Chapter 96: Little Girl, You Are Quite Special

After Cheng Xi finished giving instructions, she turned and dashed toward the western peak where blood-colored mist was rising. Thorns grew thick in the mountain forest, yet she wove through them like a ghost, her spiritual power circulating throughout her body to shatter the vines that attempted to block her path.

Baohua sat on her shoulder, its feathers flashing with a wary light as it let out a sharp cry, as if warning of approaching danger.

Meanwhile, Chi Laicheng clutched the prescription Cheng Xi had written, his heart burning with anxiety.

He knew well that Su Yan's condition was critical and that the Blood Begonia Flower was the key, but this precious medicinal herb bloomed only once every twenty years, and the one Ji Muzhi originally had had already been used at the Altar.

Daring not to delay, he took Ji Muzhi back to the Academy first to settle them into the Ice Pool. There was no cold pond, but he had Cold Ice Jade to temporarily serve as an Ice Pool.

Leaving a Division Guard to watch over Ji Muzhi, he flew down the mountain to see if he could purchase a Blood Begonia Flower from the market.

As Cheng Xi arrived at the foot of the West Peak, she felt a dense, chilling Yin energy rush toward her. She furrowed her brows and slowly stepped into the mountain forest.

The blood-colored mist grew thicker, severely obstructing her vision; she had to focus her spiritual power into her eyes to barely make out the scenery around her.

Suddenly, a crow radiating ghostly green fire swept over her head, its sharp cry piercing the silence, followed by a flock of crows swooping down upon her, dense and thick like a black cloud.

Cheng Xi let out a cold snort, her hands quickly forming seals, and raging flames ignited around her.

Any crow touched by the flames instantly turned to ash. Yet the crows were endless, seemingly without limit. Cheng Xi pondered to herself that someone must be manipulating this from behind the scenes, trying to block her advance.

No longer wishing to engage in a protracted battle, she moved like a phantom through the flock of crows, rushing toward the source of the blood-colored mist. Soon, she arrived at an open space where a giant rock carved with strange Runes stood, emitting an eerie light.

In the center of the giant rock was a massive blood-red magic array, within which the figures of Yin soldiers faintly flickered in and out of existence.

"It really is the power of the Nine Nether Soul-Suppressing Talisman," Cheng Xi whispered to herself.

She knew that if this array were fully activated and the Yin soldiers successfully crossed over, the consequences would be unimaginable. Just as she was about to step forward to destroy the array, a black shadow flashed out from behind the Altar, moving with extreme speed to attack her.

Cheng Xi hurriedly dodged to the side, and upon closer inspection, it was a mysterious person clad in a black robe; the robe obscured their face, revealing only a pair of eyes emitting a ghostly light.

"You shouldn't have come," the mysterious person said, their voice hoarse and deep, as if coming from the Nine Netherworlds.

"Just because you say I shouldn't doesn't mean I shouldn't; who do you think you are?" Cheng Xi was completely unafraid, her spiritual power surging.

The mysterious person said no more; with a wave of their hands, the light of the Runes on the Altar flared brilliantly, and countless black Chains shot out from the array, winding toward Cheng Xi.

Cheng Xi flashed away, avoiding the attack of the Chains while condensing her spiritual power to fire a spiritual energy arrow at the mysterious person. The mysterious person dodged it easily and countered with a strike; a black light rushed toward Cheng Xi, who blocked it with a spiritual shield, but the force sent her stumbling back several steps, her heart trembling.

The lingering warmth of the spiritual energy arrow remained on Cheng Xi's fingertips, yet the black-robed figure had already dissipated into a wisp of black smoke within the blood-colored mist. She stared at the empty Altar, suddenly realizing something was wrong—the spiritual energy arrow had clearly been dodged by the opponent, so why did it suddenly vanish?

"Watch out!" Baohua suddenly let out a piercing cry, its feathers fanning out. The moment Cheng Xi spun to retreat, three blood-colored Chains burst from the ground where she had just been standing; the tips of the Chains were actually fanged, dripping with dark purple venom.

The Runes of the stone array began to flow eerily, like countless small crimson snakes slithering across the stone surface.

"So that's how it is," Cheng Xi sneered, looking at the black-robed figure re-condensing their form. "You aren't a living person at all; you are merely the Array Spirit guarding the Nine Nether Soul-Suppressing Talisman."

The black-robed figure's hood lifted slightly in the cold wind, revealing half a face covered in cyan incantations. Those incantations suddenly twisted as if alive, gathering around their eye sockets into ghostly green fire: "It is a pity you arrived too late."

Late?

Taking advantage of Cheng Xi's momentary distraction, the black-robed figure formed complex magic seals with their hands, and the entire West Peak shook violently. The blood-colored mist solidified, turning into thousands of sharp blades suspended in mid-air.

Cheng Xi channeled her spiritual power to form a flame barrier around her; the tongues of fire licked at the encroaching mist blades, emitting a teeth-gritting sizzling sound.

Countless sparks exploded on the surface of the barrier, and the moment the scent of blood permeated the air, a crack suddenly burst open in the Phoenix Fire within her dantian, and majestic spiritual power surged toward Cheng Xi's limbs and bones like a breached flood.

"No!" The black-robed figure showed panic for the first time, retreating rapidly, but it was already too late.

A gilded light rose in Cheng Xi's eyes, her hair tips dancing without wind, and with a wave of her hand, she melted the sky full of mist blades into blood rain. Baohua let out an excited long cry, the patterns on its feathers suddenly brightening, unfolding a brilliant curtain of light in the rain.

Under the illumination of that brilliant curtain of light, Cheng Xi's aura grew even more majestic, the gilded light dissipating like a physical force, scattering the surrounding bloody mist entirely.

Although the black-robed figure was panicked, they were unwilling to accept defeat; they quickly formed seals with their hands, chanting, and the mist blades that had already dissipated re-condensed, sharper than before, wrapped in rolling black light as they whistled toward Cheng Xi.

Cheng Xi let out a cold snort, the Phoenix Fire burning fiercely in her palm, transforming into a giant phantom of a phoenix that, after crying out to the heavens, flapped its wings to meet the incoming mist blades.

The moment the two collided, space seemed to tear apart, emitting bursts of roaring sounds. The ground beneath Cheng Xi's feet began to crack, the fissures spreading rapidly, and the surrounding mountain rocks were shattered by the powerful spiritual impact, turning into dust that drifted in the air.

Baohua was not idle on the side; the brilliant curtain of light around it continued to expand, and ancient Runes faintly emerged within the curtain; as the Runes flickered, a mysterious power was injected into Cheng Xi's body.

Cheng Xi felt her strength increase by another notch; her gaze like a torch, she stared at the black-robed figure and raised her hand again, the phoenix phantom in her palm instantly dividing into countless small fire phoenixes, shooting toward the black-robed figure like meteors.

Seeing the situation was dire, the black-robed figure wanted to use an escape technique, only to find themselves restrained by an invisible force, unable to move at all.

They could only watch helplessly as the small fire phoenixes pounced toward them, a look of despair appearing on their face.

Just as the small fire phoenixes were about to strike the black-robed figure, a mysterious figure suddenly flashed out from the void, holding an ancient, simple Mirror in their hand; the Mirror flashed with light, actually absorbing all the small fire phoenixes.

Seeing this, Cheng Xi was startled; this Mirror looked somewhat familiar...

The mysterious figure ignored Cheng Xi and turned to look at the black-robed figure, saying coldly: "You failed your task and nearly leaked the secret; you are of no use." After speaking, the Mirror flashed again, and the black-robed figure didn't even have time to let out a scream before being sucked into the Mirror, disappearing without a trace.

Cheng Xi watched the mysterious figure vigilantly, the Phoenix Fire in her hand ready to launch an attack at any moment, while Baohua hung from her hair tips, its pair of Black Flood Dragon Eyes flashing with ghostly light.

The mysterious figure slowly turned around, revealing a face whose features could not be clearly seen; looking at Cheng Xi, they slowly said: "Little girl, the Phoenix Fire on you and that little piece of wood are both very special."