Chapter 71 Part 2

Fu Juan didn’t answer. Her gaze suddenly sharpened. She raised a finger to her lips in a silencing gesture.

A sound came, like a gale howling across a cliff, yet faintly carrying the crackle of bamboo joints thrown into a fire. Jiang Yiguang fell silent, her lashes lowered, sensing what the wind carried. Suddenly, she looked in one direction.

It was a mass of yellow cloud drawing closer. As the distance shrank, its shape became clear in her eyes.

Its form was like an owl, with red feet and a straight beak, yellow markings and a white head, its cry like a swan.

This was the jun-bird, formed from Gu’s spirit soul after death! Its yellow wings spread wide, stirring a blood-tinged yellow cloud in midair. The temperature here suddenly spiked higher. Sweat dripped, evaporating before it even hit the ground from the heat. If Jiang Yiguang and Fu Juan hadn’t been cultivators, merely standing here for an instant would have roasted them dry.

After seeing so many fierce demons of the Mountains and Seas, the fear brought by giant creatures had faded. Facing this calamity before her, Jiang Yiguang recalled Tushan Lian’s words. Her long sword left its sheath, a bolt of lightning carrying a mighty tempest of wind and thunder slashing forward! A blazing sword-light flashed in midair, thunder roared, and this sword qi landed heavily on the jun-bird’s body. And the jun-bird, formed from Gu’s spirit soul, harboring that millennia-old contempt for tiny mortals, did not dodge but took the blow head-on. Its form jolted for a moment, even the gale stirred by its wings ceasing. The sword moved like the flowing wind; the sharp sword light easily sliced through feathers, crimson blood scattering down.

The moment Jiang Yiguang drew her sword, Fu Juan also made her move—Heavenly Constellation divine power: Mastery of Five Thunders! Great rolling masses of thunder-light tumbled across the jun-bird’s wings, worming through the wounds into the gaps of flesh, stiffening its movements further. It was originally just a fierce demon, not the ferocious god capable of slaying heavenly gods from thousands of years ago. Having lost the upper hand, it could scarcely find a chance to counterattack. Its damaged wings threw its body off balance; it tipped forward as if about to fall from the sky.

Crimson flames danced, faintly veined with purple thunder-light—dreadfully bewitching. The jun-bird mobilized its spiritual essence, beating both wings and dispelling the thunder-light clinging to its flesh. It screeched piercingly, the heat wind it raised like a tempest, grinding the surrounding rocks into dust. But this onslaught never reached Jiang Yiguang. She perceived the flow of the wind; her sword intent moved with the wind, effortlessly neutralizing that raging storm.

Jiang Yiguang lifted her head slightly to look at the jun-bird. Suddenly, an ominous premonition rose in her heart. Following pure instinct, she recalled her long sword to defend her front. Clang! A long blade struck the sword’s body, sparking a trail of sparks. The jun-bird before her vanished, replaced by a tall, imposing, and defiant young man, gripping his long blade and staring fixedly at Jiang Yiguang, his eyes brimming with hatred. An extremely strange aura emanated from the youth, as if he were no longer a fierce demon but a fierce god stepping out of the ages.

Could the fierce demons of the Mountains and Seas revive like this? Jiang Yiguang’s eyelid twitched. Gripping her long sword tightly, she unleashed a sword art.

“Xuan Nü sword… Ji Xuanyuan—” The youth ground out words filled with hatred from between his teeth, his posture as if utterly enraged by Jiang Yiguang’s sword momentum. The moment Jiang Yiguang considered this fierce god’s cause of death, understanding dawned in her heart. Perhaps intense hatred had restored a moment of clarity to his spirit soul? Sword and blade clashed in midair, sending massive shockwaves rippling outward. Using the force of the impact, Jiang Yiguang lightly sprang backward, putting distance between herself and the young man.

The opponent’s killing intent was too fierce; every move seemed to burn what was left of his spirit soul.

Jiang Yiguang had no intention of a mutual destruction with him.

“Fu Juan!” She turned and shouted.

Having fought side-by-side through life and death, the two shared an extraordinary tacit understanding. Many times, Fu Juan played the role of “guide,” giving Jiang Yiguang opportunities to temper herself. But at this moment, she understood Jiang Yiguang had no desire to prolong the fight. Urging her spiritual power, the dual energies of Yin and Yang circulated. The trigrams of Wind, Fire, and Thunder combined once more, transforming into a mighty force crashing down upon the youth. She faced the youth’s bloodshot eyes expressionlessly. With a flip of her left hand, she summoned a bow and directly formed an arrow of primal qi! After slaying Jiuying, she had truly grasped the “Sun-shooting” authority. This arrow contained majestic divine power!

Ringing sounds of sword chimes erupted, far more soul-shaking than the thunder.

In the Mountains and Seas, Jiang Yiguang showed no mercy against demonic beasts. Even knowing that Fu Juan’s arrow could grievously wound the opponent to the brink of death, she had to use her most powerful sword art to strike the finishing blow, ensuring he was thoroughly dead. The fluctuations of spiritual power were extremely violent—the shockwaves squeezed space itself, creating a suffocating atmosphere. But this oppressive feeling was then cleaved open by the sword light. That rushing, nearly invisible, intangible sword qi was just like the wind, speeding alongside the sun-shooting arrow towards the youth.

But in that flash of lightning and spark of stone, Bell Mountain nearby suddenly displayed an anomaly. An icy, gloomy killing intent instantly locked onto the Red River area. Time itself seemed to freeze at this moment. Both the arrow and the sword qi shattered against a hand that extended out of nothingness. And Gu’s spirit soul seemed unable to maintain human form any longer, reverting to a jun-bird that perched upon that jade-white palm protruding from the void.

A cold chill rose sharply in Jiang Yiguang’s heart. The owner of this hand… she could only think of the Torch Dragon!

Her hand gripping the sword suddenly tightened. She shuffled backwards, pressing against Fu Juan. She stared at that hand with intense wariness, estimating in her mind her chances of victory if she activated the Water God’s Seal. But the God of Bell Mountain did nothing further. After tearing open space, he directly took the jun-bird and left, not leaving a trace behind.

“The freedom of a god, huh?” Jiang Yiguang was a little dazed. As one of the deities with the highest authority in the High Antiquity era, he symbolized the order of sun and moon, the alternation of Yin and Yang—he could transcend the barriers of space and time. His sudden appearance, without emitting any of the vast pressure of a deity, was precisely what made him terrifying.

But soon, Jiang Yiguang had no time to dwell on it.

The ground shook violently. Fiery energy surged like a heatwave, and the Red River itself began to boil. It was as if someone had flipped the switch—the fire-baleful energy across the entire Red River flared up, dyeing the dome of the sky a blazing crimson. Jiang Yiguang’s eyelids twitched even more violently. She turned and supported the swaying Fu Juan, silently activating the Water God’s Seal to bring forth a wave of cold air.

Fu Juan let out a breath of turbid air, shaking her head. “I’m fine.” Beads of sweat rolled down her forehead. The fire-baleful energy inside her body seemed to sense its source, burning through her lungs and meridians. Amidst the fiery haze, she discerned the most primal fire energy of this land. Gripping Jiang Yiguang’s hand tightly, she said again, “Keep moving forward.”

In the land of Red River.

The fire-baleful energy had reached its extreme.

Moisture drained continuously from her body. Even the pills brought from Azure Hill failed to improve the situation. Fu Juan said nothing more. Judging by the pressure on her wrist, she was likely struggling against the fire-baleful energy within. Jiang Yiguang bit her lower lip. After a moment’s thought, she simply pushed the Water God’s Seal to its utmost limit. The existence of water was not merely rivers—there were also glaciers. Under the power of divinity, the icy chill climbed sharply, only to be dispelled again by the searing fire. Pale blue ice crystals interwove with dark red flames, as if they stood within two opposing poles. What they needed was to find balance between water and fire.

“When metal and wood merge, when water and fire intermingle, when Kan and Li achieve completion, one unites with the true Dao.” Fu Juan’s voice rang beside her ear. Jiang Yiguang blinked, then understood—Fu Juan was speaking of the Daoist principle of the Kan-Li Exchange, the path of the inner alchemy cultivator. So-called cultivation was returning from the acquired state to the innate, allowing primal qi and the original spirit to once again become “one.” The transformations of the myriad things were all manifestations of the Dao. This path leading to the land where Nü Ba’s power originated could also serve as her trial.

As they gradually drew near the source of power, that all-incinerating flame actually receded. The wind blowing towards them carried a soothing, refreshing coolness, like a sudden downpour and cool breeze in a blazing summer.

Jiang Yiguang said softly, “There’s a very pure divine power here.”

Fu Juan replied, “After all, Nü Ba is a Heavenly Maiden of Kunlun.”

Jiang Yiguang asked further, “Can we refine that wisp of fire-baleful energy here?” Before arriving, she had imagined many other possibilities. Perhaps this place had been occupied by other forces, or perhaps Nü Ba had already awakened… But right now, this place was extremely quiet, as if it were its own world, isolated from everything else. A gentle divine power flowed, making one instinctively feel good will and a desire for closeness.

Fu Juan nodded.

Jiang Yiguang made an “mhm” sound. Her gaze swept left and right for a moment, then she lowered her voice and asked, “Then you go ahead? I’ll stand guard?”

Fu Juan: “Alright.” She had been trying to bring the residual fire-baleful energy within her under control the moment they passed through the source. The situation at Bell Mountain was unclear, and this tranquil place might not remain calm for long. She needed to resolve this as quickly as possible so they could leave this crisis-ridden Mountains and Seas.

In a place of stillness, time always passed slowly.

In Jiang Yiguang’s mind, an ethereal clock seemed to tick, tick, tick. She observed this circular earthen altar north of the Red River, its ancient steps leading down to the ground. There were no arrays here, no signs of ferocious beasts prowling. They seemed to instinctively avoid this land where divinity flowed. Jiang Yiguang watched the environment for a while, then after a moment, cast her gaze towards her “Character Panel.” Ever since the system disappeared, she rarely looked at these largely meaningless statistics. But now, she noticed a hint of something amiss. The line of text reading “Hundun Fragment” shimmered with an extremely bizarre light, and it was growing larger and larger, as if it wanted to engulf her entirely!

Frowning, Jiang Yiguang took a step back.

The light followed her movement.

A chill crawled over her. It felt as if something brushed the back of her neck. She slowly turned her head to look!