NOVEL NEXT 132. Full Recovery
The sand golem proved to be a formidable opponent, not only strong but also possessing a defense that ordinary cultivators couldn’t easily breach.
Yun Qingyu’s swordsmanship was excellent, each strike landing precisely on the same spot. Yet even so, it took dozens of strikes to break through the sand golem’s armor defense, depleting most of her spiritual energy. Even before the battle’s end, she could sense that this sand golem was more challenging than any opponent she had faced before.
Eyeing the sand giant that hadn’t slimmed down despite losing its armor, Yun Qingyu’s expression grew increasingly grave. She tightened her grip on Fuxue Sword, exhaling softly in an attempt to recuperate briefly.
However, the sand golem showed no sign of being affected by its broken defenses. If anything, unburdened by the heavy armor, its movements seemed to have become slightly quicker. It still brought down its sword with tremendous force, accompanied by a sharp whistle of wind, but now with increased speed. Had Yun Qingyu not been intently focused on it, she might have suffered greatly from a moment’s inattention.
Fortunately, Yun Qingyu’s battle experience was rich, and her nature sufficiently cautious. She noticed the golem’s increased agility the moment it swung its sword. She narrowly dodged the attack, only to realize the next moment that her arms felt lighter—the little white cat had vanished.
Yun Qingyu was startled, forced to divide her attention to search for the cat.
The little white cat had jumped away of her own accord. As she swiftly retreated from the battlefield, she called back to Yun Qingyu, “Don’t worry about me, Senior Sister. Focus on the battle and don’t get hurt.”
Jiang Mo’s retreat wasn’t out of cowardice but for her senior sister’s benefit. While she could have helped throw talismans from Yun Qingyu’s arms, the sand golem’s hide was too thick. If even Yun Qingyu’s Fuxue Sword struggled to penetrate its defenses, the fourth and fifth-grade spiritual talismans she had casually collected would be even less effective. Those talismans exploding on the sand golem merely knocked off some dust, having no real impact.
Conversely, if she had stayed in her senior sister’s arms, Yun Qingyu would have had to divide her attention to protect her. Moreover, Yun Qingyu was accustomed to holding her, occupying one hand and making it inconvenient to form seals or throw talismans.
After the brief engagement, Jiang Mo realized her presence was only a hindrance. The best she could do was leave quickly.
Fortunately, the sand golem was already massive, and Yun Qingyu’s constant attacks had captured its full attention. The departure of a small cat went unnoticed. With Yun Qingyu’s deliberate misdirection, the sand golem soon turned its back on Jiang Mo, shifting from targeting her to facing away.
In a moment between dodging attacks, Yun Qingyu glanced over, and seeing the little white cat was safe, refocused on the battle. This time, unencumbered by the small beast in her arms, her swordplay and movements appeared noticeably more composed.
Seeing this, Jiang Mo also breathed a sigh of relief before quickly turning her attention to the sand golem before her. From behind, it looked much the same as from the front—a towering, earthy yellow body. Moreover, being a construct rather than a living being, it was immune to pressure techniques and lacked the vulnerabilities of flesh and blood. A sneak attack from behind would likely prove ineffective.
After observing for a while, Jiang Mo’s gaze fell on the golem’s heel, taller than herself, and suddenly had an idea.
She rummaged through her storage space again, finally finding a few third-grade frost talismans. These low-grade talismans had little destructive power against the formidable sand golem; she usually used them to chill fruit and hadn’t employed them earlier.
However, regardless of their low grade, talismans in a guardian beast’s possession were not street-market goods. They still retained their basic functions.
The little white cat swiftly infused a trace of spiritual energy into the frost talisman, then swung her paw. The talisman flew towards the sand golem as if guided, aiming not for any other part but the heel closest to the little white cat.
Just then, Yun Qingyu had dodged another of the sand golem’s attacks while airborne. The sand golem, seeing this, was about to lift its foot to pursue. But as it raised its foot, its usually agile movements suddenly stiffened, and its foot inexplicably became much heavier. While this weight couldn’t truly hinder the sand golem’s steps, the unexpected change caused it to stumble in a surprisingly human-like manner.
Jiang Mo hadn’t communicated her plan to Yun Qingyu beforehand, but the human and tiger seemed to share an unspoken understanding. Seeing her remain behind the sand golem, Yun Qingyu knew she must be plotting something. Thus, the moment the sand golem showed signs of abnormality, she immediately seized the opportunity.
A thunderous sword strike, wrapped in a cold capable of freezing the air, slashed heavily towards the sand golem’s neck.
The sand golem seemed to sense the danger and hurriedly raised its sword to block. However, its giant sword was too cumbersome, and the golem itself wasn’t built for speed. Naturally, it couldn’t match Yun Qingyu’s swiftness. Had its sand armor still been intact, its neck would have been well-protected. But with the armor broken and its block too slow, the strike landed squarely on its neck.
A muffled “squelch” sounded, like a sharp sword piercing fine sand. Only Yun Qingyu, wielding the sword, knew that her Fuxue Sword was now embedded in the sand golem’s neck, as if sunk in quicksand, with a sticky suction preventing the blade from advancing further.
Yun Qingyu frowned, looking closer, and realized her Fuxue Sword had only penetrated a third of the sand golem’s neck.
This was ineffective. The golem wasn’t a living thing; such an “injury” would have no impact on it. Moreover, sand was too peculiar a substance. Yun Qingyu even suspected that if she failed to finish the job in one strike, the moment she withdrew her spirit sword, the “wound” on the golem’s neck would instantly heal, leaving no trace.
Though this was just speculation, Yun Qingyu dared not take the risk, nor did she want to waste this rare opportunity. She summoned all her remaining spiritual energy, channeling it into Fuxue Sword, ready to stake everything on this one move.
In the next moment, Fuxue Sword blazed with light. Its previously stalled blade suddenly sharpened threefold, finally breaking through the quicksand-like resistance to sever the head.
A thunderous crash resounded. As the sand golem’s head fell, its entire body froze. Then, the sand-composed body began to collapse. Just as it had formed from gathering sand, the moment the golem fell, its massive form reverted to scattered sand… Save for the little white cat, who was too close and accidentally buried, everything returned to calm.
Yun Qingyu, her spiritual energy depleted, descended from midair. As soon as her foot touched the sandy ground, she hastily popped a spirit-replenishing pill into her mouth. Her sword remained unsheathed as she vigilantly scanned her surroundings.
All she saw was sand stretching in every direction, with no sign of any villains waiting to take advantage of her depleted state.
Yun Qingyu relaxed slightly, lowering the tip of Fuxue Sword. Suddenly, a rustling sound came from nearby. She turned towards the noise to see a small cat head emerging from a pile of sand, its snow-white fur now stained yellow… Not only was its head covered, but it had likely swallowed some sand too, immediately spitting and coughing incessantly upon surfacing, looking utterly bedraggled.
Recognizing the little white cat, Yun Qingyu’s tension eased. She stepped forward to fish her out of the sand pile.
Before the pair could celebrate their escape from danger, the familiar rumbling sound echoed again, and the ground beneath their feet began to tremble once more. They both turned, a sense of foreboding rising in their hearts.
Sure enough, to their astonishment, the scattered sand on the ground began to gather again. In mere moments, a brand new sand golem stood before them. The towering sand golem turned its “gaze” towards them, and this time, those lifeless sand eyes seemed to hold not only ferocity but also a hint of hatred and anger…
The little dirty cat, looking up to meet those sand eyes: “…”
In that instant, a thousand curses ran through Jiang Mo’s mind—what kind of nonsense was this, an unkillable enemy that could instantly revive at full strength? Had loading a game system somehow turned this proper cultivation world into a game, with the secret realm becoming a dungeon?!
But no matter how vexed Jiang Mo felt, the revived sand golem before them neither knew nor cared. It seemed to remember being beheaded by Yun Qingyu earlier. Its sandy hand opened, and the familiar giant sword materialized in its grasp. It then gripped the sword with both hands, tilted its head as if stretching its neck, and once again attacked Yun Qingyu, its offensive even more fierce than before.
Yun Qingyu pushed off the sandy ground, swiftly retreating.
Learning from the previous encounter, this time Yun Qingyu didn’t hold onto the little white cat. She tossed her aside and focused entirely on the battle. The discarded little white cat landed steadily on the ground with a flip, vaguely sensing the sand golem “looking” at her.
Jiang Mo didn’t overthink it. Upon landing, she immediately sprinted off, intending to circle behind the sand golem and repeat her earlier tactic.
However, her earlier feeling wasn’t mistaken. This time, the revived sand golem had clearly noticed her. Seeing the small figure running towards it, the sand golem, which had been attacking Yun Qingyu, suddenly changed its sword’s trajectory towards the little white cat.
Fortunately, while Jiang Mo wasn’t sufficiently alert, she still had the system to observe and warn her. Sensing the danger, the system immediately alerted her. The little white cat, hearing the warning, dodged instantly, narrowly avoiding the descending sand blade. The giant sword struck the sandy ground not far from her, cleaving a meters-deep pit in the previously flat surface—even on sand, the power behind the sand golem’s strike was evident.
Both the little white cat and Yun Qingyu were startled. Especially Yun Qingyu, who hurriedly raised her sword to attack the sand golem, quickly drawing its hatred and attention back to herself.
While Yun Qingyu faced the sand golem for the second time with relative composure, Jiang Mo, observing from the sidelines, felt her heart racing.
She hadn’t forgotten that her senior sister had exhausted her spiritual energy earlier. How much could one spirit-replenishing pill restore? The effect didn’t seem ideal; in this renewed confrontation, the frequency of her senior sister’s attacks was noticeably lower than before.
The little white cat watched anxiously, attempting several times to approach the sand golem, only to be warded off by its alertness. Occasionally, she even needed her senior sister to come to her rescue. After a few attempts, the little white cat dared not risk it further, also to avoid disrupting her senior sister’s attack rhythm.
However, merely watching the scene unfold was deeply unsettling. In her anxiety, Jiang Mo suddenly remembered the system and sought its help: “System, quickly scan this golem and see what tricks it’s hiding…”