Chapter 105 Songsui Illusion (The End)
The red threads, like a spiderweb, suddenly tightened in all directions. As if they had come to life, they clung to Jiang Xiangyun's neck at an incredible speed, then wrapped around the Fire Rope, and rapidly spread towards Jiang Gu.
Jiang Gu's pupils suddenly contracted.
"Get out of the way!" Jiang Xiangyun shouted, reaching out to grab the red threads, but Lu Liyu grabbed his neck from behind. "Young Master Jiang, you should worry about yourself."
Controlling the Fire Rope had exhausted all of Jiang Gu's spiritual power, and he clearly couldn't avoid the red thread. If he had to withstand it head-on, he would have to use the Black Jade Bracelet, but it wouldn't be worthwhile to expose the Black Jade Bracelet's effectiveness under these circumstances.
The red threads, like thousands of fine needles, were upon him in an instant. Jiang Gu already had a plan in mind, but hesitated. Then, Wei Feng suddenly appeared out of nowhere, crying, "Master!"
Crimson threads intertwined with cold ghost patterns. Wei Feng transformed into his original form and tackled Jiang Gu from mid-air to the ground, his enormous kite wings enveloping the two of them.
In the darkness, hot breath sprayed onto Jiang Gu's face. The black jade bracelet, which had been activated to the maximum extent, was eager to appear, but he suppressed it. Wei Feng must have been very close to him. Jiang Gu felt a small luminous pearl gently hit the corner of his eye.
Did you cry from the pain?
Jiang Gu's thoughts were unusually chaotic. He had clearly intended to pull Wei Feng over to block, but—he reached out and touched Wei Feng's wing roots. The soft downy feathers were sticky and warm. The next instant, the net-like red lines suddenly tightened, and Wei Feng let out a painful shriek. Jiang Gu, with lightning speed, was even faster than the red lines, severing Wei Feng's wings and rolling sharply to the side with him.
The spot where the two had just been lying had been pulverized by the red thread, turning into a vortex of illusionary fragments.
Jiang Gu quickly stuck a talisman on Wei Feng's shoulder blade. Wei Feng was in so much pain that he was sweating profusely. He looked up at Jiang Gu with trembling, pale lips, but Jiang Gu grabbed his shoulder and threw him away.
"Master!" Wei Feng turned to go back, his ghostly patterns bursting forth, but his path was blocked by red nets from all directions.
A colossal stone statue suddenly appeared, blocking Jiang Gu's path. Lu Liyu, having missed her attack, looked at the statue with some surprise, saying, "This divine artifact you possess is quite interesting."
Jiang Gu didn't waste any words with him. He stepped onto the stone statue's shoulder and manipulated the statue to sever the red threads. With this inescapable net, Jiang Gu's spiritual power was already exhausted and useless. He could only rely on his primordial spirit and body to control the artifact, which was undoubtedly a terrifying drain on his energy. He had to finish the battle quickly.
The statue moved extremely fast, destroying most of the net as it moved forward, forcing Lu Liyu to devote all his attention to dealing with it. As a result, Jiang Xiangyun and Wei Feng were able to catch their breath and their spiritual energy surged into their bodies. When Wei Feng rushed towards Lu Liyu, he took advantage of Lu Liyu's unpreparedness and used the ghost pattern to pull Jiang Xiangyun out of the red thread ball.
Jiang Xiangyun was torn to shreds by the ghost patterns and red threads, his flesh mangled and bloody. He stood up from the ground, supporting himself with the Xuan Yang Halberd. Without Jiang Gu saying anything more, he thrust the halberd at Lu Liyu.
At this moment, Song Sui, who had been hidden for a long time, also appeared. Countless bamboo leaves floated up from the ground, condensed into a faint mist, and attached to Lu Liyu's red line. Then, the surrounding space suddenly turned, and the surroundings turned into vortexes of countless illusory fragments. These vortexes seemed to have their own directions, like some kind of strange formation.
"Force him in!" Song Sui suddenly dissipated into mist, merging into countless fragments of illusion.
Jiang Gu and Jiang Xiangyun exchanged a glance through the mist and simultaneously moved closer to Lu Liyu.
With the Heavenly Net destroyed, spiritual energy surged in. Jiang Gu summoned the Fire Rope again, and the Hooked Hairpin in his hair transformed into a stream of light that covered the rope, binding Lu Liyu's ankle. Just as Lu Liyu was about to sever it with her spiritual energy, a cluster of ghost patterns enveloped her entire calf.
"Wei Feng!" Jiang Gu's expression changed, and he swooped down on his flying sword, reaching out his hand to him.
At the same time, Wei Feng's ghost pattern bought them a rare opportunity. The stone statue and Jiang Xiangyun attacked almost simultaneously, with the stone palm and the Xuan Yang halberd slamming towards Lu Liyu.
A biting wind brushed past Wei Feng's face, and his white pupils reflected Jiang Gu's figure flying towards him. He subconsciously raised his arm to grab Jiang Gu's outstretched hand.
Time seemed to stretch on indefinitely. Wei Feng could even feel the warmth of Jiang Gu's fingertips brushing against him, smell the faint fragrance emanating from him, and hear Jiang Gu's slightly rapid breathing. He struggled forward, trying to grab Jiang Gu's hand.
Just as he was about to catch the man, Jiang Gu pushed Wei Feng away with a backhand.
Before Wei Feng could even react, Jiang Gu slapped him down, sending him plummeting into the vortex of illusion fragments. Meanwhile, the ghostly markings on his body were entangled with Lu Liyu. The stone statue and Jiang Xiangyun's Xuan Yang Halberd suddenly exerted their power, dragging Lu Liyu into the vortex along with them.
The surrounding scenery instantly became chaotic and disordered, and Song Sui revealed a blurry figure. "Oh no, we've fallen into a trap..."
However, before he could finish speaking, he vanished into the void.
Jiang Gu stared in astonishment at the closing vortex. Half of his body completely lost control, and he plummeted from the sky, crashing heavily to the ground. The half of his body formed from the dark stone instantly shattered.
Jiang Xiangyun's situation was no better; the Xuan Yang Halberd was shattered into dust, and he lay dying in the mud.
"I'll take Song Sui Lou and Shen Yuan Jiao with me. Jiang Xiangyun, goodbye." Lu Liyu's smiling voice slowly disappeared into the air.
The wind, carrying the scent of pine resin, swirled up fallen leaves from the ground, only to have them trampled underfoot by a pair of heavy boots.
“…Great-grandfather?” Jiang Xiangyun looked up at the person who came, somewhat bewildered.
Jiang Gu propped himself up with one hand and sat up, staring coldly at the person in front of him. "Patriarch."
Jiang Yin stood with his hands behind his back and his eyes downcast, looking down at the two wounded men with an expression that was neither happy nor sad. "Do you know why you lost?"
Jiang Gu and Jiang Xiangyun both fell silent.
“Once Songsui Tower opens, no one can enter and interfere. Lu Liyu has taken this into account, which is why he has been lying in wait by your side for so long. If you were resolute, how could he have found an opportunity to bind you with a contract of affection?” Jiang Yinzhong glanced at Jiang Xiangyun indifferently, then turned his gaze to Jiang Gu. “Jiang Qi, you have missed opportunities more than once because of Wei Feng’s interference. When did you become so indecisive?”
"You have disappointed me greatly."
Jiang Gu's face turned extremely ugly. "It's you."
He was just a hair's breadth away from catching Wei Feng.
“It’s better to throw away something that disturbs your mind.” Jiang Yinzhong did not deny it, and sighed, “I thought you were still young and that it wouldn’t matter if you made some mistakes, so I always thought you could hone your skills for a few more years. But the Wangyue Continent can’t wait any longer. Now that Songsui Tower has been taken away by them, the next step will be the Jiang family.”
Jiang Xiangyun frowned. "How could that be? The Jiang family has always been loyal to Ganlou."
“That was before,” Jiang Yin said solemnly. “If a dog is raised too fiercely, the owner should be afraid. Now that Wangyue is in chaos, you should come with me.”
After he finished speaking, he took to the air and Jiang Xiangyun summoned his flying sword with difficulty. Jiang Gu was having difficulty controlling the sword, so he simply stuck a talisman on it. As he left, he glanced at the foundation of Songsui Tower, but it was completely empty and there was not a trace of it.
The scene before my eyes slowly overlapped with the scene from many years ago.
'Where's Akashi?'
'It's been stolen.'
How could you let someone steal it!
'I... can't beat that guy.'
'Never mind, he's just a beast.'
When he saw Chi Xue again, all that remained was a pile of ashes from a burning alchemy, and he didn't even know who his enemy was.
Now Wei Feng has also been taken away.
If he were taken to Wangyue, would he be skinned alive and refined into pills, or would he be refined into a puppet spirit? Or would someone take a liking to him and make him a spirit pet or a furnace?
Jiang Gu slowly frowned. "That delicate, crybaby, and pain-averse thing..."
Neither the mark he had imprinted on Wei Feng's primordial spirit nor the Fire Rope showed any trace of life, as if Wei Feng had vanished from the world into thin air.
He was just a tool for surviving his tribulation, a disobedient little beast, not worth worrying about too much. Jiang Gu told himself that his most urgent task was to repair his half-broken body and gain Jiang Yinzhong's trust.
The two men, bound by iron chains, were carried on flying swords as they passed by Jiang Gu and his group.
Jiang Gu glanced over subconsciously and was caught off guard when his eyes met those of Qu Fengyu, who had a serious expression. By the time he came to his senses, Qu Fengyu had already disappeared from his sight.
"Great-grandfather, who are those two people?" Jiang Xiangyun asked on his behalf.
"Just two ignorant and arrogant little cultivators pretending to be special envoys of the Ganlou Sect." Jiang Yinzhong's voice came from afar in the clouds. "Song Ping of the Linglong Sect has brought people to the Jiang family, and this Lu Liyu has stolen Songsui Tower. Xiang Yun, what do you think?"
Jiang Xiangyun pondered for a moment and said, "Linglong Sect serves Wangyue Kunlou. Song Ping's arrival here is probably at Kunlou's behest. However, Kunlou has long been suppressed by Ganlou, and now Ganlou is eager to take action against the Jiang family... I'm afraid something has happened to Ganlou."
“That’s right.” Jiang Yinzhong’s voice rarely revealed a hint of satisfaction. “Ganlou has an accident, and they’ve targeted the Jiang family first. This is a golden opportunity for our Jiang family.”
Jiang Gu listened silently the whole time. He was previously unaware of the power dynamics on Wangyue Continent or the internal affairs of the Jiang family. He didn't even know what Songsui Tower was. The forces he had painstakingly cultivated were as insignificant as ants in front of Jiang Yinzhong. And now, Jiang Yinzhong was discussing these things with Jiang Xiangyun in front of him, which didn't necessarily mean he wanted him to enter the core of the Jiang family. Since he dared to say it, he must have a way to control him...
As expected, upon arriving at the main residence, Jiang Yinzhong said, "Your half-body made of stone is always a hidden danger. No matter how suitable it is, it can never surpass your original flesh and blood. Go to the Shengchi Pond behind the main residence for recuperation. In just one year, your missing half of your body will be restored to its original state."
Whatever the conditions for doing so, the result was an enormous temptation for Jiang Gu. Jiang Yinzhong was certain that he would not be able to refuse, otherwise he would not have taken the initiative to shatter the half of his body made of dark stone.
As he expected, Jiang Gu did not refuse. "Thank you, Patriarch."
"Go ahead." Jiang Yin waved his hand. "After you've healed, go to Wangyue Continent with Xiang Yun."
“Yes,” Jiang Gu replied.
He turned and left alone, and he could no longer listen to the conversation that Jiang Yinzhong and Jiang Xiangyun were about to have.
"...Although Songsui Tower was lost this time, it also forced Lu Liyu to reveal his true form. Ganlou this time..."
"...Sami Kite..."
“...an insignificant little beast...a natal magic weapon…”
"...Next, the Spirit Dragon Sect..."
The soundproof barrier slowly rose from behind Jiang Gu along with the protective array. Jiang Gu didn't want to look too bad, so the puppet's legs were temporarily hidden under his robes, but it still made him look like he was walking with a limp.
Although it wasn't the worst injury he'd ever sustained, it left him feeling more humiliated than ever before.
He lost Chi Xue, and then he lost Wei Feng.
He was meant to be alone.
Volume Three: Backlight and Moon
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
