C226 Who Dies First?
Chou Wan's hatred for Yu Yuan ran deep to the core!
She had intended to leverage Qin Yun and the four Dawn Arrows to coerce Yu Yuan into revealing his location and apprehend him, but instead, she was grievously wounded by Yu Yuan's hand.
Qin Yun managed to break free as well.
Had it not been for her affiliation with the Binders of Shadows, and the fact that she wasn't the only one from her sect near the Serpent Spine Mountains, Qin Yun might have resorted to lethal measures.
Once her injuries had somewhat healed, Chou Wan concealed herself within the Serpent Spine Mountains, scheming against the Poison Master of Gloomhollow, never anticipating a confrontation with Yu Yuan.
Her animosity towards Yu Yuan even eclipsed that towards Zanas!
Thus, upon learning from Zanas that the reckless youth who had intruded was none other than Yu Yuan, she could barely contain her rage.
"Heh, so it's you, you madwoman."
Yu Yuan's mouth split into a radiant grin as he noticed, beside Zanas, another figure resembling a well-fed village landlord—a fat old man.
This old man was clearly from the Binders of Shadows, donned in a golden robe adorned with symbols of copper coins.
Like Zanas and Chou Wan, he was a member of the Binders of Shadows, greeting Yu Yuan with a nod and a smile.
But in the next instant, Chou Wan charged forward.
Suddenly, all eyes in the valley were on Chou Wan.
The onlookers were perplexed and bewildered.
Everyone was destined to die and become prey to the miasma—whether sooner or later—so why persist in these futile conflicts and bloodshed?
They couldn't fathom it.
Whoosh!
Chou Wan soared like a greylag, gliding seven or eight meters before sweeping her sleeve.
Seven Ghoul Glyphs, each the size of a fist, materialized and flew ahead.
Almost simultaneously, Chou Wan's Lunar Spirit detached from her corporeal form like a tendril of smoke.
Her smoky form, nestled among the seven Ghoul Glyphs, seemed to wield the Lunar Spirit to command the glyphs, intent on obliterating Yu Yuan.
Loong Tianxiao bared a sly grin and shook his head slightly.
Zanas and the fat old man, akin to a landlord, caught the malicious curve of Loong Tianxiao's smile and a sense of foreboding washed over them.
Just as Loong Tianxiao was poised to strike, Yu Yuan's voice rang out, "No need!"
Loong Tianxiao was taken aback.
Yu Yuan looked up at the thick miasma clouds above and then, with the suddenness of a cannonball, he burst forth.
He was heading straight for Chou Wan!
In Gloomhollow, all the survivors were bewildered.
Was Yu Yuan, in the late period of his Soul Awakening, out of his mind?
His adversary was Chou Wan, a formidable late period Lunar Spirit expert from the Binders of Shadows, intent on taking his life!
What was the disparity between their levels?
No matter how weakened Chou Wan was, even with grave injuries, she could easily crush Yu Yuan as if he were nothing more than an ant!
What emboldened Yu Yuan to rush in?
And what gave him the audacity to tell Loong Tianxiao to stand down?
"The youth of today are so arrogantly foolish!" sneered a cultivator from the Empire of Dawn, shaking his head in derision.
"Boom!"
The seven Ghoul Glyphs erupted with an eerie and formidable energy.
To the onlookers, the glyphs transformed in an instant into towering, ten-foot-tall specters with gnashing teeth, eager to shred Yu Yuan to pieces.
"Chi! Chi! Chi! Chi!"
Beneath the Ghoul Glyphs, deep gouges appeared in the stony earth of Gloomhollow.
The marks were several feet deep!
Everyone knew the stone of Gloomhollow was as tough as iron, indicating that the glyphs' tearing force had filled the area with crisscrossing, invisible blades of light.
Should Yu Yuan proceed, he would be torn to shreds in a heartbeat.
"Binders of Shadows, huh!" Yu Yuan cried out sharply.
From the depths of Gloomhollow, a soul-shaking screech suddenly erupted.
All in the valley panicked, scrambling to the rocky corners for refuge.
The Lunar Spirit, Chou Wan's body included, floated in mid-air, looking somewhat bewildered as she glanced behind her.
Whoosh!
An unseen Nightstorm gusted from the valley's depths.
It swept through the space where Chou Wan hovered!
Before the eyes of all, Chou Wan's Lunar Spirit let out a piercing, agonized wail as numerous fine cracks spread across its spirited body.
A blade as fine as a hair seemed to slice through Chou Wan's Lunar Spirit, cleaving it in two.
Her once distinct Lunar Spirit suddenly blurred.
Seven Ghoul Glyphs burst open like fireworks in the sky.
Under the command of her dominant soul and heaven soul, Chou Wan's flesh and blood body swiftly ascended, enveloping her heavily wounded Lunar Spirit and pulling it back into her physical form.
Then, the body, resembling that of an old woman, plummeted uncontrollably.
Yu Yuan, who had been waiting for this moment, let out a thunderous roar.
The onlookers in the valley, previously fixated on Chou Wan, now beheld Yu Yuan, his body swelling like a monstrous Fellbeast. Veins on his neck and forehead stood out like cords.
The sound of his blood coursing was like a raging river to the keen ears of the cultivators—a torrent of life force!
A punch that split the heavens!
His vitality, thick and fiery, mixed with a nameless malevolence, was both grand and ferocious.
Boom!
Chou Wan, on the brink of hitting the ground, was blasted back into the sky by Yu Yuan's formidable punch.
Her body, frail and aged in appearance, bled profusely. Like a battered, bloodied ball, she was flung upwards once more.
Mighty warriors like Loong Tianxiao could distinctly hear the crunch of bones shattered by Yu Yuan's devastating blow.
Zanas and the elder from the Binders of Shadows paled at the sight.
As they prepared to intervene, Loong Tianxiao, on the other side, caught their intent and gave them a sardonic glance, his eyes brimming with unmistakable menace.
"Chou Wan has vanished!"
"She..."
Abruptly, the survivors in the valley raised their voices in alarm, staring skyward.
Chou Wan, who had been plummeting only to be sent skyward again by Yu Yuan's punch, blood spraying, bones breaking, seemed to be devoured by the miasma cloud.
More precisely, she was consumed by the entity lurking within the miasma.
"Crack! Crack! Crack!"
As if in answer to their cries, a chilling, familiar sound emanated from within the miasma cloud, sending shivers down their spines.
The sound of feasting!
"Huff! Huff! Huff!"
In the valley, nearly everyone fell silent, save for Yu Yuan, who took deep breaths, his chest rising and falling dramatically as he gazed at the sky, lost in thought.
He looked to the heavens, while others either watched him or, like him, turned their eyes skyward.
What had transpired?
Chou Wan could have easily slain Yu Yuan, so why, at the most crucial moment, did she draw the ire of the invisible Nightstorm?
Despite Yu Yuan's spirit being grievously wounded and momentarily out of control, how was it possible for him, a mere practitioner of Soul Awakening, to land such a devastating blow to her, shattering her bones?
Everything witnessed by the onlookers defied all logic!
