Chapter 18: Something is terribly wrong!
Yan Jingyu was pulled into an embrace, and his vision blurred again.
It felt like something was whining in his eardrums. He had to grip the other’s clothes tightly, his brow furrowed as he closed his eyes.
As Liao Chen used a spatial art to leave Lingyun City, at the same location, the figure of a man in white clothes with gray hair suddenly appeared. He carried a heavy sword, his gaze sweeping from the nearby tavern to the passing street vendors. His divine sense instantly covered the entire Lingyun City, searching carefully within.
It can’t be wrong. He did feel Liao Chen’s aura… Unless Liao Chen was deliberately avoiding him, it was impossible for him to suddenly disappear.
But with Liao Chen’s arrogant nature, how could he possibly avoid him?
“Master!” A voice suddenly came from behind. Qin Zhongyou turned and saw the familiar young man flying towards him. He gazed at that face from the past, watching as he threw himself into his chest. A golden hair ribbon was tied in his dark hair. In that instant, he seemed to see again the youth in the clothing store, spinning with his arms open, his eyes full of peach blossoms, smiling with high spirits.
Liao Chen killed him.
But he had lost track of that demon lord time and time again.
He gently patted Ruan Qixi’s head and looked at the old man behind him, his brow furrowed. “How did you end up in such a wretched state?”
“It was Liao Chen!” Before the old man could speak, Ruan Qixi looked up, his eyes red. “Someone said there was a person with him who looked exactly like Senior Uncle Yan. It must be that ugly freak from the other day! He saw that we wouldn’t recognize him, so he had Yu Qiuye redraw his skin for him! A fool actually believed him and even said I wasn’t worthy of inheriting Senior Uncle Yan’s mantle… I got angry and fought with him. That Liao Chen suddenly attacked and stabbed Grandpa Scorpion.”
Old Scorpion nodded slightly. “Just as the young master said, Liao Chen used the hand of that troublemaker to try and take my life.”
Qin Zhongyou said, “Liao Chen never shows mercy when he kills. You are only at the Formless Realm. How could you have dodged his killing blow?”
Old Scorpion paused, looking hesitantly at Ruan Qixi. The latter said quickly, “This time, when I said I was coming to Jiuyi Mountain to capture a phoenix demon, my mother made an exception and gave me a protective artifact… But that is an ancestral heirloom of my family…”
If it were any other day, Ruan Qixi naturally wouldn’t mind letting Qin Zhongyou know what treasures he had. But this item was special. When his mother gave it to him, she had warned him repeatedly, especially emphasizing that he should not let his master know the effect of the pearl.
She had even warned him that if his master were to see the pearl, it was highly likely that he would sever ties with him.
Ruan Qixi pressed for an answer, but his mother only said, “It is common for treasures in the cultivation world to change hands. You will get used to it in the future.”
Ruan Qixi’s heart was in a panic. He quickly asked again, “Is this something from the Qin family?”
“Rest assured, the Zuoqiu Clan and the Qin family have no grudges.”
Then it must have been obtained from other channels. In any case, for such a treasure, the Zuoqiu family must have also paid a great price in manpower and resources. Anyway, he would return it to his mother when he got back to Hutian. It was better not to take it out and cause more trouble.
Even though he knew he had done nothing wrong, he had never deliberately hidden anything from Qin Zhongyou. At this moment, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy.
“No matter.” Fortunately, Qin Zhongyou could also understand. Many sects in the cultivation world had their own unique artifacts, and it was impossible to make them all public. He didn’t ask further, but instead instructed, “Since you are fine, go back to Hutian with Old Scorpion. Don’t delay on the road, lest you run into Liao Chen.”
Ruan Qixi immediately breathed a sigh of relief. “Then what about you, Master?”
“I will continue to hunt Liao Chen to avenge the Yan family.”
He took a step forward, but was pulled back again. Ruan Qixi said with worry, “Now he has someone with him who looks exactly like Senior Uncle Yan. You, you should not go. What if he uses that person to confuse you and takes the opportunity to attack you…”
He knew that person was the most important person in his master’s heart. His master would lose his reason just hearing his name. Otherwise, that day in Yaoguang Valley, even though that ugly thing looked nothing like that person, when Liao Chen said he was Yan Jingyu, his master’s mind had still wavered for a moment.
He didn’t dare to imagine what would happen if Yu Qiuye had really drawn the skin of that person from back then…
“There is no one in this world who can be exactly like him,” Qin Zhongyou said. “Yu Qiuye cannot draw his skin, much less his bones.”
He suddenly sensed something, took another step forward, and instantly disappeared from Ruan Qixi’s sight.
Following Liao Chen’s teleportations, Yan Jingyu clearly felt the mountain ranges on both sides gradually disappear. This should be the Qingzhou continent, replaced by an endless plain.
It was winter, and the desolate forest remained.
Yan Jingyu observed the frowning Liao Chen, who was regulating his breath. He guessed that Liao Chen must be hiding from someone, but with his ability, there was no need to hide from others… Moreover, this fiend seemed a little impatient when he was regulating his breath. How far had they gone, and his spiritual energy was already empty?
When Liao Chen finished regulating his breath and was about to drag him to teleport again, a longsword suddenly descended from the sky. Liao Chen pushed Yan Jingyu several zhang away and drew his sword to block the golden light falling from above.
Clang—
The sword energy scattered. Yan Jingyu raised his sleeve to block his eyes. After steadying himself and looking up, he saw at a glance Qin Zhongyou standing firmly on the heavy sword.
So he really did chase him to Jiuyi Mountain, to hunt down Liao Chen?!
But Liao Chen had now merged with the divinity. How could he possibly be hiding from him?
On the heavy sword, with its tip pointing down, the white-clothed, gray-haired Qin Zhongyou’s face was fierce. He bent his knees slightly and pressed down. Liao Chen looked up, pressing his knees to the ground, his eyes narrowed.
“Today, I will avenge the entire Yan Clan!”
He raised his hand and formed a seal, his wide sleeves flying. A brilliant golden light filled the sky, and astral energy shot through the heavy sword. But Liao Chen suddenly created an elemental clone and retreated. While attacking directly with his sword, he withdrew his main body that was holding up the heavy sword. The elemental clone and the main body instantly merged into one, and the heavy sword, with no one to support it, stabbed into the earth.
The ground immediately rumbled and shook like boiling water. Qin Zhongyou had to retreat from the heavy sword. While summoning the heavy sword back, he stirred up heavy layers of astral energy to block the other’s hostile attack.
The heavy sword couldn’t keep up with his retreating speed. He found another opportunity and suddenly twisted his waist, reaching out to grab the heavy sword. But Liao Chen suddenly appeared behind him again, the tip of his sword cunningly thrust toward his neck.
With Yan Jingyu’s current eyesight, he couldn’t keep up with the speed of their exchange at all. He could only see the two of them appearing in multiple places in an instant. There were occasional tears in space, and the small beasts fleeing on the ground were accidentally affected, swallowed by the cracks.
Yan Jingyu’s mind raced. He suddenly shouted, “He’s injured!!”
No wonder he was so slow on the way here. No wonder he had to find an inn for him to rest in the middle. No wonder he didn’t hesitate to absorb those few weak corpse spirits into his spiritual abode. Yan Jingyu knew very well that Qin Zhongyou had heard him. He turned and ran away from the battlefield without hesitation. As he ran, he shouted, “He just drew his heart’s blood not long ago! And he has newly merged with the Vermilion Bird’s divinity. With his Demigod body, it must be difficult for him to digest! Use a holy-grade water-element artifact to attack his three divine sources! You can knock the Vermilion Bird’s divinity out of him!!”
Yan Jingyu ran forward without looking back. When he encountered a steep slope, he slid straight down. He ignored the pain from multiple places on his body and continued, “Don’t be afraid of him!! He just wants a quick battle with you now! Drag it out for a while, wear him down! At most two hours, he will surely die!!!”
Even though Yan Jingyu had already run a mile away, with their divine sense, they could still hear his words clearly.
Qin Zhongyou’s eyes flickered slightly, as if he were weighing his options. But Liao Chen’s eyes were already overflowing with killing intent.
He gazed at the panicked, fleeing figure in his divine sense, his silver teeth clenched. “Die—!”
A wisp of sword energy shot out, but was directly blocked by Qin Zhongyou. Liao Chen’s reaction undoubtedly verified the other’s words. Qin Zhongyou abruptly summoned a Heavenly Soul that flickered with specks of silver light. The powerful force unique to the water element instantly attacked him.
Liao Chen used his energy to resist, but several streams of water-element power still poured into one of his divine sources. The divinity in his body shifted and trembled. He was hit by an even more powerful force and flew back several zhang, his toes digging a long, deep scratch on the ground.
His long hair was in disarray, and he vomited a mouthful of blood.
In his divine sense, Yan Jingyu was still running without looking back. The white cloak on his body trembled with his running movements on the bumpy ground, like the bouncing fur of a plump rabbit fleeing a hunter’s pursuit. “I’ll have to trouble Lord Qin to lend me a hand and grant me a Thousand-Mile Escape Talisman, so that I can escape from Liao Chen’s demonic clutches!!”
Liao Chen’s breathing was ragged, his eyes crimson. He recalled everything that had happened between them during this time, recalled the blade that had cut across his chest in the Qiwu flower grove, recalled how he had been influenced by his demonic nature, tearing at the flower branches with his bare hands, building the nest with his own hands, recalled the foolish way he had fawningly wiped the fruit and gently placed it in front of him. Finally, he remembered the sealed nest, the sweet, thick pollen, the fragrant, jade-like bones marinated in it…
It was Yan Qi who provoked him.
Such an intimate act should have happened with his beloved, when both were willing.
Qin Zhongyou did not give him another chance to stand up and rushed straight at him without hesitation.
But suddenly, a sharp, long cry was heard—
The Vermilion Bird’s divine form, with its long tail, painted the sky crimson. Liao Chen did not dodge or evade, but charged straight at him.
The two top-tier forces collided. For a time, the earth shook and the mountains swayed. The giant rocks on the steep slope slowly turned, and Yan Jingyu also rolled down due to the huge commotion.
After he stopped rolling, he quickly scrambled up again.
His heart pounded, his feet in a flurry.
He felt that something was about to go terribly wrong! Liao Chen was simply a madman. He was already a lord of a realm, yet he still maintained the same life-or-death fighting style of his youth!!
Qin Zhongyou was also caught off guard and sent flying. The residual astral energy around him destroyed half the forest and finally smashed a deep pit in the ground. The blood and vital energy in his chest surged.
In another deep pit, Liao Chen shot out like an arrow. The scenery beside him was like a fleeting light, retreating so fast it was almost a blur.
He shot straight in Yan Jingyu’s direction, his body covered in bloody marks, and a few scratches on his face, but his expression was incomparably sinister. “Die!”
Hundreds of sword energies and flames rained down on the tiny figure. His malice grew stronger and stronger. “Die—!”
“Die for me—!!!!”
