Volume 9, Chapter 599 – Fight to the Death (Part 1)

“Is that so? Then I must thank you for your mercy!”

Qi Huang offered polite thanks, then stated, “Letting her go is actually fine, but I’d like to know what you plan to do after you awaken?”

“Plan?”

The Source of Yin Miasma tapped her red lips with a jade-white finger and said, “Naturally, to take revenge on the Immortal Alliance.”

‘Take revenge on the Immortal Alliance? That couldn’t be better.’

A spark flashed through Qi Huang’s mind.

But at that moment, the Source of Yin Miasma added, “And while I’m at it, I’ll wipe out the world.”

“Heh…”

Qi Huang let out a helpless laugh and asked, “A vendetta against the Immortal Alliance, I welcome that a hundred times over. But annihilating the world? Is that some kind of personal hobby?”

“Hobby? I’m not so perverse as to call that a hobby!”

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The Source of Yin Miasma gave a cold, mirthless smile; her figure vanished from where she stood, and her voice arrived in the same instant: “If you want a story, release my pet first, then we’ll talk, you bratty little sister!”

Qi Huang had kept every nerve taut; even so, her divine sense could only catch a blur streaking toward the white wolf she had restrained. Instinctively, she commanded her long hair to avoid the strike.

Swish…

That blur moved as fast as teleportation, and in the blink of an eye it flashed between Qi Huang and the white wolf.

A stab of pain prickled across Qi Huang’s scalp, and the sense of tension in her hair vanished all at once. When she focused again, she saw that her own tresses had been neatly severed. A wave of helplessness welled up in her. No matter how powerful her foes in the past, she could numb them with her overwhelming divine sense. But this opponent was too terrifying; even if she wanted to bluff, there was no fooling her.

“Your hair is quite tough. I almost didn’t manage to cut it.”

The Source of Yin Miasma looked at the claws she had just retracted and spoke.

By now, Bai Yun had already fallen to the ground. She crouched at the Source of Yin Miasma’s side, tail gently wagging, and whimpered, “My lady! Bai Yun missed you so much. I just thought I’d never see you again.”

“Don’t worry. If she dares harm you, she will not leave this mass grave alive today!”

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The Source of Yin Miasma stroked Bai Yun’s great lupine head, then turned to Qi Huang and said, “Since you really are quite pretty, I’ll grant you a last wish and tell you why I intend to erase this world.”

After a brief recollection, the Source of Yin Miasma began to speak in a measured tone: “Roughly two thousand years ago, Four-Eared Wolves were everywhere on the cultivation continent, Bai Yun’s kin. They were broad-shouldered and powerfully built, with keen hearing, basically an enhanced version of a dog. Plenty of the high and mighty domesticated them as guardians for their estates.”

“As for the Four-Eared Wolves themselves, though they looked fierce, they were gentle by nature. Many gradually integrated into human realms. Generation after generation, their temperaments grew scarcely different from ordinary dogs, and people began to call them Four-Eared Hounds.”

Here, the Source of Yin Miasma patted Bai Yun’s big head and continued, “Bai Yun is descended from those Four-Eared Hounds, mild-tempered, obedient, a perfect listener. It was my father’s gift for my sixteenth birthday, my best little companion. It even saved me once from human traffickers.”

Her expression turned wintry. “But the good days didn’t last. The Immortal Alliance Leader’s daughter tried to break a powerful Four-Eared Wolf by force. Her methods were too cruel, and the wolf bit off two of her fingers. The Alliance Leader flew into a towering rage. He not only slaughtered that battered wolf, he also ordered the extermination of every Four-Eared Wolf and Four-Eared Hound in the entire cultivation world!”

Qi Huang drew a long breath. To call for extermination over two fingers, this Alliance Leader was more tyrannical than any emperor.

“With a single decree of his, bloodshed swept the cultivation continent. Anyone who kept Four-Eared Wolves or Four-Eared Hounds tried everything to protect them, but no one succeeded. Many even lost their own lives. The massacre soon reached our region. Streets and alleys were scoured for Four-Eared Hounds; once found, they were executed on the spot, and any who resisted or hid them were killed along with them.”

By the time she reached this point, the smile had vanished from the Source of Yin Miasma’s face. “I couldn’t understand it. Bai Yun had been gentle and sensible since she was small, never hurt anyone. Why should she be killed for no reason? Even when humans commit monstrous crimes, at worst you extend punishment to nine generations; who decrees the extermination of an entire species? But no one listened to my pleas. They only obeyed the Immortal Alliance’s order.”

“My father understood my bond with Bai Yun, so he announced to the outside world that she had died, and he had several servants, Wang Jun among them, take us away to hide. During that time I met many others fleeing with their Four-Eared Hounds, and we quickly formed a big family, looking out for one another. In time they all took to calling me Young Lady. The days on the run were bitter, but as long as Bai Yun could live, I was content.”

A surge of yin energy burst from her eyes as she ground out, “I thought we could live out our lives like that. But the townspeople never believed my father. They kept our home under watch and soon discovered evidence that I was secretly in contact with my family. They reported it to the imperial court. The court immediately arrested my parents and spread word that they would be publicly hanged, to force me to show myself.

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“I had no choice. I entrusted Bai Yun to Wang Jun and the others, then went alone to see my parents, and of course I ended up on the gallows with them. My parents were heartbroken and asked why I would deliver myself to death. What could I say? As a daughter, should I watch my elders be dragged down by me and do nothing? All I could do was accompany them on the road.”

As she spoke, the beauty of her features twisted into a snarl. “To be honest, I wasn’t afraid of dying. What I couldn’t fathom was the attitude of the townsfolk. Our family had helped them more times than I could count, we handed out porridge on the streets for years. Many survived only because of our charity. Yet outside the execution grounds they hurled dirt and stones and spat at us until our heads bled, as if we had committed some unforgivable crime!”

“Why?”

Qi Huang’s willow brows knit tight as she listened.

“I didn’t know either, so I asked my father on the spot. Guess what he said? They did it out of sheer hatred of the rich. They were kicking us when we were down. In that moment, I finally understood what the ugliness of human nature really means.”

Yin energy surged and boiled around her.

“Despicable!”

Qi Huang trembled with rage herself.

“I thought I could go quietly with my parents. Who would’ve thought that, as the execution began, several of my servants and companions rushed in to rescue us. They were unarmed. They couldn’t change anything, only threw away their lives. The court’s soldiers swung blades and leveled spears, cutting them down at will. The onlooking townsfolk deliberately blocked the way. My people cried like poultry penned for slaughter, begging at the top of their lungs, and still not a single one escaped.”

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The Source of Yin Miasma paused to steady herself, then went on: “After we were dead, the court dragged our corpses here to Pingshan and dumped them. This place became a mass burial ground. Fortunately, Heaven kept its eyes open and I actually had a day to see the sun again. Tell me, shouldn’t I take revenge on the Immortal Alliance? And shouldn’t I erase a world this steeped in human ugliness?”

“You should! But let me argue one thing: not everyone in this world is rotten. I never persecuted you. Neither did my relatives and friends, nor their forebears. So I won’t just watch you slaughter everyone, unless you can promise to kill only those who truly deserve it, or else step over my corpse.”

Qi Huang spoke with solemn resolve.

“It’s been millennia. Where am I supposed to find the exact culprits you want me to spare? I will take the lives of their descendants. However far their filthy bloodline has spread, annihilation ensures none slip through the net!”

The Source of Yin Miasma’s voice brooked no argument.

“If that’s how it is, there’s nothing to discuss. If you want to end the world, ask first whether I consent!”

Qi Huang’s will stirred, and a wooden box appeared out of thin air. She knew she couldn’t defeat this terrifying foe on strength alone. Her only hope lay in this item.

“With just you? For injuring Bai Yun alone, you ought to die a hundred times to atone. And you still dare block my path? Then you’ll be the first stepping stone on my road of revenge!”

A murderous glint flashed in the Source of Yin Miasma’s eyes, and her figure suddenly vanished from where she stood.