Chapter 4262 — The Golden Manikin

Witnessing this incredible scene with his own eyes, Wei Zhao was struck dumb with amazement, and Huang Xiaotao at his side was so terrified by the extreme bloodshed that she let out a scream.

Only then did Wei Zhao snap back to his senses with a start, but it was already too late—Huang Xiaotao's scream had drawn the very thing that had been chasing Chu Bubai straight to them.

Wei Zhao hastily lunged forward and shielded Huang Xiaotao behind him. The entity ahead, whatever it might be, came sweeping toward the two of them with unimaginable speed, trailing an aura that defied description yet was incomparably powerful, and even the layered mist all around seemed to part of its own accord to clear a path for it.

Wei Zhao's eyelids twitched wildly as he watched. By the time the entity drew within ten zhang, its form could be made out clearly—it was, astonishingly, something like a little golden manikin.

At that, even Wei Zhao could no longer keep his composure. What in the world, by all that was holy, was this thing?

Something capable of toying with Chu Bubai to death ought, by any reckoning, to be a monster of magnificent and fearsome presence; Wei Zhao had even assumed it must be some mighty spirit beast of the Nascent Soul stage. But what stood before him was a miniature golden manikin—no matter how he looked at it, it bore no relation whatsoever to the word "powerful"!

"Xiaotao, hit it!" Doubt though he might, Wei Zhao dared not be the least bit negligent. At once he had Huang Xiaotao join him, and they unleashed the Raging Fire Eight-Trigram Combined Palm with all their strength.

Had Chu Bubai not served as a warning before them, he might truly have grown careless. But now a bloody example lay right before his eyes—if Wei Zhao still underestimated this golden manikin, he would truly be tired of living!

Besides, the golden manikin came on with menacing force, and wherever it passed, even the stubborn, immovable layers of mist parted to clear its way. If he could not even see that much of its uncommon nature, Wei Zhao could never have lived to this day.

Boom! After so long fighting in tandem, Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao's coordination had grown wonderfully in tune. In an instant their two palms, Raging Fire Eight-Trigram Combined Palm, struck the golden manikin's body simultaneously, neither a hair's breadth before the other.

The golden manikin, charging madly at the two of them, did not even have time to strike before Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao sent it flying backward, and it crashed to the ground a full several dozen zhang away. After a few twitches, it finally moved no more.

Even so, Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao did not let down their guard on that account. This thing was, after all, a formidable being capable of slaughtering Chu Bubai with ease; the power of their Raging Fire Eight-Trigram Combined Palm might gravely wound it, but could not necessarily kill it outright in a single blow—what if this time it was only feigning death?

Wei Zhao shot Huang Xiaotao a look; she nodded in understanding, and the two of them, on guard together, advanced step by step toward the golden manikin lying in the distance.

As they went, one thing struck them as exceedingly strange: the layers of mist around them were slowly thinning, and visibility had improved a great deal. Their spiritual sense perception was beginning to return to normal as well—the mist was gradually dissipating!

Wei Zhao was all the more astonished. He had felt just now that this golden manikin's origins seemed somehow connected to the mist, and now this turn of events only confirmed that conjecture all the more firmly.

To be able to control such troublesome mist—just what sort of being was this golden manikin?

The two of them crept cautiously forward and found that the golden manikin did indeed appear to be dead, unable to move any longer. Yet before they could breathe a sigh of relief, the golden manikin's corpse suddenly stirred.

Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao were both startled, and instinctively made to follow up with another Raging Fire Eight-Trigram Combined Palm. But then, once they saw clearly what was happening to the golden manikin's body, the two of them were struck dumb on the spot.

"Th-this... is this the legendary sprite?" Huang Xiaotao was dazed for a long while before she finally managed to squeeze out faintly. Apart from "sprite," she truly could think of no other word to describe the sight before her eyes.

Wei Zhao was likewise choked speechless for a good while. Right before their very eyes, within the brief space of a moment, the golden manikin's "corpse" had shriveled and changed shape.

It was not feigned death, nor a corpse springing back to life—it had simply suddenly changed form. What had been a tiny, miniature golden manikin a moment before abruptly ceased to be human in shape: its hands and feet had become root-like tendrils, and neither its head nor its body showed the slightest trace of anything human.

To reveal its original form after death—judged by this alone, it really was much like the sprites of common legend. It was said that spirit beasts, once they reached a certain level of power, could take on human form; was this not exactly such a case?

The two of them exchanged glances. Huang Xiaotao, at the thought of all these uncanny, monstrous things, hardly dared look again. But Wei Zhao, after staring at the thing for a moment, suddenly had a flash of inspiration and hastily picked it up.

"Ah!" Huang Xiaotao jumped in fright and hurriedly backed away two steps, but Wei Zhao caught her with one hand.

"Don't be afraid, Xiaotao—we've struck it rich this time. Come and look, quick!" Wei Zhao examined the thing in his hand closely, the excitement on his face written plain for all to see.

"Struck... struck it rich?" Huang Xiaotao was taken aback, and only then dared to cast her gaze upon the thing once more. After studying it closely for a few moments, something seemed to dawn on her, and she said in mingled shock and doubt, "You mean...?"

"That's right—this is the very goal of our journey, the infant ginseng!" Wei Zhao said excitedly.

In truth, he had been puzzled from the moment the golden manikin first appeared, because the medicinal fragrance unique to infant ginseng had plainly grown much stronger than before. Only at the time his attention had been fixed on the golden manikin's strength and the changes in the surrounding mist, leaving him no chance to ponder the matter carefully. Who would have thought this thing would turn out to be infant ginseng!

"This thing... is really infant ginseng?" Huang Xiaotao's first reaction was not delight but a look of utter bewilderment. In all her past knowledge and imagining, natural treasures such as spirit herbs existed in only one way: they grew up out of the ground.

But this thing before her, though it did indeed look like a spirit herb, had while alive been able not only to run and leap, but even to drive a late Golden Core expert like Chu Bubai to utter wretchedness and slaughter him with ease—and this was supposed to be a spirit herb?

At that, Huang Xiaotao's whole understanding was turned upside down. She stared blankly at the thing in Wei Zhao's hand and for a long time could not speak a word.

In truth, had he not with his own hands once refined infant ginseng into the Gathering-Infant Golden Core, Wei Zhao himself would never have believed that this thing was really infant ginseng.

"That's right—so this trip of ours was hardly made in vain." After confirming it again and again, Wei Zhao nodded emphatically in his excitement. Before, the Heaven-Walking Daoist had given him only a piece of infant ginseng the size of a thumb, and with that he had successfully refined a Gathering-Infant Golden Core; yet what he held in his hand now was an entire plant! (Readers on mobile, please cast a few monthly votes to support Old Yu! Readers on Qidian can also cast