Chapter 182: Fate's Trajectory

Jiang Wu's expression was grim, and she said nothing.

Su Mo's poison formula was tweaked again; her internal force is somewhat limited, so she seems to need a little more rest before she can continue to deal with her.

However, it seems Su Mo's side isn't any better, because her whip body is also poisonous.

As long as Su Mo is limited, those few will inevitably be limited as well!

So she sits here now, not nervous at all.

A Ci frowned and said, "It's all Jin Tong's fault, that disaster; if she had killed Su Mo earlier, there wouldn't be so many problems! The City Lord really shouldn't have shown leniency to them!"

Jiang Wu snorted coldly, "Whip spirit?"

That's a fresh novelty!

"Now Jin Tong has fully sided with Su Mo; the City Lord might as well use that strand of Soul to kill him, and then we can eliminate a rival!"

Jiang Wu turned her head, glanced at him, frowned, "Why panic? I have my own stance!"

A Ci twisted her brow and said, "Do you still harbor hopes for Jin Tong? He has already betrayed you! What's the point of keeping such a person? Why not kill him quickly and end it all!"

Jiang Wu roared, "Shut up! My decision doesn't need your questioning! In the end, they all must die!"

Even if Su Mo awakens the whip spirit, it still won't change the destined death! At most, killing will be a bit more troublesome!

As for Jin Tong, she doesn't now refuse to kill him, but... it's not the right time.

Anyone who betrays her has always only the road of death!

Perhaps more difficult to handle than Su Mo's long whip is the dark-colored Totem on her wrist.

Just now, as she grasped the whip's tail, she clearly saw a flash of red dark glimmer suddenly appear on Su Mo's wrist.

That must be the source of her power, and also Su Mo's secret weapon!

Jiang Wu let out a cold laugh, a flash of icy light passing through her eyes.

No matter, as long as she defeats Su Mo, the outsider, this time, she will surely attain immortality and no longer suffer the torment of Reincarnation!

Jiang Wu turned her head toward A Ci and said, "The Pill I prepared earlier, give it to them to swallow."

Hearing this, A Ci frowned, hesitated, and said, "But City Lord, that Pill causes severe bodily damage; after taking it, internal force can be boosted briefly, but once the battle ends, the level will regress, and they will almost never be able to continue cultivating!"

Jiang Wu frowned, her tone displeased, "I don't have that much time to waste! This battle must be won quickly! Either we win, or we all die together; choose one!"

A Ci stared in place for a moment, then nodded, "Got it!"

Later that night, Su Mo's side sensed something was wrong.

After fighting for a day and a night, Jiang Wu's people showed no fatigue at all; instead they became more vigorous, which is highly abnormal.

Soon Mo Xiao came in carrying a prisoner and said, "Jiang Wu gave them the Pill."

Su Mo stood up, crouched before the prisoner, drew a silver needle, gave him a stab, and drew some blood.

The System Space analysis results came quickly; Su Mo took out paper and pen, and wrote down each of those medicine names.

Xuan Shuang took it, glanced, "Jiang Wu's move is truly ruthless; after taking this Pill, even if they miraculously survive, they'll have no chance of cultivating again. No wonder that group shows no fatigue and is especially energetic! The intensity of the drug is indeed rare! She truly lives up to being selfish and ruthless!"

Su Mo lowered her head, looked at the prisoner on the ground, and asked, "How many of you have taken this Pill?"

The man trembled and said, "Everyone in this batch took it; we don't know about the next batch."

Su Mo frowned and asked, "Do you all know the side effects of this Pill?"

The man shook his head, "The City Lord hands out Pill every now and then; we just eat them."

Xuan Wei frowned, "Stupid, you eat without asking what it is? No one among you died from qi and blood backflow?!"

"There are some, but even if asked they'd still eat; anyone who refuses is killed on the spot."

Su Mo turned her head toward Xuan Wei and said, "Jiang Wu always controls them this way; they... are also powerless."

These people may not be unaware of Jiang Wu's methods; they simply have no choice.

She signaled with her gaze for Mo Xiao to take that prisoner away.

Xiao Jiu's voice rang out, "Host, it seems Jiang Wu came this time with a resolve to die if she doesn't win. Such wanton disregard for lives is truly extremely cruel!"

Su Mo frowned silently and said, "So we must not let her live; first, make some Pill based on the earlier formula."

Xiao Jiu frowned, "Jiang Wu's Pill was altered from the effect of the Blazing Fire Pill; it doesn't especially control its backlash, its main purpose is to regulate the body's internal force and balance that backlash. It's a Pill generated by System Space. At most it just stabilizes breath to help them adjust internal force."

"Then just stabilize the breath."

Xuan Shuang entered, bloodstains mottled on his body, and said, "Jiang Wu's forces outnumber us greatly; with this strategy, we have no real advantage."

Su Mo thought and said, "The captured prisoners need not be killed hastily; keeping them is useful."

Xiao Jiu's side was fast; soon the Pill was ready.

Su Mo shoved that bundle of Pill into Xuan Shuang's hand, "Have those prisoners take it back."

Xuan Shuang frowned, "Defection?"

Su Mo nodded, "Give it a try?"

"Fine!" Xuan Shuang twisted his brow, "Let's bet!"

She didn't believe all of Jiang Wu's subordinates were death soldiers who didn't value life; surely some want to live!

First, we should sow confusion in their hearts; otherwise, with this strategy, they'll soon run short of men.

Xuan Shuang took the item and went out.

This move had some effect; by early morning, Jiang Wu's side was already losing its bearings.

Mo Xiao, Xuan Shuang, and a few others led their men to slaughter all around.

Xuan Shuang stood in the center of the crowd, raised the Pill aloft, and said in a deep voice, "Those who surrender now, I still have a way to control the effect of the Blazing Fire Pill inside you! Otherwise, within seven days most of you will bleed from all seven orifices and die! Serving someone like Jiang Wu is a death sentence; now the decision is still timely! If you wait any longer, even a great celestial deity may not be able to save your lives!"

The enemy troops opposite murmured in clusters; naturally some were stirred, but no one dared to step forward.

Jiang Wu sat in the sedan, composed, and looked toward Su Mo across.

Then she rose, her icy gaze sweeping the crowd, snatched a soldier attempting to defect, sliced his chest open with a sword, ripped out his heart and tossed it back.

"If anyone defects, I will immediately have him and his family meet King Yan. Kill them for me!"

In a chorus of howls, blood-colored light sprayed up all around.

Su Mo faintly heard someone calling her name from outside the crowd, but she had no time to seek the source of the sound!

Xuan Wei stood behind her, her tone grave: "It seems only by quickly resolving Jiang Wu can we be completely safe."

Su Mo drew the long whip from her hand and went to meet the red figure that flew out of the carriage.

The whip's crack and the sword's keen cry clamored in the dark night; the fierce killing intent in their moves was so strong even the moonlight had to yield three parts.

From dark night to dawn, then to dusk, corpses lay strewn all around.

Su Mo and Jiang Wu each bore wounds, but the killing intent in each other's eyes showed no diminution.

In the melee, Jin Tong shot an arrow that pierced the heart of Jiang Wu's beast husband, Ruoxu.

Jiang Wu could have done her best to save his life, but she was now entangled by Su Mo and could not break free, making it impossible to risk going to rescue Ruoxu.

A Ci lifted the person from the bloody ground, watching Ruoxu gaze resentfully at that red figure.

Ruoxu was the highest-ranked beast husband beside Jiang Wu; his death was enough to throw the rest into panic.

It also tore open a breach for Su Mo and them!

A familiar voice sounded again from afar.

Su Mo raised her gaze and saw behind her Fu Ying, Huang Ming, Feiyun, the tribe chief, A Nuan, and her many beast husbands, as well as countless beast-world commoners…

Their gazes, like torches, fixed upon her direction.

Fu Ying, eyes red, shouted: "You broke your promise—why didn't you call me when the war began? Do you want to wait for victory and claim all the glory yourself? I won't let you have it your way!"

Huang Ming frowned tightly: "Miss Su, this battle concerns all the beast-world peoples; we will stand with you!"

……

Su Mo withdrew her gaze, drew her long whip, and her attacks grew ever fiercer; Jiang Wu failed to dodge and was struck by a whip.

After a prolonged entanglement, she began silently counting in her mind the time until Jiang Wu would assume her true form!

Although Jiang Wu had taken precautions against Su Mo's poison, she still could not help being restrained by it.

Damn it! She actually intends to lure her into revealing her true form again!

She absolutely cannot allow that! If she reveals her true form again this time, Su Mo will surely find a flaw, and then she will truly perish in body and soul.

No, she cannot keep fighting like this; she must make Su Mo die quickly!

Jiang Wu quickly swallowed a pill.

When she launched her next attack, Su Mo could clearly feel that her internal strength seemed to have increased again!

"Su Mo, prepare to die!"

Su Mo focused to respond, but unexpectedly Jiang Wu suddenly turned her blade, aiming it at Fei Yan not far behind her!

Her heart tightened, and she instinctively flung her long whip to stop Jiang Wu's arrow.

The next second Su Mo sensed the approaching killing intent not far away; a lethal arrow, imbued with fierce killing intent, shot straight toward her.

A flash of victorious joy crossed Jiang Wu's eyes; another poisoned lethal arrow tore through the air and struck her squarely in the abdomen.

Su Mo's left shoulder was pierced by an arrow whose shaft carried medicine that restrained internal power; these medicines were not aimed solely at her, but mostly at Mo Xiao and the others.

As she fell from a height, the few nearby also suddenly lost strength and were struck by hidden arrows!

Xuan Qing and Long Yan, amidst the chaos, reacted swiftly and sped toward Su Mo's direction.

Jiang Wu's body began to heat up; she felt the medicinal effect inside her boiling over, having taken too many internal-strength-enhancing elixirs recently, and with Su Mo's powder catalyzing it, she could no longer control herself and transformed into her true form!

If she had not taken those internal-strength-enhancing elixirs, perhaps she would not have reacted so quickly; clearly Su Mo anticipated this move, so she had prepared a different medicine for her beforehand!

She must not assume her true form!

She possesses the strongest weapon in this world; she could never lose to Su Mo!

No, she will not lose; at worst it would be total annihilation—what does she have to fear? Jiang Wu never fears anyone or anything!

Jiang Wu wiped the blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, coldly smiling as she looked down at the people on the ground and said triumphantly: "No one may move; if anyone dares to move again, I will immediately kill Su Mo and those few together!"

She lightly turned her wrist, a golden light flashed, and countless stellar symbols flowed across the plate, intertwining into intricate trajectories.

Su Mo frowned. "Is this Jiang Wu's Golden Finger?"

In her mind, Xiao Jiu's voice was heavy: "Host, this is the Heavenly Fate Star Disk! If one's soul resonates with the star disk, one can rewrite the course of fate. The star disk never perishes, and the soul never fades."

"It is said that to manipulate the fate disk, one must make an equivalent exchange. Although Jiang Wu can restart the wheel of fate, she lacks the power to change her own destiny—perhaps this is why she repeatedly falls into reincarnation. However, her soul and the star disk resonate, and her thoughts do indeed affect the disk. By drawing out the star disk now, she surely intends to restrain her true form; like the totem, the star disk likewise possesses power."

Su Mo understood; this was the secret behind Jiang Wu's repeated nirvana rebirths.

Xiao Jiu frowned: "The fact that she is so eager to reveal her hand card shows she has no better card to play!"

Su Mo suddenly understood: "She would rather reveal the star disk than show her true form—this proves the secret of her true form unsettles her even more than the fate disk. She must have exchanged something important for it; the more often she manifests it, the more likely she is to be exposed, so she avoids doing so."

Xiao Jiu: "Then we must find the secret of her exchange, kill her true form, and destroy her fate disk!"

Su Mo raised her gaze to the compass in Jiang Wu's hand; perhaps before doing all this, she still needs to do something else first!