Chapter 1592: Elegy
Chapter 1592: Elegy
The force of the fist tore through the air with whites air waves, hurtling towards Jiuying like a mountain.
Li Qingshan had arrived with fury. Even a Heretic God would not dare to forcefully receive that punch.
However, a hint of scorn flashed across Jiuying’s face. She gently waved her hand, and the force of the fist was stopped by an invisible barrier, erupting violently. It only managed to stir up a slight ripple on the barrier.
Jiuying was slightly surprised. Li Qingshan’s strength actually surpassed her expectations, far beyond any regular Heretic God. “But that’s all there is to it.”
The sky full of wind and lightning surged. The violent waves of air swept up the blood, making them surge through the chamber, slamming against the fleshly walls heavily. He stirred up colossal waves, but none of them were able to approach the huge mushroom.
Without any hesitation, Li Qingshan flapped his wings and swooped down, swinging his fist once more. This time, there was not just the force, but the great strength of the ox demon as well. He crushed down like a mountain, refusing to believe that he could not shatter Jiuying’s defences.
Jiuying extended her index finger again. “Freeze!”
Li Qingshan suddenly halted, having been frozen in place. The whistling wind and lightning immediately settled down. Even the wings of wind collapsed and dispersed.
He gritted his teeth and pushed his great strength of the ox demon to the limit with a deep growl. All of his muscles tensed and popped with veins, but he was still unable to break free from the invisible restraint.
Jiuying said, “This is all you’re capable of, and you still talk so brazenly before me!”
The Blood maze was her dwelling, her world. Here, she was the only god, constantly in the state of “one with the heavens”. The laws abided by her commands, such that just a single “freeze” command would possess limitless power. There were no Heretic Gods that could serve as her opponent.
If she was not capable of something like this, she would have never been able to control the nine Heretic Gods. Everything was within the palm of her hand.
This was not a matter of strength, but the difference in “authority”. As an ancient existence that was infinitesimally close to True God, her knowledge and grasp over the laws far surpassed anything that Li Qingshan who relied on a foreign object and entered the state of “one with the heavens” accidentally could come close to.
Jiuying curled her finger and pulled Li Qingshan a little closer. She sneered viciously. “You don’t need any reasons? But I have plenty of reasons. I will tear you apart inch by inch to avenge my children!”
“Hah, your children are just a bunch of corpses walking around. Is there any difference now that they’re dead? As for those nine vile spawns who wanted to kill their own mother, they well and truly deserved to die.” Li Qingshan glanced at her belly in disdain. “And that vile demonfolk spawn in your belly. Why let him into this world to suffer at all? You might as well let me finish him off too!”
Falling for the great mocking technique, Jiuying immediately flew into a fury. “You!”
Li Qingshan’s eyes shone. Now!
“The Divine Dragon Treads the Heavens, Understanding the Fortunes of Nature!”
With a great bellow, the dragon’s cry erupted, and the sword emerged from its sheath.
Li Qingshan suddenly broke free from the restraints, merging with the sword. He turned into a grand streak of light of tremendous force, piercing the invisible barrier with a single strike and immediately illuminating Jiuying’s pale face.
The Sword of Xuanyuan was always capable of increasing his “authority”. Not only did the Divine Dragon Transformation gather all the power and laws from the small world, but it also drastically strengthened his control over the Sword of Xuanyuan as well.
The might of the slash was far greater than when he killed Heretic God Baitun. It was no longer one with the sword, but a divine dragon wielding the sword. Not only could he fend off Jiuying’s authority, but he could even launch a sure-kill strike with the Sword of Xuanyuan’s might!
The flash of the sword illuminated the chamber, containing the cry of the dragon, becoming the only item within the Blood maze that Jiuying could not control.
At that critical moment, Jiuying abruptly raised her head and twisted her body, making her long hair drift through the air. The sword whistled past above her cheeks, and her hair drifted into the air. A trickle of blood flowed down from her forehead, but the wound failed to close.
Her face changed drastically. She cried out involuntarily, “The Sword of Xuanyuan!”
Li Qingshan returned to his previous state with the sword in hand. He said proudly, “You actually recognise this sword!” He estimated Jiuying’s strength as he tried to come up with a countermeasure.
Even when the Sword of Xuanyuan’s power had increased drastically, it was unlike the battle when he slaughtered Heretic God Baitun. The Blood maze was Jiuying’s territory. He could not maintain the state of “one with the heavens” for long at all. Every passing moment depleted a tremendous amount of power. With his current small world, he could launch eight strikes at most. Now, only seven remained.
Seven opportunities, seven chances at survival.
If he could not claim Jiuying’s head even after those seven strikes, then only death awaited him.
“So you’re a little mutt from the Youxiong tribe. That’s another reason for me to stop you from leaving here today!”
Jiuying soon recovered her calm. The hatred on her face grew deeper.
Li Qingshan was unfazed, searching for an opportunity to land an attack, as he thought to himself how Jiuying’s origins truly were strange. She seemed to have been banished with the ancient Demon Gods, which was very much connected to that “Youxiong” person.
If he did not possess the Sword of Xuanyuan, he would have become Demon God Taotie’s esteemed guest already, but there were also many situations where he had relied heavily on this Sword of Xuanyuan. He felt no regret about it. Even if there was some scheme involved, it was still a powerful weapon. Relying on himself was still better than relying on others.
Jiuying muttered something softly. Her pale face flushed with waves of unnatural red.
At that instant, all the entrances and exits to the chamber were firmly closed, even including the great hole that Li Qingshan had produced.
With the raging sound of water, dark-red blood rapidly rose, except it was no longer regular demonic blood. It was similar to the river of blood that Li Qingshan had encountered when he first entered through the Gate of Xuanpin. It possessed the power to wash away auras and powers.
Li Qingshan furrowed his brows. Even with his body of the demonic and divine, he had been forced to cut off his own arm to protect himself after coming into contact with the blood, an injury that he had not recovered from even now. Once the blood swallowed the chamber, he would no longer stand a chance.
Of course, just the chamber alone could not trap him. He was free to kill his way out again with the sword, but he would not be able to leave this Blood maze. He would be faced with a relentless pursuit until it exhausted his last sliver of energy.
Even the nine Heretic Gods that Qian Rongzhi had managed to get on his side would probably turn against him again once they discovered that he was incapable of killing their mother.
If he had guessed correctly, the nine Heretic Gods were currently observing the situation here as well.
In the blink of an eye, the foul blood had already surged up here, enveloping Jiuying. Whether it was physical attacks or techniques, none of them could approach her.
“The brave emerge triumphantly from a confrontation on a narrow path!”
Li Qingshan laughed and flicked his sword, which thrummed away. “There are no gods watching up above. I have placed all my happiness and sorrow, honour and disgrace, in the sword a long time ago. Those who use the sword die by the sword. Those who live live and those who die die. What is there to regret?”
There was no moon here, so he could not use the Sword of the Moon. Even if there was the moon, he would probably struggle to use it.
However, he still had himself. No matter how difficult it became, people always had themselves as a companion.
In his heart, there was a world, as well as all the transformations of the demonic and divine. Each transformation was a path, a law, which could be converted into a sword move!
“The first sword, the Ox Demon, with its Great Strength, Sinks in the Mud!”
Li Qingshan immediately vanished. Even the sword vanished as well, without a single trace.
In the surroundings, there was only a stubborn will to never submit, as well as the land and mountains that were long gone, condensing into a heavy and thick sword intent.
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The rising foul blood was suddenly pressed down by several metres, becoming even thicker and stickier, almost congealing together.
Jiuying could not help but lower her head. Her body became ten thousand times heavier. Every single inch of flesh and bone drooped downwards. Even her organs shifted in position, leaving her dizzy and nauseous.
Even her consciousness was pulled down deeply, to the depths of hell. Originally, she should have been controlling the laws and putting up a fierce struggle, yet a sense of sombreness she was unable to break free from welled up from the bottom of her heart.
How many tens of thousand years has it been already since I was banished? Haven’t I also been trapped in this maze, never to be liberated? She suddenly shook her head. No, I can’t let him get to me!
Not only did the strike follow through with the ox demon’s path, but it also possessed Li Qingshan’s comprehension of the path of the devaputra-māra. If he wanted to kill, he had to slay the heart!
At that instant, both Jiuying’s body and mind collapsed under this heavy pressure, however, she forcefully held on through the powerful cultivation she had accumulated over a million years.
Before the strike had settled, another strike rose up!
“The second sword, the Tiger Demon Forges its Bones, with a Frenzied Heart!”
The heavy weight suddenly vanished, and the sunken blood suddenly rose into the air, hovering as droplets. Time seemed to stop at that instant.
Jiuying’s hair drifted in the air, sensing the existence of “wind”. Wind whistled into her ears, as well as all of the pores in her body. That was not any old gale, but unstoppable “metal wind”, possessing the bleakness of the world.
The wind awakened even more distant memories. She too had once fought with her life on the line on the battlefield. Even if the end result was banishment, the hot-bloodedness and the high-spiritedness flowed through the veins of every early human.
She wanted to leap up and receive Li Qingshan in battle without any regard, but her belly moved. She curled up again, shielding her belly with her hands and silently enduring the sweeps of the “metal wind”. Blood oozed out from every pore, but it was not enough to destroy her body.
She was well aware that such a sharp strike could not last for too long!
“The third sword, the Ape Demon Scoops the Moon, All to Null and Void!”
The wind stopped, and the landscape changed. Everything in the surroundings vanished, becoming an endless blank-white, like the Formless realm.
Emptiness was no other than form, form was no other than emptiness.
In a daze, she seemed to see those children who lived like they were floating on empty bliss and died like they were resting, yet described by Li Qingshan as walking corpses. She also saw the nine children that absolutely hated her, cursing her death from within the darkness.
All of her efforts were reduced to an illusion. Was there still any point to it?
This sword was nowhere near as dangerous as the prior two swords, but it threw her into disarray, leaving her confused.
“The fourth sword, the Spirit Turtle Suppresses the Seas, Foreboding Fate!”
The moment the illusion dispersed, a nightmarish omen descended!
The sword was the sword of fate. It did not harm her at all, but it did sever her chosen fate as a Heretic God of the Demon domain, the ruler of the Blood maze. It sealed up all of her heavenly blessings.
“The fifth sword, the Phoenix Undergoes Nirvana Rebirth, with an Undying Heart!”
The phoenix cried out proudly and aloofly, with a noble mind. Its heart of fire burned unceasingly, and the five virtues never declined.
She rolled and struggled within the fire. The colour was like red lotuses, extremely pure yet extremely hot. Even the surging blood could not put it out at all as if it was the legendary flames of karma.
Despite feeling great agony, she felt no fury or hatred. Instead, she was filled with guilt and regret as if the enemy was not attacking and abusing her, instead repenting for the sins she had committed.
“The sixth sword, the Qilin, with its Hovering Steps, Sympathises with the Living!”
The flames were extinguished and darkness enveloped.
Even though he had lost many blessings due to shattering the Black Sun Demon Heart, the world was still originally a part of the primordial qilin.
At that instant, a wisp of the Demon domain’s will descended, manifesting as a black qilin that stomped down mercilessly on her body with its hoof.
The world had no compassion. All was worthless.
The might of this sword surpassed all of the ones that came before it.
At that moment, it was not Li Qingshan trying to destroy her, but the demonic heavens.
These six swords were lightning-fast, basically swung out one after another. The sword moves possessed three demonic transformations and three divine transformations, using the demonic transformations to perturb her and the divine transformations to judge her.
By the time the black qilin had dispersed, Jiuying was already heavily injured, sprawled out on the ground weakly. All her organs had suffered severe injuries and her bones had all been crushed, unable to offer up any resistance. Even her spirit and will had completely collapsed.
“It’s time to end it! The last sword, the Divine Dragon Treads the Heavens, Understanding the Fortunes of Nature!”
This sword was not just the sword of the divine dragon. Instead, it led and merged all seven transformations, releasing all of the remaining power in the small world to completely end all vigour in Jiuying.
With that sword, the dragon soared, the tiger leapt, the qilin flew, the phoenix glided, the ox mooed, and the ape howled!
At this moment, Jiuying suddenly propped up her body. Her face was covered in blood, and her expression was twisted, raising her hands as if she was struggling for her life, catching the sword.
“Hmph, a futile struggle before death!
The sword only paused slightly before grinding her hands, along with her arms, to pieces.
However, using this pause, she extended her neck and opened her mouth without any regard, biting down on the sword. There was a great screech!
Li Qingshan was surprised. Compared to the body, the head was a much more lethal vital point, but he did not hesitate much. He had poured all of his strength into this attack, so it was already beyond his control.
Sword qi rushed through her head and light poured into her body.
Jiuying could not help but slack her jaw. With a twist, the sword plunged into her chest with its remaining momentum, snuffing out her last bit of vigour.
Immediately, the surging blood receded. The flesh decayed, and the rotten flesh fell sloppily. The entire Blood maze began to collapse. The demonfolk all panicked. The fungus in their hands rapidly decomposed, giving off a foul stench.
Li Qingshan had noticed a long time ago that her naked body was linked with the giant mushroom, forming one entity with the entire Blood maze. It could even be said that the entire Blood maze was an extension of her body.
It immobilised her and granted him the opportunity to use his sword moves, but it basically endowed her with endless strength. She could recover no matter how heavy her wounds were. If he still could not kill her after seven consecutive attacks, the one dead right now would be him.
But now, the outcome had been determined! He could not help but exhale deeply, slowly withdrawing his remaining power from the Sword of Xuanyuan.
Jiuying suddenly moved again, actually holding on, refusing to die. She murmured sorrowfully, “Was… I wrong? My children, I only wanted… to protect them, so they lived… well, without any cold or hunger… without being killed… Was I wrong?”
Li Qingshan said nothing. Who could help the fact that they were demonfolk.
Suddenly, he heard a faint but vigorous heartbeat. It was filled with life, which left him stunned. This is impossible!?
He was most familiar with the Sword of Xuanyuan. Jiuying had only gained a sudden spurt of energy right before death. How could her body still contain such vigour?
Jiuying lowered her head. Her arms had already been sliced to pieces, so she could only caress her belly with a gentle gaze.
I see now! Li Qingshan suddenly remembered that when the black qilin stomped down, she had arched her back to fend off the hoof, protecting the child in her belly. When she had been burned by the flames and blown by the metal wind, she had been the same too!
In the end, when she extended her arms and bit the sword, it was also to protect the child in her belly. An indescribable sensation suddenly filled his heart. Something rocked violently.
Jiuying said on the brink of death, “Please… spare him… He’s still… not a demonfolk!”
“What did you say?”
Li Qingshan furrowed his brows. With a swing of his sword, he cut through her belly, and the clear bawling of a child rang out. A moist, wrinkly infant laid within the bloody womb of his mother.
Li Qingshan felt like he had been hit by a bombshell. He suddenly blanked out. The infant was ugly, but he was not a demonfolk, but a regular infant, a human infant.
The Sword of Xuanyuan slid out from his hand. He extended his trembling hands and picked up the infant from his mother’s womb. His hands were covered in blood, scarlet and eye-catching.
Jiuying gazed blankly at the infant and began humming the ancient ballad again, gentle and distant, filled with love. It also contained a wondrous power that made the infant stop crying and quieten down.
At the same time, the laws of the Demon domain operated silently. Invisible demon qi tried to seep into the infant’s body, wanting to endow him with a demon heart and convert him into a true demonfolk.
“Is that why… you didn’t become a Demon God?” Li Qingshan’s voice was extremely weary, but he did not receive a reply. The gentle and distant humming had already vanished.
“Fantastic! That bitch is finally dead! We’re free! What do we do with this person? We kill him of course! I want that sword! No, it’s mine!”
The nine Heretic Gods walked into the collapsed chamber, talking and laughing innocently, but they were also filled with heart-stopping cruelty. They rapidly grew up, bursting through their great red dudous. Their bodies changed with every passing moment, becoming mature, becoming hideous! They pressed towards Li Qingshan.
Li Qingshan did not budge as if he did not hear them. He suddenly shook his head. His face was already covered in tears.
“Look, we’ve scared this kid into crying!” A hideous man mocked, leading to a roar of laughter. A seductive woman said, “I’d like to play around with him!”
Li Qingshan held the infant. His scarlet eyes were wide open as he questioned the heavens, “Buddha, even if the demonfolk are all steeped in sins, do demonfolk really deserve to be demonfolk from the moment they’re born!?”
The heavens did not answer him. His voice probably could not reach Sukhāvatī. All he saw was a black sun hanging high up.
“Then come!”
At that instant, the black sun fell. The demon heart condensed, piercing the endless space and immediately arriving before him, swallowed in a single gulp.
The Snake Demon Swallows the Sun, Incinerating itself to a Crisp.