Chapter 490: Could It Be Me You're Talking About?

The Hongze was vast and boundless, scattered with all manner of strange and wondrous sights.

Emerald Cloud Reef was nothing more than one unremarkable spot among them; only because it lay within the Southern Hong and held no danger did so many disciples speak of it.

Su Yushang had seen far stranger landscapes than this place, so naturally she could not muster any excitement.

But on second thought, even a place like this — for a spirit beast at the twelfth layer of Return-to-Void like Blood Master — was apparently something worth holding in her heart and caring about, and she found it inexplicably rather tragic.

In truth, the very title "Blood Master" was deeply ironic.

Don't be fooled by the sect disciples' outward respect; in their eyes, she was nothing more than a demon beast that could supply the sect with fire-bird essence blood.

She had simply lived a long time, her cultivation was extremely high, and considering her years of hard toil, the sect elders had been slightly more lenient, allowing her to move about within the sect. Yet she was neither an elder nor an executor. Many disciples pitied her plight, and only then did they grant her the title of "Master."

She did not know what had happened in the beginning to let this Dark Phoenix be captured by the Heaven Sword Sect.

She had to endure a hundred thousand years of suffering.

"Is it perhaps not as lovely as you imagined?"

Su Yushang stood atop the continuous stretch of green reef stones; emerald light poured into the waters, mirroring the clear sky, and thus the Emerald Cloud Glow was born.

"Indeed, it's not quite what I imagined." The Dark Phoenix smoothed the hair by her temples that the wind had tousled, quietly raising her eyes to the sky, her face slightly dazed.

"That's perfectly normal. When I first heard them talk about the interesting things outside, my heart itched terribly, so I cultivated diligently. After much difficulty I got the chance to leave the sect, wandered around outside for a while, but it wasn't as thrilling as I'd thought. The lives of most cultivators are even duller and more tedious than those within the sect."

Su Yushang said with a shy smile, "Later, when I met Baohua Xianzi, I could only piece together stories of disguises and acts of chivalrous righteousness from the storybooks I'd read, to make her terribly envious — she had no idea I'd never actually experienced any of it."

The beautiful woman the Dark Phoenix had transformed into listened quietly to the Heaven Sword Fairy's rambling chatter, her gaze sweeping the surroundings as though admiring the spectacle, yet also as though searching the calm, waveless water below for someone's traces.

Unfortunately, the Wang Yang was even more still than usual.

She let out a soft sigh.

This group of Southern Hong dragon-kind, clearly possessed of formidable power, were cautious in the extreme.

Their target was only Su Hongxiu.

Only a true Dao Child was worth their taking a risk; by comparison, although the Heaven Sword Fairy was equally renowned, she seemed somewhat lacking.

So until they confirmed that Su Hongxiu had truly shown herself, they would absolutely not reveal their auras.

But then again, that was only normal.

Who would believe that a Dao Child who would one day take charge of a Unity-of-Dao treasure land would, for the sake of some so-called younger sister, venture out alone and risk danger at her weakest moment?

Far too foolish, far too foolish!

What mortal worldly affection could compare with the importance of a Unity-of-Dao treasure land? Once she became a Unity-of-Dao overlord, no matter who in the Southern Hong had done this, she would have every ability to exact revenge.

Even without waiting that long.

She could also bring the sect elders, or even invite her Unity-of-Dao realm Master to come handle the matter.

As for venturing out alone —

That was a near impossibility.

Only the Dark Phoenix, who had truly accompanied Su Yushang her whole life, knew just how deeply that Heaven Sword Dao Child doted on the Miss before her.

Even if there were only the slightest chance that demon beasts would be cowed by the Heaven Sword Sect's might and could only helplessly take her younger sister away, vanishing without a trace thereafter, she would absolutely never allow such a thing to happen.

Therefore she would not only come, she would actively help cover the news, to prevent the sect from intercepting her or making a great commotion that would scare off the demon beasts.

The Dark Phoenix had lived within the sect for a hundred thousand years; she truly understood this pair of sisters too well.

This time, it really was too much of a coincidence.

Su Yushang had happened to cause trouble while her elder sister was undergoing reincarnation, and — unprecedentedly — had not brought any sect cultivators to guard her.

By her side was only a single demon beast, and it happened to be herself.

"..."

The Dark Phoenix withdrew her gaze, fixing it on Su Yushang's somewhat frail back.

An additional dark talisman appeared in her palm, its surface traced with blood-lines forming intricate, obscure patterns that made one's heart turn cold at a single glance.

She did not burst into sudden action.

She simply approached unhurriedly, then reached out and slapped the talisman into the back of the Miss's heart.

By the time the Dark Phoenix withdrew her palm, Su Yushang still had not reacted; the smile not yet fully faded from her face, she turned her head back in confusion.

Only affection cultivated from childhood could produce such an effect.

In an instant.

Two treasured wheels shot out from the storage pouch at Su Yushang's waist, bearing terrifying momentum as they slashed toward the Dark Phoenix!

Even before her expression could change, the Heaven Sword Fairy's instinctive reaction had already surpassed that of most cultivators.

Yet the Dark Phoenix merely tilted her body aside, and the two treasured wheels howled past, slashing into the water and raising hundred-zhang waves as though they would cleave the sea in two!

She pressed her lips together: "Have you forgotten — it was I who taught you, hand in hand, how to use these two treasured wheels?"

"..."

Su Yushang fell silent; both palms simultaneously formed hand-seals, and a thick aura burst forth from her body.

She used this to buy time to summon her Dao Palace.

Every one of her movements seemed to be within the Dark Phoenix's expectations; after all, while the Miss toiled day and night at her bitter cultivation, she had always sat quietly beside her, watching.

The opponent's most skilled and most habitual methods, she knew them all by heart.

Vast demonic power gathered at her fingertip, precisely striking Su Yushang's body, causing the spiritual light in her palms to suddenly grow sluggish and congealed.

By all rights, Su Yushang at the eleventh layer of Return-to-Void, blessed with a Dao Palace of extremely high quality and the spiritual arts she commanded, should have been able to handle a twelfth-layer Return-to-Void demon beast with the greatest of ease.

But setting aside other factors —

The Dark Phoenix softly exhaled: "In my youth, within my clan I too was called a prodigy."

Were it not for the Heaven Sword Sect deliberately draining her essence blood to keep her suppressed, she should have long since ascended to Bai Yujing; but even so, she was not someone ordinary Return-to-Void perfection water-kind cultivators could compare to.

The woman's eyes suddenly turned crimson, and her palm slammed down hard upon Su Yushang's brow.

The gale scattered the Miss's hair bun, and the dense demonic power pressed the spiritual light welling at her brow back, inch by inch!

Just then, that dark, gloomy talisman finally took effect.

Su Yuchang instantly felt her connection to her divine soul dao palace severed.

Her face had already gone deathly still, and the feral viciousness of a small beast overflowed from her eyes as she gathered every last wisp of spiritual energy she could muster throughout her body into her palm.

Another jade slip shot out from her storage pouch.

Jade slips that could contact the Heavenly Sword Dao Child directly were few, and Su Yuchang happened to have one on her — it might be her only hope of survival, but at this moment, she slapped her palm down on it without the slightest hesitation!

If she wanted to kill her, Xuan Feng's strike could have been far more decisive; every one of her moves seemed aimed at restraining her.

What it was for was already obvious enough.

"You're really not stupid."

Xuan Feng smiled, and in the instant that violent spiritual energy hurtled toward the jade slip, she reached out ahead of time and caught it in her palm.

Su Yuchang's strike missed; when she tried to mobilize spiritual power again, her whole body swayed and she dropped to her knees on the ground, retching continuously until the blood seeping from the corner of her lips turned black as ink.

The viciousness in her eyes slowly faded.

Her trembling hand wiped the corner of her mouth, and finally she raised her head to look, speaking her first words: "Can you give me a reason?"

In a fight to the death, there's no need for idle talk.

To speak meant she had already seen the situation clearly.

"I don't want your compensation; for something like that, I'd rather take it myself."

Xuan Feng slowly crouched beside Su Yuchang and, right in front of her, began to activate that jade slip: "You shouldn't blame me — after all, this is what your Heavenly Sword Sect owes me. If I want revenge, it's only right."

"Right now I really want to know… why were you captured and brought to Heavenly Sword Sect back then?" Su Yuchang's arms trembled madly, weaker than the most withered old man, but she still propped her body up.

"It's all in the past, not important."

Xuan Feng wore a gentle smile, in no hurry — there was plenty of time, after all.

Revenge was something done to unburden the grievances in one's heart; it couldn't be rushed.

After a long silence, Su Yuchang suddenly forced out a complicated smile, blood in her mouth, her voice blurred: "Heavenly Sword Sect took your essence blood, you want revenge, so you chose me — the one who treated you like a birth mother?"

So there was such reasoning in this world.

"After all, I can't defeat Heavenly Sword Sect, and the two of you sisters are the greatest blow I can deal them."

"Actually there's one more person who has to die too, but his luck was pretty good — there wasn't time, so I'll leave him for after I return to my clan."

Xuan Feng finally broke through the restriction on the jade slip.

Su Yuchang knew what would happen once this news reached her elder sister.

Taking in the sight before her, she finally closed her eyes in despair — throughout their conversation, she had been trying to use spiritual energy to batter her Dao Infant's five viscera.

Yet even this act of self-destruction had been suppressed by that talisman.

The only reason she could still remain conscious was the inexplicable burning on her knees, searing her until her mind nearly split apart.

Almost at the same moment, a youth's murmur sounded in Xuan Feng's ear.

"You wouldn't happen to be talking about me, would you?"

At some unknown point, the calm emerald clouds in the sky had been covered over by a blood-red hue, and a tide of overwhelming demonic qi spread in from the edge of her vision.

The surrounding temperature rose rapidly, as though invisible flames had enveloped this reef.

Su Yuchang's whole body stiffened slightly; she felt as though she had seen this scene before, somewhere.

Xuan Feng had no chance to answer that youth's question.

Because one breath before the voice sounded, a vicious knee strike had already slammed brutally into her temple.

In Xuan Feng's upturned gaze appeared a fair face looking down at her — though those pitch-black eyes were occupied by purple-gold light, that burning, greedy gaze was exactly the same as last time, even more undisguised.

Only this time, she had no chance to pull her collar tight and conceal her fair, plump skin.

Boom—

Xuan Feng's body, under that indescribably terrifying force, was sent flying violently!

Shen Yi slowly took a step forward.

Blessed by the vast purple qi, the dragon spear he held at an angle instantly came alive.

Roar!

The wild dragon's cry nearly shook the heavily wounded Su Yuchang to death, fulfilling her wish to self-destruct.

"Ong!"

The instant Xuan Feng was sent flying backward, she roughly gauged the newcomer's strength.

To approach without a sound and have a great demon of such pure bloodline as herself sent flying without any resistance — at the very least, a powerhouse of the same tier.

But clearly, the last time she had seen him at the Southern Sun Relief, he had still been a mere Return-to-Void fifth-layer cultivator.

And now he was already perfected?

She had no mind to dwell on it; her arms swept out violently and transformed into wings dozens of zhang wide, layered in profound black, rolling up wave upon wave of flame seas, using them to steady her form.

In an instant, a red-eyed Xuan Feng revealed her true form above the waters, her enormous shadow blanketing the surface.

Those eyes, redder than blood, glared furiously ahead.

An aura comparable to Return-to-Void twelfth layer enveloped the area; bolstered by her bloodline, she was far more formidable than the few Gold-Striped Turtle Demons from before.

Golden flames blazed, rolling waves of heat as though turning this place into a purgatory.

With this innate divine ability alone, any being of lower cultivation couldn't even get close — anyone who rashly set foot in would meet only one end: body and soul burned to ash.

Demons needed no cultivation methods; the things they carried from the womb were enough to look down on most techniques a cultivator spent a lifetime studying.

Yet this searing blaze was suddenly pressed down.

Hiss! Hiss!

Bathed in dense purple qi, two bursts of golden flame erupted with an incomparable presence!

Like an ocean surging, like a pair of purple-gold great wings, they gathered behind that figure in dark robes.

Before such an enormous Phoenix Demon, Shen Yi's figure appeared utterly insignificant, but as he swept across the long sky, he did so with an utterly domineering bearing, pressing the Red-Eyed Dark Phoenix down!

The long spear in his hand gathered azure light, transforming into a coiling dragon shadow.

The Spirit Spear Art, perfected to grand completion.

The dragon shadow swelled against the wind, its claws and whiskers taking solid form, coiling around Shen Yi's body in the posture of an Azure Dragon wrapping itself.

Its form was actually even more massive than the Red-Eyed Dark Phoenix.

The purple-gold phoenix wings spread in fury, and the Azure Dragon roared forth!

Dragon chant and phoenix cry shrieked together!

Shen Yi suddenly swung his arm, the spear arcing like a full moon, slashing horizontally toward that Dark Phoenix!

Azure Dragon Shatters the Stars.

The raging waves of flame crashed violently together, rolling into each other like a true Wang Yang of ocean waves.

Sssliiip—

The Azure Dragon pressed in on the Red-Eyed Dark Phoenix, shoving it toward the waters, its twin claws viciously tearing apart the demon's body!

"Owww…"

Cultivator techniques truly were, for the most part, inferior to demon sorcery.

But these were Spirit Arts, distilled from the blood and sweat of the topmost prodigies among cultivators, every stance having once left behind dazzling legends.

And Shen Yi had mastered three such arts at once, each and every move at grand completion!

Boom!

The Red-Eyed Dark Phoenix slammed into the water, a massive gash like a mountain ravine torn across its body.

Nearly splitting its entire form clean down the middle.

Its once resplendent frame was now soaked in blood plasma, scattered by the surging currents, revealing torn flesh and blood.

It let out a wail of anguish.

When it looked again at the youth before it, he was no longer that Shen Zongzhu with an empty reputation, but rather resembled the youthful appearance of figures like Su Hongxiu or Wei Yuanzhou.

With demon blood, paving the prodigy's road.

And it itself was like the piled white bones beneath the other's feet as he ascended to the heavens.

"You bully me too! All of Yu Nanhong bullies me!"

The Dark Phoenix let out a shrill, mournful cry, and as the Azure Dragon phantom dispersed, its Shanfeng-like enormous twin claws savagely clawed toward that slender figure in dark robes within the phantom.

"…"

Shen Yi glanced at the phoenix demon's blood plasma, diluted by the Wang Yang.

He suddenly abandoned the thought of dodging.

His left hand gripping the spear, as his dark robes flared, his right arm punched out savagely, colliding head-on with the enormous shadow rushing at him.

Rumble, rumble, rumble.

This frenzied sight, falling into Su Yushang's eyes—even though her knees were burning with a pain nearly stimulating her into faintness—still made her eyes go wide.

A cultivator trading blows with a demon in raw physicality?!

One had to know that before that phoenix demon, even a single claw was like a massive stone pillar to Shen Yi.

The next instant, Su Yushang's shaken heart was shattered by a crisp crack that rang in her ears.

She saw the enormous Dark Phoenix sent flying backward several hundred zhang, its claw along with its entire leg shattering inch by inch.

Shen Yi looked at the Guixu Immortal Armor covering his arm, webbed with cracks.

He leaped up and gave chase once more.

As if a human body were shaking a Gaoshan, he stomped heavily onto the Dark Phoenix's head, his fists hammering down like a sudden downpour.

The Dark Phoenix's skull was harder than the most stubborn bluestone.

But before those fists wrapped in razor-sharp immortal armor, it truly seemed to have become a Gaoshan, its mountain ridge then shattered by the peaks of his fists.

"Save me… save me…"

The Dark Phoenix, convulsing all over, looked down into the water—it knew how many Turtle Army powerhouses lurked below.

So long as those great demons were willing, they could easily preserve its life. Thinking of this, its voice grew ever more shrill and helpless: "Su Hongxiu will definitely come, believe me!"

"Believe me!!"

As its shrill voice echoed, beneath the water there was not the slightest stir—more Tianyan Siji than usual.

Until the Dark Phoenix had its throat smashed by a whip-kick, and its cries for help turned into faint whimpers.

【Slain: Return-to-Void realm Red-Eyed Dark Phoenix. Total lifespan: 287,000 years. Remaining lifespan: 184,000 years. Absorption complete.】

Shen Yi looked at the prompt on his panel and finally withdrew his fists.

He stored the Dark Phoenix's still-intact corpse into his thumb ring, then swept a glance toward the water below.

He naturally knew who was down there.

But having lingered in the sky for quite a while, he had more or less figured out the matter between this Tianjian Sect and the Dark Phoenix.

What they were plotting to ambush was that Tianjian Sect's Dao Child.

The setup certainly wouldn't be small; it was definitely not something the current him could contend with.

But so long as that Dao Child didn't show himself, they wouldn't dare emerge either—otherwise, once their identities were exposed, war between Yu Nanhong's Seven and the Dragon Palace would become inevitable.

Intercepting a Dao Child was far more serious than intercepting a sham Shen Zongzhu like himself.

Though Shen Yi was somewhat greedy, he wasn't yet so blinded by desire.

These lifespans were not something he could take now.

Thinking of this, Shen Yi turned to leave, but just then, a cry of pain from Su Yushang rang in his ears.

She saw that at the Baohua Xianzi's knee, seven small swords suddenly darted out, landing on the ground and instantly forming a simple sword array.

Immediately, a familiar light curtain surged forth.

When the sword light dispersed,

a figure sitting cross-legged slowly hung in midair.

Her snow-white hair reached her waist, appearing withered and lusterless.

On her withered, aged face, the breathtaking beauty of her youth could still be discerned, though long worn by the passage of time.

She stared blankly ahead, both palms held in the posture of forming a hand seal, blood oozing from the corner of her lips.

The life force within her entire body had weakened to the utmost extreme.

Were it not for the blood droplets rolling from the corner of her lips, she would have looked more like a corpse.

Forcibly activating the Transmission Sword Array had left that final wisp of life hanging like a candle in the wind, as if a single breeze could blow it out.

"Sword Fruit, give it to me."

Her voice was hoarse to the utmost extreme.

There was no scolding, nor any complaint.

She merely extended her trembling arm toward Su Yushang.

"..."

Shen Yi fell silent, lowering his gaze to look toward the waters.

Although he could not be entirely certain of this old woman's identity, the change in the aura beneath the water was undeniable.

It seemed escape would not be so easy today.

"Sister..."

Su Yushang instinctively produced the Sword Fruit, lifting her dazed head: "What are you going to do?"

She did not even know when her sister had left the Transmission Sword Array upon her knee.

The old woman tremulously brought the Sword Fruit to her lips.

Yet her gaze was chillingly terrifying, her voice weak and calm: "Kill her entire family."

(End of this chapter)