Chapter 1350: The Arrival of Li Li Lingjing

The dim light collided with the black light that had condensed all the evil aura within Shen Yunge's body, and immediately a dark, chilling storm raged outward.

Li Luo and Jiang Jiang Qinge took the opportunity to hastily retreat.

"What is that?" Jiang Jiang Qinge asked, somewhat puzzled. In her perception, that dim light was actually also flowing with evil aura, yet for some unknown reason it had rushed out at this critical moment to shield them from Shen Yunge's deathbed counterattack.

That counterattack should not have been Shen Yunge's own intent, but rather the work of the hidden mastermind who had secretly cast the curse on him.

Perhaps, whoever pushed Shen Yunge into that desperate situation would trigger this measure.

One could only say that the hidden mastermind was truly insidious and vicious.

That previous evil seed was extremely sinister, harboring unknown measures within it. If they had truly been tainted by it, even though Li Luo and Jiang Jiang Qinge both had the ability to deal with evil aura, it would surely have come at no small cost.

"It looks like a snake," Li Luo said after a moment's hesitation.

The two retreated some distance, their gazes fixed on the place where the evil aura was raging. By now, they could see it clearly: within the vortex formed by the evil aura, a pitch-black snake was opening its jaws, forcibly devouring that evil seed.

This sight caused both Li Luo and Jiang Jiang Qinge to narrow their eyes. That evil seed containing the curse had already brought calamity upon Shen Yunge; if this strange snake devoured it, it would likely be controlled as well.

Under their watchful gaze, the evil vortex grew increasingly turbulent. After continuing for quite a while, the snake's body grew ever more massive, and it completely swallowed the evil seed.

A moment later, the pitch-black giant snake coiled in the sky, turned its head, and fixed its snake pupils on Li Luo.

Jiang Jiang Qinge raised her sword tip, and sacred light-phase power swept out like a storm. She said softly, "You rest first. Leave this giant snake to me."

Li Luo frowned deeply. His gaze met the snake's pupils, yet he sensed a familiar aura from within them.

"Sister Qing'e, wait," he said hesitantly.

"Mm?" Jiang Jiang Qinge was somewhat puzzled.

"I feel it doesn't seem to harbor ill intent toward us," Li Luo said.

Jiang Jiang Qinge said, "Li Luo, don't feel grateful to it just because it lent a hand earlier. This thing should also be an aberrant. Having swallowed that evil seed containing the curse, it must be at its most frenzied right now."

Li Luo gave a bitter smile. Of course he knew that saying things like "the aberrant has no ill intent" was rather naive, but sometimes one's own feelings didn't lie.

Meanwhile, the pitch-black giant snake in midair rapidly shrank, then slowly slithered over from midair.

Jiang Jiang Qinge tightened her grip on the sword hilt, light-phase power flowing, her gaze sharp as she locked onto it. From this pitch-black little snake, she could sense an extremely terrifying fluctuation of evil intent. That terror wasn't because the little snake before her was so strong, but because of the density of its evil intent—as if it were an aggregate of countless aberrants.

Under Jiang Jiang Qinge's wary gaze, the little snake slithered to within a few zhang of Li Luo, then spoke: "Li Luo."

It was a woman's voice, extremely familiar.

Both Li Luo and Jiang Jiang Qinge were stunned. The former especially, after several breaths of blankness, couldn't help crying out, "Cousin Li Lingjing?!"

That voice was unmistakably Li Li Lingjing's!

"Li Li Lingjing?" Jiang Jiang Qinge also recalled the woman she had once encountered in Xiao Chentian. That woman seemed to have an extremely deep relationship with Li Luo, and was also deeply connected to aberrants.

"Cousin Li Lingjing, is it really you? How are you here?" Li Luo asked in shock.

"This is one of my avatars. I came here to deliver some intelligence to you," the pitch-black little snake spoke, Li Li Lingjing's calm voice emanating from it.

Then the little snake slithered, about to approach Li Luo.

Jiang Jiang Qinge raised her sword edge to block it, and asked simultaneously, "You swallowed that evil seed containing the curse. Have you been controlled or not?"

The pitch-black little snake's cold pupils reflected Jiang Jiang Qinge's breathtakingly beautiful and sacred face. She said indifferently, "I have even devoured the will of the Demon King of All Living Beings. What does the Faceless Underworld King's curse amount to?"

"Demon King of All Living Beings? Faceless Underworld King?"

Li Luo was stunned for a moment, then seemed to understand: "This Black-Eyed Ghost Curse—was it spread by that Faceless Underworld King?"

Li Li Lingjing nodded her snake head and said, "This time, the Guiyi Hui's scheme in the Boundary River Domain is led by this Faceless Underworld King."

Li Luo stepped forward and extended his hand. The pitch-black little snake that Li Li Lingjing had transformed into swayed its body, slowly slithering over, and finally landed in his palm.

Jiang Jiang Qinge saw this scene and forcibly restrained the impulse to channel light-phase power to purify this inauspicious thing. After all, although the other party was bizarre, she had ultimately come to help Li Luo.

Although Jiang Jiang Qinge really couldn't understand why, even after the other party had already become such a bizarre form, she still retained a trace of humanity, and was even so good to Li Luo, traveling thousands of miles to deliver some intelligence to him.

In the end, Jiang Jiang Qinge could only give Li Luo a complicated look. This "Sister-Slaying Blade" was truly a bit unreasonable.

"Cousin Li Lingjing, have you been doing alright recently?"

Li Luo looked at the little snake coiled in his palm and asked with concern.

The little snake's cold vertical pupils reflected Li Luo's handsome face. She hadn't been doing too well recently. Her main body was undergoing erosion against a wisp of the Demon King of All Living Beings' will. One careless slip, and her mind would be erased, becoming an avatar of the Demon King of All Living Beings.

In that endless descent, anyone else would likely have gone mad with despair long ago.

But Li Li Lingjing was morbidly enjoying this mutual gnawing in the darkness, like two beasts devouring each other, seeing who would consume the other's flesh first.

The Demon King of All Living Beings' will was terrifying. Even just a wisp of it was not something the current Li Li Lingjing could absorb and refine.

But Li Li Lingjing felt no fear within. Perhaps her capacity for fear had long been completely erased during those years of descent.

Looking at Li Luo, Li Li Lingjing felt subtle ripples emerging from the deepest part of her heart. This trace of ripple kept her constantly mindful of her own name.

She was Li Li Lingjing.

And Li Luo was her only anchor in that endless darkness.

Without this anchor, she would transform into the true "Spirit-Eroding True Demon."

When was this anchor established? It should have been on that dusk afternoon in Xiling City, in the back courtyard full of withered fallen leaves. Having just regained a rare clarity from the last bout of chaos, she, immersed in despair and numbness, happened to see the youth walking into the courtyard.

The youth stood tall and straight as a pine, his handsome face so good-looking, his eyes bright and gentle, like a beam of light.

At that time, she had already reached her limit. If not for the sliver of hope brought by Li Luo's arrival, Li Li Lingjing would have already vanished from the world entirely.

Li Li Lingjing's heart calmed at this moment, and this emotion was also transmitted to her main body, which was enduring countless chaotic, painful, and other negative emotions. This also greatly reduced the main body's suffering.

Feeling this change, the coldness in Li Li Lingjing's snake pupils unconsciously softened considerably. She said softly, "Li Luo, you absolutely cannot die here. Otherwise, I'm finished too."

Her relationship with Li Luo was extremely complicated. It wasn't what one would call romantic love. To her, Li Luo represented her last shred of humanity.

"What?" Her muttering was too soft; Li Luo didn't catch it.

But Li Li Lingjing didn't say more. She glanced at Jiang Jiang Qinge, who had been maintaining vigilance against her and even forcibly restraining the urge to unleash light-phase power. Li Li Lingjing knew this was Li Luo's fiancée. She was so holy and flawless. Compared to her, Li Li Lingjing herself was the snake coiled in the shadows, twisted and grotesque.

Li Li Lingjing opened her snake mouth and spat out a pearl flowing with golden light. "This is what's left from that person earlier. Some Marquis-rank arts are preserved within; they might be useful to you."

Li Luo was startled, and took the pearl: "Left behind by Shen Yunge? Then there should be some things from the Beast-Subduing Spirit Palace inside."

He was somewhat interested in this, after all. In the methods of taming spirit beasts, the Beast-Subduing Spirit Palace was indeed more exquisite than his simple reliance on Principal Pang's bracelet.

Dean Pang's sealing bracelet left quite a few aftereffects; the fact that Li Luo has not been eroded by the fierce, baleful energy of the Six-Tailed Heavenly Wolf to this day is mainly because he relied on his Heavenly Dragon bloodline to tough it out.

He took it casually, then asked, "What was the intelligence Cousin Li Li Lingjing mentioned earlier?"

Li Li Lingjing was silent for several breaths, then a quiet voice rang out.

"This upheaval in the Boundary River Domain was all arranged by the Guiyi Hui. They have been plotting here for a very long time, and the moment has come for them to set it off."

"The one leading this plot is the Faceless Underworld King, one of the thirteen Underworld Kings of the Guiyi Hui."

"Moreover, that Faceless Underworld King has set his sights on you. He seems very interested in you."

Li Luo's gaze sharpened. This was something he hadn't expected. He, a Da Tian Xiang Jing cultivator, had actually been targeted by a King-level powerhouse of the Guiyi Hui?

Could it be because of the Primordial Seed?

But how did that Faceless Underworld King learn about the Primordial Seed?

"However, if they want to move against you, Li Li Jingzhe is the greatest obstacle, so that Faceless Underworld King will try every means to eliminate him."

Li Luo's expression shifted slightly, then he said, "Grandfather is at the Three Crown King realm. That Faceless Underworld King shouldn't be his match."

"The Faceless Underworld King never intended to act himself, because the Guiyi Hui's plot this time is to lure an extremely terrifying existence across the Boundary River, to utterly destroy the Outer Shenzhou's defensive line here."

Li Luo's pupils contracted.

"Are they trying to lure a Demon King to descend?!" His voice even took on a note of dread.

A Demon King — that is the strength of a Three Crown King!

Li Li Lingjing fell silent once more. The words she softly uttered, however, made both Li Luo and Jiang Qing feel a bone-piercing chill.

"I sense... perhaps more than that."

Li Luo's heart surged with towering waves. More than a Demon King... what could that be?!

A Great Demon King!

A single extra character, yet it represents the most terrifying power in this world.

Tian Wang level!