Chaotic Times and Disasters: I Hunt Down Martial Arts Masters and Become a God

The stone steps on the second floor of the ancient city were littered with fragments of white bones, which creaked when stepped on.

An Sheng's silver spear had its tassel broken, and the tip was still dripping with the blood of the Gu worms. The gold paint on Xiahou Jun's double maces had been bitten off by the Gu worms, revealing the gray iron core underneath.

Yu Fu huddled in the middle of the group, the flame of his heart lamp already as weak as a candle flickering in the wind. He had only two Vajra Talismans left, which he held tightly in his hand, too afraid to use them.

Su Xue's left arm was bitten through by a Gu worm. Although the bleeding had stopped after applying medicine, her entire arm was still so swollen that she couldn't lift it.

Yunnan's short sword was already dull, so she simply threw it away and picked up a bone from the ground to use as a stick.

The skeletons and worms were still surging upwards, and the stairwell to the second floor had been sealed off by them. More skeletons were crawling in through the windows and cracks in the walls on the second floor.

They densely covered the entire floor, one next to another, one on top of another, with the worms hovering in the air, a dark mass, their wings flapping and buzzing.

"The staircase is blocked off!"

An Sheng stabbed a skeleton away with his spear, then turned and roared, "Go up! To the third floor!"

Xiahou Jun used both maces to smash the two skeletons, then protected Yu Fu and Su Xue as they retreated up the stone steps.

Song Zhiwen unfolded the bamboo slips and recited a Confucian and Taoist incantation to accelerate progress. A pale golden light fell on everyone's feet, and their steps immediately became lighter.

Yunnan, who was covering the rear, swung his white bone club and smashed a skeleton over. Just as he was about to turn around and catch up with the group, a low roar suddenly came from above.

A demon skeleton, a head taller than the other skeletons, hung upside down from a crack in the ceiling, its two bone claws slamming down towards Yunnan.

Yunnan was startled and raised his white bone club to block. The bone claw struck the bone club, and the club broke instantly.

She was thrown away by the enormous impact, fell from the second floor, and crashed heavily onto the pile of bones on the first floor, landing on her back.

"Your Highness!"

Everyone upstairs looked at the same time, but no one could be separated from the gaze.

Yunnan struggled to stand up, but a sharp pain shot through her foot—she had twisted it when she fell.

More than a dozen skeletons pounced on her at the same time, and the Gu worms buzzed in the air. Yunnan gritted her teeth and used her hands to support herself on the ground to move backward. Her back hit a broken stone pillar, and she could no longer move.

The bones formed a circle around her, tightening continuously. She reached out and touched the ground, trying to find something she could use as a weapon, but her fingers only touched a pile of broken bones.

Her hands were trembling.

She had never been so close to death in her entire life.

She thought of Xiahou Jun, An Sheng, and Yu Fu—they were all on the second floor, desperately trying to save her, and none of them could spare the time to do so.

For some reason, she inexplicably recalled the shock she felt when she first saw Fu Qing unleash his thirteenth strike on the arena, the image of him leaping down from the sand dunes in the desert and killing the lion demon with a single blow, and the way he charged into the enemy ranks without looking back when he saved her.

She desperately wants him to come and save her again.

But she knew it was impossible—Fu Qing had been swept away by the sandstorm and was nowhere to be found, perhaps in greater danger than her, perhaps already… She gritted her teeth and suppressed that thought.

She wasn't used to thinking about someone like that, nor was she used to entrusting her life to someone else. But at this moment, all she could do was lean against the stone pillar and watch the circle of bones tighten inch by inch.

An Sheng stabbed three skeletons with his gun and tried to rush downstairs, but the dense skeletons at the bottom of the stairs made it impossible for him to get through.

He watched helplessly as Yunnan was surrounded by skeletons, and could only grit his teeth and continue swinging his gun.

"Damn it!"

Su Xue leaned on the second-floor railing and looked down, seeing that the circle of white bones had shrunk to less than three feet in front of Yunnan.

Just when Yunnan thought he was about to die there, a dull thud came from above.

Just then, a muffled thud came from above, and a figure crashed through the floor from the third floor, landing in the center of a pile of bones on the first floor, the bluestone slab beneath his feet shattering into eight pieces.

The man was covered in blood, his clothes soaked and clung to his body, his hair stuck together in strands of blood and hanging down his forehead, and blood was still dripping from the blade of his dark blue-green iron sword.

Everyone stopped moving. An Sheng's gun was suspended in mid-air, Xiahou Jun's double maces were still raised above his head, and Yu Fu stared at the man in the middle of the lower level with his mouth agape, as if he had been slapped dumbfounded.

Su Xue covered her mouth, her eyes filled with surprise. Song Zhiwen's hand holding the bamboo slip was suspended in mid-air. He didn't even notice when the bamboo slip slipped from his hand and fell to the ground. Exhausted, Ling Yuxi leaned against the wall, her lips twitching.

Yunnan sat on the ground, staring blankly at the back of the figure in front of her, as if frozen in place.

Fu Qing stuck the knife into the ground, walked to Yunnan Zhijian, squatted down, put one hand under her knees and the other hand on her back, and lifted her up horizontally.

Yunnan looked up at him from his arms, as if she were dreaming.

Tears welled up in her eyes and spilled out, leaving a light-colored tear stain.

She wasn't a crybaby; she had rarely cried in front of others since she was old enough to understand things.

But at this moment, her tears were completely out of control, not because of fear or grievance, but because she had just been wondering if he would come, and the next second he really did fall from the sky and land in front of her.

It felt like a dream, but it wasn't a dream.

She could feel the warmth of his arm, smell the strong stench of blood on his body, and see the still-bleeding wounds on his chest.

The moment Fu Qing landed, all the Gu worms dodged. Within a radius of several feet centered on him, all the Gu worms fell from the sky within a few breaths, frozen into a heap.

The insects that had been buzzing and rushing towards Yunnan, upon encountering the bloody scent emanating from Fu Qing, were like molten iron splashed on them. They puffed out white smoke, fell from the sky, twitched twice on the ground, and then lay still.

Fu Qing, holding onto Yunnan, exerted force from the ground floor and landed back on the second floor.

It wasn't until his figure leaped onto the second floor that the people on the second floor snapped out of their daze.

Yu Fu shouted.

"My brother! You've finally arrived! Were you hiding on the third floor all along? I almost thought His Highness Yun was going to die!"

Su Xue leaned against the railing, looking at Fu Qing, crying and laughing at the same time.

"Brother Fu, you're covered in blood!" Yu Fu suddenly realized and quickly went forward to touch the bloodstains on Fu Qing's arm.

"It's okay, I applied it myself." Fu Qing gently placed Yunnan Zhi on the ground and leaned it against the wall.

"You applied it yourself?"

"Deworming."

"Deworming?"

Yu Fu's mouth dropped open. "You're using your own blood to repel worms? Your blood can repel worms? Your blood—"

He looked at Fu Qing, then at the swarm of Gu worms hovering at the third-floor stairwell, too afraid to approach, and froze.

At that moment, Suwen came down the stone steps from upstairs to examine Yunnan's sprained ankle.

"His blood contains Gu poison, which has a restraining effect on Gu worms. The specific principle involves the operating mechanism of bloodline Gu, and you wouldn't understand even if I explained it. Simply put, his blood is poison to Gu worms; they will die if they come into contact with it."

"No wonder..."

An Sheng wiped the blood from his face. "No wonder all those bugs retreated. Brother Fu, could I borrow some of your blood?"

How much do you want?

"Just apply a layer to my silver spear. This spear has been pierced by too many insects, and the tip is almost dulled."

"My clothes aren't dry yet, so I'll just soak a strip of cloth in it and wrap it around the gun tip."

Fu Qing tore off a strip of cloth from his own body, which was already soaked in blood, and threw it to An Sheng.

An Sheng's face lit up with joy. He took the silver spear like a precious treasure, wrapped it around the tip of the spear, and took a few steps toward the stairwell. The swarm of Gu worms that had been buzzing earlier immediately retreated a great distance.

A broad, triumphant smile spread across his blood-stained face as he slung the silver spear over his shoulder.

"I haven't had this much fun since I entered the secret realm. I was chased by bugs the whole way before, now it's time to chase them."

Xiahou Jun squatted in the corner, wiping his golden mace with a strip of cloth soaked in Fu Qing's blood. Song Zhiwen was bandaging Su Xue's bite wound on her arm. Yunnan Zhi leaned against the wall, looking up at Fu Qing.

"You saved me again."

"Put it on your tab, pay it back when you get out."

Yunnan nodded emphatically, his eyes shining, "I'll definitely pay it back!"