Chapter 270: Take It To Them
Xiang Yu and Li Yao sat side to side at the front. Directly across from them sat Wang Jian. To the side, Li Mei and Liu Feng sat opposite each other like before.
Wang Jian rose from his position and walked toward the center of the room. Once he reached the middle, he reached into his spatial ring and withdrew a round crystal before placing it at the center.
He extended his hand and channeled a steady stream of qi into the artifact, activating the communication artifact. The moment his energy made contact with the crystal, it responded immediately. A brilliant light shot upward from its surface, the light expanded and shifted, slowly taking shape until it displayed clear holographic projections of four distinct figures.
An Jing of the Whispering Shadow Sect, Huan Meng of the Illusory Valley, Sword Sovereign Bai Wu of the Thousand Blades Sword Sect, and Jin Guang of the Iron Fist Sect.
Now that all six powerhouses of the Eastern Continent were gathered, the meeting could begin. They wasted no time and started by addressing the issue at hand: the demon invasion. The corruption was spreading like a plague across their lands, and they could not afford to wait for reinforcements from the Central Continent. Every moment of delay meant the dark influence grew stronger and claimed more territory.
After many rounds of intense discussion, exchanging strategies and weighing their options, they finally reached a unified conclusion. They needed to take the fight directly to the source while the demonic lotus was still relatively weak. This would minimize the overall damage to the continent and also ensure a better fighting chance.
"Right now, I say we bring the fight to them when it’s still on our own turf," Huan Meng said as she snapped her fan close. "As the corruption advances, not only will they grow stronger, but it won’t be our turf anymore - it will be theirs."
The other leaders nodded in agreement.
"Just one problem though," Sword Sovereign Bai Wu interjected. "We still don’t have a reliable way to handle those who become corrupted. If someone like us ends up corrupted, we’re essentially handing more strength to the enemy."
The room fell into contemplative silence as everyone considered this.
Seeing everyone in thought, Li Yao raised her clenched fist and spoke up to assure them. "Don’t worry, if you’re corrupted, I’ll personally kill you," she announced matter-of-factly.
The other leaders looked at her nervously.
"Why would you say that?" Xiang Yu asked her in the spiritual sea.
"I was being comforting," Li Yao replied innocently, genuinely confused by his reaction.
[How is that comforting?] the Empress asked incredulously.
"Well, they can die with peace of mind knowing I won’t let them roam around corrupted," Li Yao explained sincerely.
Xiang Yu could only sigh at this. He then spoke up to address the others, "I have some ideas about this problem, but I still haven’t tested them yet, so it’s hard to say anything definitively."
The other leaders immediately perked up, looking at him with expressions of awe and hope. As expected of the Grand Elder, even in the face of such an unprecedented crisis, he can still come up with solutions. They couldn’t help but wonder how someone as pure and wise as the Grand Elder had ended up in that psycho’s clutches.
"Is there anything we can do to help, Grand Elder?" Wang Jian asked eagerly.
Seeing how enthusiastic and supportive they all seemed toward Xiang Yu, Li Yao’s expression shifted into a pout. "Hmph, I was also trying to help too, you know," she murmured under her breath.
The other leaders heard her complaint clearly, but they decided to ignore it.
"What help? Who wants to be assured that they’ll be killed?" they thought to themselves, though none of them dared voice these thoughts aloud. Instead, they maintained their polite and somewhat strained smiles.
...
"First, I need a sample of those creatures, then a volunteer who will be corrupted so I can try to see if there’s a way to get rid of the corruption," Xiang Yu said calmly.
The sect masters nodded thoughtfully as they processed his request. Capturing the demons wouldn’t really be a problem any of them in this room can easily capture a couple hundred of them.
However, finding a volunteer who would willingly allow themselves to be intentionally corrupted was quite tricky. The corruption process was not only dangerous but potentially irreversible if Xiang Yu’s experimental treatment failed.
"Me! Me! Me! I’ll do it!" Liu Feng practically jumped out of his seat, his hand shooting up into the air.
The other leaders looked at him with strange expressions, wondering what had suddenly gotten into him. Did he not fully understand what corruption meant? The dark energy didn’t just affect the body, it twisted the mind, stripped away reason, and turned people into mindless killing machines driven only by bloodlust.
Wang Jian was equally surprised by this unexpected outburst. "Young master, this is..." he began, concern evident in his voice as he tried to dissuade him.
"No need," Liu Feng raised his hand decisively to stop Wang Jian from going further. "We don’t have much time to look for people. I’ll just do it." He said, his voice determined, leaving no room for argument. "I’ll go get the demons too while I’m at it," he added before turning and running out of the room at full speed.
Wang Jian watched him go with a mixture of pride and worry. He thought to himself that the young master was as selfless as always, caring so much for the welfare of the Eastern Continent that he would risk his own life without hesitation.
Liu Feng, on the other hand, had a completely different motivation for his actions. A wide smile spread across his face as he ran through the sect grounds. He thought to himself that this was finally his golden chance to prove his usefulness to the immortal.
Who knows? He might even receive some kind of reward for his contribution. Just thinking about it, "Kekeke," he laughed quietly to himself as he passed through the protective barrier surrounding the sect.
After only a few minutes had passed, Liu Feng returned. In his arms, he carried three demonic creatures that writhed and struggled against his grip.
Xiang Yu stood up from his position and walked over to examine Liu Feng’s catch. He reached into his spatial ring and produced three specialized restraint tables. The metal clone had crafted some of these when upgrading his other equipment. They were specifically for containing people undergoing qi deviation or those who are not completely rational while receiving treatment. He placed each demon onto a separate table, securing them with restraints.
Li Yao watched with fascination as the demons wiggled and squirmed, desperately trying to break free from their bonds. "I also want to try that," she thought to herself.
[To restrain or to be restrained, that is the question...]
"Now that I think about it..."
After ensuring the demons were properly restrained and posed no immediate threat, Xiang Yu approached the first creature. He placed his hand directly on its writhing form, feeling the corrupt energy radiating from its body. Taking a deep breath, he concentrated and activated his Yin-Yang Harmony divine ability.
Carefully, he controlled the ability to inverse the dark energy coursing through the creature’s body. The creature immediately began squealing in agony, causing the watching sect masters to wonder exactly what Xiang Yu was doing to it.
Then a bright light began to emerge from the exact point where Xiang Yu’s hand made contact with the demon. The light spread throughout the creature’s body, forming vine-like patterns that traced along its skin. The brightness intensified with each passing second, growing from a gentle glow to a blazing radiance that made everyone squint.
The demon let out one final, ear-piercing screech before the overwhelming light consumed it entirely. In a spectacular display, the creature exploded into countless particles of light that scattered and dissolved into the air.
Everyone stared at Xiang Yu in shock.
"The light element," they thought to themselves in unison. The Grand Elder could actually use the light element. Even in the Central Continent with all its resources and talent, the number of people who could wield the light element could be counted on one hand, Liu Feng thought.
Xiang Yu observed the results with satisfaction. It seemed his hypothesis had been correct, inversing the elemental nature of the corruption could indeed destroy the creatures. Now all that remained was to test whether this same inverse technique could work on corruption that had already taken root inside another person.
He turned and glanced at Liu Feng standing beside him.
"I understand," Liu Feng said without hesitation. He stepped forward and placed his hand directly on one of the remaining demonic creatures. He deliberately didn’t use protective qi and allowed the corruption energy to penetrate into his body.
...
A/N: Inversing or Inverting?