Chapter 756: The Strategy of Yin-Yang Water Fiends and Ghostly Apparitions
The sound of the dao curse became streams of black mist that emerged from the mouths of the bald statues, then intertwined in midair to form a black talisman. The talisman was long and thin, and as the rain hit it, black ink dripped off it, pulsing with a sinister, corrosive energy. Then it accelerated toward Xu Qing to seal him.
In that moment of crisis, Xu Qing’s eyes turned pitch-black as taboo poison converged there. Whatever he looked at would be cursed, and right now, he was looking at that black talisman.
After one breath of time had passed, the magical talisman vibrated, then began to fade. As poison filled it, mysterious light erupted from the talisman as it tried to fight back. After two breaths of time had passed, the poison built in intensity, releasing a poison gas that became a host of blurry ghost faces, howling in anguish. After three breaths of time had passed, the talisman began to crumble and decay. It hadn’t even reached a position nine meters away from Xu Qing.
Next, poison erupted from within Xu Qing. It didn’t just come from his eyes. It swept out in all directions like a tempest, enveloping the talisman.
Intense rumbling sounds echoed out. The talisman almost seemed to possess its own life force; instead of being suppressed, the talisman melted of its own accord, turning into a host of countless smaller talismans that scattered in the street. From a distance, it almost looked like money for the dead, creating a road between life and death, and locking down a myriad of ancient souls.
Heaven turned gloomy, and the earth went dark. As everything was locked down, the entire street seemed to be separated from the imperial capital, until it was its own unique dimension. Within that dimension, natural laws were transformed, and magical laws were deeply influenced. Everything was different from the outside world.
The water on the street had long since become an entire lake, and the water level was still rising. It had already reached Xu Qing’s legs, and was now rising to his waist, as if to drown him.
The curse originally contained fifty-two characters, which was exactly the same as the number of statues. As the statues continued to curse the area, they rose from their cross-legged positions, then splashed through the water as they charged toward Xu Qing. [1]
The watery life forms that had appeared earlier weren’t cultivators, but rather, manifestations of a divine ability. They also surged with killing intent as they closed in on Xu Qing. What was more, a hand formed from water emerged, pulsing with destruction, slaughter, and the will of ghostly spirits.
Taking in the scene as a whole, it looked like death was hemming Xu Qing in from heaven, from earth, from the left, and from the right. Rain poured down, soaking his garments and hair. Strong killing intent seeped into his body and soul.
The water in the street chaotically covered everything. This was an attack using the strategy of ‘water fiends and ghostly apparitions.’
At the minimum, someone would need a cultivation base in the great circle of Spirit Trove to unleash an attack like this, and they would need help to set up a spell formation. More likely than not, whoever was behind this was in Void Returning. That was the only way a deadly scenario such as this could be unleashed so quickly.
Furthermore... that person most likely was not present, but was using some remote method to unleash the magic. They obviously wanted to end this incident very quickly. What was more, they had to know Xu Qing well, as they had obviously set things up on this specific street.
As all of those thoughts raced through Xu Qing’s mind, his face turned grim and his eyes cold. It had been a long time since he felt any true sense of danger. In fact, he hadn’t felt anything like this since Moonrite. It would be simple to resolve this situation if he just detonated his ancient sun. But he couldn’t quite make himself do that. Most importantly... detonating that sun would affect the entire imperial capital. That... might be what his enemy was trying to provoke him into doing.
Xu Qing’s eyes narrowed as his cultivation base surged. Three god troves appeared behind him, the furnaces within them roaring to life with flames of godly might.
Intense heat filled the area, causing the water on the ground to rapidly evaporate into steam. Then Xu Qing tapped into the power of his god troves to shoot up from the water. Beneath him, water seethed, and the hand stretched toward him.
Face expressionless, Xu Qing pushed his right hand downward. In response, Xu Qing’s shadow spread out from him in all directions, causing mutagen to flourish. As it spread and covered everything, it released the forbidden region it had consumed. It spread out, obscuring the sky, and turning the area above Xu Qing into a spinning black vortex. The ground was covered with water. The sky was covered with a shadow. And Xu Qing was in the middle. Because this area was now cut off from the outside, releasing the shadow’s forbidden region was perfectly suitable.
Using godly powers to suppress the magical techniques of cultivators was definitely a valid battle strategy.
As the shadow spread out, the dimension trembled. At the same time, the shadow rippled as it turned into a hand just like the water below.
This was a pitch-black hand with a tree in the middle of the palm, from which hung a coffin that swayed back and forth like a bell. Cackling laughter rang out like a sinister chant. As the shadow affected the dao curse, Xu Qing’s killing intent surged, and he shoved his right hand down. The hand made of shadow descended, passed through Xu Qing, and then slammed into the hand made of water.
A deafening sound wave rolled out in all directions, smashing into the water and affecting the life forms. The fifty-two statues lurched to a halt.
At the same time, Xu Qing bent at the waist before shooting forward like an arrow from a bow, heading right toward the statues. The iron skewer flew toward the destabilized life forms of water.
The clash happened in the blink of an eye.
Thanks to Master Seventh’s unique crafting technique, the iron skewer was now shockingly mighty. The three faces on it all had their eyes open now, including the face of Crimson Mother and the god from Forbidden by the Immortal. With their bolstering, the fiendish club shot through one of the life forms after another. Each one exploded, losing its life force and turning into ordinary water.
Xu Qing was even more impressive. He shot forward with such incredible speed that the rain was blasted aside. His first god trove emitted thunderous rumblings as it broke into countless fragments that merged into Xu Qing. That was godsource. As it fused with Xu Qing, his body collapsed, flesh grew out, and he became taller and larger.
He now looked like the Ghost Emperor, complete with an imperial crown. Blinding golden light shone off him, transforming into a seven-colored glow. The heart of the heavenly dao furnace thumped, with each beat like heavenly thunder. At the same time, intense flames swept out over him. A black spear appeared, covered with innumerable bolts of lightning. As Xu Qing hefted it, he appeared in front of the first statue. One swipe of the spear caused the statue to explode and turn into countless fragments that showered down.
Xu Qing was in his first-level god state, which dramatically boosted his battle prowess, and made his taboo spear even more terrifyingly strong. Moving with blinding speed, Xu Qing pierced through a few dozen statues in one shot. Every single one exploded.
And yet, Xu Qing was already frowning.
When he destroyed the last statue, an intense sensation of deadly crisis filled him. Without any hesitation, he gripped the spear tightly and then threw it toward the end of the street.
Next, he took out a piece of Crimson Mother’s flesh.
Meanwhile, the black spear screamed through the air, shooting to the end of the street and stabbing into the air there. At that point, it stopped moving.
That was the border of a sealing magic. At the point where the spear pierced it, there was a bit of black cloth visible. Clearly, someone had been concealed in invisibility there....
A sinister voice suddenly filled the street.
“We underestimated you. But you underestimated the dao curse.
“The Dao Paragon asks: why are the four lives filled with rancor, and why do those with heads die? We do reply: the fallen statues lock down the heavenly body!”
As those words echoed out, the shattered remnants of the fifty-two statues emerged from the water, transforming into fifty-two chains that snaked toward Xu Qing. No matter how deftly he dodged back and forth, he couldn’t avoid them, and was quickly wrapped up. Each of the fifty-two chains had one end wrapped around Xu Qing and the other end in the water. From a distance, it looked like some fiendish devil had been physically tied up.
“The Dao Paragon closes his eyes and asks: how and where does the wind fill with deadly blades, and the water rise to take lives? We do answer: of course, water can seal any and all minds!”
Things weren’t over yet. The water in the lake became like threads, each of them with a chain inside. They shot toward Xu Qing, wrapping around him, locking down his divine sense, and in fact, sealing off all of his sensory organs, including his eyes.
“The elated Dao Paragon again asks: treat injustice as kindness, treat unjust death as goodness, invert the cosmos and the universe, question chaos in the world, but how can it all be reconciled? We do explain: a dao curse can impale the soul!”
Fifty-two pitch-black nails flew out of the water. Looking closely, it was possible to see that atop each nail sat a tiny version of one of the black, bald statues. They moved with shocking speed toward Xu Qing and stabbed into him. Every place they stabbed corresponded to a meridian connected to his soul. This was an attempt to impale his soul and lock it out of reincarnation.
“The Dao Paragon closes his eyes and sighs: a hundred ghosts calmly stand, ready to serve the dukes of hell, souls condense, five serenities filled with filth, a hundred dark wines injected, seven liquids cannot replenish, impermanence without limit, assimilated by order of law.”
Chaos rose up everywhere. Countless shadow figures, the souls of a myriad species, all manifested, becoming streams of black mist that once again formed the same black magical talisman as before, which then shot toward Xu Qing’s forehead.
Most shocking of all was that the street that had been separated out into its own dimension also began to change.... It was no longer a street. Astonishingly, it was a massive paper talisman as big as the entire street itself!
There were two talismans, one bright and one dark, one for yin and one for yang!
The end of the street was the end of the talisman, and it curled up... moving in Xu Qing’s direction as if to connect to the black talisman. It... was really going to seal him.
A sensation of deadly crisis filled Xu Qing. And yet, he still didn’t choose to detonate his ancient sun. Instead, he crushed the piece of Crimson Mother’s flesh. His second god trove appeared, collapsed into black mist, and fused with him. In an instant... a terrifying aura swept out in all directions.
A bitter howl escaped Xu Qing’s lips, like the cry of a fiendish devil, shattering everything around it. The talismans trembled, and the water filled with ripples.
1. The curse, which was the last paragraph of the last chapter, did contain fifty-two Chinese characters. I did not attempt to make it the same number of English words. ☜