Chapter Thirty-One Departure

  Gan Ping's mouth opened, and a blood-red Heavenly Demon Blood God Knife flew towards the two people in front of him. The color was dark and gloomy, with a strong aura that made the two feel like they were being trapped by an invisible force as soon as the knife appeared. They couldn't even move their little fingers. Gan Ping saw the two like this, and his eyes flashed with cold light. He was held back by the Heavenly Demon Blood God Knife's own blood curse, Heaven's Seal, and Magnetic Field. How could they escape? If not for this, how would the Blood God Knife have such a great reputation in the ancient legends of the Nine States Continent?

  The knife aura flew straight towards the two immobile people, instantly sweeping across their bodies. The bodies of Qingruo and Qingyue rapidly withered away, as this knife aura took away all the spiritual energy and blood from the two people, even devouring their souls completely. It was extremely poisonous, until finally, the two people's bodies turned into two handfuls of flying ash that dispersed in the air. Only then did the knife aura reluctantly fly back, a streak of bloody light drilling into Gan Ping's body. Gan Ping felt that this strand of knife aura had actually grown stronger, floating up and down within his dantian. The most astonishing thing was that it emitted threads of pure soul power from the knife aura, nourishing his own soul bit by bit. He couldn't help but secretly marvel at how extraordinary this Heaven Demon Blood God Knife truly was, able to plunder others' souls to nourish itself, truly sinister beyond compare.

  The ribbon-like magic treasure that had been controlling Gan Ping was gone, and he sprang up, breaking free from its restraint. He grasped the treasure in his hand, not having time to examine it closely, and tossed it into the dark ring. He picked up the storage bag left behind by Qing Mo, also tossing it in, then hastily rushed towards Majiacun. If his predictions were correct, Majiacun was now a river of blood; but whose blood exactly, that was uncertain.

  Just as the Tianmo Huaxue God Knife had absorbed all of Qingruo's and Er'ruo's vital energy, in a Taoist temple on top of a small mountain at the far west of the Tianfu Continent, two wooden plaques hanging on the wall suddenly exploded. A middle-aged Taoist priest with an ashen face looked towards the two wooden plaques, let out a cold snort and transformed into a stream of light, flying towards the sky. The young apprentice outside heard the noise and rushed in, only to find no one inside, the two wooden name plaques on the wall had shattered, and he sat down on the ground with a thud, took a deep breath and shouted loudly: "Something terrible has happened! The two Shixiong's name plaques have broken, and Ershibo is nowhere to be found!" His voice was terrified and mournful, as if Ershibo was some kind of monster.

  Gan Ping rushed all the way, and had already seen Majiacun from a distance. From the wind blowing from the distant village, he smelled a faint smell of blood. He let out a long whistle, transformed into a stream of light, and pounced towards Majiacun. However, Gan Ping was not anxious because he trusted Huo Er. When he left, he put Huo Er in Mr. Zhang's arms and entrusted him with a sentence, which was that Gan Ping had guessed that the ruthless Fang Zhengyuan might kill people to silence them, so he didn't let Huo Er follow himself.

  He leapt onto the high platform at the village entrance, and Gan Ping couldn't help but take a deep breath of cold air. The village was already littered with corpses, but judging from their clothing, most of them were not villagers, which made him feel slightly more at ease. He jumped down from the platform and headed straight to the back of the village. Along the way, Gan Ping saw that many of the corpses on the ground had thick calluses on their palms, indicating they were seasoned fighters who killed every day. He couldn't help but feel secretly angry, thinking that he was right to have eliminated the Fang and Ning families. If not for Huo, there would be no one left alive in the Ma family now.

  Just thinking of Huo Er, a small red figure jumped into his arms with a happy cry. Who else could it be but Huo Er? Seeing its excited jumping and leaping, Gan Ping's heart, which had been gloomy because of Ling Er's situation, felt much more at ease. Yes, there was still Huo Er, Zhang Sheng, Ma Ye Ye... But Ling Er, I must cure you, no matter the cost, Gan Ping thought to himself, clenching his fists tightly.

  At this time, a head emerged from the corner in front, looking around and seeing Gan Ping, hurriedly ran back, shouting: "Gan Ping is back, Gan Ping is back!"

  The whole village suddenly became lively, a group of people rushed out from the back of the village, startling Gan Ping, and surrounded him, shouting at him in unison.

  "Your temper is really fierce, it scares me, but fortunately there's that, otherwise..."

  "Come on, come on! Didn't you see that? Your family's fire went up and killed all those bad eggs?"

  "Go, go, go! Since Gan Ping is so fierce, his fire must be fierce too."

  " Gan Ping, are you the one who trained Huo so fiercely? Can you teach me too?"

  Gan Ping was confused by your one-word-at-a-time shouting, standing in the crowd not knowing what to do. However, he saw that everyone's face had an excited expression, and suddenly seemed to understand that these people were just excitedly shouting after surviving a disaster, venting their emotions. At this time, Old Horse Head emerged from the crowd, saw Gan Ping alone, was stunned for a moment, and his smile disappeared instantly. Without saying another word, he pushed through the crowd and pulled Gan Ping back home.

  Mr. Zhang, Mrs. Ma, and Ringer's father were all inside the house. When they saw Gan Ping enter, they all had a hunch about what was behind him. Gan Ping knew what they were thinking, but didn't say anything. Without waiting for Mrs. Ma to speak, he pushed open the door and entered the inner room. Everyone else followed quickly, not knowing what he wanted to do. They saw Gan Ping standing by the bed, staring blankly at the person lying on it - it was Ma Ling'er, who seemed to be fast asleep.

  Ma Zhang shouted and rushed over, the crowd also swarmed around, but no matter how Ma Zhang called out, Ma Ling'er didn't show any signs of waking up. It was only then that everyone remembered Gan Ping, and they all turned their heads to look at him. Gan Ping simply stared blankly at Ling'er, who seemed to be asleep, for a long time without saying a word.

  On the second day, early in the morning, Gan Ping left the village amidst the earnest instructions of Old Horse Head and Mr. Zhang. Last night, Gan Ping had detailed his experiences in Xiao Yue City, naturally omitting the fact that he had slaughtered over a thousand people from the Fang and Ning families to summon Ling'er's soul. It was better if fewer people knew about such things. At the same time, Gan Ping also expressed his thoughts: "I want to go to Xian Shan to learn the arts, I must find a way to save Ling'er, Ling'er's soul has only appeared abnormal, she hasn't truly died, I believe I can definitely cure her." Everyone fell silent in response to Gan Ping's determined expression. They all knew that becoming an apprentice on Xian Shan was extremely difficult, and although Gan Ping surpassed ordinary people, he was still not yet fourteen years old. This journey of thousands of miles, how could he endure it? Yet they couldn't stop him either, the hope of Ling'er waking up was slim, perhaps only Gan Ping could do it.

  Gan Ping turned around to take a look at Mr. Zhang and Old Ma Tou, who were waving goodbye at the village entrance. He remembered his words from yesterday, "No matter what difficulties I face, I will save Ling'er. It may take ten years or three years, but I will definitely bring back an intact Ling'er." The fire on his shoulder seemed to sense its master's emotions and gently touched Gan Ping's cheek with its small paws. Gan Ping took a deep look at the entire village, turned around, and walked forward with big strides. I'll be back, with Ling'er!

  Standing at the village entrance to see off, Ma Zhangshi looked at Gan Ping's departing back and burst into tears. Mr. Zhang twirled his mustache, looking at the small figure of his young disciple in the distance, saying: "This child has grown up, only then can he be a good man with responsibility." Old Horse Head stood beside him, hearing this remark, nodded slightly.