Chapter 291: Beheaded with one slash
Translator: Stardu5t Editor: Kurisu
Song Shuhang carried the small boy on his back and brought everyone to the ancient city as fast as he could.
On the whole, the city wall had a Chinese feel to it. However, the shape of the tall walls was rather odd, they assumed the shape of a stepped pyramid with each layer stacking on top of the other.
Each layer was ten meters long, and there were four layers in total.
Even the city gate was eight meters tall, and its width was approximately the length of four traffic lanes. A metal gate that was several times bigger than a sluice gate of a large dam sealed the doorway to the city tightly.
A mysterious decorative design was engraved onto the metal gate; it looked as though it was just a simple decoration from a distance, but Song Shuhang’s scrutiny revealed there was a certain order to those decorations. When the numerous decorative designs were put together, they seemed to form a huge magic formation—except that it was unknown what this formation was for and how it worked.
Indeed, this ancient city was built by cultivators. Perhaps the method to leave the mysterious island lies in this place! Song Shuhang calmed down.
At this moment, everyone behind him stared at the tall wall in awe. The heavy metal gate attracted their attention as well—such an enormous gate, how could it be opened and closed?
"Shuhang, how are we gonna enter?" Gao Moumou asked. There wasn’t anybody guarding the gate, and the gate did not look like it was automatic, so how were they supposed to enter?
"I don’t know either… just like you, it’s my first time in this ancient city too," Song Shuhang answered. "I’m going to look around first and see if I can find a way to get us in. The rest of you rest here, don’t run around."
In reality, there was absolutely no need for Song Shuhang’s words, because nobody there wanted to run around at all.
The huge ten plus meters tall lizard had scared everyone out of their wits earlier, not forgetting their encounter with the troop of gorillas that made them want to laugh and cry at the same time.
Additionally, all of them ran from the grassland to the ancient city—their energy had been completely depleted. Right now, after they had endured all the way to the wall, they sat down and rested. They had absolutely no energy left to move.
"I still have some energy, I can accompany you." Tubo stood up. He frequently exercised, hence he still had some energy left.
Gao Moumou massaged his legs and smiled. "I’ll come with you guys too. The ancient city is quite huge, we need more manpower to search for clues unless we want to spend months looking for them."
"You don’t have to, stay here with Tubo and take good care of Yayi, Lu Fei, and the rest." Song Shuhang smiled—if Gao Moumou and Tubo were to leave with him, leaving Yayi, Lu Fei, and the other ladies behind, he would honestly be a little worried.
Gao Moumou looked at his girlfriend, Yayi, in his arms who couldn’t get any more tired. He sighed and said, "In that case, you gotta be careful. This ancient city gives me a weird feeling."
"Don’t worry, I can run really fast." Song Shuhang smiled.
Thereafter, he waved his hands and followed the wall, walking to the left.
"Teacher, wait for me! I will go with you!" At this time, Joseph got up from the ground and rushed over to Song Shuhang. His physical strength was very commendable, and he actually managed to run over here and was still so energetic, while even someone like Tubo couldn’t take it anymore.
Song Shuhang glanced at his disciple in name and nodded with a forced smile on his face.
Joseph laughed happily and quickly followed Song Shuhang.
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After Song Shuhang and Joseph had covered a sizeable distance.
Tubo asked curiously, "Speaking of which, how did Uncle Joseph become Song Shuhang’s disciple?"
He had seen the video Zhuge Yue had uploaded onto the net—truth be told, almost all the students in Jiangnan College Town had seen that video before. However, Tubo was very curious—how did Uncle Joseph get to know Song Shuhang and even become his disciple?
He even learned the ❮Times are Calling❯ from Song Shuhang, treating it as an exceptional technique to practice.
"Well, just think about Song Shuhang’s kind-hearted nature, then you should be able to roughly guess the entire story." Gao Moumou wanted to push his glasses up out of habit, but since his glasses were gone, he could only pinch the bridge of his nose depressingly. "I think it happened on the day of the school’s sports competition—Song Shuhang probably got bored and did calisthenics at some corner of the school to train his body. And the ❮Times are Calling❯ does sorta have the air of those martial arts performed in movies.
Then, Uncle Joseph should be someone really interested in Chinese martial arts. On the day of our school’s sports competition, he was strolling within Jiangnan College Town and happened to bump into Song Shuhang who was in the midst of doing calisthenics. Just like that, Uncle Joseph probably mistook it for some martial arts technique. And, after that, Uncle Joseph probably ran over and requested Song Shuhang to teach him a set of the ❮Times are Calling❯… Based on Song Shuhang’s kind personality, he would certainly not reject an effortless task like teaching another person the ❮Times are Calling❯. Hence, he casually taught Uncle Joseph that set of calisthenics at that time," Gao Moumou conjectured.
His inferential skills were not bad, apart from leaving out the ‘cultivation’ part, his conjecture was about 80-90% accurate.
Lu Fei, who was at the side, nodded and said, "That’s right, I heard Shuangxue mention before that her dad had always liked watching kungfu movies since he was a child. He is very obsessed with Chinese martial arts; the reason why he married a Chinese lady, as well as self-learnt Chinese, was because he loves Chinese martial arts."
"That makes sense." Tubo thought about it for some more and said, "From the looks of it, I think it’s better if we don’t shatter Uncle Joseph’s dream of learning martial arts."
Gao Moumou and Yayi added, "Moreover, thanks to Uncle Joseph’s calisthenics, we got to keep the troop of gorillas occupied for such a long time".
Everyone nodded… except that, the moment they thought of the process of the gorillas learning and practicing the ❮Times are Calling❯, they felt all kinds of mixed feelings.
"That was an experience that no one can ever forget. I have decided, when I get out of here alive, I definitely have to practice the ❮Times are Calling❯ at least three times a day," the slightly plump air hostess said resolutely as she clenched her fist.
"I will do it ten times each day!" That black uncle laughed and shouted in awkward Chinese, "I want to change the ❮Times are Calling❯ into a breakdance style and spread it within the breakdancing community!"
The white-collar woman laughed and agreed, "When I get back, I will do it once a day—not just the ❮Times are Calling❯, but the ❮Falcon Flight❯ too!"
"And also the ❮World is Wonderful❯ and the ❮Youth’s Vitality❯—I had done that when when I was in school back then," said a young man, smiling.
"I remember learning the ❮Youthful Dance❯ in high school." Yayi smiled and joined in.
Everyone chatted and couldn’t help but let out warm laughters, causing the repressive feeling in their hearts to seemingly lessen by quite a fair bit.
Thereafter, the surviving passengers started to introduce themselves.
Humans evolved to live together with each other, and this remained ingrained in them. It was human instinct to unite together as a group in times of danger.
Just as everyone was chatting, Tubo suddenly pointed to a dark shadow in the sky and shouted, "Wait a second, what is that!?"
High up within the sky, that dark shadow descended at a fast pace—it seemed to be heading in the direction of the ancient city.
It was an eagle!
Additionally, it was an enormous eagle. When it spread its wings, they spanned more than ten meters across; its body was practically like a small plane!
Be it the lizard earlier or the eagle now… could it be that the things on this island were all super-sized?
Or perhaps... they were the ones who shrunk?
"Not just one, there are more behind!" Gao Moumou shouted. Behind the huge eagle, there were two more enormous black shadows swiftly sweeping over.
"Quick, hide near the city gate!" Lu Fei’s elder sister called out at that moment.
Even though the city gate was closed, it fell in the middle of the entrance to the city, serving as a partition. Hence, there was a half a meter gap between the entrance and the gate, allowing people to hide there a bit.
Even though it was not the ideal hiding place, they had no choice—near the ancient city, apart from the wall, there was only plain and nowhere else to hide.
All the people hurriedly ran towards the gap between the entrance to the city and the city gate, then squeezed together and looked at the enormous eagle in the sky in fear.
"Dear God… I pray that their target ain’t us," muttered the black uncle, who was stroking his cross necklace that was hanging on his chest with all his might.
Lu Fei’s sister laughed bitterly. The plain was vast, without a single object in sight. Apart from the walls, the only other thing that was left was the surviving passengers.
Looking in the direction of the descending enormous eagles within the sky, they seemed to be flying towards the wall. If there was no food they fancied within the ancient city… then their target would be that group of people.
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On the other side.
Song Shuhang and Joseph followed the wall and walked a very, very long distance, far away from their starting point, but the wall seemed to be never-ending—the end could not be seen. There were absolutely no new findings.
It was still a long distance from the next city gate according to what Song Shuhang could remember.
At this time… it would be so great if Venerable White or Doudou were here. They could just ride on the flying sword and get to the next city gate in a jiffy. Furthermore, they could even use the sleeping spell and put everyone to sleep before using another spell to bring everyone over the wall and into the ancient city.
Just as he was thinking, Song Shuhang suddenly had a bad premonition.
He abruptly lifted his head towards the sky and saw three enormous eagles within the sky, with one in front and two at the back, heading in the direction of the wall.
The two slightly slower eagles were heading towards the position of the aforementioned city gate.
The especially fast eagle in front, however, was heading in the direction of Song Shuhang and Joseph instead.
"Teacher! A huge… huge… huge bird!" Likewise, Joseph saw the enormous eagle that was descending from the sky towards them and shouted.
"Stand behind me and don’t move," Song Shuhang said in a low voice. He reached his hand to his back and grabbed on to the treasured saber Broken Tyrant.
In the eyes of ordinary human beings, the treasured saber Broken Tyrant was just an invisible object.
Even though the eagles in the sky were enormous, they were still just ordinary wild beasts, like the gorillas—they were not monster beasts. They would not be able to see the treasured saber Broken Tyrant either.
Very soon, the especially fast eagle pounced toward Song Shuhang and Joseph and issued a high-pitched call. It flung its enormous talons towards Song Shuhang and Joseph in a bid to grab them both in one go.
Joseph felt weak in his legs.
It was different from dealing with the gorillas. Even though the gorillas were frightening, they did not look too physically different from the gorillas in the real world.
But the eagle right before their eyes… it had the wingspan of almost ten meters! What kind of weird creature was this!
At this time, Song Shuhang lightly tapped Joseph, using the soft strength version of the ❮Basic Buddhist Fist Technique❯.
Joseph could only feel his body floating lightly and flying forward, just in time to avoid the eagle’s attack.
But even though he was hit in the chest by Shuhang, he did not feel any pain at all. Teacher’s martial arts had already reached such an amazing level?
After thinking of that, Joseph’s fear immediately dissipated. With such a formidable master next to him, perhaps even the enormous eagle would not be a problem.
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Song Shuhang executed the ❮Virtuous Man’s Ten Thousand Mile Walk❯ and agilely dodged the eagle’s attack. Immediately after, he jumped and seized the opportunity to step on the talons it used to attack him.
Song Shuhang used the eagle’s talons as leverage and leapt up high, then he flipped once and gathered his strength before swinging the treasured saber Broken Tyrant towards the enormous eagle’s neck, trying to behead it with the sharp edge of the saber!
He had to deal with this eagle as fast as possible since other two enormous eagles were already heading in the direction of the city gate! Song Shuhang had no time to waste.
The eagle could not see Song Shuhang’s hidden treasured saber Broken Tyrant, but based on the wild beast’s sixth sense, it could feel that it was in extreme danger.
It subconsciously moved its head from side to side, using its sharp beak to peck at Song Shuhang’s arm.
"Clang!"
Its beak struck against the treasured saber Broken Tyrant.
Sparks flew… and the sharp beak got sliced by the treasured saber, just like tofu.
After all, the treasured saber Broken Tyrant was the most important treasured saber of the Moon Saber Sect—it could overcome a Fourth Stage cultivator’s defense. How would it be possible for it to be unable to match up to an ordinary eagle’s beak?
Having its beak cut off, the eagle was extremely shocked. It had never encountered such a situation before!
In its shock, it flapped its wings violently, wanting to fly higher before making another attack.
But why would Song Shuhang give it another chance to escape?
"Flaming Saber!" Song Shuhang activated the ‘Flaming Saber’ technique on the ring without any hesitation, then flicked his wrist—flames started raging on the blade.
Song Shuhang swung his saber at the eagle’s neck once again.
"Bang!" The flames on saber Broken Tyrant shot out and transformed into crescent-shaped flaming saber qi, slashing the neck of the eagle.
The Flaming Saber’s saber qi was equivalent to an attack of the Second Stage, and it’s might was second only to Song Shuhang’s ‘sword talisman’.
This time, the eagle couldn’t save its head.
The eagle’s head flew, its wounds continuing to burn—not even a drop of blood was shed.
In midair, Song Shuhang flipped once, lowering the speed he was falling at and lightly landing on the ground.
Joseph, who was standing at one side, wiped his saliva forcefully and said, "That saber qi… it was just like the ability to release internal sword qi, right? It was practically identical to those special effects you see in movies. One day in future… will I also be able to become like you, Teacher?"
He was filled with hope with regards to his own future.
"Joseph, be careful. I will go back to the city gate’s position first," said Song Shuhang after he landed on the ground.
"Yes, Teacher, you be careful too!" answered Joseph.
Song Shuhang nodded, then brought the ❮Virtuous Man’s Ten Thousand Mile Walk❯ to its maximum speed. His figure was like lightning—he dashed as fast as he could towards the city gate.
The ‘Flaming Saber’ on his ring could still be used once more, and also, he still had the last sword talisman.
In the sky, the two remaining eagles were getting closer and closer to the city gate’s position.
I definitely must get there in time!