Ping'an, "How far, childe Zhao?"
Zhao Renshu, "Do not call me childe Zhao. It gives me goosebumps." He was very annoyed.
Ping'an, "Then what should I call you then?"
Zhao Renshu, "Renshu is good enough."
Ping'an, "But... We don't know each other and I am not a family member or friend." She was confused.
Zhao Renshu, "I am not use to it. Plus, I am not some rich kid, we are friend now. I will call you Ping'an and you call me Renshu. Please stop with the mister and childe." He shrugged his shoulders up and down.
Ping'an replied, "Okay. I can tell you are annoyed. Renshu, how far do we have left?"
Zhao Renshu, "According to the people. It takes about a whole day. There should be a rest pavilion built by the locals in about five hours. If we decided to rest, we will reach Peace Town late evening, otherwise we will arrive in Peace Town before sunset."
After about four hours of walking, Ping'an and Zhao Renshu came to an intersection. They stopped. The dirt road to the right lead uphill, and the other one lead downhill. The two friends stood there for a while, deciding which way they should take.
Ping'an, "Left or right?" She looked at the roads, then looked at Zhao Renshu.
Zhao Renshu sighed, "The guy told me to go straight." He scratched his chin with his left thumb.
Ping'an, "Do you see this?" She pointed to the two dirt roads. "There are two roads here."
Zhao Renshu, "I believe is this way." He pointed to the left. "This way, the road looks better and smoother. Plus, look at the dirt, it look like people often walks here."
Ping'an, "Alright."
Zhao Renshu, "Also we have walked for almost four hours now. The guy told me there should be a rest pavilion pretty soon."
Ping'an, "Let's not rest."
Zhao Renshu, "I am fine with that. We can rest at Sunrise Inn."
Ping'an, "There might not be available room for you."
Zhao Renshu, "What do you mean?"
Ping'an explained, "You have to reserves in advance. In two weeks, it will be the town annual Lantern Festival. The street will be full of people from surrounding towns. Everything will be expensive. There will also be a poetry, drinking, eating, and beauty contests."
Zhao Renshu, "Ha… Ha.... Ha… Ha…. Eating and drinking sound fun to me and don't you worries, I just got three thousand silver ingots." He laughed. "It doesn't have to be Sunrise Inn. I can sleep in different Inn. Worst case scenarios, I can sleep on the street."
What Zhao Renshu said was true, because sometime he don't want to disturb Shan to bring him more money when he was out hunting trip so he end up sleeping on the street or on the side of the road.
Ping'an, "Anyway, where are your three thousand silver ingots?"
Zhao Renshu looked disappointed, "Oh... The old spirit brought it back with him." He frowned. "I hate that old spirit, always so controlling when it's about money... He only left these to me." Zhao Renshu took out two big sliver ingots. "If I run out of money, he will send more when I call."
Ping'an, "Wow, how much is that?"
Zhao Renshu, "Two hundreds liangs." Compared to Ping'an, his facial expression is a bit disappointing.
Suddenly, Zhao Renshu pushed Ping'an away. Ping'an landed directly on her butt on the ground. When she stood up, she saw Zhao Renshu fighting with someone. She wondered, could this be Lu Duyi? Did he escape from those people and seek revenge? She rushed to the two fighting men. It is not Lu Duyi. It is Guo Baiyu fighting Zhao Renshu.
Zhao Renshu shouted, "Stay back, don't come any closer!" His eyes were fixed on Guo Baiyu. "Huh... that bastard has a helper." He gave Guo Baiyu a provoking smile.
Guo Baiyu attacked Zhao Renshu many times. Zhao Renshu blocked Guo Baiyu's fist and returned some fists to Guo Baiyu. Guo Baiyu also blocked all Zhao Renshu's punches.
Zhao Renshu inner thought, "This guy is not bad at all. He is fast, but I am faster and I am better?" He conjured a talisman and sent straight to Guo Baiyu. The talisman turned into a rope tied Guo Baiyu's left hand. The two men stood in the middle of the road testing their inner strengths with each other.
Ping'an rushed to the two men.
Ping'an, "Renshu disbands the talisman. I know him."
Guo Baiyu stared at Ping'an. Knowing that she was safe, he breathed a sigh of relief. Zhao Renshu on the other hand was very annoyed by the way Guo Baiyu stared at Ping'an.
Zhao Renshu still didn't let go, "He hit me first."
Ping'an sighed, "But he is not your enem..."
At that moment, a long snake tail wrapped around Ping'an's waist. The snake tail dragged her sliding away from the two men. Zhao Renshu let go of the magic rope and threw out a talisman toward the demon snake's face. The demon snake screamed in pain. Zhao Renshu flew towards the demon snake tail and casted another talisman placed the talisman on the tail. The demon snake tail loosened, and Zhao Renshu put his right hand on Ping'an's left shoulder, grabbed her left shoulder with one hand, and then yanked her back towards Guo Baiyu. Guo Baiyu ran ten steps forward and catches Ping'an in his arms.
Zhao Renshu faced the twenty foot enormous demon snake. Zhao Renshu hand-seals together and chanted a spell. The enormous demon snake surrounded Zhao Renshu with its tail, but failed to close its tail on him. In the air and on the ground, two huge magic binding circles appeared. Zhao Renshu jumped on top of the magic circle standing in midair.
Zhao Renshu grinned, "Close in." The top magic circle began to descend, gradually approaching the huge demon snake.
From afar, Guo Baiyu and Ping'an heard screams in the distance. The huge demon snake head began to change. From her head to the belly button is a woman. Its huge tail slapped the ground in pain. Her skin is pale and deep purple scales covered her body. Her lips are deep purple. Her teeth are sharp. Her three irises are red, and the third eye is in the middle of her forehead. Her arms are also covered with deep purple scales. Her ten fingers have dark nails.
Demon snake painfully screamed, "It's too hot…"
Zhao Renshu saw six wolves rushing fast towards Ping'an and Guo Baiyu. Worried about their safety, Zhao Renshu sent out one talisman to the two.
At that time Guo Baiyu noticed wolves howling toward them. They are trapped. In front of them was the enormous demon half human half snake fighting with Zhao Renshu, and behind them were six hungry wolves. When Guo Baiyu turned facing the wolves, twenty icicles flew past him and heading towards the charging wolves. Two icicles injured two wolves lay lifeless on the ground. The wolves then shifted into one woman and three men. The wolves walked towards Guo Baiyu and Ping'an.
Guo Baiyu turned to Ping'an, "When they start to attack, go to hide."
Ping'an nodded.
The four changed wolf spirits each held a weapon in their hand and they charged lunging towards Guo Baiyu and Ping'an.
Guo Baiyu, "Hide."
Ping'an ran back out of their way. She hid herself behind some bushes. Ping'an feels so useless. She don't know any magic spell. She didn't know how to fight or defend herself. She could only hopes that both men are fine.
Zhao Renshu measured strength with the demon snake. Zhao Renshu noticed that Guo Baiyu was fighting all four wolf fairies by himself. The wolf fairies attacks Guo Baiyu from all different sides, but he dodged one attack after another. Zhao Renshu knew that if this continue, Guo Baiyu will definitely lose. Zhao Renshu left the demon snake whom still stuck in the magic circle and he flew toward Guo Baiyu just in time to blocked one of the wolf spirit's sword attack preventing the attack from hitting Guo Baiyu.
Zhao Renshu, "Go hide with Ping'an."
The two men was still fighting with the wolf fairies.
Guo Baiyu calmly said, "I will do no such thing."
Zhao Renshu frowned, "You are getting in my way!"
Guo Baiyu, "Am I?" Guo Baiyu kicked one of the wolf fairy hard and he sent her flying about ten feet away.
Zhao Renshu rolled his eyes and shook his head, "Lame." He mocked Guo Baiyu. He then conjured a talisman and sent it to the remaining wolf spirits. The powerful talismans sent the spirits about ten yard away. The wolf spirits realized that they would not win the battle with these hunters. They looked at each other and turned back to their original forms, running away with their tails between their legs. Now, the only enemy left is the demon snake. Ping'an came out from hiding and walked towards the two men.
Guo Baiyu was astonishes by Zhao Renshu skills. He wondered if they were to continue to fight, he might not win.
As the magic circle got closer and closer to the demon snake, Zhao Renshu walked to the demon snake. She was still screaming in pain. Zhao Renshu casted another talisman and turn it into a magic arrow. Zhao Renshu directly shot the arrow at the heart of the demon snake. By doing so, he broke the magic binding circle's effect. The demon screamed in pain, then fell to the ground. On her dying stage, the demon struggled and destroyed everything on the surrounding ground with her twenty-foot tail. The ground began to shake. After a few minutes, the shaking ground began to crack.
Ping'an shouted, "Earthquake?"
Guo Baiyu grabbed Ping'an's hand and held it tight.
Zhao Renshu shouted back, "No, this is not an earthquake. Once the demon is destroyed, the remaining spiritual power in the body will leave the body, which will cause everything within ten feet of the surrounding to vanquish." He laughed at Ping'an. "Fortunately, we are out of range."
Guo Baiyu, "But not out of danger. We must leave now!"
After Guo Baiyu's sentence was over, the land surrounding them broke. Ping'an, Guo Baiyu, Zhao Renshu, and the dying demon snake sank from the ground into the dark groundwater. It's very dark. They can't see anything.
Ping'an can't swim. She held her breath and stretched out her hands, but found nothing. She struggled to hold her breath for about two minutes. She finally ran out of air and gave up.
Guo Baiyu held his breath and reached out his hands to search for Ping'an, but only found water and falling gravel. Not far from him, he saw a shining light. He swims towards the light.
When Zhao Renshu hit the water, he conjured a talisman and held it in his right hand. The talisman acts as a lamp in the dark water. He saw Guo Baiyu swimming towards him. Zhao Renshu sent out two glowing talismans deep down. Once the two glowing talismans exploded, it sent thousands of light beams down the dark abyss. The flickering light awakened the creature living at the bottom.
It is a enormous two-headed octopus. The two-headed octopus made a loud sound. The sound created a water waves, pushing Zhao Renshu and Guo Baiyu about fifty feet from their previous positions. They saw Ping'an's floating body. The two-headed octopus sent two legs to attack Zhao Renshu and Guo Baiyu. Zhao Renshu sent a talisman to the leg that is heading at Guo Baiyu. The talisman hit the leg, and the leg slowly fell. The other leg wrapped around Zhao Renshu's waist, pulling him toward the two-headed octopus.
Guo Baiyu swam towards Ping'an. He took her arms and pulled her closer to him. He shook her several times, but she was still unconscious. He lifted her face up and sealed her mouth with his. He blew air into her mouth. After a while, Ping'an's opened her eyes slowly and gained consciousness.
Ping'an saw Guo Baiyu, but could not see clearly because of the darkness. She felt his mouth on her mouth. He stole her first kiss. The idea of her first kiss is someplace romantic, her lover is sitting next to her, and they are watching the sunset on a beautiful mountain or a beautiful night sky full of stars. It is definitely not like this.
Guo Baiyu woke up Ping'an. He grabbed her right wrist and dragged her swimming towards Zhao Renshu.
On the other hand, Zhao Renshu drew out his sword and sent two incandescent beams to the two-headed octopus and stunned the octopus. He quickly swam to his two friends.
Zhao Renshu casted anther talisman and threw it at the two-headed octopus. The talisman turned into hundreds of butterflies, the butterflies then flew to the two-headed octopus and surrounded it.
Zhao Renshu help Ping'an's upper left arm, and Guo Baiyu held her right upper arm. The two men swim up and pulling Ping'an with them. After swimming for two minutes, they reached the surface. Guo Baiyu got out of the water first. Zhao Renshu pushed Ping'an up and Guo Baiyu pulled her out of the water. Guo Baiyu reached his hand and also helped Zhao Renshu out of the water.
Zhao Renshu could hardly breathed, "We need to get out of this cave." He turned to his two friends who were also panting. "We can't win against that water monster."
Guo Baiyu turned to Ping'an, "Are you able to walk?"
Ping'an, "Yes."
The three friends slowly got up and walked towards a faded light.