Chapter 911

Xiao Jiu condenses power in her palm, immediately infusing true qi into the woman.

But when her hand touched the woman's body, she suddenly froze.

The woman's body was icy cold and stiff, utterly unlike that of a living person.

At this moment, the woman lay in the blood pool, weakly shaking her head: "Don't waste your strength... I... I can no longer live."

Xiao Jiu unwillingly withdrew her hand; she had thought that when the Xuètóng Hānsī left the woman's body, the woman would die, but she hadn't imagined the woman was already dead.

The woman's emotions were very calm; she even laughed and said, "The Xuètóng Hānsī is essentially just a corpse, so it can only Parasitic Dwelling on a corpse; when I was defeated back then, I was already a corpse… these years it has Parasitic Dwelling in my corpse, controlling my spiritual awareness, constantly drawing Spiritual Power and corpse qi from all directions to cultivate—I… I have truly had enough."

Xiao Jiu could feel her pain.

Neither alive nor able to die cleanly, each moment controlled by the Xuètóng Hānsī was, to her, no different from death by a thousand cuts.

"Finally I can be free." the woman said, as two lines of blood tears streamed down her pale cheeks.

She suddenly raised her right hand, grabbed Xiao Jiu's hand, and with her eyes already turning white, she earnestly stared at Xiao Jiu: "I did not betray the Earth Deity Maiden, nor anyone else; I was forced—please believe me, you must believe me…"

Xiao Jiu nodded firmly: "Mm, I believe you; you haven't betrayed anyone."

The blood tears flowed more tumultuously; her consciousness was already beginning to scatter: "It's my inadequacy—I failed to complete the master's task; it's too strong, sister, you must be careful, its next parasitic target is you."

"I know." Xiao Jiu said, "Don't worry, I won't let it succeed; I'm not alone—behind me stands a large group of brothers and sisters, and they will all help me."

"How enviable." the woman sighed, "If back then someone could have pulled me up… ugh…"

Before she could finish speaking, the woman spat out a mouthful of pus and blood; immediately, large patches of corpse spots appeared on her skin, and the degree of corpse transformation increased.

She trembled her hand, quickly forming a seal, pointing her sword finger at her brow, and murmured incantations.

When she turned her sword finger, the icy fingertip pressed against Xiao Jiu's brow; Xiao Jiu felt a powerful force drill into her brow, and in her mind the woman's chanting voice was amplified, repeating over and over.

This process lasted just over a minute, yet to Xiao Jiu it felt extraordinarily long.

Her state of mind was also very complex, with satisfaction at having her wish fulfilled, but more so regret for the woman's life about to be utterly extinguished.

When Xiao Jiu sensed the woman's presence and held in her heart the hope that the woman was still alive, that cherishing of vibrant life filled Xiao Jiu's whole body with power.

But in the end it was all for nothing, like trying to fetch water with a bamboo basket.

When the woman finished forming her seal and lowered her hand, she was already exhausted.

She turned over and collapsed at the bottom of the bone-blood pool.

She fell with considerable force, shaking the white bones, causing many places to collapse with a bang.

The woman lay face up, her body twitching, her pupils already dilated; soon she lost all vital signs and turned to ashes.

Her eyes stared wide, her body covered in large dark corpse spots, looking somewhat miserable, yet the corners of her mouth held a smile.

Meanwhile, a warm current circulated continuously in Xiao Jiu's brow; not long after, the Mòyù Bānzhǐ that had been driven into the woman's brow returned to Xiao Jiu's right thumb.

Xiao Jiu lowered her gaze and saw that the interior of the Mòyù Bānzhǐ, which had been perfectly clear, now held multicolored light.

This was the symbol that the Five-Colored Earth's energy had finally returned.

Although the woman had been controlled by the Xuètóng Hānsī for many years, it never managed to strip away her Five-Colored Earth ability; for this, Xiao Jiu still admired the woman.

Although the woman was the master of the Five-Colored Earth, the Xuètóng Hānsī was far stronger; if she had been unable to withstand its pressure and revealed how to control the Five-Colored Earth, the Xuètóng Hānsī might not truly have been unable to wield that ability.

Xiao Jiu sighed, shattered the bone-blood pool, and stepped in with one foot.

The woman's corpse had already begun to decay; Xiao Jiu reached out to close her eyelids, then ignited a Nirvana flame that burned the corpse away.

The woman's soul and spirit had scattered; she had no afterlife.

As Xiao Jiu turned, just about to leave, that familiar rustling sound again came from all directions.

Judging by the sound's volume and density, the number of white bones mobilized this time was likely several times greater than before.

Accompanying those white bones as they closed in on Xiao Jiu were those viscous blood fluids.

They surged up from the ground and earth walls in an endless stream toward the space where Xiao Jiu was, moving much faster than they had in the adjacent space just before.

It seemed the Xuètóng Hānsī had completely lost its patience, intending to take down Xiao Jiu as quickly as possible.

Xiao Jiu directly produced the Mòyù Bānzhǐ, chanting the spell the woman had taught her.

After the Mòyù Bānzhǐ left Xiao Jiu's right thumb, it emitted multicolored light all over.

It continuously turned within the underground space; wherever its multicolored light shone, blood instantly solidified and the soil color rapidly changed, turning what had been bloody earth into fertile black soil rich in nutrients.

This scene matched Xiao Jiu's earlier speculation exactly.

She knew that only when the Five-Colored Earth's ability returned to the Mòyù Bānzhǐ would she truly deserve the title of Earth Deity Maiden.

And the Mòyù Bānzhǐ bearing the Five-Colored Earth ability was the bane of the Xuètóng Hānsī.

Five-Colored Earth is the earth of the Nine Provinces and the altar soils.

It is the source of the land on which the Nine Provinces' world depends for survival; as long as it exists, all beings suffering in the world can be restored to their original state.

Boom!

A muffled bang.

The earth in Xiao Jiu's space suddenly collapsed in a large chunk, the ground shook violently, and the collapse occurred exactly at the exit.

Xiao Jiu didn't think, she directly transformed into a phoenix form and flew out through that exit.

But as soon as she flew out, an unprecedentedly strong yin-cold killing aura pressed down on her face, forcing Xiao Jiu to fall to the ground and resume her human form.

Xiao Jiu steadied her stance and looked around, once again shocked by the sight before her.

The surrounding scenery had completely changed.

As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but dense white bones.

The hole through which Xiao Jiu had just flown was gone.

The ground was paved with white bones; ahead, where the Baiqi Temple had originally stood, a proportionally scaled white-bone temple loomed into view.

The doors of the white-bone temple stood open, and Xiao Jiu saw a person seated inside.

To be precise, that was not a person, but a……white-bone corpse……