"Move! He's about to activate the Sacrificial Art!" The panicked young man tried to pull the middle-aged man with long hair away.
"Wait!" Unexpectedly, the middle-aged man grabbed the young man's hand.
"Wait until he chews it!"
The middle-aged man stared intently at the green-robed man's movements.
Seeing this, the green-robed man paused his hand halfway to his mouth, his eyes locked onto the two.
Then, he let out a piercing wail, his gaze turning even more ferocious.
With a sudden bite, he severed the index and middle fingers of his left hand and charged towards the two from Redwood Ridge.
The older man from Redwood Ridge pulled the younger one back, neither too fast nor too slow, maintaining just the right distance to avoid injury while preventing the toad-like man from escaping.
The man from Hundred Barbarians Mountain seemed to have lost all hope.
After chewing and swallowing the two fingers, he seemed to develop a craving and devoured the rest of his fingers in one go! His stomach then began to swell and contract, as if something was moving inside.
Seeing this, the man from Redwood Ridge seemed certain that the man was doomed.
He began to pull the younger man away, retreating along the path they had come.
"Hahaha, I'm going to die, but you won't escape either!" The man from Hundred Barbarians Mountain, his mouth full of blood, somehow managed to eat most of his palms.
He roared, "Sacrifice the body as fuel, abandon life as kindling, use blood as the guide—Asura Blood Flame!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a strange blood-red light emerged from the top of his head.
The light resembled some kind of eerie flame, instantly burning away the toad-like man's robes and then his skin, turning him into a blood-soaked figure.
"Ah—haha—" The man enveloped in the blood flame screamed, alternating between agony and ecstasy.
The blood-soaked man locked onto the fleeing pair from Redwood Ridge and gave chase, his speed now several times faster than before.
He hurled two blood flames at them, too fast for the fleeing pair to dodge.
Instinctively, they raised their arms to block, and the flames landed on their hands.
"Ah—" The blood flames instantly burned through their clothes and skin, threatening to consume their flesh.
The young man couldn't bear it and cried out.
Gritting his teeth, he pulled out a short blade from his waist and cut off the burning flesh.
The middle-aged man acted faster.
As soon as the blood flame touched him, he sliced off the affected skin.
He then pulled out a small red wooden stick, about the size of a chopstick, from his robe.
He pressed the stick against his bleeding arm, tightening his muscles to let the blood flow freely onto the stick.
As the blood-soaked man closed in, the middle-aged man, in a desperate move, thrust the stick into his own arm.
"Ah!" The middle-aged man screamed in pain.
"Uncle!" The young man's heart ached.
"Let me do it!"
The middle-aged man ignored him, chanting, "With blood as the guide, the redwood transforms into a dragon!"
The stick, now almost piercing through the man's arm, glowed with a bloody light, as if it had some kind of suction force.
Not a single drop of blood from the man's arm fell to the ground; it was all absorbed by the stick.
Just as the blood-soaked man was about to grab them, the stick, now fully saturated, detached itself from the man's arm and shot towards the blood-soaked man like an arrow.
The stick was intricately carved with a dragon, surrounded by tiny characters.
As it flew through the air, the characters and the dragon seemed to come alive.
The dragon left the stick, and the characters attached themselves to the dragon's body, forming its scales.
The dragon, now the size of a giant serpent, opened its mouth and swallowed the blood-soaked man whole!
The man, now completely transformed into a ball of blood light, disappeared without even a scream.
The red dragon, having swallowed the blood light, writhed in the air.
Upon closer inspection, the wooden stick hidden within its body began to char.
Seeing this, the middle-aged man and the young man quickly cast several talismans onto the dragon, stabilizing it.
The dragon spat out a blood flame, but it had lost its ferocity.
The flame flew away, carrying the essence of the toad-like man with it.
The dragon dissipated, and the stick fell to the ground, now bearing a charred mark where the dragon's head had been.
The young man helped the middle-aged man sit down, pulling out a medicine jar from his robe.
He applied the powder to the man's wounds first, then to his own.
He quickly picked up the stick, blowing on the charred spot with a pained expression before tucking it back into the man's robe.
The middle-aged man, wincing in pain, stood up and led his nephew back to where the green-robed man had been.
"Uncle, what are you doing?" the young man asked, confused.
The middle-aged man signaled for him to wait.
He looked towards the cave hidden by the clouds, his gaze seemingly piercing through the vines covering the entrance.
He called out loudly, "Fellow Daoist, we have disturbed your cultivation. Please come out so we may apologize in person."
The young man finally understood and immediately focused on the cave entrance, gripping his knife tightly.
The middle-aged man glared at him, signaling not to act rashly.
Under their watchful eyes, a young man in a blue Daoist robe, with a sword at his waist, emerged from the cave.
Behind him followed a white dog.
Seeing the white dog, both men visibly relaxed.
The young man quickly asked, "Are you Miao? Which sect do you belong to? Immortal Cave or Green Dragon Cave?"
The middle-aged man glared at him again, then smiled and nodded respectfully at the young Daoist.
The young Daoist smiled back, addressing them, "Uncle! Brother!"
This further eased the tension.
The middle-aged man asked, "Young man, which mountain and village are you from? We're from Rongjiang Village on Four Rings Mountain."
The young Daoist shook his head, "Uncle, I'm not Miao. I've just lived in a Miao village for a long time."
The two men's expressions shifted slightly.
The middle-aged man pointed at the white dog, "If you're not Miao, why do you have White Dragon? The Miao wouldn't give White Dragon to just anyone. Ah! You must have saved a Miao child's life!"
The young Daoist, unaware of the significance of the white dog, was surprised that the man had deduced so much.
He gestured to their wounds, "Uncle and Brother, please come in and sit."
With that, he led the way into the cave, the white dog wagging its tail as it followed.
The uncle and nephew exchanged a glance before entering.
The three sat down, the white dog staying close to the Daoist's feet.
Despite being the youngest, the young Daoist was the calmest.
The two Miao men introduced themselves.
The middle-aged man spoke first, "From Rongjiang Village on Four Rings Mountain, Redwood Ridge—Liu Langshan."
The young man followed, "From Rongjiang Village—Liu Hujin."
End of Chapter 44. Please vote and recommend! Comments and feedback are welcome!