Volume 1, Chapter 358 – Scarlet Crow War Halberd

“Whooo… woo…”

Amid mountain-shaking cries, obscure sacrificial words flowed from the girl’s lips. Set off by her ethereal voice, they sounded like the whisper of a deity.

Shi Lan’s divine sense remained quietly beside that mass of chaotic radiance, observing the world in all directions.

The world was dim and murky. The great sun overhead was faintly red, tinged with a trace of bloodlight. The spiritual qi of heaven and earth was extremely active, almost restless, though its density was inferior to that of the Lingyang Realm, and the shackles of heaven and earth were far thinner as well.

After watching for a while, Shi Lan could not help feeling puzzled. That mass of chaotic radiance had concealed itself in the void, yet after arriving here it had not moved in the slightest, as if it had fallen completely still.

‘Could it be because I followed it here?’

Just as Shi Lan was wondering about that, the Rakshasas kneeling below moved again. When the girl finished reciting the sacrificial prayer, the Rakshasas all raised their heads in unison. A thread of dark-red blood seeped from each of their brows, rose into the air, and streamed toward the war halberd.

The war halberd standing at the center of the altar shuddered violently. The girl slowly rose to her feet, lifted both arms, and guided the sacrificial blood of the Rakshasas onto the halberd’s blade.

The pitch-black blade took on a chilling blood-red glow. The war halberd trembled more and more violently, as though some living being were awakening inside it.

A brilliant smile spread across the girl’s delicate face. Her crescent-shaped eyes were filled with fanatic fervor.

“Fine weapon. This king will take it!”

An overbearing divine sense swept across heaven and earth, followed by a sharp shout.

Boom!

A heaven-shattering roar exploded without warning. From within the void, a gigantic dark-red hand spanning a thousand zhang thrust out and reached straight for the war halberd.

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The girl was stunned for an instant, then flew into a rage. Her pupils turned from black to red, black scales spread across her skin, and sharp fangs interlocked behind her lips. In the blink of an eye, she looked like a feral beast.

“Roar!”

The Rakshasas shot up from the ground, using their own bodies to intercept that gigantic hand.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Blooms of blood burst across the air one after another. Their strength was far too inferior to that of the giant hand. It was no different from a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

Even the girl, whose strength was far from weak, was struck by a single palm until every bone in her body cracked, leaving her nearly half-dead.

“A mere minor race, and with bodies no better than ants, you dare dream of wielding a weapon of gods and demons? You do not know your own limits.”

Another murmur came from the void, its contempt utterly undisguised. It made blood vessels bloom in the girl’s already scarlet eyes.

Humm…

In just a few breaths, the blood on the halberd’s blade had been completely absorbed. The bloodlight faded, and the black blade seemed to reveal its true edge, turning deathly white like snow.

A living presence awakened within the war halberd and traced out a halberd-shadow, tearing apart the somewhat diminished palm print.

A figure nearly three zhang tall stepped out of the void. Blue-faced and fanged, with an ape’s head and a human body, he was wrapped head to toe in golden battle armor, like an ape demon come to life.

He strode forward and pressed down with his hand again, trying to directly suppress this weapon of gods and demons.

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Humm…

Brilliant bloodlight burst from the war halberd. The powerful stimulus fully activated it. It shot into the sky as terrifying divine might rippled outward. The war halberd stood across the air, gripped sideways by an invisible giant hand, and swept forward.

Pfft!

That strike split space itself. In an instant, it crossed hundreds upon hundreds of zhang, like a river of stars crashing down, and severed one of the ape demon’s arms!

“Roar!”

The ape demon’s anguished howl rang through the clouds, tinged with fear. Without the slightest hesitation, he turned, tore space open, and fled in an instant.

The black war halberd did not stop its pursuit. Though it moved later, it arrived first, like an arrow forged to slay demons. In an instant, it pierced through the ape demon’s body and nailed him to a sheer cliff face!

The law of annihilation infused into the war halberd instantly erased the ape demon’s vitality.

Blood gushed wildly from the ape demon. Within a few breaths, it was completely absorbed by the war halberd. The heavy smell of blood swept away on the mountain wind, drifting into the clouds and farther and farther away.

The girl lay on the ground, unable to move. Looking at the ape demon’s corpse, she smiled again. The scales covering her body gradually faded, revealing her lovely figure.

High in the sky, Shi Lan watched, momentarily transfixed. Before she could react, the chaotic radiance beside her suddenly moved, directly shattering the void and streaking across the sky like lightning.

Humm…

Sensing danger with keen awareness, the war halberd lifted itself, about to split space and flee.

But the chaotic radiance was a thousand, ten thousand times faster than it had imagined. In an instant, the war halberd was completely engulfed.

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Boom!

The thunderous sound of the void tearing apart was sharp enough to split metal and stone. A black chasm stretched across the heavens, and the world’s barrier was pierced through once more. Wrapped in chaotic radiance, the war halberd began its return journey.

Only then did Shi Lan’s divine sense finally react. It had failed to keep up with the chaotic radiance and had been left behind.

“…Uu…”

The upheaval in the sky left the girl stunned. Soft whimpers escaped her throat, and two streams of tears spilled from her eyes. Her pupils, fading from red back to black, were filled with despair.

She struggled to raise an arm and made a few grasping motions at the air, but in the end it fell weakly back down. The light gradually faded from her eyes.

Shi Lan slowly drifted to the girl’s side. Looking at the girl’s pupils, already beginning to dilate, she was silent for a long moment.

What had just happened was a perfect display of the law of the strong preying upon the weak.

A man may be innocent, but the treasure he carries is his crime. With the strength of this group of Rakshasas, wanting to master a divine weapon like that was simply wishful thinking.

The fate of the girl before her, and of those Rakshasas who had been slapped to death, had long since been sealed. Whether she had come or not, they would not have escaped death.

And yet, looking at the loss and unwillingness in the girl’s expression, Shi Lan’s heart ached for no clear reason.

“A soft heart is a sickness… even immortal medicine cannot cure it…”

Shi Lan let out a sigh. With a thought, she used the power of her divine sense as a guide to calm the restless spiritual qi around them, then directed it into the girl’s body, preserving the last thread of her life.

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This wisp of divine sense began to break apart, turning into threads of pure yin essence that flowed into the girl’s spiritual platform and protected her spirit soul.

After all that, the girl’s life was no longer in danger.

This wisp of Shi Lan’s divine sense had never contained much power to begin with. After that series of actions, it was now on the verge of completely dissipating.

She cleared her mind and was just about to sever the connection between this wisp of divine sense and her true body when a force of suction came from the girl’s collar and instantly dragged her into a jade-green space.

Dense pure yin spiritual qi surged in from all directions, instantly stabilizing her nearly dissipated divine sense and manifesting her body.

Shi Lan was somewhat surprised. She closed her eyes and spread out her senses. A few breaths later, she opened them again, her expression turning strange.

Deep within the girl’s collar hung a dark-green pendant.

At this moment, Shi Lan was inside that pendant.

…

Lingyang Realm, Central Heaven Domain, Shi Residence.

Shi Lan slowly opened her eyes. Though a long time had passed in that world, in the Lingyang Realm only the time it took to drink half a cup of tea had passed.

After digesting part of the information sent back by her divine sense, Shi Lan opened the system panel.

[Congratulations, Host, on obtaining an eight-star item: Scarlet Crow War Halberd (artifact spirit activated).]