Chapter 502: Fallen Warrior, Featherless Bi Fang

The gloomy rain of resentment and demonic energy converged; unlike ordinary splashing or pooling water, it was voluminous and swift, and as the young girl rushed through, it triggered the intangible protection of her forehead chain, which immediately manifested, flickering in and out of existence.

However, there was no issue; instead, it displayed a purifying effect, bringing forth tiny specks of filtered spiritual energy.

She stopped in her tracks at once.

"Do you want me to give them to you?"

"No need. My magic power is endless and already staging a comeback; a little more spiritual energy won't speed anything up right now. You, on the other hand, with this spiritual energy, at least won't have to worry about small problems like being hungry or losing stamina."

"I see."

She nodded in realization, only then accepting that spiritual energy, her complexion turning slightly rosy.

Then she went to push open the door in front of her.

Just as it opened, she jumped back violently under the direction of Du En, who had manifested a human form.

However, no resentment demon rushed out from inside; that critical point of brewing eruption seemed to be rapidly fading with the opening of the door.

What is going on?

The two of them, filled with doubt, walked through the door and arrived in a vast hall.

The former glory and solemnity were now long since ruined.

The past tranquility and peace were now all shattered.

The olden days of splendor were now also torn apart.

All that remained here now was a stretch of broken walls and ruins, with rainwater pouring down from everywhere, crashing together like a waterfall, continuously carving into the mountain and the architecture.

Soon, the entire hall would be split apart and collapse because of this.

However, it was not the continuous gloomy rain that caused this situation.

It was the battle that had once taken place here.

Now, in this vast hall, there were fragments of corpses everywhere, all belonging to fallen resentment demons.

They were dense and numerous, at least numbering in the thousands, and there was no lingering resentment or demonic energy left, save for a few individuals who could still retain a tiny bit of residual obsession.

All that resentment and demonic energy was actually converging toward one point: the person, or rather, the resentment demon, standing atop the mountain of corpses in front.

He retained most of his appearance from when he was human—a thin, tall figure, shoulders not broad, hair left only to his shoulders, now messy like withered grass, wearing a pitch-black, solemn garment; there should have been a cloak on the outside, but unfortunately, it was already tattered, and the flesh beneath was rolled back, highlighting a grim and tragic sight.

Most noteworthy was the rusted chain hanging from his hand, which reached all the way down to the base of the corpse mountain, with a sharp blade tied to the end, currently piercing through the corpse of a guardian resentment demon.

"It, should, have been to protect..."

The previously silent resentment demon, amidst this muttering, suddenly had red light erupt from his eyes, and the resentment and demonic energy all over his body began to boil; even from his other seven orifices, red light emerged, appearing quite terrifying and ghastly.

"Careful."

Du En swung his sword out.

Bang! The long, rusted chain-blade brought the corpse along with it, smashing over violently.

He swung his sword, directly slicing it apart.

The next moment, the chain-blade attacked.

Clang! Du En barely parried it, his offensive momentum slightly slowed, and he had to reach out to grab the chain-blade.

But that long chain-blade seemed alive; it nimbly dodged while shaking, then tightened and swept over, forcing him to jump to avoid it.

Boom! A pillar in the hall, along with several corpses, was directly swept away, snapped, and shattered.

Du En's gaze was steady; he just swung his sword in a slash, and flames immediately flew out, charging straight toward the corpse mountain.

"Ah!!!"

The resentment demon roared hoarsely, pulling the chain-blade hard; the rusted color suddenly turned strange and anomalous, abruptly folding back to block and entangle the flames, and with a twist, they were extinguished on the spot.

"Ha!"

Wurei had already nimbly circled to the rear, climbed up a pillar from behind, and then leaped high; while the attention here was all on Du En at the front, she manifested a camellia hammer and smashed it down fiercely.

Boom! The corpse mountain collapsed.

Swish, swish, swish! The resentment demon jumped into the air, rolling; the rusted chain-blade in his hand was now rotating like a row of circular teeth, the mottled rust serving as the jagged tips, revealing his ferocity, and was suddenly whipped downward.

"Wah wah wah!"

After landing, Wurei scrambled away while clutching her head, but she was already a bit too slow to dodge.

Bang! A flaming longsword appeared, jamming the chain.

The chain-blade immediately bent, its tail-blade like a cunning, poisonous fang, attacking from another angle.

"Ya!"

Du En was unable to provide further support, so Wurei let out a small cry, manifested an axe, and met the chain-blade head-on.

The axe shattered and she flew out.

Fortunately, she had protection, so only light specks splashed; she landed and rolled, and was unharmed.

Du En's gaze turned slightly cold; he reached out and grabbed the mottled chain-blade directly.

Come here.

He pulled hard; although his primordial spirit hand felt intense pain from both contact and friction, he remained unmoved, and the erupting immense force caused the resentment demon, whose attack had been thwarted, to become momentarily unstable and be pulled flying over from the air.

Drawing his sword, flames ignited.

A flash passed by.

The resentment demon, who had fallen to the ground, instinctively dodged in an emergency, only allowing one of his legs to be severed at the root along with a small portion of his abdomen; the moment he landed, he stood firm, his resentment and demonic energy still churning.

"Ah!!!"

With a shake of the chain-blade, it was immediately retracted, and he leaped up again, rolling and spinning in the air.

Red and black mixed together; this time he simply smashed down with it, transforming into a wheel that charged recklessly. Du En originally couldn't have dodged it, and Wurei watched with worry, only to see him suddenly shrink, turning into a small ball of light, and thereby avoiding the attack.

Then he suddenly dived into the ground; he had actually performed an earth-escape.

The resentment demon's reckless charging also paused somewhat, not expecting the target to disappear, but he immediately changed targets and rushed toward Wurei, who could not perform an earth-escape.

"Like this, like this, I've got it!"

She rolled sideways, and then her eyes lit up.

Then, as the Grudge Demon's wheel charged again, she manifested a Chun Hammer.

She continued to roll sideways; although she couldn't dodge in time this time and let the protective barrier splash out light fragments, she was still able to hold on, using the Chun Hammer to wedge and then pry, instantly prying the large wheel flying with a violent force.

At this moment, Du En leaped out from a pillar on the side, his long sword gathering a point of firelight, striking the very center where it began to lose balance, instantly knocking the Grudge Demon flying, its Rusted Chain Blade even slipping from its grasp and falling to the ground with a clatter.

"Won, we won?"

Wu Rui was panting, still shaken.

Du En, however, did not let his guard down.

"Not yet..."

"Ah!!!"

Accompanied by the Grudge Demon's shrill scream, the scattered grudge energy and demonic energy converged, a red light burst forth violently, and then it transformed into thick, evil fire; its figure expanded along with it, bones of incomplete wings grew from its back, one leg transformed into a bird's foot, and its hands became extremely large and hideous, as if composed of muscle knots, with some messy feathers on them.

One head, however, did not have bird features, maintaining a human outline, but it was also composed of muscle knots, black-purple and lifeless, with evil grudges turning into fire, igniting all over its body.

"Is this... a Bifang?"

Du En was slightly puzzled, because the image before him inexplicably resembled that kind of single-legged strange bird.

The Grudge Demon did not care about that much.

Thump, thump, thump! It charged over, running wildly on its single leg.

Whoosh, bang, bang! It thrust its hands into the ground and flung them upward.

Immediately, heavy firelight surged over, so fast that Du En could not dodge it and could only raise his sword to block. The flames rose.

There was fire on both sides! The Three Truths of Divine Fire were stern.

The demonic fire carried thick, heavy grudges.

Bang! In one encounter, Du En was directly knocked flying, smashing into the dome of the hall and becoming deeply embedded there, his body flickering indistinctly, clearly having suffered heavy damage.

Wu Rui hurriedly provided support; how did she do it? She directly grabbed the chain blade on the side and, relying on the arm strength enhanced by her spell, swung it fiercely.

The Grudge Demon had intended to finish Du En off in one go, but having been interrupted like this, it could only wave its hand to swat first, knocking the chain blade away.

Then, seeing Wu Rui, it immediately seemed to perceive something and roared as it charged out.

Thump, thump, thump! Its rapid steps were like thunder; in the blink of an eye, it was already before her.

Its hands, like cages, suddenly reached down to grab.

Whoosh! Suddenly, there was movement behind it.

It was a sword being thrown.

The Grudge Demon's movements paused slightly, and it raised its broken bone wings, causing the demonic fire to erupt immediately.

However, this time the performance of the Azure Burning Sword was different.

The Divine Fire accumulated in the sword guard's crystal erupted completely, directly crushing the demonic fire, continuing forward, piercing through the Grudge Demon, bringing up a raging fire that directly covered its entire back.

"Ha!"

Wu Rui did not choose to run; she was very bold, and plucking up her courage, she manifested the Chun Hammer and smashed it fiercely onto the Grudge Demon's single leg, and a cracking sound was heard immediately.

"Ah!"

The Grudge Demon roared as if in pain, and simply moved its claws downward, bending them toward its own body, intending to kill Wu Rui first.

At this moment, Du En appeared in its field of vision, his two hands still holding its Rusted Chain Blade, circling its head and pulling it with the momentum, directly pulling it to lunge forward instead, thus making it unable to attack Wu Rui.

Du En simultaneously cast a look over, and she understood immediately, hurriedly crawling and leaping onto the Grudge Demon's body.

The Grudge Demon was struggling and roaring, but unfortunately, it could not move for the time being because Du En was pulling the chain tightly and because its single leg had suffered damage and could not exert force.

Wu Rui ran on the violently shaking Grudge Demon, looking very small, but she soon ran into the area where the Divine Fire was burning.

The flames assisted her, and the forehead chain echoed with purifying light.

"Ah..."

The Grudge Demon's movements suddenly slowed down.

Wu Rui successfully reached the burning sword, pulled it up violently, ran toward the head, and leaped down, plunging it into the Grudge Demon's skull.

Bang! The Grudge Demon collapsed powerlessly.

"Clearly, it shouldn't have been like this..."

He was murmuring, in pain, in remorse.

"Why did it end up like this? Is it because I was not pious enough... I'm sorry..."

In the Grudge Demon's eye sockets, blood and fire flowed; those were his tears of pain.

The young girl had already leaped down at this moment, turned around, and reached out her hand to him.

"It's okay now."

The light of the Azure Sky bloomed, and the roots of the Divine Tree extended.

"Ah... are you, still well..."

The Grudge Demon's gaze became dull, and it completely lost the motivation to resist.

Du En also released the chain, transformed into a light orb of his primordial spirit, and came over to share the pain.

A pain like fire surged over; the pain experienced by this Grudge Demon, which had accumulated surging grudge energy and demonic energy, and the pain it brought, were now all felt empathetically.

At the same time, that persistent anchor point, the memory from before it turned into a Grudge Demon, slowly unfolded like a scroll.

It was a dark room, with a beam of light falling, resting on the stone statue of a Shaman Priest.

The warrior guarding this place knelt in front of the stone statue, seemingly silently praying for something.

The two were like bystanders, watching this familiar scene and the unfamiliar person.

The warrior's inner voice also flowed out.

The Great Shaman of the Divine Tree is our hope, the radiance of the Qing Kingdom.

Only she can lead us to defeat the undying, fallen Grudge Demons, restore peace to this land, and even usher in a brand-new sunlight.

"However, although the Great One is always honest, she is also always gentle."

The warrior tilted their head slightly, a trace of confusion in their opened eyes.

"What sunlight actually is, no one can truly understand; all we can understand is the azure sky where the so-called sun resides, only that stainless blue sky, which is the beautiful future the Divine Tree points out for us."

"However, if there really were a sun, if there were sunlight, then it would surely be a radiance like that of the Great Shaman; I always think this, and so I am happy to believe and to hope."

"But..."

They revealed a look of pain.

"Although I stood out among the guards and was granted the highest honor, becoming a Guardian Warrior of the Divine Tree and the Great Shaman, why can I only remain in the Divine Tree Teaching Hall to guard the Divine Tree, unable to fulfill another important duty!"

"... Not long ago, a letter arrived from the Border Great Wall; I heard the Great Shaman fainted once, due to the immense pressure of purifying the Grudge Demons and the deteriorating war situation."

"Although the situation improved rapidly afterward, at such a time, I, as the Great One's Guardian Warrior, did not fulfill my duty on the front lines... but there was no choice, the Divine Tree also needs guarding, so I could not go together to crusade against the Grudge Demons."

"I always say this to admonish myself, yet I can never let it go, so I couldn't help but come to pray, wanting to obtain the scene a warrior deserves, wanting... and then that day, the endless rain began to fall and never stopped."

The sound of splashing rain arose, piercing through the mountain wall and entering the dark chamber.

The Guardian Warrior suddenly lifted their head.

The Grudge Demons were attacking.

As if receiving the pity of the gods, the warrior, feeling they had only a hollow name and were always left idle, left this place, striding forward with high spirits, grabbing their chain-blades, which had been constantly tempered and practiced with, their sweat eroding them into streaks of rust.

This strength of theirs finally had a place to be used!

As a guardian of the Divine Tree Teaching Hall, as long as they had a breath left, they would not let a single Grudge Demon step inside!

To ensure that when the Great Shaman and the others returned in the future, they could see everything still peaceful and happy! They went to the main hall on the front mountain to battle the continuously surging Grudge Demons here.

Not only those from the outside, but also those appearing from within.

Kill, kill, kill!

Die, die, die! Don't even think about taking a single step inside! Crushing and killing all invaders, they did not know how much time had passed; panting, they stood atop a mountain of corpses, beside them the ruined place of protection, the rainwater converging into waterfalls, also resembling mirrors.

They saw it—unbeknownst to them, they had already fallen, they had long since fallen.

"So that's how it is; this is not the pity of the Divine Tree, nor is this fulfilling a vow, it is merely that I have fallen myself..."

The recollection reached its end here.

But it was still not over.

Because of their painful yet persistent will, after persisting for who knows how long, they saw two people who had suddenly burst into their vision.

"Forgive my falling into demonhood, Great Qinglan..."

Silently chanting this in their heart, the fallen Guardian Warrior attacked.

It was nothing more than seeking death.

"Although I feel like they were aiming specifically to kill us."

After finishing these, Du En gave an untimely, blunt, and sharp critique.

Wurei, who was caught in deep reflection, sighed helplessly for a moment.

(End of chapter)