Chapter 196

The fire dragon was flying in mid-air, swinging its tail, and stretching its body like a fish gliding in the water. It opened its mouth and spat out a huge fireball towards Chidi City.

Zhong Kui flew up. His Qingfeng Sword slashed down in the air, and the thick spiritual pressure seemed to tear the air apart. The fireball was broken apart from its center and smashed into the snow.

The fire dragon was enraged. Its dragon body shrank slightly, and fiercely spat out a mouthful of blazing flames towards the cultivators.

"Form a seal!" Li Bu Yu roared.

Led by Wuliang Sect, all the cultivators drew talismans in the air in unison, eventually converging into a huge boundary to block the wave of blazing flames.

The fire dragon let out a hiss and spat out more flames from its mouth.

The jumbled talismans continuously appeared on the boundary, and veins appeared on many cultivators’ faces.

Jiang Qu Lian laughed and said: "You can stop it for a while, but not for a lifetime. It's still not too late to run now. Although you can run, the people of Chidi City have nowhere to hide. Heaven Master Zhong, speaking of which, all of these started because of you and your disciple. Now only you can save the world. You still don't want to summon the Eastern Emperor Bell?"

Xie Bi An struggled to support the boundary. He raised his head and stared at Fan Wu She with pain and hatred in his eyes.

Fan Wu She also looked at Xie Bi An. When he saw the long-lost hostility in those warm and smiling eyes again, he actually wanted to laugh for a moment. Laughing at his own stupidity and his imaginations, laughing at the unkindness of this Way of Heaven, always full of tricks and tormenting people for fun. How could he imagine that he could hide for the rest of his life and live well together with Xie Bi An just like this? In fact, the string of vigilance in his heart has never relaxed. He always knew that in order to get the Xuanyuan Heavenly Secret Talisman, his identity would be revealed to the world sooner or later. He just does not want to face it.

Qi Meng Sheng just let this moment come before he was ready.

However, this is not what he wants. What he wants is ...

He wants this person to hug his neck, give him a shallow kiss on the cheek and say that he will always like him. He wants this person to pretend to be strict and say "listen to your senior brother", but will be indulgent to him because he coaxed him with a few sentences. He wants to plant flowers together in the orchid garden, cook in the kitchen, practice swords in the morning, and rest together during sunset. He wants to see that gentle and loving smile all the time.

He wanted to get back the Xuanyuan Heavenly Secret Talisman by any means necessary. Other than his natural admiration for power, in fact, what he ultimately desired was just being a couple for a lifetime. But he never expected that this person would not like him because he was anyone. He does not need to be the Supreme Demon, nor does he need to have a cultivation that no one could match. Just him was enough.

What exactly is he doing?

If he has the power to rule the world but cannot hold onto a single person, isn’t he repeating the mistakes of his previous life?

Zhong Kui said in a loud voice: "As long as I, Zhong Kui, have one breath left, I will never let you have your way!"

Jiang Qu Lian taunted, "Then let's see how long you can last."

The previous battle had already exhausted the cultivators. Their spiritual power was not good, and this breath of the fire dragon was desperately long. Just as the cracks continued to appear on the boundary, a heavenly thunderbolt descended, and the fire dragon cowered with a miserable howl.

Li Bu Yu was panting, obviously an arrow at the end of its flight*.

"Master." Song Chun Gui supported Li Bu Yu's gently swaying body, "Can you still ..."

Li Bu Yu pushed Song Chun Gui away, "No worries." He slowly turned to Qi Meng Sheng and shouted hoarsely, "Your calculations have failed. You cannot refine the core. Now you want to see this demon burn up your hometown?"

Qi Meng Sheng was so angry that her eyes were filled with blood. Her eyeballs were almost glaring out of the frame, which was extremely gruesome in description. The lack of one basketful of earth spoils the entire effort to build a nine-Ren mountain*. Her ambition to transform and reshape her body was ruined like this, so how could she give up? However, if Chidi City was also destroyed, she would not even have her last foundation.

Qi Meng Sheng's body kept shrinking, and shrinking again, and finally returned to her original shape. Her legs went weak, and she propped up her swaying body just in time with a longbow stabbed in the ground. Just then there was a sharp pain in her chest, and a mouthful of blood spurted out violently, splashing in the snow, so red that it was blinding.

"Sect Leader ..."

Qi Meng Sheng's appearance became even older and more decrepit, like a dried and cracked dead branch that could break just from a gust of wind. The ice crystals kept infusing spiritual energy into her body, and only did her face take on color slightly, but she no longer had the strength to use the Golden Carved Jade Suit. She changed and made a voice that sounded as if it was being polished by gravel and said sinisterly, "I will not spare anyone who ruins my great plan."

The fire dragon eased through that pain and actually recovered. It can even resist the heavenly thunder induced by the Thunder Ancestor Treasure Grant. How sturdy was the life of this demon hatched by Shen Nong Ding!?

Qi Meng Sheng took a deep breath: "Cangyu Sect listen to this order. Set up a formation."

The two sects, who were irreconcilable adversaries not long ago, had no choice but to join forces against their common threat.

The fire dragon had been completely enraged. It frantically chased after them while spitting out blazing red flames. Fire is not like a sword. The range of grazing determines the severity of the injury. As long as one was licked by the fire, skin would be shed at the lightest touch. The most powerful cultivators in Jiuzhou appeared small and weak in front of it.

The fire dragon was wrapped in flames. No one could get close to it. Every sword Qi, every ice arrow, and every magical treasure are trying their best to offer the most fierce attacks, yet it was too difficult to hurt its roots. However, as long as its flames swept through, the crowd would have to flee in distress. The outcome of this battle was decided almost from the beginning. It should not be called a battle, because the two sides are not evenly matched. The fire dragon is chasing the cultivators to kill. The cultivators are already struggling just to protect themselves, let alone resist.

This is a one-sided massacre.

According to the record of "Jiuzhou’s Demon Spiritual Miscellany", the largest fire dragon's wingspan was only seven to eight feet, but this one in front of him was like a moving hill. Jiang Qu Lian was right, this fire dragon hatched by the furnace fire of Shen Nong Ding was a hundred times stronger than an ordinary fire dragon. No wonder he was sure that Zhong Kui would summon the Eastern Emperor Bell to subdue this demon.

Zhong Kui ran to Qi Meng Sheng: "Give me the Golden Carved Jade Suit!"

Qi Meng Sheng narrowed her eyes.

"Give it to me!" Zhong Kui roared.

In the few moments when the two of them were competing with their eyes, another cultivator turned into a human flame in a miserable scream.

After weighing the pros and cons, Qi Meng Sheng took off her Golden Carved Jade Suit and threw it to Zhong Kui.

Zhong Kui draped this magical treasure over his body and instantly turned into a golden-armored giant.

The cultivators let out a cheer of coming back from death's door*.

"Master, be careful." Xie Bi An called out.

Zhong Kui waved his equally gigantic Qingfeng Sword and easily dispersed a huge fireball.

The fire dragon was attracted by the sufficiently large figure in front of him and pounced over.

Wearing the Golden Carved Jade Suit, not only could one become a giant, one’s spiritual power and physical strength would be greatly enhanced for a short period of time, and this golden jade soft armor is the strongest armor in the world, which is invulnerable to swords and spears, water and fire. This enabled Zhong Kui to resist the burning of flames for a long time.

When the fire dragon found that Zhong Kui could get close to it, it instinctively felt threatened for the first time since it was born. It frantically pounced and spat flames, wanting to kill Zhong Kui immediately.

With Zhong Kui fighting with it, the other cultivators can sneak up behind the fire dragon and attack. The fire dragon, with the enemy on its back, became more and more irritable and fierce. Its angry mouth opened like a fire cannon and kept blasting at Zhong Kui. Although Zhong Kui has an additional Golden Carved Jade Suit on him, he was also forced back step by step, even his beautiful sideburns, which he was quite proud of, were blazed away. He had just fought with Qi Meng Sheng, and now he was just holding on.

"Master!" Xie Bi An flew up and leaped onto Zhong Kui's back in one leap.

"What are you doing here?" Zhong Kui shouted, "You can't tolerate its flames."

"I can." Xie Bi An grabbed Zhong Kui's loose hair and climbed onto his shoulder, "Master, do you know where the fire dragon's weak point is?"

"How would I know what weaknesses this thing that hasn't been seen for thousands of years has?"

"It's written in the book, and you don't read books." Xie Bi An's tone carried some power of the Human Emperor, "The fire dragon still has one more eye, which is in the middle of its forehead. You need to force it to open its third fire eye, but that one ..."

The fire dragon once again spat out a huge flame. Zhong Kui raised his sword to block it, but could not stop the fierce heatwave. Xie Bi An was pushed out by the heatwave. The exposed skin was in so much pain that it seemed to be melted.

Zhong Kui was also screaming from being burnt. He was so angry that he gathered multitudinous spiritual power and struck out a thunderous sword wave.

The sword Qi was like a big guillotine hanging in the world, and the blade was so ferocious that the earth was torn into a deep trench, and the fire dragon, which was very close to Zhong Kui, was even split through the center of its body.

The fire dragon shook its body, swung its tail and howled in misery. Suddenly, a beam of concentrated purple light shot out from the fire dragon, reaching the sky as if it could pierce it. There was once such a light in the world, that was a heavenly ladder that connected the sky and earth a million years ago, which never appeared again after the disconnection between heaven and earth.

And this light came from the dragon's third eye, which was slowly opening from the center of the fire dragon’s brows. The world only said that blue is the hottest flame, because the violet flame that is hotter than the blue flame cannot be seen easily by the naked eye, unless it is large enough.

Before Xie Bi An almost fell onto the ground, he was caught by a pair of steady hands.

The familiar embrace and familiar smell let Xie Bi An know who was holding him without having to look up. He pushed the person away without waiting to stabilize himself.

Xie Bi An rose from the ground. With Pei Xue crossed in front of his body, he looked at Fan Wu She coldly.

Fan Wu She's face was also extremely unsightly: "Let Master summon the Eastern Emperor Bell. You can't defeat this fire dragon."

"Dream your grand dreams." Xie Bi An's face was twisted with anger, "You are not worthy to call him Master."

"Then do you want to die? Do you want Mas...Zhong Kui to die too!?" Fan Wu She gritted his teeth, "The fire dragon has opened its third fire eye. The purple flame is able to burn anything in the world."

"Master would rather die than let you get the Xuanyuan Heavenly Secret Talisman! Your plot with Jiang Qu Lian will not succeed!"

The fire dragon's heavily wounded body was recovering little by little. At the same time, a straight purple glow shot out from its third fire eye. This purple glow was like a thousand armies turning into a line, chiseling the earth and running forward continuously. Eventually it drilled into Chidi City, splitting one of the fortresses in half!

The snowy plains left a one-person deep, long, and endless gully. The air was filled with a strong scorching stench.

Xie Bi An opened his mouth wide. Looking at the deep gully on the ground, his body shuddered uncontrollably: "Master..." He turned around and was about to run to Zhong Kui.

"Zong Zi Heng!" Fan Wu She yelled.

Xie Bi An's body felt like it was frozen in place.

Fan Wu She stared with a pair of scarlet hanging fox eyes and said in a trembling voice, "To you, I thought I had been despicable enough." He closed his eyes, and a black jade came out of his hand.

Xie Bi An recognized that object. It’s the soul token that Fan Wu She used to store Wuya.

Jiang Qu Lian, who had been watching the battle from the sky, turned pale: "Zong Zi Xiao, what do you want to do!? How dare you!"

"You also dared to give me orders." A layer of dense, almost black blood crept into Fan Wu She’s eyes, and the soul token in his hand also emitted a burst of a black death aura. His lips clashed rapidly as he chanted under his breath.

"Rise-----"

Vibrations came from the earth. The snow layers shook and rose. A cold wind rolled through, raising a white snow fog.

In the pale snow fog, giant black shadows appeared one after another.

The crowd looked at the behemoths in amazement. Snow fog fell to the ground, and their field of vision cleared again, and a group of snow demons appeared before them.

In the "Jiuzhou’s Demon Spiritual Miscellany", there was a record about the snow demon legend. A thousand years ago, before Chidi City was formed as a city, a war broke out between the people of Kunlun and the snow demons near Shen Nong Ding, killing dozens of snow demons and driving such ice giants out of the human villages completely.

 

 ----

PS: time to eat my late lunch now

 

an arrow at the end of its flight*[强弩之末]---no more energy left, totally exhausted

The lack of one basketful of earth spoils the entire effort to build a nine-Ren mountain*[为山九仞，功亏一篑]--- (Ren is an ancient measure of length). It is a metaphor for doing something that is only missing the last bit to finish.

coming back from death's door*[绝地逢生]--- unexpected rescue from danger / fig. to recover from a seemingly impossible situation / to find a way out of a predicament

 

Edited on 22 May 21 (Emzie)

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