Chapter 34: Qiongqi

Although bluish blood continued to flow out, such an injury seemed not to have caused too much impact on this monster.

It tilted its head, neither roaring nor showing expression, pulling itself out bit by bit. Its body was still "growing," the scales on its body taking shape and hardening bit by bit, its claws becoming longer and sharper; every moment, it was becoming stronger.

But unfortunately, the owner of the large halberd followed closely behind; the distance of several dozen feet shrank to a single step under Jing Ziwang's feet. He stepped on it, forcing it back down, and with a swing of his iron sword, he severed its tough, hard neck.

This monster's body stiffened, the growth stopped, and the skin dimmed bit by bit.

Jing Ziwang withdrew his foot, stood on the spot, looking down at the corpse, remaining silent.

Pei Ye only just arrived at this time; he lowered his head, seeing for the first time what the monster looked like when killed.

But when his gaze fell upon it, Pei Ye also stood on the spot just like Jing Ziwang, unable to say a word.

—On this headless corpse that seemed to have walked out of a ghost story hung a tattered, blood-stained cloth garment; it was precisely the one Meng Jiao had been wearing at noon.

"Is this your friend?" Jing Ziwang tilted his head to look at him.

Pei Ye nodded slowly with a heavy expression.

Meng Jiao had been abducted by the demon tiger; how could he have turned into this kind of monster? What exactly was the relationship between the demon tiger and the Candle World Sect?

Suddenly his gaze narrowed; the direction of the light cocoon stirring in his abdomen was so clear, so close!

He immediately drew his sword and cut open the corpse's abdomen.

Looking down, the internal organs inside were rapidly "digesting"; half had already become muscle wrapped in blue scales, surging toward the limbs, while a portion still retained some of the original appearance of the liver, organs, spleen, and stomach.

This eerie scene made Pei Ye forget for a moment what he was about to do; he sorted out his thoughts and was just about to judge the position when his gaze suddenly narrowed.

Amidst the writhing of the organs, a prototype of a face was vaguely forming!

Before his body could react, a vast and gentle force had already pushed from his side. Pei Ye flew into the air, seeing the face composed of organs rapidly becoming clear and three-dimensional, so huge it almost burst the corpse's chest and abdomen.

No, it was truly bursting through the chest and abdomen and drilling out!

The organs turned into normal flesh and even bone, hair grew out from above, and a pair of golden, magnificent vertical pupils opened.

A huge, mottled tiger head.

Meng Jiao's corpse turned into flowing flesh and blood, expanding and reorganizing behind it, condensing into a massive tiger body.

Pei Ye had no time to think about why such a tiger, larger than a grass hut, could shrink into a stomach, because the tiger's target was precise and clear—it was precisely Jing Ziwang, who was standing right before his eyes!

Its ability was powerful and eerie, its beastly nature cunning and cruel; at this moment, Pei Ye deeply understood what was meant by "Demonic Calamity."

When it encountered Meng Jiao, Pei Ye's group had clearly not yet arrived, yet it had already kept Meng Jiao without eating him, using him as a springboard to ambush Jing Ziwang.

—Huang Er was simply bait it had deliberately released to attract higher-quality, tastier prey!

Whether Jing Ziwang had thought of the twists and turns in this, in any case, he was not scared away by the strange scene before him.

This Master had just turned fifty this year; from a small soldier of humble origin to a fifth-rank Commandant commanding three hundred armored soldiers and investigating all lawlessness in the entire prefecture, the things he had seen and experienced in the first half of his life were countless.

He had never learned the deep, hidden schemes of a high-ranking official of the prefecture, and his emotions were always exposed in his speech, which often led to secret criticism from others. But fortunately, that courage born of anger had not faded; no matter what kind of situation he was in, or what kind of opponent he faced, Jing Ziwang had never retreated.

It was the same now.

After the meridian tree is formed, pushing open the Heaven and Earth Pass and ascending to the Mystic Gate, a cultivator will come into contact with the energy permeating heaven and earth; martial cultivators call it Mystic Qi, and practitioners call it Spiritual Qi.

To say it this way, it seems as if practitioners walk ahead of martial cultivators from the start. In fact, that is not the case; the two simply start from different points and later reach the same destination.

Martial artists cultivate by first looking at the meridian tree's aptitude, then breaking the seed, the eight lives, until stepping into the Mystic Gate and mastering Spiritual Qi; if practitioners wish to enter the gate, they must look at the natural talent for sensing heaven and earth's Spiritual Qi, so those who can walk this path are even rarer. After they become compatible with spiritual power, they rely on spiritual power to wash and refine the body, and then catalyze the birth of the meridian tree.

This is because the meridian tree, besides being able to give birth to and store True Qi, is also a lever for prying the Spiritual Qi between heaven and earth. If a practitioner lacks a complete meridian tree, they lose a major aid in wielding Spiritual Qi.

Martial artists need root and bone, while practitioners need spiritual inspiration; thus, cultivators can choose a path according to their own aptitude—of course, the vast majority of people possess neither aptitude.

In addition, after a martial artist masters Spiritual Qi, it does not mean they must turn into a practitioner; their ability is still confined to what they learned and practiced in the first half of their life, and various famous sect inheritances also have Mystic Sutras for wielding Mystic Qi; similarly, after a practitioner's meridian tree is formed, they often lack the energy to learn the wonders of True Qi, and even less can they comprehend the martial arts wonders in the Mystic Sutras, so they can only continue to delve into the Spiritual Sutras.

Returning to the scene before them, Jing Ziwang had no sect background; his martial arts were entirely reliant on the imperial court, and only after stepping into the Mystic Gate at the beginning of the year did he receive the "Bixie Injures the World."

This Mystic Sutra takes its meaning from the Great Immortal Hunt Bixie, which had guarded the Southern Office for a hundred years; it ranks twenty-ninth in the Spiritual Mystic Grand Canon's Mystic Sutra section, and cannot be learned by anyone who is not upright and righteous. It is one of the seven sutras that can be chosen by Great Tang military officers after entering the Mystic Gate.

Jing Ziwang had studied it for a short time and had not yet comprehended its wonders, but when he made his move, Pei Ye suddenly understood why he did not change color when facing the eerie scene of a tiger growing from an abdomen.

If a person has mastered such power, many things are indeed no longer terrifying.

The tiger palm pressed against the fist, and frost and cold suddenly bloomed; in an instant, the fruits and vegetables, water traces, the ground, and even the nearby grass hut were all covered in a layer of black-blue frost for several feet.

Pei Ye picked up the little girl who had just escaped from under the claws, leaped backward, and narrowly avoided being covered by this frost and cold.

The hem of his clothes that lagged behind was stained with frost marks, standing stiffly in mid-air; when Pei Ye touched it slightly, it actually shattered into pieces.

Jing Ziwang's brows were stained with frost; under such extreme cold, the power of "Bixie Injures the World" still erupted without any damage, instantly clearing everything around.

The fruit and vegetable buckets and baskets turned into powder, the grass hut was torn apart and flew out several feet, and even the land was leveled; an area of several feet turned into a clean, flat expanse.

And this was only the aftermath; a greater power erupted within the tiger body, and those flesh and blood almost exploded; the body that had just taken shape was scattered again, and this unformed mass of flesh flew into the air like a cannonball.

Jing Ziwang's figure flashed, and he had already chased after it, but the second punch failed to achieve its wish because that mass of flesh suddenly grew two wings and flapped them, flying into the high sky.

The Mystic Entry Realm does not yet have the ability to traverse the sky; Jing Ziwang could certainly rely on the eruption of True Qi to step on the air and chase, but it was inevitable that his turning would be hindered. Facing such a strong enemy, Jing Ziwang did not dare to place himself in a sluggish situation.

He drifted down to the ground, and in the sky, the tiger finally condensed back into its original body.

It was indeed a "Demon" tiger; not only was it more than twice the size of an ordinary tiger, but two curved black horns as sharp as knives grew on its tiger head, its eyes were like those of a snake or dragon, its tail carried a hook-blade, and a pair of large wings spanned three feet.

Pei Ye had seen this image; the Classic of Mountains and Seas says it is cruel by nature, likes to eat people, punishes the good and promotes the evil, is unfaithful and untrustworthy—it is a thoroughly evil beast.

It is called Qiongqi. ===== CHAPTER 35 =====