Chapter 60 Burning Blood: So even immortals bleed!
Du Yu turned off the system notification with a blank expression.
The system's hints couldn't be clearer: even if this body perishes here today, risking damage to her mental strength, she will still achieve the second ending of the side quest!
Sensing Du Yu's fighting spirit, the Bloodthirsty Holy Blade hummed excitedly, and a vague thought entered Du Yu's mind.
Um?
Du Yu raised an eyebrow slightly, her heart skipping a beat. The Bloodthirsty Holy Blade had previously been upgraded to A-rank, but she hadn't had the energy to examine it closely during the battle. Now, sensing the fluctuations emanating from the blade, she was surprised to find that its stats had changed considerably—
【Crafting Item Name: Bloodthirsty Holy Blade】
[Note: This knife has a strange personality due to its unique history. It loves drinking blood, hates evil, and loves the scorching heat of flames. It is only loyal to you... Beware, this is a living knife!]
[Rank: A (Can be promoted after obtaining the remaining [Six-Star Holy Grail] fragments)]
Item Description:
Characteristic 1: Jade Shatters. This is a vicious blade that is gradually revealing its sharpness. It craves battle and blood. Even when facing a true god, it dares to point its blade forward until it shatters!
Characteristic Two: Bloodlust. During battle, the wielder absorbs the blood of enemies to repair themselves. Prolonged abstinence from blood will induce a state of agitation, during which the wielder's sanity decreases by one point every hour.
Characteristic Three: Ascension. A holy sword yearning for sublimation. It absorbs enough extraordinary elements to gain the power of evolution, until it transcends.
Characteristic Four: Spotless. To those who don't appreciate it, it's just an ordinary, blunt knife.
[Element: Capacity. Can plunder the spirits defeated by the blade and randomly extract one extraordinary ability from them. Current capacity for spirits (0/1)]
[Review: This is a mad knife.]
Of the four characteristics of the Bloodthirsty Holy Blade, "Unbreakable" has been changed to "Shattered Jade". "Bloodthirsty" is followed by a negative status "Restless". The "Promotion" column has not changed much, except that the word "Transcend" has been added at the end, which seems to be related to "Advancement" in the level notes.
This can be studied later.
In addition, the "Durability" section for the Holy Sword is gone, and combined with the change to the "Jade Shatter" trait, the system's description of it as "the mad sword" is truly accurate.
Of course, the biggest change to the Bloodthirsty Holy Blade is the addition of the [Element] category! The Bloodthirsty Holy Blade now possesses the attributes of the Holy Grail. With this element, we can capture this fake Black Tai Sui alive!
A fierce glint flashed in Du Yu's eyes as he gripped the hilt tightly, his thumb pressing against the bottom. Due to its fourth characteristic, the Holy Sword's appearance remained largely unchanged after the upgrade, except for a slight indentation at the bottom of the hilt, as if waiting for something to be inlaid.
The faces, some contorted in pain, others lost in confusion, vanished with the smoke, leaving only the solitary figure gazing ever more intently into the air.
"Seventh Girl?"
Two withered, shrunken lips moved slightly. Granny Chen's illusory figure squinted at Xiao Qi for a long while, as if finally recognizing her. The corners of her mouth curled up, revealing a dark, deep opening:
"I knew you were a good kid, you really came here and broke a lamp... Hehe, thank you for letting me out..."
"Grandma?"
Xiao Qi looked up in astonishment, her eyes darting like willow catkins in the wind, her voice suddenly turning shrill: "You lied to me?!"
"Grandma isn't a young person anymore, why would she lie to you?"
Granny Chen chuckled, and the skin drooping from her face trembled, like two strips of cured meat hanging from the eaves. Her body gradually materialized, and a withered, bony hand rose up and pointed in front of her:
"Look, aren't they here?"
Two ordinary faces appeared one after the other. One was the face of a man in his thirties, whose features had become flat and blurry. The other was the face of a middle-aged woman that Du Yu had seen before, who looked much older than she actually was.
Her face was much clearer than the man's, so the pain emanating from her tightly wrinkled beauty and twitching facial muscles was all the more obvious.
"Mom, Dad?"
Xiaoqi's eyes suddenly reddened, her gaze sweeping back and forth between the two pained faces and Granny Chen's old and stiff face. "Granny, why...aren't you the one in the village who hates Tai Sui meat the most?"
"That's because when Grandma was alive, she didn't understand. In this world, once you're reborn as a human, you're oppressed by heaven and earth! The only righteous path is to sacrifice yourself, to be one with heaven and earth, and to unite with the Grand Duke Jupiter!"
“In the past, I was just an unpopular old woman in the village, but now I am the God of War!”
As Granny Chen spoke, her hoarse, low voice suddenly became high-pitched, and her hunched back slowly straightened. Black wax seeped from the dense wrinkles on her face, smoothing out the wrinkles and the signs of aging.
The woman, who looked to be in her seventies or eighties, transformed in the blink of an eye into a young girl with skin as smooth and shiny as wax!
Xiao Qi was so shocked by what she saw that she seemed to have her tongue tied in knots and couldn't speak. Du Yu shook his head at her, signaling her to stay away.
"Your persuasion is useless. Her mind has been completely consumed by Tai Sui... Besides, how could an old woman who has never worshipped Tai Sui or been to the mountains know anything about the deep mountains?"
As if struck by lightning, Xiao Qi froze, staring blankly at Granny Chen, who had regained her youth, as she shrieked and charged at Du Yu. But she did not dodge or evade, instead coldly wielding her knife, the purple flames illuminating the sky like thunder!
"Realizing that the main body wasn't flexible enough, it released a clone? That's somewhat clever, but far from enough!"
"ah--"
Grandma Chen, or more accurately, Chen Guihua, suddenly had a high-pitched voice, and her skin, smooth as if coated with wax, reflected countless faces of all sizes!
These faces, some clear, some blurry, some contorted in pain, some feverish, displayed a variety of expressions, yet all their eyes were fixed on Du Yu. Their mouths were agape, revealing abyssal black holes within, and screams mixed with delirium exploded in his ears:
"Reborn as a human, oppressed by heaven and earth, today I sacrifice myself to become the Grand Duke. Reborn as a human, oppressed by heaven and earth, today I sacrifice myself to become the Grand Duke. Today ...
"Crack."
A final, sharp crack echoed in my ears, sounding like my eardrums rupturing, but even without hearing, the murmured words still seeped into my body through every pore: "Today I sacrifice myself, today I sacrifice myself, today I sacrifice myself, sacrifice myself, sacrifice myself, sacrifice myself, sacrifice myself, sacrifice myself, sacrifice myself, sacrifice myself, sacrifice myself, sacrifice myself—"
"Fuck your father!"
Unable to block out the babbling, Du Yu simply ignored it, letting blood seep from his ears, eyes, and nose. He then knocked Xiao Qi unconscious with a snap, a cold smile appearing on his lips, and recklessly swung his knife at the wax-skinned man!
The Bloodthirsty Holy Blade trembled and hummed, its frequency almost matching the buzzing of wild bees that Shi Wei often heard in his previous life. The short, rapid sound spread throughout his body with the vibration, suppressing the frenzied babbling a bit!
"Bang--!"
The longsword sliced through space, its intent infused with purple flames, and struck the wax-skinned man's head with a sharp crack. The head, bearing the youthful face of Chen Guihua, flew off and was burned to black ash by the pursuing purple flames.
Even so, before it was completely shattered, the lips on the head kept opening and closing, constantly uttering the muttered words, "Sacrifice yourself, sacrifice yourself, sacrifice yourself, sacrifice yourself, sacrifice yourself, sacrifice yourself, sacrifice yourself, sacrifice yourself, sacrifice yourself."
Even though Xiao Qi had been knocked unconscious by Du Yu and her seven orifices were protected by purple fire, her body trembled slightly. In her unconscious state, her lips trembled uncontrollably, and she also uttered the sound of "sacrifice herself, sacrifice herself, sacrifice herself, sacrifice herself, sacrifice herself, sacrifice herself, sacrifice herself."
Du Yu's eyes flashed with a fierce light. He used the purple fire to whip Xiao Qi even further away. He was panting heavily. The blood that was seeping from his seven orifices was burned away by the purple fire as soon as it flowed out, not giving his opponent a chance to curse him.
Without offensive traits, relying solely on Purple Flame and the Bloodthirsty Holy Blade is somewhat insufficient to deal with the unpredictable Fallen Ones.
She's fine against ordinary opponents; with her skills, she can slowly wear them down.
However, when facing a monster like the Black Tai Sui, which changes every second, Du Yu's attack efficiency is somewhat slow.
Maybe if this drags on, she'll end up wearing down the monster's health bar, and then the monster will wear down hers.
Du Yu gripped the knife handle with both hands, his eyes flashing with madness. Deep within his mind, his mental energy ignited like a boiling oil pot with a "boom"!
Blood Burn! Burn your mental energy to gain double the combat power for a short period of time! This is a skill that has become an essential skill for every superhuman in the wasteland since some unknown time.
However, this skill, though powerful, is extremely dangerous. Despite its simplicity, very few people dare to use it and get their hands stained with blood.
The brain is, after all, the most mysterious and vulnerable area in the human body. Burning one's mental energy can easily lead to a mental energy outburst if one is not careful. The uncontrolled flames of mental energy will spread throughout the body, burning oneself to ashes.
Even if one survives after using the blood-stained method, the severe aftereffects will render them useless, with the best outcome being a month spent in bed, where even slight mental exertion will feel like being pricked by needles.
Du Yu used this skill with ease; in her previous life, she had friends to care for her when she was weak, but this time—recalling the "survival" talent in her skill list, the killing intent in her eyes intensified.
"Die, all of you!"
The purple flames, which had expanded several times over, surged out, sweeping across the sky like a sunset, or erupting like a volcano. The raging flames they spewed were enough to incinerate heaven and earth. For a moment, the entire gray mountain range was illuminated with a brilliant purple light.
The villagers, whose movements grew increasingly stiff and whose eyes gradually became dull, seemed to regain a bit of their senses under the bright purple light that surpassed even the morning glow. They even forgot about the Tai Sui meat they had been longing for, straightened up, and looked up blankly at the direction where the purple light appeared and then slowly disappeared.
Even the so-called immortals reacted no differently to the purple light than mortals, their confusion mixed with shock and anger.
Qi Jinghuan's lips trembled. He glanced at the villagers who should have been devoured but were unharmed, as if suddenly waking from a dream, his face deathly pale: "No, something's wrong with the core of the ritual! Quick, forget about these wretches..."
Those haughty eyes, which always seemed to look down on them as mortals, were filled with shock and pain before the surprise and bewilderment in them had faded. They were suddenly filled with a sharp pain in their backs.
"you!"
Qi Jinghuan coughed up blood, turning his head in disbelief. The powerful superhuman he had imagined didn't appear. Instead, an ordinary middle-aged woman, bathed in the fading, brilliant purple light of the sky, gave him a perfectly ordinary smile, even using a respectful form of address:
"So even immortals bleed."
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Author's Note: Before writing this chapter: My goal was to finish this chapter and complete this arc.
Me writing this: This battle is so awesome!
Me, nearing the end of my writing: ...Why haven't I finished yet?
——
If nothing unexpected happens, we should be able to finish this dungeon tomorrow (yes, if nothing unexpected happens).
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