Chapter 1328: Too Many Wicked Deeds

Yun Ji reacted quickly. Even though the lightning did not seem to be aimed at her, she dodged instinctively.

She was a serpent demon who had cultivated to the Nascent Soul Realm, but by nature she still feared heavenly thunder. The instant it descended, her first reaction was to flash away.

Yuan Gang's reaction was not slow either. He threw himself sideways off the tower. Whether he could actually dodge or not, lightning was coming down, so of course he was going to try.

At least he had time to move, because the lightning was not aimed at him. Someone else did not even have the chance to dodge.

As Yuan Gang's body crashed toward the middle of the tower, he hooked one arm over the tier above him to bleed off some of the force. Then he rolled all the way down until he finally caught the edge of a higher step and steadied himself. He looked up and instantly froze.

Niu Youdao was almost unrecognizable, charred black from head to toe. He stood on one leg, both arms slightly raised, swaying on the edge of the summit as though his life hung by a thread. What remained of his consciousness seemed to be trying desperately to keep his body upright.

Niu Youdao truly was trying to steady himself, but his entire body felt as though it had been burned, inside and out. He wanted to lower his other foot and stand firm, yet his body would not obey him, least of all his thigh.

He desperately wanted to use spiritual power to stabilize himself, to expel and suppress the agony inside him, but a tingling current still seemed to be coursing through his body. He was numb from head to toe and could barely move.

Don't fall! Don't fall! Hold steady!

That was what he kept telling himself.

But his balance gradually failed, and he pitched headfirst over the edge.

Seeing Niu Youdao fall stiffly down the far side of the "pyramid" like a dead man, Yuan Gang had no idea whether he was alive or dead. His eyes nearly split with anguish as he roared, "Master Dao!"

He shot upward and raced along the steps, charging toward the other side to save him.

Yun Ji, hovering in the air, also saw Niu Youdao plunge downward and started to rush after him, but then instinctively looked up. Fear held her back for an instant. She was worried another bolt of heavenly thunder might fall.

Strangely, after that one strike, the thunder in the sky fell silent and the roiling dark clouds began dispersing rapidly.

Her heart steadied somewhat. Looking down again, she saw Niu Youdao had almost rolled all the way to the bottom. His downward momentum struck an obstruction and threw him briefly into the air.

Yuan Gang, racing downward, launched himself forward and caught Niu Youdao in midair, keeping him from smashing against the steps again. Holding him tight, he threw himself clear of the tower, and both men crashed into the desert. As they landed, Yuan Gang rolled with the momentum while still holding him, bleeding off the force.

The corner of Yun Ji's mouth twitched. She flashed down and landed beside them, only to see that the false face Niu Youdao had been wearing had been blasted away.

Never mind what the lightning had done to the charred-black man. The tumble down the tower alone had clearly battered him badly. His forehead was covered in swelling lumps, blood seeped from his mouth and nose, his eyes were unfocused and dull, and his rising chest twitched faintly.

Yuan Gang laid him flat and hurriedly wiped the blood and sand from his face. "Master Dao! Master Dao! How are you?" Then he looked up and roared at Yun Ji, "Why aren't you saving him?"

There was one thing he had no choice but to admit: when it came to saving someone, he was certainly no match for people with spiritual cultivation.

Yun Ji quickly crouched and used spiritual power to examine Niu Youdao's condition. After checking him, she immediately took out a wax pill casing and crushed it open. She pushed a Heavenly Succor Pill into Niu Youdao's mouth, forced it down into his stomach with spiritual power, then used her cultivation to help refine it and hasten the medicine's effect.

Guan Fangyi had given Yun Ji the Heavenly Succor Pills as well, several of them in fact. There was no helping it. Niu Youdao had obtained quite a few Heavenly Succor Pills from Ling Sect over time, so the core members around him naturally had some distributed among them for emergencies.

"How is he? How is he?" Yuan Gang stared at Yun Ji and asked again and again, unable to hide his anxiety.

For him, a major reason Master Dao had come on this trip was Yuan Gang's own safety. If Master Dao died here, Yuan Gang would never forgive himself for the rest of his life.

He hated himself. When the lightning came down, why had he not known to shove Master Dao aside? Why had he only thought of dodging on his own?

Of course, the reason he had dodged was that he assumed Master Dao would react even faster than he could and escape even more quickly. How had he failed to get away?

What Yuan Gang did not know was that Niu Youdao had tried. The lightning had been aimed directly at him. The instant the flash appeared, it was already there, simply too fast to evade.

Niu Youdao's reaction had actually been quick enough. His body had already blurred and his feet had left the ground. But lightning did not travel in a perfectly straight line. It actually bent after him. Even after he changed direction, it still struck him. The force and power were fierce enough to hammer him back down after he had already risen from the ground, almost as if the bolt itself had pressed him back into place. That was how he had ended up like this.

Yun Ji let out a breath. "Don't worry. If an ordinary person had taken that bolt, it would have been enough to kill them. But with his cultivation protecting his body, it isn't fatal. He's only injured. Fortunately, that bolt wasn't powerful enough to kill him."

Hearing this, Yuan Gang finally relaxed somewhat. He remained kneeling in the sand, staring at Niu Youdao as Yun Ji treated him.

Under Yun Ji's powerful cultivation, the faint twitching in Niu Youdao's body faded. He seemed gradually to return to himself, and light slowly returned to his unfocused eyes.

His eyes shifted. When he recognized the two people before him, he breathed out. "I... where am I?" His mind had not fully returned, as though he had no idea how long he had been unconscious.

Yuan Gang immediately leaned aside, clearing his view so he could see the "pyramid" behind them.

At the sight of it, Niu Youdao could not help rolling his eyes. "Monkey, did we do too many wicked things like digging up people's ancestral graves in our previous life and finally get our retribution? Otherwise, why would lightning strike us?"

Previous life? Digging up ancestral graves? Yun Ji had no idea what he was talking about. She assumed his head was still muddled and he was babbling nonsense.

Kneeling in front of him, Yuan Gang answered honestly, "Master Dao, it probably has nothing to do with that." He looked back at the tower. "There should be something strange about this thing. The lightning came because you struck it."

Niu Youdao sighed. "My whole body's fallen apart. Feels like I've been roasted over a fire."

Yun Ji said, "Maybe everyone feels like that after being struck by lightning. Try circulating your spiritual power and see whether it can still move on its own."

Niu Youdao closed his eyes. After quite a while, he seemed to feel something and finally opened them again with a soft "Mm."

Only then did Yun Ji help him sit up and arrange him cross-legged. She withdrew her hands, then stopped Yuan Gang when he reached forward to assist. "He's already taken a Heavenly Succor Pill. Let him guide the medicine himself with spiritual power. He'll recover faster that way. Don't disturb him."

Niu Youdao had already closed his eyes again and entered a state of complete absorption, with no energy left to concern himself with anything else.

Yun Ji and Yuan Gang both stood guard beside him. From time to time they looked at the sky and saw that the dark clouds had come quickly and left just as quickly. In the blink of an eye, the heavens were bright and clear again, as though nothing had happened.

Now and then they looked toward the "pyramid" too. After what had happened, and with neither of them understanding the mystery, Niu Youdao's reckless probing and the lightning strike that followed served as a warning. Neither dared climb the tower again, much less approach it.

After the dark clouds, thunder, and lightning, the entire desert sank into dead silence. The sand scorpions that had fought and scrambled over food earlier seemed badly frightened. Not one emerged again.

At last darkness fell. Once night came and the desert's scorching heat faded, the air gradually turned bitterly cold.

All three could endure it. Yuan Gang had little cultivation to speak of, but his flesh was extraordinarily tough and his blood and vitality were vigorous. The cold posed no problem.

Yun Ji sat cross-legged to meditate as well. Traveling underground for so long had consumed a great deal of her spiritual power.

That left Yuan Gang alone, watching the surroundings with extreme vigilance. Master Dao was weak now, and Yuan Gang did not dare relax for even an instant.

As for Niu Youdao, he seemed truly lost in cultivation.

The night here was equally long. After Yun Ji rose beneath the sky full of stars, Niu Youdao still had not awakened. She gestured for Yuan Gang to rest and let her take over the watch.

Yuan Gang shook his head and refused. He remained at Niu Youdao's side without moving an inch, continuing to maintain the same high vigilance.

Yun Ji could even sense that she herself was included among the things Yuan Gang was guarding against.

She could not help studying him for a while. She had seen it long ago; this merely confirmed it once again. This big red-faced fellow certainly had his own peculiarities, but there was one thing she had to admit: throughout all of Maolu Villa, there was probably no one more loyal to Niu Youdao than Yuan Gang.

She could feel it clearly. Niu Youdao's life was Yuan Gang's life, perhaps even more important to him than his own. To protect Niu Youdao's life, this red-faced man would throw away his own without hesitation.

That also made her sigh inwardly. No wonder a man as rational as Niu Youdao tolerated this red-faced fellow's temperament and was willing to take enormous risks for him. Since following Niu Youdao, Yun Ji had personally witnessed his cold ruthlessness many times. Cold-blooded would not have been too strong a word.

No matter how deeply Shang Shuqing moved him, she could not shake his decisions.

No matter how Hongniang pleaded, he had still refused to act to save Ximen Qingkong.

When the horizon had only just begun to brighten, Niu Youdao suddenly breathed out. His arms spread as he completed a Great Heavenly Circuit, drawing the circulation back into his dantian. His eyes slowly opened, their former clarity restored. Both people beside him turned to look.

Facing the dawn, Niu Youdao rose. Yuan Gang immediately reached out to steady him. "Master Dao, are you all right now?"

"How could I be all right? My whole body burns. But I won't die." Niu Youdao stood and shoved him aside, then reached up and peeled a thin sheet of dead skin from his face.

The other two discovered that his surface skin was covered in cracked dead layers, almost as though he were about to molt.

Niu Youdao circulated spiritual power and shook himself. Dead skin flew from his face, while flakes blew from his sleeves, collar, trouser legs, and every opening in his clothes, swirling through the air like snow.

There were holes all over his clothing. The lightning had reduced his robes to rags.

The dignified Master Dao of Maolu Villa now looked like a beggar.

Yun Ji swept the flying debris aside with spiritual power, then turned back and froze when she looked at Niu Youdao. He now looked almost capable of competing with Yuan Gang: his entire body seemed to have turned red, while his hair had curled into strange coils.

Noticing the peculiar way the two were staring at him, Niu Youdao asked, "What are you looking at? What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Both shook their heads at once.

Niu Youdao turned toward the pyramid, his eyes flickering as he thought.

Yuan Gang knew him too well. He knew Master Dao's curiosity was still alive. Whenever Niu Youdao encountered something strange or mysterious, he always had the urge to investigate it.

Sure enough, after looking up at the sky once more, Niu Youdao suddenly said to Yun Ji, "Your cultivation is higher. Go over there and hit it again."

Yun Ji froze, then hurriedly refused. "What good does higher cultivation do me? No matter how high my cultivation is, I'm not faster than lightning. Mountain spirits and monsters are born fearing lightning tribulations. This little demon is no exception." Her tone was very modest, but the meaning was simple: she was not going.

Niu Youdao did not force her. He turned to Yuan Gang and tilted his head. "You go."

"Ah!" Yuan Gang was shocked. "Master Dao, there's no need to go looking for suffering, is there?"

Niu Youdao immediately showed some irritation. "If I tell you to go, then go. What's with all the nonsense?"

[End of Chapter 1328]