Twilight's Threshold Chapter 25: The True Yang Arrow - Novel Cool

Chapter 25: The True Yang Arrow

Chapter 25: The True Yang Arrow

Hu Ma opened his eyes to find a blade before him, and that wasn't the strangest part. His vision was still clouded with a dark red mist from a bizarre dream he had just woken from. In his dazed state, he clearly saw Cuixie's current state—his face was a mask of terror and agony, and beside his head was a ghastly pale one. Cuixie's limbs were entangled by another pale, slender body.

Another person was pressed against him, their limbs wrapped around his, their head pressed to his ear, and their blood-red eyes staring at Hu Ma with a greedy, savage excitement.

Was it that white-faced monster?

The image of the three malevolent spirits he had encountered at the edge of the village when he first woke up in this world flashed through Hu Ma's mind. The one now entangled with Cuixie was the white-faced ghost that had been squatting on the tree. How had it suddenly merged with Cuixie's body?

There was no time to think. Cuixie's eyes blazed with a fierce light, and he swung his blade, aiming for Hu Ma's face.

In that moment, Hu Ma's body felt stiff and cold, as if it were not under his control. But as the blade tip neared his face, his mind suddenly cleared, and he found his inner fire.

"Thud!"

At that critical moment, the fire in Hu Ma's body seemed to ignite fiercely, and a surge of heat rushed through him. He bit his tongue, and the blood, mixed with the fire, shot straight at Cuixie's face.

"Ah..."

Hu Ma clearly saw the blood and fire hit Cuixie's face. Cuixie's expression faltered, and he took a step back. The white-faced monster, which had been wrapped around him, let out a shrill, terrifying scream as if it had been burned by the fire. Its long, supple limbs relaxed, and it clutched its face, crashing through the window with a gust of cold wind, disappearing into the darkness.

Seizing the opportunity, Hu Ma sat up quickly and moved to the corner of the room.

"What's happening? What's happening?"

The other boys, who had been sleeping in the side room, were jolted awake by the scream and began to shout in confusion.

Someone, using the faint light from outside, saw Cuixie standing by Hu Ma's bed with a sharp blade and screamed in terror.

"Second Master, Second Master..."

"..."

Before they could call out more, the door was kicked open, and the tall Second Master entered the room.

"Light the lamps!"

"..."

Without needing to be reminded, Zhou Datong scrambled to strike a flint and light the oil lamp on the wall. Under the dim, yellow light, Cuixie stared blankly at the blade in his hand, then met Second Master's gaze.

Suddenly, the blade fell to the ground, and Cuixie's eyes rolled back as he fainted.

"What happened?"

At this moment, Second Master displayed an unusual calm. He first checked Cuixie's breathing, then turned to Hu Ma.

"White-faced monster!"

Hu Ma, feeling the fire within him and emboldened, had already climbed out of bed and calmly replied, "I saw a white-faced monster entangled with him."

"He had a knife and was trying to... kill me."

"..."

"Light all the lamps!"

Second Master, without time for more questions, his face grave, ordered, "Light all the lamps."

"Those who have ancestral ashes, give them to me!"

"..."

He shouted, commanding all the boys to get to work, counting heads, while he rushed out of the side room. He went to the weapon rack by the wall, grabbed a large blade, and with the ancestral ashes given to him by the boys, he patrolled the entire compound, scattering the ashes in a circle around it. He returned with a fiery red face.

"Second... Second Master, what's going on?"

The boys, already up and clustering together, some holding weapons, asked in fear. The darkness seemed to press in on their weak light, sending chills down their spines.

"Nothing, go back to sleep!"

Second Master said gravely, "Don't split into two rooms, sleep all together..."

"..."

"Move Cuixie to my room, and Hu Ma, you come with me."

"..."

With wary and anxious looks, the boys followed Second Master into his main room.

Cuixie was still unconscious, and Second Master checked his breathing, then relaxed, not waking him immediately.

"White-faced monster?"

Second Master lit the oil lamp in the main room, his expression equally puzzled.

"Yes, it looked very strange..."

Hu Ma recounted what he had seen when he woke up, but he didn't mention the warning he had received in his dream. He simply said he had suddenly woken up and saw Cuixie standing by his bed, with the vague outline of the white-faced monster on him.

"It's the White-Faced Mountain Spirit..."

Old Second's expression darkened, seemingly still shaken by the memory.

"How did that evil spirit dare to enter my village? And how did it end up entangling Cui Xie'er?"

"..."

Hu Ma recalled something and whispered, "I don't know the details, but after that incident, he often stared at me."

"He looked very dissatisfied, as if he wanted to fight me again."

"..."

"Stared at you?"

Old Second seemed to understand, his frustration evident as he glared at Cui Xie'er and muttered, "I told this kid long ago not to fuss over every little thing, to be more open-minded, but he wouldn't listen. He just couldn't change that petty trait of the Cui family..."

"He's been harboring resentment, day and night, and it drew that White-Faced Mountain Spirit to him, almost causing a disaster..."

"It can happen like that?"

It was only then that Hu Ma fully understood.

Usually, he felt very safe in the village, especially when Old Second was around. Even Little Hongtang wouldn't dare to come in.

But now, in the dead of night, with everyone present, it was as if the village had lit multiple fire pits.

Yet, the evil spirit had targeted Cui Xie'er, trying to harm Hu Ma through him, which didn't make much sense.

But could someone's resentment really cause such a thing?

Clearly, his understanding of this world was still shallow.

"But..."

Old Second cursed a few times, then looked at Hu Ma with a strange expression. "How did you escape this time?"

"When I arrived, it seemed to have already fled?"

"..."

"I..."

Hu Ma felt a bit embarrassed, pointing at Cui Xie'er's face. "I was too scared to move."

"I remembered the method you taught me and bit the tip of my tongue..."

"..."

"Blood Sun Arrow?"

Old Second looked at Hu Ma in disbelief, and upon closer inspection, he indeed saw the blood spots on Cui Xie'er's face.

His eyes widened, and he trembled, "You used the Blood Sun Arrow?"

"You..."

Hu Ma was startled by his reaction and cautiously replied, "Didn't you teach me that before?"

Apart from you, there were also movies and novels from my past life, but I can't mention that.

"At the time, I mainly just told you about the old techniques. The Blood Sun Arrow is a powerful, secret technique..."

Old Second's expression became even more peculiar. "You learned it in just half a month?"

Under the oil lamp, the two men stared at each other.

Hu Ma thought for a moment, then slowly drew a breath and forcefully exhaled a burst of air.

This time, he didn't bite his tongue, but it still hurt!

Yet, the air arrow was powerful, knocking a piece of wood from the old window frame.

"My goodness..."

Old Second nearly jumped up, looking at Hu Ma as if he had seen a ghost. "That doesn't look like someone who's only practiced for a month!"

"You've clearly surpassed the normal progression, actively seeking a path to external power..."

"..."

Hu Ma felt a bit uneasy. "Isn't that normal?"

"Old Second has practiced for sixty years and hasn't reached this point. Is that normal?"

Old Second sighed, "Your inner fire is even stronger than mine, which isn't right. It's not just stronger than mine..."

"No, it's definitely stronger than mine."

"It's just that Old Second has practiced for sixty years, making my fire purer."

"..."

Seeing Old Second's tense expression, Hu Ma thought it was reasonable.

After all, his adoptive mother had gone bald.

But after Old Second's explanation, he understood. Compared to techniques like Mountain Splitting, Barrier Moving, and Hard Peach Picking, the True Sun Arrow was the simplest and the hardest.

Simple because it almost required no learning; once your inner fire was ready, you could use it. The Blood Sun Arrow, an upgraded version, only added the step of biting your tongue. The difficulty lay in the extremely high requirement for inner fire.

Old Second had practiced for over a decade to accumulate pure inner fire before learning this technique, and he could only use it three times a day at most.

Hu Ma, who learned it on his own, used it once and was still full of energy. To Old Second, this was an unimaginable and bizarre phenomenon.

"No matter what, you've learned it..."

Seeing Old Second's expression, Hu Ma cautiously asked, "What should I do?"

"How should I know? The old master never taught me that..."

Old Second sighed, clearly shaken, but he gradually recovered, having already been stunned by Hu Ma's rapid progress. He sighed again, "I've practiced for sixty years and taught many village children, but I've never seen anyone like you. This should be a good thing, but there's a problem I need to warn you about."

Hu Ma was slightly startled and asked warily, "What is it?"

"Trouble is coming..."

Old Second looked at Hu Ma and whispered, "For the White-Faced Mountain Spirit to come here and cause trouble, it's a serious issue!"

(End of Chapter)

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