Chapter 39 Jade (Part 1) Piercing through the heart.
The woman in purple snorted coldly, then stretched out the silk thread and faced Qingxing head-on.
Qingxing remained expressionless as she forcefully flung the Endless Wood. The Endless Wood severed layers of silk threads, but was ultimately suppressed by the purple-clad woman's demonic energy, barely stopping before her eyes.
"Alright, another one coming to die!" The woman in purple gradually went mad, her fingernails growing wildly as she gripped the Endless Wood tightly, seemingly trying to crush it.
The scraping sound of fingernails was grating. Qingxing pursed her lips tightly, drew a magic circle with her backhand, and threw it at the woman in purple with a "thud".
She said coolly, "Get out of the way."
The woman in purple seemed to have heard a joke: "You think you can just give way like that? What do you take this place for?!"
As soon as she finished speaking, her pupils suddenly dilated, and countless fish-scale-like marks spread from her neck to her cheeks. The inexhaustible wood of the green apricot tree stuck to her, and she muttered incantations. Her free hand suddenly burst into flames of purple. Even though they were in the lake, the flames burned fiercely and relentlessly, as if they would burn the entire lake to ashes.
The heat swirled towards Qingxing, and the water ripples touched the back of her hand, creating a blister.
However, what struck before the pain was another familiar scent, which evoked Qingxing's memories of Jade Tiger Peak.
Her expression hardened: "Are you a demon?"
The woman in purple had already lost her mind. She was gradually transforming into another form, her skin seemed to be pried up inch by inch by an invisible shovel, and her tongue had become thin and long. She kept waving her claws at Qingxing, like a man-eating sea monster from mythology.
She looked at the inexhaustible wood, as if she wanted to burn it.
The Endless Wood emitted a faint hum. Qingxing realized something was wrong and slapped her right hand against her left hand holding the staff. A huge amount of energy was transmitted through her palm to the purple-clad demon's arm. She screamed, flung her hand away, and wildly attacked with the demonic fire.
Jade Lake is outside the Blood Peach Forest and should not be subject to the restrictions. Qingxing tried using the teleportation array and, seeing that it worked, began to attack the purple-clad demon. In just a few breaths, the two exchanged several more blows.
The two were locked in a stalemate. She had entangled the demon, while Chen Mo, who had come later, found an opening, held her breath, and swam down from the Emerald Lake. When she reached the air shield that isolated the space, she kicked and stomped with all her might, "thump, thump," one kick after another.
She kicked it for a long time, and the air shield vibrated. Instead of showing any signs of cracking, it made a series of noises, which attracted the attention of the purple-clad demon.
This action thoroughly enraged the purple-clad demon, whose demonic energy surged, and she turned to head towards Chen Mo.
However, she could only move half an inch before she could go no further.
The demon turned around and saw Qingxing holding her wrist with her bare hands, her fingertips burning red.
Qingxing seemed oblivious to the pain, using her other hand to form a hand seal, channeling her spiritual power to envelop the inexhaustible wood and fly towards Chen Mo, while simultaneously shouting, "Senior Sister!"
Chen Mo understood. She released most of the spiritual power within the spiritual net, wrapping it all around her hands. Then, she clenched her fists and, together with the Endless Wood, smashed them against the air shield.
Click!
A spiderweb-like pattern appeared first, time seemed to freeze for a few moments, and even the seaweed stopped swaying. The monster opened its eyes and watched as the air shield gradually cracked, the cracks becoming dense and numerous, like the root system of an ancient tree.
The next moment, the lake water rushed through the gap and filled the lower part of the lake with a "whoosh" in no time.
The crack widened, and Chen Mo kicked it again, turning it into a hole large enough for one person to pass through.
The purple-clad demon witnessed this scene. Her forehead veins bulged, and her cheeks twitched. Ignoring how her back was festering under Qingxing's onslaught, she opened her arms to Chen Mo, revealing two large, bright red mouths. Countless threads of silk surged out and rushed towards her.
Chen Mo dodged, but the purple-clad demon ignored her, only smiling coldly as he continued to exert force, controlling the silk threads to continue downwards.
Chen Mo's pupils contracted slightly: Oh no! They're heading for Chen Wan and the others!
She covered the silk threads with both hands and pulled hard backward. Several threads broke, but the force of the pull did not diminish.
Chen Mo had no choice but to rush to the three coffins, scoop up the three people, and awkwardly dodge the sharp, knife-like threads.
Just as Qingxing deflected the demon's scale attack, she saw several people covered by a sea of silk threads. She frowned slightly, stepped onto the threads, and ran and exploded all the way until she reached the front of the air shield cave. She raised her hand to summon back the Endless Wood and then cut it in half.
Chen Mo jumped off the coffin. The wood, shattered by demonic energy, became natural hidden weapons. She carried Duanmu on her shoulder, with Shen Wan and Xie Yuzhou hanging from each arm, using her spiritual energy to deflect the wooden darts, and stood back to back with Qingxing.
"There's a loophole over there, Senior Sister," Qingxing whispered to her. "I'll go and bring the Elder and Senior Brother out. You take them and go first."
Chen Mo looked in the direction she pointed and saw that there was indeed a one-foot-long crack near the bottom of the lake, from which water was leaking continuously.
After weighing the pros and cons for a moment, she nodded slightly: "Be careful."
The two immediately separated. Qingxing, wielding the Endless Wood, ripped through the layers of white, bleached human skin and, enduring nausea, came to Qinghe's side.
He and Wenren Xi had fainted at some point. Qingxing raised her hand and cut the silk thread that was securing them. Then she threw them, along with the wooden stake, toward Chen Mo. With a "thump," Chen Mo caught them steadily.
Qingxing gave her a thumbs-up from a distance.
She turned to save Jiu Quchen, but the human skins that had been drooping suddenly "came to life," and purple threads swam in like fish, piercing the tops of their hair. At the end of the threads, the purple-clad demon above spoke.
"You hurt my child and you think you can just leave?"
As the last syllable fell, the silk threads suddenly turned red. The bodies that had just been shriveled instantly became plump, and their faces gradually became clear. They moved their limbs, their joints clattering together, making a chilling "creaking" sound.
They seemed to have been infused with souls, each one smiling eerily as they stretched out their hands and approached Qingxing.
The scene was all too familiar; in those strikingly similar faces, Qingxing saw the shadows of the villagers of Wuning Village.
She glanced at the purple-clad demon, who was completely wrapped in silk threads like a silkworm spinning silk, and immediately raised her voice to Chen Mo, "Let's go!"
The purple-clad demon shrieked, "No way!"
The demonic energy surged forth like a ferocious beast, but Chen Mo was preoccupied with fighting the human puppet beside him and had no time to spare. In a flash, Qingxing raised her hand and swiftly cast a teleportation array on Chen Mo.
Chen Mo immediately disappeared from her original spot and reappeared a hundred meters away. She lifted the people in her hands, turned around with the help of Qingxing, and swam away at the maximum speed her body could withstand—in the current situation, dragging the five people here would only cause trouble for Qingxing.
She led her fellow disciples out of the crevice, swam for several miles, and finally stopped when she felt the demonic energy weaken slightly. She then placed the people she was carrying on her body onto the shallows, intending to go back and help.
However, after she put the last person down, she realized that something was wrong.
She counted the number of people: Elder, Wenren Xi, Shen Wan, Xie Yuzhou...
wrong!
Chen Mo's heart skipped a beat: Duanmu Tingzhu was gone!
She immediately turned and jumped into Emerald Lake. The lake surface made a few "glugs" before returning to calm.
Jiu Quchen was still unconscious. Qingxing carried him on her back, knocked away the human skin puppets surrounding them with a stick, and slapped the bottom of the lake with her palm.
A burst of cyan spiritual energy erupted, sending mud and sand flying, completely engulfing the innermost circle of human skin puppets.
Qingxing burst out of the dust and mist, flashed behind the purple-clad demon, and struck her back with all her might.
But before she could finish her move, a red thread flashed, and a very familiar figure suddenly appeared before her.
"Listen to the bamboo?"
Qingxing's breath hitched, and she abruptly stopped her attack. The tip of her wooden staff barely touched Tingzhu's face, leaving a faint bloodstain on his chin from the lingering spiritual energy.
Duanmu Tingzhu stared at her with his lifeless eyes and said, word by word, "Don't touch my mother."
He pulled on the silk thread and swung it at Qingxing with his bloodied hands, the force so great that it even stirred up waves at the bottom of the lake, as if he had used up all his strength.
"Tingzhu, it's your senior sister." Although she didn't know what was going on, Qingxing grabbed the silk thread and called out to him, trying to bring him back to his senses.
But Duanmu Tingzhu was clearly being controlled; he couldn't hear Qingxing's cries at all.
"Who is Senior Sister? Hahahaha! He is my son!" The Purple-Clad Demon laughed triumphantly.
She poked her head and hands out of the "cocoon," her sharp nails tracing Tingzhu's cheeks repeatedly, her voice incredibly seductive: "Tingzhu, you're so obedient. Tell me, who am I?"
Tingzhu stopped what she was doing and whispered, "Mother."
Seeing Qingxing looking at him, the purple-robed demon, as if to show off, asked again, "Say it again, who am I?"
Tingzhu hesitated this time. He turned around and tilted his head to look at the purple-clad demon.
The latter's skin was swollen, and her face was covered in scales, making her almost inhuman. But in those completely black pupils, she still had a gaze no different from a human's, carrying obvious emotions.
This makes her look like a monster that is neither human nor demon.
“You are,” Duanmu Tingzhu reached out, his hand trembling, and gently touched the tip of the demon’s nose. Blood tears slid down his cheeks. Qingxing heard him say slowly, “Liu Nuo’s mother.”
The purple-clad demon was stunned.
In an instant, Qingxing drew a killing magic circle. "Ding-a-ling," the endless wood rattled, receiving all the spiritual power from Qingxing's spiritual net.
The endless tree hung high above her head. Qingxing pulled Tingzhu away and said coldly, "Demon-Subduing Formation, activate!"
thump!
An immense pressure descended from the sky, instantly melting the human-skin puppet at the bottom of the lake. The purple-clad demon screamed as her flesh tore open inch by inch, revealing her stark white bones.
"You deserve to die!" Half of her face had turned into a skeleton, leaving only half, glaring fiercely at Qingxing. "You deserve to die!"
Qingxing didn't speak, but raised her hand and struck again, wanting to completely subdue the demon.
A glint flashed in the eyes of the purple-clad demon. She suddenly giggled and her whole body tensed up. In the next moment, every inch of the demon's body turned into threads and flew towards Qingxing's back with a "whoosh".
Qingxing turned her head and saw a scene that made her breath catch in her throat: bright red threads, like poisonous insects, were intertwined and strangling towards Jiuquchen and Duanmu Tingzhu, who were floating in the lake.
She instantly teleported in front of the two of them and threw down a golden protective array on the spot.
But after spending so many days in the Blood Peach Forest, breaking formations, searching for people, and just now fighting a great battle, her spiritual power was almost completely depleted, and her spiritual network was like a dried-up riverbed, with not a drop left.
So when millions of blood threads rushed toward her from all directions, she could no longer conjure the teleportation array and could only struggle to lift the two of them and move them downwards little by little.
It was like falling into a snake pit, with the outer snakes all hoping she would exhaust herself so they could have a good meal.
Qingxing glanced at Jiuquchen's sleeping face, then tied the Endless Wood to him and Duanmu Tingzhu, aimed it at the soft mud at the bottom of the lake, and kicked the two of them there with force.
They were enveloped by the spiritual power of the Endless Wood and plummeted downwards like meteors.
At the same time, countless lines of blood broke through the protective array, heading straight for Qingxing's body—
Sizzle—
It pierced through my heart.
In an instant, everything in the world stopped flowing. The lake bottom was silent, with bubbles rising one after another from the ripples of the silk thread. Qingxing stretched out her hands in a daze, and the blood thread transformed into extremely thin wires, binding her tightly, turning her into a drop of blood at the bottom of the lake.
It hurts. It hurts like hell.
The heart was cut open, and the wound was penetrated everywhere.
Her pupils gradually dilated, and her consciousness was slowly stripped away.
Dying like this is much more painful than before. Qingxing thought to herself.
The tinnitus worsened, and all her previous experiences flashed through her mind. In a blur, she seemed to hear someone calling her name.
"Little Kite, do you want to go home?"
Little Kite? Who is that?
Qingxing's fingertips twitched slightly. She opened her mouth to answer, but it felt like a fishbone was stuck in her throat, and she couldn't say a word.
Tick-tock, tick-tock.
The last drop of blood leaked from the heart, sliding down the silk thread to the bottom of the lake, where it merged with the blood drawn from the green apricot body, gradually forming a blood sphere.
The blood sphere, enveloped in demonic energy, spun around in place. If Jiu Qu Chen were awake, he would have noticed that the ever-growing blood sphere resembled a small dog sniffing around, stretching out its mouth and greedily swallowing the traces of the purple-clad demon's aura.
Once they had absorbed all the demonic energy, they climbed up the silk threads like beads, seeping drop by drop into Qingxing's clothes and into her body.
First the first drop, then countless drops. Like bees returning to their hive, urgent and unstoppable.
Splash!
The lake water began to flow again, and a whirlpool rose from the Jade Lake, centered on the green apricot. Above the lake, countless creatures detoured around it, and even high-level demons dared not approach recklessly; below the lake, the connecting threads were completely dissolved, along with the remnants of human skin, turning into nothingness.
Between heaven and earth, all spiritual and demonic energy was greedily absorbed by Qingxing and filled into her spiritual network.
Crimson clouds filled the sky, and at its center, a wildly spinning vortex grew larger and larger, as if stirred by an invisible hand. From within it came the roars of ancient beasts. In an instant, lightning flashed and thunder roared, startling the cultivators stationed in the Blood Peach Forest.
In the Duanmu mansion, Duanmu Yi, who was guarding the life lamp in the ancestral hall, suddenly trembled. He pushed open the window, his eyes showing several shifts in emotion.
Beside Emerald Lake, Xuan Ying, who was investigating the aura of Qinghe, was illuminated by lightning. Her expression was solemn as she raised her hand to record the scene with a memory bead.
The strange phenomenon lasted for the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, until a beam of azure light struck down and entered the lake. Qingxing suddenly opened her eyes, but the light in her eyes was golden, and it vanished in an instant.
The lakebed trembled, and the soft mud where Jiuquchen and Duanmu were lying suddenly caved in. Qingxing was swept up by the blue whirlpool and fell in with them.
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Author's note: I've been so busy lately, my keyboard is practically sparking from all the rubbing.
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