The Sacred Ruins

Chapter 66: The Edge of Precipice

Translator: Mike Editor: Chrissy

Kong Kim had clearly gotten anxious. It exerted all his strength to crush that wild boar under his own hefty weight.

Kong Kim was fuming with rage, firmly pressing down the pig’s jostling limbs.

“Hey! What are you doing? Are you bullying a pig?” said someone with a rather clowning voice. The way in which the words were spelt out was rather unkind; it did not sound quite right to the listeners.

Kong Kim was quite annoyed. He looked over his shoulder, but the sight of a bird with a lush green body sneering at him on a branch irritated him even more.

Judging by the look of the bird, it should have been a parrot. Clearly, the parrot had eaten strange fruits that caused mutation to happen to it before. The bird looked askance at Kong Kim and said, “What? What indecent things are you going to do to that pig?”

The gesture and bearing of the bird rendered Kong Kim quite irritated. How he wished he could snap the bird’s neck and dislocated that exasperating mouth of this damnable bird!

Kong Kim picked up a sizeable bulk of boulder and cast it at the bird.

The green parrot was taken aback. It hastily started fluttering its wings and soared high into the sky. The bird had a clamorous voice. It shouted, “Someone is doing indecent things to a pig! Someone quickly come and help the pig!”

Kong Kim’s face flushed in embarrassment; every strand of his hair had stood on their ends, however, all the other mutants were busy fighting off the offensive beasts, so no-one seemed to care about the parrot’s bluff.

However, Kong Kim did notice a group of men equipped with cameras passing by, running hurriedly in the canyons and between the woods.

Kong Kim cast a few glances at those fearless men. He did not notice anything out-of-place about them, so he vented out a sigh of relief. He pounced on the bird like a beast swooping on its prey.

“He’s trying to kill me to keep my mouth shut! Help! Help!” the green parrot cried as it fluttered its wings and fled into the woods.

Roar!

The wild boar finally freed itself from Kong Kim’s crushing weight; it turned itself over and stood on all fours. There were plumes of white smoke fuming out from its nostrils. As one of the leaders of these teams of beasts, the boar possessed immense power and strength. It was careless of it to be knocked down by a human.

Boom!

The boar was upset by its initial defeat. After it was finally able to stand on its hooves, the boar started ramming at Kong Kim. The buckteeth in its mouth was as long as a meter; they were like a pair of cutting blades, directed straight towards Kong Kim.

The boar was the size of an armored car. Once it started charging, the earth shook and the mountains moved. Many mutants in the immediate proximity to the boar turned pale with astonishment. All hurriedly went on seeking refuge from the rampaging boar.

Kong Kim’s mind was boiling with murderous intents. He chose to stand on his feet and fight with the boar to a bitter end!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Fierce clamors echoed in the canyons and between the mountains when the two finally came to blow. Both the man and the beast were like monsters. The deadliness of their fight also had a fatal impact on the immobile objects in their proximity. All the boulders and vegetation that were close to them had either exploded upon contact or shattered into pieces. The entire scene was a terrifying one alright.

The wild boar was quite valiant. White smoke was still fuming from within its nostrils, and its sharp buckteeth were the boar’s most formidable weapon; but each time it tried to pierce and lacerate the body of its enemy with its cutting teeth, Kong Kim always managed to fend off the fierce attack and fight back instead.

Boom!

The two crushed right into a firing military truck. The truck was well-armored alright, but with a blaring bang, the truck was lacerated in half nevertheless.

The wild boar had gone truly wild. It rampaged around in the crowd of mutants. Tens of dozens of mutants died from its cutting buckteeth in the process.

When the boar finally showed itself before Kong Kim, there were still a few lifeless bodies hanging listlessly on the boar’s buckteeth. They had all been pierced through at their chest and hooked onto teeth of the boar, flinging in the air, spewing blood in all directions as the boar charged.

“You’re courting death!”

Kong Kim was fuming with rage. He had retrieved his lost broadsword. Enshrouded in an air of utter fierceness, Kong Kim charged at the wild board, with only a single goal in mind—kill the pig with no mercy.

His fists could deliver fatal blows to his enemies, but the skin of the boar was so coarse and thick that his punches could hardly deal any significant damage. Kong Kim wavered that broadsword of his in hand, brandishing the glittering brilliance of this piece of extraordinary weapon that was giving light to every spot of darkness that was found in the forest under the dense foliage of the trees.

Sand was flying and pebbles were rolling. The wild boar was roaring and whistling. It had become increasingly fierce and ruthless.

Puff!

At last, Kong Kim proved again his unparalleled skill and power to the crowd of beholders by leaping into the air, then landing his cutting blade on and through the neck of the beast. A lacerated pig head that was both huge and ugly soon went flying in the air along with a sizeable pool of blood forming on the earth.

The wild boar was killed. Its headless body tottered then tumbled.

The result of this fight had greatly influenced the other beasts around. It had caused and stirred up quite a sensation amongst that horde of beasts. Seeing how their leader had been so ruthlessly killed by a single man had made them fell more restless and ill-tempered.

For the mutants, on the other hand, the fight had greatly boosted their morale and confidence. The crowd saw Kong Kim as their trustworthy leader, doggedly following him to seek for a way out of the encirclement of the beasts.

“Kill!”

Kong Kim roared, leading the crowd after him into the horde of beasts. He clutched firmly to the blade in hand, butchering the beasts left and right and in large numbers.

Puff! Puff! Puff!

Blood was spewing and heads went rolling. The fearless Kong Kim was of unparalleled bravery, and he was invincible as well. In the twinkling of an eye, he killed another five beasts in cold blood.

However, trouble soon ensued. That green snake with circumference of a bail emerged in the jostling crowd. It slithered and squirmed, tossing, turning and jiggling meanwhile killing the mutants in large number.

The mutants were either crushed or strangled to death. Whoever had the misfortune to be entwined by the snake soon found the bones of themselves crushing and torn to small pieces.

The snake could easily strangle an elephant to death, let alone humans.

Clonk!

Kong Kim launched his first assault on the green snake. The assault left a few wounds on the fleshy body of the snake. Blood was seen spewing from the wounds, but the assault did not break its body. Kong Kim failed to strike the snake dead upon first blow; on the contrary, he was whipped by the snake in the face.

Had his skin skin not been so firm and tenacious, he would have been struck dead by now.

The two were still fighting at close quarters, roaring battle cries as they fiercely fought each other.

On the other side of the battleground, Silver Wing had committed to actions as well. Though injured, this god-like fighter was still in possession of terrifying power and ability. His wings were like a pair of all-conquering blades, splicing and lacerating beasts and birds alike left and right.

Blood had stained all region amongst the mountains.

The crowd of mutants were all in high morale. Their sagging attitude was no more; instead, there were only roars of fearsome battle cries that struck fear in those mutated beasts. The mutants had all more or less proven themselves as competent fighters able to fend off their enemies and walk out from this hell alive.

However, Silver Wing soon found himself in a sticky situation as well. There was a rampaging monkey pestering him. The monkey was no more than a meter tall, but the golden fur that grew on its golden skin had proven to be proof against all sharp weapons.

When the wings clashed with the monkey’s fur, sparks splattered, but they failed to cut through the monkey’s body.

The monkey was especially fast as well. It moved like shadowless gales of wind as well as bolts of blinding lightning.

Silver Wing’s shoulders were scratched by the monkey. Blood soon started profusely spewing out of the wound. The injury had severely crippled the fighter’s agility of movement, but at the same time, Silver Wing also took the opportunity to slit the throat of the monkey.

Pong!

The monkey was killed. It tumbled in a pool of blood.

Silver Wing tottered and staggered. The injury had almost incapacitated him entirely, rendering him unable to fight and battle as fiercely as he was before.

The pace of the crowd’s effort to break through and make a sortie out of this deadly encirclement was also slowed down. The beasts were fierce and ferocious. Although even the leaders amongst this group of mutated beasts were of no match for Silver Wing or Kong Kim, but the mutants did feel that they had been severely outnumbered.

Chu Feng was contributing to the fight as well; however, he chose not to shoot his arrows at just random targets. Instead, he was looking for the leaders in particular. Since he had realized that they were amongst the strongest in the crowd, to get rid of them would be perhaps the most effective method to weaken the might of this crowd of mutated beasts.

“Whoosh!”

He had had his eyes on the green snake who was still battling with Kong Kim on the far end of the battleground. He drew his bow and released the tension on the bowstring. At once, there was the deafening rumble of thunder cracking the air. Meanwhile, the arrow had also formed a marvellous electric arc along its trajectory.

The green snake had a quite sharp instinct for danger. It dodged the first arrow but was not allowed with enough time to dodge the second. With a satisfying puffing sound, the arrow shot through the torso of the snake, leaving a bloody hole at the site of the wound.

“Nice!” Kong Kim shouted his compliments. Seeing this as a great opportunity, Kong Kim leaped into the air then drove that broadsword of his upon that fleshy body of the snake. Puff! Quite a sizeable portion of the snake’s torso had been cut off.

The snake hissed and roared in profound agony. It carried gales of wind with it as it darted away into the distance. Although the infliction done to it had been maiming to say the least, the snake still managed to escape from its ultimate demise.

This was a blow to this crowd of mutated beasts. Seeing how the strongest leader of the group had fled in panic, the crowd fell into great disorder with distress and anxiety.

“Roar!”

However, there were still a few other leaders left undefeated amongst the crowd. They were roaring and bellowing. It was their effort to soothe the panicking crowd and boost the morale.

In terms of number, there were more mutants than beasts, but with regards to combat effectiveness, the mutants fell far behind. Even with joint force and effort of several mutants, they were still unable to terminate the threat of one beast.

When a beast went berserk, it could shatter and tear apart six to seven mutants with a lift of its finger. This bloody scene was seen everywhere throughout the battle ground.

It was mostly because the beasts were born with a wild nature after living in the brutal wilderness since birth. Throughout the years, they had been constantly subject to an abominable environment peppered with killing and deaths. Long before they had become the mutated beasts they were, these animals had already learnt about the jungle law and how to survive precariously through this law.

The mutants, on the other hand, were the products of a mutation that had happened by chance to an otherwise ordinary person where most of whom had never seen a bloody scene like this ever in their lives. The days had usually been easy and comfortable, so even when they possessed the power and potential to kill and to dominate, they were still not ruthless nor savage enough to exert their full strength in combat.

The mutants were great in number, but they were all in a disadvantageous condition. More and more loss occurred every minute.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Chu Feng had been on a shooting spree, with almost every arrow leading to the death of a target, leading to severe loss on the beasts’ side as well.

Dozens of beasts were killed in succession, and this had greatly alleviated the pressure that the mutants felt.

Suddenly, Chu Feng felt a stinging pain at the back of his head. It was the functioning of his instinct. It was danger coming!

Chu Feng fiercely thrust himself forward without demur, then only second afterwards, a silver arc skimmed by his skull.

Boom! A tree in the distance immediately tumbled.

It was a one-inch woodpecker with a body gleaming with radiant silver glitter. Its beak was evidently its all-conquering weapon for attack.

And it was also this very beak that had almost pierced through Chu Feng’s skull and struck him dead!

This woodpecker was a leader too. It was a little one in comparison to the others, but it was no less deadly. Earlier on, the pecker had single-handedly struck down a military-grade chopper with its beak as its sole tool of aid. Even the firmest steel could not stand a chance against that piercing beak.

“I will cover you. Kill that thing!”

A lady clad in a suit of white appeared. There was a pair of fluttering wings at her back that shone great radiance. The lady and her fine clothes were not marred by a speck of dust. She smiled at Chu Feng out of courtesy, but the smile was no less charming and alluring.

“White Tiger...” Jiang Luoshen appeared out of void as well. There was a look of surprise on her face.

Chu Feng was taken back. He could not believe that this very lady to whom he and Yellow Ox had caused injury and embarrassment twice was the legendary White Tiger herself.

Jiang Luoshen was smiling charmingly and said, “White Tiger’s sister, Lu Shiyun?”

Jiang Luoshen finally finished her sentence.

Chu Feng felt ever so relieved. “Right... silly me... how could someone so charming be called White Tiger?” he thought to himself.

However, the name “Lu Shiyun” had greatly interested him.

But, Chu Feng knew that there was no time for questions. Without much further delay, Chu Feng started marching on with the aid of the winged lady while shooting arrows at the mutated beasts one after another.

Shielded by Lu Shiyun’s defenses, Chu Feng could keep his mind solely on landing arrows on his targets.

The woodpecker was quite prudent too. It did not attempt to make another attack on Chu Feng again after the first failure.

“Put out whatever you’ve got, Lu Shiyun. Don’t try to conceal the fact that you’ve got backings just so that you can have room for measure and maneuver in the future. Remember, getting out of here is our priority. We’ve got to put our best here!” Jiang Luoshen said.

Jiang Luoshen was shrewd about people. She knew that White Tiger and Deity used to bear each other grudges, so if his sister dared to show herself in a time like this with little troops of her own, there must have been something or someone that she could count on here.

“There is no use of them here. They won’t be able to handle that white snake!” Lu Shiyun shook her head. The wings on her back shone brilliant radiance, making her look all the more youthful and vigorous.

She could soar high above the ground, and this was her advantage over the others; but there were also equally powerful birds of prey hovering high in the air, overlooking the fight below. Anyone who dared to soar into the air would be met with fierce attacks from these birds.

Therefore, she came down to ask for Chu Feng’s help in taking down those pesky birds surveying the sky above.

“Then there’s really nothing else left to us to do other than we all fight to the best of our ability now and wish that the white snake won’t come back for us any time soon,” Jiang Luoshen said.

Now, all the desperate mutants had exerted all their forces and done their utmost to fight and to battle. Every soul alive was wishing to escape from this damnable hell before the Satan returned.

Boom!

The most fearsome thing happened. The white snake had returned. The portion of its stiffen torso that was suspending in mid-air was more than ten meters in length. The snake was overwatching everyone below it with a cold and murderous look!

“It’s over!

The crowd of mutants all had a pasty complexion. They felt they were on the edge of a precipice; it had been an impasse to which they had fallen. There was no escape. Death was the only way out.