Chapter 517

Not far behind Feng Wu, a bird hovered.

That was a Sān jiǎo yā.

Before, in Cangwu Mountain, he was Tribulation Hitching, and then he suddenly disappeared; I thought he had fled, but I never expected he had been there all along.

He was hiding inside my body, silently, and he actually succeeded in Tribulation Hitching on me!

Before, all the feathers on his body had been knocked bare, and he was covered in wounds.

Now I can't tell whether his injuries have healed, because they're covered by feathers.

But his black feathers, glossy and smooth, shimmered like flowing light in the firelight—quite handsome.

This is enough to show that, in this Nirvana Tribulation, he too benefited.

Although it's obvious he didn't transform into the legendary Solar Divine Bird, he survived and is in better shape than before, which really hurts me.

I gritted my teeth, retracted my wings, and flew straight at the Sān jiǎo yā.

He had no intention of fighting me head‑on; he just wanted to call it quits when he saw an advantage.

Sensing that I was about to attack him, he instantly flickered away and vanished into a patch of mist.

He actually ran away!

How could I be willing to just let the tiger return to the mountain?

Just as I was about to give chase, the whole sea of fire suddenly churned, and the power of the ancestral tomb formation array began to wane.

The Feng Clan elders exhausted the last bit of energy they had gathered in the ancestral tomb formation array, and their spirits quickly faded.

The entire willow grove withered; the graves remained, but the stone tablets collapsed one after another, finally shattering into fragments.

Fortunately, the Cangwu Dark Seal flew out; I instinctively grabbed it and lifted it high, and the elders' spirit pills entered the Cangwu Dark Seal one after another.

Patterns on the surface of the Cangwu Dark Seal burst forth with brilliant light, which slowly faded after a while.

This… is the Fire Seed that the Wutong Granny spoke of!

One day in the future, when the next Feng Lord descends into this world, they will be reborn together with the Wutong tree spirit.

Perhaps the next Feng Lord will be one of them—we cannot know.

This scene moved me deeply; I had thought they would all end up scattered to ashes.

Everything turned out far better than I had imagined.

Feng Wu reminded: 'Xiao Jiu, we can't stay here; we must leave immediately—return to the Feng Clan or go onward?'

My vision was already a blur; I clasped the Cangwu Dark Seal with both hands and whispered: 'Thank you, elders, for exerting your utmost to help Xiao Jiu achieve Nirvana; from now on I'll take care of everything—please rest well.'

After putting away the Cangwu Dark Seal, I quickly composed myself and declared firmly: 'First, we clean up the sect!'

As I spoke, I already sent a palm strike toward Dìshì.

Unlike the Sān jiǎo yā, Dìshì wasn't spineless; seeing the situation turn bad, he fled at once, but he was unwilling to give up and still wanted to fight me to the bitter end.

After a brief exchange of palm winds, we traded blows repeatedly; after over a hundred moves, the whole space had collapsed into ruins, and a gust of even more chilling yin killing qi came from deep within the black mist, swiftly enveloping us.

While I was blocking Dìshì's attacks, I was greatly puzzled in my heart.

I originally thought the black mist in this willow grove was due to the cemetery, but now it seems deeper down this path hides something even more formidable.

The Feng Clan's ancestral tomb appearing here is likely meant to block this yin killing qi from invading the Feng Clan.

What I didn't expect was that Dìshì's reaction to the descent of this black mist was different—he seemed to see some hope, and his attack speed became much faster than before.

He wanted a quick battle.

Or perhaps he sought an opportunity to get past me and slip into the black mist.

The Sān jiǎo yā fled too fast, catching me off guard; how could I let Dìshì have an opening again?

"Feng Wu!"

I shouted loudly and immediately flickered.

Feng Wu is not suited for close combat; she appeared above and behind me, the bowstring automatically pulled taut, with a whoosh, three bolts of Nirvana fire, clinging to Dìshì, shot forth.

While Feng Wu attacked Dìshì, I had already summoned several ghost faces.

The ghost faces were unusually excited; this was the first time they displayed their abilities after successfully accompanying me through tribulation.

They were no ordinary ghost faces anymore, and they no longer feared sunlight or fire.

Empowered by Nirvana fire, they could even pass judgment on lower‑rank evil spirits.

After emerging from the Soul‑guiding Lamp, they vanished in the blink of an eye.

The next moment, they suddenly appeared beside Dìshì.

They darted and alternated, appearing and disappearing unpredictably, leaving scorched marks wherever they passed; Dìshì could not focus, and his attack power instantly weakened greatly.

They say little devils are hard to deal with, and today I finally saw it for myself.

They couldn't kill Dìshì, but they could render him unable to do anything—which is already remarkable.

Unable to endure the harassment any longer, Dìshì finally, after a bout of endurance, formed a seal.

With his whistle blowing, a hawk's cry immediately rang out above our heads.

A flock of blue‑green eagles screamed as they dove down from mid‑air; I saw their eyes were a dark green, and as they flew, a ring of black qi coiled around their bodies.

This is not something of the mortal realm!

I have encountered those eagles they raised several times before, and the most chilling were the dozen or so raised by the Empty Silence Abbott in the mountains of Song.

But those dozen or so are nothing compared to this flock before us—different leagues altogether.

These… are certainly not simply raised from flesh and blood.

I quickly recalled the ghost faces and stored them back in the Soul‑guiding Lamp.

They had just advanced; although they might have helped me hold off for a while, I dared not take the risk.

I cherish them greatly.

During this time they have helped me a lot and have become my capable assistants.

They are also my comrades!

Feng Wu immediately adjusted the direction of the bowstring shot, shifting the target onto the flock of eagles.

The sound of the bowstring vibrating the air was like many sharp swords, stabbing at the azure eagles; simultaneously, three blossoms of Nirvana fire surged into the eagle flock.

I saw a trickle of black qi leaking from the eagle flock, and also an azure eagle ignited by Nirvana fire; the eerie green flame flared in midair then quickly died out, and that azure eagle vanished.

But Feng Wu cannot shoot Nirvana fire every time he draws the bow.

Nirvana fire inherently has a cooldown, and each bow draw consumes a great deal of Feng Wu's internal energy, so killing shots cannot be sustained.

Dìshì, under the cover of the eagle flock, swiftly formed hand seals and muttered incantations.

As he chanted like reciting sutras, I, who had been about to rush forward to continue fighting Dìshì, suddenly froze; in my mind, bloody and horrifying scenes rolled like a movie, stimulating my nerves.

This time it came dozens of times more violently than before; pain was secondary, the key being these tampered memories that prevented me from acting calmly.

"Xiao Jiu, be careful! Dodge!"

Feng Wu shouted at me, reminding me to dodge.

But it was too late; Dìshì had already flashed to my front, a palm hovering and pressing onto my head.

Like a thousand-jin boulder suddenly pressing down, it crushed my strained nerves that I had been forcing to hold.

The already confused memories became even clearer and more detailed.

Even the memory of the Língchí dāo I held in my hand, each slash's sound of cutting flesh was infinitely amplified.

That grating sound made me feel as if the Língchí dāo was cutting into my skull, prying open the fascia, scooping out bone…