Chapter 1324: Imitation of Yin Death's Path
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The Relocation seemed to take an incredibly long time. It was so long that a wave of fatigue would rise in people's hearts, but at the same time, they would feel as if only a short time had passed. Their vision seemed to have just turned dark for a moment, and when it cleared, all the feelings were gone.
When the conflicted emotions rose in Su Ming's heart, he could not describe them clearly. It felt as if a long time had passed, but also as if only a short moment had gone by. He could not help feeling that his mind was in a mess.
It was just like how a normal cultivator would feel after they woke up from meditation or when a mortal woke up from a deep sleep. To them, that moment had only lasted an instant, but in truth, an entire night or an even longer stretch of time had passed.
As the world before Su Ming became clearer, his eyes sparkled. What revealed itself before him was not the fourth Expanse Cosmos in Harmonious Morus Alba's wings, which he had expected, but a semi-transparent layer of haziness!
It made it seem as if the world was covered in a veil, causing everything to become blurry. Su Ming also sensed that his body seemed to be unable to move. As his eyes sparkled, he observed the hazy, semi-transparent layer before him. He saw a huge tunnel beyond that haziness. It seemed to have no end, stretching far into the distance.
The walls seemed to be made of flesh and blood. They looked like a membrane, but possessed life. It… was a living tunnel!
And Su Ming was at the top of the tunnel. He was in a… thin cocoon… that was about thirty feet big!
It seemed to be frozen on the wall of a tunnel. It had not formed for long, which was why it was in a semi-transparent state. Those from the outside could clearly see Su Ming inside. But when he looked out from within, he could only see haziness.
When he swept his gaze across the area, Su Ming saw that Zi Ruo was fixed in another cocoon about ten feet tall on a wall of flesh not too far away from him. At that moment, her eyes were shut, and she was unconscious.
'The Relocation Rune actually sent us here?'
A freezing glare shone in Su Ming's eyes. The Relocation might have been strange and the place might terrify people, but to Su Ming, there was no place that he could not go or was forbidden to go.
The cocoon might have stuck Su Ming's body to the tunnel of flesh, but when the chilling glare shone in his eyes, he moved slightly, and cracking sounds immediately rang out around him. Cracks immediately appeared on the cocoon around him. It shattered inch by inch.
Su Ming walked out of the shattered cocoon and stood in the tunnel. He cast a cold glance at the area around him and spread his divine sense outwards, his expression gradually changing.
Everything around him had appeared indistinct when he was in the cocoon. When he walked out of it and looked around him again, everything became incredibly clear, and he could tell… that there were thousands of huge cocoons in the tunnel that resembled a wall of flesh!
The smaller cocoons were one hundred something feet tall, and the bigger ones were thousands of feet tall. They had varying heights, but were all stuck to the wall of flesh like goosebumps and boils, which would send a chill crawling down anyone's spines despite it not being cold.
There was a person in each cocoon, but when Su Ming looked at them, he found that they were all mummies. Their flesh, blood, and essence had been sucked dry by the wall of flesh. It seemed like the tunnel had been able to last for so long because it had continuously absorbed the essence from the formerly living people.
Su Ming could sense something strange from the corpses in the cocoons. He could not quite describe what this feeling was. It was as if there was a thin sheet of paper separating him from the answer, but before he tore it down, it would be impossible for him to know the world behind that paper.
A cold glare shone in his eyes. He lifted his right hand and seized the air in the direction of the cocoon holding Zi Ruo. Cracking sounds immediately echoed in the air. An invisible hand manifested to grab the cocoon, and Su Ming pulled it towards him, yanking it straight off the wall of flesh.
With a gentle squeeze, a crack rang out. The cocoon shattered to ash to reveal Zi Ruo, who had her eyes closed and was unconscious. Her face was pale, and she gave off a frail air. It was as if some of her essence had been absorbed during the period of time she was in the cocoon.
Su Ming lifted his right hand and tapped the center of Zi Ruo's crow gently. She immediately shuddered. When she opened her eyes, a look of confusion flashed through them, but it only lasted for an instant before her gaze returned to normal. She looked around her swiftly, and her expression gradually grew a little sullen. Clearly, she had already noticed the reason as to why her body felt weak.
"This place is…" Zi Ruo hesitated for a moment. When she swept her gaze across the cocoons, a feeling that the place was incredibly strange rose in her heart.
"You'll know if you observe."
Su Ming cast a glance at the area around him. The strange feeling kept on growing stronger.
As he spoke, he charged down the tunnel. Zi Ruo quickly followed behind him. The next instant, Su Ming's heart suddenly trembled!
For some unknown reason, he was reminded of Yin Death Vortex!
When he was there, he had charged down continuously as well, just like what he was doing right then. When he reached the end, he moved from Arid Triad to Harmonious Morus Alba!
And at that moment, the tunnel reminded Su Ming of that time. When the memory rose in his head, he could no longer stop it. The idea practically fused with the strange feeling he had in his heart earlier, causing Su Ming to come to a halt. He no longer descended. Instead, his expression changed while his mind analyzed all possible outcomes.
'Yin Death Vortex might be a vortex, but in truth, it is also a tunnel. Its structure was a vortex, while the structure of this place is something akin to a tunnel of flesh and blood.
'There are multiple worlds in Yin Death Vortex, and there are multiple cocoons looking like boils on the tunnel of flesh…'
While Su Ming pondered over his thoughts, he suddenly moved and appeared beside a huge cocoon. When he brought his right hand up, he pierced through the cocoon to touch the spot between the corpse's eyebrows.
After some time, Su Ming pulled back his right hand. There was a faint wisp of green smoke drifting about his fingertips, but it soon disappeared without a trace. However, Su Ming could sense a familiar presence from the faint green smoke!
It was… Yin Death Aura!
It was a presence from Yin Death Vortex. It might have some other presences, but they came from the mummy, who was of an unknown race to Su Ming, but no matter what, each of the foreign races had one similarity—all of them had Yin Death Aura!
It was Yin Death Aura… the same aura that was present in the lives of all races in all the worlds within Yin Death Vortex! Regardless of whether it was the Berserkers or the other races, all of them had it.
As Su Ming watched his finger—now without any aura drifting around it—his pupils shrank slightly. With one move, he appeared beside another cocoon. With the same movement as before, he pierced the cocoon. His finger reached inside and pressed down on the center of the corpse's brow, which had died many years ago and whose flesh, blood, and essence had been sucked dry.
When he pulled his finger back, a faint green aura circled his fingers. The faint Yin Death Aura was the same as before, and Su Ming's expression grew darker. His narrowed eyes showed a hint of killing intent and a chilling glare.
Zi Ruo had witnessed all of it. She might not know what connection the faint green smoke had with Su Ming, but with her intellect, she could see the killing intent on his with just one glance. It was stronger than anything she had seen from him so far.
It looked like all those who were unlucky enough to step on the wrong foot when it came to dealing with the current Su Ming would have to suffer an unimaginable wrath which had the might of a storm.
"Yin Death Aura," Su Ming mumbled.
He moved a total of seven times, and each time, he would appear beside a cocoon before he extended a finger into it and took it away moments later. He performed this test repeatedly, and every single time, he saw the faint green smoke that contained Yin Death Aura. This allowed Su Ming to understand why he had sensed that strange feeling when he just came over.
All the lives in the cocoons in the tunnel of flesh… were from Yin Death Vortex. It looked like… the tunnel of flesh could only absorb the lives of those from Yin Death Vortex!
When Su Ming cast a glance at the tunnel, he found that his initial guess that there were only thousands of cocoons in the tunnel was still a gross underestimation. There were not just thousands… There were clearly nearly one hundred thousand of them!
There was no end to them. The tunnel was covered in cocoon after cocoon, and within them were all cultivators from Yin Death Vortex. Their lives, their flesh and blood, and their everything had become a part that would allow the tunnel of flesh to grow!
A red glare appeared in Su Ming's eyes. It symbolized murderous intent and anger. At that moment, if he still did not understand the use of the tunnel, he would have wasted living for so many years!
Someone had clearly created a Yin Death Tunnel by intentionally imitating Yin Death Vortex!
There was only one use for it—to imitate Yin Death Vortex's ability of connecting Harmonious Morus Alba and Arid Triad. It could connect Dark Dawn and Saint Defier's universe to that so-called… fourth universe!
Su Ming could not think of any other function besides this, and he was incredibly certain that the tunnel had been created for this purpose.
To create it, the architect needed the flesh, blood, and souls of the cultivators from Yin Death Vortex because of how unique their world was. They would also need quite a large number of them for it to be successful.
Besides Old Man Extermination, Su Ming could not think of another person who had so many resources on hand!
Once he understood it and looked at the corpses as well as the cocoons again, Su Ming shuddered. He did not want to find his Master Tian Xie Zi nor the First God of Berserkers Lie Shan Xiu among the corpses…
Chapter 1325: Dazed Eyes
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
'Something's not right!'
Su Ming's eyes shone. When he swept his gaze past the cocoon, a hint of uncertainty suddenly rose in his heart. If the cultivators in the cocoons on the tunnel all came from Yin Death Vortex… then what about Zi Ruo?
When she was Relocated, she was also bound in a cocoon. By the looks of it, she some of her life force had also been absorbed.
Su Ming turned his head to the side and cast a glance at Zi Ruo. He did not voice the question in his heart, but when he looked at her, he found that her face was pale. She was looking around herself, and there was a dazed look in her eyes.
With Su Ming's experience, no matter how cunning and conniving a person was, he could still see certain clues as to what they were thinking. But Su Ming had not been able to see Zi Ruo harboring any sort of blatant plots against him. She might be scheming something, but she had not overstepped her boundaries all the way to the tunnel.
Most importantly, Su Ming had not detected any sort of danger from her. With his level of cultivation and how strong his will was, he could sense if there was any danger coming from the people beside him. This was similar to instinct, but his senses had already surpassed that basic level.
Su Ming could clearly sense that while Zi Ruo was scheming something, she did not have any ill-intention to harm his life, but it was precisely because of this Su Ming frowned. After contemplating it for a moment, he suppressed his thoughts. He then charged into the depths of the tunnel. Wherever he went, he would spread his will and have it fuse with each cocoon to search whether there were any familiar figures.
He wanted to find his Master and to get to the fourth universe to see the gap. He also wanted to find signs of the Old Man Extermination. Compared to all that, Su Ming did not want to spend too much thought on other trivial matters.
In his eyes, Zi Ruo's schemes were most probably for her people. She was not specifically targeting him, or else it would have been impossible for him to not notice anything.
Besides, if Zi Ruo truly had some undue schemes, then with his personality, Su Ming would first watch her perform with an aloof heart, and once she finished her performance, he would destroy her.
Zi Ruo felt a little complicated in her heart. Those complicated feelings were because of a dream she had when she lost consciousness when the cocoon bound her. It was a dream that caused her heart to race.
Once she woke up when Su Ming yanked her out of the cocoon, she could clearly sense that a part of her life force had been absorbed… and besides her life force… a bit of her inborn ability of a Heavenly Fox was also absorbed.
In fact, she could sense that when she was dreaming, the methods she wanted set up in Heavenly Fox Tribe had been perfectly carried out by her people.
'We of the Heavenly Foxes have observed this Old Man Extermination's tomb for many years. In truth… the tunnel here has already been thoroughly investigated by our people many years ago, but this has always been the greatest secret among our people. No outsider knows about this, and even among our people, only a few are privy to this knowledge…
'The flesh tunnel here repels other presences, but over the years, we constantly rearranged the layout and even buried quite a number of our people's corpses in it. With this method, we fused with this tunnel, making it so… that we can partially control it… The flesh tunnel can absorb our people's inborn abilities… but when we release our inborn ability here, our power will be even stronger…'
Zi Ruo cast a look at Su Ming before her, then gritted her teeth. Women were the majority among the Heavenly Foxes, but it was rather difficult for them to increase their population.
Once an ancestor of theirs explored the flesh tunnel, she thought of a method to use it to absorb the Heavenly Foxes' inborn ability by using the power in the tunnel that allowed it to absorb life force. When a large number of Heavenly Foxes were sent to fuse with the tunnel, on a certain degree, a form of connection was formed between the Heavenly Foxes and the flesh tunnel.
After all, one of the Heavenly Foxes' inborn divine abilities was fusion. They could fuse with everything in the universe, which was similar to Su Ming's Possession, but it was much gentler than it. The effect might not be perfect, but if it was executed by the entire race, as time passed, they could fuse with something without anyone noticing anything.
This was something that even the Old Man Extermination did not expect. After all, no matter how strong his power was, it was impossible for him to pay attention to all trivial matters. The black-robed people had also not noticed the little tricks the Heavenly Foxes had pulled over the years.
Because of that, when the Heavenly Foxes fused with the tunnel over the years, they could use it when they needed it. They could activate the arrangements they left in the tunnel with a method akin to offering sacrifices from the outside world, which would make it release an aphrodisiac aura in a barely discernible manner.
Due to the tunnel being sealed, that aura would become thicker as time went by, and once it reached a certain degree, it would cause the men and women from the Heavenly Foxes to unleash their passion. They would then be in a state of intense passion in the sealed environment for months or even years. With this, the problems of reproduction the race suffered were solved to a certain degree.
That was why Zi Ruo had come and allowed herself to be bound by the cocoon while having her life force absorbed like the other cultivators from Yin Death Vortex.
Even if Su Ming did not save her, once a certain amount of her life force had been sucked away, she would have woken up.
At that moment, almost all the Heavenly Foxes on the various cultivation planets in the Heavenly Foxes' Expanse Cosmos surrounded and danced around a huge statue of a nine-tailed white fox on their cultivation planets.
Their dance was filled with extremely alluring movements, and when they surrounded the statue, moaning sounds could be heard in the air. They were extremely pleasant to the ears and sounded like pants, but if anyone listened to them closely, they would have the misconception they reminded them of incantations.
This happened in all 739 planets of Heavenly Foxes Expanse Cosmos. All the women of the Heavenly Foxes started dancing faster, and gradually, as sweat covered their bodies, waves of pleasant fragrance spread out. Pink light appeared on each of the women, causing the 739 planets to slowly turn pink. The pink galaxy of the Heavenly Foxes' Expanse Cosmos became even more dazzling.
An aphrodisiac aura that could make a person lose their consciousness and go mad appeared, and it grew thicker.
All of the Heavenly Foxes' Expanse Cosmos filled with an amorous air. It also affected the Old Man Extermination's tomb. Zi Ruo's eyes soon began to shift between clarity and dazedness.
Pink spots appeared on her body beneath her clothes. They were packed densely together, and there were a total of 739 of them, corresponding to the 739 nine-tailed statues surrounded by countless Heavenly Foxes as they danced on the 739 planets.
Those statues were continuously absorbing the aura from the Heavenly Foxes, and with a unique method, it gathered on Zi Ruo, causing her skin to slowly stop being pale. Instead, as the 739 pink spots spread out, they slowly fused with each other, causing her skin to turn pink.
At the same time, the aphrodisiac aura belonging to the Heavenly Foxes gradually increased in amount in the flesh tunnel. In the beginning, it was incredibly faint, almost unnoticeable, but once it became obvious, it meant that the aura had grown to an incredible denseness.
Su Ming moved very quickly. His will swept past each cocoon as he charged forward into the depths of the tunnel. He did not find Tian Xie Zi, but gradually, as he charged forward, Su Ming felt that his breathing was slowly quickening, and his heart started racing.
At the instant he noticed it, a hint of red appeared on Su Ming's cheeks, and a rare, vacant look covered his eyes. It only lasted for an instant before it immediately disappeared, and clarity showed up in Su Ming's gaze once more.
But his expression grew a little darker. This was not the first time he had experienced the racing of his heart. Many years ago, when Su Ming was still in the land of Berserkers, he had experienced it in an event that was incredibly difficult for him to forget.
It was when he had to fight against Madam Ji…
He had been affected by her poison. To the current Su Ming, it was insignificant, but in the past, it was so strong that it could instantly cause his thoughts to scatter due to lust.
Right then, Su Ming felt exactly the way he did when he was affected by the poison. A large number of jumbled up pictures flashed through his mind.
A glint appeared in his eyes. When he turned his head around, he saw that Zi Ruo had a dazed and vacant look. Her body was trembling, and sweat beaded on her skin.
Her exposed skin had already turned pink, and Su Ming saw terror on her face.
Zi Ruo was terrified, because based on her plan, the aura should not have such a great effect on her. After all, she was a Heavenly Fox. The one who should be affected the greatest should have been Su Ming.
Yet at that moment, she found that the aura was slightly out of her control. In fact, her mind was being corroded by it, and she was starting to get confused.
'How can this be?! No wonder I couldn't sense any sort of danger from her even though I could feel that she was scheming against me…'
Su Ming frowned. The strange aura was the exact same as he felt from the Heavenly Foxes' Expanse Cosmos. However, the density far surpassed what he had sensed in the outside world.
Su Ming let out a cold harrumph and swung his arm. A cold gust immediately appeared out of nowhere, and when it swept out, Su Ming's speed instantly increased. At the instant he charged away, the aphrodisiac aura that could make a person lose their consciousness grew even denser, and the tunnel was instantly shrouded in a pink haze.
The people in the cocoons on the flesh tunnel suddenly started shuddering. As cracking sounds rang out, the corpses instantly had their last traces of flesh and blood sucked out of their bodies. Then, they were reduced to powder.
…..
"Hmm?"
An old voice tinted with a hint of surprise rang out in the space beside the gap to the universe beyond. An invisible figure seemed to be somewhere in space. It lifted his head and cast its eyes into the distance.
"Has he finally noticed? Looks like Arid Triad hasn't completely assimilated with this place…"
Chapter 1326: Plot for Murder
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
At the instant the corpses were reduced to powder, even more fog instantly filled the flesh tunnel. There was an element in that fog that served as an aphrodisiac. If a normal person took even a small whiff of it, their bodies would immediately tremble, and the lust that would erupt from their bodies would burn their souls until they died.
An aura of this level was no longer an aphrodisiac, but a poison that could corrode all beings!
Even Zi Ruo had not expected things to turn out this way. Despite being in Avacaniya Realm, she could only struggle at that moment. The length of time she spent dazed gradually surpassed the amount of time her head was clear.
But that was not all. She had fallen into her own trap, but her people were still dancing in the world outside and releasing more of their inborn abilities, causing the aura in the flesh tunnel to become even thicker.
When the fog around Zi Ruo concealed her entirely, a moan that would stir up the soul and all the lust residing in the depths of a person's body… resounded through the flesh tunnel.
That sound was indescribably enchanting, and it contained a tempting note to it that caused those who heard it to feel thirsty. They would also feel a desire they could not put to words boiling in them, and it would make them want to search for a companion so the lustful passion could erupt from their bodies.
When that sound tumbled out of Zi Ruo's lips, a bang shot up in her head. She could no longer fight against the fog and lost her mind, but there was still a slight struggle left in her being. However, there was no longer any clarity in her eyes. The vacant look had become even more prominent, and her body was flushed pink. She had ripped off her own clothes at some point in time, and her barely discernible figure in the fog could tempt all lives in the universe.
Even those in Avanicaya Realm would find it hard to keep their minds clear in the poison that stirs up the most primal lust.
Zi Ruo's body grew even more flushed. As the sounds of her pants echoed in the air, her body moved based on instinct to search for Su Ming. She turned into a long arc and charged forward.
She had to search for him. Even though she had lost her consciousness, the hint of clarity remaining in the depths of her mind turned into an instinct that told her that if she could not find Su Ming and return to normal from her aroused state… then she would be burned alive by the fire in her body. Even if she was not burned alive, once she was controlled by the poisonous lust for a long period of time and could not neutralize it, then…
She would turn into a puppet without consciousness that only knew lust. Once she left the flesh tunnel in that state, it would be the greatest tragedy in her life. In fact, she would become the greatest tragedy for all of Dark Dawn as well…
Zi Ruo did not want that to happen. Even if she died, she did not want that to happen… but she had already lost her mind. Before the last bit of awareness remaining in her mind was destroyed, a tear rolled down her cheek.
However, it instantly turned into vapor… No one but her could see it.
It was the final tear from her. When it disappeared, Zi Ruo lost all her consciousness and turned into a body controlled by lust, a female beast whose soul was controlled by her desires!
Her beautiful body shot through the fog in search for a life who could release the poisonous lust in her body. At that moment, no matter who she found… she would do everything regardless of the cost to present her beauty before them.
Perhaps it was a tragedy… but if she had not been persistent about her desires, she would not have ended up in such a situation.
As Zi Ruo moved through the fog, Su Ming charged downwards like lightning. A gust of cold wind stirred up around him. It could not blow away the fog that filled the flesh tunnel, but it continuously blew against Su Ming so that his mind could remain clear.
His eyes were slightly red, but his mind was very clear. He did not appear to be too affected. At that moment, Su Ming had already guessed that Zi Ruo was the main reason behind the abnormality that had occurred in the flesh tunnel.
However, with his intelligence, he soon deduced that even if she was a powerful warrior in Avacaniya Realm, it was impossible for her to create a poisonous aphrodisiac that could affect Su Ming.
There was definitely a hidden manipulator in this, and it was this person… who magnified the effects of the life-affecting poison so that it could affect Su Ming.
And based on Su Ming's deductions, aside from that so-called Old Man Extermination, the only other person who could do it… was Arid Triad!
After all, regardless of whether it was Dark Dawn or Saint Defier, both belonged to Arid Triad, which was why he had the right to set up this plot quietly without Su Ming noticing it.
A freezing glare shone in Su Ming's eyes. He had met Arid Triad before. That person had the power to Possess Harmonious Morus Alba, so he would probably not use such a method if he wanted to kill Su Ming.
'There should be a third party involved in this!'
Su Ming's eyes shone. He could sense that the poisonous aphrodisiac had become stronger, but he was still very far away from the end of the flesh tunnel.
As a freezing glare appeared in Su Ming's eyes, he let out a cold harrumph, and he came to a swift halt. He lifted his right hand and seized the air in the direction of the flesh tunnel beside him.
With it, the area around him roared. The entire flesh tunnel shuddered, and a huge palm manifested before Su Ming. The instant it touched the flesh tunnel, it was blocked by a gentle power residing within it. Amid the booming sounds that shot up, the palm Su Ming had brought up disappeared.
'Arid Triad!'
A brilliant light shone in Su Ming's eyes. The gentle power spreading out of the flesh tunnel belonged to Arid Triad!
The instant the palm Su Ming had formed disappeared, an even greater poisonous aphrodisiac was released from the flesh tunnel. With dashes of pink in it, the fog instantly covered Su Ming's field of vision. He fell silent. He stood there and did not move, but instead let out a soft sigh.
"Do you want to destroy me so much? Even if we made a promise to wait for one hundred years, you still chose to attack me when you believed you had the chance…
"This place is not connected to the sky, and neither is it connected to earth. This isn't space, and neither is it the galaxy. There is no entrance, so it is also difficult to find its exit…
"You must have sealed it off completely. This is a place specifically targeted to killing me."
As Su Ming sighed, he shook his head. He knew that he had been careless. Ever since he came to Dark Dawn's camp, he had been confused by the black-robed young man who had devoured a butterfly and the fact that Old Man Extermination was still alive and had come from the Vast Expanse beyond, which was why he had been careless in regards to Arid Triad.
"You control Dark Dawn and Saint Defier, so you should know where this tunnel leads to, and you should also know… that Old Man Extermination came from the Vast Expanse beyond!
"Then do you know that there is a young man in black within the Vast Expanse who specifically devours Harmonious Morus Albas?!"
Su Ming swung his arm, and the haziness around him instantly disintegrated. At the same time, a young man with a gentle look appeared on the walls of flesh on the tunnel. He was dressed in white. His body was an illusion, and he appeared in the haziness.
He might be quite different from the person under the tree, but this presence and will told Su Ming that this was Arid Triad.
"I do not know of the black-robed young man you speak of… and neither do I want to know about him. As for that so-called Old Man Extermination, I have observed him before. He is indeed from the Vast Expanse beyond, but he won't be able to do anything.
"To me… you are the one who poses the greatest threat to me."
When the young man spoke, his eyes flashed. The world immediately roared, and at an indescribable speed, the poisonous aphrodisiac in the flesh tunnel became even more dense.
"As long as you are one of the living beings in the world, you cannot escape from the seven emotions and six desires. Even if you don't have them, you have the instinctual desire to reproduce. Our wills exist on the same plane of existence… but I no longer have a physical body. I only have a will left… and since you cannot discard your physical body, you have a weakness.
"This weakness is your desire. I will use it to destroy your life, and when you lose your consciousness, you will lose your will. Without your will, you will be unable to fight against me, and I will only need one thought… to kill you."
Arid Triad's voice echoed in the air with a tone that brook no argument. When it reached Su Ming's ears, he stared at the spot where Arid Triad's illusory body was covered by the fog. In silence, he shook his head.
Clearly, Arid Triad did not care about the black-robed young man or Old Man Extermination. Other people would think that Arid Triad's indifference towards them was due to his confidence and because he knew things that only he was privy to, which was why he could ignore them.
However… Su Ming was the same type of existence as Arid Triad. At that moment, he could sense… that Arid Triad did indeed not know of the black-robed young man's existence, or rather, he had some clues about it, but was too conceited to pay them any heed, and he also underestimated Old Man Extermination.
"Honestly… the two of us did not have to be enemies."
Su Ming sighed softly, and a hint of killing intent appeared in his eyes. He took a few steps back, brought his right hand up, and swung his arm forward.
With that one swing, his will erupted from him. It formed a huge vortex, and it rotated, Su Ming let out a cold harrumph.
"I wonder if a third party is involved in this plot of yours with which you want to ensure my death. I'm very curious. If there is truly a third party involved, I truly want to see… who is it that keeps me in their minds so much!"
Su Ming smiled coldly. He brought his right hand forward and formed a seal, then pointed at the spot between his eyebrows. With it, the slit formed by his third eye at the center of his brow began to open.
The dark light within it grew to a dazzling degree until the third eye completely opened, revealing the pupil inside.
The vortex before Su Ming rotated, sweeping up the poisonous aphrodisiac around him into the distance with booming sounds. Su Ming's third eye sparkled at the center of his brow, and the entire world was magnified endlessly within it.
Chapter 1327: Love Menace
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The hazy, poisonous aphrodisiac in front of Su Ming was enlarged endlessly. At the same time, the rotating vortex also touched the wall of the flesh tunnel. When the two came into contact, the gentle power that had appeared previously appeared once more, causing Su Ming's vortex to instantly crumble, but the wall shrank inward as well.
At the instant it shrank, the body of the young man dissipated slightly, but Arid Triad quickly gathered himself together. However, during the moment between his body dissipating and gathering together, Su Ming magnified it with his third eye several millions of times.
He saw that there were countless glowing spots in Arid Triad's manifested body, and a universe contained in the glowing spot at the center of his brow.
He also saw a galaxy in that universe. It was soon magnified until Su Ming saw a cultivation planet. There were three altars on it.
They were positioned in the three points of a perpendicular triangle. A person was sitting on each altar; two men and one woman. The woman was dressed in white. She was sitting cross-legged and was forming seals with her hands. The middle-aged man on the altar directly across from her did the same thing, and the two of them seemed to be using all their power to help… the old man on the third altar.
The old man was dressed in a long robe, and his hair was a mess. There was blood at the corners of his mouth. He had his right hand pressed on a shattered bone, and in his left hand he held a small pink bottle. It had a strand of hair submerged in the pink liquid. The old man was mumbling, as if he was chanting, and the air around him distorted.
The presence of those in Avacaniya Realm was thick on the three of them, making it clear that they were three powerful warriors in Avacaniya Realm. Su Ming had never met them before… but the moment he saw the woman, he immediately sensed a familiar presence from her.
It had once resided in his ring, which was a telling sign that the woman was the previous owner of the supreme treasure. With that being the case, her status was obvious to Su Ming.
'Saint Defier's three cultivators in Avacaniya Realm!'
Killing intent appeared in Su Ming's third eye. It was as he had expected, there was a third party involved in the plot to murder him. Once he saw everything, he came to a complete understanding of what was going on.
He also sensed a hint of Arid Triad's presence on the shattered bone the old man held in his hand. The strand of hair in the small bottle filled with pink liquid, of course, belonged to Su Ming!
When he saw all of that with his third eye, the old man opened his eyes, and resolve appeared on his face. He squeezed the small bottle in his left hand, and the bottle immediately shattered. The strand of hair and the pink liquid landed on the shattered bone, which immediately absorbed them. Even the hair was branded deeply into it, as if it had become a part of the bone's marks.
'A Curse, huh?'
Su Ming swiftly closed his third eye. The world before him disappeared, and what appeared before Su Ming's eyes again was the fog in the flesh tunnel.
The poisonous aphrodisiac already filled the entire area. It covered his eyes, and a pink shade even appeared on Su Ming's body. His mind might have still been clear, but his heart had sped up. The circulation of his Qi and blood was also much faster than usual.
In fact… red had appeared in Su Ming's eyes. Blood capillaries filled the whites of his eyes. It revealed how he was oppressing his lust, but even more so what strong killing intent he harbored in his heart. However, there was a hint of concern contained in that killing intent as well.
Su Ming could not think of a way to resolve the plot against him, but if he let time pass, he knew exactly what would await him.
Moving back, he raised his right hand, and Harmonious Morus Alba's illusory shadow appeared behind him. It was the manifestation of his will. When he pointed forward, the shadow of Harmonious Morus Alba with his will gathered on it immediately flew forward. With a loud bang, it charged at the fog. Once it shot passed it, it crashed into the flesh tunnel.
However… with Arid Triad's will around, Su Ming's will was eventually neutralized.
His eyes became even more bloodshot. He lifted his hands and formed a seal, then the wills of Morning Dao, Immortal Sect, Sky Hill, and the Emperor of Abyss' True World instantly descended once more. At the same time, he threw his head back and roared. When he extended his right hand, the souls of Great Berserkers came charging out. When they gathered on him, his right arm instantly grew larger.
It was followed by his left arm, torso, and legs. In an instant, Su Ming completed the God of Berserkers Transformation. With its power and the four wills surrounding him, Su Ming turned into a long arc that flew forth with a bang, shooting through the fog at the nearest wall of the flesh tunnel.
The moment Su Ming approached, the young man formed by Arid Triad instantly appeared on the wall. He lifted his right hand and pushed towards the incoming Su Ming with a grim expression on his face.
The two of them crashed into each other. When Su Ming's and the young man's hands touched, the entire flesh tunnel trembled furiously. Ripples swept through the area. The young man's figure dissipated, but once Su Ming coughed up a mouthful of blood, his body fell back as well.
He was instantly forced out of his God of Berserkers Transformation state due to the rebound. When his body returned to normal, the four great wills around him disintegrated as well before they gathered on him again. Su Ming came to a stop and wiped off the blood at the corners of his mouth. He stared at the fog around him falling backwards to reveal the young man formed by Arid Triad on the walls on the flesh tunnel, who had manifested once more, but who was now slightly indistinct.
"It's useless. All your resistance… is useless. The more you struggle, the faster the poisonous aphrodisiac will take effect," the young man formed by Arid Triad said faintly.
Su Ming cast a cold look at him and moved back. Arid Triad's will existed everywhere in the flesh tunnel, so it was difficult for Su Ming to break it. As he moved back, a myriad of thoughts ran through his mind.
'If Arid Triad's descent is the tree, then the roots are Saint Defiers' cultivators in Avacaniya Realm. They're working together. One of them sealed the paths in this place and changed the Heavenly Foxes' inborn talents, and the other is Cursing me!
'That shattered bone belongs to Arid Triad, and that hair belongs to me. That pink liquid is clearly the one that created this hazy, poisonous aphrodisiac. They aren't thinking of killing me. Arid Triad… is thinking of devouring me!
'They definitely have plenty of other preparations in hand to make sure that this plan can be carried out perfectly no matter what I do…'
As Su Ming rushed backwards, the pink fog around him tumbled and surged to fill the area around him.
'If I want to get out of this situation, I shouldn't place my emphasis on Arid Triad, but the three people from Saint Defier… As long as I get rid of them, there will be a way for me to break out of this situation. Arid Triad's devouration cannot be complete. He was worried about the disaster's descent in the past when he fought against me, so it must still be the same!
'I need a chance to get rid of those three people from Saint Defier!
'But right now, everything in this place has been sealed. I cannot spread my will outwards, so it's impossible for me to reach the three people from Saint Defier… What can I do to indirectly make them stop Cursing me?'
Su Ming continued moving back. As he stared at the pink fog tumbling about, he sensed a primitive urge slowly rise in his body. The moment it appeared, it started interfering with his mind.
The fog around him became even thicker and covered the entire area as it surged continuously towards Su Ming. In fact, the fog around him had already concealed his body.
'There's another method, and that is for me to use the power of the butterfly's wing fragment. I can force my way out of this place. I can ensure success with this method… but if I leave in this condition, even if I flee from the flesh tunnel, I won't be able to avoid being devoured by Arid Triad… The wing fragment should only be used at the most crucial moments for it to critically effective!'
Su Ming's mind gradually became muddled. This was something that had never happened his will had reached perfection. Yet at that moment, as Arid Triad's will interfered with him and the three people from Saint Defier schemed against him, Su Ming was faced with such a situation
He could already sense that Arid Triad had already opened his mouth and bared his fangs behind the fog. He was only waiting for Su Ming's mind to scatter before he would immediately devour him.
'Once my mind scatters, my will will also dissipate. At that time, Arid Triad will not worry about me fighting back when he devours me. He won't have to worry about backlash either, which would affect his plan of making the disaster descend several hundred years later to search for Harmonious Morus Alba. Oh well, no matter what, if I have no other choices, then I can only use the wing fragment to buy some time…
'Hmm?' When Su Ming moved back and was about to act, a brilliant glint suddenly shone in his eyes.
'Backlash… Backlash… That's right, backlash, that's what I need. I need to make those three people in Saint Defier suffer a backlash from their Curse. Once they face a backlash they cannot endure, they would get injured, and I would be able to get myself out of this situation!
'And if I want to make them suffer the greatest backlash, I should not bother with trying to make them unable to Curse me… but to make them suffer my Curse while they are Cursing me!'
Su Ming's eyes flashed. He was someone who would not change his mind easily after making his decision. The instant the fog around him tumbled over again, Su Ming bit the tip of his tongue and coughed up a mouthful of blood. He lifted his left hand and grabbed that blood. With a squeeze, the blood immediately turned into fog that enveloped the area in front of him.
At the same time, Su Ming swung his right hand, and the ring immediately flew out. But it was not the time for him to feel pain for losing his Enchanted Treasures. The treasure was connected to one of the Lords in Saint Defier. Su Ming might have wiped off that connection, but he had the Art of Time at his disposal.
He pointed with his right hand, and the power of time gathered on the ring to make time reverse o so that it would return to the past… when it still belonged to Fei Hua.
All of this might have seemed to have happened over a long period of time, but in truth, it had only lasted for an instant. The moment Fei Hua's presence spread out from the ring, Su Ming pointed at the ring with his left hand.
"Arid Curse!"
With the power to Curse Arid Triad, he would Curse one of the Lords of Saint Defier, then with the connection her soul had with the other two Lords, he would Curse the other two as well!
Chapter 1328: Battle Against Arid Triad
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Su Ming's Arid Curse came from the land of Berserkers, and his epiphany of it came from Ugly Little Thing's father, a man who was clearly a mortal, but had been able to create extraordinary blessings. Su Ming had also obtained the ring that symbolized the Curse from Madam Ji's body. When he merged all of these together, his understanding of the Curse became incredibly great.
It was especially so when his change of heart had been resolved by a doll he weaved from the grass, then imprinted into his heart. It could be said that the Curse had accompanied Su Ming through his entire life, and it stayed with him until he became an Antecedental Spirit. At that time, he gathered all his understanding of it and created… the Arid Curse!
This was a strange Art that could Curse Arid Triad. Su Ming had only cast it briefly before the old man from Heavenly Spirit Tribe and did not execute it fully, but at that time, he had already caused the old man's expression to change. In fact, the Art had even stirred up the sleeping Arid Triad, making his original form show signs of waking up early.
After all, the young man formed by Arid Triad in the flesh tunnel and the person who appeared under the tree in the capital planet of the Emperor of Abyss' True World were in truth just manifestations of Arid Triad's will. They were Arid Triad, but also not him.
They were Arid Triad because they were indeed manifestations of his will, which was not much weaker than the awakened Arid Triad, but they were not Arid Triad because they were just remnants of Arid Triad's will before he woke up. That will only had one goal, and it was to destroy all existences who could pose a threat to him.
And Su Ming's Arid Curse had made Arid Triad's original form show signs of waking up. It might be impossible for him to truly make the sleeping Arid Triad wake up, but the fact that the Curse could disturb him was enough to tell just how strong it was.
Furthermore, at that time, Su Ming had just become an Antecedental Spirit. Since then, however, he had already become the strongest in his aeon. The enhancement of his cultivation base and will were difficult to describe in detail. The only words that could be used were that the difference between his current self and his past self was akin to heaven and earth.
Hence, if the current Su Ming cast the Arid Curse, the effects would be much stronger than before.
The ring was the strongest treasure Su Ming had obtained before he became an Antecedental Spirit, but right then… As Su Ming���s words echoed in the air and he lifted his right hand to strike the ring, he needed to use it to get himself out of his predicament. The matter had already stirred up a killing intent in Su Ming that he would not suppress!
When he brought up his right hand, he drew an arc in the flesh tunnel, causing the fog to tumble. Booming sounds rang out, and his right hand shot out like a lightning to touch the ring.
The ring jolted. When light cracking sounds could be heard, numerous cracks spread through the ring… until they covered it whole!
Moments after Su Ming struck the ring, it shattered!
Dozens of fragments spread out, and from a distance, they could be seen forming a circle that continuously expanded.
When the ring shattered, threads that could only be seen by the young man formed by Arid Triad's will were released from Su Ming's body.
The young man might have been hidden in the fog, but it was transparent before him. He could clearly see Su Ming throwing a ring forward. Upon seeing it, he hesitated for a moment, and Su Ming shattered the ring with his right hand. Then, thirty-six thousand something threads were instantly released from all the pores in his body!
This scene caused the young man's pupils to shrink. A sense of danger instantly rose in his body. He was a threat to Su Ming, and similarly, Su Ming was also a threat to him, or else he would not have needed to spend so much time and effort to set up this plot to murder him.
"This is…"
The young man moved to act, but he was a step too late. The thirty-six thousand something threads, which no one else could see, were already released from Su Ming's body. When they rushed out of him, they gathered on his right hand and began weaving with each other.
The description of the scene might have made things seem to have happened slowly, but in truth, everything happened in the blink of an eye. The thirty-six thousand something threads finished weaving themselves in a moment and formed a doll before Su Ming's right hand.
The doll possessed a human's body, but had five heads. One of its head was that of a hissing python, another belonged to a tiger with stripes on its head, one was a wolf's head filled with greed, one was an incredibly dark dragon head, and the one at the center belonged to a boy with contorted features.
The doll created based on Su Ming's Curse was clearly… the Five-Faced Beast Deity who he had fought before! It was a peerless ferocious beast which had once commanded the sky and earth in Arid Triad until Arid Triad sealed it and destroyed it. At that moment, Su Ming made it appear in the form of a puppet and used his right hand to point at the circle formed by the ring.
With it, the five heads of the doll belonging to the Five-Faced Beast Deity jolted. They rose up as if just having been brought to life. They threw their heads back and let out a roar that shook the sky and earth, then charged towards the circle formed by the shattered fragments of the ring.
They instantly surged inside, bringing with them afterimages formed by the countless long threads behind them. It was as if the circle was an invisible exit, and the Five-Faced Beast Deity was about to rush out through it.
The young man formed by Arid Triad moved through the fog and appeared in front of Su Ming. This was the first time he attacked Su Ming directly, and it was unlike the time they had fought with words under the tree. It was also unlike how he had just sealed off all exists in the flesh tunnel.
Right then, for the first time after he showed up in front of Su Ming, a freezing glare appeared in his eyes. A supreme might erupted from his body, which made the entire tunnel tremble. The 360 Expanse Cosmoses in Dark Dawn and Saint Defier beyond the tunnel also shuddered. The four Great True Worlds, too, trembled. Even the True Worlds seemed to be oppressed.
That was Arid Triad's power. At the instant his presence erupted, the young man formed by Arid Triad raised his right hand in front of Su Ming. He did not try to grab Su Ming, but instead went to grab the Five-Faced Beast Deity doll. Judging by the looks of it, the Five-Faced Beast Deity could not dodge his hands. If the young man touched it, the doll would immediately shatter.
Yet the young man's expression was incredibly grim. Clearly, Su Ming's Curse was contained in the doll, and even his pupils would shrank before it.
But he had to destroy the doll. He could see through Su Ming's plan, and he would not allow him to successfully break out. As long as Su Ming could not send his will out and remained trapped, Arid Triad would be able to devour and merge with him without wasting any effort.
Su Ming's eyes flashed. He took a step forward and lifted his left hand to form a seal before he swiftly pushed it towards the young man. When he did so, all of his flesh and blood instantly withered slightly. It was as if this attack had sucked out a little of his life, blood, and soul.
However, it was worth the price for the young man's pupils instantly shrank. He was forced to give up on grabbing the Five-Faced Beast Deity with his right hand, because Su Ming's attack gave him a sense of danger he had never felt before!
The moment Su Ming executed his attack towards Arid Triad and his body withered, his True Immortal Sect World in Harmonious Morus Alba Expanse Cosmos collapsed. With loud booming sounds, the entire True World withered and shrank…
This was the price Su Ming had to pay for his attack.
The young man's right hand changed direction. His palm swiftly swept outwards and approached Su Ming's incoming strike.
"You sacrificed a True World in exchange for this one strike I would not be able to ignore… Su Ming, I've still underestimated you." When the low voice of the young man formed by Arid Triad echoed in the air, his right hand instantly crashed against Su Ming's left hand.
A loud rumble shook the sky and earth. Su Ming shuddered and coughed up seven mouthfuls of blood. He could not help but stagger backwards, and with every single step he took, a large amount of pink fog would seep into his body, causing his skin to appear a bizarre shade of pink.
With every single mouthful of blood he coughed up, his gaze would become more muddled despite him struggling to clear it up. After coughing seven mouthfuls of blood, Su Ming lifted his head.
Once the young man came into contact with the attack Su Ming had formed by making an entire True World wither, his body collapsed, but immediately after, the shattered bits gathered together again, though they soon collapsed once more before gathering together again. The shattered bits gathered together seven times only to fall apart. Only during the eighth time, when he neared the walls of the flesh tunnel and all the fog in the area was pushed outwards, did he regain his form. When he lifted his head, his face was slightly pale.
When Su Ming saw this, his pupils shrank in a barely noticeable manner. The two of them might seem to be equal in strength, but in truth… Arid Triad had still split a portion of his will and sealed it in the flesh tunnel, or else when their attacks connected just then, the flesh tunnel would have definitely shattered and collapsed.
"Su Ming… what a man!" As he spoke, Arid Triad moved forward, and with an extreme speed, he charged at the Five-Faced Beast Deity, who was about to rush into the spreading circle formed by the fragments of the ring. "But before me, you can't make a fuss."
Su Ming turned to the Five-Faced Beast Deity. "You were sealed by this person in the past. We were never enemies to begin with, and we will not be enemies. I used this doll to gather up your resentment, and with the Arid Curse, I gave you a chance by recreating your body. If after all that you still can't charge out of this place, both your form and soul will be destroyed!
"If you give it your all and escape, then as long as you manage to flee, I promise… as long as I do not die, you will not die as well!"
Su Ming knew that if he wanted to cast the Arid Curse before Arid Triad and escape from the flesh tunnel to activate the backlash against the three people from Saint Defier, then his main focus laid in Arid Triad himself.
And he only had one chance, that was why… Su Ming chose to use the Curse to manifest the thoughts of this creature he saw before—the Five-Faced Beast Deity!
Chapter 1329: This Time, You Lost!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The Five-Faced Beast Deity did not submit to the world in the past. It did not honor Arid Triad, and while looking down on the entire world, it made itself a supreme, mighty force that swept through the entire universe. Back then, it was even known to be invincible!
The confidence of being invincible gathered on the once Five-Faced Beast Deity, causing it to have the universe at its beck and call. It challenged Arid Triad, but… it lost.
Even though it lost, even though its physical body was torn to pieces, even though its soul dissipated and was sealed in space… its will to fight and its unwillingness to admit defeat continued to exist.
That was why the Five-Faced Beast Deity religion had appeared and why there were people who worshiped this creature and longed to obtain its resentment and its soul fragments to fuse with it.
It was clear just what sort of glory the Five-Faced Beast Deity had enjoyed, and just how pretentious it had been. With his Curse, Su Ming gathered together the soul fragments of the Five-Faced Beast Deity, and with his will, he used threads to form its physical body, allowing the Five-Faced Beast Deity to be able to descend in the world for the first time since it had died.
If any of the Five-Faced Beast Deity converts in the past aeon saw this scene, they would definitely be shocked, and they would immediately regard Su Ming with matchless zeal, because they had only been able to gather together the Five-Faced Beast Deity's shadow that could not hope to compare to the deity Su Ming formed with his Curse.
One of them was an illusion, and the other was real. One of the wills could only be made to move with the converts' thoughts, while the other… had formed completely and truly belonged to the former Five-Faced Beast Deity.
As Su Ming's words echoed in the air, the Five-Faced Beast Deity puppet formed by the countless threads jolted, then threw its head back and let out a roar that caused the entire area to tremble. The flesh tunnel shuddered, and even Dark Dawn and Saint Defier's galaxies quivered.
The roar contained the presence of time along with an obsession towards the heavens, earth, and all forms of life, as well as an indignation and madness that was so strong it could not be described with words.
It was as if its owner still longed for the life it once led, as if it still harbored resentment and a will to fight that had gathered over the countless years since it lost against Arid Triad.
It could not accept that it had died. Its soundless roar had not been let out just once over the years after its soul had dissipated.
There was only one sentence contained in that roar: "If I had just one more chance!"
If it had just one more chance… Su Ming could not hear its words, and neither could anyone else, but during the countless years and various aeons, its voice had constantly echoed in the universe, and at that moment, Su Ming gave it that chance!
As its roar echoed through the air and the entire universe shuddered, Arid Triad's expression changed for the second time. The first change had been because of Su Ming, and the second change… was because of the Five-Faced Beast Deity!
At the instant its roar rang out, the five heads of the deity instantly gained a ferocious and crazed look. All ten of its eyes shone with an unprecedented light. At the same time, a huge shadow appeared around it. That shadow swiftly gained corporeal form, and it looked like it was about to manifest into the Five-Faced Beast Deity's formerly shocking body.
The Five-Faced Beast Deity roared and the shadow appeared around it while it executed an indescribable speed to charge towards the huge, expanding circle formed by the fragments of the ring after it shattered.
A sense of danger rose like a tidal wave in Arid Triad's heart, one that screamed at him that the plot to murder Su Ming and devour him was about to be broken. He moved, intending to charge towards the Five-Faced Beast Deity to prevent it from leaving, but Su Ming also rushed forward. He, too, executed his fastest speed to prevent Arid Triad from attacking so that the Five-Faced Beast Deity could charge out of the flesh tunnel.
All of this seemed to have happened over a long period of time, but in truth, it was over in the blink of an eye. Arid Triad closed in on the Five-Faced Beast Deity when the creature had already begun to enter the circle formed by the fragments. There seemed to be another world contained in the area of the circle, and the Five-Faced Beast Deity looked as if it had entered a mirror when it went inside it.
"You cannot leave!"
Arid Triad's eyes flashed. A powerful light instantly erupted from his body. Under that light, his body was immediately concealed, and he transformed into a huge hand that charged towards the Five-Faced Beast Deity.
A freezing glare shone in Su Ming's eyes. He could not let Arid Triad prevent the Five-Faced Beast Deity from leaving, because this concerned his own survival. Although he might be able to use the power of Harmonious Morus Alba's wing fragment to escape while Arid Triad tried to stop the Five-Faced Beast Deity…
But Su Ming did not want to, even though this might seem to be the correct choice!
He did not want to flee. He did not want to use the Five-Faced Beast Deity this way… and his pride would never allow him to do such a thing. Why should he run? He wanted to be there and shatter Arid Triad's plot right before his eyes. The one who would flee could not be Su Ming… but Arid Triad.
Because of that, when the thought of bringing out Harmonious Morus Alba's wing fragment appeared in Su Ming's head, he immediately squashed it. With a cold harrumph, he gathered his will, congregated his soul, assembled all his cultivation base, and in an instant… formed a sword that could shock the heavens!
It was the strongest hit Su Ming could bring out in his life, and it was also the one he had used to attack the black-robed young man when he executed the Art of Time to return to the past!
With that attack, Su Ming gave Arid Triad two choices. The first choice was to give up on preventing the Five-Faced Beast Deity from leaving and turn around to fight against him.
The second choice was to not give up on preventing the Five-Faced Beast Deity from leaving, but if he did so, he would have to withstand Su Ming's attack!
In truth, it might seem like Su Ming was offering two choices, but to Arid Triad, there was only one choice. The moment the violent presence erupted from Su Ming's body to form his strongest hit, a hint of conflict appeared in the eyes of the young man formed by Arid Triad, but it turned into determination in an instant.
He believed that he could withstand Su Ming's attack. He believed that the Five-Faced Beast Deity could not flee from his palm, and with this confidence as his foundation, the young man immediately made his decision.
He gritted his teeth and did not dodge Su Ming's strongest attack, simply allowing the illusory sword formed by all of Su Ming's life to close in on him. The young man did not even spare it a glance. He just sent the huge hand he had formed towards the Five-Faced Beast Deity.
In an instant… the palm formed by Arid Triad caught the portion of the Five-Faced Beast Deity's body that had not entered the circle of fragments. A loud bang shook the sky and earth, echoing through the entire flesh tunnel. Within that noise, Arid Triad's growl was mixed in.
"Shatter!"
At the same time, the strongest sword formed by Su Ming's life, will, and his soul closed in on Arid Triad. It pierced the palm, and the sound from the impact overlapped with the loud bang from before, causing an even stronger wave of sound. It made the fog tremble as it fell backwards. The flesh tunnel shuddered, and a large number of cracks appeared on it.
The Five-Faced Beast Deity let out an incredibly shrill roar, and its body shuddered violently. Arid Triad's palm contained a power that could destroy all lives as well as Arid Triad's will.
In fact, that strike was no weaker than the power of the disaster brought forth when all four of Harmonious Morus Alba's wings overlapped with each other. The Five-Faced Beast Deity's body, which had been gaining corporeal form from its previously illusory form, instantly shuddered and broke down. When it shattered to pieces, the destructive power from Arid Triad crashed into the body of the Five-Faced Beast Deity formed by Su Ming's Curse.
It shuddered again and showed signs of collapsing, but at that moment, the Five-Faced Beast Deity let out a roar filled with unwillingness to admit defeat. The madness it had accumulated for countless years and aeons erupted from its body with a bang.
It was a madness brought by its indignation for having failed yet again even though it had received a second chance. It was its strongest will, one that even surpassed its will when it first fought against Arid Triad!
The moment the Five-Faced Beast Deity's strongest will rose up, it turned into a power that accumulated all of its madness, and it crashed violently against Arid Triad's attack.
A loud bang shot up, and it seemed like it would surge into the heavens and last for eternity. Half of the Five-Faced Beast Deity's body shattered with a bang and disintegrated… but with an unprecedented madness and indignation and resentment it had accumulated over countless aeons, it forced the other half of its body to withstand Arid Triad's strike!
"Arid Triad! Damn you, Arid Triad! Even if I have to stake everything I have against you, I will not allow myself to lose a second time!"
The Five-Faced Beast Deity's roars echoed in the air. Four of its five heads instantly exploded on their own to turn into its strongest power to withstand Arid Triad's strike.
Its one remaining head and the small portion of its remaining body… rushed into the circle formed by the fragments!
It charged out of the circle and the flesh tunnel, and with its body formed by the Curse, it left. This scene caused Arid Triad's heart to tremble. He had thought he could definitely kill it, but he had made a judgmental error. While it would have been nothing at any other point in time and he could just deliver another attack to finish the job… the error this time had unsavory outcomes!
First, his plot to murder and devour Su Ming failed!
And second, Su Ming's strongest attack that had a crazy amount of power caused Arid Triad to sense danger.
When the palm formed by Arid Triad turned back into the shape of a human, he turned around, and Su Ming's strongest attack pierced through him. During that moment, Su Ming's faint words echoed in his ears.
"This time… you lost."
Chapter 1330: Backlash!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
In the Expanse Cosmos belonging to the Heavenly Foxes within Dark Dawn's camp was Old Man Extermination's tomb. In its third layer was a Rune with an area shrouded in fog. At that moment, the Rune let out cracking sounds. Soon after, they turned into loud bangs that surged into the sky. Countless cracks appeared on the Rune, spreading out swiftly.
It was as if an indescribable power was about to charge out from within it. At the instant the Rune crumbled into pieces that flew out in all directions, the head of a boy with a ferocious expression charged. Aura was spilling out of the corners of his lips while it dragged four headless necks on what little was left of its body.
At the instant it charged out, it let out a piercing roar at the sky. It held madness, crazed delight, and resentment that seemed to have accumulated over countless aeons.
The endless fog in the area tumbled back when the boy roared. When it charged forth, its body looked like an illusion. There was no material object that could stop it in its tracks.
In an instant, it moved through boundless space to appear in the second layer. When it charged out once again, it shot through the land and appeared above the nine heavens, and with one move… it flew out of Old Man Extermination's tomb!
It appeared in the Heavenly Foxes' Expanse Cosmos, right before the dumbfounded Sovereign of Dawn Yan Pei as well as the chattering bald crane. When the bald crane saw the Five-Faced Beast Deity's broken body, it took a swift step back. If it'd had feathers on its body, they would have definitely been standing at that moment. Clearly, the bald crane was scared.
"You… You…"
The bald crane opened its mouth wide. Just as it was about to say something, the Five-Faced Beast Deity threw its head back and roared again. This was the first time… it truly let out a roar in the universe since it had been defeated.
As it roared, the Five-Faced Beast Deity did not forget why Su Ming had used the Curse to form its body once more. It did not forget the real reason behind why he wanted its help to defeat Arid Triad.
While it roared and an indescribable will and might grew to an extremely great degree on its body, the broken figure of the Five-Faced Beast Deity opened its mouth wide and tore apart the space right before the bald crane, Yan Pei and the Heavenly Foxes' dazed gazes. Then, it instantly left into the distance.
"It tore… space…"
Yan Pei's pupils shrank. By his side, the bald crane stood silent. All of them looked towards the Five-Faced Beast Deity's back as it traveled into the distance through the space it had just torn apart.
As for the Five-Faced Beast Deity, once it charged into the space it tore apart, it mustered its full speed and instantly went through almost one hundred Expanse Cosmoses. It tore through all the space of the Expanse Cosmoses in Dark Dawn's camp to charge towards Saint Defire's camp using the power of the Curse in its body as its guide.
It was so fast that in just the span of a few breaths, it appeared in Saint Defier's camp. It shot through numerous Expanse Cosmoses, and in the next breath… it saw three floating altars.
It also saw the three people sitting cross-legged and meditating on the altars, and its focus was immediately attracted by… the pink liquid flowing from the broken bone in front of the old man sitting on the altar at the top of the triangular formation, as well as the strand of hair swiftly fusing with the bone.
'It's these three!'
At that moment, the Five-Faced Beast Deity only had a boy's head. A ferocious and hideous expression appeared on his face. It tore apart the space again, and immediately, a loud bang shook the skies and earth. That sound traveled into the Expanse Cosmos where the three Lords were, and their expressions instantly changed.
The first to lift his head was not Fei Hua, and neither was it Xuan Jiu, but the middle-aged man, Xiao Song. At the instant he looked up, he saw a huge crack in the galaxy, and a ferocious looking head. It belonged to a boy who stared at him from the crack with a ferocious smile.
The second to lift her head was Fei Hua. At the instant she did so, her pupils shrank and her hair stood up on end. She had a strong feeling of familiarity from the almost human creature. That familiarity made her feel as if she was looking at another version of herself. In fact, when she looked over, she noticed that there was an invisible thread connecting her to the creature!
The Five-Faced Beast Deity charged out of the crack.
Its body might have seemed real, but it was formed by Su Ming's Curse, and the threads of the Curse came from Su Ming's body, which was why the Five-Faced Beast Deity was not actually a physical entity, but neither was it an illusion. Instead, it was an existence caught between a physical form and an illusion. Tearing apart space was its natural ability, and it was also the effect of Su Ming's Curse.
But in truth, it could not directly kill another life. However, it could use the Curse to deliver a backlash on the three Lords, which was why once it flew out, it instantly changed direction and charged… at Fei Hua!
The root of Su Ming's Curse came from Fei Hua. The connection between the ring and her was what Su Ming had used to make the Curse bloom. It was just like karma. There had to first be a cause before the consequences could be delivered.
The connection between Fei Hua and the ring was the cause!
The Five-Faced Beast Deity laughed ferociously. It moved so quickly that Fei Hua could not avoid it. The Five-Faced Beast Deity closed in on her, and its broken body instantly turned into black threads. When Fei Hua's expression changed into one of shock, those threads seeped through her clothes and crawled into her through all her pores and the seven orifices.
When Xiao Song saw this scene, his pupils shrank. His heart let out a thump, and he was sure that something bad was about to happen.
All of that might have seemed to have happened over a long period of time, but in truth, it was over in an instant. Once all the black threads seeped into Fei Hua's body, she shuddered. When the Five-Faced Beast Deity disappeared, black smoke surrounded Fei Hua's face. As she shuddered, she coughed up a mouthful of blood, which was black.
Xiao Song, who had a connection with her, shuddered as well. A large amount of black smoke immediately appeared around his face too. It gushed out of him, and he coughed up black blood as well. His presence instantly weakened, and with shock on his face, he let out a cry of surprise.
At the same time, Xuan Jiu jolted. His hands turned black, and even his face looked as if it was covered by black clouds. As his body shuddered, he opened his eyes, and once he coughed up blood, he let out a roar of indignation.
"How can a backlash happen? There's no way a backlash is supposed to occur! I've already asked the greatest will protecting Saint Defier to descend on us, this is impossible…"
Once he said those words, Xuan Jiu's expression changed again. Countless black spots appeared on his body, and they increased in number and size with each passing moment. Some even began festering. A foul stench immediately spread through the area, and even the altar beneath him started showing signs of falling apart.
Xuan Jiu was the only one with the black spots. Fei Hua and Xiao Song did not have them, but their presences grew weaker with each passing moment. Their faces were black. The power of the Curse grew in them at a maddening speed, absorbing their lives and their cultivation bases to turn into an even stronger Curse that landed directly on the old Xuan Jiu, which was why the old man was in such a state.
They had only lasted that long because they were in Avacaniya Realm. If they were slightly weaker, they would have turned into puddles of blood a long time ago, but even if they were in Avacaniya Realm and Su Ming's Curse had descended to deliver a backlash on them, due to Arid Triad's interference, the Five-Faced Beast Deity was quite weak, which also weakened the Curse. However, it was still not something the three Lords of Saint Defier could withstand.
Fei Hua immediately closed her eyes and lifted her right hand to bring out a large number of medicinal cores. She did not even have time to move. She could only sit on the altar and circulate her cultivation base at full strength, not with the intention to fight against the Curse in her body, but to maintain her life force. If she did not do so, then before long, she would die from the Curse.
Xiao Song did the same. The threat of death descended on his heart in a manner he had never felt before. He brought out medicinal cores almost at the same time as Fei Hua and swallowed them without hesitation. He also circulated his cultivation base with all his power to maintain his life force.
"I won't accept this!"
Only Xuan Jiu did not do so. A ferocious look appeared on his face. He intended to continue casting the Curse without caring about his entire body festering, but suddenly, his lifted right hand turned into a puddle of black blood right before his eyes!
He did not even feel any pain.
At that moment, the bone before him let out a shattering sound. As it rose into the air, the bone crumbled to pieces!
The pink liquid evaporated along with it. The two turned into fog that quickly vanished. Only the strand of hair remained in its place, undamaged. However, it gave off a feeling that it was the one that broke the bone and caused the liquid to evaporate, exuding an air of a supreme existence.
When the bone shattered and Xuan Jiu's left hand turned into a puddle of black blood, a shrill, broken laugh tumbled out of the old man's lips. His face had started to fester.
The person which Su Ming hated the most was the old man.
There was no enmity between them, but for some unknown reason, that person had set him up, and Su Ming… had no interest in searching for the reason as to why the other had done such a thing. No matter the reason, as long as he chose to stand against him, he had to be prepared to suffer Su Ming's wrath and die.
Yet perhaps Su Ming had known the real reason a long time ago. When he was in the flesh tunnel and used his third eye to see the three Lords of Saint Defier, he knew the answer upon seeing the strand of hair in the small bottle with the pink liquid.
That strand of hair belonged to him, but it did not come from him after he had become an adult. It was a strand of hair taken from him while he was still a baby!
It was something prepared a long time ago, and if Su Ming had been at the altars right then, he would throw a question right back at the old man.
"Are you prepared?"
Chapter 1331: Perhaps It Is Destined…
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
A few moments before the Five-Faced Beast Deity had the Curse descend on Fei Hua, then spread to Xiao Song, causing it to trigger the backlash formed by the Curse in Xuan Jiu's body, thereby causing the bone to shatter and the pink liquid to evaporate…
The strongest attack Su Ming formed by assembling his will, cultivation base, life. and his soul in the flesh tunnel landed on the young man formed by Arid Triad when he turned his head around.
Arid Triad could not dodge it. In fact, he could not even strike back, because Su Ming had already gained the initiative and the upper hand by delivering his attack right when Arid Triad attempted to stop the Five-Faced Beast Deity.
However, while Arid Triad had miscalculated the Five-Faced Beast Deity's ability, had he also miscalculated Su Ming's strength? That question rose in Arid Triad's mind at the instant Su Ming's divine ability approached him.
A loud bang shook the sky and earth when Su Ming's attack landed on Arid Triad's body in its full form and force.
From the distance, Su Ming's strongest attack, born from the accumulation of his entire existence, seemed to have a vast force. However, if anyone looked at it closely, they would find… that the attack was concentrated on one finger of Su Ming's right hand!
It was a tiny little finger, but gathered on it was the terrifying power that caused Arid Triad's eyes to shrink, and it landed at the spot between Arid Triad's eyebrows when he turned around!
When the two came into direct combat, there was no sound. The entire world froze at that instant. The fog in the area no longer tumbled about, the flesh tunnel no longer let out loud booms, and everything in the world outside became quiet. Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos jolted, and Dark Dawn as well as Saint Defier jolted as well.
Su Ming's True Morning Dao World, the Emperor of Abyss' True World, the withered True Immortal Sect World, and True Sky Hill World… also entered a relative stillness.
The lives in the Expanse Cosmoses could not sense that stillness. In fact, even the Five-Faced Beast Deity could not sense it while moving through Expanse Cosmoses. Only Su Ming and Arid Triad could sense it, since they could be considered to be the same type of life forms…
There were two more life forms who could sense the stillness. One of them was Harmonious Morus Alba's will in Harmonious Morus Alba Expanse Cosmos. It clearly sensed the fight erupting between Su Ming and Arid Triad at the moment it happened, and it left it Harmonious Morus Alba nervous, but also expectant.
The last to notice it… was Old Man Extermination, who was sitting beside the gap in the fourth universe contained in Harmonious Morus Alba's fourth wing and who had vanished from the naked eye while meditating on the ancient ship.
He cast his eyes into the distance, and a profound look appeared in his eyes. He could clearly sense the stillness on the entire butterfly.
"In my former home, there is a saying: If the heavens want you to die, they will definitely make you mad first… This sentence is very logical. Harmonious Morus Alba will soon walk down the path of my homeland. That is why… madness has now appeared. One of them is an unparalleled Chosen who Possessed Harmonious Morus Alba aeons ago, and the other is one who was destined to be the strongest of his aeon, the final aeon before Harmonious Morus Alba is destroyed.
"I look forward to their looks of regret when they learn of the truth… Will they be like me in the past?" Old Man Extermination mumbled. After a long while, he sighed softly, and resolve appeared in his eyes when he lifted his head.
"I'm not doing this for myself, but for my homeland. Even if I have to sacrifice all the Harmonious Morus Albas, to me… it will be worth it!"
When Old Man Extermination's voice echoed in the air, Su Ming and the young man's eyes met in the flesh tunnel. Su Ming's right index finger was placed at the center of Arid Triad's brow. The two of them did not move, and it looked as if they would remain in this position for eternity.
"I lost…" Arid Triad did not open his lips, but his words could still be heard. They were followed by a sigh. "I miscalculated the Five-Faced Beast Deity resistance, and I also miscalculated the strength of your strongest attack… Saint Defier's camp no longer has any support. You've already resolved… the plot I set up in this place."
Su Ming did not speak. There was only a hint of aloofness in his indifferent expression.
"We can now call off the promise we made to meet one hundred years later…" Arid Triad's voice now sounded much older. When it echoed in the air, Su Ming spoke faintly.
"Even if you didn't call it off, I would still have fought against you one hundred years later."
"Aren't you going to think about the possibility of working with me?"
"The ancient tree growing on the ocean in the capital planet of the Emperor of Abyss' True World is just a soul fragment. The real tree… has already withered a long time ago. It died aeons ago.
"Perhaps you remembered your promise to it at some point in time and created that tree, but you couldn't change its determination to withhold its promise to wait for you.
"There is no way I will work together with someone like you," Su Ming said faintly.
Arid Triad was silent.
It was as if the flesh tunnel where the two of them were had turned into the ancient tree of the past, and the fog the boundless ocean. It looked just like in the capital planet, where on the vast sea, beside the ancient tree, the shades of green and blue seemed to be connected with the sky…
"I have two questions." After a long while, Arid Triad's old voice appeared again.
"Go on," Su Ming said calmly.
"With your will, it should have been impossible for you to form this attack… The strength of this attack does not rely on your will, not the rise and decline of your life, not the strength of your cultivation base, and not the weight of your soul…
"The main strength of your attack lay in your determination to not even consider your own survival when trapped where you will surely die, and I could sense your previous fear and struggles in that attack. This should be the strongest attack of your life after you were intimidated by some existence and knew you were gonna die. You created this attack because you were unwilling to accept such a destiny���
"And I can also sense that… you haven't completely finished executing this attack. I want to know where you first launched it, and who made you form it."
When Arid Triad's ancient voice landed in Su Ming's ears, he fell silent.
"An existence who you previously refused to believe exists. He was dressed in a long black robe and had black hair. He held a string of strange pearls in his right hand… and sat on a huge Feng Shui compass. I personally saw this person… devour a Harmonious Morus Alba."
Su Ming's answer caused Arid Triad to fall silent.
"I don't know who you're talking about… but after I Possessed Harmonious Morus Alba, I could sense that figure in its memories. It gave off a cordial feeling to Harmonious Morus Alba.
"So… no matter what you saw, there is a high chance you don't need to be worried about it." Arid Triad's voice echoed in the air with a hint of certainty, but when Su Ming heard it, he shook his head.
He believed in what he saw and what he understood from it. He did not believe in Arid Triad's words.
"My second question is about Old Man Extermination you spoke about just now. I… know about him. But where exactly do your worries about him lie?" Arid Triad's voice sounded as ancient as ever, and there was even a hint of fatigue to it.
"He is a person who fled when a Harmonious Morus Alba was destroyed. He fled to our world and is planning something we do not know. Tell me… what exactly am I worried about?" Su Ming asked coldly. Arid Triad was too confident, and in Su Ming's eyes, that confidence could bring the destruction.
"You don't need to worry. He arrived in this aeon, and four hundred something years later, when the four wings of Harmonious Morus Alba overlap and this aeon is destroyed, he will be wiped off."
Arid Triad's voice contained the same confidence that caused Su Ming's brows to furrow.
"What if… there will no longer be another aeon?" Su Ming asked slowly.
"Impossible!" Arid Triad said without hesitation. When he spoke, the young man cast Su Ming a deep look. "We will meet again in the disaster four hundred something years later… Now, you can finish the execution of that divine ability of yours." When Arid Triad said those words, his voice gradually became weaker until it faded away.
"Spirit!"
A glint appeared in Su Ming's eyes. He said one final word, and it was the key to his strongest divine ability. It was the word he had uttered when his will shattered after going up against the black-robed young man when he returned to the past with the Art of Time!
At the instant the word tumbled out of Su Ming's mouth, the young man's body jolted, but he did not dissipate. Instead, a shadow appeared and overlapped with him. That shadow split into ten, then one hundred, and continued splitting until it reached tens of thousands… The number of overlapping shadows was so great that it surpassed what a cultivator could calculate with his naked eye. After all, the overlapping shadows simply could not be seen clearly.
Only Su Ming knew that during that short instance, one hundred thousand overlapping shadows had appeared on the young man who did not disintegrate.
At the moment they overlapped with one another, cracking sounds rang out, and cracks spread out from the spot where Su Ming's finger touched the center of Arid Triad's brow until they covered his entire body. Then… with a bang, the young man's body shattered to pieces, which were reduced to ashes that dissipated into the air. Vanishing along with it were the one hundred thousand overlapping shadows.
This meant that all one hundred thousand of Arid Triad's manifestations… were destroyed at that instant!
Since Arid Triad did not have a body, it was a heavy blow to him. This sort of grave injury caused him to no longer be able to summon the strength to fight against Su Ming… but Su Ming did not have the confidence to give chase and kill him either, because the time had not yet arrived. Only when the disaster appeared and the four wings overlapped with each other could he… have the chance to Possess him.
The instant Arid Triad's body vanished, the fog formed by the poisonous aphrodisiac no longer increased in density and even gradually showed signs of vanishing. Only at that moment did exhaustion appear on Su Ming's face. His gaze was no longer fierce, and his mind became muddled. The poisonous aphrodisiac he had been suppressing all that time boiled in his body at that moment.
Fortunately, the amount of the poisonous aphrodisiac around him no longer increased and even showed signs of dissipating. Su Ming sat down without hesitation and circulated his cultivation base, restraining his will in his body to continue suppressing the poisonous aphrodisiac.
If there was no stimulation from the external world, then before long, when the fog in the flesh tunnel dissipated, Su Ming would return to normal and no longer be affected.
However… he forgot about Zi Ruo.
Not long after Su Ming sat down, a moan came from the fog, and a naked body rushed out to embrace him.
At the instant Zi Ruo reached him, the poisonous aphrodisiac in Su Ming's body seemed to be stimulated, and it instantly erupted in him…