txolops Chapter 37 Blood Valley Old Demon
Chapter 37 Blood Valley Old Demon
The stone walls on both sides were shaken and dust fell in a flurry. Blood mist that had not yet dissipated floated in the air. The pungent and sweet smell was mixed with the smell of rotting flesh and bone ash, making people's throats feel dry.
Huang Chen walked to the stone gate and placed his palm on it, feeling as if he were touching a layer of living flesh.
The next instant, a blood bubble suddenly bulged out from the crack in the door.
With a "poof" sound.
Blood bubbles burst, splattering crimson liquid all over the ground. The heavy stone door slowly slid open inward, grinding against the ground with a screeching sound.
Behind the door was pitch black, like an old well that had been buried for many years, but something was moving in that darkness.
First were a pair of bare feet, the insteps bluish-black, and the spaces between the toes filled with dried blood and grime.
Above that was a tall, almost deformed body. The man wore a tattered black robe that was already soaked in blood. His chest was swollen, and his skin was as cracked and wrinkled as old tree bark, with fine blood seeping from the cracks from time to time.
Dozens of wisps of black smoke, not malevolent energy, were wrapped around his shoulders and back. These remnant souls writhed and wailed around him, occasionally revealing half a blurry human face before being engulfed back into the bloody smoke.
The most horrifying thing was the face. Half of it still barely resembled a human, while the other half looked as if it had been melted alive by blood and fire. The eye sockets were sunken, the gums were protruding, and dark red flesh strands that had congealed were hanging from the cheeks.
The only intact eyeball spun around before finally settling on Huang Chen.
"It's you..."
The sound was as dry as two pieces of iron grinding together.
"The man who killed me."
Huang Chen exhaled, his chest heaving rapidly.
If we fight head-on, something bad is likely to happen. I glanced back.
The main cave behind the stone gate is larger than the outside, but the terrain is lower. It is surrounded by blood-red diversion channels carved into the stone walls, like the meridians of a human body, which eventually all flow into the central blood pool.
Beside the blood pool stood a dozen black iron cages, inside which huddled figures, young and old, all emaciated and bound by chains. Many no longer had the strength to lift their heads. Behind the cages was a soul-binding platform, upon which stood a white bone banner pole, its tip adorned with thumb-sized skull bells that jingled in the eerie wind.
No wonder the system task hasn't been completed yet.
Not all the people have been rescued yet.
Blood Valley Demon raised his hand, and blood energy surged in his palm, slowly condensing into a blood spear about ten feet long.
"Kneel down."
"Offer up your body."
"I can allow your soul to linger for three more days."
Huang Chen grinned.
"Your face is more disgusting when you open your mouth than when you close it."
Blood Valley Old Demon's perfectly intact eyeballs suddenly shrank.
boom!
The blood spear shot out from the air, moving as fast as a crimson lightning bolt, heading straight for Huang Chen's brow.
Huang Chen was prepared. He twisted his foot and rushed out diagonally. The blood spear grazed his ear and embedded itself in the stone wall behind him, exploding into a large pile of rubble.
The blast of air made half of his face burn. Without turning around, he used the momentum to lunge directly at the first row of cages on the left.
"Open the door! Everyone, get out!"
A young miner in the cage froze, his lips cracked and bleeding, his voice trembling: "Um, benefactor..."
"Stop talking nonsense!"
Huang Chen smashed the lock with a punch, and the iron gate sprang open with a bang.
"Those who can walk, lead those who can't, and retreat towards the valley entrance!"
Blood Valley Old Demon sneered and raised his hands.
The blood mist in the main cave suddenly surged and transformed into more than a dozen thick blood pythons, which swooped down from mid-air to strangle the creatures. These blood pythons were not real objects; as they slithered past the stone walls, the stone surfaces were charred and blackened.
Huang Chen raised his hand and summoned the Wind-Fixing Pearl.
A flash of pearly light, and a burst of bluish-white airflow erupted.
The blood mist that had been flowing towards the blood pool along the guide channel was instantly thrown off course. Several blood pythons, which had just solidified, were twisted and scattered by the swirling gusts of wind.
The wind howled in the main cave, and the stench of blood and gore was swept up and crashed everywhere, even causing the skull bell on the soul-binding platform to ring wildly.
"A wind-type magic weapon?"
'
Blood Valley Demon's expression changed for the first time.
Huang Chen didn't respond at all. He took advantage of the gust of wind to rush to the second row of cages and kicked down one iron door after another.
"quick!"
"Run outside!"
Don't stay by the pool!
The old man in the prison cell had already been helped outside, but he was still clinging to the stone door and shouting inside: "Those kids inside!"
Drag it out first! Drag it out first!
'
A disheveled woman, carrying an unconscious child, stumbled out of the cage, leaving two bloody marks on the ground from her knees. Another miner, emaciated to the bone, tried to carry his companion, but his legs gave way, and they both fell.
Huang Chen dodged past, grabbed one of them with each hand, and forcefully lifted them up, throwing them out to the people behind him.
"Catch!"
'
Just as I saw the person out, darkness suddenly fell over my head.
The Blood Valley Demon had already pounced close.
His speed was unexpectedly fast for a heretical cultivator. His black robe billowed in mid-air, his five fingers spread wide, and his nails grew long and hook-like as he grabbed directly at Huang Chen's crown. Huang Chen raised his arm to block, and with a "ripping" sound, his sleeve was torn open with five deep cuts along with his flesh, and blood immediately flowed down.
pain.
Huang Chen's eye twitched violently.
Blood Valley Old Demon, however, seemed to smell the aroma of wine, his nostrils twitched, and a low, eerie laugh escaped his throat.
"Good blood."
'
"Your body is more useful than all of theirs combined."
Huang Chen threw a punch with his backhand, the force of the punch exploding around the opponent's jaw, knocking the half-damaged face to one side.
Blood Valley Old Demon merely shook his neck and then struck Huang Chen in the chest with a backhand.
Blood Valley Old Demon merely shook his neck and then struck Huang Chen in the chest with a backhand.
boom!
Huang Chen was sent flying backward, his back smashing through an empty cage. His chest churned violently, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.
The thing over there has also trained its physical body.
It's not just evil magic.
The Blood Valley Demon walked slowly, supported by the blood beneath his feet. With each step, a wisp of remnant souls and black smoke appeared around him.
He glanced at the people who had been released and grinned.
"You'll save me?"
'
"Save one, and I'll take one."
As soon as he finished speaking, the blood pool churned violently, and dozens of blood lines shot out like live snakes, rushing straight at those who had just escaped from their cages.
Huang Chen's pupils contracted, and he flipped his palm over.
The twelfth grade of the karmic fire red lotus (imitation) rises.
The dark red lotus shadow slowly rotated in mid-air. The flames were not intense, but the temperature was terrifyingly high. As soon as the blood lines approached, they were immediately licked by the karmic fire, sizzling and emitting large plumes of black smoke.
The crowd, shielded by the firelight, gasped in surprise and instinctively shrank behind the lotus shadows.
Blood Valley Demon's expression finally turned truly grim.
"Karmic fire?"
"Where did you, a mere Nascent Soul cultivator, get your karmic fire magic weapon!"
'
Huang Chen wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and smiled rather fiercely.
"Go ask Yama, the King of Hell."
'
He suddenly sank into the ground, and instead of rushing towards the old demon, he lunged at the stone wall to one side.
boom!
The first punch shattered the blood-red drainage channel on the stone wall.
boom!
Boom! Boom!
Second punch, third punch, fourth punch!
Huang Chen smashed along the stone wall like a madman.
The hard rock shattered into large chunks under his fist, and the blood grooves embedded within broke off one after another. The essence blood that had been flowing smoothly towards the central blood pool suddenly lost its guidance; some of it spilled directly onto the ground, some rushed back upwards, and some even poured into the side grooves under the influence of the chaotic wind.
The entire evil formation began to fall into chaos.
Blood Valley Demon was taken aback at first, then flew into a rage.
"stop!"
He spread his arms, and at the same time, the black smoke and remnant souls around him shrieked. Seven or eight ten-foot-long blood spikes immediately condensed on the top of the main cave and rained down on Huang Chen.
Huang Chen charged forward despite the falling rocks, his shoulders, back, and legs scraped and bleeding, but he didn't stop.
Smash it again!
Cut it again!
He blasted the last main flow channel apart with a single punch.
The next moment, a muffled sound suddenly came from the central blood pool.
It's like a boiler has exploded.
The blood that had been suppressed and refined by the evil formation lost its restraint and rushed back to the formation's core. The black smoke and remnant soul on the Blood Valley Old Demon's body instantly went berserk, and the human faces that had been clinging to his body twisted and emitted piercing howls.
He staggered, his face turned from blue to red, then from red to purple, and he coughed up a mouthful of black blood.
The backlash has occurred.
It's now!
Huang Chen stomped his foot and shot out like an arrow.
"Seven Forms of Witchcraft - Sky Rift!"
He forcefully shoved the air apart, tearing a straight white streak through the blood mist in front of him.
As Blood Valley Demon looked up, Huang Chen had already rushed in front of him and punched him in the chest. With a "crack," a piece of his sternum collapsed on the spot, and the old demon staggered back three steps, blood splattering at his feet.
But the old man's ferocity was completely unleashed.
He let out a wild laugh, then suddenly clasped his hands together, the blood energy in his palms condensing into a nearly tangible short spear, which he thrust fiercely into Huang Chen's left shoulder.
puff!
The spear pierced his shoulder.
Huang Chen's body jolted, and his left arm almost went numb on the spot. The excruciating pain felt like a red-hot iron rod piercing from his shoulder all the way down his spine, and his vision went black for a moment.
Blood Valley Demon bared his bloody teeth and lunged forward, intending to tear half of his body apart.
Huang Chen, however, did not back down.
He raised his still-movable right hand and grabbed the other person's neck.
Hold on tight.
"Got you?"
Blood Valley Demon was stunned for a moment, then flew into a rage, desperately clawing at Huang Chen's chest and abdomen, causing his protective qi and blood to explode continuously.
Huang Chen's left shoulder was still pierced by the blood spear, and blood flowed down his arm to his fingertips. He gritted his teeth, the muscles on his face trembling, but his right fist was already swinging.
The first punch.
It hit the bridge of his nose.
Blood Valley Old Demon's entire face collapsed inward.
The second punch.
It hit my eye socket.
The eyeballs burst open, splattering black and red filth everywhere.
The third punch.
It hit my temple.
The bone is cracked.
The fourth punch.
The fifth punch.
The sixth punch!
Huang Chen relentlessly bombarded his opponent's face, his fists covered in blood and bits of flesh, his joints ripped open and exposed. The Blood Valley Old Demon tried to gather his blood energy to counterattack, but as soon as he raised his hand, Huang Chen choked his neck, making cracking sounds, and dragged his entire body backward.
boom!
The two of them crashed into the edge of the pool of blood.
Huang Chen thrust his knee forward, pressing half of the old demon's body into the edge of the pool, and then brought his right fist down hard once more.
boom!
That's when his head finally exploded.
Like an overripe, rotten melon, smashed open in front of you with a heavy hammer.
Broken bones, black blood, and flesh splattered everywhere, and half of a jawbone even bounced into the blood pool, bubbling up with a gurgling sound.
Huang Chen stood there, panting heavily, his right fist still in a downward slamming position, the blood spear on his shoulder slowly turning into bloody water that flowed out of the wound.
System notifications exploded in my mind one after another.
[Ding! Slay the wicked target "Blood Valley Demon"! Gain a large amount of Karma Points!]
[Ding! Side quest [Clear the Valley of Bones and Blood] has been completed!]
[Task Rewards: 15000 Karma Points and 5000 Merit Points have been issued!]
Huang Chen lowered his head, his chest heaving rapidly.
All I could hear was a buzzing sound.
Two breaths later, he exhaled a breath of hot, bloody air and turned to look at the prisoners.
"If you can still move, help them up."
"Take all the living ones out."
'
There was a moment of silence in the main cave, and then, as if a lid that had been pressed down for too long had been lifted, cries, coughs, and gasps all rushed out at once.
"Dead...dead..."
"That old beast is dead or alive..."
"My benefactor!"
My benefactor!
The old man in the prison staggered in, his legs gave way, and he knelt down on the ground. He spat at the headless corpse, tears streaming down his face mixed with blood.
Huang Chen didn't have time to accept the gifts.
He first walked to the Soul-Binding Platform, broke the banner pole with a punch, and then kicked all the remaining white bone artifacts next to him into the blood pool.
Then, with a wave of his hand, the karmic fire lotus fell into the air, and the flames burned along the Soul-Binding Platform, the broken wood of the prison cage, and the edge of the blood pool.
The fire was not big.
It was burned clean.
The accumulated filth and blood, accumulated over countless years, sizzled and hissed in the fire, black smoke billowed upwards, and countless twisted cries were mixed in with the smoke.
Huang Chen felt a chill run down his spine, but he still fanned the flames even brighter. A moment later, the Soul-Binding Platform collapsed completely, and the stone pillars engraved with evil patterns beside the blood pool crumbled one by one.
"Collect the remains if you can."
"Don't let them stay in this godforsaken place."
'
The rescued miner, with red eyes, nodded and responded in a hoarse voice, leading a few people to move the scattered bones.
As the crowd dispersed, an elderly man with gray hair suddenly stopped in a corner, staring blankly at a charred metal plaque on the ground.
"This is……"
Huang Chen followed his gaze and picked up the sign.
It was about the size of a palm, with cloud patterns engraved on the edges and a mark in the center that was already soaked in blood.
Xuantian Sect.
Huang Chen's eyes darkened.
The old man's lips trembled twice, and his voice was hoarse: "I recognize it. I recognize this one."
A few years ago... a few years ago, a few cultivators dressed in Taoist robes came by. They didn't do anything themselves, they just collected goods. People, souls, ores, and even refined blood materials were all transported out through their channels.
'
Another human elder also came over, his face full of hatred.
"Yes! The markings on that airship are exactly the same as this. I thought I was seeing things at the time."
"No flowers." Huang Chen put the metal plate into his pocket, his voice deep. "It's a line."
The old man gritted his teeth, his eyes reddening: "Beasts. They're all beasts."
The fire is still burning.
The stench of blood deep inside the main cave was gradually masked by the smell of burning, and loose stones kept falling from the ceiling, clearly indicating that this place wouldn't last much longer.
Despite the excruciating pain in his shoulder, Huang Chen led his people out in batches. Of the nearly one hundred humans, less than half could actually walk on their own; the rest were either severely injured or had their life force drained, and could only be helped by others or dragged along by planks.
After more than half an hour of this ordeal, the last living person in the Valley of Bones and Blood was finally brought outside.
A night breeze helped Huang Chen clear his head a little.
But once he came to his senses, all sorts of trouble began.
The wound on his left shoulder was still bleeding profusely, his internal blood and qi were churning violently, and his spiritual energy was as if it had been ignited by something, rushing wildly along his meridians.
He had just slain three ringleaders and withstood the backlash from the evil formation. The moment the system reward arrived, the power that had been accumulating within him for so long began to stir, as if some barrier had been kicked open.
It's not a bad thing.
It's time to break through to a higher realm.
Huang Chen stood at the entrance of the valley, frowning and pressing his shoulder, his breathing slightly erratic.
The old man in the prison noticed his pale face and quickly stepped forward, saying, "My benefactor, you are badly injured. Rest, rest!"
Huang Chen waved his hand and glanced back into the valley.
The main cave at the deepest part of Blood Valley was still collapsing, and the firelight made half of the mountain wall glow red. In the deeper parts of the earth's veins, spiritual energy faintly seeped out, mixed with blood and evil, but much purer and more filthy than the outside.
That was the spiritual cave where the Blood Valley Demon had entrenched himself for many years.
This place is evil.
But right now, it's also the best time for him to suppress the surge of energy that's about to break through.
"You all stay outside and don't go into the deep valley."
'
Huang Chen took out several bottles of Rejuvenation Pills and Vitality Replenishing Pills and handed them to the old man in the prison cell.
"Give the seriously injured half a pill first, no more."
Those who can manage will help look after others.
The old man in the prison cell accepted the pill with trembling hands, his voice shaking slightly: "My benefactor, then you—"
"I'll stay inside for a while."
'
After Huang Chen finished speaking, he turned and walked towards the spiritual cave.
The depths of Blood Valley had become much quieter, with only the crackling sound of flames devouring wood remaining.
The further he went, the hotter the ground became, and the stronger the residual blood aura in the air grew. He stopped in front of a half-collapsed cave, beneath which lay a natural spiritual spring. The spring was small, about the thickness of a fist, and was constantly emitting dark red spiritual mist.
Huang Chen sat down cross-legged, first gritting his teeth to force out the remaining blood evil from his shoulder bit by bit, and then swallowing a replenishing pill.
As soon as the pill entered his stomach and its effects began to spread, the suppressed urge within his body exploded completely.
Qi and blood flow like thunder.
The spiritual energy surged like a tide.
His chest cavity, bones, and meridians emitted a low, resonant sound, as if countless forces were tearing at, colliding with, and then forcibly converging within him. Veins bulged on Huang Chen's forehead, and his back was quickly soaked with cold sweat.
He closed his eyes and forcefully activated the methods of the "Ancient God and Demon Technique" and the "Desolate Ancient Body Tempering Scripture," pressing all the evil energy he had swallowed during the bloody battle, the earth vein essence surging from his spiritual cave, and the feedback from the system rewards onto the same hurdle.
He closed his eyes and forcefully activated the methods of the "Ancient God and Demon Technique" and the "Desolate Ancient Body Tempering Scripture," pressing all the evil energy he had swallowed during the bloody battle, the earth vein essence surging from his spiritual cave, and the feedback from the system rewards onto the same hurdle.
once.
It's not open.
Press down again.
The third time, Huang Chen let out a muffled groan, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, but his fists were clenched so tightly that his nails dug into his palms.
The red mist in the spiritual cave was stirred and began to slowly rotate around him.
faster and faster.
faster and faster.
In the end, a small blood-red vortex formed around him, causing rocks to jump around, sparks to fly backward, and even the remaining blood mist in the crevices of the distant mountain wall was sucked in.