Volume 4, Chapter 75 – Chaotic Battle

The waiter had already sensed that something was wrong and slipped away in secret. As for He Xian, the moment he raised his head and met Bai Xiang’s golden eyes, every hair on his body stood on end. It felt as though he had been locked onto by some savage Void Demon.

This was no sense of danger one should feel when facing a fellow cultivator. He was both shocked and furious, wondering what exactly this seat-holder from Tianfu Mountain was trying to do. Was destroying one of Shenquan’s soul seals not enough for her? Did she actually mean to attack him too?

I already hinted at things in my words. Could she not understand? Did she not know that on our side, we hold an absolute advantage in numbers?

While he was still reeling, Bai Xiang struck first.

As her right hand closed around the hilt of the Tianxuan Sword, a bird cry burst forth together with the sword’s ringing note. Vast sword qi surged out with the blade as it left the sheath, shredding most of the objects on this floor. She swept the sword across in a flat slash, sending out a spreading ripple, and split He Xian’s figure in two from top to bottom.

But he truly was adept in shadow-escape techniques. Even after his body was cut apart, he seemed completely unharmed. Not even a thread of blood seeped from the severed section. He only stared at Bai Xiang with utter disbelief, as if he could not understand why she would do such a thing.

Then, as though he had suddenly realized something, he drifted backward and shouted, “You’re not a seat-holder from Tianfu Mountain! Who exactly are you?”

He was full of uncertainty.

Anyone from a truly prominent power should not be acting like this.

Who starts fighting the moment they arrive? This was even more unreasonable than the Sacred Court’s Heaven-Patrol.

But Bai Xiang felt no burden at all.

That was because she had already imagined it. If one day Maozhou fell into the hands of people like these, then the methods they would use on the common folk would be no different from what they were doing now.

These people might not be from Blood Soul Heaven, but the things they did… whether demon or human, they treated even their own kind as bait and blood meals. In that respect, how were they any different from Blood Soul Heaven?

Killing them was killing them.

Different Dao, no common cause.

With a boom, the entire tavern exploded apart beneath the immense force of Bai Xiang’s stomp. Amid the dust, a streak of golden sword qi carved toward He Xian. His expression changed again. As his upper body flew backward, he hurriedly formed a hand seal and pulled something from his sleeve, hurling it at Bai Xiang.

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Bai Xiang split the object apart with one sword stroke. It turned out to be nothing more than an ordinary-looking clay jar. The instant it shattered, however, a cloud of thick pink smoke burst out and enveloped her. It moved as if it had a mind of its own, drilling into her nose and mouth.

He Xian saw this and was instantly delighted. The motions of his hands slowed slightly as he watched Bai Xiang in anticipation, waiting for changes to appear.

Changes?

Bai Xiang did indeed feel a wave of heat rise within her body, but it lasted only an instant. She forcibly cast it off with almost no effect on her forward momentum, then swung her blade in a full arc toward He Xian.

He Xian was horrified. The disbelief on his face deepened. Just before the sword fell, he tore himself out of his current form, transforming into stream after stream of afterimages that shot down like arrows. One after another, they pierced into the city below, each one accurately diving into the shadows of passersby.

Bai Xiang looked down and saw the people below undergoing distortion.

Whether they leaned more toward human, more toward demon, or had already been so deeply polluted by Loss of Order that they could almost be judged in terms of Yaosui, nearly every sentient being in this area, at least hundreds of them, began writhing flesh at that moment. Not only did their faces become identical to He Xian’s, even their clothes turned into the same pitch-black Daoist robe he wore.

The clothes are part of it too?

Bai Xiang paused for just that instant, and the black robe spread through the air suddenly expanded toward her, forming a vast shadow that blotted out the sky and tried to swallow her whole.

A control method tied to shadows… Bai Xiang already had some guesses. While watching the movements of the black robe, she also split her attention to the streets below and saw that all those He Xians were rapidly “blackening,” continuing their mutation into complete shadow bodies. Then they shot upward from the ground like black arrows, rushing at her from every direction.

Bai Xiang raised her sword. The motion clearly looked like she intended to sweep out sword qi to deal with the oncoming arrows. But at that very moment, her figure was completely covered by the shadow of the black robe, and her movement abruptly froze halfway.

It worked!

He Xian was overjoyed again.

So what if it’s a holy weapon? No matter how strong a weapon is, it still needs a person to wield it.

But in the next moment, his face changed again. The white-haired woman suspended in midair suddenly lowered her face and turned toward him. Ignoring the danger of being pierced by thousands of arrows, she found his hidden self first, and there was a half-smile on her face.

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How can she still move?

Before He Xian could make sense of it, Bai Xiang struck. Though the motion looked somewhat slow, the moment the sword point thrust forward, it sank straight into the scenery of the air itself. Then, with a crack, it tore open a shattered black cavity, dragging a broken seam through space, and from inside came the mournful howl of turbulent winds, blowing all the arrows away.

How could this happen?

He Xian could not believe what he was seeing. In the next instant, he felt a gust of wind descend behind his head. He had just started to turn when Bai Xiang’s stabbing kick landed in the middle of his back. With another crack, his painstakingly reassembled flesh body was blasted forward again.

This level of injury still meant little to He Xian. Midair, he reconnected his spine, half-turned back, and once again exploded into clusters of shadow-arrows. Each one found a host to parasitize and transform, while more and more He Xians closed in, trying to engage Bai Xiang in close combat.

But he was clearly not a body cultivator. Though his shadow-escape divine pool was exquisitely handled, his attacks themselves were extremely weak. Bai Xiang was cutting down one clone with each swing, crushing another with each kick, cutting through them all the way as she chased He Xian from the western gate across the city. Along the way, she destroyed who knew how many buildings, and countless bewildered passersby were swept into the disaster.

As the fight continued, He Xian’s face grew uglier and uglier. His divine pool was about to give out.

A divine pool was not something that could be used without limit. And for reasons he could not understand, its true marvels had no effect on Bai Xiang at all. Fighting like this put him at far too great a disadvantage. It was equivalent to being worn down by Bai Xiang for nothing.

“Fellow Daoist, wait…”

One of his clones spoke directly to Bai Xiang.

Splurt.

Its skull and brain matter were crushed apart by a single kick. The very next sword swing, wrapped in a bloody gale, slashed in from the side. The bursting sword qi not only shredded five of his clones at once, but also completely sealed off the escape route of this cluster of shadows.

“Stop!”

Just as He Xian was about to be driven into a dead end, an angry shout rang out from the sky above, together with a fierce tiger’s roar that slammed toward Bai Xiang. A broad-bladed sword with a savage tiger-shaped guard appeared, colliding head-on with the Tianxuan Sword.

The newcomer’s physical strength was obviously far beyond He Xian’s. Bai Xiang raised her sword to contest force with him, and for a moment she actually fell to the disadvantage. Her legs were driven straight into the earth, leaving nearly half her body buried below ground. She was forced backward through the soil, plowing a deep trench behind her.

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Has the real one arrived?

Zhu Canghai?

When she looked up and saw the face above, it was indeed the orange-robed Daoist the waiter had described.

Zhu Canghai looked down at Bai Xiang, whom he had pressed into the earth, and did not seem surprised by the result. He said slowly, “Why did you have to come and start this bloodshed with us? If you truly had some need, you could simply have stated it.”

Bai Xiang looked at him. “I wish to borrow your head for a while.”

“Hm?” Zhu Canghai’s eyes bulged, and he flew into a rage.

“You refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit!”

“You little bitch, today I’ll show you what’s what!”

With that, he poured all his great strength into the sword and pushed downward, intending first to force Bai Xiang’s pretty face into the dirt and break a little of her arrogance.

But the Tianxuan Sword did not move in the slightest.

Hm… hm!?!?

Zhu Canghai used every ounce of strength in his body. The earth beneath his feet cracked apart. He himself gradually sank into a pit in the ground. Yet Bai Xiang’s sword simply did not move. No matter what he did, it remained utterly motionless.

Little by little, Zhu Canghai seemed to realize something. Cold sweat began to bead on his forehead.

He quickly glanced up at Bai Xiang and saw that she really was wearing that half-smiling, almost amused expression. How could he fail to understand? In terms of raw strength, she was above him as well.

The only reason he had been able to press her down just now was that she had only exerted a little strength while dealing with He Xian. That could not count as the result of a true clash.

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Swordsmanship over He Xian. Strength over me.

Where did this monster of a demon woman come from?

She has not even shown her divine pool.

Cursing inwardly, Zhu Canghai carefully said, “Fellow Daoist, about this… I think there may be some misunderstanding between us…”

“I don’t think there is any misunderstanding.”

Bai Xiang cut him off. “At this point, I am starting to suspect whether you people are connected to Blood Soul Heaven as well…”

It had only been a casual test. Yet in the very next instant, Zhu Canghai’s expression changed violently into one of absolute horror, and he blurted out, “You… could you be a Patrol Warden of the Sacred Court!?”

Her skills were all so terrifyingly strong, and she had also retained a complete human appearance.

There was no mistake. These were exactly the hallmark traits of the Sacred Court’s Heaven-Patrol.

So they really are connected to Blood Soul Heaven?

How many tendrils do they have? Why do they show up everywhere?

Bai Xiang frowned and suddenly thought of the token in her robes.

Qing’er had once speculated that Blood Soul Heaven’s separate plan was to revive ancient demons one after another.

Could it be that the Spirit-Command Sect, so skilled in “archaeology,” was also connected to them…