Chapter 1472: Survived By
Chapter 1472: Survived By
Si Long was on his last breath. He murmured, “Why?”
Many questions lingered on his mind. He had considered failure, but he had never considered defeat. The difference in their strength clearly was not that great. He even possessed an upper hand. But why did Li Qingshan’s cultivation suddenly skyrocket? Why did he hold back with the last strike?
Li Qingshan grinned. His smile triggered all of his wounds across his body, which erupted with a hot cloud of bloody mist. Blood spurted out of every wound vigorously. He swayed about and fell backwards, caught by Xiao An. His state was basically even worse than Si Long’s.
That was his answer.
After breaking through to the sixth layer of the tiger demon, not only did his cultivation advance significantly, but all of the tiger demon’s abilities had strengthened as well. However, the tiger demon was not the phoenix. It did not have the Phoenix’s Nirvāṇa. An increase in cultivation was not like levelling up in a game either, where glowing in a column of light came with a full heal.
The Frenzy of the Tiger Demon had always been blood for blood, a life for a life, mortal wounds to the enemy at the cost of severe ones to himself.
This was the consequence of forcefully suppressing all of his wounds and increasing his battle prowess without any regard. What followed the imposing figure that resembled a god of wind was a ruined body on the brink of collapse.
In particular, with the last move, Myriad Flowers, his organs had ruptured and his blood vessels had shattered. He completely relied on his tiger bones to remain standing, which were also riddled with cracks, on the verge of shattering.
It was a struggle of life or death, so why would he hold back? The last strike should not have any unspent force. All of the power should have erupted in Si Long’s body, tearing him to shreds.
Actually, it was because he could not hold on for any longer in the end that this happened.
“You-” Si Long immediately understood what had happened. A strong sense of regret ate away at his heart. “If I hadn’t fled…”
Li Qingshan lay in Xiao An’s arms feebly. The tiger stripes slowly faded away, and his scarlet eyes turned black again. He disagreed with a smile. “There are no ifs. You definitely would have fled…”
“Why?” Si Long stood there without budging as if he was clinging onto his last bit of pride.
“Because your fury and hatred is all fake.”
Li Qingshan’s voice was hoarse. His life rapidly leaked away. If he could not turn back to normal within time and activate the Phoenix’s Nirvāṇa, he would still end up dead.
Xiao An bit the tip of her finger. Her blood condensed into a red bean, falling into his mouth with the purest of life force. His complexion immediately became much better.
“What did you say?” Si Long glared at him furiously. His face was terrifying.
“‘Even if you are the sun, I will perish with you.’ Do you understand that kind of feeling?”
Li Qingshan’s stripes faded away, finally turning back into human form completely. His tiger bones immediately shattered, and his blood began to burn, turning into scarlet flames.
Under the endless stars, on the boundless plains, he turned into a ball of wildfire.
Si Long’s expression changed in the firelight. He murmured, “Even if you are the sun, I will perish with you… Even if you are the sun, I will perish with you…”
With a phoenix cry, Li Qingshan rebirthed in the flames, but he still felt feeble all over. He tried testing his strength by clenching his hands and thought, Is it because we’re at the boundary between worlds? Even the Phoenix’s Nirvāṇa has been suppressed. If this was beyond the Nine Heavens, the impact definitely would be even greater. Even a few extra lives would not be enough by then!
Si Long understood the meaning of those words very soon. He said coldly, “That is but the words of a common man, a ruffian!”
Li Qingshan smiled. “With the rage of a common man, blood splashes five steps away. As the lofty emperor of Great Xia, you’ve probably long forgotten what it feels like to throw your life away.”
“Why should I throw my life away? I don’t need to throw my life away!”
Si Long shut his eyes and recalled the past, how he swept through the world with a hawk and a wolf before conquering the nine provinces.
He relied on a cultivation method from the Human realm. With his great cultivation and corresponding knowledge and wit, he was always untouchable. He did not have to throw his life at anybody. Everything was within his grasp all the time.
“That is why I say your fury and hatred is all fake. To you, preserving your life is always the priority.”
With the wrath of the son of heaven, blood flowed across the land. The blood of other people.
Si Long was untouchable, but was Li Qingshan any different? He had just personally severed his own path of retreat, choosing to turn it into a do-or-die situation.
Si Long did not lose this battle in strength or wit, but determination.
Of course, there was nothing strange about Si Long’s behaviour. To regular cultivators, self-preservation was always the priority, let alone a Human Sovereign who had made it to the peak of mortality like him. He already possessed an extremely lengthy lifespan, enough for him to enjoy all the pleasures life had to offer.
Those who were well off avoided all risks, let alone throwing their lives at someone else.
“I… see… Is this… my end… Hehe… Hahaha… Cough cough…”
Si Long laughed miserably as his body shook violently. He seemed slightly relieved, yet also unwilling to accept this.
Xiao An stood with her sword. If he wanted to detonate his demon heart, she would kill him in a single stroke.
However, he did not do that. He laughed away without stopping like a madman, mixed in with the sharp laughter of a woman. At this boundary between the Human realm and the Demon domain, he completely sank into the Demon domain, falling into madness.
As such, Xiao An did not strike. She tilted her head. “It’s you?”
The laughter gradually subsided, turning into the voice of a woman. The rhombus crystal embedded in Si Long’s forehead turned into a woman’s appearance, bearing some resemblance to Qian Rongzhi, but also a little frostier than before.
His body trembled away and twisted violently, turning into the figure of a woman. Demon qi gushed out, and her bloody skin recovered. She was pale like paper and enchanting like a snake. As the chosen child of heaven in the Demon domain, she seemed to be in even greater graces now.
“Yeah, it’s me.”
Li Qingshan furrowed his brows. “You’ve devoured Si Long!”
He could easily imagine that she was like a malignant tumour living in Si Long’s body, constantly changing and multiplying until she completely devoured Si Long’s collapsed will.
Qian Rongzhi smiled. “Si Long stopped existing a long time ago. All that remained was an obsession. He just refused to admit it. Or in other words, I am Si Long.”
This was not possession. As a person chosen by the heavens, under the chaotic, wicked will of the Demon domain, their souls had actually merged together a long time ago. Their memories were connected, and their thought processes were linked. They were more like two split personalities struggling against one another.
If Si Long won, he could eliminate the personality called “Qian Rongzhi” and act like he had possessed her successfully, or as if nothing had happened at all. However, it was impossible for him to win. The laws of the world were invisible and intangible, but they were everywhere. Qian Rongzhi had already become a representative of the will of the Demon domain. No thoughts of defiance were allowed.
Si Long understood this, which was why he tried to leave the Demon domain regardless of the price, yet he happened to run into Li Qingshan at a time like this. That was his fated tribulation and perhaps the intangible will of the heavens at work too.
Li Qingshan drew the Frenzy Flower Blade of Path’s End and sneered. “In other words, it’s best if I kill you.”
He loathed Qian Rongzhi even more than Si Long, such that he even developed the thought of nipping her in the bud as soon as possible. If she were in charge of the battle earlier, then it was very likely for her to try and perish with him. Instead, he would have to find a way to escape, not throw his life away at a madwoman.
As it was commonly said, the meek feared the tough, the tough feared the unruly, the unruly feared the desperate, and the desperate feared the shameless. This woman was both desperate and shameless, so she truly was a troublesome person.
However, Qian Rongzhi ended up asking, “Is the Black Sun Demon Heart with you?”