Chapter 97: Retribution Never Fails (Addendum)

I halted in my tracks, my pupils contracting. Was this woman human, or a ghost? Or perhaps some kind of demon?

“Giggle, how odd today—another lone traveler? The one before had a pass. Do you have one?” The woman laughed softly, her voice sweet and alluring. It made me think of a nightingale, except this woman’s charm sent a chill straight to the bone, far more than anything a nightingale could ever inspire.

The one before? Damn it, could it be Qu Yuanshan? Did he actually have some sort of pass?

“Sister, isn’t this very thing my pass?” I said with a smile, my Blood Fiend Blade angled toward the ground.

The woman laughed until her shoulders shook, her magnificent bosom seeming ready to burst free.

“You little brat, you do have confidence. I can let you through, but first you have to get past my darling.”

Her eyes were all silk and smoke, and the moment she finished speaking, the tiny red serpent coiled around her wrist spread its flesh-wings and shot toward me in a streak of red light.

My expression turned cold. The Blood Fiend Blade flashed in a cross slash.

Yet the red serpent ignored it completely. The blade light passed through its body as if through empty air.

Boom.

It slammed into my forehead, and my head seemed to explode. My consciousness flew upward, then slowly drifted back down.

When I came to my senses, everything around me was a vast, blinding whiteness.

Suddenly, a deep chill ran through my whole body. I turned slowly, and there before me was a gigantic serpent floating in midair, flapping a pair of flesh-wings, staring at me with murderous intensity.

Hmm... It didn’t quite seem like a serpent. Smoke puffed from its nostrils, making it resemble the dragons from Western legends.

No—wait. Wasn’t this just that little red snake? How had it turned into a dragon?

No, that still wasn’t right. This place was... my sea of consciousness? Like that spiritual battle I had fought against Huo Mingzhong before.

Before I could sort it out, the serpent roared, beat its flesh-wings, and dove at me. The pair of claws beneath its belly snatched toward my head.

I dropped and rolled, then came up on one knee, staring at the giant serpent.

Whoosh...

At that moment, the beast whirled its head around and opened its mouth. A sheet of dark crimson flame flooded the sky and descended on me.

I let out a low roar, and my willpower condensed into a shield above me.

But under the searing blaze, I could feel the shield melting at speed, while my spiritual force was clearly weakening.

Then I sensed the yearning coming from the Eye of the Nether Dragon.

My heart stirred. Taking a risk, I withdrew the shield formed from my consciousness, and in an instant I was swallowed by the dark crimson flames.

Yet I felt no pain from the burning. Instead, I felt warm and comfortable, while the Eye of the Nether Dragon continuously devoured the flames.

Very quickly, the fire was completely absorbed.

Seeing that I was unharmed, the giant serpent opened its mouth again and sprayed another jet of flame at me.

Before long, that flame was also entirely swallowed.

So the serpent spat one blaze after another, a full twelve in all.

Then its body began to twist violently, and when it opened its mouth again, only faint sparks remained within it. It could no longer breathe fire at all.

“Haha, big serpent, why aren’t you breathing fire anymore? If you’re done, then it’s my turn.” I laughed, sprang upward, and mounted its back, my hands driving straight into its eyes.

My Eye of the Nether Dragon could absorb the flames it breathed out, so I might as well absorb the whole thing and fuse it into my soul.

What happened with Huo Mingzhong had given me a taste for it. The increase in spiritual power brought power that was obvious to the eye.

The giant serpent wailed and struggled desperately, but it was useless.

Before I had even absorbed half of it, the serpent suddenly vanished.

My head rang with a thunderous crash, and my soul returned to its proper place.

When I opened my eyes, that woman was staring at me with deadly intensity.

“Where is my darling?” she demanded sharply.

It didn’t come out? A thought flashed through me, and I sent my will into the Eye of the Nether Dragon. Sure enough, in the fourth hollow of the Gate of Rebirth, I saw that giant serpent.

Damn it. The Eye of the Nether Dragon had stolen it again.

“It has become one with me,” I answered.

“Nonsense. You deserve to die!” The woman flew into a rage, and a thick, demonic aura suddenly burst from her body.

No way—she’s a demon capable of taking human form? My heart hammered wildly.

A demon capable of shape-shifting was one that could freely and completely transform into human form.

But just then, some invisible law seemed to press down from above, and her aura instantly reined itself in. Her face was full of unwillingness.

“You rotten little bastard, I’ll remember you,” she ground out through clenched teeth, and then vanished in an instant.

At that same moment, the black fog over the suspension bridge also dispersed.

I took a deep breath and crossed the bridge quickly.

According to that woman, Qu Yuanshan had taken the pass and gone all the way to the innermost chamber. There had to be something there that would allow him to break through.

Beyond the bridge stood a mountain, and set into its cliff face was a massive stone gate carved with flowers, birds, fish, insects, dragons, serpents, tigers, and leopards.

At that moment, the gate stood open just a crack, enough for one person to pass through.

I slipped inside and could not help marveling.

Stone pillars rose high within, and the walls were inlaid with naturally glowing crystals. Relief sculptures leapt from the stone in vivid layers, probably depicting the evolution of demons.

Walking through that long passage felt like walking through a corridor of time.

Some faint insight dawned on me, and I almost forgot about Qu Yuanshan.

At the end of the corridor lay a dark grand hall.

I stopped, feeling a fluctuation of magical power.

My eyes brightened. That fluctuation of magical power belonged to Qu Yuanshan.

In the center of the dim hall, Qu Yuanshan sat cross-legged, his golden spear resting at his side. Around him was a formation of more than twenty Nether Crystals supplying power, and above his head hovered a deep-green crystal casting a veil of light over him.

Meanwhile, magical power around Qu Yuanshan’s body was surging violently, especially in his dantian, where the radiance of his power seemed ready to burst through.

He was about to break through.

When a sixth-level yin-yang master breaks through to the seventh level, the energy in the dantian changes from a river into a sea.

From that point on, magical power becomes endless: still and calm, it can be as boundless as the horizon and contain all things; in motion, it can become raging waves that destroy everything in their path.

I poked my head out and gritted my teeth. I absolutely could not let him break through.

Thoughts raced through my mind. Qu Yuanshan had come here to make his breakthrough, clearly relying on some power within this place to help him, such as the deep-green crystal above his head.

It was said that when a yin-yang master breaks through to the seventh level, he not only needs immense energy to support the process, but also has to condense a manifestation.

Just then, I saw an image slowly taking shape within the deep-green crystal.

It was a three-legged golden raven, its entire body wreathed in golden flames.

Suddenly, Qu Yuanshan opened his eyes. Two beams of white light shot out, as if he were trying to forcefully draw that three-legged golden raven into his body and make it his manifestation.

This was practically cheating, taking a shortcut. When yin-yang masters first condense a manifestation, they do it through their own comprehension, and the manifestations they form are vague, many of them little more than outlines.

But if he forcibly absorbed the image of that three-legged golden raven into himself as his manifestation, he might directly skip over the minor realm of the seventh-level yin-yang master.

Seeing him about to succeed, I could not sit still any longer. I shouted, then sprang out like a ghost and used the highest-grade Cloud-Piercing Talisman on me.

Boom.

A terrifying burst of energy exploded outward, turning into streams of cloud arrows that shot everywhere.

The image of that three-legged golden raven immediately dispersed, and at the same time the deep-green crystal shattered outright.

Pfft.

Qu Yuanshan spat out a mouthful of blood and let out a ferocious howl, his face twisted with rage. He was unwilling! That pass had cost his master, the Mad Daoist, an enormous price to obtain, all so that Qu Yuanshan could condense a manifestation. And now it had all turned to smoke.

He turned and glared at me, his pupils contracting.

“Qu Yuanshan, long time no see. How about it? Did you enjoy the gift I brought you?” I laughed heartily. Watching him fail filled me with a deep, satisfying exhilaration.

“Qin Feng, I’ll skin you alive!” Qu Yuanshan spat each word through clenched teeth.

“Come on, I’d like to tear your tendons out too. You ambushed me at the Burial Sand River, and I’m simply returning the favor. That is the wheel of heaven, and retribution never misses its mark.” I smiled coldly. The words had barely left my mouth before I leapt forward and drove a blade straight at Qu Yuanshan’s neck.

Clang.

Qu Yuanshan flicked my Blood Fiend Blade aside with his golden spear, and pain instantly twisted through my internal organs. My wrist went numb as well.

My forward momentum stalled, and I twisted my body aside to evade the spear-light sweeping toward me.

“Today, no one will save you,” Qu Yuanshan roared in fury, and his golden spear thrust at me like a golden dragon.

The spear shaft carried golden flames, like a leech that would not let go, stabbing toward my body again and again.

When I looked up, all I could see were countless spear-flames, surrounding me from every side.

Then, before I could evade in time, Qu Yuanshan drove his spear into my chest. But the protective robes on my body flashed with light and neutralized the strike.

Bang.

Qu Yuanshan changed from a thrust to a sweeping blow, sending me flying. Then, with a furious shout, he leapt into the air, spear tip stabbing straight for my forehead.