Chapter 324 - 182: Annihilate Profound Mastery! Three Tokens Gather
Before Yinfeng Valley, dusk grew as heavy as iron.
An eerie wind howled through the valley, whipping up sand, stones, and dead leaves, making a rustling sound like quiet sobs.
Chen Sheng and Sun Yuzhi stood suspended in mid-air, their robes fluttering in the biting wind.
Sun Yuzhi’s eyes narrowed, her gaze as sharp as a needle as she locked onto a deep, vine-covered cave several hundred yards away.
Her right hand quietly tightened, gripping the hilt of her Red Mist Sword. A low hum echoed from within the scabbard.
"Wait here. Don’t make a move until you get my signal."
Sun Yuzhi didn’t turn around, but her grim voice carried clearly to Chen Sheng’s ears.
The moment she finished speaking, she pushed off the air and shot forward like a wisp of pale green smoke.
The Red Mist Sword sang as it left its scabbard, its blade shimmering with a brilliant crimson light.
Tracing a pattern in the air with two fingers, she gathered countless streams of Sword Qi, which in an instant formed a Sword Qi Flood Dragon.
The Flood Dragon let out a silent roar, carrying an overwhelming sharpness that could tear through anything as it crashed deep into the cave!
"BOOM—!"
A tremendous explosion erupted, making the entire valley tremble violently.
The rock face at the cave’s entrance cracked and collapsed, sending boulders the size of millstones tumbling down amidst a towering plume of dust.
"You skulking rat!"
Sun Yuzhi’s face was a mask of frost, and the aura around her turned bone-chillingly cold.
An invisible, murderous Sword Intent erupted outward like a frigid tide. It froze the eerie wind in its path as it pressed down upon the cave entrance.
The cave fell silent for two or three breaths.
Then, a hiss filled with furious, venomous rage erupted, and a violent, blood-red radiance burst through the dust and smoke.
Dozens, even hundreds, of tangible streams of blood-red light shot out like crazed, venomous bats. They shrieked piercingly as they tore through the air, swarming toward Sun Yuzhi to devour her.
Sun Yuzhi spun lightly in mid-air, her wide official robes billowing like a banner.
Her left hand formed a seal and pressed forward, instantly materializing a crimson barrier of spiritual light.
The blood-red streams slammed into the barrier, exploding with a series of dull booms. They burst into clouds of filthy, reddish-black mist that sizzled as they corroded the barrier’s surface. The spiritual light dimmed slightly but was not pierced.
"Ghehehe..."
A dry, raspy cackle emerged from the cave mouth.
"I was wondering who it was. So, it’s the Female Demon from the Jingwu Bureau."
As soon as the voice faded, a stooped figure in a tattered Blood Robe slowly emerged from the shadows.
A wide hood concealed most of his face, revealing only a rigid jawline and a pair of eyes that glowed with an uncanny, scarlet light.
His gaze swept over Sun Yuzhi like a venomous snake before locking onto Chen Sheng in the distance, the bloody light in his eyes flaring intensely.
"Chen... Sheng!"
"Oh? And who might you be, to know me?"
Chen Sheng remained poised in the air, his expression calm, his tone holding just the right amount of confusion.
"Fourth Elder of the Blood River Sect!"
The chest of the figure beneath the Blood Robe heaved, and his raspy voice suddenly rose, filled with violence.
"Junior! Did those disciples I sent to kill you reveal our sect’s plan to attack the Danxia Sect?! Speak!"
"Take a guess."
A slight smile touched Chen Sheng’s lips as he uttered those three light words.
"Guess?! You dare be glib when you’re about to die!"
The Fourth Elder was so enraged that the Blood Qi around him trembled violently, and his scarlet eyes looked as if they might drip blood.
"Good. I’ve long wanted to rip out your soul, refine it, and turn it into a blood lantern. Today, this place will be your grave!"
Before his voice had even faded, the Fourth Elder suddenly struck.
He flung his right sleeve, and a baleful, blood-red light—as condensed as a blood diamond and shrieking mournfully—shot straight for the spot between Chen Sheng’s eyes.
At the same time, his aura contracted sharply before exploding outward. He transformed into a blurry, distorted, blood-red streak of light and shot off in a desperate bid to escape, heading diagonally away into the sky.
’If it were just Chen Sheng here, he would have had no problem killing him. But with Sun Yuzhi present, he couldn’t afford to fight. Otherwise, the only path left was death.’
Therefore, his only choice was to flee for his life.
His earlier words had been nothing but a diversion.
The blood-red streak had barely taken off when Sun Yuzhi appeared in its path as if she had teleported, blocking his escape.
"Trying to leave? Did you ask my sword for permission?"
Her cold voice was even more chilling than the valley’s eerie wind.
The Red Mist Sword vibrated and hummed. With a flick of her wrist, Sun Yuzhi sent over a hundred streams of crimson Sword Qi spraying out. They linked together, weaving a deadly Sword Net in mid-air that covered half the sky and instantly enveloped the blood-red streak.
"BOOM! CRACK! BANG!"
The sounds of violent collisions and explosions thundered through the sky.
Crimson Sword Light and the exploding blood-red radiance clashed madly, annihilating one another.
The stray Sword Qi sliced the ground to pieces, leaving behind a series of hideous ravines.
The dispersing Blood Qi corroded rocks and plants, turning everything it touched into a blackened, purulent liquid that reeked of decay.
Sun Yuzhi’s Cultivation had reached the peak of the mid-stage of Profound Mastery, placing her a level above the still-injured Fourth Elder. Attacking in a fury, she held nothing back.
Her might was nothing short of astonishing.
Every stream of Sword Qi aimed for a vital point, forcing him to expend a massive amount of Blood Qi to block and dodge.
In just a few dozen breaths, the Fourth Elder’s Blood Robe was shredded to ribbons, revealing a gaunt, withered body crisscrossed with scars. The bone-deep wound on his chest repeatedly split open, oozing black blood.
"Hah... hah..."
The Fourth Elder gasped for breath.
The red light in his eyes flickered violently.
He tried several times to activate the Blood Escape Secret Technique to flee, but Sun Yuzhi’s Sword Stance was inescapable—dense and swift. She always struck with thunderous force at the critical moment, brutally cutting off his retreat.
’This madwoman! Why is she so intent on hunting me to the death?!’
The Fourth Elder seethed with hatred but could only grit his teeth and squeeze out the last of his nearly depleted Blood River True Essence. He struggled desperately within the ever-tightening Sword Net, a miserable and pathetic sight.
Chen Sheng stood motionless, his figure as steady as a mountain.
He took in the one-sided slaughter before him.
His right hand slipped quietly into his sleeve, his fingertips brushing against the protective Spirit Talisman that felt both warm and sharp with Sword Intent. His heart grew calm as he patiently waited for the inevitable opportunity to arise.
After another dozen or so breaths, Sun Yuzhi spotted an opening as her opponent’s movements faltered for an instant.
The next moment, with a sharp cry, the light of the Red Mist Sword flared. An impossibly condensed ray of Sword Light erupted from its tip, stabbing straight toward the vital points on his chest and abdomen!