Chapter 328: 328: Battle of the Butterflies
"Cough, cough, cough...what the hell is this?!" Murong exclaimed. Just as he finished, he felt something being stuffed onto his face. Instantly, he could breathe smoothly, and his vision cleared.
Then, he realized it was a mask.
Because Zhan Jingshu’s face also bore something like a Peking Opera mask.
"Where did you get it?"
"From Xiaogong."
"Why did he give it to you, and not to me?"
"You have time to waste here talking nonsense, but not to quickly look for your sister?" Zhan Jingshu stared at the sky full of butterflies and butterfly dust; the box was only so big, yet the figures of Qiao Zhichuan and Mu Bai were nowhere to be found, making him secretly anxious.
Damn it! Miscalculated, that guy actually has this kind of thing?!
If they don’t quickly find Mu Bai and stop Qiao Zhichuan’s illusion, once his illusion is successful, Master might have to step in.
And this was their first time doing a mission on their own, he really didn’t want to fail!
"Where’s my sister?" Murong looked around, seeing nothing but butterflies, no human figure in sight, and became anxious too. He hurriedly started pulling out the things Mu Qiuniang gave him, taking out a handful of talisman papers, "Senior Brother, do these things have any use?"
Now you know to call me Senior Brother, huh? Zhan Jingshu gave him a look but didn’t say anything, took the talisman papers from his hand, and glanced over them, all kinds of talismans like detoxification charm, healing talisman, wind talisman, fire talisman, thunder talisman, peace charm, etc.
"Why do you have so many talisman papers?" Zhan Jingshu secretly clicked his tongue; should he learn from his junior brother and be thicker-skinned to ask Master for more?
"Asked Master and Grandmaster for them." Anyway, he was thick-skinned.
"I don’t know if they’re useful, but we should try them all." Zhan Jingshu took a wind talisman and tried, "Wind, come—"
A gust of strong wind blew through, sweeping away most of the butterflies and powder.
Qiao Zhichuan frowned slightly and ordered softly, "Attack!"
Just when Murong and Zhan Jingshu were glad that it was useful, a swarm of butterflies fiercely attacked from behind.
"Careful!" Zhan Jingshu quickly shouted, releasing a thunder talisman, "Fire, go—"
A ball of fire suddenly appeared in the air, shooting like an arrow at the swarm of butterflies.
The butterflies’ wings fluttered, hurriedly dodging in all directions, but some couldn’t evade in time and got burned, falling to the ground.
In the blink of an eye, quite a few charred butterflies lay on the ground.
"Senior Brother, the fire is still more powerful!" Murong saw the fire talisman worked and immediately summoned his "Fire Control Technique," a fist-sized fireball appeared on his shoulder, rampaging around the room under his command.
"Aren’t you afraid of hitting your sister?" Zhan Jingshu asked.
"I can control the strength, able to kill butterflies without harming people." Murong thought, in such an emergency, saving people should be the priority, and if there’s injury, there’s injury, as long as it can be healed.
Zhan Jingshu was speechless: "..."
But he didn’t say anything either, summoning his Spirit Sword, smearing a bit of Fire Spirit Stone powder on the blade, and twirling it into a series of sword flowers, skewering these seemingly beautiful but actually poisonous butterflies into grilled skewers.
Murong, bold as ever, had his fireball flying everywhere, accidentally hitting Mu Bai.
She was bewildered at the moment: What happened?!
Qiao Zhichuan felt his illusion, just a second away from success, and was so furious he almost spat blood.
"You damned guys!" Turning around with a large wave of his hand, all the butterflies in the room swirled like a tornado toward the two of them.
Murong jumped in fright, but didn’t forget to remind Mu Bai: "Sister, run quick!"
And he himself, unable to dodge in time, got enveloped by the poisonous butterflies, wrapped into a big butterfly cocoon.
"Arong!" Zhan Jingshu was alarmed. Compared to Murong, who only knew the Fireball Technique, he was more suited to sword techniques, with a noticeably more agile body, able to quickly dodge even in such a crisis.
One avoided, and all the butterflies flew toward the other empty person.
Zhan Jingshu swung his sword into a sword wall, a windless barrier protecting himself within it, not a single butterfly could fly in. Instead, those too close had their wings cut by the sword wind.
Qiao Zhichuan’s figure moved swiftly, like an arrow shot forth, darting at Zhan Jingshu. Despite the dense sword wall, he merely squinted to find a gap, reached out and caught Zhan Jingshu’s wrist, yanking it hard to the side.
"Bang—"
Zhan Jingshu slammed to the ground, creating a deep pit as countless butterflies surged toward him.
This is the difference between Foundation Establishment Cultivation and Enlightenment Cultivation. No matter how complete your defenses seem to others, to a Foundation Establishment cultivator, a cultivator at the Enlightenment level looks full of holes.
"Arong...Jingshu..." Mu Bai turned pale with fear.
She didn’t know how terrifying battles between cultivators were, but weren’t those things shown in films? Cultivators could destroy the world with a wave of their hand, and Qiao Zhichuan’s butterflies clearly weren’t ordinary things, wrapping them up like that, wasn’t he trying to "consume" them?!
"Qiao Zhichuan, you can’t hurt them. One is my own brother, and the other is my brother’s senior brother. If you hurt them, I’ll never forgive you in this life!"
Now, Mu Bai wasn’t sure what Qiao Zhichuan really felt for her, nor if she could persuade him. She just wanted to try her best to save her brother.
Her efforts worked to some extent because Qiao Zhichuan didn’t strike immediately but looked at her: "Not forgive me? What qualification do you have to forgive me? You are just an ordinary human, and I can simply erase your memory of this. Even if I kill them, you wouldn’t remember it."
"Yes, if you erase my memory, I indeed won’t remember this. However, Qiao Zhichuan, people are doing, and heaven is watching. There is no wall under the sun that does not let the wind through. Now, do you know why I said we can never be together?"
"Why?" Qiao Zhichuan really wanted to know. He thought he was quite excellent; there hadn’t been a woman he couldn’t get before. Those women just came to him as long as he beckoned.
But why, when it came to Mu Bai, did he have to use illusion techniques to bewilder her?
"Because you’re a cultivator!" Mu Bai told him clearly, "And I am not. You can see, Arong is my brother, and even he can cultivate, but I cannot. I am just an ordinary person, I will age, become ugly, but you will not. I don’t want a day to come when I am old, and I see you still young."
Qiao Zhichuan was stunned: "So, actually, you like me?"
"Yes, I have affection for you. If I could cultivate, I’d be willing to be with you, willing to try this relationship. But reality doesn’t allow it, you’re a cultivator, I’m an ordinary person, this is predestined by heaven, a fact that no one can change."
"But I truly like you!"
"I know, but so what? You like me now, but what about the future? Can you guarantee that when you see a gradually aging, no longer beautiful me, you’ll like me just as much as now? Even if you can guarantee it, I can’t trust it. When I’m already with a head full of white hair, how can I believe that a young, outstanding man like you, facing the passionate pursuit of so many beautiful, young girls, will always stand firmly by my side?"