Chapter 13 - The Nightmare is Over
The appearance of the Immortal Alliance Order was like dropping a huge rock into a seemingly calm lake.
Xie Zhao casually put away the cold token that was neither gold nor jade and was engraved with a chain dragon head. On the surface, the days of Guixu Sect were still going on as usual.
Chu Linyuan practiced sword skills every day, and his evil spirit became more condensed. The black light flowing on the edge of the Frost Sword became deeper and more restrained. Occasionally, when he swung the sword, it was no longer a large-scale ice freeze, but a black evil sword energy condensed like a thread, which could silently penetrate the hard evil rock hundreds of feet away, leaving a hole as smooth as a mirror.
He was consciously guiding the power of the evil pattern contained in the chalcedony to temper his sword intent. He placed the chalcedony from the heart of the earth under his cushion, and nurtured it with his own evil energy day and night, emitting a warm and tough aura, which faintly echoed the dragon pattern on his right arm.
Luo Hongyi temporarily put aside her desire for chalcedony... Under Chu Linyuan's cold gaze and Xie Zhao's flattering persuasion of "Senior Sister, a gentleman does not take away what others like", she turned her energy to the research and development of the new poison soup.
Goal: Increase Tie Niu's resistance to poison (Su Tang feels the mushrooms on Tie Niu's head seem to be growing stronger). White Deer and her pet rabbit have become her most loyal tasters.
Su Tang diligently used the photo stone to record every detail of the reconstruction: the black iron door frame was erected with great difficulty under the "quality inspection" of the Moon-Eating Rabbit;
Uncle Chen swept the floor slowly, the invisible lines occasionally shimmering;
Tie Niu rumbled as he "leveled" the ground in the "martial arts arena", leaving behind exaggerated footprints; and... Xie Zhao's increasingly escalating "harassment" of Chu Linyuan.
However, although Xie Zhao seemed to have returned to his usual playful and lively self, Su Tang's clairvoyant eyes keenly detected a slight difference.
The vast golden sea of runes within him seemed even more turbulent than before, with countless runes surging and disappearing, occasionally flashing a barely perceptible, cold, blood-red light. Especially when no one was paying attention, he stared at the shadow of the Immortal Alliance token in his hand.
The original version was "confiscated" by Chu Linyuan...
In those peach blossom eyes that always had a smile on their faces, there would be a bottomless cold pool, surging with complex and heavy emotions that Su Tang could not understand.
Late that night, the rain was still pouring down.
The dilapidated temple of Guixu Sect seemed particularly quiet amid the sound of rain.
Chu Linyuan sat cross-legged on a cushion, with the Frost Silence Sword across his knees and the chalcedony placed in his palm. Strands of warm spiritual light and pure evil spirit flowed around his body, forming a subtle cycle.
He was in a state of meditation, his mind immersed in the coordination between sword intent and dragon evil.
From the next room came an extremely suppressed and painful groan, like that of a dying beast!
Chu Linyuan's tightly closed eyes suddenly opened! The cold murderous aura instantly subsided, and his figure disappeared from the spot like a ghost!
There was no light in Xie Zhao's room. In the thick, inky darkness, only a faint ray of light from the sky was visible against the backdrop of the heavy rain outside the window.
Xie Zhao curled up on the cold stone bed, his body shaking violently! He held his head tightly with both hands, his knuckles turning white from the force, and his nails almost digging into his scalp!
That beautiful face that always wore a playful smile was now twisted, covered in cold sweat, and her teeth were chattering, as if she was enduring unspeakable pain!
The golden sea of runes within him erupted into a complete rage! No longer flowing in an orderly fashion, it surged and crashed like a tsunami after a hurricane! Countless golden runes flickered, shattered, and reassembled in the blood-red light!
Every time of breaking and reorganization, Xie Zhao felt a sharp pain as if his soul was being torn apart!
"No...don't...Dad...Mom...little sister..." Broken, bloody mumblings escaped from between his clenched teeth, his voice hoarse and desperate.
Blood everywhere!
The vision was soaked in a sticky liquid that smelled of rust!
The piercing noise, a mixture of screams, roars, spell explosions, and collapsing buildings, was like countless red-hot steel needles, piercing his eardrums and into his brain!
His dreams seemed to be swallowed up by memories that he didn't want to recall.
"Zhao'er! Go quickly--!!" The father's shrill and desperate roar was drowned out by a terrifying thunder that tore through the sky!
My mother's gentle face was swallowed by the blazing white light before my eyes, leaving only a charred outline!
The little sister stretched out her hand to grab the corner of his clothes, but it instantly turned into ashes in the burning talisman paper fragments falling from the sky!
The Xie family's prideful talisman formation, which had protected the family for millennia, crumbled like fragile glass! Countless family talismans, drawn with blood and soul, burned, wailed, and shattered under the violent attack! The golden sea of talismans was dyed a glaring scarlet! Rune fragments fell like burning stars, carrying with them the remnant souls and despair of the clan members...
The cold, majestic chain dragon head emblem was branded on the chests of the attackers, who wore uniform silver robes and had blurry, puppet-like faces.
Their eyes were empty and their movements were precise and cold, like machines that harvested lives.
Silver chains shot out from their hands like venomous snakes, easily piercing the tribesmen's protective auras and wrapping around their necks, limbs, and dantian! The moment the chains tightened, flesh and blood tore apart, their golden cores shattered, and their Nascent Souls wailed as they were forcibly pulled out and crushed!
A tall, silver-robed figure hovered above the ruins of the Xie family ancestral hall, looking down indifferently at the carnage below. His face was covered by an icy mask engraved with a chained dragon head. In his hand, he held an ancient bronze lamp, its flame dancing as it frantically devoured the escaping souls and blood below...
“Go——!!!” The elder, covered in blood and with torn robes, used his last bit of strength to push him into a crack that was flashing with unstable spatial fluctuations!
"Live! Zhao'er! Leave...a talisman seed for the Xie family..." The elder's body was pierced and torn apart by several silver chains!
At the moment when the crack was about to close, Xie Zhao turned around, his eyes bloodshot!
He saw the masked man's icy gaze pierce through space and fall upon him! A giant hand, wrapped in silver chains, clutched at the crack with a terrifying pressure that could freeze the soul! The shadow of death instantly enveloped him!
Despair! Endless despair!
The Xie family's inheritance has been broken, and the bloodline will be extinct! He is unwilling to accept it! He hates it!
In the last moment when consciousness was frozen by death, the instinct for survival and overwhelming hatred mixed with the last bit of blood and the broken origin of talismans in the body, burning wildly!
He stretched out a blood-stained finger and, recklessly, drew a scarlet rune on his chest, a symbol never before seen in family texts, one imbued with destruction and ominous aura. It was a forbidden symbol he had deduced countless times but never dared to attempt! It was the madness of a desperate struggle to survive!
"Blood Talisman·Burning Soul!"
The moment the rune took shape, his life flame flickered like a candle dropped into boiling oil, nearly extinguishing itself! But a destructive, blood-red torrent, carrying all his resentment and hatred, roared out from the rune and slammed fiercely into the grasping silver hand!
Boom——!!!
Consciousness completely fell into endless darkness and severe pain...
“Ugh—!!!” In reality, Xie Zhao suddenly arched his body and let out a suppressed roar of pain! Veins on his forehead throbbed, and cold sweat flowed like a stream.
The collar of his shirt had been torn at some point, and a faint blood-red rune mark, like an old scar, was faintly visible in the darkness!
The rune was filled with violence, madness, and an ominous aura. It was exactly the "Blood Rune·Burning Soul" that was carved in the desperate situation back then!
The cold voice carried a rare hint of urgency.
Chu Linyuan appeared beside the bed. Seeing Xie Zhao curled up in pain, feeling the turbulent chaos and near-collapse of his sea of talismans and the fluctuations of his soul, as well as the ominous blood mark on his chest, his bottomless cold eyes suddenly narrowed!
Without any hesitation, Chu Linyuan grabbed Xie Zhao's violently trembling wrist! It was cold to the touch, yet as hot as a red-hot iron!
A pure, icy, and powerfully suppressive black aura, like a bursting dam, instantly surged into Xie Zhao's body! Its goal wasn't to suppress the raging sea of talismans, but to target the blood-red rune that was gnawing at Xie Zhao's soul and vitality like a venomous snake!
"Hmm..." Xie Zhao groaned, and his body suddenly stiffened!
The icy murderous aura, like ten thousand years of black ice, instantly enveloped the burning blood talisman! The violent destructive energy encountered the extremely cold suppressive force, like water and fire colliding! A violent conflict erupted within Xie Zhao's body!
"Puff!" Xie Zhao spat out another mouthful of blood, his face pale as gold paper. His breath instantly withered, but the mad bloodshot and pain in his eyes receded slightly, and a trace of clarity returned. His scattered gaze struggled to focus, and he took in the face beside the bed, so close at hand, filled with coldness and solemnity.
“Master… Senior Brother…” Xie Zhao’s voice was weak and hoarse, filled with the confusion of surviving a calamity and a hint of imperceptible fragility.
Chu Linyuan did not answer. The fingers holding his wrist tightened slightly, and the cold and firm murderous energy continued to be input, carefully resisting and dissipating the power of the blood talisman.
His movements were stiff and awkward, clearly showing that he was not very good at this, but his unquestionable will to protect was clearly conveyed through his cold murderous aura.
The fierce rain outside the window was beating against the broken window frame.
In the room, the only sounds left were Xie Zhao's heavy, suppressed breathing and the subtle sound of Chu Linyuan's cold and murderous aura flowing.
Xie Zhao's consciousness drifted in and out of the throes of pain and cold. Fragments of the bloody slaughterhouse still flashed through his mind: the screams of his people, the burning talismans, the cold, chained dragon-headed mask... Each flashback brought a soul-tearing pain.
But this time, within the boundless despair and darkness, there was an icy yet unusually tenacious force, like a magic needle that stabilized the sea, firmly anchoring his soul that was about to collapse.
His distracted gaze fell on Chu Linyuan's hand holding his wrist.
The hand had distinct joints and was covered with thin calluses. It looked strong from years of holding a sword, but at this moment it was slightly tense from transmitting evil spirits.
The icy breath spread along the touched skin, but strangely suppressed the soul-burning and bone-eating burning pain in the body.
The blood symbol on the chest flickered unwillingly under the suppression of the extremely cold evil spirit, and the destructive energy released was forcibly restrained and dissipated.
Every time the blood talisman struggled and counterattacked, Xie Zhao groaned and his body spasmed uncontrollably.
And every time, the evil spirit Chu Linyuan input would become heavier. The cold power was like the strongest dam, blocking the torrent of destruction.
"Hold on." The cold voice sounded again, still brief, but with unquestionable strength.
Xie Zhao pulled the corners of his mouth with difficulty, trying to reveal his usual, soothing smile, but it only moved the muscles on his face, making him look extremely stiff and weak.
He closed his eyes and no longer tried to fight against those bloody fragments of memory. Instead, he immersed all his mind into his body, guiding the cold evil energy input by Chu Linyuan to sort out and soothe the violent golden talisman sea.
It was an extremely painful and delicate process, like using ice to clear away the wreckage bit by bit and rebuild a home amidst the blazing ruins.
Every time the evil spirit collides with the energy of the talisman sea, it brings a sharp pain like a needle prick.
But he could sense that although Chu Linyuan's murderous aura was cold and overbearing, it was unusually "pure," without any distractions, only a pure will to protect and suppress. This gave his confused mind a glimmer of support.
Time passed slowly in the interweaving of pain and coldness.
I don’t know how long it took, but the heavy rain outside the window gradually stopped and a dark red light appeared on the horizon.
The rage in Xie Zhao's body was finally suppressed.
Although the golden sea of runes was still dim and countless runes had cracks, it had finally restored its basic flow and was no longer colliding wildly.
The blood symbol on the chest also completely dimmed, like a sleeping poisonous snake, temporarily dormant.
He slowly opened his eyes, sweat soaked his forehead hair and stuck to his pale cheeks, his peach blossom eyes were bloodshot and filled with deep fatigue, but the deep pain and madness had disappeared.
Chu Linyuan still held his wrist tightly, and the constant flow of evil energy had stopped. His face was pale, and it was obvious that the continuous output of pure evil energy was taking a heavy toll on him.
His bottomless cold eyes were staring at Xie Zhao quietly. There was no questioning, no reproach, only an almost tangible, cold scrutiny, as if confirming whether he had really settled down.
"Brother..." Xie Zhao's voice was still hoarse, but much calmer. He looked at Chu Linyuan with a complex expression: gratitude, fatigue, and a hint of deep pain. "...Thank you very much."
Chu Linyuan didn't respond to the thanks. His gaze shifted from Xie Zhao's face to the dim blood mark on his chest. His cold fingertips, carrying a lingering hint of murderous intent, lightly brushed across the hideous scar.
The cold touch of his fingertips made Xie Zhao's body tremble slightly.
"This talisman," Chu Linyuan's voice was low, like the friction of ice, "will take your life."
It wasn't a question, it was a cold statement.
Xie Zhao forced a weak smile, a hint of self-mockery in it: "Back then... without it, I would have died long ago. Survival... always comes at a price."
He paused, and looked at Chu Linyuan with his peach blossom eyes. The playfulness of the past was gone, only a deep undercurrent, "Brother, the emblem on the token... the chain dragon head... is the one from back then..."
Chu Linyuan's eyes suddenly became as sharp as a knife! He instantly understood the root cause of Xie Zhao's loss of control! A cold murderous aura spread uncontrollably around him, and the temperature in the room plummeted!
"Immortal Alliance." Chu Linyuan's voice was filled with a biting chill as he uttered these two words.
"Yes." Xie Zhao closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and when he opened them again, only cold hatred and a kind of almost paranoid determination remained in his eyes. "It's a blood feud, and we can't reconcile."
The room fell into an icy silence, the flames of revenge and the ice of protection silently intertwining.
At this moment, Chu Linyuan's gaze fell on the blood mark on Xie Zhao's chest again, and his brows furrowed slightly. He suddenly stretched out his other hand and stroked his palm with his fingertips!
A drop of blood mingled with a hint of dark gold gushed out! That blood exuded a pure breath of life and a cold wave of evil spirit. It was his heart's essence that combined the Dragon Evil and the vitality of Jade Marrow!
His fingertips were stained with that drop of blood, and as fast as lightning, he tapped the core position of the blood symbol on Xie Zhao's chest with extreme precision!
That drop of Chu Linyuan's heart blood, like a hot iron, instantly merged into the dim blood mark!
The blood symbol suddenly lit up for a moment! It was no longer a violent blood light, but a deep, restrained, dark golden light with a cold murderous aura!
The destructive power within the blood rune seemed to be forcibly injected into a tough ice skeleton. The violent intention was suppressed and channeled, and a cold and stable protective force was added! The originally ferocious rune lines seemed to become smoother and more solid!
Xie Zhao's entire body trembled violently! He clearly felt the destructive force within the blood talisman, constantly burning his life, being temporarily suppressed and neutralized by a cold, resilient force! Although the hidden danger still existed, the pain of the backlash was greatly weakened. In fact... it seemed that he could now more steadily guide the power of this blood talisman!
"Brother...you!" Xie Zhao looked at Chu Linyuan in shock. The essence of his heart! This is no joke! It will cause great damage to the essence of the cultivator!
Chu Linyuan withdrew his hand, his face paling even more, but his eyes remained cold and calm. He looked at Xie Zhao and said only two words, which were extremely important:
"Survive."
Only by surviving can you take revenge.
Only by surviving can you have a future.
Xie Zhao opened his mouth, his throat clogged. All his laughter and pretense seemed pale and powerless at that moment. He looked into Chu Linyuan's deep, cold eyes, which reflected his own miserable figure clearly. An indescribable warmth mixed with bitterness suddenly broke down his defenses.
He suddenly lowered his head, his shoulders shrugged slightly, and when he raised his head again, there was a layer of mist in his peach blossom eyes, but the corners of his mouth tried to bend upwards into an extremely ugly, but extremely real smile.
"Yeah." He nodded heavily, his voice thick with nasal sounds, "I, Xie Zhao... have a very strong life! I can't die!"
Chu Linyuan looked at his forced smile, and something seemed to melt slightly in the depths of his cold eyes. He said nothing more, but withdrew his hand from holding Xie Zhao's wrist, turned around, and walked towards the door.
"Have a good rest." The cold voice left the last sentence.
The door was closed gently.
Xie Zhao was the only one left in the room. He leaned against the cold stone bed, his fingers tightly clutching the hem of his shirt, feeling the cold yet resolute protective power deep within the blood talisman, and the unquestionable will transmitted from that drop of blood essence.
Outside the window, the dark red skylight finally pierced through the thick evil clouds, like flowing blood, and also like... a sharp edge after tempering.
Xie Zhao closed his eyes, the bloody memories churning in his mind not disappearing. The cold chain dragon head emblem was still like a nightmare. But this time, above the boundless hatred and pain, there was an icy, yet incomparably solid dam.
He spread out his palm, and a faint but condensed golden light jumped at his fingertips. It was no longer the violent blood color, but carried a hint of restrained dark gold evil pattern.
As the talisman light flowed, the faint shadow of a long spear was outlined - the spear body was wrapped with cold and evil dragon patterns, but the tip of the spear was spewing out golden talisman flames that could burn everything!
The mortal world is full of troubles, so what is there to fear from immortals and demons?
If this spear is completed, it will kill the immortal!
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