Zhao Yunxiao cursed under his breath.
Nightspirit rats usually hunted alone.
However, there were exceptions to all norms, and such an exception had unfortunately occurred today.
“I’m sorry, Senior Martial Brother Zhao!” Lu Zhiying quickly apologised in panic. “I didn’t know th-!”
“Don’t struggle!” Zhao Yunxiao cut her off promptly.
He picked her up and dashed towards the garden plot’s fence without hesitation.
From the nightspirit rat’s action just now, it was obvious that the nightspirit rat was targeting Lu Zhiying instead of Zhao Yunxiao, probably having realised that she was the weak link.
And now that their presence had already been exposed, there was no longer any way for her to continue hiding in the bushes.
Screech-!
They could feel the rage in nightspirit rat’s cry.
Was it a mate of the other nightspirit rat?
Zhao Yunxiao leapt over the fence and quickly put Lu Zhiying down. He then turned to face the nightspirit rat which was already charging towards them.
“Stay behind me and don’t stray too far!” Zhao Yunxiao instructed sternly.
Even if Lu Zhiying wanted to run, there was absolutely no chance of her outrunning the nightspirit rat, and Zhao Yunxiao was not confident of being able to stop the nightspirit rat from chasing after her either.
Therefore, the only option was for Lu Zhiying to stick close to Zhao Yunxiao.
That way, he would at least still be in range to help her out if needed.
Perhaps having learnt from the previous nightspirit rat, this one did not destroy the fence this time. Instead, it leapt over the fence just like Zhao Yunxiao did.
But Zhao Yunxiao had expected as much.
As the nightspirit rat was leaping over the fence, Zhao Yunxiao took full advantage of the moment when the nightspirit rat was airborne and unable to change its directions.
Two daggers flew towards the nightspirit rat, aimed at its eyes with pinpoint precision.
Clang-! Clang-!
With two quick swipes, the nightspirit rat easily blocked the daggers with its claws.
Its claws might not sharp, but there were definitely sturdy. The dagger blades that had been imbued with essence energy failed to leave even a scratch on them!
“Shit!” Zhao Yunxiao grabbed Lu Zhiying and dodged to the side before leaping over the fence once more, landing with a roll.
The enraged nightspirit rat cried out in frustration before giving chase.
Watching the nightspirit rat that had leapt towards him once more, Zhao Yunxiao quickly made a few handseals before channelling his essence energy.
[Xuanwu Fist Art – Immovable Shell]
Zhao Yunxiao gathered his essence energy in his right arm and steadied his stance, then decisively punched out towards the nightspirit rat.
Among the various moves in the Xuanwu Fist Art, Immovable Shell focused on sheer weight. This made it ideal for resisting heavy impacts or for crushing the opponent.
Right now, crushing the opponent was the last thing on his mind.
While it would be nice if it happened, Zhao Yunxiao was not nearly delusional enough to expect such an outcome.
Instead, Zhao Yunxiao was banking on the move to resist as much of the oncoming damage as possible.
The nightspirit rat mercilessly slammed down with its paws, this time no longer missing its target.
Bang-!
“Ah!” Lu Zhiying cried out in surprise as the resultant impact sent a shockwave in all directions, directly knocking her off her feet.
“Argh!” Zhao Yunxiao groaned in pain as he felt the impact with his entire body.
His arms felt like they were about to break upon receiving the blow from the nightspirit rat. That one exchange had caused his feet to sink deeper into the ground, as though he was a nail being hammered into the earth.
A mouthful of blood rose up from within him, escaping in the form of an uncontrollable cough.
With just a single exchange of moves, Zhao Yunxiao had not only sustained external injuries, but internal ones as well.
In the end, a nightspirit rat was still a monster capable of challenging cultivators at the Essence Physique realm.
Even though the Essence Physique realm was only one level above the Essence Gathering realm that Zhao Yunxiao was currently at, each level meant a world of difference in terms of combat strength.
As a cultivator at the Intermediate Essence Gathering realm, there was simply no way for Zhao Yunxiao to defeat a nightspirit rat head on.
Thankfully, he did not have to either.
At the moment when Zhao Yunxiao’s fist connected with the nightspirit rat’s claws, spears also shot up from beneath the earth, headed straight for the nightspirit rat.
Breaking the fence was not the only trigger to activate the traps.
As the one who had set up the traps, Zhao Yunxiao was naturally able to manually activate them as well. The handseals that he had performed just before executing the Immovable Shell was specifically for this purpose.
The striking speed of the spear trap might be fast, but with the nightspirit rat’s natural agility, dodging the spears was not entirely out of the question.
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Therefore, Zhao Yunxiao had to think of ways to increase the chances of the spears connecting.
Relying on the breaking of the fence as a trigger, the first nightspirit rat had been caught by surprise, which was what resulted in the traps working.
When it came to the second nightspirit rat, the same method naturally would not work again.
That was why Zhao Yunxiao had no choice but to use himself as a way to tie down the nightspirit rat.
He might not be strong enough to subdue the nightspirit rat, but it was good enough as long as he could stop its movements for the slightest of moments, even if he had to pay a price to do so.
In the instant that the nightspirit’s heavy momentum was completely transferred to Zhao Yunxiao in its attack, the spears shot towards its huge body.
It could see the spears coming, but at this point, there was no longer anything it could do to escape its fate.
Screech-!
The nightspirit rat’s cry reverberated across the entire garden plot as five spears pierced through its furry skin.
“Tch!” Zhao Yunxiao gritted his teeth to endure the pain while forcing his legs to move.
He quickly circled around to the back of the nightspirit rat before reaching into his robes once more to pull out a throwing dagger.
It was the last one he had.
Tightening his grip around the dagger in determination, Zhao Yunxiao leapt into the air and landed on the nightspirit rat’s back.
When the monster felt Zhao Yunxiao’s weight, it immediately started thrashing about wildly, wanting to throw Zhao Yunxiao off its back regardless of the wounds that it was inflicting upon itself due to the embedded spears.
But Zhao Yunxiao was ready for this.
He grabbed tightly onto its fur with one hand, then brought the dagger straight down with all his might.
The essence energy-imbued dagger pierced straight through its skin to reach the skull, then broke through that as well that to impale the brain.
Blood spurted out like a fountain, dyeing Zhao Yunxiao’s face and entire front profile red.
Yet even after a dagger had been stabbed into its brain, it still took a few seconds before the nightspirit rat finally stopped struggling and fell limply to the ground.
Its vitality of a nightspirit rat was truly terrifying, but even that had its limits.
After falling to the ground, it simply lay there motionlessly.
But so did Zhao Yunxiao.
He remained seated on the nightspirit rat’s body, his hand holding onto the dagger that was transfixed in the nightspirit rat’s head.
A dagger was much shorter than a spear.
Had he tried to pierce the nightspirit rat’s neck with it, the dagger would never be able to go through the entirety of the monster’s thick neck.
That meant that there was still a slim chance that the nightspirit rat could survive that attack.
And no matter how low the possibility, Zhao Yunxiao was not willing to take such chances.
Right from the start, he had been planning to finish off the nightspirit rat by piercing his daggers into its head where the brain was.
The only reason why he used the spear for the first nightspirit rat was out of sheer coincidence.
Because the spear missed the nightspirit rat, it ended up lying around and therefore providing Zhao Yunxiao with a more lethal weapon which could be used to finish off the nightspirit rat by aiming for the neck – an easier target to hit.
As for the second nightspirit rat, while things did not go too smoothly at the start, the ending strike was executed in the exact same way that he had envisioned it.
Thankfully so as well.
Silence returned to the night, no longer tainted by the cries of the nightspirit rats.
The only sound that could be heard in the entire garden plot was from the heavy breathing of the young man who was now dyed in fresh blood.
Zhao Yunxiao closed his eyes for a moment to regain his composure, taking deep breaths to regain his regular breathing rhythm.
Standing by the side, Lu Zhiying did not approach this time.
She had carelessly done so earlier, and ended up causing trouble for Zhao Yunxiao because of that.
How could she not have learnt her lesson after that?
Lu Zhiying might be slightly curious and adventurous by nature, but that did not mean she liked to cause trouble for others!
Huu-!
Zhao Yunxiao let out a deep breath before opening his eyes once more.
He slowly climbed off the nightspirit rat’s carcass, not worried about leaving the dagger embedded in its head.
“Come over,” Zhao Yunxiao said towards the hesitating Lu Zhiying.
“Is it over?” Lu Zhiying asked carefully.
“Seems like it,” Zhao Yunxiao nodded, but not before he instinctively did another quick scan of their surroundings.
“Are you okay?” Lu Zhiying asked again after walking closer, seeing up close the bloody mess that was on Zhao Yunxiao.
“What do you mean? That was nothing at all,” Zhao Yunxiao shrugged nonchalantly. “Just a warm up!”
However, he could not help but take a quick glance at his right arm.
The pain from his arm was driving him crazy.
If not for the sake of retaining the dignity of a senior in front of his new junior martial sister, Zhao Yunxiao would probably be groaning in pain with every little movement he made right now!
“Is that so? I thought that something about your movements seemed strange after the nightspirit rat struck you just now, but I guess I was wrong,” Lu Zhiying scratched the back of her neck in confusion. “But that was amazing, Senior Martial Brother Zhao! How did you think of setting up a second trap? I didn’t even realise that you set that up even though I was helping!”
“You can forget other matters, but remember this well, Junior Martial Sister Lu. Whenever possible, always be prepared for the worst-case scenario,” Zhao Yunxiao said, this time with a more serious tone. “The cultivation world is as harsh as it is resplendent. Many people are blinded by the glorious feats of geniuses, thus failing to notice thousands of others who lost their lives while challenging the same obstacles. If you are not fully prepared, never enter a situation where your life will be on the line unless you have absolutely no other choice.”
Lu Zhiying was surprised by the sudden life advice, but nodded attentively nevertheless.
She had a close brush with danger just a few moments ago, where the nightspirit rat could have easily run her over if not for Zhao Yunxiao’s timely save.
If that had happened, who knew if she would still be alive right now?
Because of this experience, she naturally understood the weight of Zhao Yunxiao’s words.
This was the first life lesson that Lu Zhiying had learnt since entering the Black Tortoise Sect – given personally by her Senior Martial Brother Zhao.
“Enough talk. Come, help me move these bastards onto the pushcart,” Zhao Yunxiao said.
“We are moving them now?” Lu Zhiying asked in confusion.
“What do you think?” Zhao Yunxiao raised an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me that you are thinking of leaving the carcasses to rot and become fertiliser for the garden plot?”
“I know that the carcasses shouldn’t be just left around like this!” Lu Zhiying retorted. “But aren’t we going to call Senior Martial Sister Gu over to see how we have avenged her before that? I’m sure she will be thrilled!”
“What nonsense are you saying?” Zhao Yunxiao was appalled by Lu Zhiying’s words. “No way am I letting you do that!”
Lu Zhiying blinked blankly before grinning knowingly. “Be honest, Senior Martial Brother Zhao. Are you the shy type who would be embarrassed over being thanked by Senior Martial Sister Gu?”
“What do you mean embarrassed?” Zhao Yunxiao lightly knocked on Lu Zhiying’s forehead. “Stop letting your imagination run wild!”
“Ouch-!” Lu Zhiying grabbed her forehead while complaining. “What is it then?! It’s not like the carcasses are rushing to reincarnate and will disappear if we left them out here for an hour or two!”
“Actually, that is exactly what I’m afraid of,” Zhao Yunxiao replied.
“Wait, what?” Lu Zhiying widened her eyes in shock. “The carcasses will really disappear?”
“Of course!” Zhao Yunxiao answered. “If I let you go around doing random nonsense like that and cause word of this incident to spread, the seniors in the sect might just end up ordering for these precious carcasses of the nightspirit rats to be distributed to the owners of the garden plot as compensation for their losses. Should that happen, there will barely be anything left for me!”