Chapter 48 Part 3

As for Chai A’gou, he was on all fours, emitting beast-like growls from his throat. His eyes glared fiercely at the enemy. Whenever a gap appeared, he would lunge and entangle them, opening his mouth to bite their necks, fighting like a vicious hound hunting its prey.

The yellow smoke gradually dispersed. Li Jiangying, noticing it, immediately felt a sense of dread. Sure enough, after inhaling the smoke, a wave of utter exhaustion and weakness washed over her. Even the flow of her Devil Qi became sluggish and blocked. Yet their enemies moved as usual. Among them, there seemed to be a puppeteer—several foes had clearly been killed, yet their numbers hadn’t dwindled.

No, we can’t keep fighting here, or no one will escape!

Li Jiangying coughed twice, clutching her chest. Rubble continuously rained down from the sky, along with the mind-disturbing sonic waves. Everything was wearing her down, pushing her to her limit. Li Jiangying suddenly shouted, “Yanran!!!”

Shi Yanran flinched, her bones quivering slightly, and rushed to her side. She was the most powerful being on the ground, but because of her fear of light, she often dared not move. Thus, she had become, instead, the weakest.

“Jiangying…” Her head bowed, not daring to look upwards. Terrified, she grabbed Li Jiangying’s hand, wanting to spirit her away immediately.

Li Jiangying gripped her wrist bones tightly and said seriously, “This smoke is poisonous. The enemies must have taken the antidote beforehand. We can’t continue like this. We need to find a place to take shelter.”

“Where?” Shi Yanran looked at her blankly.

Li Jiangying grit her teeth and asked, “My tomb! Before, outsiders weren’t allowed in. But now that I’ve already retrieved my things, it doesn’t matter if others enter, right? Yanran, will you allow them to enter and hide?”

“Alright.” Shi Yanran was uncertain, but since Li Jiangying suggested it, she would listen.

Thus, Li Jiangying stumbled towards the tomb, shouting for the others to retreat there. Fighting and falling back, they finally took refuge within the tomb, slipping through the pitch-black gap in its entrance.

This tomb had been constructed by Shi Yanran. She had laid countless arrays within it. Even Li Yueying, in her maddened hacking spree, had been unable to destroy it. Therefore, it was absolutely the first choice for sanctuary.

Shi Yanran controlled the tomb, activating a minor Restriction to block the yellow smoke outside the door.

Seeing that they couldn’t get at them for the moment, the enemies who had entered the Moon Shadow Devil Palace left four people to stand guard there. The rest went off to search other areas for any fish that might have slipped the net.

Peeking through the crack in the doorway, Li Jiangying looked worriedly up at the sky. What she saw nearly frightened her to death.

At some point, Li Yueying had half-transformed into her Demon form, a long, pitch-black serpent’s tail now exposed. Her expression was sinister and crazed. Her hand, now a sharp claw, gripped her long blade, and she sent out countless shadow-like slashes that were impossible to see clearly, cleaving apart the massive boulders assaulting her. Yet, no matter how fast her blade was, it couldn’t withstand the combined attacks of her three opponents.

The blades of solidified zither music, when cleaved apart, merely scattered into a clattering, ringing mess everywhere. Her long saber could block physical matter, but it couldn’t stop these zither notes. Poison Scorpion Devil Venerable waved his long staff, and a faint, almost imperceptible grey-purple smoke spread, surrounding Li Yueying. If she let down her guard for even a moment, she would inhale it.

Li Yueying’s long tail swept across, actually forcibly breaking through the stone array and lashing towards Solitary Mountain Devil Venerable. Startled, he hurriedly raised his twin hammers to block, but was still sent flying back by the tyrannical force. Clutching his chest and swallowing the blood welling in his mouth, he frantically signaled the Seven Star Array to follow Li Yueying and shift forward.

The Seven Star Array blazed brilliantly, once again dragging down Li Yueying’s speed. They kept her encircled from a distance, absolutely refusing to get close. When someone was killed by her wild, hacking saber qi, another would immediately take their place. They circled rapidly, constantly repositioning to avoid being cleaved by the slashes she managed to send their way.

Finally, Li Yueying vomited a mouthful of blood. It pattered down to the ground, and the grass and leaves it touched withered rapidly.

“Truly a ferocious Demon.” Poison Scorpion trembled with excitement. “I want her! She would be the best poison test subject ever!”

Nether Smoke Devil Venerable’s cute little face took on a grim and grave expression. “You want her? Careful she doesn’t kill you!” Under the combined siege of three Transformation Realm experts and a host of subordinates, the Moon Shadow Devil Venerable was still fighting back. Not only had she not fallen and surrendered immediately, but her killing intent had actually grown fiercer.

Watching the Moon Shadow Devil Venerable’s blood-red, vertical pupils, which held almost no trace of humanity, Nether Smoke felt, for some reason, that every time that cold, fierce gaze swept past her, she would be torn to shreds in the next instant.

“She is truly not to be underestimated.” Nether Smoke Devil Venerable pinched her palm, trying to conceal the trembling in her arms. Every attack she launched, when shattered, caused her some backlash. By now, she was feeling dizzy and nauseous.

Gazing up at the sky, Li Jiangying’s feet subconsciously stepped forward.

“Jiangying, don’t go.” Shi Yanran caught her sleeve, pleading.

“No…” A helpless, tragic sorrow was breaking her. If this continued, she would die!

“But if you go, you’ll also be in danger.”

Li Jiangying forced a smile for her, but right now, she truly couldn’t deceive herself into feeling at ease. She took a deep breath, and with resolute eyes, pushed Shi Yanran’s hand bones off her sleeve.

“Don’t worry about me. No matter what, I must go.” Li Jiangying said to her, “Because I have something to return to her.”

“What is it?” Shi Yanran asked blankly.

“Something that was originally hers.”

It was the Demon Core that had been stolen—the very thing that had left Li Yueying grievously wounded, her injuries unhealed for a thousand years, her strength greatly diminished, and her sorcery difficult to perform.

When she saw Li Yueying besieged by their combined forces, Li Jiangying knew. Li Yueying’s greatest weakness was her near-inability to use sorcery, while her opponents could use spells to create hundreds or thousands of times the attacks against her, leaving Li Yueying constantly struggling to defend and frequently injured.

She should have been stronger.

But… how could she return the Demon Core inside her own body? The Phoenix Core—Li Jiangying could still barely mobilize a few strands of its fire elemental power. But that black-golden Demon Core, she could only stare at it, unable to control it at all.

Another sonic blade, hidden among several other attacks and invisible to the naked eye, grazed Li Yueying’s arm. Splat. Blood blossomed. If Li Yueying hadn’t dodged so quickly, it would have struck her heart.

The wound was slowly regenerating, but Li Jiangying grew even more worried, because she realized the speed of recovery was already far, far slower than Li Yueying’s usual regeneration speed.

She had to return the Demon Core to her, restore her strength, so she could at least protect herself at this critical moment!

Anxiously racking her brains, Li Jiangying suddenly recalled the restlessness in her Dantian when she had previously absorbed her Devil Qi. But now, Li Yueying was locked in a fierce battle. Absorbing her Devil Qi would give the enemy an opening.

Then… of course! Blood!

Li Jiangying’s eyes lit up. Taking a deep breath, she shot out of the tomb with the speed of a lightning bolt! The four people guarding the door immediately attacked her in unison. A brilliant, blazing mass of fire exploded with a Boom!, blinding everyone with its brightness.

The enemies instinctively retreated to dodge. Li Jiangying ducked low, slipped through a gap, and charged towards the center of the battlefield. Rubble constantly rained from the sky; enemies pursued from behind. Glancing from the corner of her eye, Li Jiangying leaped, enduring the pain as a rock smashed into her shoulder, then used another large boulder as a springboard to launch herself forcefully upwards.

The boulder she pushed off, suddenly burdened by the force, spun and hurtled towards the face of the closest pursuer, slamming them to the ground with a resounding thud.

By now, Li Jiangying had rushed into the air. With utter focus, she marshaled all her energy, weaving through the flying stone array. She stretched out her right hand towards the maddened snake Demon and shouted, “Yueying—”

The serpent Demon abruptly raised her head, her turbid eyes flashing with a hint of struggle. Her voice trembling, she said, “…Jiangying… don’t come closer… it’s dangerous…”

But she came anyway. Even she didn’t know how she had pierced through layers of blockades, brushing past the chaotic rocks and sonic blades, finally throwing herself into Li Yueying’s embrace.

“What a pair of star-crossed lovers.” Poison Scorpion Devil Venerable remarked with a strange, sinister tone. “So this is the Descendant of the Divine Phoenix? To think she’d come out on her own. Perfect—effortless catch!”

“Tch.” Nether Smoke hugged her zither, fuming. “Perfect my foot! Now that she’s here, we still have to be careful not to kill her. How troublesome.”

“If she truly is the Descendant of the Divine Phoenix, she won’t die that easily.”

“Have you forgotten what that person said? She’s currently in a sealed state. Only by undoing the seal can she transform into the complete Phoenix. If she dies now…” Nether Smoke frowned, “It’s highly possible she’d really die. Wouldn’t all our effort be for nothing then?!”

“Ha, I see nothing to worry about. Isn’t Yueying protecting her tightly enough? Good—saves us the trouble.”

Meanwhile, after being embraced by the serpent Demon, Li Jiangying found herself squeezed so tightly she couldn’t move. The current serpent Demon clearly had little rationality left. She clutched the one she treasured protectively in her arms, using her own body to shield her from the incoming attacks. For a moment, she didn’t even think to dodge for herself, instead suffering several heavy hits in succession.

Seeing this, Li Jiangying burned with anger. She shouted fiercely, “Li Yueying, wake up!”

Li Yueying’s entire body shook. Her long tail whipped out with a whistling wind, slapping away a poisoned stone spike hurtling towards them. “…Jiangying… don’t leave me… please…”

Controlled by her Heart Devil, the serpent Demon’s face took on an almost servile expression. She sobbed softly, rubbing her cheek against the top of Li Jiangying’s head. One hand clamped Li Jiangying’s back tightly, while the other gripped her long saber, shredding everything that dared approach and harm her Jiangying.

Li Jiangying had come here to have her act like this? Seeing her utterly delirious and unable to communicate, Li Jiangying angrily grit her teeth. She struggled, pulling back just enough to create a sliver of space. She raised her hand—Slap! She struck Li Yueying across the face.

Stunned and fearful, Li Yueying murmured, “Jiang… ying?”

Li Jiangying glared at her. She grabbed the claw that had been holding her and bit down hard.

Everyone Present: “…”

Poison Scorpion: “Are they having an internal fight?”

Nether Smoke: “I don’t think so.”

Then they watched as Li Jiangying disdainfully tossed aside the serpent Demon’s claw. Her brow furrowed. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. She cupped Li Yueying’s face in her hands, leaned forward, and then—right in front of the three Devil Venerables and a multitude of Devil Cultivators—she fiercely bit down on Li Yueying’s lips.

Damn it, that Snake Demon’s skin was way too thick. Her mouth was definitely much softer.