133: Chapter 133 Wang Shoudong's Sense of Contrast

The heavy sword and the rhinoceros horn collided once again, and this time, it was the heavy sword that shattered.

That Medium Grade Magical Artifact that had accompanied Wang Shouyi for ten years finally failed to hold up under the enraged strike of the Tier 2 Yao Beast; the blade shattered inch by inch, and the flying fragments slashed open several bloody gashes on his face.

However, the charge of the Armored Rhinoceros King was also stalled for a full three breaths by this hard-fought clash; a piece of the rhinoceros horn on its head was chipped off, and fresh blood gushed out from the base of the broken horn, staining half of its rhinoceros face red.

The remaining three Puppets pounced forward at the same time: the beak of the Iron-Winged Bird pecked into the right eye of the Armored Rhinoceros King, the tail hook of the Copper-Armored Scorpion stabbed into the old wound on its hind leg, and the Puppet snake coiled around its only remaining front hoof.

The Armored Rhinoceros King let out a painful roar, its entire body's scales exploding outward to blast all three Puppets flying at once; then it lowered its head, aiming its mostly broken yet still lethal horn straight at Wang Shouyi's chest, forcefully exerting all four hooves to launch a final charge with a posture of mutual destruction.

Its right eye was already blinded, and its left eye was as crimson as blood; there was no pain and no fear in its eyes, only the resolute determination to grind this human who had killed its child into pulp.

Wang Shouyi leaned against the broken ancient pine, his mouth filled with the taste of blood, wanting to move but already too late.

He watched helplessly as that broken rhinoceros horn grew closer and closer, expanding rapidly in his vision.

At this critical juncture, a bronze Pill Furnace descended from the sky.

The Pill Furnace was crimson all over, its body densely engraved with alchemical patterns, its lid half-open, and the raging alchemical fire inside dyed the entire dense forest a fiery red.

It tore through the air from the depths of the dense forest on the oblique side, moving so fast that it left only a crimson afterimage, carrying the force of ten thousand jun, and accurately slammed into the head of the Armored Rhinoceros King from the side.

Under the impact of this Pill Furnace, the massive body of the Tier 2 Yao Beast was actually forcefully sent flying, tumbling and snapping several ancient trees before crashing heavily to the ground.

A clear and urgent voice came from the depths of the dense forest.

"Third brother!"

Wang Shouyi abruptly raised his head, his eyes filled with disbelief.

He was far too familiar with this voice—so familiar that he knew who it was without even looking.

His Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

"Second brother! Has he returned from the Lingdan Sect?"

In the depths of the dense forest, a slender figure slowly walked out.

The newcomer looked to be twenty-six or twenty-seven years old, with a face like jade and a gentle temperament. He wore a plain white robe without a speck of dust, and his cuffs were embroidered with the unique lotus pattern of the Wang family.

Had the heroic spirit belonging to the Wang family between his brows not remained unchanged, Wang Shouyi would hardly have believed that the gentle and refined Young Master before his eyes was the same youth who used to lie unconscious on a cot back then, so thin he was nothing more than a bundle of bones.

After ten years of cultivation in the Lingdan Sect, Wang Shoudong had undergone a complete transformation; in every gesture, he naturally possessed the composure and gentleness unique to alchemical Cultivators.

Behind him followed a young girl of seventeen or eighteen, petite in stature, wearing a goose-yellow long dress. Tied to her waist was a palm-sized red copper Pill Furnace, and her eyebrows and eyes were lively as she curiously sized up this group of blood-stained Wang family Disciples.

When her gaze swept across the bleeding sword scars on Wang Shouyi's face, the corners of her mouth twitched slightly downward, as if she felt these people were truly disheveled.

"Second brother, are you alright?" Wang Shoudong smiled as he stepped forward, extending a hand toward Wang Shouyi.

Wang Shouyi grabbed his hand to leverage himself up, taking the opportunity to punch him in the shoulder with moderate force, and cursed with a smile,

"You brat, you went to the Lingdan Sect for ten years, and the first thing you say when you come back is to mock your second brother? If not for me crippling the Yao Beast, could your Pill Furnace have smashed so accurately?"

Though he cursed verbally, his eye sockets turned slightly red as he looked Wang Shoudong up and down, as if wanting to take in all the changes of these past ten years in one breath.

The few Wang family Disciples behind Wang Shouyi also gathered around one after another.

Most of them had never met Wang Shoudong; they had only seen his name in the clan's Soul Lamp Hall and heard elders speak of this clan older brother who had been accepted as an apprentice by the Lingdan Sect.

Seeing him in person now, their gazes were filled with curiosity, yet they did not dare to step forward to speak, only whispering among themselves.

For ten years, this was the first time Wang Shoudong officially appeared before the Wang family. He was no longer that useless person lying on a cot relying on a soul lamp to sustain his life, but stood upright and proper before his third brother in the identity of a Personal Disciple of Dantuzi from the Lingdan Sect.

"Right, this is Dan Linger." Wang Shoudong turned sideways, steering the young girl behind him to the front of the crowd, his tone carrying a hint of subtle helplessness and indulgence, like introducing an extremely precious yet extremely difficult-to-maintain Spirit Medicine.

"She is the granddaughter of Master Dantuzi. This time, she insisted on following me to Lotus Pier to take a look, saying—"

Before he could finish, Dan Linger snatched the conversation away, saying crisply,

"Saying she wanted to come and taste if the Cloud Carp of Lotus Pier is as delicious as legends say. My grandfather said the Cloud Carp of the Wang family can nourish people, but I've been raised for eighteen years and am still this thin, so it must be that my grandfather never bought me fish from the Wang family."

After finishing, she did not forget to glance at Wang Shoudong, and the meaning in her eyes couldn't be more obvious.

Wang Shouyi froze for a moment, then burst into loud laughter, not even bothering to wipe away the blood seeping out again from the sword scars on his face.

While laughing, he silently cried out what a good fellow in his heart: his third brother went to the Lingdan Sect for ten years, and how much Alchemy he learned was unknown, but he managed to abduct such a pretty little girl back; no matter how one looked at it, this deal was not a loss.

Before his laughter had even faded, that Armored Rhinoceros King that had been sent flying suddenly let out a low, angry roar.

It struggled to crawl up from the pile of broken ancient trees. Several ribs on its left side were broken, its right eye was blinded, and most of the scales on its entire body were shattered. Fresh blood gushed out in streams from countless wounds, yet it still refused to fall.

Yao Beasts were different from Cultivators; they knew no fear and no retreat, especially a mother beast in a state of frantic vengeance after its cub was killed.

It lowered its head, aiming its single horn at the crowd, scraping its four hooves against the ground, preparing to launch the final round of charge.

The expressions of the crowd changed, and just as they were about to reform their formation, that crimson Pill Furnace moved a step faster.

It did not fly back into Wang Shoudong's hands, but was instead struck by the head-shake of the Armored Rhinoceros King, flying backward to smash toward the crowd.

Wang Shouyi instinctively blocked, but remembered he no longer had a weapon. Dan Linger took half a step back, about to form hand seals to recall the Pill Furnace.

Wang Shoudong's figure flickered, and he was already standing in front of everyone.

He did not form any hand seals or urge any magic arts; he merely extended his right hand with his fingers spread wide, steadily catching the crimson copper furnace that weighed over a thousand catties and burned all over with alchemical fire.

The alchemical fire leaped in his palm, yet it did not burn away even a fraction of his cuffs.

He supported the Pill Furnace with one hand, his slender five fingers clasping the furnace handles. With a slight exertion of his fingertips, the Pill Furnace hovered steadily above his palm, and the furnace fire reignited, fiercer and more blazing than before.

That jade-like, gentle face still wore a faint smile, except that the smile now contained a hint of sharpness that only people of the Wang family could understand.

"Third brother, lend me a fire." He tilted his head and smiled at Wang Shouyi. Wang Shouyi was stunned, but still obediently raised a ball of fire.

Wang Shoudong suddenly pulled out an object from his bosom—palm-long and strip-shaped. He brought one end close to the fire ball to ignite it, then placed the other end into his mouth.

He took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled.

A wisp of white smoke diffused along his nasal passages.

"Hoo~ I'm energized! Up with you!"

Before his voice had faded, his entire body had already leaped into the air, holding up the Pill Furnace—which was a circle larger than his entire person—with one hand, and smashed it straight down at the head of the Armored Rhinoceros King.

People unfamiliar with Wang Shoudong didn't think much of it, but Wang Shouyi felt a massive headache. Since when did his second brother take a liking to smoking this kind of thing?

Yet this gentle and refined Young Master possessed the strength to lift a cauldron. This style—was it really right?