------------
"Holy crap—!" Shawn Young felt his chest cave in, then spat out a mouthful of blood. The spell backlash hit him like a freight train, like someone just whacked his heart with a sledgehammer. He staggered back ten-plus steps, nearly landing on his ass, but somehow managed to tough it out and stay upright!
Meanwhile, Master Wuxiang was in just as bad shape—he coughed up blood like a busted faucet, his hair standing on end, beard flaring out, and his face turning as pale as a ghost. He stumbled back a good thirty steps, tripped over a rock, and crashed to the ground with a thud. Wheezing and clutching his chest, he quickly fished out a medicinal pill from his robe and popped it like candy.
"Son of a bitch! You—old fart, popping pills now?! Go ahead, stuff your face! Screw you, man!" Shawn Young, annoyed as hell, grabbed a rock off the ground and, without missing a beat, chucked it right at Master Wuxiang's noggin—
"Whoosh—Bang!"
Master Wuxiang never saw it coming—Shawn Young, the king of cheap shots! He couldn't dodge, so the rock smashed him right in the kisser. Blood sprayed everywhere, and his two front teeth went flying like popcorn!
"Hahaha—cough—cough—Old geezer, you got no front teeth! Next time you try chanting spells, even the gods won't know what the hell you're saying! Sucks to be you, man! Cough—cough—" Shawn Young was so hyped he started coughing up a storm.
Master Wuxiang was fuming, scrambling up to throw down again. But he quickly realized his spiritual energy was basically on empty, and Shawn Young looked just as wrecked. Both of them were running on fumes—if either had a drop of juice left, the other was toast!
Master Wuxiang glared daggers at Shawn Young, dying to finish him off. But he couldn't tell how much gas Shawn had left in the tank, so after some quick mental math, he chickened out—better safe than sorry!
All he could do was snarl at Shawn Young, "You little punk—I'll remember this! Someday I'll make sure you die so hard, nobody'll even find your bones! We'll meet again—hmph!"
Master Wuxiang finished his speech, squeezed out the last drop of spiritual energy, hugged his arms to his chest in some weird pose—and with a "whoosh," he straight-up vanished before Shawn Young’s eyes. Not even a shadow left behind!
"Shadowstep! Son of a—damn old freak! Using Earth Dive to bail? Get your ass back here, coward—let's finish this! I still wanna knock out the rest of your teeth! Screw you—cough—cough—" Shawn Young gripped the rock, ready to smash Wuxiang again, but the sneaky bastard was already gone.
He hollered into the empty valley like a lunatic, got himself all worked up, and spat out another mouthful of bloody spit. His head spun, and he finally couldn't hold out—plopped down on his butt. Honestly, Shawn Young had burned through all his spiritual energy in that epic duel with Wuxiang. He was only standing by sheer willpower, 'cause he knew if he showed weakness first, that crafty old fox would finish him off in a heartbeat!
A wave of dizziness crashed over him, making Shawn feel like jelly, his mind sinking and eyes going blurry. Through the haze, he spotted someone shivering under a flipped rock—a naked dude, shaking like a leaf. Shawn squinted—damn, it was Jack Jiang, the guy Chibaku snatched for monster chow!
But Jack Jiang looked totally wrecked, sprawled out in that rocky pit, squirming and twitching like some slippery lizard. Shawn realized—the Chibaku had bitten through all his tendons so he couldn’t run. Even the best doctors couldn’t fix him now; Jack Jiang was doomed to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair!
"Heh heh—serves you right, punk! No more chasing girls for you! Ha!" Shawn Young cackled inside, then everything went black—he passed out cold.
Half-awake, Shawn felt like he was floating, his mind sinking into a sea of dreams. Everything was pitch black—he had no clue where he was, just spinning and spinning, totally lost.
No idea how long it lasted—maybe a second, maybe a century. Suddenly, a swirl of purple-red light flashed up ahead, and his mind shot right into it. Lightning whipped and heat scorched him. He realized—it was a replay of his showdown with Wuxiang, playing like a movie in his head!
Then it hit him—his Primordial Spirit was fixing itself up, soaking in Wuxiang’s battle experience! After such a wild fight, Shawn’s power didn’t level up, but his Taoist magic skills had jumped big time!
This was the kind of battle wisdom you could never get from grinding away at training! Only when you’re fighting for your life do you really get what those Taoist secrets are all about!
Suddenly—Shawn felt all those tricky Taoist spells in the Codex of Ascension finally click. With a flash of white light, his mind snapped back into his skull. He slowly opened his eyes—blurry at first—and saw a white ceiling, a soft pink bed, and a faint, sweet scent in the air. No doubt, this was a girl's room—and he definitely recognized that scent!
Shawn blinked, totally confused. Just a minute ago, he was still up on Bamboo Dragon Hill—how the hell did he end up in this bedroom?
He tried to move, wanting to sit up, but every bone in his body felt like it’d fallen apart—sore and weak all over. Then it hit him: he’d blown through way too much spiritual energy, and now he was running on empty. He needed to figure out how to recharge, fast!
Shawn crawled up and leaned against the pillow on the big bed, planning to sit cross-legged and cycle his energy to recover some strength. But his body was so limp he couldn’t even sit straight. Weirdly enough, the big guy down below was still standing tall—like it never got tired at all.
"Attaboy! Respect, little bro—" Shawn couldn’t help but give his own junk a compliment.
Just then, the door creaked open. Shawn looked over—and in walked a gorgeous, slim silhouette.