Chapter 49

It stood in the distance, its head and chest rising well above the treeline. Through the swaying shadows of the dense branches and leaves, one could still make out every single feather, pitch-black and sharp as blades, yet its entire body seemed to be melting, constantly dripping with thick black mucus, as if on the verge of rotting.

The four stood in the Shadowless Land amid the white bones, still recovering from the shock of the woman severing her own umbilical cord, when dust suddenly rose from the ground beneath their feet and floated upward, like gunpowder smoke or the countless ashes from the woman’s shattered body.

The Yellow Sparrow twitched its head, the two eyeballs embedded in its sockets gleaming white and round, as if floating on the water’s surface, bobbing indeterminately.

It made no move, merely standing in the jungle, yet it already instilled terror in their hearts.

Mu Qian Tan still gripped the Spirit Sword in her hand. She glanced down at it, then palmed the hilt and flung it to her side. The scabbard flew off, and sword light flowed. The others knew danger loomed and silently suppressed their emotions, each drawing their weapons.

Suddenly, those two eyeballs spun rapidly, as if about to fly out of their sockets, then fixed on a point, stabbing toward them like two bolts of white lightning.

Mu Qian Tan said, “It’s coming. Don’t clash head-on. Find the demon core first.”

Sure enough, in the next moment, the Yellow Sparrow tore open its sharp beak and screeched, spreading its wings and charging!

It had been far off just moments ago, yet in the blink of an eye, it was upon them! It crushed layers of white bones underfoot, its momentum unrelenting. The people on either side dodged to the flanks. Qin He tapped her toes on the ground and executed Earth-Treading Skyward Flight, evading from above.

Only Shang Shan, burning with hatred for vengeance on behalf of that woman, had eyes blazing with light. She opened her mouth and spat a beam of high-temperature flames at the Yellow Sparrow.

Who would have thought this strike missed? Not because the Yellow Sparrow dodged, but because it scooped out a large hole from the middle of its body, letting the flames pass straight through. Then its right wing fanned over, carrying wind and blade-sharp edges. Shang Shan had no choice but to close her mouth, retreat urgently, and flee into the forest.

The Yellow Sparrow pursued with momentum, while Shang Shan hid in the shadows, circling around trees. The Yellow Sparrow barreled straight through, snapping bowl-thick trunks like chopsticks, felling them in swathes with cracking sounds. The forest let out waves of mournful cries, only to be suppressed by the sparrow’s chirps.

Sharp feathers grazed past her several times. Sweat dripped from Shang Shan’s forehead. She swallowed several chunks of pure gold, then turned back to spray flames. Trees ignited, leaves curling in flames, roots charring black. The Yellow Sparrow dodged again, its shadow-like body shifting shapes like mud and water, its pursuit unrelenting.

In mere moments, a stretch of forest burned to charred ruins, black smoke billowing.

Shang Shan ran too fast, her ankle emitting discordant bone creaks, aching terribly, but she dared not stop. The Yellow Sparrow was right on her heels, about to close in!

In one lapse, something cold climbed her ankle. She had just lowered her head to see the black shadow coiled around her wrist when her body was yanked off the ground, swung wildly, smashing through a row of poplars before crashing into a massive boulder. The stone surface cracked under the impact, spiderwebbing with fissures.

She spat a mouthful of blood, head spinning and vision blurring. Knowing the urgency, she shook her head fiercely to clear it, only to find the Yellow Sparrow right in front of her.

Several drops of black liquid splattered down, sizzling on the stone. The Yellow Sparrow opened its mouth to bite. In that instant, time seemed to slow. Its ferocious face loomed larger and larger, so close she could see the bottomless black abyss in its throat.

Shang Shan’s gaze trembled. She had faced demons many times without fear, and even now she wasn’t afraid. But in that split second, she clearly realized a powerless fact.

That was, her prized Flame Spray Technique, along with her speed and physique superior to ordinary people, amounted to nothing before a truly powerful demon.

A black flower bloomed in the Yellow Sparrow’s mouth. Looking closely, it was the barbed tip of the Primordial Snake Bone Whip, piercing through the back of its neck and drilling upward, hooking its forehead and abruptly halting its bite.

Fu Li planted her feet firmly on the ground and yanked the whip, laughing. “The mantis’s life-saving grace has been repaid. I don’t owe you anymore!”

She said she wouldn’t call them into the formation to help, yet she still remembered that bit of kindness!

As she spoke, Qin He landed atop the boulder, bent down to grab Shang Shan’s collar from behind, and yanked her up, pulling her free from the Yellow Sparrow’s mouth.

Seeing her escape, Fu Li immediately released the whip. The three dashed away with wind at their feet, fleeing toward the Yellow Sparrow’s rear and stopping only after pulling away a dozen or so zhang.

Qin He landed on a tree branch, not daring to relax the strength in her legs, gently setting down Shang Shan. Though she had luckily saved someone from the Yellow Sparrow’s jaws, her expression showed no relief—instead, it grew even more solemn.

Shang Shan squatted by her feet, spat out the blood from her mouth, wiped her lips, and then looked up to size up the Shadow Demon.

Fu Li landed on the tree opposite her, raised her hand to shade her brow, and focused on observing the Yellow Sparrow’s next move. Alarming hisses issued continuously as it shook its head like a venomous snake.

The Yellow Sparrow turned its head, pecked at a few drops of blood on the stone corpse, then shifted its body and flew over.

Everyone’s expressions tightened. They positioned themselves in formation, surrounding it to let it enter the array of its own accord. Then sword qi, flames, poison mist, and talismans all flew toward the center.

Beneath the Shadow Demon’s two great wings sprouted several long-armed Black Hands, batting away sword light, fanning off poison mist, and tearing apart talismans. Many were sliced or severed, and at the roots of the severed Black Hands, agonized human faces would emerge, wailing in terror!

However, though some were repelled, most of the Black Hands acted slyly, moved swiftly, and were hard as iron.

After several clashes, all three bore wounds great and small, but the Yellow Sparrow showed no new moves and could still be suppressed somewhat. Even in one moment of tacit coordination, they pushed it back a bit!

Before the three could rejoice, they saw the Yellow Sparrow show no sign of defeat or weariness. Instead, it lightly leaped back onto the boulder, strolling leisurely as if on an outing, even chuckling and flicking its tail.

As they puzzled over this, the Yellow Sparrow opened its great maw toward the sky, winds from all directions surging into its mouth. Fu Li wondered, “What is it doing?”

A wisp of white drifted past her eyes. Qin He’s gaze shifted, noticing the surroundings. Many fine, willow-fluff-like white particles in the air flowed toward the Yellow Sparrow.

After a moment’s identification, she said, “It’s spiritual power!”

The Yellow Sparrow was absorbing the spiritual power in the natural world to replenish itself!

Shang Shan seemed to sense something. She reached out to catch a passing spiritual breeze by her side. The sensation was cool and gentle, slipping through her fingers like water.

She brought her palm to her nose and sniffed. Gradually, excitement lit her eyes.

From afar, Mu Qian Tan reviewed the Yellow Sparrow’s earlier actions, committing them to memory.

Though it was a shadow, it could be attacked—when caught off guard, or when about to feed, or when it needed a physical form to strike. Moreover, all the absorbed spiritual power surged toward the Yellow Sparrow’s head, proving that woman right: the demon core was in its head!

Once it fully absorbed the spiritual power, the Yellow Sparrow’s body swelled a size larger. Its sharp claws pierced the stone, it flicked its tail and flipped around, charging again!

This time, the three knew the gap in strength and scattered like arrows to the periphery, avoiding a direct confrontation. The Yellow Sparrow didn’t change course, continuing to pulverize earth and topple trees, its target solely the woman in the rear who had barely moved.

The colossal beast bore down on her. Mu Qian Tan remained calm and unhurried, twirled a sword flower, and drifted off in another direction. The Yellow Sparrow chased hotly after.

If she remembered right, this Shadowless Land was just an arrow’s distance from that Deep Pool—indeed, no mistake. Ahead beyond the trees lay a pool of water, far wider than in reality, dark and still.

Upon reaching the pool’s edge, Mu Qian Tan halted, tossed the sword to her left hand to grip steadily, and turned to face the Shadow Demon.

She held her right hand behind her back. Blue spiritual power flowed from her palm, gentle as lake water, dripping along her fingers into the pool.

The Yellow Sparrow drew nearer and nearer, the ground booming. Golden light erupted from Mu Qian Tan’s bowl, spiritual power condensing. As it lunged into view, she flung her right hand out in a scattering motion. A massive Ice-Molded Bowl burst through the water surface with a whoosh, pool water cascading from its rim like a sudden downpour. The bowl mouth faced down, trapping the Yellow Sparrow inside.

This fleshly body truly wasn’t up to par. Without her Solitary Goose at hand, even with a sword she could hardly wound foes—not that she knew many sword techniques anyway. She could only borrow the environment to maximize her abilities.

Hundreds of spikes erupted from the bowl walls, stabbing toward the sparrow within. The Shadow Demon instantly twisted its body apart, turning into countless black orbs that bounced and collided inside the bowl, gradually accelerating.

Mu Qian Tan pressed down with her right hand, sinking the bowl mouth nearly into the mud, while clenching her fingers. The bowl rapidly shrank, intending to crush the Shadow Demon inside.

But the black orbs moved too fast for the naked eye, their impacts growing fiercer. Finally, cracks crawled across the ice bowl, on the verge of shattering!

Mu Qian Tan withdrew her hand and retreated, her toes lightly tapping the water surface to bloom a fluorescent blue Ice Epiphyllum Flower.

Just then, the ice bowl exploded with a boom. Black shadows turned into sharp swords piercing through the fragment rain, along with a tidal stench slamming toward her face.

She had already retreated to the pool’s center. She swung her sleeve, and an arc-shaped ice wall rose from the water. The black swords stabbed into the ice, melting and fusing into it.

As it prepared to vault the ice wall, a fine-meshed Golden Great Net flew from behind, almost impermeable to water droplets, enveloping it. Golden hooks on the net’s edge locked firmly into the ice wall, preventing any struggle.

Fu Li said, “Got it!”

Qin He leaped over, stepped onto the ice wall, gripped a Spirit Sword in each hand reversed, and crossed them toward the Yellow Sparrow’s head, stabbing in before detonating spiritual power. That head instantly shattered into pulp, the demon core’s spiritual light flashing.

Qin He was delighted inside and reached to pierce the demon core. But who would have thought it spat out the demon core itself, spun it on its tongue, then rolled it back into its belly, emitting a shrill laugh.

Provocation!

The Shadow Demon erupted again, its body fusing into a sharp blade that severed the golden net artifact.

Qin He immediately backflipped away, dodging the edge. Fu Li still held the treasure in hand and couldn’t disengage in time.

The giant blade flashed in her pupils, then slid past. Shang Shan had hugged her and leaped up together, stepping on the blade body to plunge into the water.

The two entered the water. Shang Shan focused on the blade’s trajectory, while Fu Li wiped water from her face and slapped the surface. “No way, I owe you again?”

Shang Shan said, “Don’t think about that now.”

Mu Qian Tan flipped her wrist, flattened her palm, and blew forward. Ice shards turned into a million spikes shooting at the black blade, only to be swatted aside. The black blade straightened and stabbed toward the water.

The two clearly couldn’t escape in time. Mu Qian Tan pushed her palm forward; an ice-crystal dolphin formed and buoyed them toward the shore. The black blade grazed past them and plunged into the water.

Qin He pulled the two ashore. While it was still underwater, Mu Qian Tan unleashed Freeze Three Feet, pouring massive spiritual power into the pool, freezing the entire body of water solid from top to bottom.

Chill vapors rose from the ice surface, falling leaves rustled down. Several pairs of eyes fixed on the ice, alert to any movement.

One breath, two breaths, three breaths.

Just as they thought the Shadow Demon was trapped, before they could exhale, black shadows spread under the three on the opposite shore like quicksand, swallowing them to the waist!

This thing had tunneled under the ice from the soil below for a sneak attack!

The three stood shoulder to shoulder, backs pressed together, sinking continuously. Though they struggled without cease, the seemingly soft black shadow held firm as steel, immobilizing them!

Moreover, new spikes coalesced at the black shadow’s edges, about to impale the three. Mu Qian Tan saw this and pushed out spiritual power from her palm, flying over.

The water had turned to ice and was unusable. She raised her Spirit Sword and slashed out several sword beams, dispersing the spikes. She planned to fly over afterward and lift the three out mid-air.

However, she hadn’t expected this to be a baited trap!

She had just reached the pool’s center, her sword light nearly spent and unable to turn, when a cluster of black blades shot out from under the ice layer in that instant.

Mu Qian Tan barely glimpsed the black afterimage when agony erupted in her abdomen, flashing along her spine like electricity through her whole body.

She let out a muffled grunt, looked down, and saw the black blade piercing through her abdomen. Scalding blood nearly spurted out, dripping onto the ice and blooming red.

The three opposite froze in their struggles, dumbstruck. Silence fell inside and outside the ice pool, as if one could hear the sound of blood gushing down.

Finally, Shang Shan shattered the quiet with a heartrending scream: “Master!!”