Salamander was cuter when muted

Lai Yiteng stood atop the boulder and turned to look at the two nuisances that had arrived.

Mildew was the first to appear, flying hastily, and Xian Wu broke through the edge of the forest brush right after, his saber drawn and covered in blood. His clothes were no better, messy with blood stains, some of which even made red marks on his hair.

Xian Wu propped a hand on his hip and caught his breath. "Lai Yiteng…you…" but he just shut his mouth after that though, opting to utter curses under his breath.

Lai Yiteng blinked at him.

What should he say? They were just in an argument last time, but he wasn't really that mad about it anymore, so he didn't know what to do. Fighting the monster was easier and more satisfying for his bloodthirst.

Naturally it didn't take Xian Wu long to notice the disgusting creature writhing over the smashed chunks of rock, still reeling with pain and coping with its windpipe being pinched shut. Apparently it did not really need to breathe to survive, otherwise it'd die right then and there.

It was some kind of undead, human-esque, salamander thing.

Xian Wu had heard the notes of an erhu earlier and assumed that Lai Yiteng was relatively safe as he followed Mildew to his location. But no. Lai Yiteng was right in the middle of chaos, surrounded by ghouls and this strange monster, and yet didn't appear to be sweating over it at all.

As he feared, definitely a bit of a lunatic. But he was not going to bring that up again. Xian Wu just knit his brow fiercely at the thing on the ground.

"Disgusting, just nasty! What kind of thing is this? ...what hole did it crawl out of?"

"How should I know? I'm seeing it for the first time too," replied Lai Yiteng with more than a bit of acridness. "…I don't think it looks that bad." He did not know why he was defending the appearance of this monster that he was trying to kill, but Lai Yiteng reached the conclusion that it was because he was still undecided about whether it was cute or not.

"..." Xian Wu shook his head, determining that Lai Yiteng was a lost cause, and then noticed the gunk sliding off Lai Yiteng's palm that looked all too similar to the goo on that nasty monster. "Did you touch it? Don't tell me you touched it!"

Indifferently, Lai Yiteng lifted his palm, some goo dripped off with a ripe smell, his whitish skin shining through from underneath a layer of purple. He flicked his wrist and sent some of the substance splattering into the air.

Xian Wu shifted away to avoid being splattered.

"Watch it! Please don't come any closer to me. I don't want any of that on my face. It could be toxic, you know...just look at the color. Your limbs don't feel tingly, do they?"

Xian Wu didn't bother waiting for a response, just saying words because he liked to chatter, and busily started dispatching the ghouls surrounding him with his saber. In any case, if Lai Yiteng was really poisoned by this or that, he'd deal with it after they finished this battle. His movements were much more forceful and dazzling than Lai Yiteng's, and along with that came a bit of a mess.

Blood and rotting flesh were flying as he beheaded one then cut the legs off another. He keep his blade moving like clockwork.

By now the salamander-creature was curling back up off the ground.

"Careful of its tail," said Lai Yiteng, "it has two barbs. They seem to have caused the deaths of many of the bodies lying around here."

Xian Wu sighed. "Yeah yeah…"

He was gonna have so much work to do when he got back to Graceful Dragon Sect, investigating this gigantic mess. Didn't he see the body of that famous cultivator Mei from Immortal Crane sect a moment ago? They'd been missing for several months and it caused a slight stir for a while. Now here they were on this desolate and isolated haunted mountain!

Lai Yiteng slid down from atop the boulder and planted onto the ground near Xian Wu, holding up his dagger. The two fought in sync despite having little previous experience doing so, and while Xian Wu's abilities were a notch above Lai Yiteng's the two still managed to complement each other.

Xian Wu's longer and curved blade reached and struck ghouls farther back, while Lai Yiteng finished those who crept too close.

The two of them made quick work of the remaining ghouls just as the salamander monster was lunging towards them.

It's mouth cracked open, but only a muffled wheeze came out, a bucketload of black and viscous liquid spilling out all over instead. Lai Yiteng was only doubly relieved that it couldn't make those horrible sounds any longer. It was a lot cuter when muted.

Xian Wu chuckled. "Seems like you gave it a sore throat!"

"Why are you laughing? Shutting it up was the hardest part."

"...tch."

The two danced out of the way of the monster's charge while Xian Wu's saber parried its tail off course. He balked at the sheer amount of slime that coated his blade.

"Eww…so disgusting, why does it constantly drip stuff," continued Xian Wu. He was pretty used to seeing gore and death, sure, but people have limits. "So is it poisonous or not?"

Lai Yiteng shrugged.

"Can't you be slightly more concerned?! Who was it that had to neutralize the poison last time? Geez…well if you're fine after all this time has already passed, it should be safe."

Lai Yiteng gave a light scoff as though uncaring. Although his hand was hit earlier, he didn't seem to suffer from any effects yet.

But Xian Wu really was still concerned. Such a pretty young man getting so filthy with grime, what a waste! Did Lai Yiteng not even care about his image any longer?

That tail shot at them again, putting a stop to the conversation. Xian Wu drove forward with his saber to press back against it, his mouth shifting into a taunt line as the tail slammed against his blade in quick succession. When the tail tried to wrap around his sabre, he twisted it around to deny it that chance.

"My sword won't pierce through it," he grumbled. "Yi'er, how did you injure it earlier?"

Lai Yiteng met another ghoul coming from the forest and sliced into it. Then he replied, "Seven Lotus Martial Arts, of course, but my strike didn't rupture its internal organs either. Its hide is too thick and elastic."

Xian Wu's jumped backwards to avoid a lunge of the creature with its gooey mouth. His eyes focused as he pressed back attacks with his saber etched with dragons.

He tried to wrangle the tail into obedience, but the salamander gave a wheeze and slugged its whole body along with the force of the tail. Xian Wu was flung backwards. He felt the sting of barbs sinking into his shoulder as he hit the ground.

He cursed.

The tail wildly flailed around and aimed at Lai Yiteng next, but dodged and rushed over to Xian Wu. He wordlessly lifted the man up by the shoulder.

Although the barbs stung a bit, it wasn't a severe wound, nothing worse than a papercut. At least that was what Lai Yiteng thought, but as he retreated back with Xian Wu he saw his the other's face wincing.

"What's wrong," Lai Yiteng blurted, his gut worming with a strange sense of unease.

The shoulder that had been struck with the barbs was limp against Lai Yiteng's body, until finally Xian Wu replied, "My shoulder downwards is paralyzed, I can't move it."

Flecks of black entered Lai Yiteng's vision as he dodged past the salamander again, taking brief refuge behind a boulder. His fingers curled into Xian Wu's robes as he held him upright.

"How?" Lai Yiteng blurted, disbelief clear in his tone. He got hit too, but he was fine. "Don't mess around, Xian Wu."

"I'm not." Xian Wu sighed.

A few moments of unnatural silence passed, one where Lai Yiteng would usually retort something. Xian Wu glanced over at his expression and was mildly surprised to see panic swirling in the younger's pupils. So he did care...

Xian Wu added, "It's fine, no worries. This kind of poison will probably wear off in a few hours...why don't you just help me kill this thing already? It's dumb so it won't be too hard. Just go distract it for a bit, then I'll use a martial technique to finish it off."