The Forbidden Path to Immortality-Chapter 169

Am I… not dead?

The biting chill vanished without warning. The pain in Shui Die Lan’s head was still there, but her life force hadn’t slipped away. She forced her eyes to focus, and when her blurred vision finally cleared, what she saw above the cover of leaves was a vast, endless night sky.

That hand that had blotted out heaven and earth… was gone!

She shifted her gaze and spotted Hundred Ghosts slumped against a rock wall, his face stiff and expressionless. But the two puppets that had stood beside him were nowhere to be seen.

Li Xun was clutching his stomach, his face pale with patches of blue, looking absolutely wretched. Only now did he realize that Nether One’s kick hadn’t just injured his body.

The Heaven's Nether Yin Pearl? How could it have been damaged?

That very pearl had been the key to subduing the two Wanderers and earning him countless victories. More than sixty years ago, he had refined it into his body using a special technique of artifact refining.

On one hand, it allowed him to draw in pure deathly qi through the technique of the Nethermyst Shadow Body, repairing and rerefining the pearl. More importantly, it served as the core for summoning and controlling his two great puppets, extending their stay in this realm as much as possible.

Over sixty years the results had been remarkable. Not only had the Heaven's Nether Yin Pearl been nearly restored, but its constant contact with his body had gradually fused their energies together. It had been beginning to show signs of becoming one with him.

If he had truly reached that level, his cultivation would have advanced to an entirely new stage. Then breaking free from the limits of cultivation, allowing his puppets to “maintain their form eternally, coexisting with heaven and earth” might actually have been possible.

But it was at that very moment that Nether One’s unrestrained, crushing kick shattered that bright prospect.

As the core that summoned the puppets, the backlash of energy between them and their master could not help but affect Heaven's Nether Yin Pearl. And because the pearl served as that core, most of the force that had poured into Li Xun’s body had been absorbed by it.

The fact that Li Xun was still alive had everything to do with this. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Even so, what did it mean to take a blow from Blood Wanderer at full strength? No matter how extraordinary Heaven's Nether Yin Pearl was, under that strike it was driven to the brink of shattering. It hadn’t broken outright, but its state was ten times worse than after the day he had subdued those two Wanderers.

In such a condition, how could the puppets possibly remain in the world? Long before the pearl reached the point of collapse, they had already sunk back into the void. They wouldn’t be returning anytime soon.

By the time Li Xun pieced all this together, Shui Die Lan had already come back from the shadow of death. Their eyes met. Shock, hatred, and even a trace of awkwardness all tangled together, leaving a feeling that was… strangely complex.

Both of them froze, but it was Li Xun who reacted first. Seeing Shui Die Lan still collapsed on the ground, he pushed aside any thought of what might come later. With a low growl, he forced himself upright, braced his spirit, and staggered toward her.

Though most of his injuries had been dealt with by Nether One, the dizziness from his drained vitality still plagued him. His body was weak, and even running a short distance made him sway like he might topple over at any moment. It was only a dozen or so steps, yet he stumbled twice and nearly fell flat.

Shui Die Lan watched him lurch closer, her face pale as snow.

A dozen sharp shards of iron were still lodged in her abdomen. Worse yet, the Blood Nightmare that had invaded her body hadn’t disappeared with Nether One’s departure. Bit by bit, it continued to devour her blood essence, wreaking havoc inside her. In such a state, how could she possibly fight back?

Just give me a little more time… ten breaths, only ten!

Even as she prayed, Li Xun finally reached her. He wasted no words. hH had no strength for them anyway. Using the momentum of his charge, he let out another hoarse shout, raised his palm, and struck down.

With a sharp crack, his hand landed on Shui Die Lan’s forehead. But an instant earlier, his abdomen had been kicked hard. The force of his blow and the force of her resistance collided, tearing open his old wounds. Blood frothed from his mouth, and the strength drained from his hand.

Her kick had been fierce, but it lacked follow-through. Li Xun’s body doubled over, staggered again, and this time he pitched forward, crashing heavily onto Shui Die Lan.

But that crushing weight only tore open Shui Die Lan’s wounds. The dozen iron shards in her abdomen twisted and churned, a pain that was gut-wrenching in the most literal sense. She had never endured such agony before. With a scream, her vision went black, and she nearly wished for unconsciousness to claim her.

Li Xun, driven by grim resolve, reached to seize her throat. Shui Die Lan, struggling, hammered her fists into his ribs. The two of them, breath ragged and strength spent, ended up grappling like common street brawlers, tangled in a desperate scuffle.

With their bodies pressed so close, they could feel every shift of the other’s qi. Whenever one of them so much as stirred their qi, the other immediately disrupted it. Again and again this happened, locking them in stalemate.

Their limbs tangled, they rolled across the ground, over and over, neither yielding. Both were soon gasping for air, their bodies pushed to the very brink of collapse.

Just when it seemed this shameless struggle might drag on without end, a new shock broke in.

“Boom!”

A thunderous blast echoed from dozens of li away. In the gradually brightening sky, it struck like a bolt of thunder in broad daylight, sudden and soul-shaking.

Both of them jolted at the sound. They froze, then turned at the same moment toward the direction from which the shockwave had come.

It was slightly off from the ruins of the Demon Thunder Monastery, but not far.

The source of the shockwave was moving rapidly. With each shift it leapt seven or eight li, and dozens of bursts of primordial qi from different points collided and overlapped, creating a staggering display.

Both of them were drained and weakened, their senses no longer as sharp as before, but the force of that turbulence was undeniable. After only a brief pause, they both understood.

Vast Righteous Qi… Seven Ghosts Sea-Shattering Strike! That’s Ti Wujiu and Yuan Nan!

They’re fighting each other!

The waves of power swept in at terrifying speed. When they first sensed it, the clash was still dozens of li away. After just a few leaps, it had already closed to within ten li. The shockwave’s aftershocks tore through the forest canopy like blades of steel, sharp enough to sting the skin.

At the same time, both of them had the same grim realization: in their current state, in this pitiful condition, they couldn’t withstand even a novice cultivator, much less Yuan Nan or Ti Wujiu. The source of this content ɪs novel✦fire.net

And they hadn’t forgotten. Behind Yuan Nan and Ti Wujiu were the cultivators of the Underworld Monarch Sect and the Heavenly Vigorous Sect.

Almost in unison, they both summoned what little strength they had left, hoping to strike in the instant the other was distracted and end it once and for all. Predictably, the attempt failed yet again.

“Cease, for now!”

“Call it off!”

They were both clever enough to see that pressing on would gain them nothing. So they spoke at the same time. That kind of unspoken accord was no small thing. Even with hatred boiling in their hearts, they couldn’t help but exchange a thin smile.

Yet in their eyes, the cold light was razor-sharp, devoid of the slightest warmth.

Neither of them tried to stir up more trouble. In perfect sync, they loosened their grips and pulled their tangled limbs apart, putting a bit of space between them.

Even that brief moment of reprieve was enough for Li Xun to feel his energy beginning to stir again. Though he still couldn’t summon his two puppets, his Nethermyst Shadow Body technique hadn’t weakened in the least. Within just a few breaths, he was ready to strike once more.

His gaze swept over Shui Die Lan. Their difference in cultivation was clear, yet with her internal injuries and the Blood Nightmare gnawing away at her, she couldn’t be recovering any faster than he was.

But the reputation of the Hundred-Illusion Butterfly Demon was no small matter. Demons that had roamed the world for tens of thousands of years all had their ways of escaping death. If they truly turned on each other, too many variables would come into play. A wise man would hold his hand.

Overhead, the turbulence of primordial qi was only growing stronger. In the sky they could already make out the figures of Yuan Nan and Ti Wujiu. Li Xun and Shui Die Lan locked eyes, each calculating their own designs.

In the end, it was Li Xun who spoke first. “We can’t let someone else take advantage of our conflict. For the next twelve hours, we don’t strike, but we don’t separate either. Agreed?”

Shui Dielan’s face was pale, but her ice-blue eyes still carried a glimmer of spirit. Propping herself up with one hand, she gave a low laugh. “Good…”

Before the word was even finished, a shadow flickered at the corner of her eye. Both of them turned their heads at once, only to see a face all too familiar, yet the last one they wanted to see at this moment.

They groaned in unison. Across several dozen yards, Song Yuanchi’s handsome, dignified features shifted from shock, to wild delight, and finally, twisted under the weight of hatred.

“Go!”

There was no hesitation. The two of them spent every bit of strength they had just regained, leaping to their feet and sprinting madly into the depths of the forest.

Song Yuanchi had been uncertain for a moment, but seeing this, how could he not understand? Overjoyed, he surged forward in pursuit, qi propelling him like the wind.

Li Xun and Shui Dielan split apart, fleeing in two different directions. With only a glance, Song Yuanchi made his choice. Without pause, his body swerved and locked onto Li Xun. His speed spiked again, and in the blink of an eye, the gap between them closed.