Chapter 177 You recognize me. I can kill you once, twice, and then...
Before Ji Mingran could speak, Meng Yingyang had already thrown out the divination sword. The pure black sword drew an arc in the air and landed precisely in Ji Mingran's outstretched hand.
Ji Mingran lowered his eyes and stared at the item he had just received. The black sword was light and nimble, and the patterns on the sword were consistent with those he had seen before. It was indeed a good divination sword.
Since it was for her, Ji Mingran said directly, "Thank you. What do you want?" She never wanted to accept favors from others for no reason.
Meng Yingyang: "The next chance to compete."
That's it?
Meng Yingyang laughed and said, "That's it." As if sensing something, he looked up at the top of the Treasure Pavilion and said, "Fellow Daoist Ji, you should go back quickly. I can't fool the sword formation for long by forcibly taking the sword."
As they spoke, the gentle and peaceful spiritual energy within the pavilion suddenly changed, whipping up wind blades that caused walls to crumble and the ground to crack. The entire tower seemed to come alive, emitting a trembling hum.
The Divination Sword appeared only for a moment, and the Treasures Pavilion had already reacted.
A terrifying sword aura condensed from the top of the pavilion and blasted towards the two people inside.
With a long cry, Meng Lingkong leaped forward, thrusting his sword into the air to confront the sword formation of the pavilion.
Ji Mingran threw a Vajra Formation at Meng Yingyang and rushed out of the pavilion without looking back.
Sensing someone taking the treasures without permission, they rushed out. The layers of the Treasure Pavilion swirled and collapsed, and the steps leading to each floor collapsed and disappeared. The heavy elm wood door facing the entrance creaked shut, stretching and narrowing like dough, getting further and further away from sight, as if it would disappear in an instant.
The Treasure Pavilion was cursed with a spell that prevented teleportation, so her teleportation array could not be opened.
Suddenly, her foot slipped and the entire wooden ladder she was standing on disappeared. Ji Mingran leaped forward, swung her crutch with her left hand, and the crutch quickly extended to her feet, supporting her as she rushed forward.
Sharp sword energy grazed past his ears repeatedly. Ji Mingran tumbled and leaped, dodging and weaving, instantly covering a thousand meters. However, in the blink of an eye, only a crack remained in the gate, which was shrouded in the faint white night sky, and it was about to close completely in the next instant!
She was still thousands of meters away from the entrance!
Ji Mingran's expression hardened, and ten fiery red arrays were released one after another from the hilt of the cane and the tip of the longsword. The speed of the longsword increased a hundredfold, and it rushed towards the gap with lightning speed.
A beam of golden light shone brightly, accompanied by a deafening roar. Just seconds before the gap closed, a beam of light, like lightning, pierced through the edge of the wooden door!
The gaps interlocked, and the tail of the light just detached.
Bang! Dust billowed outside the Treasure Pavilion, accompanied by a sharp, ear-piercing sound of metal scraping against metal. Long, deep grooves were carved into the hard, iron-like rock floor, leading all the way to the flat entrance of the Treasure Pavilion plaza.
Unable to brake in time, Ji Mingran leaped off the longsword and tumbled along due to inertia. Despite seeing stars and feeling dizzy, she reached out and grabbed the wooden dice into her arms.
The next second, a fierce gust of wind rushed up from behind!
Ji Mingran tensed all his muscles, exerted force from his dantian, spun around, twisted his waist, and raised the divination sword in front of him, simultaneously activating the Vajra Formation.
The attacker's face was revealed as the two swords crossed and blocked each other.
Chongjue!
Ji Mingran's figure flashed, leaping a hundred meters into the air. However, Chong Jue's sword shadow followed closely behind.
In the blink of an eye, the sword lights in the sky were dazzling, the sound of long swords scraping against each other was incessant, and the powerful spiritual pressure released from the collision of the two swords bombarded the ground.
The teleportation array was interrupted halfway again, and Ji Mingran appeared several meters away. He suddenly looked up, and in his clear pupils, a huge sword light reflected a chill as it cleaved down from the sky, rapidly enlarging.
Restrained by the vast sword intent, the teleportation array was unusable. Ji Mingran gritted his teeth and drew his sword to block.
The tiny figure crashed to the ground in an instant, creating a shockingly deep crater.
As the smoke cleared, a thin arm rose from the cave entrance, and Ji Mingran, disheveled and filthy, poked his head out, spat out the mud in his mouth with a "pui," and then vomited a mouthful of blood with a "wah," his eyes glaring fiercely at the newcomer.
At the edge of the cave entrance, Chongjue stood with a relaxed expression, his hands behind his back. He did not make another move, as if ignoring the ants that were struggling to escape. His eyes were fixed on the Treasure Pavilion not far away.
Ji Mingran exerted force with both palms, just as he was about to get up from the cave, when suddenly a heavy burden pressed down on his shoulders, and his body almost tilted due to the sudden pressure.
Clenching his teeth and gripping the ground with his fingers, Ji Mingran struggled to support himself and avoid falling back to the bottom of the cave.
Chongjue withdrew his gaze from the Treasure Pavilion and looked at her calmly: "So you bewitched my beloved disciple. No wonder you escaped the Treasure Pavilion unscathed. Your methods are indeed remarkable."
Ji Mingran did not respond, glancing at the sky, and calmly wiped his face with one hand.
Above the Great Hall of the Primordial World, flashes of swords and shadows pierced the dark night sky, stirring up the clouds. The light grew ever more intense and fierce, and the sword energy ever more turbulent, as if to change the world and replace the long night with light.
It also seems to highlight the practitioner's anxious heart, sparing no effort in trying to break through in one blow.
His sleeves were covered in mud, which he used to wipe his face, making his already disheveled face even more covered in ash and dirt.
But Ji Mingran was distracted and obviously didn't notice.
“Yu Tianxing is in dire straits himself and can’t save you.” Chong Jue seemed to know what she was looking at and laughed. “You and the other two are so confident that you can trap the twelve of us. You’re being arrogant. He’s been trapped in the Soul Devouring Array for over two hundred years. We know his cultivation, strength, and moves very well. Even if we can’t take his life, it won’t be difficult for the rest of us to keep him occupied.”
Chongjue moved his elbow slightly, and the divination sword was drawn. The blade touched her brow, and just an inch further, it would pierce her skull.
Lying on the edge of the deep cave, Ji Mingran leaned back with difficulty: "Your Excellency has misunderstood."
"A misunderstanding?" Chongjue said, "You still want to make excuses?"
With a "thud," a crisp sound rang out in the empty square.
Chongjue's brows furrowed.
His grimy face revealed a row of white teeth. Ji Mingran released the wooden dice button and grinned, "Sending people to kill—he and I have always been on the same page about that."
Space distorts, and a sudden feeling of weightlessness washes over you.
Chongjue unleashed a fierce sword intent, which then vanished into the infinite silence.
A blinding light burst forth in an instant, and Chongjue stepped back to the side, his back slamming against the thick wooden wall with a "thud".
"Smack."
Chongjue looked up and gazed toward the source of the sound.
Not far away, Ji Mingran sat on a wooden shelf, holding a book that had just been closed in one hand and raising a brush dipped in ink in the other. His starry eyes sparkled as he looked at him with a smile.
He was still covered in dirt, but his appearance was no longer as disheveled as before.
As if he had been sitting here painting and calligraphy for a long time, Ji Mingran smiled and said, "Welcome, welcome."
Chongjue silently looked around, taking in the new world that had suddenly appeared.
The wooden bookcase is filled with a dazzling array of precious artifacts passed down through generations.
This is the Mystery of Heaven and Earth.
"You think you can defeat me by bringing me in here?" Although somewhat surprised, Chong Jue remained calm. "Is this the treasure cave of the Dingsheng Sect?"
Ji Mingran propped his chin up with his hand, drew a half circle in the air with his ink brush, and ink dripped onto the books scattered on the floor, spreading out. "I brought you in because I have something to say, and it will also make it easier for me to do an experiment."
"Young friend Ji, are you going to compensate my sect with the inheritance of Dingsheng Sect?" Chong Jue appeared more composed than Ji Mingran, the owner of the spiritual artifact. He took two steps forward, casually picked up a book from the nearest shelf, and opened it at will.
His gaze swept over the books, and his expression suddenly changed.
The ink on the opened page was still wet, and the pen had been hastily put down, indicating that it had only been written recently.
A clear, melodious voice rang in my ears: "This is the name I gave to your species."
Chongjue suddenly pulled out the remaining books, and no matter which one he pulled out, the content was the same.
"Parasitic variant".
Chongjue slowly raised his eyes, blinking slower and slower until he stared at her intently without moving.
“And me.” Ji Mingran’s smile vanished, his voice turning cold and desolate: “I know you, or rather, you know me.”
The Hidden Life Sword and the Divination Sword were both found in the Prize Pool Secret Realm. They are extremely similar, but their effects are very different.
"You guessed it." Chong Jue revealed a sly smile.
"The Hidden Life Sword seeks out evil and severs demons, the Divination Sword seeks cause and judges effect." Ji Mingran sat in place, ignoring Chong Jue's strange behavior, and asked and answered himself, "The Hidden Life Sword has extremely strong destructive power, so what can the Divination Sword do?"
"Hide your voice and conceal your message. Conceal what you want to hide within the threads of cause and effect. In this way, even the Hidden Life Sword will not be able to find your whereabouts."
Chongjue grinned at her, his mouth stretching wider and wider until it reached the back of his head. He raised his hand and yanked his scalp from back to front, revealing parched and chapped flesh: "Ha, you've found out. I don't need to hide it anymore. This place is nice; it'll give me some fresh air."
Ji Mingran looked at the charred, mangled flesh, half of which had been peeled away: "It's you, the one I blasted into nothing but charcoal. You're not dead."
The mutant, whose face had been partially peeled off, darted its two eyes from the front of its head to the back, and said in a hoarse voice, "You remember me."
"I only recently revisited the image of the Divination Sword, so it shouldn't be difficult to remember," Ji Mingran said.
The parasite residing within Chongjue is the very one she bombarded back then. The cause and effect revealed by the bloodstained divination sword originates from it.
She asked Zhu Huo, and he said that the mutated specimen she took was given to the Wuji Ancestor of Xiaosu Pavilion for identification, and was not handed over to Hongqizong. She thought, and everyone else thought, that Hongqizong had captured another Linggua Sword for verification. Who would have thought that the blood sample was from Chongjue?
Ji Mingran said slowly, "You are not only 'Chong Jue', you are also 'Jiang Chaoxing'."
Chong Jue grinned, a glint of excitement flashing in his scarlet eyes: "You found out?"
“You hate me, and this hatred is etched into Jiang Chaoxing’s primordial soul memory and brought into the Soul Devouring Array, so that when he sees me, he is both afraid and hateful,” Ji Mingran said.
Inside the Soul Devouring Array, Jiang Chaoxing initially targeted her for no apparent reason. She initially thought it was because she had killed him, but later she realized that she had only killed him once. Why did Jiang Chaoxing's remnant soul unleash such power to counteract Yu Tianxing's memories and come out to kill her?
So it was because she killed it twice.
“Not bad. The first one I bent down was Jiang Chaoxing, what a pity.” He licked his lips. “Jiang Chaoxing’s cultivation was not enough to control this Gua Sword, and in the end, the Hidden Life Sword discovered my location.”
"Fortunately, fortunately, on the night Yu Tianxing came to our door, Chong Jue came too." Chong Jue grinned. "Such a fine body, such a shaky mind, and he's actually a Mahayana Realm cultivator. Of course I had to come. I just need to split off a child soul from his original body and place it on top of it."
"You went to all that trouble, all so secretly, just to make me recognize you?" Ji Mingran raised an eyebrow. "And when did you find out about me?"
"At first I didn't think much of it, but later... slowly... I became certain." The monster had donned the heavy jade skin again.
The flesh lay crookedly on top of the maggots, not aligned at all. The monster didn't care, spread its arms, and said in a strange voice, "Back then, I was powerless against you. Now, I am a Mahayana cultivator, and you are just a mere Nascent Soul cultivator."
The heavy sword hummed in his hand. Chong Jue twisted his wrist, and the sword energy cut through the air. Ji Mingran felt a pain on his face and ears, and the pavilion behind him collapsed with a crash.
Ji Mingran raised two fingers and gently wiped the bloodstains from his cheek, his gaze drifting to the divination sword lying at Chong Jue's feet.
The leader of the Hongqi Sect is a parasitic mutant.
What about the other disciples in the sect?
When you find one cockroach, how many are actually in the house?
The reason why Hong Qizong remained undiscovered was entirely due to the use of the divination sword to conceal the aura of the mutated species.
Now, the wooden die is a completely different world inside. The effect of the divination sword should be completely isolated inside, and her experiment has been successful.
“Yu Tianxing should have found out by now,” Ji Mingran said. “We divided the work; he killed outside, and I killed inside. Your Hongqi Sect is a den of mutants. The longer I keep you here, the easier it will be for him to slaughter you all.”
Chongjue's skin drooped on one side, his eyes fixed on Ji Mingran with a drooling look, revealing a strange smile: "So what if you dragged me into this realm? Your cultivation is worlds apart from mine. If it weren't for the fact that my body is so powerful, I would really love to wear your skin. But collecting it first is not out of the question."
The ink brush in Ji Mingran's hand shone brightly. When the light faded, the ink brush transformed into a cane and a longsword. "You are a Mahayana Realm cultivator, so this really won't work."
"But you happen to be a mutant."
"If I can kill you once, twice, I can kill you a third time."
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