thin yellow tree branches with a severed livid woman's head on its neck.
His eyes widened in shock, and he also noticed Niu Chang hanging on Huang Zhi's back, eyes closed. This only increased his shock, and he felt a sense of urgency. He used his remaining qi to escape.
Behind them, Feng Ning flew in the sky, his palms constantly blocked by the trees arranged by Huang Zhi.
"Your efforts are futile," Feng Ning said, clenching both palms as dark purple qi enveloped his body. "Mountain Crushing Palm."
The dark purple qi rose into the air, forming a large palm that covered the sky. Niu Chang sensed the shadow looming above his head and opened his eyes.
"Wow," Niu Chang admired the large palm briefly.
"Little Zhi, don't hold back if you want to stay alive. Fight!" Niu Chang encouraged and closed his eyes once again.
Huang Zhi could only swallow its words from Niu Chang's remark. Its woman's head gritted her teeth and shouted, "Yellow Branches Protection!"
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Without any hand signs, Huang Zhi's shout caused the forest to tremble, as if something was awakening.
The yellow qi on Huang Zhi's body drained towards its feet, connected to the ground. Suddenly, the trees burst open, turning into fine yellow branches that wove a shield above Huang Zhi.
Feng Ning snorted and commanded his big palm to descend. The air stirred, and his vast qi covered the area.
Under the moving and rearranging yellow branches, Huang Zhi no longer hesitated and launched its body like a projectile towards Wan You.
The distance between them closed in an instant.
Before Wan You could react, Huang Zhi extended its tree branches to grab the sleeping Wei Hong.
With great momentum, Huang Zhi flew forward, carrying Wei Hong with it and leaving the attack area of the big palm.
"Junior sister!" Wan You shouted in exasperation.
But the palm broke through all the yellow branches blocking it and landed on the ground, causing a big explosion.
Dust and dirt flew around, and Wan You was pushed by the wind, crashing into a tree.
With his qi sense, Feng Ning always locked onto Huang Zhi's location. He glanced briefly in Huang Zhi's direction.
But before he could say anything, he sensed drastic changes in the forest.
The trees, or the forest itself, began to wither as if aging rapidly. With his high cultivation level, Feng Ning realized that something was absorbing the trees' vitality through their roots.
It wasn't just the forest.
In Yellow Soil Village, many people found weird yellow tree branches crawling from the ground, entangling their legs.
"What's happening?"
"Someone, save me!"
"Help!"
Their vitality was quickly absorbed by the tree branches, leaving behind withered husks and bones.
Niu Chang opened his eyes once again due to the disturbance caused by Huang Zhi. He could feel his qi increasing rapidly thanks to the system.
'Sigh, Little Zhi is now entering its second form. It's a good thing I prevented this from happening to me; I would have been really angry to let it happen,' Niu Chang thought.
Niu Chang's body had already reached its limit after receiving abundant qi from Feng Ning. Now that Huang Zhi had grown stronger, his body was reaching its limits.
'Go,' Niu Chang softly commanded his qi, and they began to circulate according to his technique. The three rings around his body fluctuated and slowly shrank.
As they shrank, their qi consumption increased exponentially. But these rings stopped shrinking after reaching half of their initial size.
'Well, my idea is good and applicable, but my mastery and lack of testing on this improved version of Closed Loop Protection prevent me from using it completely.'
'But this is already enough since it allows my body to withstand the immense pressure from my overflowing qi.'
Huang Zhi was enveloped in a thick yellow qi that prevented anyone from peeking at its transformation. Even Niu Chang could only see the spinning yellow qi in front of him.
"Is this monster breaking through to the next level of its cultivation? Will it reach the same cultivation as mine? Interesting," Feng Ning pondered.
"If I attack it right now, it will fail its transformation and suffer great injuries. But if it successfully breaks through, its red fruit will also greatly improve." A greedy light flashed in Feng Ning's eyes.
However, he wasn't completely blinded by greed. He condensed multiple palm-shaped qi attacks and struck Huang Zhi, aiming to moderate his attacks and avoid causing excessive harm that could hinder Huang Zhi's transformation. His goal was to exhaust Huang Zhi's energy reserves and weaken it after it completed the transformation.
After completing the improvement of Closed Loop Protection to the next level, Niu Chang had no pressing matters to attend to. He closely observed Huang Zhi's transformation, considering it a precious learning opportunity.
The palms made of qi rained down on Huang Zhi's yellow cocoon. Sensing the danger, the yellow cocoon started to sway and suddenly flew to avoid the palms.
But the palms were manipulated by Feng Ning, forcing Huang Zhi to spare some of its focus to control the trees around it and block the palms.
The dark purple palms were like droplets of water on a rainy day, endless and covering vast areas.
Niu Chang, attached to Huang Zhi, felt dizzy due to the sharp turns made by Huang Zhi. But soon his flight experience stopped when Huang Zhi released Niu Chang from its body to conserve more energy for self-protection.
Upon landing on the ground, Niu Chang saw the dark purple palms ignore his presence and continue chasing after the flying yellow cocoon.
Niu Chang then examined his crippled body. 'The battle should be reaching its end. If my body isn't healed by then, I'll be in a very precarious situation.'
He called the system. 'System, cultivate the Impossible Idea to the second level.'
[Incomplete cultivation method. Unable to cultivate the Impossible Idea to the second level.]
Confirming his doubts, Niu Chang nodded. He knew his karma points were empty, but he simply wanted to satisfy his curiosity.
'It seems I need to digest and sort out the first level of the Impossible Idea before I can increase it to the second level.'
With that, Niu Chang busied himself exploring the mysteries contained within his physical body.