"Is Ming Lan injured?"
The scene was too uncanny, especially with Immortal He's abrupt statement, which put Yu Ci on alert. He turned to look at Ming Lan, who was still coughing up blood, unable to stand straight. At this moment, she seemed older and more fragile than ever, making one wonder if she would collapse and die in the next instant.
However, the eyes can often deceive.
Yu Ci squinted his eyes. In his Soul Sensing, Ming Lan was radiating a dazzling light.
The light was so unique that without the aid of the Divine Bronze Mirror, just by using his Soul Sensing, Yu Ci could "see" the light at Ming Lan's position constantly flickering and changing, its brightness fluctuating. The light and heat it emitted dominated everything, obscuring Ming Lan's own life force.
Under such circumstances, Ming Lan took shaky steps towards him. Her coughing persisted at first, but after twenty or thirty steps, it gradually subsided. She then took out a handkerchief and slowly wiped the blood from her lips.
By the time she was clean, she had passed where Yu Ci was standing and arrived at the spot where Red Yin had fallen. She bent down to look, her grey hair cascading down, hiding her expression from view.
At this moment, the one closest to her was Immortal He. The female cultivator maintained her solemn demeanor, but there seemed to be a hint of gravity in her solemnity. She spoke, "Whether it will affect the relationship between the two sects depends on their opinions. What do you think?"
A shadow flashed by Yu Ci's side, and Old Daoist Yu Zhou moved to stand next to him. Yu Ci seemed to hear the whistling of Sword Energy in the void, and the atmosphere around them noticeably shifted.
A pressure also descended from the sky, but before he could examine it closely, Ming Lan began to speak.
"Very impressive."
Her voice seemed to resonate with her chest and throat, vibrating the air. It didn't sound loud at first, but it had a palpable impact on the eardrums.
Yu Ci's brows twitched. This didn't sound like Ming Lan's usual tone. And what did she mean by that?
Ming Lan didn't explain. She slowly crouched down and gently touched the already cold heart of Red Yin. Her lips moved slightly as if reciting a scripture. It sounded like a mumble, but every syllable echoed clearly in everyone's ears. At first, no one could understand the convoluted scripture, but in the latter half, Ming Lan seemed to be conversing with someone, each word clear and distinct:
"My master once said, the human heart is the most marvelous. It contains the world's most dazzling colors, most stirring sounds, and most aromatic flavors. Compared to it, the so-called spiritual fruits and delicacies taste like wax and are unbearable. Therefore, in worship and offerings, the human heart is the highest grade, followed by flesh and Divine Soul, then the Spiritual Artifacts of heaven and earth, and lastly, the offerings of mundane fire can be eliminated."
Yu Ci held his breath unconsciously. The voice was like a surging lake, flooding over him, threatening to submerge him. Within it was a chilling undertone that wrapped around him, penetrating to the bone.
At this moment, Ming Lan lifted her head, her face no longer youthful, yet she wore a radiant smile as if she had suddenly become twenty years younger:
"The human heart is like a wheel, ever-changing, wavering as if a roc soaring thousands of miles. It is as splendid as fireworks across the sky, mixed with the colors and scents of life, constantly transforming, pleasing to the eye and heart. This is wonderful! Why would the God Lord blame us?"
Why did she bring up the God Lord again?
Yu Ci felt his head swell. He understood every word and sentence Ming Lan spoke, yet when they were combined, their meaning seemed to evaporate, leaving only a vague image floating before his eyes. It merged into Ming Lan, adding to her radiant smile a layer of power that made it hard to breathe.
A sword hummed by his ear, perhaps a reminder from Yu Zhou. Ming Lan probably heard it too. Her smile slightly faded, and she pointed to the sky:
"Shouldn't we pay more attention to that?"
What?
Ming Lan's gesture had a compelling force. At this moment, whether it was Yu Ci, Yu Zhou, Immortal He, or even Xie Yan and Elder Jie Liang in the sky, they all could not help but follow the direction indicated by the female cultivator, shifting their gaze.
There, in the sky, was a shadow of a snake gliding. It had just swallowed a True Yang Spirit and was in the process of digesting it. As everyone's gaze converged, it was clear that the snake shadow was having some trouble.
Its elongated body was rolling abnormally, and a conspicuous bulge appeared on its belly, making people worry whether it would burst open the next moment.
Immortal He's eyebrows slightly furrowed, and the Curse Sound was activated. The shadow of the snake in the sky coiled up, then suddenly stretched straight. Using the momentum, the snake's mouth opened wide, and a grey pillar of gas shot out, as thick as a child's arm and tens of feet long. It continued for five breaths before it finally stopped.
In the sky, as soon as the snake shadow finished spewing, the grey gas pillar quickly twisted into a huge cloud of grey mist. In an instant, the wind and clouds surged, the grey mist formed a vortex, occasionally a Golden Snake darted around, its light flickering. The Primordial Qi of the heavens and earth in that area was swirling with the vortex, gathering its power towards the center, as if something was being nurtured and formed within.
Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.
It was probably that True Yang Spirit, but why had its color changed?
A sword hum reverberated in the sky. Xie Yan brandished his sword, and the fierce Sword Energy tore through the air, stirring at the edge of the grey mist, dispersing some of the mist, but that was all. His expression became increasingly solemn. At the same time, Elder Jie Liang changed his position in the sky, revealing the thunder bead that had been infused with Qi for many years. It grew to the size of a fist, suspended above his shoulder, a network of flickering electricity spread out in the air, and he began to draw symbols and form seals.
On the ground, a fog had risen at some point, formed by the purest Sword Energy of the Old Daoist.
Without a doubt, things were changing, and not in their favor.
Yu Ci didn't know what the four of them saw. In his own Soul Sensing, the power contained in the grey mist in the sky was too strong. Not only in reality, but also in Soul Sensing, it formed a huge vortex. Any divine intention projected into it immediately disappeared, even his Divine Soul was somewhat unstable, as if it was about to leave his body again.
Having previously suffered from the forced extraction of his Divine Soul, Yu Ci did not dare to take any risks and fully retracted his Soul Sensing. However, at this moment, he noticed a change occurring not far away, where Ming Lan was.
Within the Soul Sensing, Ming Lan had always been shimmering with light. At this moment, the light she emitted was undergoing complex and rapid changes, its intensity and brightness fluctuating wildly. This greatly deviated from what he saw with his naked eyes, causing dizziness when all these sensations converged in his mind.
Yu Ci closed his eyes and then opened them again. In this instant, Ming Lan's figure seemed to become ethereal. It was not just her, even the fallen Red Yin on the ground, and the air several feet around them, were all abnormally fluctuating, as if they were unreal projections.
Yu Zhou noticed this and called out, "Sister He," but the nearest Immortal He merely shook her head:
"Great Illusionary Shift, it can travel a thousand miles. Even if I fully control the Law Sky Prison, it's only a fifty-fifty chance. It's not worth the distraction!"
As her voice fell, the place where Ming Lan had been was now empty.
From beginning to end, Yu Ci did not speak. He merely squinted his eyes, looking at the empty space, the light passing through his eyelashes cold as frost.
Old Daoist extended a hand, blocking him and motioned him to step back, whispering, "Focus on what's in front of you! The demon transformed from the True Yang Spirit is even harder to deal with. Your Uncle He's 'Law Sky Prison' might struggle against this one."
Yu Ci made a sound of agreement. He wouldn't let past events cloud his judgment. The situation was indeed tense. From his perspective, Xie Yan and Elder Jie Liang in the sky were the first line of defense, Yu Zhou was the second, and as for Immortal He, she seemed to be controlling the Primordial Qi of the heaven and earth within ten miles with her "Law Sky Prison", trying to interfere with the True Yang Spirit's gathering of energy, but to little effect.
As he was watching, a figure suddenly flashed before his eyes. Xie Yan had come down, his sword already sheathed.
"Brother Xie?" Yu Zhou seemed puzzled.
Xie Yan's aqua-colored eyes glanced towards Yu Ci before saying, "This situation is somewhat strange. Did you see that Seal up there?"
Yu Zhou nodded, "Confining the spirit and indulging the Heart Demon, it's a ruthless method. But applying it to the Yang Spirit is even more unthinkable."
"Do you remember this technique? When you were cultivating in the south, do you remember anything about it?"
"The South?"
At his reminder, Yu Zhou's thoughts shifted. He glanced towards Immortal He, his voice dropping a fraction, "The Great Mysterious Star Lock?"
With a sharp clap, Xie Yan struck his palm with his fist, abruptly pulling Yu Ci to his side, and they took off, flying backwards. At the same time, he shouted, "Retreat! It's not a formation, but the Heart Demon Assault... He Qing!"
Yu Ci, yanked by him, shot off like a bolt of lightning. Behind him, Yu Zhou also rose on his sword, transforming into a stream of light that followed closely. In such a situation, Yu Ci still found time to ponder, "So Immortal He's full name is He Qing..."
At that moment, the speed at which Immortal He Qing was chanting the Curse Sound suddenly increased. The band of light reappeared from the high sky, stretching long and circling the periphery of the grey fog. The moment the head and tail connected, a sizzling sound echoed from the void, causing the sky to shake violently. The gathering momentum within the fog hesitated, then expanded violently outward. However, the ring of light that was fastened around the outside managed to blunt the first wave of expansion!
The grey fog at this moment was like a fat man whose waist had been tightly bound, hollow in the middle with wisps of cloud being squeezed out from either side. These were drawn back by the ring's powerful magnetic field, tracing out arcs that hooked onto the ring, creating an image similar to a meticulously woven cylindrical flower basket.
But anyone could see that this situation wouldn't last long.
Elder Jie Liang began to retreat. Golden Snake electricity swirled around him, and with a thunderous roar, his figure disappeared. When he reappeared, he was not far from Yu Ci and the others. The last to move was He Qing. This female cultivator continued to chant the Curse Sound, seemingly retreating step by step. But each step covered the distance of a hundred, shrinking the world to a fingertip, her speed not slowing in the least.
At that moment, the ring could no longer withstand the outward pressure and began to crumble. As the grey fog surged, the piercing voice of the long-silent True Yang Spirit suddenly exploded in the sky:
"Yu Qingxuan, I will fuck you ten thousand times!"
The sound wave pierced the ears, filled with nothing but despair and resentment.
With a roar, the grey fog exploded, instantly covering ten miles, obscuring the sky and moon. Under the dark dome, the green-grey mist twisted and turned, looming like a horde of ghosts rushing forward.
The battle of the sheer cliff city had nearly reached its conclusion, with only a little mopping up left to do. To be honest, I was a bit surprised to have written only this far in five hundred thousand words. It seems that some friends who said the plot was moving too slowly had a point. But on the other hand, with internet publishing, there are no constraints like the number of physical books, which sometimes gives one the impulse to describe things in detail. And men, well, when they get impulsive, problems can arise...
Well, enough self-criticism for now. In future posts, I will strive to correct my shortcomings and continue to develop my strengths. The rhythm is gradually adapting, and I hope the quality of the mirror will also continue to improve.
For this, please support me with your votes, brothers and sisters. Move your fingers a little, flip to the last page, and vote and comment there. Of course, it would be even better if you could cheer me on. Thanks for helping me lose weight!
***************
I have also posted the following more chapters [All free] on: https://www.readgates.com/article/74a39e