"Tingting! Come back! Don't go!"
As Yang Qing watched Fang Ting approach the poisonous fire, he wanted to stand up. But as he looked at Zhou Yuncong and Zhao Huan behind him, he stopped himself.
"Calm down, I need to calm down. That's the only way I can save Tingting!" Yang Qing gritted his teeth and tried to summon an attack that he had never comprehended before - the Four Appearances Yin-Yang Change from the Four Appearances Heaven Cleaving Script.
But there were still many things that Yang Qing had not understood from this abhijna. It was incomplete. It was an attack that he could not fully unleash. He might even hurt himself from doing so. He planned to finish cultivating this attack when he came to the Southern Wilderness.
But this could not be achieved at one go, and being able to unleash it in this life and death situation was definitely out of the question.
But Yang Qing had no other choice now. He stared at Fang Ting and shouted, "Rawr!"
The Grand Sun Primordial Fire and Grand Moon Primordial Water defending him started to gather together. They surged and the Grand Sun Primordial Fire kept on injecting into the Grand Moon Primordial Water. The two opposing forces combined and a miraculous change occurred.
In the center of the Grand Moon Primordial Water where the Grand Sun Primordial fire was injected into, both water and fire disappeared and converted into vacuum. The powers of the vacuum expanded, degrading the True Torch of Ksitigarbha and the poisonous power as it rippled outwards.
Four Appearances Yin-Yang Change, Change of Yang in Vacuum, Yang in Yin, Realm of Vacuum Yang.
But very soon, more poisonous fire blazed up again. The formation of an Immortal Soul Stage cultivator could not be so easily overcome by an Aurous Core Stage cultivator.
Under the attack of the Crimson God-Exterminating Formation, Yang Qing groaned and the power of the vacuum birthed by the Yang in Yin started to become unstable. The Grand Sun Primordial Fire and Grand Moon Primordial Water also became a mess.
Yang Qing could only sense his giddiness. This was the result of his attack backfiring on him.
The combination of the Grand Sun Primordial Fire and the Grand Moon Primordial Water was already quite gentle. If it was any more violent, Yang Qing would have sustained critical injuries and could have even died.
But Yang Qing could not care less. He struggled to gaze at the sea of fire and looked at the figure that was slowly being engulfed by the sea of fire and he felt a pain in his heart, "I must succeed. I must succeed!"
He exhibited spell after spell as he repelled the formation tirelessly.
Yang Qing's body was starting to give way. His Aurous Core was even jerking tremendously and losing its radiance.
But his soul continued to burst with energy. He continued struggling to overcome the fire.
But it was because he was so energetic that he felt the extreme torment. That was because he could only watch as the person he loved being engulfed by the poisonous fire.
"Tingting…"
Yang Qing's voice was like a lone wolf in a critical situation, filled with desolation.
The ghostly figure that Fang Ting had turned into became smaller and smaller, as well as more and more battered. The green light and white floc on it were also disappearing.
Finally, Yang Qing's powers managed to break through the poisonous fire and he pulled Fang Ting back. But what was left was only a broken soul of hers. Her appearance could be subtly seen through this broken soul.
Right now, Yang Qing was extremely anxious.
Fang Ting straightened her gaze and her mouth opened, but she did not speak, "Senior Yang, the bloodstains on my hands are too much. This is…what I deserve. Don't…be put in a spot…. because of me. Seeing you again…your face…I'm…satisfied…"
"Senior, you must…. take care…of…. yourself…."
Her energy became more and more depleted. She was able to maintain her gaze towards Yang Qing, but her eyes were slowly closing.
Her mind flashed with memories of her past. When she first accepted discipleship in the Cloud Water Cave, there was a guy who was slightly older than her looking curiously at her.
The green grasshoppers were folded, one for him and one for herself. (Translator's Note: This is a symbolic act of love.) They did not need to talk to each other to spend time. They just had to sit with their backs facing each other as they leaned on each other
He went to join the team to attack the Fire Crows and managed to return from the brink of death, allowing the both of them to reunite.
As they fell in love, they finally became a couple.
Fang Ting looked at Yang Qing in a daze. This man in purple, wearing a tormented look in front of her now, gradually became the youth in white who once wore a gentle smile on his face and extended his hand towards her.
Yang Qing looked at Fang Ting as she extended her hands towards him. But she did not succeed.
The Grand Moon Primordial Water protected Fang Ting and Yang Qing kept on injecting his mana to preserve her, but he could only watch as she disappeared slowly.
"Tingting, no…don't…don't die…"
Yang Qing's voice was filled with sorrow.
"Boom!" The void space surrounded by the poisonous fire suddenly cracked with a hole.
Golden flames exploded and the poisonous fire was broken apart. A raging squall divided the poisonous fire, opening a gap that slowly expanded. Following that, yellowish-black river water surged in and helped Yang Qing, Zhou Yuncong and Zhao Huan to resist the violation of the poisonous fire.
A youth in white appeared. He was Kang Nanhua. As he looked at the scene in front of him, his body shook a little. He looked down, "Don't tell me that I'm still late by one step?"
Zhou Yuncong and Zhao Huan looked at each other confusedly. They knew that Kang Nanhua was not late. Under normal circumstances, they could survive till Kang Nanhua arrived. As for Fang Ting, she chose to perish.
Kang Nanhua came beside Yang Qing and saw that he had a frightening expression on his face right now. He held Fang Ting's soul in his hand and roared. He was like an injured beast that had been placed at his wits' end. He screamed, "Tingting! Don't die, don't die!"
"Yang Qing, Yang Qing!" Kang Nanhua's brows creased and he said in a low voice, "She won't die."
Yang Qing was dazed for a moment. He turned up to look at Kang Nanhua. Kang Nanhua's hands extended out and opened. Four transparent and bright grains of gravel formed a triangular cone in space, covering Fang Ting's soul that was about to dissipate.
Kang Nanhua's Nascent Soul left his body. An arm of his Nascent Soul extended out and the other arm slashed down like a knife on it!
Zhao Huan was shocked, "Elder Kang…"
Kang Nanhua's Nascent Soul's expression did not change. The radiance of the Nascent Soul became dimmer. The severed arm converted into a streak of radiance and infused within the gravel.
Following that, the remaining arm of Kang Nanhua's Nascent Soul squeezed the triangular cone and the cone shrank down into a small grain of gravel.
Fang Ting's soul condensed inside the gravel.
"Her soul is already battered. Furthermore, as she was critically injured, I can only preserve this little bit of her soul. But as long as it is preserved, there's still hope for her," Kang Nanhua said.
Yang Qing kneeled on the ground and he stared at the gravel.
Kang Nanhua heaved a sigh of relief. In fact, both him and Yang Qing knew that Fang Ting's soul was so weak that it was almost as if it did not exist anymore.
There might be hope, but this hope was extremely slim.
But Yang Qing still kept on holding the gravel in his hand.
In the Heavens and Earth, silence seemed to have filled the place. Only the sounds of the raging flames, blowing squalls and the flowing river water could be heard.
A lot of time seemed to have passed, but everything seemed to have happened in an instant too. Kang Nanhua and the rest seemed to hear a voice ringing out. At the start, it seemed to be inaudible. But it grew louder slowly. At the end, it seemed like roaring thunder.
"Zhang Lie…"
"Zhang Lie…"
"Zhang Lie…"
"Zhang Lie.!"
"Zhang Lie!"
"Zhang Lie!"
"Zhang Lie!!"
"Zhang Lie!!"
"Zhang --- Lie !!!"
Yang Qing lifted his head up suddenly. One of his eyes turned pure golden and the other turned jade-green. In an instant, his golden eye turned into pure whiteness, whereas the jade-green eye turned into pure darkness. His eyes seemed to mimic Yin and Yang!
His dim Aurous Core started to shake. In the Aurous Core, the powers of the Grand Sun Primordial Fire and Grand Moon Primordial Water started to become more cultivated, although they continued to seem weak.
But in the next moment, the Grand Sun Primordial Fire converted into Pure Yang energy whereas the Grand Moon Primordial Water converted into Pure Yin energy. As Yin and Yang intersected, they combined together to develop each other. Yang Qing's depleted mana started to restore rapidly.
On the other hand, his Aurous Core started to change from the initial golden and green color to black and white.
Yang Qing looked at Kang Nanhua, "Elder Kang, where is Zhang Lie?"
Kang Nanhua looked at him and escaped the formation along with the rest. They broke through void space and flew towards the hill in the distance.
"He was there previously. But I am not sure whether his injury has healed."
When Kang Nanhua brought Yang Qing and the rest back to where Zhang Lie was, the place was already empty.
Yang Qing was expressionless as he scanned the hill, "Let's find Fourth Senior first." After he finished speaking, he leaped into space and flew towards the region where Yue Hongyan was at.
As he flew, Zhao Huan looked at Yang Qing. He hesitated for a while, "Fifth Junior Uncle, from what Elder Kang said, he must have recovered already. Even if you, Elder Kang and Master combine together, the three of you may not be able to kill Zhang Lie…"
Yang Qing replied indifferently, "I understand what you mean. But like what Third Senior said, he is not on good terms with the elder called Sikong You. He has schemed to capture both us and Sikong You. If Sikong You is not dead, he will not just simply leave. Sikong You is in the Immortal Soul Second Level. Even if Zhang Lie works with Third Senior, they might not be able to kill him too. There's a price to be paid."
"As long as he reveals any flaw, that will be our chance. If we let him escape now, finding him in the future will be difficult." Yang Qing looked cold, "That's why I have to find him today and bury him here. Even if I have to sacrifice myself!"
When they appeared at where Yue Hongyan was at, the other party discovered them and were ready to escape.
But then, a flowing radiance flashed, and a youth in purple had already appeared in front of them. He wore a weird expression and his two eyes were of different colors, one black and the other white.
"Does anyone know where Zhang Lie is?" Yang Qing asked. His tone of voice was gentle, but a frightening aura was exuded from it.
The nine cultivators raised their banners and formed a formation. As a chaotic, deathly gas was summoned, it formed weird-looking vines. The vines attacked Yang Qing.
Yang Qing extended his palm, causing the Grand Sun Primordial Fire and Grand Moon Primordial Water to appear. The Grand Sun Primordial Fire turned into a sea of golden fire, whereas the Grand Moon Primordial Water converted into a jade-green water flow. It descended from the sky and injected into the center of the sea of golden fire.
In the next moment, the center of the golden fire rumbled. It was as if a catastrophe was about to be unleashed.
Streaks and streaks of dim flowing radiance exploded out from the Grand Moon Primordial Water, landing on the vines. The vines were crushed into powder.
Four Appearances Yin-Yang Change, Change of Yang in Catastrophe, Yin in Yang, Realm of Catastrophic Yin.
Yang Qing stepped on the vines which had become powder. He progressed forward in void space and his voice sounded again.
"Where is Zhang Lie?"