Chapter 87: The Fish in Fate

"Jiang Ge, you're truly too fierce!"

From when Hua Yunfei's group gave chase until now was merely a few breaths; in a flash they were suppressed by Jiang Xuan, unable to move a muscle. Pang Bo was surprised beyond measure, his face flushed red with excitement. These past two years he and Ye Fan had lived a wretched, miserable existence; for a bit of cultivation resources they walked the steady, cautious path — a furrowed brow and they would retreat behind the crowd. They had never experienced a battle style of pushing forward all the way. Jiang Ge's eyes flashed once, he opened his mouth and spat, and Donghuang's notable young experts were directly suppressed, unable to recover.

This is truly too explosive!

Ye Fan at the side also revealed a delighted expression. In Taixuan Gate, to resist Ji Haoyue's Sea Rising Bright Moon Phenomenon he had no choice but to expose his Ancient Desolate Holy Body; he never expected these people to harbor ill intentions toward him, wanting to probe the secrets of his Holy Body. He and Pang Bo were forced to leak the news of the Bronze Immortal Palace's emergence, using the chaos to escape Taixuan Gate. He never expected these people would still linger like vengeful ghosts, wanting to hunt him down.

The secret of the Ancient Desolate Holy Body — no one doesn't want to know it. Fortunately he ran into Jiang Xuan; otherwise who knows what the consequence would have been. Now he and Pang Bo have escaped to the heavens, while those who bore him ill will have become prisoners.

"Then, who shall we start with?" Jiang Xuan looked at Ji Biyue — this woman of graceful figure, bewitching and seductive, beautiful like a dewdrop of youth.

Jiang Xuan's gaze was flat. "Transcribe the Void Scripture from memory, and you may live!"

"My Ancient Ji Family is nobly an Imperial Clan; anyone who lays a finger on my Ji Family's Emperor Scripture will suffer the clan's endless pursuit and killing. Don't even dream of getting half a bit of Void Scripture content from me." Ji Biyue at this moment had none of her previous bewitching soul-hooking charm. At her shoulder was a wound that pierced straight through her whole body; the wound was hideous and terrifying, Yin-Yang Two Qi generating and extinguishing at the wound site, preventing it from healing.

Ji Biyue's head of beautiful black hair was now incomparably disheveled, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. She looked pitiful and lovely, arousing a protective desire — one couldn't help wanting to hold her in one's arms and tenderly comfort her.

"Write out the Void Scripture, and you may live!" Still the same repeated words. Jiang Xuan's tone was flat, not a trace of killing intent leaking out, yet hearing it in the three's ears it was bone-chillingly grim.

Ji Biyue's charming, bewitching face twisted to one side, unwilling to write out the Ji Family's Emperor Scripture.

"Good! I, Jiang Xuan, value having a justified cause. The Ji Family regards me as a thorn in the eye, a splinter in the flesh. You, this demoness, even hunted down my two dear friends — these are my beloved kin, my sworn brothers."

"So one would think, such an ending, you should have no regrets." Jiang Xuan spread his five fingers, lightly placing them atop Ji Biyue's head. Threads of soul-shaking flowing light drilled into her mind.

"Ah! Ah... spare me!" Ji Biyue's tears and snot flowed freely. She screamed in agony, feeling her soul deeply ravaged, pain beyond description. Utterly gone was her previous alluring charm.

The suppressed Hua Yunfei and Yaoguang Saintess Yao Xi both wore faces of shock. They never expected this youth not only possessed terrifying combat power beyond compare, but his disposition was also incomparably decisive in killing. At the slightest disagreement he directly violently soul-searched.

At this moment they had already recognized: this blue-robed youth was precisely the Jiang Xuan who had shaken Donghuang some time ago. The experts dispatched jointly by the Two Great Holy Land Clans to kill him had instead been struck down by him one after another.

Yao Xi's pupils abruptly contracted. She thought of over a year ago when the Yaoguang Holy Son went to the Northern Domain and returned heavily injured, near death. His whole body's meridians and bones were completely shattered; only a single breath hung on, not yet dead. The Holy Land expended several Medicine Kings to heal him.

Over a year ago happened to be the very days that demonic genius Jiang Xuan went to the Northern Domain. Is it really a coincidence? Yao Xi instantly felt dread. The Yaoguang Holy Son's terror — she knew it clearer than anyone. Though she was the Yaoguang Saintess, on the surface Holy Son and Saintess were evenly matched, but in reality she felt that in a life-and-death struggle she would certainly die within ten moves. She dies, the Yaoguang Holy Son lives.

The externally famed Little Peng King, Hua Yunfei, Ji Haoyue and the like — fundamentally impossible to be the Yaoguang Holy Son's opponent. Yet the one who nearly killed him was actually a peer of the younger generation, and even younger in age.

This is truly too inconceivable.

"So painful, ah, spare... me, I'll write..."

Jiang Xuan's gaze flickered. He stopped. In Ji Biyue's Primordial Spirit there was an incomparably firm Forbidden Restriction blocking all his soul-search methods. Forcing the soul-search further would have only one result — skull exploding, gaining nothing.

A blank jade slip was tossed over. Jiang Xuan turned to look at Hua Yunfei and Yaoguang Saintess Yao Xi.

The two instantly felt as if watched by a primordial ferocious beast. Hairs stood on end, hearts trembling in fear. Ji Biyue's miserable state was vivid before their eyes. This youth's demonic nature was too heavy; when he moved he had not the slightest mercy, fundamentally couldn't be bothered with diplomatic niceties. It made them feel dread multiplied.

"Hand over the Swallowing Heaven Demonic Art, and you may live!" Jiang Xuan knew Hua Yunfei's Sea of Consciousness must likewise have a Prohibition. The Swallowing Heaven Demonic Art was too...

Ye Fan, Yao Xi and the others at the side also widened their eyes. Breathing became rapid. Shocked, unable to believe it.

The Swallowing Heaven Demonic Art — this art incomparably evil, cultivating by devouring thousands of Special Constitutions to prove one's own Chaos Body. Once cultivated, one becomes the enemy of all cultivators under heaven. Taixuan Gate's Hua Yunfei actually turns out to be a cultivator of the Swallowing Heaven Demonic Art.

Hua Yunfei fell silent.

A long while.

Hua Yunfei raised his head. His gaze flickered with dots of hopeful anticipation. "May I tell you a story? After I finish, I will transmit the Swallowing Heaven Demonic Art to you!"

Without waiting for Jiang Xuan to nod, Hua Yunfei continued:

"When I was very young I already revealed extraordinary cultivation talent. In all battles I suffered only one defeat — at the hands of the Ji Family God Body, Ji Haoyue. But I refused to accept it, because at that time I was already injured. Had I not been injured, victory or defeat would be hard to say."

"Because of my talent, my name — Hua Yunfei, three characters — became known throughout the world. Is this fortune? No, this is the beginning of a nightmare!"

"That day — the day that changed my fate — I can never forget! A terrifying figure found me. That feeling I still haven't forgotten to this day. He alone could destroy the entire Taixuan Gate. It was he who made me the enemy of all under heaven. It was he who made me unable to break free from fate. He transmitted the Swallowing Heaven Demonic Art to me. I originally wanted to resist. But his overbearing strength left me in despair. He said if I didn't cooperate he would exterminate the entire Taixuan Gate. I knew he wasn't lying. He alone was enough to destroy Taixuan Gate."

"With no choice, I was forced to learn the Swallowing Heaven Demonic Art. I knew I was merely someone else's Furnace Cauldron. When the time came I would be absorbed by the true inheritor. But I didn't give up. I strove to absorb others' Primordial Qi to strengthen myself. Much of the Primordial Qi I absorbed I went to their graves to extract after they died. Even killing to absorb Primordial Qi — I only killed those who deserved death. As for other people, I fundamentally didn't go kill them."

"But even so I was still hunted by the world. I sigh at this world's unfairness. I know the Ruthless Emperor's true inheritor is the Yaoguang Holy Land's Holy Son. I am the Magic Embryo; he is the Divine Embryo. But what can I do? Can I tell the world? Would anyone believe me? No. The Ruthless Emperor's lineage won't let such a thing happen. I know, the moment I speak, the entire Taixuan Gate would be exterminated. The Star Peak that gave birth to me and raised me would also perish with it. My father — the Star Peak Master — would also have his life spilled into the Yellow Springs!"

"I hate! I hate myself for not being strong enough! So I cultivated desperately, entering places others dared not easily enter. Because I knew only in those places are the dead the most numerous. I can absorb their Primordial Qi to strengthen myself. And only thus can I evade the world's pursuit and killing. For how many years. I've always lived in the dark places. Not daring to be easily recognized. These years, most of my time has been spent tempering myself in dangerous places. The suffering I've endured — who could understand!"

"I challenged the Divine Embryo again and again, like a small fish. But again and again I was caught back. Every time I lost to the Divine Embryo I hated myself. Hated why I was inferior to others. Why, challenge again and challenge again, fail again and fail again. If not for Taixuan Gate in my heart, I'm afraid I would have died long ago."

"For Taixuan Gate, I can endure anything."

"Again and again, like a moth flying into the flame, I burned myself out, yet could never jump out of the cage. I don't want the Emperor Road Contention. If I could, I'd rather be a happy qin-playing boy beneath Star Peak."

"But in the future there must be a battle between me and that Divine Embryo. The Divine Embryo innately suppresses me. At the moment of confrontation, I hope you can lend a hand. This is a plea, not a demand."

"No oaths needed. As long as you agree, whether you do it or not in the future rests entirely on your heart. I will then give you the Swallowing Heaven Demonic Art."

(Chapter End)