Chapter 22: The blood-black-scaled monster screamed for his brother in pain, tears streaming down his face...
Bloodline awakening?
Gu Congxing paused.
But the next moment, he was embraced in a warm embrace.
"Brother! I won! I can go to the Immortal Sect Competition with you!"
Zhong Ming rubbed his head against Gu Congxing's neck, and his voice was filled with uncontrollable joy.
"...Yeah. You did a great job, Junior Brother."
Seeing that his junior brother was fine, Gu Congxing suppressed the doubts in his heart and touched his head as usual.
"hey-hey."
Zhong Ming loosened his grip on Gu Congxing a little, held his hands tightly, and interlocked their fingers.
"Brother, I think..."
"Congratulations, Junior Brother. It was a wonderful battle."
Zhong Ming was interrupted by a gentle voice. He turned around and saw that it was indeed his senior brother Lan Jue.
"Thank you, senior brother." Zhong Ming did not let go of his hands that were tightly clasped with Gu Congxing, but just responded to Lan Jue with a smile.
There was still a faint smile on Lan Jue's face, but his eyes fell on the hands of the two men.
He continued, "Elder He will be presenting awards to the winners soon. Junior Brother, please prepare. Also..."
"Cong Xing, Master has completed the strengthening of the barrier seal, and we should report our mission to him."
Gu Congxing's eyes lit up when he heard this.
"Okay, when are we going?"
"Why don't you come with me now?" Lan Jue responded to Gu Congxing, then turned to Zhong Ming and said, "Junior brother, Chen Wang's cheating is a foregone conclusion, and he will not escape punishment."
Gu Congxing released his junior brother's hand and rubbed his head.
"That's right. Junior brother, you are the well-deserved top of the list. This can be considered as revenge."
The three brothers exchanged greetings for a while, and then Gu Congxing and Lan Jue went to the Xuanbing Palace together.
He thought Zhong Ming would act like a spoiled child and stick with him for a while, but the boy actually let him go very quickly.
He really has grown up. Gu Congxing smiled with satisfaction.
Arriving at the cold spring, Lan Jue and Gu Congxing stepped into the ice palace.
The moment he saw the moonlight, Gu Congxing quickened his pace.
At that time in the illusion, it was because he thought of his master who was as bright as the moon that he was able to discover the problem as soon as possible.
"Master." Gu Congxing and Lan Jue spoke together.
Shen Mu's eyes swept over the two disciples in front of him and nodded, "Not bad, both have made progress."
"Your mission this time was dangerous. What exactly happened?"
Lan Jue and Gu Congxing exchanged a glance and recounted the events of Wumeng Manor in detail. However, he briefly glossed over the emotional entanglement between him and Gu Congxing in the illusion, focusing instead on the dream demon Zhili.
After listening to this, Shen Mu's expression remained unchanged. He lowered his eyes and thought for a moment, then said to the two of them:
"You've outsmarted me this time, and you did a good job. I'll report the matter of the dream demon to the Tianlin Sect."
A figure in a red brocade robe flashed through Gu Congxing's mind, and his thoughts began to fly.
"From the stars?" Lan Jue noticed that he was distracted and gently hooked his finger.
Chen Mu watched the movements of the two men under their sleeves, and after a moment of silence, he said, "Next, I will teach Cong Xing the skills. Lan Jue, you can go back first."
Lan Jue raised his eyebrows in surprise, his eyes moved, and when he met Chen Mu's icy blue eyes, he lowered his eyes and said "yes".
After Lan Jue left, Shen Mu summoned an ancient martial arts book that was shining with golden light and handed it to Gu Congxing.
——It is indeed the highest-level skill of the gold-type spiritual root, "The Endless Art of Fantasy Sword".
This technique was incredibly powerful, a devastating one-on-many killing move. In his previous life, when surrounded by a hundred men, Gu Congxing had relied on this technique to defeat the enemy, using the sharp blade condensed from his gold-element spiritual energy to take the lives of dozens of cultivators.
If it weren't for this technique, he might not have been able to hold on until the moment he could pass his spiritual consciousness to Xiao Wangyou.
"Thank you, Master!"
Gu Congxing accepted it with great care.
The number of blades condensed from gold-element spiritual energy was related to one's own cultivation level. In his previous life, he had reached the late Jindan stage, and should have only been able to condense ten blades, but he forcibly condensed over fifty.
Therefore, even if he didn't self-destruct in the end, his elixir would not last long.
A calm and cold voice brought Gu Congxing back from his memories.
"From the stars, the practice of Taoism depends not only on talent and skills, but also on a stable mind."
"Remember, the great way is to forget about emotions."
Gu Congxing looked up in confusion when he heard this.
Why did both the eldest brother and the master mention this to him?
Does he look like a man who shows mercy everywhere?
Although he was confused, he still agreed.
However, at this moment, a crazy sound suddenly rang in my mind.
[Ding! Emergency mission has been forcibly started! ]
[Beep! Host, please rush to the target, Zhong Ming, immediately! Help him through the bloodline awakening period!]
[The mission will fail if it times out! The countdown has started, and the remaining time is 2:00:00.]
Gu Congxing's pupils shrank. He glanced at the stone tablet with flashing numbers in the air and immediately left.
"Master, I have something else to do, so I'll leave first!"
He moved very quickly and disappeared in the Xuanbing Palace in the blink of an eye.
Shen Mu looked at his departing back, then turned his gaze to the air he had just been looking at.
——There is nothing there.
Shen Mu frowned, and a cold light flashed in his ice-blue eyes.
***
Zhuoguang Peak, inside the Zhongming Cave.
The young man immersed himself in the spring water, letting the coldness wreak havoc while spiritual energy surged through his body.
He had often felt his spiritual power disordered and his blood and qi agitated not long ago, but he could always suppress it by relying on the mantras of the exercises.
But during today's battle, Chen Wang's damn frenzy formation actually greatly aggravated his restlessness!
Even his spiritual altar was affected, and he almost lost his mind and killed that guy.
Although he regained his sanity later, the chaos in his spiritual power and blood was difficult to suppress. He tried his best to endure it and finally made it to the end of the competition. He immediately flew back to the cave on his sword.
"What on earth is going on..."
I've clearly used all the Qingxin Mantras and taken the Qi-Calming Elixir, but why is it completely useless?!
The temperature of his whole body was getting higher and higher. Even though he was in the cold spring water, he felt as if he was in a furnace of molten iron.
“Ugh—!”
Zhong Ming groaned in pain, his blood was churning, and his spiritual power was flowing backwards, causing his altar to lose its clarity!
No, no!
He forced himself to stay conscious, drew out his sword, and stabbed it into his leg!
Blood gushed out, and the spring water suddenly turned red.
"I can't do this... I have to go find my senior brother and the doctor..."
The intense pain made him conscious again. Zhong Ming struggled to get up, but an unintentional glance at the water made him stand there in a daze.
Why are the pupils of the reflection in the water vertical?!
Those are clearly golden vertical pupils that only demons have!
"No--!"
He swept away the spring water in front of him and covered his head in pain.
“Ahhhh—”
Not only that, but pitch-black scales had actually sprouted from his arms! They climbed upwards inch by inch, seemingly devouring the originally fair skin!
There were two spots on his forehead that were both painful and itchy. He reached out to touch them, and two horns grew out!
"Impossible, impossible!"
"how so--!"
His heart had sunk into the abyss of despair, but at this moment, a call made him completely pale.
"...Junior Brother?"
Zhong Ming turned his head stiffly and saw a familiar figure standing behind the spring.
——It was Gu Congxing with a blank expression.
Gu Congxing stood there, his whole body feeling as if it were filled with lead and he couldn't move.
At that moment, he forgot all about the mission and the countdown.
The figure roaring in despair in the blood-red spring water turned out to be Junior Brother Zhong Ming?
No, perhaps it can no longer be called a "human figure".
Black scales, two horns on the head, golden vertical pupils...
This is clearly a demon!
It’s the Gu family’s century-long blood feud, the Northern Demon Clan!
Gu Congxing's blood boiled, but his whole body felt cold as if he had fallen into an ice cave.
what to do?
Should we follow the Gu family's ancestral teachings and take action here to slay the demons and eliminate the evil?
However, that was clearly his junior fellow apprentice whom he had personally taught and guided till now!
It was as if two people were fighting each other in his mind, causing his fingers to move, but in the end he was unable to pick up the Whale-Slaying Sword.
He stood there in a daze, as if he had been pierced through.
"No, no! Brother, don't look at me!!"
The black shadow roared in pain.
Gu Congxing slowly raised his eyes, but met the pair of strange vertical pupils.
Those pure eyes that used to reflect the sunlight, the golden pupils praised by Gu Congxing, were now filled with turbid demonic aura.
“Senior Brother!!”
The dark shadow cried out in pain, tears streaming down his face.
——He clearly looked like a monster that would choose its prey, but at this moment he was calling out humbly and shedding tears in despair.
Hearing this heart-wrenching cry, Gu Congxing's eyes moved and he slowly took a step forward.
"Don't come over! Brother! Don't come over—"
Zhong Ming covered his head with his hands. His spiritual platform had been damaged. If he continued like this, he would probably lose all his sanity!
He would rather commit suicide here than hurt his senior brother!
Gu Congxing looked at the monster in the pool of blood, his mind racing, and finally he made up his mind and took a step forward!
No matter what, he couldn't leave his junior brother here!
“Don’t come over here!!”
Zhong Ming covered his eyes and retreated. His body had retreated to the edge of the cold spring. He looked at Gu Congxing who was approaching step by step with trembling eyes.
"Little Junior Brother, don't be afraid."
His tone was still as gentle as before, but now it was filled with unshakable determination.
"Don't be afraid, I'm here."
Upon hearing this, Zhong Ming put down his scaly hands and stared at Gu Congxing's face without blinking.
His lips trembled and tears flowed down his face again.
“Senior Brother…”
A warm body moved closer, pulling him into a hug.
——In a sea of blood, a monster with black scales and long horns hugged a young man in a silver robe and a jade-faced face tightly.
So divided, yet so integrated.
Behind Zhong Ming, he did not realize that a long black tail had grown from his tail vertebrae. The tail swayed in the water, gradually approaching the silver hem of the clothes.
"Junior brother, I will first guide your spiritual energy. Your spiritual energy is now turbulent, and I am afraid it will endanger your foundation."
Gu Congxing placed his hand on Zhong Ming's vest and slowly injected his spiritual power into his spiritual veins.
"Follow my movements and let the spiritual energy flow together... huh?!"
Gu Congxing's voice was suddenly interrupted. A thick tail was wrapped around his legs! It was rubbing against the deep of his clothes!
What is this!
That decadent and sticky dream resurfaced in his memory, and Gu Congxing's heart suddenly became confused. He subconsciously took a step back to break free from the restraint of the tail!
However, before he could take a step, two strong arms welded him like iron.
Leave no room for retreat.
Gu Congxing looked up in astonishment, and met the pair of dark golden vertical pupils that had completely lost their clarity.
The monster-like eyes widened, reflecting Gu Congxing's pale face.
"Brother, are you going to abandon me?"
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