Chapter 897: Extra Chapter 4: 134

Originally, the statue looked compassionate, but as its eyes slowly opened, Xiao Jiu saw a pair of bloodthirsty double pupils!

At this moment, fresh blood gushed from those double pupils full of killing intent, flowing down the statue's cheeks, making it look even more ferocious.

Xiao Jiu's brow furrowed involuntarily.

Is the statue possessed—did the spirit of the one it enshrines linger, or has something else taken over?

Xiao Jiu's inner answer leaned more toward the latter.

Because as the statue's eyes opened, Xiao Jiu felt the temple's Qìchǎng surging—that was the power of the Fǎzhèn.

The small shrine enshrines a Bai Qi statue to suppress the surrounding Resentful Qi.

Only now did Xiao Jiu finally understand why the small shrine is located here, rather than in the underground sinkhole.

Because what the small shrine needs to suppress is not the vengeful spirits of war prisoners that could be controlled by a mere Azure Abyss Sword riddled with cracks, but… someone else.

Before the shrine keeper turned to ashes and smoke, he said that their lineage had a special fate, granting deterrent power over the small shrine.

Obviously, this deterrent power is aimed at the true entity the small shrine seeks to seal.

But the shrine keeper failed to pass it on.

The last shrine keeper had no descendants.

This directly caused the small shrine's deterrent power to gradually weaken, and as time passed, the sealing formation in the shrine would eventually be broken.

Liu Junyan didn't hesitate to shatter the Azure Abyss Sword, nor did he act to save the shrine keeper's soul, because he knew that to completely resolve the issue, he had to force the opponent out and then take them down in one move.

This is the confidence of one who can grasp the whole situation.

Otherwise, they would have to leave the shrine keeper's soul to linger, or else sift through the vast sea of people to find a new suitable candidate for shrine keeper.

But doing so only treats the symptoms, not the root cause.

There will always be times when the old and new generations do not overlap.

When that time comes, it will be the moment disaster strikes, and the mess will still need Liu Junyan to clean up.

It would be better to deal with it now, to eliminate future troubles.

Even Liu Junyan had already planned that, after cleaning up this mess, he would let Chishe take charge.

"Be careful!"

Xiao Jiu was thinking when Chishe suddenly shouted.

She only felt a surge of strong wind, and in the next instant Chishe had blocked her front, spewing a mouthful of venom toward a mass of blood mist.

That mass of blood mist sprayed from the double pupils of the Bai Qi statue as its eyes opened, shooting straight at Xiao Jiu's face, unexpected.

Chishe regretted again.

He… his mouth is faster than his brain, his brain is more honest than his mouth.

Reason told him not to show off, but whenever something happened, he still instinctively jumped to block Xiao Jiu first.

Fortunately, he had just devoured the shrine keeper's essence, restoring some of his stamina.

But after spewing that mouthful of venom, he became weak again and retreated into Xiao Jiu's sleeve.

Originally, after just devouring the shrine keeper's essence, the best would be to retreat into seclusion for a few days to fully digest the essence; by then, not only would his Xiūwéi recover greatly, but if fortunate, he might even be able to transform into human form.

He hasn't transformed into human form for a very long time.

He was almost forgetting what he looked like after transforming into human form, and also forgot the feeling of walking firmly on two feet.

Alright, after spraying that mouthful of venom, he needs to go into seclusion for even more days.

Truly, self-inflicted doom.

Xiao Jiu didn't know Chishe's mental state at this moment; the venom Chishe spewed was extremely potent, directly melting the blood mist sprayed from the statue's double pupils.

The green venom even broke through the blood mist barrier and rushed toward the statue's eyes.

But the next moment, another burst of blood mist sprayed from the double pupils, completely dispersing that venom.

Chishe blocked this for Xiao Jiu, buying her effective retaliation time; at the moment the statue's double pupils spewed venom again, Xiao Jiu had already formed seals, her fingertips instantly condensing several flames of Nirvana Fire, which she launched one after another at the statue's eyes.

As soon as the blood mist touched the Nirvana Fire, it ignited instantly and burned away in the blink of an eye.

Nirvana Fire can burn all yin and evil entities in this world.

But the mana of Nirvana Fire is also limited by the cultivator's Xiūwéi; if the opponent is too strong, with Xiūwéi far surpassing Xiao Jiu's, the power of Nirvana Fire cannot be fully exerted.

Fortunately, Xiao Jiu's Xiūwéi is sufficient, temporarily able to suppress the blood mist.

But she also dared not be careless; she rubbed the Mòyù Bānzhǐ on her right thumb, then without hesitation removed it and hurled it at the statue's right eye.

The Mòyù Bānzhǐ was given to Xiao Jiu by the Earth Mother; it is a symbol of her identity, and Xiao Jiu is its master.

Therefore, no matter when or under what circumstances, after Xiao Jiu unleashes the Mòyù Bānzhǐ, it will always return to her right thumb as soon as it finishes its task.

Besides the Earth Mother, ordinary people cannot possess it.

Even if a high-level Evil Cultivator with poor judgment snatches the Mòyù Bānzhǐ, the Earth Mother will reclaim it.

But if that happened, Xiao Jiu would be badly humiliated.

That even one's identity symbol, a magical implement, could be snatched away is intolerable.

The Mòyù Bānzhǐ pierced through the blood mist and accurately struck the statue's right eye.

But at the instant the Mòyù Bānzhǐ struck, the statue's eyes closed.

With a clang, the statue's right eyelid split open, extending to its face; an indescribable odor surged straight to Xiao Jiu's mind; she quickly held her breath, yet still smelled it, retched once, and stepped back two steps.

What kind of smell is that?

It was a mixture of incense, bloodiness, ink, and corpse stench, with perhaps something else; Xiao Jiu could no longer tell them apart.

Fragrant, foul, stimulating—all mixed together, suddenly rushing up, really making it hard to bear.

Xiao Jiu looked up again and saw that the blood flowing from the cracks in the statue's face was mixed with another liquid; she instantly recognized it as corpse oil!

How could a statue used to suppress yin and evil entities contain corpse oil?

Just as cracks appeared on the statue's face, the originally stern statue's face seemed to have gained an expression.

When that right eye opened again, Xiao Jiu didn't know if it was her imagination, but she felt the entire right cheek of the statue move as well.

After retracting the Mòyù Bānzhǐ, Xiao Jiu unleashed another stream of Nirvana flame, still aimed at that right eye.

This time, the Nirvana flame had not yet struck the right eye when the statue's head suddenly burst forth with a beam of light that directly dispelled the Nirvana flame.

After that light shone, a rune appeared within it.

Xiao Jiu recognized it; it was a Corpse-Suppressing Golden Talisman.

This is the most powerful kind of Mana among all Corpse-Suppressing Talismans!

This Corpse-Suppressing Golden Talisman both seals the thing beneath the statue and wards off external attacks, but its power has not reached the extreme; it merely knocked away the Nirvana flame, and Xiao Jiu suffered no backlash.

Furthermore, if this Corpse-Suppressing Golden Talisman were at its peak state, the Mòyù Bānzhǐ just now could not possibly have struck the statue.

This Corpse-Suppressing Golden Talisman also won't hold out much longer...