My enemies became my companions

Chapter 624 Min Ning (Two Chapters Combined)

Chen Yi immediately stopped, his gaze still filled with surprise and uncertainty, his sword held horizontally in front of him, still on high alert.

The black-clad guard quickly removed his mask and went up to give him a big hug.

Caught off guard by her sudden embrace, Chen Yi heard a familiar "Hey!" and he reacted in time, pulling her into his arms.

It really is Min Ning.

Chen Yi would never forget those spirited yet slightly melancholic eyes, even though he already had many women he would never forget.

Chen Yi looked down and glanced at her face. There was a faint scar on her forehead, and her hair at her temples was broken and had not yet grown back. Her cheeks were firmer than before. She had been through a lot, and Chen Yi could see a bit of vicissitudes in her face.

"Hiss." Min Ning gasped, pushed him away half a step, frowned and pressed her ribs, "Be gentle! You almost broke my bones." She complained, but a hint of relief from the long-awaited reunion flashed quickly in her eyes.

Only then did Chen Yi notice the dark stains on her black clothes, and a faint smell of blood mixed with the familiar scent of sweat wafted towards him.

His gaze darkened. "Where are you injured? Who did this?"

"I won't die, I'm almost fully recovered." Min Ning twitched the corner of her mouth, casually wiping the dust off her face, and pointed to her clothes, "I sneaked in here, and this is the injury I got before."

Chen Yi glanced at it, pulled a delicate celadon bottle from the square, and pushed it over. "Make do with these, two at a time." His tone was casual, as if he were just handing over an old item. "You've gotten yourself into trouble?"

Min Ning took it from his hand, glanced at it casually, and his gaze faltered slightly.

Those are medicinal herbs from Mount Taihua.

“This is the palace of King Wuliang; we shouldn’t linger here,” she said, glancing at Chen Yi. “Let’s find somewhere to talk.”

Chen Yi nodded slightly.

They said they were looking for a place, but in reality they just climbed over the wall of the palace and found a secluded corner. Min Ning leaned against the wall and took off the wine gourd from his waist.

At this moment, Chen Yi asked, "How did you end up here?"

"It's a long story. My apprentice was captured by Wuliang Wang's men, so I infiltrated here." As she spoke, Min Ning glanced at him sideways. "As for you, it's been a long time."

"I'm helping a big shot named Qin Xuzhi investigate this place." Chen Yi, who was already used to being glib, naturally wouldn't reveal his deeper purpose. "He seems to have a blood feud with the Boundless King."

Receiving kindness and avenging wrongs are the simplest and most common things in the martial world. For a chivalrous knight, whether it's a thousand taels of gold or a bowl of cheap wine, killing is the best reward. Min Ning nodded slightly and said, "Understood."

"…Um."

There was no questioning, only unconditional trust. Having not seen Min Ning for a long time and having been used to seeing all sorts of beautiful women, Chen Yi was not used to her straightforward personality for a while.

Min Ning took a sip of wine and handed it to Chen Yi. He took it and immediately put his mouth down. This inconspicuous intimacy would make a woman raised in seclusion feel shy or even frightened, but for the two of them, it was as natural as could be.

Min Ning twirled the mask and said, "I rescued a brother and sister on the way. The little girl kept asking me to recognize her as my master, so I reluctantly accepted her. She's your junior sister, and her name is Qing Li."

Chen Yi blinked, neither confirming nor denying.

Min Ning still wanted to take him as her apprentice, and it was unclear whether this was a way of competing with Zhou Yitang, but he shouldn't get involved in matters between women.

“I taught her some self-defense techniques, and she was quite easy to manage and didn’t cause any trouble. However, I followed someone’s directions and found the place where an ancient swordsman had passed away. It was a cliff with a cave, a coffin, and a sword. I was so engrossed in learning the swordsmanship that I forgot about time. I never expected that she would accidentally eat some kind of spiritual mushroom, and her soul would leave her body and fall into the underworld.”

Min Ning gave a brief explanation, and Chen Yi roughly understood the general idea, but he still had doubts about some details. "Following someone's guidance?"

Having fought with Min Ning before, I know that in the past few years, Min Ning's martial arts have made amazing progress. Not only has she reached the fourth rank, but her swordsmanship is also expansive and unpredictable, like a gazelle hanging its horns. Every sword strike carries a powerful masculine force, and the bright sword light carries the sound of wind and thunder.

It is increasingly showing the beginnings of the Spring and Autumn Sword Master.

No matter how gifted he is, this is something that cannot be achieved through conventional cultivation. He couldn't help but worry that Min Ning might be deceived and led to his death, or that there might be elusive mountain people behind him, with hidden connections stretching for miles.

"Heh, you don't need to worry about that. I trust that person." Min Ning waved his hand and said, "I can't say his name though."

Chen Yi still felt uneasy. After performing a hand seal, he calmed down a bit. Only then did he have the leisure to carefully examine Min Ning's face. She was still so beautiful and heroic.

She tilted her head back and glanced at him sideways.

Chen Yi opened his mouth. It had been so long since they last met, and he had so much to say. But seeing each other so suddenly, he was caught off guard and didn't know what to say.

Min Ning, on the other hand, was more nonchalant, saying, "How did I end up running into you here?"

"...Yes, how did you end up in Southern Xinjiang?" Chen Yi had just started speaking when he suddenly asked, "This is the border between Sichuan and Southern Xinjiang?"

Min Ning asked in surprise, "Border?"

"Isn't Southern Xinjiang right next to Sichuan and Chongqing?"

Min Ning was baffled and shook her head to indicate that she didn't know. "I thought there was another province between us."

"What other province could be in between?"

"Uh, Lingnan?"

Chen Yi was speechless for a moment, and could only smile wryly. Min Ning's level of education was quite impressive.

Min Ning was slightly embarrassed. He coughed twice to clear his throat and said, "I once went into the palace to spy, but I was discovered by King Wuliang. I managed to escape, and that's when I got injured. So I calmed down and tried to blend in with the guards. Because of my spying, all the entrances and exits here are closed, leaving only the path you took."

Chen Yi then realized that when Min Ning shone the lantern over, he had already noticed something amiss, but he wasn't sure if it was really him, so he followed him all the way.

“My disciple is a Buddha, so he is under the strictest guard of King Wuliang. Because of my spying, the guards are even more vigilant. The palace may seem empty now, but it is full of traps. If I hadn’t stopped you from going deeper, you would have been caught off guard. I’ve investigated after infiltrating the guards. There are two ways to get to the depths of the palace. One is to go through the royal kitchen, which is safer, but it will take some time. The other is to go straight into the Bone-Removing Pool. She is there. As long as we are quick enough, we will have escaped by the time he discovers us.”

After Min Ning finished speaking, she snatched the gourd back from Chen Yi's hand, took a swig, and said, "Which one do you choose?"

"Do you need to ask me?" Chen Yi simply smiled. "Aren't we thinking the same thing?"

Min Ning wiped her mouth. "Let's go!" One word, no more words needed. A long-lost, chivalrous smile appeared on her lips as she leaped toward the palace wall.

Chen Yi followed closely behind, the two figures like owls darting into the forest, one after the other, rushing straight towards the golden, radiant core of the demon cave.

………………

Chen Yi had come to scout out the enemy's situation, and now he was going to the palace with Min Ning to rescue her apprentice, Qing Li, which suited him perfectly. "It's right there."

She pointed to the main hall deep within the palace, high up and twisted like a giant python coiled around it, where a few glazed tiles on the roof emitted a dim golden light, clashing with the false prosperity below.

Chen Yi raised an eyebrow slightly. The closer he got to the depths of the palace, the louder the captivating Buddhist music became. The sound came from the depths, and as he looked in the direction of the sound, his heart sank.

The chanting lacked any Zen-like tranquility; instead, it exuded an eerie, soul-crushing quality. What alarmed him even more was that the souls that had been dancing wildly and obsessively in the "paradise" were now lining up, like puppets pulled by invisible threads, their expressions blank and their steps unsteady, surging towards a dark entrance beneath the main hall.

The entrance was like a colossal beast devouring an endless stream of souls. From the depths of the entrance came even grander and more distorted chants.

"Let's go, let's follow."

The closer one gets to the main hall, the stronger the palace's "swelling" sensation becomes. The beams and pillars are twisted like intestines, the stone walls ooze a dark yellow viscous liquid, and the bricks and stones underfoot are slippery and sticky, as if stepping inside the cavity of some giant beast. The exotic fragrance is so strong it's almost overwhelming, mingled with a heavy stench of blood and an indescribable...sandalwood scent.

The view changes abruptly as you pass through the last massive archway that hangs low like a throat.

There were no pavilions or towers, no graceful singing or dancing. Before them lay a deep, dark golden pool, within which churned a viscous liquid, a liquid shimmering with dark gold and blood-like streaks. Steam rose from the pool's surface, and within the steam flickered fragments of distorted Sanskrit characters—the very source of the eerie Sanskrit music.

In the center of the pool, a young girl floated silently. It was Qing Li! Her eyes were closed, her face was as pale as paper, and her body was tightly wrapped in a layer of translucent golden snake skin with fine snake scale patterns, like a huge and eerie piece of amber.

At the bottom of the pool, a massive shadow seemed to be slowly writhing beneath the dark golden liquid.

“My disciple is right there. She’s been captured and used to refine that damned ‘Buddha Fruit.’” Min Ning gripped the hilt of his knife, his eyes flashing coldly. “That serpent, Wuliang Wang, got some evil magic from some quack monk. He wants to use my disciple as a catalyst, mixed with millions of wandering souls as firewood, to forcibly refine a crystal Buddha Fruit and swallow it, so he can prove his bullshit Bodhisattva status!”

Chen Yi felt a chill run down his spine.

Buddhahood? A Bodhisattva's attainment?

The old saintess, who had been rarely spoken recently, spoke up at this moment: "No wonder... This python god comes from India. India has a secret method that uses a pure soul as a guide to steal a trace of the Buddha's position. No wonder this demon cave created a 'paradise on earth'; it turns out it wants to use obsessed souls to nourish the furnace fire..."

"Can the fruit of Buddhahood be stolen?"

“India is acceptable, but Zen is not.” The old saintess continued, “Indian Buddhism emphasizes ‘proof,’ that is, attaining the fruit of enlightenment, while Zen emphasizes ‘enlightenment,’ that is, sudden enlightenment and becoming a Buddha on the spot. To put it simply, the former is discovering the unknown, while the latter is comprehending the known. Therefore, there are many Buddhas in Indian Buddhism, but few in Zen.”

How could there be such a difference?

"Oranges grown south of the Huai River are sweet oranges, but those grown north of the Huai River are bitter oranges."

After saying this, no matter how many questions Chen Yi asked, the old saintess did not answer. She had not been as talkative as before. Since meeting Gongsun Guan on Gaoliang Mountain, she only spoke when necessary, as if to avoid giving him too much help.

Now is not the time to ask too many questions; we must rescue the girl as soon as possible.

Chen Yi and Min Ning slowly approached the Bone-Shedding Pool, swords in hand, making their movements resemble those of the bewildered souls.

The distance closed very quickly; in no time, they were only ten steps apart.

Ten steps, nine steps, eight steps...

Chen Yi looked again, and the plain-looking girl was right in front of him. Her figure was illusory, tightly wrapped in golden snake scales, and at her heart, a point of dazzling, pure golden light was pulsating rhythmically with the beat of the Buddhist music.

With each pulse, wisps of white vapor were drawn from the countless dazed souls that surged into the pool and merged into the golden light. With each increase in the brightness of the golden light, Qing Li's face paled a little more.

Chen Yi reached out, attempting to envelop Qing Li with his sword, using dense sword energy to peel away the golden scales on her body bit by bit.

suddenly,

"careful!"

The enormous shadow at the bottom of the pool suddenly arched upwards, and a huge claw covered with dark gold scales, its fingertips shimmering with a glassy Buddhist light, tore through the surface of the light paste and pounced straight at Chen Yi.

The attack came suddenly, but Chen Yi was not unprepared. He slightly turned his body, and the claw just grazed past him.

The attack missed its mark, and the pool water churned like waves. The enormous python head emerged from the pool like a dragon rising from the sea, and two huge, emotionless amber vertical pupils opened in the darkness, coldly locking onto the two intruders.

It did not fully appear, but the terrifying pressure that permeated the entire space was enough to freeze the air.

"You thieves raised by a maid, do you really think I'm letting you live?"

The words had barely left his mouth.

Clang!
No need for superfluous words, nor for profound discussions; Min Ning Sword was already in hand, and the longsword unleashed an unprecedentedly clear and melodious dragon roar.

The sword light condensed like a pale lightning bolt, slashing fiercely at the golden snake skin enveloping Qing Li.

Before the sword even arrived, the incomparably sharp sword energy had already caused the translucent "amber" to fluctuate violently, with snake-scale-like patterns swirling wildly in an attempt to resist!
"Hiss—!" A hint of rage and contempt flashed in the Boundless King's enormous amber vertical pupils!
The pool water exploded with a loud bang, and a snake tail covered with dark gold scales and as thick as a palace pillar broke through the light, with immense force, striking first and then striking the side of Min Ning's sword light with a foul wind and a piercing whistle.

This strike was not only terrifying in its power, but also contained viscous and filthy Buddhist and demonic power, enough to defile magical artifacts and shatter primordial energy.

Faced with this powerful tail capable of splitting mountains and shattering rocks, Min Ning neither dodged nor evaded. A clear shout burst from her throat, and her wrist gripping the sword suddenly sank and twisted! The pale sword light that had been slashing straight away strangely drew a perfect circle in the blink of an eye. The sword tip trembled, emitting a piercing buzzing sound, and instantly split into three solid sword shadows.

Ding! Ding! Clang!
Three crisp, teeth-grinding collision sounds rang out almost simultaneously!
The first sword strike precisely hit the point of force from the giant tail, sparks flying, and slightly deflected the earth-shattering power.

The second sword shadow followed closely, piercing deep into the gaps in the rapidly passing scales. Although it failed to break through the hard scales, it left a glaring white mark, causing the Boundless King to pause in pain.

The third sword shadow, the most crucial pale lightning bolt, took advantage of the brief moment the first two sword shadows had created, and without hesitation, continued its momentum, slashing fiercely at the golden serpent's molt.

scoff!

The sound was like tearing silk. The incredibly tough snake molt of the Boundless King was actually cleaved open by Min Ning's three consecutive sword strikes, creating a huge rift over a foot long. Dark golden liquid mixed with wisps of pure spiritual energy gushed out from the rift.

"Roar!" The King of Boundless roared in pain.

Just as Min Ning's sword slashed through the snake's molted skin, and Wuliang Wang roared in fury because his tail attack was blocked and the snake's molted skin broke.

Chen Yi, who had been lurking like a shadow, suddenly struck, blocking Min Ning's sword strike as he was about to retract his power and gather his energy, and giving Wuliang Wang Leiting the opportunity to launch his attack.

He and Min Ning had long since communicated through their swordsmanship.

They cooperated seamlessly without needing to communicate.

(End of this chapter)