Chapter 299: All Demons Stir Under Heaven
After thinking it through, Li Qingqiu still decided not to pursue Yuan Li.
Unlike Zhao Zhen’s earlier situation, Zhao Zhen had needed to endure his tribulation in order to achieve transformation—he might even have died within it.
But Yuan Li had already awakened. Rashly interfering with him might affect the awakening process.
Li Qingqiu felt that the Undying Overlord Body might be even more formidable than he had imagined. As long as Yuan Li’s erupting aura was strong enough, he would be able to sense it.
The sect’s upper ranks did not understand why Li Qingqiu chose not to search for Yuan Li, but out of trust in him, no one continued to persuade him.
Ji Ya’s mood was heavy. He had just returned and had only now learned that Yuan Qi was dead.
Though he had not been especially close to Yuan Li, they were still fellow disciples. After so many years together, he felt sorrow for him.
He wanted to go assist Yuan Li, but Li Qingqiu stopped him.
“You should focus on recovering first,” Li Qingqiu said in a tone that brooked no argument. Ji Ya could only give up.
Immediately afterward, Li Qingqiu instructed Xiao Wuqing to go and look after Xiao Wudi. Once Xiao Wudi awoke, he was to be brought over.
That Xiao Wudi had actually been knocked unconscious gave Li Qingqiu reason to suspect that the fellow had done it deliberately.
Other Ninth Layer of the Nourishing Vital Energy Realm cultivators might truly have been knocked out by Yuan Li’s sneak attack. But Xiao Wudi was different—he was also a body cultivator, and his physical body was even stronger than Yuan Li’s. How could he have been knocked unconscious?
Li Qingqiu then asked Ji Ya to continue recounting the events of that night, to see whether any useful information could be analyzed.
The others’ thoughts were thus drawn back as well, and they resumed discussing the battle in the imperial palace.
……
Heavy snow fell mercilessly, blanketing the mountains and rivers in white. Across the vast snowy expanse, a lone figure walked forward.
It was Yuan Li.
He wore white robes, his hair loosely draped and fluttering in the cold wind. His face was cold and severe. Since his elder brother’s death, he had lost his smile.
If one looked closely, faint streaks of blood-patterns could be seen between his brows, making him appear as though he were perpetually frowning.
Though he seemed to wander aimlessly, his heart was firm.
There was no anger in him, no hatred. His state of mind had entered an unprecedented calm.
From the moment he learned of Yuan Qi’s death to the moment he descended the mountain, only ten days had passed. Yet within those ten days, it felt as though he had experienced several cycles of reincarnation.
He repeatedly recalled the first half of his life. He continuously deduced and reenacted his cultivation within his mind.
From pain to numbness. From regret to despair.
Many years ago, he had already sensed his own limit. He had foreseen that he would need to undergo some desperate extremity before he could transform.
He had thought it would be his own death.
He had never expected his elder brother’s death to come first.
He would rather it had been himself who died than Yuan Qi.
Amid emotions on the verge of collapse, Yuan Li entered a state he had never experienced before.
He gazed ahead, his steps neither hurried nor slow. The boundless heavens and earth were desolate. Snow fell upon him and immediately turned into mist, dispersing.
A line of bloody tears flowed down from his right eye. Soon after, bloody tears seeped from his left eye as well.
It was as though he felt nothing of his own bleeding. He continued forward, while strands of white hair began to appear among his black locks.
Before long, blood began flowing from his mouth and nose. A third of his hair had already turned white, and his entire person seemed aged.
As blood continued to flow from his seven orifices, a trail of blood was left behind him.
“From death to rebirth. What is a tribulation? What is a limit? To shatter all obstacles—only that is the path I must walk…”
Yuan Li suddenly spoke, murmuring softly.
Though his eyes bled, his gaze remained calm.
The Gang Essence within his body began to boil, surging against his muscles, bones, and limbs. Every acupoint suffered the impact of the Gang Essence, yet at this moment, he felt no pain.
The sensation of flesh being torn apart instead brought him a strange exhilaration.
He wanted to endure pain more tragic than what Yuan Qi had suffered before his death. He was not tormenting himself. He was telling his brother that he was strong enough—strong enough to face all dangers of this world alone.
Boom—
A sharp and fierce aura suddenly erupted from Yuan Li, forming visible gusts of force that wildly encircled his body. Gradually, blood-blossoms appeared upon his white robes, rapidly expanding and merging together.
Threads of blood essence seeped from his robes, drifting upward like blood-colored flames burning.
Soon, his garments became entirely crimson. His flesh began to melt, transforming into rising blood essence.
The wind and snow between heaven and earth grew fiercer. From afar, a long trail of blood essence could be seen coiling around him.
Thump! Thump! Thump…
A strange sound echoed between heaven and earth, like war drums. In truth, it was Yuan Li’s heartbeat.
Half of Yuan Li’s face had already lost its flesh, revealing white bone. Yet he did not frown from pain.
“Whether demon, fiend, or ghost—come. Enjoy my flesh and blood…”
Yuan Li muttered to himself. He did not know where to find the demon that had killed Yuan Qi, so he chose instead to draw the demons to him.
Boom—
A sky-piercing aura burst forth from Yuan Li’s body, shaking the firmament. The falling snow was forced apart, forming a magnificent vortex.
……
Within a dim temple, the centipede spirit lying upon the Buddha statue suddenly lifted its head. In the darkness on either side, other demons opened their eyes as well, all looking toward the temple entrance.
“This is…”
“What powerful blood essence…”
“With such blood essence, what kind of physique could this be? So the Demon Teacher spoke the truth—the Nine Provinces truly hide a supreme body?”
“Great King, we’ve finally waited for it! First seize this body, then destroy the Clear Sky Sect!”
“Such delicious blood essence—I can feel my demonic blood boiling.”
Excited and greedy voices echoed from the darkness.
The centipede spirit gazed outside and said faintly, “With such blood essence, demons across the world will surely go mad. The demonic momentum we have gathered may instead become an obstacle to us.”
Its words did not cause the surrounding demons to worry. Instead, they urged it to give the order to depart at once.
After a moment of silence, the centipede spirit said in a deep voice, “Then we move. Prepare to face the Clear Sky Sect.”
As its words fell, the demons hidden within the great hall surged with excitement and poured out of the temple—snakes, rats, giant spiders, and strange, indescribable monstrous creatures.
……
Inside a cave dwelling.
Li Qingqiu suddenly opened his eyes, frowning.
He sensed a powerful blood essence, being recklessly released in the form of an overwhelming aura.
It was the first time he had ever felt such an aura—thick with the scent of blood.
Most crucially, the bloody aura was still strengthening, rapidly reaching a level that made even his heart tremble.
What kind of demon could be responsible?
Li Qingqiu hesitated over whether to investigate, wary that it might be a ploy to lure the tiger away from the mountain.
Yet the bloody aura continued to intensify, making it impossible for him to continue cultivating.
He rose and walked toward the stone gate of the cave dwelling.
Lin Chuan leapt onto Li Qingqiu’s shoulder and said, “Senior Brother, I feel a presence that makes me deeply uneasy. My ghost body is trembling…”
Li Qingqiu comforted him, “Don’t be afraid. I feel it too.”
They stepped out together and made their way to the edge of the cliff.
Li Qingqiu lifted his gaze. The falling snow was dense, and the world ahead was a vast expanse of white. Nothing could be seen. Yet he could feel that the bloody aura in the distance was still rising madly.
It was as if it would pierce through the heavens.
“What in the world is that?”
Li Qingqiu frowned, confusion stirring within his heart.