Chapter 35: The Purple Sun Sword and the Appearance of the True Dragon (Part 2)

Description

Bai Yao stood with her sword, the black mist and purple-gold righteous qi on the [Sky Devourer] harmoniously merging under the mediation of a faintly visible water-blue true qi.

She looked at the Heart Lake, where the palm-sized water-blue Kun Spirit was circling the Purple Sun Great Sun, as joyful as a child who had been away from home for too long.

“Cave Spirit, how exactly was this little one born?” Bai Yao asked the Cave Spirit directly through the Heart Lake.

The lark flapped its wings and landed on her shoulder, its voice carrying an unusual solemnity:

“When a supreme heavenly spirit falls, if its obsession refuses to dissipate, and after undergoing a process similar to a human turning into a specter, if the heavenly authority they wield is rejected by heaven and earth, they become an Evil Spirit driven by the obsession of their former life. But that does not mean their life has truly come to an end. Their obsession will still drive the evil-tainted domain to nurture a new heavenly spirit.”

Bai Yao frowned slightly, finally understanding what the so-called sealed object in the inner layer of the Cangjie Grotto-Heaven truly was:

“So this little thing is Ming Ge’s… child?”

“You could say that.”

The lark looked toward the massive Water Screen cocoon on the River, its tone carrying a hint of confusion and wariness,

“It’s just that it is still a living Evil Spirit, rejected by heaven and earth, so it can only coexist with living beings. This little one’s outer shell is disguised as a Tian Shi Dragon Fish because the first Mingzi has already been born, and Ming Ge’s obsession does not want her second child to be offered as a sacrifice. This very thought is the same as the Tian Shi Dragon Fish’s instinct to devour heaven and earth and transform into a true dragon. That is why this little one’s protective shell takes the form of a dragon fish.”

Bai Yao followed the lark’s gaze toward the River.

The massive Water Screen cocoon slowly rotated in the rain, and something inside seemed to be breathing, emitting a dull thumping like a heartbeat.

“You’re saying… after a Mingzi is born, there will be a sacrifice?” Bai Yao had clearly grasped the key point.

“All living beings in the Grotto-Heaven are sacrificed to the first Mingzi.”

The lark’s voice grew cautious, yet carried an unprecedented gravity,

“Though the specific purpose is unknown, this is most likely the Hehuan Sect’s scheme, and also the leverage the Xuan Yu Sect wants a share of.”

Bai Yao fell silent for a moment.

She suddenly felt the Kun Spirit in her Heart Lake was no longer so joyful.

That tiny body seemed to bear the weight of an entire burning sea of stars from fragments of memory.

Seeing that Bai Yao had declared an undying battle but had yet to move, Mu Jingyue slowly rose to her feet.

A hint of mockery actually appeared on her face, which had been as still as dead water for years.

That smile was like a crack splitting open an ice sheet, revealing the bottomless cold beneath:

“Junior Sister Bai, if we keep fighting, we’ll both become sacrifices to that Mingzi on the Yuning River. Just give up. Getting out alive matters more than anything else.”

Bai Yao sneered, her voice piercing through the rain curtain like a sharp sword:

“Mu Jingyue, do you think I don’t know who Gao Luan really is?

He brought the [Sky Devourer] into the Cangjie Grotto-Heaven to serve as your backup if you failed.

The most fundamental reason the Xuan Yu Sect was on the verge of collapse yet insisted on offending the upper sect Qinglan Sect was for me, this [Key].

After all, they plotted for countless years and poured countless resources into this.

They’re already in too deep to turn back now.”

She paused, raising the black sword to point at the massive cocoon on the River:

“Your true objective is the [Dragon Palace] Secret Realm of the Eastern Ming Cang Sea.”

The moment she mentioned “[Dragon Palace],” Mu Jingyue’s gaze turned icy cold.

That layer of hypocritical calm peeled away completely.

Her killing intent was like a blade being unsheathed, no longer concealed.

All that remained was perhaps the coldest sentence she had ever spoken in her life:

“You know too much…”

Someone dared to contend with her, one who coexisted with an Evil Spirit formed from the remnant soul of Pixiu, the ninth son of the true dragon, over the [Dragon Palace]?

What recruitment, what grand scheme of the sect, screw all that! Whoever fought her over the Dragon Palace fought her over the Dao itself.

They must die.

Bai Yao also smiled.

That smile was utterly inhuman, still carrying the sarcasm she had accumulated over two lifetimes:

“Senior Sister Mu, no, Mu Jingyue. That’s more like it…

Words are useless.

Why not abandon your hypocritical recruitment and properly settle this final grudge with me?”

The next instant, both of their auras surged simultaneously.

Sword Qi and killing intent ran rampant, and the raindrops between them were shredded into fine mist by their true qi.

Bai Yao stepped forward, sword in her right hand.

Purple-gold and pitch-black intertwined on the blade.

The sword’s cry was clear and bright, its killing intent fierce:

“Mu Jingyue, your Pixiu power is formidable, but after taking Ming Ge’s desperate counterattack before her demise, you’re already finished, aren’t you?”

Mu Jingyue clenched her five fingers, and the dark-water true dragon let out a feeble roar.

The golden light on its body dimmed like a candle flickering in the wind, its very scales beginning to peel away:

“Bai Yao, it’s true that I can’t fight an opponent at the Human Immortal level right now, but killing you, who just entered symbiosis with a newborn Evil Spirit, is more than enough!”

Both changed their forms of address simultaneously.

The titles of senior and junior sister seemed washed clean by the rain, and all sect fellowship was severed then and there.

“Bai Yao, die!”

“Mu Jingyue, come!”

Both struck at the same time.

Bai Yao thrust the [Sky Devourer] forward with her right hand.

The sword light, where purple-gold and pitch-black merged, tore through the rain curtain, striking head-on at the five-clawed true dragon shrouded in dark water.

Wherever that sword light passed, the air crackled with the sound of scorching, and raindrops turned to steam on contact.

Mu Jingyue pointed a single finger, and the five-clawed dark-water true dragon roared, dozens of smaller water dragons trailing behind it.

That gravity field warped space itself, compressing even the rain curtain into a solid wall of water.

“Clang!”

The moment they touched, only a single deafening explosion rang out.

Bai Yao’s entire right arm, which held the sword, had its flesh and bone torn apart by the abnormal gravity.

Blood was shredded into a mist by the gravity field, splattering across her cheeks.

Yet she acted as if nothing had happened.

Using her seemingly fragile bone-white palm, she clenched the [Sky Devourer] tightly and thrust forward.

The Cave Spirit watched with its heart pounding, but without the slightest hesitation, it squeezed out its remaining Grotto-Heaven authority.

The power of restoration barely kept pace with the speed at which Bai Yao’s flesh was separating from bone.

Upon the white bones, flesh wriggled and regenerated like worms, only to be shredded apart by gravity again.

Round and round it went.

To Bai Yao, the pain was no different from someone scraping a dull blade across her bones.

Mu Jingyue was not faring well either.

Righteous Qi continuously annihilated her Pixiu body, which was an Evil Spirit in reality, emitting a sizzling burning sound like a branding iron pressed against flesh.

The smell of scorching mixed with saltiness all rushed into her nostrils.

Ming Ge’s Evil Thoughts, meanwhile, were constantly polluting and destroying her Heart Lake, attempting to completely erase her existence as Mu Jingyue on a spiritual level.

Both of them were utterly lost in themselves, with only one thought in their eyes: kill the other.

The final blow.

The sword light flashed explosively.

The dark-water true dragon completely collapsed, scattering into a rain of dark water falling from the sky.

The drizzling rain halted at that moment.

The residual Illusion of the entire Grotto-Heaven fell into chaos from the clash of two Evil Spirit symbionts.

Space twisted like crumpled paper, groaning under the unbearable strain.

The rain stopped.

The grey clouds parted across the dim sky, and pale sunlight spilled down like a thin layer of frost covering the battered Yuning River.

Bai Yao stood with her sword, the flesh of her right arm completely torn away, leaving only white bone.

Yet one could clearly see flesh, sinew, and bone continuously regenerating, like spring sprouts breaking through soil, writhing, crawling, covering the white bones inch by inch.

Behind her, Mu Jingyue let out a helpless sigh and fell to the ground without another word.

Bai Yao looked down at her skeletal right hand as flesh slowly regenerated.

She had won.

But the Kun Spirit in her Heart Lake let out a mournful cry, as if sensing something.

She suddenly looked up toward the River.

That massive Water Screen cocoon was slowly cracking open a slit, and something inside had opened its eyes.