Almost immediately, Li Kong pushed Yu Mei away from him and shouted, "Run!"
Yu Mei who was frozen in place by the disgusting scene felt her throat hot as acidic juices welled up but she managed to contain it and sound of footsteps slowly leaving them behind to the distance.
"Playing hero, aren't you?" Yan Dangxin sneered.
Li Kong didn't say anything and instead stared the former doctor with an observant gaze.
Yan Dangxin scowled, looking on that calm and cold gaze as if he was a beast and the one in front of him was the hunter.
"Li Kong, I'm sorry. I should've killed him earlier but I wanted to search his soul first but who would've thought he still has a hidden trick?" White sincerely apologized and sounded ashamed.
Listening to his tutor embarrassment, Li Kong simply looked at the white bead on top of his palm and with a curve on his lips, he said, "It's okay, White." He assured him.
"It doesn't matter. It's already in the past and–" Li Kong slowly assumed a stance, a familiar stance he had learned from White. "Didn't I say I would become a hero of the village?" Li Kong proudly proclaimed while unfolding the biggest grin White ever seen.
But before White could respond, Yan Dangxin thrust his finger and flung out a huge chunk of dirt on him.
"Where are you looking at!"
Looking at the huge chunk of dirt flying directly to him, Li Kong hurriedly used Wind Steps and disappeared from the place.
Yan Dangxin scrutinized his surrounding before he saw a quick flash on his side and quickly rotated his whole body.
"There you are!" With a huge swipe of his monstrous hand, Yan Dangxin managed to strike on Li Kong.
Li Kong felt his hand cracking as he used it to block the blow and his body rushed to a nearby house.
White released an invisible energy and tried to grab on the nearby tree but the force was too great for White to continue to holding on and Li Kong's back crashed to a wall.
"Bah!!!" Li Kong felt the air leaving his body.
Energies left his body at once as his back slowly sliding down.
Slowly, his vision blurred as his consciousness faded in but he gritted his teeth and he inserted his fingernails deep into his thigh, clawing straight to his flesh.
"Ugh!" The immense pain caused Li Kong's mind to turn blank as he grunted and soon after he regained back his lucidity but before he could process anything else, another chunk of dirt was heading toward him in unprecedented speed..
"Dodge!" White shouted.
Li Kong quickly rolled to the side and got back up on his feet and he heard a loud triumph coming at him and he quickly used Wind Steps once again and disappeared.
Because of his injuries, Li Kong couldn't properly perform Wind Steps and slipped, rolling to the ground. The bitter taste of soils permeated through his tongue. as his face rubbed against the ground.
Li Kong gritted through the pain and after a huge deal of pain, he managed to stand again only to found the house behind him earlier had decimated as rubbles and dusts scattered everywhere, leaving behind total destruction.
"You're one quick fellow, aren't you?" A mocking sound resounded as a massive figure slowly emerged from the collapsed house.
Li Kong inspected his throbbing left arm and a giant area of redness painted evidently on top of his skin and his muscles screamed as a sharp sensation spread around his arm.
"I'll help you with it." After that, a warm energy entered to his pores and seeping in his arm and to whole his body.
Although it was slow, Li Kong could sense that his arm was getting better.
On the other side, Yan Dangxin looked at his pitiful state and whiffed loudly before asking mockingly, "Can you still use that arm?"
Li Kong dropped down his left arm and without uttering anywords, he disappeared once again from Yan Dangxin's vision.
The disappearance caused Yan Dangxin's caution to spiking up before he swiftly noticed something flickering on the edge of his vision.
'Got you!' He smirked and swiped his huge arm across the air behind him.
Faced with the giant ivory bone, Li Kong sharpened his eyes and sliding down from his position, barely missing the giant muscles on the forearm.
Realizing he hadn't hit anything, Yan Dangxin turned his head back and standing there, he saw surges of Qi collecting in Li Kong's right knuckle.
A flaming red color filled his entire vision as he frantically taking steps backward and tried to tore the flames out of his face.
"Ah!!!" A scream of agony was being broadcasted to the entire area.
His huge arm slammed the ground wildly and one of them was incidentally directed Li Kong, prompted him to use Wind Steps.
"Li Kong, Li Kong!" Yan Dangxin called out the name furiously. "I'll kill you!"
Through the small gap in the flame, Yan Dangxin captured a figure breezed through the wind and before long, his entire face caved in as a punch delivered to his face.
"Ah!!!" His scream becoming even louder as his body pounced straight to the ground but he managed to retain his consciousness.
In his pain, Yan Dangxin slowly bringing out his huge arm to his head and squeezed his head tightly and soon after, the flame that had been plaguing him extinguished.
Yan Dangxin used his arm to support him and glared viciously at the youth standing valiantly before him, his gaze unwavering and resolute.
Through that eyes, his mind flashed to a certain point of his life where he had encountered such eyes.
'Those eyes...' Blood started flowing out from his hand.
"Don't look at me with those eyes!" Yan Dangxin rushed madly.
Seeing the impending charge, Li Kong disappeared from the sight for once again but instead of panicking, Yan Dangxin scoffed at his attempt.
"Do you think I don't know the trick you using?" He sneered. "You don't turn invincible or anything but you just move really fast, right?" He slammed the ground with all of his strength but it seemed he had missed his mark as he clicked on his tongue.
"That technique must have slowly diminished your spiritual energy. I wonder just how long can you maintain your speed." Yan Dangxin smirked and observed his surrounding acutely.
Li Kong didn't let himself to be provoked by his cheap words. But still, what Yan Dangxin said rang true as he couldn't possibly hope to sustained this kind of movement for a long time at his current stage, not mentioning Yan Dangxin's wound had slowly healed and the charred part of his face had returned partially to his former self.
Finally, after few more seconds, Li Kong stopped his steps and simply looked at the monstrous former doctor with a calm gaze.
"I told you! Don't look at me with those eyes!" Yan Dangxin roared as he dug out a chunk of dirt and hurled it.
As Li Kong's figure had completely covered from Yan Dangxin's perspective, he immediately swung his giant arms around on the ground.
But confusion slowly etched itself on top of his face and he quickly turned his head and found a sharp light heading rapidly to his head.
Yan Dangxin shifted his head position but his cheek was grazed as he gasped in pain and crimson red of blood steadily pouring from the gaps.
'What is that thing?' But suddenly he realized something as colors faded from his face and hurriedly tried to swipe his front with his arm but it was already too late.
Li Kong had arrived, crouching below his nose. His creased eyebrows and the black jewels stared deeply into his eyes as he prepared his right arm to strike.
Li Kong pushed his right shoulder forward and controlled the flow of Qi inside of his body and recited,
'O' Flame, heed my call!'
His fist travelled through the air and landed on Yan Dangxin's stomach but...
Nothing happened.
Li Kong felt like he heard someone was screaming at him and the next thing he saw was the world turned into blurry lines.
The wall on a nearby house exploded all of a sudden, sending countless dusts free in the air.
Yan Dangxin blinked blankly, not understanding what had happened in front of him, but slowly his sanity crawled back to his head and his whole body started to tremble.
Yan Dangxin covered his mouth with his left arm but ultimately he failed and a maniacal laughter unleashed to the air.
"Ahahaha!!!"
It was too funny. Too funny. He thought that it was over at the moment but who could predict this situation at all?!
Yan Dangxin continued to laugh, no! He howled!
It was absurd! It was unthinkable! It was hilarious! So because of that, he couldn't stop laughing.
Yan Dangxin entered the broken house with light steps and hummed a happy tune before he found Li Kong laying flatly on the floor in the dark room.
Perhaps it was because the lack of light, but Yan Dangxin couldn't see Li Kong's face clearly but it didn't bothered him much.
"Hmm~" Yan Dangxin noticed the slight movement of his chest and looked as if he couldn't be more happier.
He grabbed Li Kong's head and as if he was playing marble, Yan Dangxin flung him out of another wall.
Crash!
The wall was blown off by the sheer force and Li Kong's body rolled before ending up facing up the faint sun that had been covered by the mist.
Yan Dangxin continued his stride back to Li Kong and when he arrived back, he placed his giant arm around his body and slowly lifting his up.
"Look at you now." Yan Dangxin mocked while shaking his whole body, his head swayed aimlessly as Yan Dangxin moved his arm around.
"This is what you get by playing hero." He looked like he was playing with a doll, relentlessly shaking Li Kong's body as red streaks of blood came trickling down from his forehead.
Yan Dangxin pursed his lips in satisfacetion and asked to unconscious Li Kong, "Do you know Li Kong? For a long time now, I was wondering just who was it? Who burned the altar I built? I spent my nights thinking about who can it be and why they haven't say anything yet about it? So I continued to look and look and then on a late night and do you know what I found?"
Yan Dangxin smiled.
"I found you." His smile turned sinister.
"I was about to enter the forest you know before I saw something red flashed and I found you there, practicing with your flashy technique." Yan Dangxin continued to shook his body, making Li Kong's head jiggled wildly.
"At that time, everything seemed to be connected but still I can't do anything to you yet because doing so might invited the wrong attention too soon." Yan Dangxin's eyes turned sharp toward the end of his words but soon after, his gaze softened back.
Yan Dangxin snorted, "Whatever. Even though, he managed to escape but with that giant gushing wound of his, what could he possibly do?" Yan Dangxin closed his eyes before shaking his head while maintaining the smile.
Yan Dangxin turned his attention back to Li Kong before smirking at the fallen youth.
"So long, Li Kong." Yan Dangxin began to exert pressure on his arm and almost immediately, crackling sound started coming from Li Kong's body as Yan Dangxin continued to slowly squeeze him alive.
"Get off your hand off from my little brother!" A loud roar commenced, shocking Yan Dangxin and before he could completely turned his head, something came crashing on him and flung him far to backwards and in the process, Li Kong left his grasp and pounced directly on to the ground.
Yan Dangxin didn't remain silent and used his right arm to grabbed on the soil, slowing down his momentum until he ultimately stopped at his tracks and quickly analyzed the situation.
"Who are you again?" Yan Dangxin asked.
A bulky figure, easily the twice size of Li Kong, standing silently while looking the state of the youth in front of him before a young girl appeared too, standing besides him and when she finally realized about the person laying on the ground, her face turned horrified in an instant and she hurriedly brought him to her embrace.
"Li Kong, Li Kong! Are you okay?!" Yu Mei lightly shook Li Kong's body but no answers came out from the youth's mouth.
"Li Kong, Li Kong! Answer me, Li Kong! Please, please, please. Li Kong, don't be like this please. Please, answer me!" Yu Mei keep repeating the same phrases and began to violently shaking his body but no matter how hard she tried, Li Kong refused to wake up.
Tears began formed on her eyes and came flowing down like waterfall as she wailed.
Xin Qiangdu bit his lips listening to the young girl's cry before he turned his eyes toward the distant figure with burning anger on his eyes.
Noticing the gaze on him, Yan Dangxin replied his gaze with an annoyed face.
"What? You want to end up like that too?" Yan Dangxin pointed at Li Kong before sneering.
Xin Qiangdu didn't reply and instead gripping on his axe more tightly and slowly walked toward Yan Dangxin.
Seeing the approaching figure, Yan Dangxin looked disinterested before sighing and saying, "Whatever. Sooner or later, I'll kill all of you too. So come on, hurry and die. Don't waste my time."
The words got in Xin Qiangdu's right ears and left on his left as he charged toward Yan Dangxin.
"Fool." Yan Dangxin stopped talking and waited calmly for Xin Qiangdu to arrive in front of him but suddenly a whistle rang through the air aimed directly toward his head and he hurriedly raised his arm to block.
The arrow shattered immediately after contacting the hard bone on top of Yan Dangxin's arm, splinters of wood scattered in the air, some brushing his face.
And at that single moment of wavering, Xin Qiangdu managed to close their distance and wielded his axe down and chopped through Yan Dangxin's right shoulder blade.
Blood spurting out like fountain out of Yan Dangxin's shoulder blade but before he could scream, a fist greeted his face right after, sending him tumbling down to the ground behind.
"That's for hurting my little brother." Xin Qiangdu said.
On the other hand, the weeping figure of Yu Mei suddenly heard a light voice rang inside of her head.
"Child."
Yu Mei jolted from her sadness before hesitantly muttered out, "White?"
After that, she saw a white bead slowly rolled out from the inside of his clothes and floated slowly to her.
"Yes." White affirmed her. "Li Kong's not dead yet so you don't have to cry."
Immediately, Yu Mei's pupils shook and slowly, light came back to her eyes.
"Li Kong not dead?" Yu Mei, almost absent-mindedly, asked and after that, she looked carefully and found the slight movement on his chest and a faint sound of breath.
"Yes but he might be very much soon if you don't do anything."
Hearing that, Yu Mei's clarity returned in a flash and she hurriedly snatched out the bead from the air and shaking it violently.
"Do you mean he will die soon?!" Yu Mei exclaimed loudly.
"Although I had lessened the blow he received earlier, his body had already taken a huge toll, his body practically counting down to his death at this point."
"No! He can't die yet!" Yu Mei loudly shouted, shaking her head.
"I know. That's why we must help him as fast as possible."
"Help?" Yu Mei bewilderedly repeated before a spark lightened up in her eyes as she stared at the white bead with expectant gaze.
"What should I do?"
"First, we must get to his house first." White instructed.
"But..." Yu Mei looked at the pale youth on top of her lap. "We couldn't just leave him here, right?"
"For that matter, just leave him with the people behind you." White calmly replied.
Yu Mei tilted her head out of confusion of his words before she looked back behind her and found there were commotions gathering up not far away from her.
"What the hell happened here?" One of them said.
"Eek! What is that disgusting thing?" A woman screeched and backed down a few steps, absolutely disgusted by the sight unfolded in front of her eyes.
After that, the commotions began to stacking and soon after, the surrounding was filled with sound of chatter and confusion.
"Look everyone!" One of the younger voice shouted. "There's Yu Mei there and Li Kong?!"
To the youth's sudden exclamation, the crowd immediately gathered around Li Kong.
"Li Kong? What happened to you?!"
"Is that really Li Kong?"
"Quick! Someone grab some medicine! Call the doctor!"
"Yu Mei, what happened here?"
Yu Mei was overwhelmed by the flurry of questions but she quickly recovered and entrusted Li Kong to them.
"I leave Li Kong to you."
The person who had received Li Kong, Wang Lan, the owner of the farm, looked confusedly at Yu Mei before he asked, "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to save him!" Yu Mei said before leaving the crowd altogether, running to somewhere unknown to them.
'Just wait for me, Li Kong.' Yu Mei bit her lips.
'This time, I'll save you' Yu Mei wiped the tears from her face.