Heart of the Beast

Time itself came to a standstill. Countless thoughts ran through Zheng Fei's mind as he was lying on the ground.

"What did he just hit me with? A blow? But It couldn't have been a normal blow, my internal organs felt like they were rupturing. He must have infused it with chi then. But is it even possible to cause this much internal damage with just a chi infused strike? Was he using an assassination technique? Pressure points? What was it?"

For the first time in Zheng Fei's life, the thought of losing occured to his mind. Not only that, the thought of himself dying flashed through his head as he took a look at the foe in front of him. There was no way that they could run away now, he thought. Fighting was the only option.

Zheng Fei glanced at Fen Xuan, it seemed like similar thoughts had also ran through her head. Their eyes met for just a moment. Without even needing to utter a single word to each other, they understood exactly what they needed to do.

Time started to move once more. The two quickly encircled the Jade Knight, analyzing him, waiting for the right moment to make their two pronged assault. In contrast with his opponents' restlessness, the Jade Knight seemed relax. The only movement that could be seen was the turning of his head as his eyes fixated on the two, like a predator stalking its preys.

Then it finally happened, Zheng Fei dashed at great speed toward the Jade Knight. A sound of deep breathing followed by a quiet mutter could be heard.

"... Píngjìng dì hū..."

It was however interrupted suddenly as the giant spear shot toward him at sonic speed, grazing the side of his stomach. Zheng Fei let out a sweat as he could only barely side stepped the assault. He quickly pinned the spear's handle to his side, preventing the Jade Knight from retracting it.

From behind, Fen Xuan sprinted toward the knight, who was now seemingly stuck in a lock. With both hands, she thrusted her sharpened nails at his neck.

"shink..."

The sound of nails hitting metal echoed across the scene. Fen Xuan's attack couldn't even break through the knight's neck guard, which seemed to be made entirely of spirit stone.

"THUD"

The Jade Knight's elbow made a loud sound as it landed squarely on Fen Xuan's stomach, sending her flying backward. The girl held her belly in pain, blood vomited out of her mouth. The hit had ruptured her liver.

The man then used all his strength to pull the spear back along with Zheng Fei. Another large sound could be heard as he landed a chop right onto the young master's throat. Zheng Fei immediately dropped to the ground and began convulsing profusely.

"Br...Breathe.. move... I have to move..." He thought while desperately grasping for air.

The Jade Knight stood before him silently. He then slowly rose his spear up for a decapitating strike. Suddenly, The man was stopped short as his wrists were tied up by two strands of ribbons. Behind him, Fen Xuan could be seen taking a firm stance, teeth biting down on her lips as she tried to weather the intense pain. Zheng Fei said weakly as he slowly recovered.

"Fen.. Xuan.. I need you to hold him still... just like that."

The young master took out a bullet from his pouch and started infusing it with chi.

The Jade Knight quickly caught on to what the two was planning. He turned back toward Fen Xuan and started pulling on the ribbons with all his might. On the other side, Fen Xuan took in a deep breath and stomped down hard on the ground, digging her feet into them.

Even with the blood of the half-yaoguai coursing through her, Fen Xuan was still slowly getting pulled toward her adversary, who seemed to possess inhuman strength. Veins could be seen popping on her forehead as she gritted her teeth. For all her life, she had never lost to anyone in a contest of strength. The frog in the well truly knew nothing of the sea, she thought. Her grip began to loosen as she hit her limit.

"Good job, Fen Xuan, our battle ends here." Zheng Fei said.

Before the Jade Knight could react, a deafening sound erupted from Zheng Fei's Yìnbáng. The shot pierced straight through the knight's neck guard, shattering it into pierces. With a deep breath, the young master unsheathed his sword and struck the exposed vital with all his might, severing the opponent's head and sending it rolling on the ground.

"Ha... hah... We... did it."

Zheng Fei said with ragged breath. His head turned toward Fen Xuan, who now had a bright smile on her face as she plopped down on the ground. With not a moment's rest, the two began limping toward the city's gate.

"Color me surprise, Zheng Fei. Seem like you're not just any regular spoiled young master huh?" Fen Xuan said with a cheeky tone, much to the annoyance of Zheng Fei.

"You fair lady aren't beating that accusation of being Zhu Bajie's descendant anytime soon. Those were some monstrous strength you showed back there." Zheng Fei replied with a smirk.

"Hmph! You're one to talk, with those fangs and the ability to infuse chi directly into spirit stone. Are you sure you don't have any yaoguai blood inside your body?"

"Unfortunately for you, I'm just a regular human, and I can do much more than just infusing some chi into...."

"SHINK"

The conversation was cut short by a loud sound of flesh being torn apart. To his surprise, what greeted Zheng Fei when he looked down was the sight of a spear embedded in his guts. The young master then fell down to the ground, blood began to pour out of the wound.

"ZHENG FEI!!" Fen Xuan shouted.

When the girl looked back, what she saw could only be described as a scene straight out of the most absurd nightmare. The presumed dead Jade Knight was now standing on his feet, spear in one hand and his severed head in another. He proceeded to slowly place it back on his neck and snapped it into place. The armored man was still as silence as the grave, he then took out an object from his belt and pointed it upward. A loud sound followed by a sparkling trail appeared on the night sky. It was a signal sent toward the remaining Jade Knights.

An expression of pure hopelessness fell on Fen Xuan's face. Unexpectedly, the young master lying on the ground spoke up, still panting from the pain.

"His... shoulders... "

Fen Xuan looked up at the Jade Knight's shoulders. Indeed, a sizzling sound could be heard echoing from the pauldrons. There seemed to be two small objects embedded in them, pumping some strange liquid into the knight. Zheng Fei continued.

"Fen Xuan... I need you to hold him back... for 5 minutes."

Blood was sipping from his mouth as he finished the sentence. Fen Xuan could only reply with a nod. The young lady then took a firm stance as she prepared for battle.

A swirl of emotions began flooding Fen Xuan's mind. Fear, doubt, despair among others. However, the young girl would not let those negative emotions overwhelmed her. As she took in a deep breath, the shaking of her body began to calm down. Slowly, Fen Xuan raised her hand and put it on her chest. It was as if she was trying to grab onto the heart inside.

"... Yěshòu zhī xīn*..."

A torrent of chi shot out of her body and began swallowing her whole. Her body contorted as it changed into something different entirely. Strange furs started appearing on her arms and legs. The root of her hairs began turning white and the hair loops on her head had turned into ears similar to that of an animal. Her eyes now resembled that of a canine.

"... So it wasn't Zhu Bajie huh?... She was a wolf this entire time..." Zheng Fei mumbled as he started channeling his chi into the remaining 3 spirit stone bullets.

"... Yīnyuán hóngxiàn**..."

She muttered softly, the two strands of ribbons on her wrists started to change shapes into that of two red iron chains. The girl turned her gaze toward the Jade Knight, who had also taken a battle stance.

It started without warning. Fen Xuan raised her right arm up and swung it downward with full force, sending the chain flying toward her opponents. The Jade Knight swiftly dodged to the side as it obliterated everything in its path, leaving a trail of debris behind. She then unleashed a torrent of assaults as she swung both arms in a frenzy, the pair of chains were now dancing through the air like a butterfly. And yet, the Jade Knight just calmly observed the madness and began slipping through the gap between strikes, inching ever closer to his target.

Then it happened, with a snap of his wrist, the giant spear shot straight toward Fen Xuan like a cannonball. A smirk appeared on her face, just as planned, she thought. She had meticulously restricted his movement so that he could only let out a stab at one specific angle. Fen Xuan quickly retracted her chains and wrapped them around his spear. A crunching sound could be heard as the metal chains twisted, crushing the spear into nothingness.

To her surprise, the Jade Knight's advance didn't slow down. He lunged toward her and let out a barrage of strikes. Fen Xuan could only dodge them by a hair breadth. The young girl was weaken enough that each strike could potentially be a death sentence as they would rupture her organs into dirt. She continued stepping backward, evading, patiently waiting for the perfect time to strike. Then the moment finally came.

"Moon Devouring Demonic Wolf Strikes" She quietly muttered.

Hundreds, no, thousands of hit were unleashed in the span of a few seconds. The flurry of slashes shredded the Jade Knight into pieces as it ripped and tore through his body like a knife through butter. And yet, every time a hit landed, the wound quickly stitched itself back together as if nothing had happened. Even a slash to the neck couldn't sever it anymore as it just snapped itself back into place instantly. The pauldrons on his shoulders seemed to be made of a different material, none of Fen Xuan's thousands of strikes could make a dent in it.

Fen Xuan however didn't give up. For the final hit, she savagely lunged forward, piercing his entire chest through the heart with her arm. He girl however quickly realized something was wrong, her arm was now stuck as the wound clenched, preventing her from retracting it. The Jade Knight then took a stance. In but a moment, he unleashed 5 pin-point strikes on Fen Xuan's head and chest.

A deep silence filled the scene, then multiple bursting sound echoed across the city street. Fen Xuan dropped down on her knees, a river of blood ran down her head as she started bleeding from all 7 orifices.

"Cold... my body feels... cold... am I... dying? Mother... father... I'm sorry..."

Fen Xuan could barely let out her voice as the Jade Knight stepped forward for a finishing move.

"BANG"

A thunderous sound erupted. The knight then felt pain on his shoulder. He took a look back at Zheng Fei, who had now finished reloading. Another deafening sound occurred as his second shot landed squarely on the Jade Knight's other pauldron.

"That was just the beginning."

Zheng Fei said coldly. Something strange started to happen, a different sizzling sound could be heard coming out of the Jade Knight's pauldrons. Something akin to burning water was now sipping out of the wound, melting everything it touched. Zheng Fei unsheathed his sword and quickly dashed toward the knight. The Jade Knight tried escaping only to come to a sudden stop as he felt something clinging tightly to his leg.

"I... will not let go... even if I die..." It was Fen Xuan, who had barely remained conscious.

Before he could react, Zheng Fei had already appeared in front of him. Quick as a flash, the young master struck downward through the open wound, severing the man's left arm by the shoulder, then he quickly switched to an upward slash, cutting off the other arm. Zheng Fei then placed his Yìnbáng on the Jade Knight's helmet, blasting it at point blank. The chi infused bullet exploded violently, leaving nothing behind.

Zheng Fei let out a sigh of relief. It was finally over, he thought. He however quickly snapped back to reality as he realized they still needed to escape the city. All of a sudden, he heard loud footsteps coming from behind him. It was the Jade Knight's reinforcement. Zheng Fei bit his lips as he held Fen Xuan in his arms, who had since fallen unconscious. Blood was still pouring out of his guts from the stab wound. He made a mad dash out of the city gate straight toward the wagons.

"Oh greeting, young master, how have yo...."

"SHUT UP AND MOVE!!!"

The man was startled by the young master's sudden shouting. He tried to explain that there were still goods that needed to be loaded up. Unfortunately, he could only comply as Zheng Fei pointed a sword at his throat.

Zheng Fei carefully put Fen Xuan down on the wagon's floor, her pulse was getting weaker and weaker. Just when all hope seemed to be lost, he suddenly remembered something he had taken from the Jade Knight's corpse. It was a pair of syringes containing strange liquid that were embedded in the man's pauldrons. They had to be the source of his regenerative power, he thought.

"There's no other options" Zheng Fei said in a desperate tone.

He then proceed to stab a syringe into Fen Xuan's arm. Miraculously, her pulse began to beat faster. Her breathing had become stable. A sigh of relief came out of Zheng Fei.

The young master took a final look back at Língzhi as they departed. Several figures in jade armors could be seen silently watching them from the city gate.