Yun Yang had just terminated a skilled opponent and was still in a daze; besides, the wind he cultivated had just begun billowing, gathering momentum. With a soft sound, Yang Botao was tugged down immediately.
The wind then whizzed again, giving chase ferociously.
As Yang Botao was the rope in the tug-o-war between the two parties, in addition to being unconscious, his mystical Qi was flowing passively and could not sustain such callous pushing and pulling. He spat out a mouthful of blood and slowly regained consciousness, only to see a green silhouette arcing down on him from above while he was being carried away.
"Put me down!"
Yang Botao coughed and shouted with a surge of unexpected energy, "It’s Lord Supreme Wind that's above us, Yang Botao has something to say!"
The person carrying him was shocked by his response and would never have expected himself to be ambushed – the culprit being Yang Botao himself. When Yang Botao had regained his consciousness, he had directed all of his energy to strike the person’s back recklessly!
Although Yang Botao was severely wounded, he was still the marshal of an army, thus possessing a mystical Qi cultivation base that was not to be underestimated. Moreover, his strike was executed right at the point on the back with no sense of distance and alertness. Even if the man in black’s cultivation base was far better than Yang Botao’s, he still had to suffer from the excruciating force and spat blood. Staggering, Yang Botao who was being carried on his back naturally slid and rolled off, knocking himself against a huge tree trunk. He then spat a mouthful of blood as well.
"You – you… You bastard!" The man in black felt like his spine had been crushed by Yang Botao, the pain immeasurable.
Seeing such a turn of events, Yang Yang was surprised too but he adapted quickly, focusing his chase on the black silhouette. Having been struck by Yang Botao’s palm, the man was fumbling to regain his stance. How could he have received Yun Yang’s aggressive attack gracefully? Being struck once more, his entire body was flung against the tree trunk, and he almost passed out from the pain. Knowing that he had sustained severe internal injuries and seeing the green ball of wind descending slowly with the obvious intention of attacking, he swore, "Words of advice can’t bring back a doomed person. Even if he has pulled away from the gates of hell, he will eventually find his way by dashing in!"
As he finished, he turned around and fled.
He could not stay here any longer. If he did, he might lose his life!
Yang Botao was in a daze. Seeing that the green ball of air had spiraled down to land before him, slowly turning into a vague figure of a man, he could not help but ask, "May I ask if this is Supreme Wind himself?"
Yun Yang replied indifferently, "Yang Botao, what do you have to say to this reputed one?"
Despite causing damage to the man of black silhouette earlier with his strike, Yang Botao had also suffered from the recoiling force of the mystical Qi. With his weak physical condition that had been through numerous attacks, he was in a critical state. Even a slight struggle would cause the mystical steel arrow in his waist to separate his body into half. He did not look like he would make it as he spat mouthful after mouthful of blood. Yang Botao no longer had the valiance of a marshal of the northern troop.
His eyes stared unblinkingly at Yun Yang and said, "Lord Supreme Wind, my wife, is she…"
Yun Yang grimaced before saying, "You should understand your wife’s personality. Think about it yourself, how high of a possibility it is that she’d still be alive now?"
Yang Botao’s gaze dimmed as he said, "I have wronged her."
Yun Yang said coldly, "Yang Botao, you did no wrong to her nor did you do wrong to me. But being a man of Yutang, don't you think you have done wrong to this country? Wronged those brothers who should not have died but did anyway because of what you’ve done?"
Yang Botao’s gaze was still dark as he answered, "Things have come to this point, words can't change them any longer."
Yun Yang’s murderous intent had long burned out. If Yang Botao had not risked his life for the chance to attack the black shadow man, how could Yun Yang have given him a chance to speak? He replied quietly, "You said you have something to tell me. Is it only to ask about your wife?"
Yang Botao smiled with much difficulty as blood oozed out from the corners of his mouth. He spoke dryly, "When I was young, my parents were loving and my days were filled with peace and happiness. However, my mother died in an accident when I was twelve years old. It had been too much for my father, and his whereabouts since then have been unknown. It was also in that year that I enlisted in the military…"
"After so many years of going to war, I’ve become the marshal of the northern troop. I, Yang Botao, can be considered successful; I personally don’t think I’ve humiliated my ancestors."
"It was until the year before last that my father found me. He looked terrible… he wasn’t going to live long…"
Yang Botao chuckled sadly and said, "Other than being ecstatic that I could reunite with my closest family, I observed the irony of wanting to take care of my father who wasn’t going to be around for long. For months, I stayed by his side and even delayed a war…"
"I only had one wish then. As long as my father could get well, I would be willing to have my bones crushed and insides torn apart. I would have been willing to die many times over."
"But the many reputable physicians I found from all over was unable to make my father better. It was when I was helpless and in agony that my father told me that his injury could not be remedied, but there was a way to make him continue living. It was just that the method was extremely difficult."
Yun Yang listened carefully.
Yang Botao’s voice was soft, his words choppy.
Yun Yang knew, though, that not a single word from Yang Botao right now was false.
"From what the many physicians said, I’ve long known that my father’s illness couldn’t be cured. There would hardly be a change. Yet hearing my father said he had a way, oh how melodic the words had seemed then! I only knew I had to save my father’s life – I was not afraid of any danger or threat, what other difficulties could I have been afraid of? My father told me his body condition was defying the heavens, it had been a karmic injury from the ether. There aren’t any antidotes nor cures for his injury, no spiritual medicine or mystique arcane magic could help. Only the purest form of power could help him. In addition, only one form of power would be useless. It had to be the nine great powers of gold, wood, water, flame, earth, thunder, blood, wind, and cloud combined to assist the renewal of his five elements and cleanse his tainted blood, where the wind and thunder crushed his bones while the cloud formed his shape. Only then would he be able to change anew and recover entirely. But to complete this, the Nine Supremes had to be gathered. I despaired, for it had far exceeded the area of my authority."
"It was utterly impossible. Not only was it difficult to locate the Nine Supremes, even if I could meet one or two of them, we wouldn't have the opportunity to talk. Besides, the Nine Supremes Lords were supporting Yutang on the battlefield all year long. When they hardly had the time for rest and peace, how could I have troubled them just for the sake of one person from a single family?"
"Moreover, His Majesty had long restricted everyone from digging about for information on the Nine Supremes."
"I lost nights of sleep over this. I had even gone to the Residence of Nine Supremes boldly several times but I was fated not to encounter any of them."
"Afterwards, my father told me that he could complete the matter of asking the Nine Supremes for help personally because he had a treasure that would make the Nine Supremes oblige. It was the Nine-Beam Rainbow Herb. As long as he could see the Nine Supremes, he would exchange for a chance to live. If Nine Supremes still didn’t agree, only then would he use my name to plead for mercy."
Yun Yang sighed, "And you believed it?"
The Nine-Beam Rainbow Herb – it was a legendary holy item of heaven and earth, a treasure of extremely blessed fortune. It was surely something that was the highest possible grade!
The Nine-Beam Rainbow Herb was magical. Legend had it that when the sky was strangely filled with stretches of purple clouds, nine rainbows would appear. When these nine rainbows appeared, there would be lightning flashing through the sky. If this descending strike of lightning were to strike someone, the nine rainbows that hung in the sky would then flow into this person’s dantian. If this person was, coincidentally, a mystical cultivator, then the nine rainbows would morph into the Nine-Beam Rainbow Herb within the person’s dantian!
The herb had nine leaves in nine colors, each of its leaves possessing the purest shine.
If one were to consume all nine leaves of the Nine-Beam Rainbow Herb, not only could they be immortal and peerless in the world, they could possess the formidable cultivation base where their hand could wreck heavens while their foot could destroy the earth. This individual would be an immortal, with the eternal power.
If the herb was shared among nine people, these nine people would become brothers for eternity and be bestowed the trappings of an immortal. As long as they worked together, they could continue to live out their lives forever.
However, all these tales were just myths.
There was no evidence and no one would have assumed it to be true.
First of all, the conditions for the Nine-Beam Rainbow Herb to emerge were too harsh. Forget the rarity of a sky being covered in purple, to have nine rainbows appearing simultaneously when the sky was purple… it might not even happen in a billion years.
What was even more absurd was asking such a phenomena to be accompanied by lightning.
A purple-hued sky decorated with rainbows would most probably be a sunny day. How could there be lightning?
It was impossible.
Besides, the lightning had to land and strike someone that was a mystical cultivator.
It was absolutely outrageous.
There were simply too many coincidences that were required for it to take place.
Furthermore, the Nine-Beam Rainbow Herb had to be cultivated and grown in the lucky person’s dantian even when all these conditions were fulfilled. If the herb’s effects were so miraculous, the nutrients it would need during its growth was unimaginable. What type of mystical Qi cultivation would be needed in order to support it? Moreover, even when the cultivator could supply the abundant nourishment needed, the person must be somewhat skilled in their cultivation already. How could they be willing to sacrifice themselves for a herb in order to build another person up?
Therefore, such a herb could not, and should not exist.