Chapter 130:
Smiling as Red Robes Fade
“HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?” Mu Qing muttered. “How can there be so much…?!”
To shatter cursed shackles with spiritual power alone—it was completely unheard of for anyone to manage such a feat!
Xie Lian was slumped on the ground, but Hua Cheng pulled him to his feet. “Gege, try fighting again!”
At the same moment, Jun Wu lunged at them with his blade drawn. Without thinking, Xie Lian raised his hand to slap it away.
Clang!
Zhuxin was almost sent flying.
This strike was something completely different.
Xie Lian stared at his hands, feeling a little dazed. It had been hundreds of years since he felt like this—indomitable, barely able to control his own strength, each step shaking mountains. One step to cross a thousand miles, one step to ascend to the heavens! He’d almost forgotten that he was ever like this.
He clenched his hand, then violently punched Jun Wu in the face!
Throughout their battle so far, Jun Wu’s face had remained untouched. When the punch landed, a drop of blood finally flowed from the corner of his lips. He thumbed it away and gave it a glance.
The next second, he threw Zhuxin aside with a toss of his hand.
He was going to fight Xie Lian with bare fists.
Xie Lian threw another punch, but Jun Wu caught his wrist and twisted it around. Agony spiked through Xie Lian’s arm as it dislocated with a crack; however, he instantly popped it back into place. He struck again, but his fist was again seized by Jun Wu. Seeing that things still weren’t going well, Xie Lian considered snatching up Fangxin, which had been tossed away. But Jun Wu predicted he’d try that and blocked his path.
However, Jun Wu had forgotten that Feng Xin and Mu Qing were still behind him. Although they were both so injured they could hardly move, they had hatched a plan to sneak around and grab Fangxin.
They moved extremely lightly and stealthily, yet it was as if Jun Wu had grown eyes on his back, and he sent a palm blast behind him. The bridge under their feet cracked and crumbled, and they both fell with it, plunging toward the lava stream!
At the last moment, a hand caught Feng Xin’s boot, and Feng Xin caught Mu Qing’s boot. When Feng Xin looked up, he cried, “What the fuck?! What the actual fuck?! State Preceptor, Your Elderliness, please don’t ever let go, all right?!”
It was, in fact, the state preceptor who caught them; veins were bulging violently on his forehead. “So you do know I’m too old for this?! Hurry and climb up, then!”
When Jun Wu smashed that section of the bridge, Xie Lian raised a hand to grab it and keep it suspended in midair. He wanted to lift it a bit further, but Jun Wu wouldn’t give him the space. And so the three of them were hanging a mere dozen meters away from the churning lava; they could even hear each bubble pop. Mu Qing especially was in a terrifying position—dangled at the very bottom of the chain, and worse, upside down. If they weren’t careful, his head would get a lava bath.
Steam had boiled Mu Qing’s face as red as a hot coal. “Quick, pull me up!” he cried. But the two above him didn’t even manage to yank on him twice before he shouted again, “Wait! Don’t pull me up!”
“Which do you want?!” The state preceptor cried in exasperation.
“Are you for real? Fine, I’m letting go!” Feng Xin yelled.
“What the fuck?! Fucking let go for real, I dare you!” Mu Qing cursed. He gestured below. “Look down! Look, the sword!”
Only then did they notice the black jade longsword that was slowly sinking in the heart of the lava stream right below them. It was Fangxin—the sword they’d been trying to steal before Jun Wu shook them off the bridge!
As if he desperately wished he were a gibbon, Mu Qing reached out and crazily swung his arms at the sword. But he couldn’t reach it, no matter how he tried. “Lower me down a bit more—just a bit more and I can get it!”
The veins on the state preceptor’s forehead were throbbing even harder now. “Don’t overdo it, you little pair of brats! I’m only an old sack of bones!”
As he said that, he lowered the boot in his hand, and Mu Qing’s face drew another notch closer to the surface of the lava. His hair slipped loose, and the ends were set alight.
“Fucking hell, your hair’s on fire! It’s all gonna burn!” Feng Xin exclaimed.
Thankfully, Mu Qing had finally pulled the sword out of the stream. He tossed the sword toward Xie Lian, sending splashes of lava along with its flight, and then began frantically slapping away the patches of flame on his hair.
“Xie Lian, catch!”
Xie Lian swung his arm upward and caught Fangxin by the hilt!
As for the state preceptor, he was at his limit. “I can’t do this anymore! Both of you, get up here, now!”
Feng Xin saw that the state preceptor was trembling and realized things were going bad. He yanked at Mu Qing and flung him higher. “Enough of all your yammering and dillydallying!”
Taking issue at being hurled around like this, Mu Qing was winding up for a major fit. But before he could begin, dozens of molten vengeful spirits lunged out of the lava pool!
Like fish leaping out of water, the molten vengeful spirits surged upward and caught Feng Xin around the chest; if it wasn’t for the spiritual light shielding his body, he probably would’ve been burnt to ash. Earlier, Feng Xin’s arrows had sent the spirits running scared, but with hearts full of spite, they had stealthily dived below the lava’s surface, followed him all the way here, and hid until they got a chance to drag him down. The state preceptor was also hauled forward by the sudden increase in weight and began to slip. It was now Mu Qing’s turn to be at the very top of the chain, and he caught the state preceptor by his boots.
Feng Xin was already injured, and there were still a few arrows in his body that he’d forgotten to pull out. Although he fought the vengeful spirits with his bare fists, he was mindful that the people above him might lose their grip if he fought too hard—and so it was a very passive bout. More and more molten vengeful spirits gathered down below, climbing atop and over one another as they clung to Feng Xin. It was almost as if they were having a tug-of-war against the state preceptor and Mu Qing. Both sides had significant strength, and Feng Xin would surely be torn in half if this continued!
“Can we just get this over and done with?!” Feng Xin roared.
“Shut up!” Mu Qing yelled back.
Suddenly, he felt the weight he was holding lighten. The vengeful spirits had finally let go, so he quickly pulled the other two up to safety.
Feng Xin panted harshly, still visibly shaken. The shrieks and roars of the vengeful spirits continued to echo from below.
When they looked down into the pit, Mu Qing and the state preceptor said in unison, “Feng Xin, it’s your son!”
“…”
Sure enough, a blanched creature was hopping among the red-hot molten vengeful spirits and crazily tearing at them with its teeth.
The molten vengeful spirits were all ancient ghosts, at least two thousand years old. Plus, they had banded into groups. Why would they be afraid of some little minion that wasn’t even a baby? Even as it continued to scratch and bite, the fetus spirit’s once chillingly white body was painted crimson red with burns and blood from head to toe. It was howling in a ghastly voice, not pitiful in the slightest and inspiring only horror, but Feng Xin exploded in outrage.