Chapter 60

Wu Tie swung the spear in his hand, drawing an arc, blocking in front of the strange weapon's tip held by Guo Que Nu.

With a light lift of both hands, the standard-issue long spear forged of great iron was easily severed; Wu Tie gripped each half of the shaft with his hands, and a piercing Cold Qi surged up along the metal shaft, instantly coating his arms with a thin layer of ice crystals.

The strange weapon's tip nearly brushed Wu Tie's waist when, from the side, Lao Tie lunged forward, opening his mouth to bite down hard on Guo Que Nu's head.

Guo Que Nu snorted coldly, heedless, and continued with a downward strike.

Wu Tie slid his feet, an invisible force field enveloping his whole body; he exerted all his power to drive the field, turning into a black shadow that darted aside.

The strange weapon grazed Wu Tie's waist and ribs, slicing open a slit about an inch long in his form-fitting armor; its tip lightly scraped his skin, and a Cold Qi pierced straight into his viscera, causing Wu Tie's entire body to stiffen suddenly.

The invisible force field carried Wu Tie flying dozens of meters away, after which he plunged headfirst to the ground.

Lao Tie bit down hard on Guo Que Nu's head; Guo Que Nu, whose whole body was encased in Xuanbing Ice Armor, gave a cold snort, and amid the dull impact, sparks flew from Lao Tie's molars, electric sparks shooting out several feet.

Shards of ice crystals burst forth, Lao Tie's molars leaving several shallow-to-deep marks on Guo Que Nu's helmet; a sheet of frost spread along his two rows of teeth toward his skull, and wherever the frost passed, Lao Tie's body turned a pale blue.

Clearly, Lao Tie's movements became somewhat sluggish.

Guo Que Nu stood in place, flipped both hands, and the strange weapon thrust upward violently, viciously piercing Lao Tie's abdomen.

A large sheet of light like molten magma spewed from Lao Tie's interior; he let out a muffled grunt, and a large sheet of electric light sprayed from his mouth. He violently shook his body, the strange weapon emitting a sharp scraping sound as it penetrated him inch by inch, bursting out from his back.

"This dog-thing's body is too empty." Lao Tie muttered to himself: "He actually went ahead and unleashed a desperate move… burning away all the essence in his bones… this body is too empty…"

"Is this not your original body?" Guo Que Nu's eyes blazed with blue light as she lifted her head to look at Lao Tie, and she said softly: "No wonder you were rated as Blood Light Three-Star… your actual strength is merely at the level of Black Nine-Star."

Lao Tie lowered his head, glaring ferociously at Guo Que Nu: "If I, Grandfather, were still at peak strength, with my original body intact… a brat like you, I could slap to death countless…"

Guo Que Nu smiled, gripping the strange weapon tightly with both hands, and came down with a vicious strike.

Amid a piercing cutting sound, Lao Tie's body was slowly torn apart by the strange weapon; the abdominal wound lengthened bit by bit, while the wound on his back continually spat out fire, and large amounts of metal fragments kept breaking off.

"You wretched thing, you cause so much harm…" Lao Tie muttered while looking at Guo Que Nu: "Not only do you leave me unfed, but you're also so empty… yet you also greatly underestimate me."

Guo Que Nu said nothing, merely continuing to swing the strange weapon, intending to tear Lao Tie's body completely in two.

Lao Tie let out a strange "ga" laugh, and then his entire body burst forth with blinding light; the fierce light enveloped his form, as if this body from the Howling Celestial Dog were blazing in flames.

In the next instant, all the light and heat instantly retracted inward.

His body became semi-transparent; through his form one could see nine fist-sized clusters of flames blazing within, each cluster containing countless intricate lines and runes jumping and dancing.

The nine clusters of flames suddenly converged inward, merging into one, and instantly Lao Tie's body erupted with boundless white light, filling the void with a blinding pallor.

A white light cluster shot violently into Lao Tie's skull, where sharp horns continually sprouted from his cranium, the shape of his skull began to shift minutely, and copious twisted blood-colored streaks kept appearing on his face.

His body burned, constantly disintegrating, constantly cracking, constantly burning, while light and heat continually poured into his skull.

In the span of a single breath, Lao Tie's body from the Howling Celestial Dog utterly turned to nothing.

Lao Tie's skull hovered in midair, he stared fixedly at Guo Que Nu, and suddenly opened his mouth.

A cluster of fierce electric light wrapped in white flames spewed from Lao Tie's mouth; a high, resonant howl shook the surrounding heavy rock layers, terrifying heat swept in all directions, and the two-foot-thick Xuanbing Ice on the ground rapidly evaporated and vaporized.

Guo Que Nu let out a roar mingled with shock and anger.

From her body poured strands of azure Cold Qi, each as thick as a fist, writhing and spinning like frantic snakes continually converging toward the strange weapon in her hand.

Flames wrapped in lightning slammed hard into Guo Que Nu's chest, and she thrust the strange weapon forward violently with both hands.

Amid a piercing scraping sound, the strange weapon stabbed into Lao Tie's neck, passed through his mouth, and penetrated the interior of his skull.

From Lao Tie's seven orifices burst great sheets of electric sparks, while viscous, quasi-substantial Blood Light flowed continually from them; the Blood Light in his pupils suddenly dimmed, and the strange weapon, exhaling Cold Qi, with great difficulty pierced his skull bit by bit, its tip protruding a little over half an inch from the crown of his head.

Guo Que Nu's chest armor shattered, the Xuanbing Ice Armor vaporized.

The flames instantly melted Guo Que Nu's breastbone, tearing open a hole half a foot in diameter at her chest.

Guo Que Nu's armor exploded apart, shattering into countless ice crystals that tumbled and bounced across the ground, then rapidly vaporized in the intense heat. Her sweet, lovely visage twisted, her hands gripping the strange weapon tightly as she drove it through her own lower abdomen.

The strange weapon dissolved within Guo Que Nu's body, strands of viscous azure ice crystals rapidly infusing her flesh; the wound on her chest was covered by a layer of blue light, and copious semi-transparent azure tissue swiftly regenerated, quickly repairing the massive injury.

"You cannot kill me…" Guo Que Nu said, two points of azure light flaring in her deep-blue eyes, her twisted face turning toward Lao Tie in a smile, and from the vaulted dome thousands of meters above, another thread of fine blue light descended.

This blue light swiftly merged into Guo Que Nu's body; her frame shuddered violently, her plump physique suddenly wasting away by more than half, becoming skin and bone.

Yet the azure Cold Qi on her surface surged, her emaciated form turning as transparent as Xuanbing Ice, and every motion she made left long trails of frost in the air.

"I am the Heaven's Chosen One… the one upon whom the heavenly gaze descends." Guo Que Nu slowly extended both hands toward Lao Tie's skull, gripping it and exerting gentle force: "To act on Heaven's behalf, to exterminate all primordial demons… this is the supreme authority granted to me by the azure heavens."

From Lao Tie's seven orifices spewed fire and electric light; his gaze wandered as he fixed on Guo Que Nu, giving a snorting, derisive chuckle: "Stupid… foolish… Grandfather I… roughly know what's going on…"

"Hey, really getting old… this world… changes too fast… Heaven's gaze? The supreme authority granted by the azure heavens?"

"I've seen stupidity, but never someone as stupid as you… hearing you say that, there must be plenty of others like you."

"Purifiers? Heh… you ought to wash your brains with my grandfather's foot-washing water…"

Guo Que Nu's hands burst forth with great sheets of azure cold flame; the terrifyingly low-temperature cold flame "scorched" Lao Tie's skull, freezing and cracking his cheeks with countless fine fissures.

Wu Tie struggled to rise from the ground, Cold Qi ravaging his interior, yet his bones released a great amount of heat, gradually dispelling the numbing chill that had immobilized him.

Within his brow, a cluster of golden light bore a mighty, surging, utterly righteous and upright righteous qi that poured downward like a great river rushing to cleanse the whole body.

The righteous qi struck Wu Tie's internal Cold Qi, point by point shattering and dissolving it.

He staggered forward step by step toward Guo Que Nu and Lao Tie; with a flick of his right hand, the White Tiger Split spearhead burst from his armguard, a blade over two feet long trembling slightly and emitting a faint sound of air being torn.

Holding his right hand level, spearpoint aimed at Guo Que Nu, Wu Tie's steps quickened as he strode forward in large strides toward her.

"Guo Que Nu, release Lao Tie!" Wu Tie shouted from afar, his voice booming; an invisible force field swept up, and dozens of stones of various sizes beside him rose simultaneously, whistling with sharp cracks as they flew toward Guo Que Nu.

Guo Que Nu's skin surface suddenly coated with a three-inch-thick layer of blue Xuanbing Ice; she turned her head and gave Wu Tie a grin.

Once sweet and lovely in appearance, she had become a mere skin-and-bones frame, and this smile looked especially ferocious.

Dozens of stones of assorted sizes came flying down, striking Guo Que Nu's head and face with heavy blows.

Amid the dull impacts, the stones shattered, leaving no trace whatsoever on the thick layer of Xuanbing Ice covering Guo Que Nu's face.

Wu Tie had already charged forward; he swung his right arm and thrust his spear viciously at the vital point of Guo Que Nu's heart.

Guo Que Nu gave a mocking cold smile, her body swaying as she prepared to dodge with Lao Tie.

Lao Tie suddenly flung open his mouth; his upper and lower rows of teeth shot out together like dozens of flying knives, bearing piercing electric light, whistling as they pierced through Guo Que Nu's body.

Guo Que Nu never dreamed that Lao Tie still had this trick up his sleeve.

Her body was pierced by one after another solid, electric-light-flashing metal fang; the thick profound ice emitted a piercing cracking sound; she suddenly exerted force with both hands, and two blasts of cold flame violently shattered Lao Tie's cheeks, blasting into the depths of his head.

With a 'bang', the lower half of Lao Tie's skull exploded, countless pale metal fragments spraying all over the ground.

Lao Tie's voice came from the shattered upper half of his skull: 'Little brat, take me… flee, the faster the better… the farther the better… Grandpa I've capsized in a sewer… some things, I need to tell you quickly!'

Wu Tie roared, the White Tiger Rending swept horizontally across Guo Que Nu, whose body had been beaten full of holes like a sieve.

Guo Que Nu likewise let out a sharp roar, large amounts of cold qi spraying from the pierced wounds all over her body. The White Tiger Rending tore open the profound ice on her body, cleaving her in two with a single strike.

Wu Tie turned ruthless, the White Tiger Rending delivering seven or eight consecutive horizontal slashes, forcibly cutting Guo Que Nu into several pieces.

He scooped up the ruined Lao Tie in one arm, Wu Tie tears streaming as he surrounded himself with an invisible force field, stumbling and running through the stone bridge, through the opened city gate, through the stone fort littered with corpses and bloodstains, and rushed into the passage beyond.

His body kicked up a gale, trailing afterimages, Wu Tie ran with all his might through the passage.

As he ran, he loudly shouted at Lao Tie: 'You can't die… Lao Tie… you weren't you just saying how powerful you are? How… how…'

Tears kept flowing, dripping continuously onto Lao Tie's bald skull.

From time to time a flash of blood light flickered in Lao Tie's eyes, and at the core of his pupils a dim blue light would occasionally spark.

Guo Que Nu's attack had indeed seriously wounded him.

Hearing Wu Tie's cries, Lao Tie drawled: 'Am I not even allowed to brag a little? Although, back in the day, I really was remarkable…'

'But… all I have left is this head, and this dog‑thing's body isn't reliable either… what can I do?'

'Back then, the injuries I sustained weren't light… although this head looks intact on the surface… actually, it's riddled with hidden wounds…'

'Little brat, if it weren't for this mess, Grandpa I could have kept you company for quite a while…'

'But it looks like I won't be able to stay with you much longer…'

'Ah, truly unlucky—even a fart lands on my heel…'

'That Guo Que Nu… heh… the Purifier… are we the target of the purification?'

'Be careful… when you meet enemies later, even if they seem unimpressive, you must be extremely cautious… that Guo Que Nu, what she just used, wasn't her own power…'

'Really, the times have changed—Grandpa I've become obsolete…'

Lao Tie muttered on and on, passing bit by bit the experience and lessons he'd just gained from his brief clash with Guo Que Nu to Wu Tie.

Wu Tie wept silently, tears continuously streaming down, dripping onto Lao Tie's skull.

At this moment, Wu Tie felt as if he had returned to that day, to the day the Wu family was slaughtered.

In the passage the light was faint, and Wu Tie's heart was pitch black.

He seemed to be running through endless darkness, all around cold and icy, enemies everywhere, terrifying demons and monsters everywhere.

Helpless and alone… I don't know where the road ahead lies.

At the end of the stone bridge, the Guo Que Nu, cut into several sections, slowly opened her eyes; she weakly wriggled her remaining upper torso, tilting her head to look at a speck of blood wrapped in profound ice several meters away.

Just now her strange weapon had wounded Wu Tie, slicing a small opening in his waist.

This speck of blood was a droplet that had fallen from the tip of her strange weapon, frozen into a blood bead by the fierce cold.

'You can't run—if I catch your scent, you can't escape…'

'Anything possibly connected to that era's people or things… must be exterminated… thoroughly exterminated…'

Guo Que Nu drew a deep breath, she bit her tongue, and a jet of blood sprayed onto this piece of profound ice.

The profound ice cracked, the tiny blood bead inside wrapped in Guo Que Nu's tongue‑tip blood, suddenly exploding into a cloud of blood mist.

Within the blood mist, Wu Tie's face was clearly visible, and moreover a very faint yet distinct trace of aura subtly diffused outward.

'Go, go find the immortals of the Changsheng Sect…'

Guo Que Nu laughed, her smile especially radiant: 'First let the Changsheng Sect find you… then thoroughly purge you.'