Chapter 59 Part 2

Suddenly, as if sensing something, the blue-green serpent head swiveled forward. Its vertical pupils narrowed nearly into slits! It abruptly opened its blood-filled maw, its forked tongue snapping out. Drops of serpent saliva dripped onto the ground, corroding the soil black with a series of hissing sizzles.

These “prisoners” were precisely the Dao Court squad that had entered the Baling danger zone. After entering the city, they realized Bashe was the key to breaking the predicament. They took the great bow from the city, intending to shoot the serpent dead. Who would have thought that over a dozen of them combined wouldn’t be a match for this monstrous snake! Could the “Bashe” of High Antiquity be fully revived? The thought had just surfaced in Qi Ji’s mind before she immediately suppressed it. Taking a deep breath, she murmured, “This is no Bashe at all.”

“The serpent’s scales are impenetrable. Arrows can’t pierce them; blades and fire don’t harm it… Bound by its tail now, there’s no way to break free.” Wang Xuanming clenched his teeth, unwilling to give up. The serpent’s tail, thick as a water barrel, was coiled tightly around him, the cold scales scraping his arms raw and bloody. The Tai’e Sword, hailed as the Sword of Might, lay fallen on the ground. He had no spiritual energy left; he couldn’t even use the Flying Sword Technique.

“It’s Shinto’s Onmyodo…” Zhao Sujie looked somewhat dazed. The Bashe’s venom had a paralytic effect, numbing the limbs and consciousness. Several of their comrades had already fainted. If they couldn’t find an escape, their only fate was to be swallowed whole. “Senior Sister Qi?” Zhao Sujie turned to Qi Ji, the most accomplished among them. Qi Ji had a chance to escape on her own; the reason she was trapped here was, frankly, their fault for dragging her down.

“Turn danger into safety.” Qi Ji’s voice was deep. The Tai Yi Calculation Canon had given that result. But it didn’t mean she would just wait here for the Xuanzhen Dao Court’s rescue. The numbness from the venom and the suffocating humiliation of being bound ceaselessly battered her nerves. She sensed the Bashe momentarily distracted by something. Biting her tongue, she pressed her fingers against the serpent scales. The power she had been building erupted like a flood breaking a dam! Flames shot up instantly! Though they couldn’t breach Bashe’s defenses, the scorching heat still made the serpent’s tail recoil slightly.

Seeing Qi Ji make her move, Zhao Sujie also reacted on instinct. Her five fingers clawed; thunder instantly roared. But the distance was too close. The deafening boom pierced their eardrums like a sharp awl. Zhao Sujie’s mind went blank with a ringing sound, blood frothing from her mouth! Yet she had no mind to care about her own injuries. She felt the slimy, wet serpent tail loosen slightly, and her heart leaped with joy. She wanted to seize this moment to break free. But then, a whistling shriek in the wind made her muscles tense up instantly, her movements freezing. Subconsciously, she looked up, only for her vision to be immediately seized by an arrow, swift as a shooting star and blazing like drifting fire!

As she stared, transfixed, a tremor of sheer terror simultaneously arose from the depths of the serpent’s own being. The tail binding Qi Ji’s group released its grip, slamming furiously onto the ground, carving a deep trench and kicking up a great cloud of dust. The nightmare that had haunted it for nearly a thousand years was resurrected. The Remnant Soul of this Mountains and Seas exotic beast squeezed out a single word from its maw: “Yi!” After the initial heart-stopping fear subsided, what followed was a towering, maddened fury. That one word crashed down like thunder. The remaining eight heads stirred lazily, then drooped again. Yet a spiritual power radiated from them. Then, behind the giant serpent, a massive nine-headed serpent Dharma Image, ten zhang tall, manifested!

The wind howled and shrieked. A massive, swirling vortex of dark energy formed, instantly devouring that arrow. A roar mixed with fiery rage became increasingly clear: —Yi!

Who shot down the nine suns above, and slew Yayu below. After angering Dijun, unable to return to the Heavenly Realm, Yi still roamed the Great Wilderness with that bow, “sympathizing with the common people’s hardships”! That heavenly god, whose divine power was nearly spent, who willingly fell to become a mortal, seized the title and Authority of the “Sun-shooter”! But he is already dead!

Vast, mighty wind scattered the miasma. Wrapped in a razor-sharp, gleaming sword light, right after the arrow’s radiance shattered, it slashed directly towards the vortex in front of the giant serpent! The intersecting winds formed reverse currents. The surging, unending torrent of the sword cleaved through the sea of clouds and whirlwinds, striking the serpent’s Dharma Image! An explosion resounded! One head of the Dharma Image shattered—then immediately regenerated!

The serpent’s fury intensified. Its icy pupils reflected the speeding arrow once more. Letting out a scoff, its massive tail rose and viciously slammed down towards the cluster of light! It saw the person who had drawn the bow and shot. Their attire was similar to those fools from before, clearly allies. Did they think such feeble force could pierce through it? But less than a breath later, its pupils constricted drastically, a sharp screech tearing from its maw! That fire-drift-like arrow, carrying a fierce, tyrannical power, detonated on its tail! Chunks of flesh, roasted by the scorching blast wave, peeled off and crashed to the ground.

The great serpent: “…” Waves of extreme agony erupted from its tail. It lifted its head, meeting a pair of deep, fathomless eyes. Different face… different soul aura… but at the sight of that thought, the figure deeply, irrevocably etched into its very soul appeared before it. The moment it truly saw the figure that incarnated its terror, all its roaring threats and fury vanished. It could only lower its head on pure instinct. Back then, after that man had wounded it with arrows capable of killing Golden Crows, he hadn’t stopped. He had brutally cleaved its body in two and crushed its True Spirit into fragments. Those dark, desolate eyes burned with a dark fire that scorched the soul itself! Right now, it only wanted to flee! But why… why was its body pinned to this earth?

The intimidation coming from Yi would not last long. Both Fu Juan and Jiang Yiguang knew this. Thunder and fire moved in unison; the wind fueled the flames! Instantly, a massive, purple-colored thunder net was woven between heaven and earth. Clusters of crimson fire fell, like countless arrows surging forward like a torrent.

On the other side, Qi Ji, Zhao Sujie, and the others also caught sight of Fu Juan. Sensing the great serpent’s aura being inexplicably suppressed, they had no time to ponder the details. Squeezing their potential to its limits and circulating their spiritual energy, they, too, rushed forward to join the assault! Amid the thunderous explosions, the Bashe Remnant Soul, stimulated by “Yi,” grew increasingly agitated, as if awakening to its own self-identity. It attempted to tear itself away from the Eight-Headed Giant Serpent’s body and flee. And the Eight-Headed Giant Serpent, originally intent on devouring the Bashe Remnant Soul and completely usurping its mythical concept, also jolted awake. Its eight terrifying, hideous heads fixed onto the enemies before it.

The illusion of that ancient city began to collapse. Those outside the miasma only saw the fog surging like tidal waves, and a single serpent head twisting desperately, as if trying to detach itself from the body. The vanished city of Baling gradually reappeared, as if breaking through the serpent’s belly and leaping out! “This… this is—” the Dao Court disciple stammered. “Where’s Alchemist Tao? Still not here?”

—

At this very moment, Tao Junran stood suspended in mid-air, riding the wind. His blue, ash-gray Daoist robe was stained with patches of blood. Before him was a young woman with nine braids in her hair, dressed in a black hooded sweatshirt. Her long brows swept upwards sharply, the upturned corners of her eyes wafting with an evil air. A serpent coiled around each of her hands: one blue, symbolizing Water; one red, symbolizing Fire.

“Jiuying—” A chill shot through Tao Junran’s heart, his scalp tingling. This great fiend, originally slain above the Fierce Water, had revived—and appeared in the human world! This Jiuying wasn’t yet at full strength. But even so, with his cultivation, trying to hold it back… he would have to stake his life on a desperate fight.

“People of today are indeed much weaker than before,” Jiuying said with a laugh, curving her lips. A playful gleam flickered in her eyes. “No wonder. Your King Yu suppressed the Mountains and Seas, keeping you swaddled in a cradle all this time. Naturally, no more legends of propping up heaven and earth can appear.”

Tao Junran’s face was taut. He sensed a hint of malice from Jiuying, but no killing intent. Steeling himself, he asked hoarsely, “Why have you come to the human world, honored one?”

“Naturally, to inspect the future territory for His Highness, and also—” Before the words finished, Jiuying’s right palm shot out, swift as lightning, grabbing a Shikigami out of thin air and crushing its spirituality completely to dust! “I hear there’s an outsider from Dongying, falsely claiming the name of His Highness Taowu. Punishable by death!” Her form flickered, instantly crossing a hundred steps of distance. Her palm slammed down towards the silently appearing Xu Heng’s head with brutal force!

Xu Heng’s internal alarm bells screamed. He had sensed the spiritual energy fluctuations and come, aiming to take advantage of the chaos to eliminate Tao Junran, dealing a blow to the Dao Court’s power. Who would have guessed Tao Junran’s opponent would suddenly turn its edge towards him?! That immense, surging pressure crashed down like a tidal wave. His Qi flow stagnated; his body immediately became utterly rigid! Without any thought of fighting back, he once again activated the Eight-Headed Giant Serpent’s rune, attempting to teleport away. But a breath later, he materialized right under Jiuying’s palm. A cold, derisive laugh echoed in his ears.

“Filth from Dongying. Are you even worthy?”

After slapping Xu Heng to death with a single palm strike, Jiuying tossed his corpse aside like a discarded rag doll. Glancing coolly at Tao Junran, she turned into a streak of flowing light and vanished into the distance. Tao Junran stood there, mouth agape, only recovering from the shock after a long moment. He twisted a tuft of his beard clean off and abruptly pulled out his phone to call the Dao Court: “Jiuying has appeared in the human world! Raise the alert level! Use Mystic Weapons when necessary!” After a pause, he glanced at Xu Heng’s corpse and continued, his voice grave, “That Onmyoji from Dongying who falsely claimed the name of the Mountains and Seas has been killed. Could be silencing a witness; could also be genuine fury over his actions… I’m bringing the body back. Use the Spirit Communication technique to interrogate the residual True Spirit…”

Hanging up, his gaze swept into the distance. Recalling the events moments prior, his years of disciplined composure shattered in an instant. Unable to resist, he swore viciously. After swallowing several pills, ignoring his injuries, he used the Earth-Traversing Golden Light divine power to chase in the direction Jiuying had fled. Her target… was highly likely also Baling!

This speed of the Mountains and Seas’ revival… could the human world possibly catch up?