Defiant Martial God
Chapter 65
When Souls Fight
"Get lost!" A shout resounded, and a green sword light blossomed in the air. Ding! The shadow of Ruo Feng's blade was engulfed by the light, and he slid back from the sheer impact. He only stopped upon reaching Mu Rongyue's side and nearly fell.
"How strong!" Ruo Feng was appalled and terrified. He raised his head to look at the person who had appeared and was stunned.
"It's you?" Mu Rongyue was shocked as well. The person was someone with whom she was familiar: Qing Yun. They had met at the Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain, where Qing Yun had fought Qin Yu. Mu Rongyue was taken aback by the current Qing Yun. Her cultivation stage seemed to have surpassed Mu Rongyue's own. Back at the Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain, Qing Yun had only been at the apex of the Origin Realm . How did she become so strong all of a sudden? Of course, now wasn't the time to consider this. Why did Qing Yun suddenly appear? What did she want? Did she want to fight Qin Yu again? He was definitely in no condition to do so.
"Qin Yu?" Qing Yun saw Qin Yu on Mu Rongyue's back, and her heart quivered. She screamed and dashed up to him.
"Stop there! What do you intend to do?" Ruo Feng waved his huge blade, blocking Qing Yun.
Qing Yun's gaze hardened, and her voice grew cold. "Get lost."
"That's fine, as long as you manage to step over my dead body." Ruo Feng refused to budge.
"Sure, you will die then." The Qingfeng Sword in Qing Yun's grasp emitted a green light once more.
"Stop!" Mu Rongyue shouted, hoping to avoid a fight. She knew Ruo Feng was no match for Qing Yun, and she couldn't watch him die in vain. "Miss Qing Yun, what are your intentions?"
"Hm?" Qing Yun was silent a moment as her gaze landed on Mu Rongyue. She seemed to have seen Mu Rongyue somewhere before. On the night at the Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain, Mu Rongyue had noticed Qing Yun, but she hadn't paid attention to Mu Rongyue. Furthermore, it was dark and her vision poor; so, Qing Yun had a rather shallow impression of Mu Rongyue, but she did manage to remember her.
"You know my name? I think we've met. You're…" Qing Yun recalled the woman, but she didn't know Mu Rongyue's name. Although Mu Rongyue could learn Qing Yun's name from many other people, Qing Yun could not do the same for Mu Rongyue.
Mu Rongyue replied, "I'm called Mu Rongyue. We met at the Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain."
"So, you were the girl beside Qin Yu that night. You…" Qing Yun stated, yet stopped abruptly, her expression slightly changed.
"There's blood over there; let's check it out!" Others were coming.
"Leave quickly!" Qing Yun urged. Neither Mu Rongyue nor Ruo Feng moved. Qing Yun grew anxious. "What are you waiting for? Follow me quickly. I know a safe place where we can heal his injuries."
Upon hearing that Qin Yu's wounds could be healed, Mu Rongyue no longer hesitated and departed swiftly with Qing Yun. "Okay, let's go." They fled, only a few steps ahead of the hunters following Qin Yu's blood trail.
The ghastly trail ended at a random spot in the forest. "Hey, that's weird; where did the blood trail go? I clearly heard people talking around here, yet they've vanished along with their voices?" One of the hunters wondered to himself in doubt.
"You go back and report the circumstances here, and I'll continue searching," his partner responded.
"Right, I'll go now." The man nodded, spun around, and ran in the direction from which they had come.
……
Flanked by their men, Mu Rongrui and Can Bao stood over the Blood Demon's corpse. Seeing the decaying body shrouded in black mist, Mu Rongrui's pupils constricted. He stepped forward and murmured, "Demonic yin qi."
"Your Highness, you recognize this sort of poison?" Can Bao stepped forward as well and stared at the body destroyed beyond recognition. Ripples formed in his usually calm and indifferent eyes. He could sense this poison was extremely potent. Even he, the King of Hunters, would be unable to withstand such a toxin if he came into contact with it.
"I came to kill the man who uses this demonic yin qi. I initially thought that he might have died in the tower; I didn't expect him to still be alive."
"Does this mean that the man hunted by the Blood Demon is the man you're looking for?" A bright glint flashed across Can Bao's eyes, and the corners of his mouth twitched. He wore a strange expression that resembled a smile; but, at the same time, it was something quite different. "If he becomes the new Blood Demon, he'll be a Blood Demon capable of using demonic yin qi. Isn't that more powerful?"
"Hmph! If he becomes a Blood Demon that we can't control, he will be our downfall," Mu Rongrui huffed coldly with a solemn frown. "Order your people to drop everything they're doing and pursue this man at full strength. Find him at all costs!" The young man commanded.
For a moment, Can Bao was stunned. He wasn't really used to Mu Rongrui giving orders like that. But, Mu Rongrui was royalty, and Can Bao had to carry out his orders. He could only endure the unhappiness in his heart and bow slightly. "Yes, Your Highness." However, the decree gave the remaining cultivators within the Illusory Battlefield a breather. If all of Can Bao's men were to hunt them instead, it might bring about a great massacre. Indirectly, Qin Yu had saved many lives.
Qin Yu at this time, actually had no idea that his move had drawn the attention of all the hunters. He had been lying in a mountain cave for three days already. During that time, he hadn't moved an inch, as if he was dead; however, Qin Yu still breathed. The two girls kept watch over him, both tense and worried. "Miss Qing, why do you think Brother Qin has yet to awaken?" Tears in Mu Rongyue's eyes threatened to fall again.
"It should be soon. He's consumed my family's special healing pill, so he should awaken shortly." Although Qing Yun said so, her tone was clearly not confident. It had been three days. If the pill had really worked, Qin Yu should have already regained consciousness.
Qin Yu actually had been conscious for a long time. He could hear the conversation between the two ladies; but, he couldn't open his eyes and wake just yet. Within his sea of consciousness, a continuous fight over the control of his body raged. The battle had lasted three days already.
"Young lad, stop resisting. Surrender! I will make you even stronger, the strongest person to ever exist! You will stand at the peak of cultivation and look down on everyone. You can belittle even the vault of heaven!" A faded red shadow seductively cajoled among Qin Yu's sea of consciousness. Opposite the shadow, the Earth Spirit Pearl rolled about with gusto, and it's black mist roiled turbulently. Beside the Pearl was a faded white shadow. This was Qin Yu's soul, and the red faded shade was the Demonic Blood Devouring Sword's wicked spirit.
Three days ago, when Qin Yu had killed the Blood Demon pursuing him, he had taken the Demonic Blood Devouring Sword into his spatial ring as his reward. Who would have expected a red shadow to jump from the Demonic Blade and worm its way into Qin Yu's sea of consciousness? Fortunately, the Earth Spirit Pearl guarded the young cultivator's sea of consciousness, or else he would have been made a slave to the blade. Precisely because Qin Yu had yet to be controlled, the hunters could not summon the Demonic Blood Devouring Sword with the Blood Soul Bell.
Without question, Qin Yu had no desire to become a Blood Demon; thus, his soul had rushed into his sea of consciousness to join the Earth Spirit Pearl in combatting the enemy. They managed to stop the demonic spirit and gradually gathered enough force to hold the enemy at bay. "Hehe! Demon, I think you should surrender to me, your king, instead."
"'King'? Hmph, you're merely in the Immersion Realm, and you dare call yourself 'king'! How funny!" The demonic spirit said sarcastically. "If your sword moves didn't suit me, and I hadn't taken a liking to them, I would have decapitated a weakling like you three days ago! Did you really think that you were actually capable of killing the previous Blood Demon? Hmph!" Qin Yu's Red Blood Knife Moves were tailor-made for the Demonic Blood Devouring Sword, hence the Blade's choice to abandon its former slave.
The Demonic Blade had planned to make Qin Yu its new vessel; but the red shadow did not anticipate the Pearl living in Qin Yu's sea of consciousness, guarding him against wicked influences. Not to mention, it was amazing that a mere Immersion Realm cultivator like Qin Yu could enter his sea of consciousness with his soul and team up alongside the Earth Spirit Pearl against the invader. In the end, the red shadow had yet to take down Qin Yu after three days, and it was greatly discouraged. Furthermore, it seemed as if Qin Yu was about to win instead.
"Talking is useless. You'll give in to me anyway. You have no choice! I quite like the Demonic Blood Devouring Sword, haha!" Qin Yu chuckled and smirked.
The demonic spirit was infuriated. "How dare you, young lad?! I give in to you? Dream on! At worst, I'll just leave; then, what could you do?"
"'Leave'? Ha!" Qin Yu broke out in gales of laughter. "You can try!" The red shadow shuddered a little. Suddenly, the shade turned into a flash of light. With a whoosh, he dashed for freedom at lightning speed. However, when the red spirit reached the boundary, a black light flickered, and the demonic shadow rebounded off. The demonic spirit was greatly surprised. He turned around and asked Qin Yu angrily, "Young lad, what did you do?"
"Hehe," Qin Yu laughed sneakily. "This is my sea of consciousness, and I control it. What? You think that this is your own vegetable garden, and you can come and go as you please? Since you've entered, you can forget about leaving."
"You, what do you intend to do?" The demonic spirit appeared livid, and he began trembling uncontrollably.
"Naturally, absorb you. Pearl, kill!" Qin Yu waved his hand and an illusory blade appeared within the sea of consciousness. The sword slashed down at the red shadow. Simultaneously, the Earth Spirit Pearl launched its attack: The shadow of a ferocious tiger appeared with a growl; and, it pounced at the demonic spirit, feline mouth wide and ready.
"Jerk!" The demonic spirit broke into a torrent of verbal abuse, and the red figure flickered madly. A brilliant bloody light suffused the shadow. Boom! Crack! The huge blade within the space struck the bloody light, and the knife edge shattered. However, the blood light was weakened immediately by half. The tiger's mouth closed upon the blood light as well, weakening it further. The two continuous and ferocious attacks made the demonic spirit suffer unspeakably. Soon, he had no strength to defend himself. After a final wave of attacks, the shadow of the demonic spirit darkened and thinned noticeably.
"Who, who are you? How could you concentrate and form a knife attack from nothing?" The demonic spirit questioned Qin Yu with a weak voice. Awe was evident in the shadow's tone. Only a Void Realm cultivator or above was capable of forming a knife shadow from nothing. Qin Yu was only in the Immersion Realm, and there was a huge gap between that and the Void Realm. Did this mean that Qin Yu's body was of the Immersion Realm, but his soul was at the Void Realm? Impossible! How could a freak like that exist in this world?