txolops Chapter 69 Fighting for Life
Chapter 69 Fighting for Life
The moment the cracking sound ended, the broken Zhuiyin Treasure Mirror's surface cracked outwards by three inches.
Instead of shattering into pieces, it resembled a spider web forcibly torn apart. Golden-gray mirror light shot out from the cracks, scraping across Huang Chen's face, cutting and tearing his flesh. The hot blood that had just gushed out was then evaporated into blood mist by the Pulse Fire Battle Domain.
Zhao Wuji's wrist suddenly sank.
He gripped the mirror handle tightly, his knuckles cracking, his face darkening as if it were about to drip water. That precious mirror was his most prized possession; he had relied on its residual causal lock to pursue Huang Chen all the way.
But Huang Chen's pillar didn't hit the mirror.
It hit Zhao Wuji's face.
"You dare to smash it!"
Zhao Wuji let out a low roar, and the talisman light in his sleeve surged. With his other hand, he formed the Xuan Tian Sect Soul Suppressing Seal and pressed it towards Huang Chen's brow.
Huang Chen did not answer.
His shoulders sank, and he slid half a meter across the water, his Mountain and River Boots crushing two floating stones. He then swung the broken black stone pillar to the side.
The broken pillar crashed into the water with a whooshing sound, creating a black wave mixed with broken bones and mud.
The envoy from the Northern Sea had just bitten up from the flank, half of his face still bleeding, when he was caught off guard and pounced on by the black waves.
His eyes narrowed, and the two Northern Sea Scale Guards behind him simultaneously raised their scale shields, causing the mirage to churn and forcefully deflect the remaining force of the broken pillar.
"Stop him!"
'
The envoy from the Northern Sea spat out half a broken tooth, his voice shrill and piercing, "Don't let him reach the exit!"
Huang Chen heard it, but didn't look towards the exit.
Because the export channels have been closed.
After that muffled thud deep in the ancient road, cracks crawled along the cave ceiling all the way to the outside, and the rumbling sound of the collapse was like thunder rolling in the rocks.
Large chunks of rock crashed down, completely sealing off the exit that was originally wide enough for two people to walk side by side. Black water gushed in from the cracks, carrying a cold, fishy smell, and quickly reached up to the calves.
it is good.
A glint of fire flashed in Huang Chen's eyes.
What he feared most was being tormented to death by these people in the open ancient road. The precious mirror locked away karma, the mirage clouded his mind, the remnants of the Xuantian Sect formed an array to launch a long-range attack, and Zhao Wuji pressed down to kill them at close range.
If that situation drags on, no matter how tough he is, he'll be broken down bit by bit.
But now the terrain is in disarray.
Collapsed roads, flooded areas, gravel, side tunnels, and partially submerged grottoes.
The more enemies there are, the more crowded it becomes.
The more crowded it is, the easier it is to die.
Huang Chen suddenly turned around, no longer fighting Zhao Wuji head-on, and instead rushed towards the collapsed passage on the left.
Zhao Wuji's pupils contracted.
He's going to go through the water cave!
'
The leader of the remaining cultivators of the Xuanzong sect shouted, "Chase!"
Xuan Tian Sect pursuer B turned pale, glanced down at pursuer A who had been trampled into a bloody mess, swallowed twice, and dared not utter a sound.
He flicked his talisman sword and followed the leader of the remnant cultivators, wading through the water to catch up.
In front of Huang Chen was a half-collapsed stone beam with a crack.
Behind the crack lies a natural grotto, which should have been a cavity carved out by a water jet, but is now half-submerged by the backflow of black water. The cave ceiling is low, with stalactites hanging down, and floating on the water are pieces of wood, rotten bones, rotten talismans, and several blind fish that have been killed by the shock.
Huang Chen crashed headfirst into the cave.
The cold water reached above my waist and abdomen, so cold it felt like knives drilling into my bones.
He didn't stop. With a flick of his left hand, the edge of the Black Wind Helmet swept across his palm, and the aura of the Sacrifice Mother Talisman and the Black Chain Core flashed and disappeared. The Pulse Fire Battle Domain spread out beneath his feet.
The dark red-patterned fire drilled into the bottom of the water.
The water wasn't fully boiled; instead, thin lines seeped out from the cracks in the rocks, among the rubble and broken bones, like someone weaving a net beneath the black water with a red-hot wire.
The two Northern Sea Scale Guards were the fastest to catch up.
They have broad backs and thick scales, and their arms are covered with bluish-black scales. Once they enter the water, their speed increases dramatically, and they almost glide across the surface of the water.
The mirage sprayed out from their gill slits, instantly filling the water cave with a layer of gray-blue mist.
There was a sound of crying in the fog.
There were cries of human laborers, screams of infants being thrown into jade jars, and the sound of chains dragging across stone troughs.
Huang Chen paused for a moment.
I wasn't scared.
The bloodlust sensation suddenly became intensely hot, as if a hook was pulling him out of his chest.
These remnants of the Northern Sea have no less blood on their hands than the Xuan Tian Sect.
"Playing tricks and deception."
'
Huang Chen uttered four words, and the imitation of the Twelfth Grade Karmic Fire Red Lotus trembled in his Qi Sea. Crimson karmic fire suddenly surged up from behind his shoulder and burned forward along the Pulse Fire Battle Domain.
When the mirage encounters the karmic fire, it makes a sizzling sound like oil falling into a fire pit.
The crying stopped.
The two Northern Sea Scale Guards revealed themselves, their eyes filled with surprise, before Huang Chen had already charged in.
The first one raises the shield.
Huang Chen didn't cut the shield. Instead, he grabbed the edge of the shield with his right hand, his five fingers weaving into the gaps in the scales, and pressed his knee against the shield surface, pushing it down.
click!
The scale shield broke off along with the wrist.
Before the Northern Sea Scale Guard could even utter a scream, Huang Chen's blood-stained bone blade had already pierced through the shield from behind, penetrating his jaw and sinking into his brain. The tip of the blade emerged from the top of his head, bringing with it a spray of grayish-white brain matter.
A cold, impersonal system notification popped into my mind.
[Slaying sinful beings converts karma value: 3,600.]
】
Huang Chen didn't look at the numbers; he grabbed the corpse by the neck and shoved it aside.
The second Northern Sea Scale Guardian intended to take the opportunity to bite his lower back, but crashed head-on into the corpse of his companion, causing him to lose his balance.
Huang Chen turned around and slammed his elbow into its temple, causing its scales to burst open and a piece of bone to cave in.
It didn't die; instead, it became ferocious and spat out a jet of icy blue water.
Huang Chen turned his head to avoid the water arrow, which grazed his ear and struck the stone wall behind him, instantly causing a layer of frost to form on the wall.
"die!
'
Huang Chen gave a low shout, gripping its upper and lower jaws with both hands, and the dark gold patterns of the Wu Clan Battle Body rose from his arms.
He ripped it open suddenly.
The blood burst open.
Half of the Northern Sea Scale Guardian's head was torn off, and its body was still twitching in the water, its tail slapping and splashing black water everywhere.
[Slaying sinful beings converts 4100 karmic points.]
At the entrance to the water cave, the leader of the remnant cultivators of the Xuanzong sect happened to witness this scene, and his face twitched violently.
Five remaining cultivators from the Xuanzong sect followed behind him, with Xuantian sect pursuer B at the very back, his flying sword trembling more and more violently.
The envoy from the Northern Sea stood on the other side of the stone platform, his mouth half-open and swollen purple, his eyes filled with resentment and venom.
"Surround them."
Zhao Wuji finally stepped into the grotto.
He didn't rush forward. The broken Zhuiyin Mirror hung in front of his chest, its cracked surface still gleaming with a grayish-gold light. He glanced at the terrain of the water cave, then at the faintly visible dark red flames beneath Huang Chen's feet, and his expression darkened even more.
This place is too narrow.
His cultivation level is so narrow that he can't use many powerful and sweeping techniques indiscriminately.
If the cave roof collapses, everyone will be buried in the underground water veins.
Huang Chen wiped the blood off his face.
He grinned, but there was no ease in his smile, only an uncontrollable ferocity.
"Old dog Zhao, why don't you keep smashing?"
"You died pretty easily just now."
The pursuer's face turned even paler.
Zhao Wuji's eye twitched, and he said in a low voice, "You think you can disturb my peace of mind with a few words of nonsense?"
I don't know if it's chaotic or not.
'
Huang Chen kicked away the corpse of the Northern Sea Guard at his feet. "It's true that you're one person short."
The leader of the remaining cultivators of the Xuanzong sect roared, "Huang Chen, you fiend, you killed my Xuanzong disciples! Today you will surely be punished—"
Before he could finish speaking, Huang Chen suddenly moved.
He wasn't attacking the leader, but rather a crippled cultivator standing next to him who reeked of the strongest ash from his soul.
The man had half a knot of a cold jade jar hanging from his waist. The jar was gone, but the chilling aura of human soul permeating the knot could not escape the bloodlust's detection.
When Huang Chen swept his gaze across the crowd, the first person he targeted with murderous intent was him.
"Form ranks!"
'
The leader of the remnant cultivators of the Xuanzong sect roared.
Three flying swords pierced through simultaneously, their runes intertwining, drawing out the remnants of the Xuan Tian Sect's formation in mid-air.
The water's surface was sliced open by the sword energy, revealing the fiery patterns burning red beneath.
Huang Chen stomped his foot.
The flames in the half-domain suddenly tightened.
It's not about pressing outwards, but about twisting inwards.
Dark crimson flames entangled the shadows of the three flying swords underwater. The swords did not stop, but they clearly sank a bit and slowed down by half a breath.
Half a breath is enough.
Huang Chen's shoulder slammed into the first flying sword, the second sword slashed his left arm, and the third sword grazed his neck, leaving a trail of blood.
He rushed to the disabled cultivator.
The remnant cultivator was so frightened that he stepped back and pushed out the Soul Ash Talisman with both hands.
The grayish-white talisman exploded in the air, and dozens of distorted human faces emerged from it, screaming as they lunged at Huang Chen's seven orifices.
Huang Chen's eyes turned cold.
The fiery red lotus suddenly burst forth.
Flames exploded from his chest, and as soon as the faces touched the flames, their screams changed from pain to whimpers of relief, before turning to ashes and scattering into the water.
The man's face was completely drained of color.
"My Soul Ash Talisman..."
Huang Chen grabbed his ankle.
"Here you go."
'
He swung the crippled cultivator like a meat hammer, then turned and smashed him into another crippled Xuanzong cultivator who was making hand seals.
boom!
The two heads collided.
The sound of bones shattering was amplified by the water cave, the muffled thuds rolling back and forth between the four stone walls.
The injured man's head was half-collapsed after being hit, and his body went limp as he fell into the black water.
The man in Huang Chen's hand was still alive, spitting blood from his mouth and flailing his arms wildly.
Huang Chen swung it again.
This time it hit the stone wall.
Blood splattered all over the stone wall, and the man's spine broke in two on the spot. It hung in Huang Chen's hand and was tugged a few times before going still.
[Slaying sinful beings converts karma value: 7,900.]
】
[Slaying sinful beings converts 6,400 karmic points.]
Xuan Tian Sect pursuer B couldn't help but take a step back.
The envoy from the Northern Sea cried out in a shrill voice, "Zhao Wuji! What are you waiting for?"
He's picking your people to kill!
Zhao Wuji remained silent.
The broken mirror suddenly rose higher.
Gray and gold light intertwined in the cracks of the mirror, shining on Huang Chen.
The light was not a light of killing; it did not burn when it fell. Instead, it felt like cold needles piercing Huang Chen's skin, searching for old wounds, old karma, and old killings.
The first shadow appeared in the mirror.
A golden alms bowl, used to subdue demons, hangs in mid-air. The rim of the bowl is engraved with Buddhist symbols, but the bottom is stained with blood.
The fleeting image of the passing immortal flashed in the mirror, his face blurred, and the golden bowl fell with the echo of past karma.
Immediately afterwards, Chu Yunfei's soul tablet appeared.
The soul tablet cracked open, and a bluish-black aura seeped out, as if pointing to a long-severed cause of death within Huang Chen.
Next came the Soul-Binding Banner from Deacon A of the Xuantian Sect.
The banner fluttered, and countless souls were pressed beneath it. Their resentment condensed into a thin thread, attempting to bypass the karmic fire and nail itself to Huang Chen's brow.
Huang Chen felt a tightness in his chest.
These afterimages are not living people.
But they were all old grievances.
Zhao Wuji used the incomplete Mirror of Cause and Effect to retrieve the fragments of cause and effect from his journey of killing, and then reversed the flow of energy.
If you are locked down for even a moment, all those flying swords, magic seals, and mirages will come after you.
"Huang Chen".
'
Zhao Wuji spoke slowly, his voice sounding like it was being ground out from between his teeth, "The people you've killed, the weapons you've taken, the karma you've accumulated—all of it is reflected in the mirror."
Huang Chen lowered his head and coughed up a mouthful of blood.
The blood foam fell into the water and was burned by the pulse fire, forming small red bubbles.
"Your mirror is quite adept at bringing up old grievances."
'
As he spoke, he raised his hand to his chest, "Unfortunately, no matter how much I toss and turn, all I find are damned things."
Zhao Wuji's eyes sharpened.
"Lock!"
The mirror light suddenly stopped.
Gray-gold threads shot towards Huang Chen from all directions, the afterimage of the passing earth immortal's golden bowl pressed down on his head, Chu Yunfei's soul tablet sealed his throat, the illusory image of the soul-binding banner curled up his feet, and the three old karmic connections, like three rusty hooks, suddenly hooked Huang Chen's energy.
Huang Chen's body sank.
The water instantly reached my chest.
The leader of the remaining cultivators of the Xuanzong sect seized the opportunity and roared, "Kill!"
'
The remaining three Xuanzong cultivators simultaneously unleashed their flying swords, and Xuantianzong pursuer B also gritted his teeth and attacked. The envoy from Beiming spat out a black-blue pearl, within which mirage mist swirled, transforming into several water snakes that lunged at Huang Chen.
Huang Chen did not struggle immediately.
He was waiting for them to make a move.
The wind-fixing pearl slipped out of his sleeve and was caught between two fingers.
The bead was small, with flowing wind patterns on its surface. It was meant to calm the wind and suppress the evil spirits, but now he poured his pulse fire into it and pressed it forcefully into the mirror light.
hum!
The sounds of wind, water, and swirling mirages in the grotto all stopped for a moment.
The gray-gold light emitted by the incomplete Mirror of Revelation also froze for a moment.
Zhao Wuji's expression changed drastically.
Huang Chen's shoulders and back trembled as the three old karmic connections that had been hooking his energy were twisted and distorted by the karmic fire lotus. He didn't completely break free, but he managed to gain an arm's length of distance.
Enough to kill.
He swung out the Xuan Tian Sect's standard flying sword with a backhand motion.
The flying sword had long been bent by him as if it were a club, its blade deflected and its spiritual power damaged, but under the brute force of the Wu tribe, it still tore through the air like an iron spear.
puff!
The flying sword pierced through the chest of a wounded cultivator, pinning him to a stalactite behind him.
The crippled cultivator's eyes widened, blood bubbles appeared in his mouth, and the hand seals in his hands dissipated.
Huang Chen pounced after him, and the black water was churned up by his impact.
Just as the second disabled cultivator was about to retreat, Huang Chen grabbed his shoulder and dug his fingers into his collarbone.
The other person screamed and slapped Huang Chen in the chest, making his ribs feel heavy.
Huang Chen took the blow head-on, his bloodied bone knife slicing horizontally.
The blade sliced into the neck and got stuck in the cervical bone.
Huang Chen twisted his wrist and ripped the head off.
[Slaying sinful beings converts 5,800 karmic points.]
[Slaying sinful beings converts karma value: 6200.]
】
The water snake from the Northern Sea has already wrapped around Huang Chen's back.
The snake's body was icy cold, its scales formed entirely of mirage mist. As it bit into flesh, Huang Chen's vision blurred, and he seemed to see the dock of Hanpo Ferry again, the humans being loaded into the cabin, and the Blackwater sorcerer laughing as he weighed the bone tokens.
"roll."
Huang Chen growled.
Flames erupted from the crack in its back, burning the water snake until it twisted and contorted.
He turned around, grabbed the third Xuanzong cultivator who was rushing towards him, and shoved him hard into the water.
The remaining repairman struggled desperately, but the underwater surface was covered with patterns of fiery pulses.
Huang Chen pressed down on the back of his head, his knees pressing against his back, letting the other man's hands flailing wildly across the water.
Bubbles are rising.
Then came screams.
They weren't drowned; they were burned into their lungs by underwater flames that entered through their seven orifices.
After a few breaths, the struggle stopped.
[Slaying sinful beings converts 7,100 karmic points.]
The Xuantian Sect's pursuing force B has completely collapsed.
He turned around and retreated towards the entrance of the grotto.
"Elder, we can't fight anymore!"
"This place is full of his fire patterns. Go out and surround it again, go out and—"
The words came to an abrupt halt.
The leader of the remnant cultivators of the Xuanzong sect shattered his back with a single palm strike.
The pursuer looked down at the hand protruding from his chest, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, his eyes filled with confusion.
"waste.
'
The leader of the remaining cultivators withdrew his hand, letting the corpse fall into the water. "Those who disrupt the morale of the army shall die."
Huang Chen watched this scene, blood still dripping from the corner of his mouth.
The system did not respond.
He twitched the corner of his mouth.
"Your Xuantian Sect is quite adept at killing your own people."
The leader of the remaining cultivators of the Xuanzong sect had a grim face.
Zhao Wuji finally made a move.
He took a step forward, the incomplete Mirror of Revelation hovering above his head, and formed a heavy mudra with his palms.
The seal no longer pursued intricate locking, but rather used pure realm and magical power to crush.
The top of the grotto suddenly collapsed.
One by one, the stalactites burst open, and fragments of rock fell like rain. The black water was forced to surge in all directions, and new openings appeared in the cave walls, allowing the underground currents outside to find a breach and roar as they poured in.
The fire-breathing battle zone beneath Huang Chen's feet was shaken by the force of the water.
Seeing the situation, the envoy from the Northern Sea immediately retreated to higher ground and sneered, "Drown him!"
"Zhao Wuji, crush this place, he can't escape!"
Zhao Wuji said coldly, "You can't escape either."
'
The envoy from the Northern Sea paused in laughter.
The next moment, a rock the size of a millstone crashed down beside him, splashing water and scaring him so much that he scrambled to another stone platform for cover.
The remaining two Northern Sea Scale Guards were also forced apart by the boulders and were no longer able to form a mirage to encircle them.
Huang Chen looked up.
The black water pouring down from the cracks in the cave ceiling was like thick whips, lashing against his shoulders and back, the chill seeping into his wounds. His Pulsefire Battle Domain was compressed to three zhang around his body, and even with the Karmic Fire Red Lotus protecting his heart meridian, he still couldn't stop his strength from draining away bit by bit.
Zhao Wuji has stopped using formations.
He wanted to smash the entire water-filled cave into a tomb.
Huang Chen took a deep breath of the damp, fishy-smelling air, feeling as if his chest and lungs were being ground by iron filings.
We can't afford to fight Zhao Wuji to the death here.
He killed the squad, cut off several of their henchmen, and gained a considerable amount of karmic merit, but Zhao Wuji was not yet ready to swallow them whole. The opponent's cultivation level was what it was, and the broken treasure mirror wasn't completely shattered. If he dragged it out any longer, the water cave would bury him first.
We need to move the main battlefield an inch further.
He moved to the position where the water was most turbulent and where Zhao Wuji's seal was most difficult to land accurately.
Huang Chen's gaze swept to the right.
There was a crack torn open by black water, and a hollow echo could be faintly heard from behind the crack, like another lower, half-submerged stone hall.
The water was flowing in that direction, sucking in broken bones, talismans, and corpse remains.
He stomped his foot hard.
The Pulsefire Battlefield harvested a line, no longer laying down nets, but instead, like red-hot iron chains, fiercely drilling into the cracks at the bottom of the water.
boom!
The crack widened.
The black water roared and collapsed, forming a whirlpool.
The envoy from the Northern Sea exclaimed in shock and anger, "He's going to tear apart the water curtain!"
Zhao Wuji's Dharma Seal had already pressed down on Huang Chen's head.
"It's too late."
Huang Chen raised his left arm, and the Xuanhuang armor flashed with light as he caught a falling boulder.
The boulder struck him, causing his knees to buckle and blood to seep from between his teeth.
Using the downward force, he suddenly crashed into the vortex on the right.
A murderous glint flashed in Zhao Wuji's eyes.
He slammed down with his palm, and the magic seal chased after Huang Chen's back and smashed down.
Huang Chen pulled out a disposable Heavenly Thunder Talisman, but didn't use it immediately. He ran his fingertip across the talisman and pressed it back into his palm. Now was not the time to bomb Zhao Wuji; the water cave was too narrow, and if the Heavenly Thunder exploded randomly, he would be thrown into the depths of the turbulent current.
He changed to something else.
Humanity hides its breath in a veil.
A gray-white veil rolled up close, instantly concealing his aura. The incomplete tracking mirror, following the light from its reflection, missed its target by an inch.
This inch could save a life.
The Dharma Seal grazed Huang Chen's shoulder and crashed into the water.
Boom!
The black water blasted up more than ten feet high, and the entire cave shook.
Huang Chen was thrown into the air by the aftershock, his shoulder was torn open, and half of his body was numb.
He gritted his teeth and took advantage of the momentum to plunge into the vortex.
The water curtain was like a thick animal hide, which he tore at the edges with both hands. Pulse fire spewed from his palms, burning the water white, and the cold evil in the crevices of the rocks emitted a ghostly shriek when it was hit by the karmic fire.
"open!"
Huang Chen's arm muscles bulged, and dark gold witch runes lit up one by one.
The water curtain was torn open.
Behind them was an even larger Kuroshio Cavity, with water flowing in from the three stone walls and pouring down from a crack in the ground.
There was no flat ground to stand on; only a few broken stone pillars were stuck diagonally in the water, like bones gnawed by a giant beast.
Huang Chen stepped onto the nearest broken pillar.
The moment their feet touched the ground, the broken pillar sank half a foot.
Before he could even stand still, Zhao Wuji had already broken through the water curtain and was chasing after him.
The broken Mirror of Revelation hung above Zhao Wuji's head, its cracked surface oozing a blood-red light. His robes were torn by the waves, revealing the old wounds on his forearms, but the hand seal on his palm was heavier than before.
"Huang Chen!"
Zhao Wuji roared, his voice crashing into the hollow of the Black Tide, causing rubble to fall in a flurry.
Huang Chen looked up, his chest heaving, blood dripping from his chin into the black tide beneath his feet.
The two were separated by churning black water.
The envoy from the Northern Sea and the leader of the remnants of Xuanzong's cultivation were still in the rear grotto, temporarily separated by the collapsed rock layers and the turbulent backflow. Shouts of battle, angry curses, and the shrieks of water demons mingled together, but were all swallowed up by the black tide, making them muffled.
Only Zhao Wuji remained at the forefront.
Huang Chen chuckled.
"Old dog, finally decided to come yourself?"
Zhao Wuji did not reply.
He shattered a driftwood log, his figure sweeping across the water like a black bird, his right fist wrapped in a soul-suppressing seal, and slammed directly at Huang Chen's face.
Huang Chen also stood up.
With a stomp of his Mountain and River Boots on the broken pillar, the pillar shattered with a deafening roar, the force propelling him forward. His Pulsefire Battle Domain contracted to his fist, dark crimson flames coiling around his joints, while the Karmic Fire Lotus roared in his heart.
The two fists collided across the churning black tide.
Boom!
The water surface collapsed, creating a huge crater, before suddenly surging upwards. Black water, rubble, blood droplets, and broken talismans were all shaken into a turbid ring of waves that crashed violently against the four stone walls.
Huang Chen's right arm skin and flesh burst open, and the bones made a dull thud as if they could not bear the weight.
The magic seal on Zhao Wuji's fist was also burned through by the pulse fire, and the back of his hand was charred black. He slid back three steps and crushed two floating stones.
The two looked up at the same time.
The black tide fell from among them, like a torn curtain.
Huang Chen shook his almost numb right hand, then gripped the bloodstained bone knife in his left hand, the tip of which dipped into the water.
Zhao Wuji slowly clenched his charred fist. The broken Zhuiyin Mirror spun above his head, and a bit of gray-gold light seeped out from the cracks.
Water gushed down from the cracks in the cave ceiling.
It crashed between the two of them.
Chapter 69, "A Life-or-Death Struggle Holds a Surprise," click here to unlock.