Chapter 66: Heroism and Grief
Then his infected cultivation was released via every meridian and pores in his body. The more he returned to normal, the lower his cultivation base dropped. This continued until Min Hong was restored back to his usual self.
Then he opened his eyes and felt his face drenched with salty water. Then he looked up to see Min Rou still bawling her eyes out but this time there was a tinge of relief on her face.
"Mother! What is it, what happened?" he was about to get filled with info when the sound of someone dropping to the ground woke the two of them from their mood of reunion.
They both turned to look, only to see an extremely exhausted Min Qing who was sweating profusely. "Mother! Hong! I am truly useless and can't go on anymore!" Min Qing gasped for air as her body moved up and down in inhalation and exhalation.
Min Rou looked over to Min Tian and sent a mental transmission and not long after she received a response. Then she looked towards Min Hong and tears started to well up in her eyes once more.
"Mother, stop crying. Everything will be fine." he looked at his mother's face and his heart ached.
Min Rou just kept looking at him before she quaked. "Silly child! Everything is going to be fine as long as you leave here…" she smiled and then touched her forehead. Then she withdrew her hand and there was a white wisp on her palm.
She pushed the wisp into Min Hong's forehead before looking at the exhausted Min Qing who started to cry a while later. Min Rou just transmitted a message directly into her mind.
She knew that if she told Min Hong about the plans she and Min Tian just made; he would not follow it. So, she mentally told Min Qing.
"Qing'er, Grandpa and I will tell our guardian beast; Yun'er, to get you guys out of this place. Both of you will have to flee the East Wind Empire as I don't think Lu Chen would allow you to live even if you manage to escaper here today."
"Now that Min Hong has lost his cultivation, you will have to take care of him from now on."
Min Rou naturally sensed it when Min Hong's cultivation was released earlier. But, as long as he was alive, she was happy. This was the reason why Min Hong saw her smiling when he woke up.
"You also have to promise me two things…" the mental message continued. "One, you must promise to stand by my Hong'er no matter what the conditions might be… secondly, you must make sure never to return until you reach the Nirvana Stage!"
This goodbye message was one of the reasons why Min Qing was crying. She had long ago taken Min Rou to be her biological mother, and she really loved her like a daughter truly should.
The other reason was because, she would have to keep Min Hong in the dark about the situation and she didn't want to see him hurt in the future, when she eventually tells him. Furthermore, should Min Hong feel betrayed, she wouldn't know what to do, if he left her.
All of a sudden, the cyclone collapsed as the forty plus experts rushed in for the kill.
The moment that happened… on the other side where the battle of the upper echelons was taking place.
Elder Shui pushed back the expert he was fighting and dashed towards the ones Min Bolin was currently battling. The instant Min Bolin was freed, he dashed towards Min Rou's position and with a wave of his sleeves all the Peak Dan Formation experts were sliced in half by several vicious wind blades.
Min Rou flashed towards the battle of the Guardian beasts and released the cyclone once again. Freeing Yun'er; the Guardian Beast of the Min Family who swept downwards and descended towards Min Qing.
The beast grabbed Min Qing with its claws and flew upwards. At the same moment, Min Qing grabbed the weak Min Hong by the shoulders and threw him atop the beast.
The beast then dropped Min Qing mid-air and swooped downwards making Min Qing fall onto its back.
The moment the duo landed on its back, the bird dashed off the battleground trying to flee in a single, tactical and fluid movement.
"Woah! Woah! Woah! Woah!"
Lu Chen was caught completely off-guard by everything that just conspired. He was so shocked that the only statement he could make were several consecutive exclamations.
"Stop them!" Lu Chen swiftly recovered as he bellowed.
Two of the Guardian beasts were the first to respond. The Fiery Pigeon of the Zhou Family and Lu Chen's Demon Devouring Crow.
"Shriek!"
The two beasts cried as they swooped towards Yun'er. Seeing these beasts approaching, Yun'er actually spoke.
"Hmph! You little moths are trying to block the brightness of a blazing sun!" the sheer arrogance in its tone was truly something to be reckoned with.
The Void Soul Owl unleashed its wind intent as it dashed towards the Fiery pigeon. It covered its talons with sharp wind as it slammed into the fiery pigeon.
Bang!
Fiery feathers stained with blood scattered in the air as a massive body fell lifelessly to the ground. The Void Soul Owl didn't even look back after the attack, it just went on to greet the approaching Demon Devouring Crow.
"Squawk!"
Killing intent flashed in the eyes of the Void Soul Owl as it squawked… the shockwave of that cry travelled into the ears of the Demon Devouring Crow. After entering its ears, the sound then proceeded into the soul of the Crow.
The Demon Devouring Crow momentarily lost concentration and then everyone saw the Void Soul Owl rise into the sky, then they saw a bird with a snapped neck on its talons.
The Void Soul Owl then dropped the Demon Devouring Crow which fell to the ground with a loud bang.
"What! Useless!" Lu Chen immediately recovered as he furiously spat curses at the two dead beasts. "Stop that Owl! It wants to take them both to safety!" his voice exploded into the ears of every present human on the battlefield.
Instantly, every expert of the Soaring Cloud Alliance wanted to leave their opponents and dash towards the location of the Void Soul Owl in a bid to stop them from escaping.
It was okay if it was any other member of the Min Family younger generation who was trying to escape, they wouldn't care.
But Min Hong and Min Qing… for Min Hong, though they all knew he had Qi deviation, they couldn't allow him to escape. Even though the cure for such a tragic occurrence is even scarcer than finding phoenix feathers, they weren't willing to take that chance.
With his monstrous talent, it wouldn't take him more than thirty years to reach the Saint stage should he luckily find a cure for his current predicament.
Then for Min Qing, even though she wasn't as talented as Min Hong, just reaching the 3 Star Dan Formation stage at the age of about fifteen was monstrous enough for them to target her as well.
Then there's the feat which she just achieved on the current battlefield. She had killed no less than 500 Soaring Cloud Alliance experts in this battle which has only been fought for about an hour.
"Don't even think of leaving!" the experts who heard Lu Chen's bellow earlier, exploded with their full strength and approached the fleeing Void Soul Owl with experts who major in soul cultivation as vanguard.
Slam!
Elder Teng of the Min Family tried to obstruct these experts from approaching the fleeing trio but he was bombarded with several different techniques and was killed on the spot.
"Nooooo!" The head of healers of them Min Family [Min Bai's mother] screamed at the top of her lungs when she saw this. Her eyes suddenly went red in fury and grief as she madly charged towards these experts.
She ignited her Nascent Soul as she erupted with an aura of a 2 Star Nascent Soul stage expert. Clearly this was a suicide attack. Her palm became wrapped in a blackish water as she slammed into two of the Soaring Cloud experts.
"Withering Touch!"
She smacked the two experts on the chest and they instantly became as dry as twigs. Even the blood that was leaking from their mouths became powder and drifted off with the breeze.
Clearly, everything watery in their body had been sucked dry.
Seeing that she could take out two Peak Dan Formation expert with her Suicide attack, the lady smiled as the rest of the experts blasted her away with different powerful techniques.
"Father!"
"Mother!"
Min Bai and Min Ming who were currently surrounded by several opponents also followed in their parent's footsteps by igniting the life essence and overloading their Dan until it broke.
But this suicide action forced their cultivation three levels into the 6 Star Dan Formation stage as they summoned their concepts.
Shockingly, Min Ming actually comprehended Law of Ice while Min Bai had comprehended the Law of Wood.
"Deep Forest Trap!" Min Bai yelled as wood erupted from the ground and numerous vines and branches burst forth from the earth and approached the experts who scattered in different directions.
Clearly, they were not willing to waste any more time lest their targets escape, but there were two unlucky 8 Star Dan Formation experts who got trapped. They instantly erupted with their full power in a bid to blast themselves out of the wooden trap.
But just as they were about to break out, they heard a feminine voice bellow…
"Frost Bite Burial!" Ice surged out from nowhere and filled the Deep Forest Trap until it everything frosted over and everyone inside was turned into ice sculptures. After the attack the duo fell to their knees and slumped as they gave up ghost.
"Min Bai!" Min Hong saw this scene and screamed in agony as he slouched, he had lost all…lost his cultivation…losing his friends and family...he was tired from it all… exhausted.
"Brother Min Hong, please kindly let me assist you this time." One next generation Min Family member bellowed as he also ignited his life essence. But this time, the youth self-detonated when he got close to the vicinity.
"Stop them and buy more time for young master Min Hong!"
The remaining members of the Death Guards seemed to have been injected with steroids as they desperately charged towards the experts of the Soaring Cloud Alliance after seeing their general and his family murdered by them.
They bled their hot blood for the sake of ensuring Min Hong's successful escape. Today, anyone of them could die, but their monstrous young master must survive. He was the last hope of their Min Family.
But their action came with dire repercussions as all the experts from the Soaring Cloud Alliance also charged forward in a bid to occupy these Death Guards and help their elders who were about to catch up to the fleeing Void Soul Owl.
"No! Don't!" Min Hong screamed at the top of his lungs when he saw the Death Guards being swarmed upon by the experts from the Soaring Cloud Alliance. Most of these people didn't have any sort of relationship with him.
But today, for the sake of his survival, they fought desperately with their lives on the line to prevent the advance of the Soaring Cloud experts.
"Min Hong, I know we haven't really known each other for long. So, let me fulfil the role of an elder cousin today!" Min Fang dashed outwards as he entered the fray fire concept blazing.
"Fang'er, good…good!" After decapacitating a Soaring Cloud Alliance elder, Min Chen saw his son's valiant actions, and tears streamed down his face as he praised with a look full of pride.
His son didn't lose face for him, and his years of nagging, chastising and guidance hadn't been wasted.
"Cheeky fellow, make sure to take good care of Min Qing for me!" Min Jiao's delicate voice floated into Min Hong's ears as she created massive amounts of extremely sharp wind blades as she slammed into the fray.
"Senior sister Jiao!" this time it was Min Qing who screamed as Min Hong was already weak and exhausted from grief. In fact, all he was doing now was to stare with wide eyes.