Chapter 993: Hunting to Kill
In the dark currents on the seafloor of the Forbidden Sea, Floating Fiend sped along with a dour expression, and a heart overflowing with unease. He didn’t dare to hesitate or slow down for even an instant.
A moment ago, he had vaguely sensed some mysterious and ancient power locking onto his position. He had attempted to erase the sensation, but had failed.
As his heart thumped thanks to the intense sensation of impending disaster, he accelerated, turning into a blur of afterimages that shot off into the distance on the seafloor. He even performed an incantation gesture to start an immortal skill. This immortal skill was similar to a teleportation, but the way it manifested was unusually gruish. What was more, it required paying a heavy price.
Back when he was in the Imperial Sovereign level, he could have activated the immortal skill in an instant. And though the price to pay would still have been high, it wasn’t something he would have balked at. But now, it not only took a lot of time, but also, required an even greater price.
Unfortunately, he had no other options to pick from. As the immortal skill seed took root in his sea of consciousness, his mind trembled.
The patriarch perished.... The holy land must have fallen into catastrophe....
Bitterness filled Floating Fiend as he thought back to what the holy land had been through in recent years. He couldn’t prevent a feeling of regret from filling his heart. However, despite the clear regret within him, he knew that the situation had reached the point at which such regret was pointless. What was more, he didn’t have the deep attachment to the species that the patriarch did. Personal growth had always been his main priority.
And he was ready to pay any price to make that happen. That was why he was fully aware that, if he could do everything over again, he would make the same choices as before. The idea of becoming a Summer Immortal was so incredible that he would face countless dangers for the sake of it. He just couldn’t resist that temptation. In fact, even if a destined opportunity only came with a slim chance of success, he would take it.
After all, this was good fortune leading to the possibility of becoming a Summer Immortal! From ancient times until now, the Revered Ancient mainland had only seen a handful of individuals who reached that level. If he could do so... then he would have terrifying strength akin to that of a True God. If that happened, he would be an important person even out in the sprawling starry sky. In fact, he would be like that certain exalted individual, and could pursue a path leading to a realm without parallel in history.
Summer Immortal.... What a pity... what a real pity....
Floating Fiend still wasn’t ready to just give up, and that defiance soon turned into madness that caused his eyes to glitter. Around that time, a terrifying pressure began to weigh down on him. A deafening rumbling sound filled his ears, interrupting his thoughts, and caused his face to fall. He looked up.
What he saw was a stupefying sea of flames. The sea water was burning. Red fire spread everywhere, completely wiping out the mutagen in the area and turning the sea back to its normal color. The high temperature even reached down to the seafloor.
In the middle of the sea of flames was a huge vortex, spinning endlessly. Out of it stepped two figures. One of them caused Floating Fiend’s heart to fill with even more intense defiance.
But before his emotions could get completely riled up, an illusory version of Flame Phoenix arrived along with a third figure. A piercing cry erupted from Huang Yan as he stepped out, and his eyes pulsed with killing intent as he stepped toward Floating Fiend.
The moment his foot fell, the seafloor trembled, and the burning of the seawater intensified. Floating Fiend shivered and coughed up a massive mouthful of blood. After being resurrected thanks to the memory transfer immortal skill, he was no longer an Imperial Sovereign, but rather, had fallen down to the Smoldering God level. Thus, Flame Phoenix’s wrath was far more than he could stand up to.
In an instant, he was seriously injured by Flame Phoenix. As more blood sprayed out of his mouth, his cultivation base destabilized further. His momentum in fleeing was interrupted, and the immortal skill seed which had been brewing within him began to go out of control.
Huang Yan was already right in front of Floating Fiend. He waved his hand. Terrifying force erupted from Flame Phoenix. The flames on the seafloor converged, turning into a tempest of fire that swept toward Floating Fiend. The disparity in power levels was so immense that any sort of resistance was meaningless.
Floating Fiend shook violently as he coughed up over a dozen mouthfuls of blood. At the same time, his cultivation base became so unstable that it started falling. From the great circle of Smoldering God, he fell down to the level of a five-world Smoldering God.
It was such a critical moment that Floating Fiend couldn’t bother waiting for the immortal skill seed to finish brewing in his sea of consciousness. Face distorting with pain, and heart surging with terror, he held back nothing to activate it. A boom rang out as he exploded, turning into a host of scintillating threads that vanished without a trace.
As Huang Yan stood there, he turned to look coldly off into the distance.
By now, Xu Qing and Erniu had fully emerged from the vortex.
Huang Yan had obviously been keeping tight control over his attack earlier. “Xu Qing, I know you want to kill him with your own hands. As of now, his cultivation base isn’t high enough for him to be a threat to you. And I interfered with his secret magic so he couldn’t get very far away.”
Xu Qing nodded. His relationship with Huang Yan was second only to his relationship with Erniu. Therefore, there was no need for further words. Eyes turning cold, he sent his god perception out to contact the countless sounds on the seafloor. They included flowing water, fish swishing their tails, sea beasts howling, and the grains of sand rubbing against each other.... There were numerous noises that all converged into the sound of the Forbidden Sea breathing. Within that breathing, Xu Qing was able to sense Floating Fiend’s heartbeat.
“Found him,” he said calmly. He took a step in that direction.
Huang Yan didn’t join him, but instead sat down cross-legged and looked over at Erniu, who seemed raring to go.
“Have a seat,” Huang Yan said. “He can handle things going forward.”
Erniu hesitated, as he was interested in watching the show. But after casting a glance at Huang Yan, he chose to sit down. A moment later, he sighed. “Second Brother-in-Law—”
“Erniu! You said something a while back that I haven’t forgotten. In fact, I remember every word you said. Very clearly. You were planning to visit my home to do some ‘training.’ You said you made a lot of preparations. You even said you had a way to sneak inside. Go right through the front door. You were completely prepared for everything.” Huang Yan smiled enigmatically.[1]
Erniu blinked a few times, then shook his head. “Something is off about little Junior Brother. No. This won’t do. I need to go see what’s happening....”
He rose to his feet and tried to leave, only for Huang Yan to throw his arm around his neck. “He’s fine. I’ll keep an eye on him. Now, let’s have a nice little discussion about how you planned to get into my house while I was sleeping. Come on. Tell me all the little details....”
As Huang Yan and Erniu had a friendly little chat, there was a spot some distance away on the seafloor where a host of scintillating threads appeared and converged into the shape of Floating Fiend. The moment he materialized, he coughed up several mouthfuls of blood. At the same time, he seemed to wither, his face turning pale as he looked around to check his surroundings. When he found that he hadn’t escaped very far away, his heart filled with incomparably intense pressure. However, without the slightest hesitation at all, he gritted his teeth and burst into motion, all while starting the same immortal skill seed as before.
The complete immortal skill seed requires an incense stick’s worth of time...
His anxiety didn’t reduce the amount of time he needed. Heart pounding, he accelerated, piercing through the water. However, even as he sped up... he heard a sound in the sea. The first thing that reached his ears was a noise like rushing water. The sound filled the area, turning into ripples that caused Floating Fiend’s face to fall when they touched him.
“Not good!”
He wanted to block them, but he couldn’t. An instant later, the sound of rushing water turned into an explosive rumbling, and then into a terrifying and deadly force. It was the authority of sound.
Floating Fiend trembled violently. Back when he was an Imperial Sovereign, it was easy for him to look down on Xu Qing’s sound authority. But not now. Being only a five-world Smoldering God, it instantly caused blood to seep out of wounds all over his fleshly body. At that critical moment, his hands flashed in a double-handed incantation gesture as he unleashed a divine ability to erase the authority. In doing so, he managed to break free of the area of explosive sound.
Blood oozed out of the corners of his mouth. However... Xu Qing’s deadly sound just kept going. This time it came from the beating of his heart. His heartbeat was like heavenly thunder. His chest raged beyond his control, until it suddenly exploded.
A boom echoed out. Blood spread out in all directions. Floating Fiend shivered, and his vision blurred. Pain filled him that was so intense it was difficult to put into words.
At the same time, countless additional sounds arrived. He heard fish swishing their tails, sea beasts howling, and the sand grating against itself. It was the Forbidden Sea breathing. The sound converged, turning into a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering attack. Even the rumbling from before was added in. The booms became a tempest. They became killing intent. And in gruish fashion, they slammed into Floating Fiend’s body and soul.
He was surrounded by blood, and could hardly endure the pain in his soul. Eyes gleaming with madness, he tried to keep running. Over and over again, he unleashed his power of erasure to fight back.
The effects were far from perfect. More blood built up. His fleshly body wounds became more severe. In the end, when he was just about ripped to shreds, he managed to break out of the area of sound. He was now in an area of complete silence!
That only caused Floating Fiend’s face to fall further. An intense sensation of deadly crisis overwhelmed him.
That was because he knew that silence didn’t mean safety. It meant the opposite. Silence... meant that all the sound had been taken away. And taking away sound was something like omniscience.
Without a scrap of hesitation, he activated the incomplete immortal skill seed within him. The price was even heavier before, but he managed to flee. A host of scintillating threads appeared, and he prepared to vanish. But then, countless sounds exploded out, along with a boundless power. Floating Fiend’s threads had been violently suppressed.
Rumbling booms echoed out as many of the threads collapsed before the others disappeared. A few breaths of time passed before Xu Qing appeared in that spot, his face completely expressionless. He looked in the direction Floating Fiend had fled.
“You can’t get away,” he said calmly. Then he lifted his foot and, in much the same way Floating Fiend had pursued him, gave chase.
1. Erniu mentioned his plan to sneak into Flame Phoenix’s nest inchapter 276 . He mentioned the plan again in other chapters, including334 and351 . ☜