C605 Mind Magic
Du Huang of the Forgeroses, along with several young members of his sect, felt their vitality surge as they sprinted toward the misty expanse like a pack of spry cheetahs.
"Thud! Thud! Thud!"
Thunderous footsteps erupted behind them, shaking the earth and causing a sudden halt in their tracks.
One disciple whirled around, his face draining of color in terror, his steps halting abruptly.
Du Huang sensed danger and glanced back, letting out a cry of alarm.
His voice was laden with fear and anxiety.
Behind them loomed a massive crocodile, as large as a mountain, shrouded in a thick death aura, seemingly treading on white clouds as it rapidly closed in.
As the dead crocodile advanced, its flesh and blood flaked off its frame.
In just moments, the beast was reduced to a ghastly skeleton dripping with blood and sinew, its speed markedly increasing.
The sight of the skeletal crocodile from a distance was enough to fracture Du Huang's courage, his soul feeling as if it would scatter to the winds.
Du Huang realized instantly that this deceased crocodile was being manipulated by a formidable power intent on their destruction.
Suddenly, an unseen force descended upon Du Huang and his fellow disciples.
Those who were desperately fleeing, now burdened as if by mountains, found themselves unable to move an inch.
Du Huang bellowed, channeling his strength inwardly. Within the little world of his vitality, explosive springs of vitality erupted, bolstering his divine power in a flash.
"Ancient Godly Might!"
With a whoosh, Du Huang broke free from the enigmatic force, shooting forward like an arrow released from its bow.
The bloodied skeleton of the crocodile thundered toward them, its massive hooves crushing his fellow disciples underfoot.
Overcome with dread, Du Huang stifled his sorrow, refusing to look back or dwell on the scene, focusing solely on escape.
...
The totem-pole of the Nagas.
Feasting on Loong Tianxiao's vitality and Dragon Soul, the Amethyst Dragon, which had absorbed a deadly poison, began to swell rapidly.
The dragon's breath of the Amethyst Dragon transformed into beams of purple lightning coursing through its body.
Sensing the presence of the ancient patriarch, the Amethyst Dragon's excitement was palpable. With a shudder, it morphed into a dashing man dressed in purple silk.
He lifted his gaze to Loong Tianxiao, impaled upon the Dragon Mark Pillar, his dragon form marred and bleeding. He could sense the rot spreading through the dragon's body and the poison gradually permeating it.
"You despicable creature, you don't deserve to exist in this world. Your death will even heal my wounds completely. You've met a fitting end."
The Amethyst Dragon said this with a gleeful laugh, "The old clan leader, your father, has already freed himself."
Loong Tianxiao, barely clinging to life and doomed to die on the Dragon Mark Pillar, had a pair of dull, lifeless eyes. The corners of his mouth, lined with wrinkles, twitched slightly.
That small movement seemed to bring him unbearable pain, causing him to gasp repeatedly.
"If I could survive, you, my father, and every dragon in Dragon Lake—I would hunt you all down," Loong Tianxiao's voice was faint, barely audible unless one listened intently.
"There's no chance of that happening."
The Amethyst Dragon sneered, "I won't obliterate the last shred of your Dragon Soul. I'll let you retain your spiritual wisdom so you can feel the poison's infiltration and your flesh's decay."
With those words, the Amethyst Dragon let out a triumphant dragon's roar and rejoined Loong Jie and Loong Yang.
Moments later, the Amethyst Dragon, now in human form, reached the small floating carriage.
"Old patriarch!"
The Amethyst Dragon greeted Loong Jie with a fervent, reverent look in his eyes.
"Let's discuss this outside."
Loong Jie yanked the Amethyst Dragon into the small floating carriage to join Loong Yang and then inquired, "Is that Loong Tianxiao dead?"
Loong Tianxiao was his son, blood of his blood, yet Loong Jie spoke of him as if he were a stranger.
Such was the cold-hearted nature of this old dragon.
"Not yet. He'll suffer as the poison slowly eats away at him before he dies," the Amethyst Dragon reported.
"Loong Yang informed me he's a traitor from Dragon Lake. His death is of no consequence," Loong Jie said dismissively. Then, steering the small floating carriage, he continued to soar away.
Under the escort of the small green snake, the three individuals from Shadow's Keep were flying through the air when they suddenly exploded without any warning. Blood and shattered bones sprayed in all directions.
Zhan Tianxiang, with his hair in disarray and his leather armor blasted to dust, stood with his bare chest exposed. A giant golden elephant, radiating a domineering and ferocious aura, materialized over him. The golden elephant, as if summoned from the ether, unleashed its power to help Zhan Tianxiang endure the onslaught of demon energy.
Zhao Yafu let out a stifled groan as the token bestowed upon her by the Moonfang Tiger, symbolizing the Dark Deity Astral Tiger, shone with blinding light. The light cocooned her, with sparks sizzling around its perimeter. An unseen force seemed to be relentlessly attacking her, only to be repelled by the token of the Dark Deity Astral Tiger.
The small snake, once the grand commander of Shadow's Keep, paused midair and twisted its body to face them, speaking in the ancient tongue of the evilkind, "It was the woman named Qi Hongyi. Her lute playing produced a silent melody that claimed their lives." The snake's voice was devoid of emotion as it delivered this news.
"You two have survived because you possess an evil weapon and a spiritual treasure," it explained. The former commander then continued on its way, adding, "But whether you can make it out of Godsblight Marsh alive remains to be seen." Even the archdemon felt uncertain about their fate at this moment.
...
At the Sword Prison, under the watchful eyes of Yan Qiling, Zhang Miao, and others, Yu Yuan approached the back of the Sword Prison with a docile and submissive demeanor, confronting the grotesque face on the other side. The face carved into the back of the Sword Prison statue was malevolent and fierce, exuding an aura of destruction that threatened to obliterate all life and bring about the collapse of the world—an embodiment of pure evil.
Yu Yuan stood tall, his gaze locked with the sinister face behind the statue. Qi Hongyi and the Ghoul King watched him with eerily intense stares. Above the statue, a snow-white robe fluttered in the wind, as if the master of this place had returned, accompanied by a fragment of his soul.
Suddenly, Yu Yuan sensed that within the Mindscape of his little world, the soul mark planted by Zhan Yun of the Nightbane was violently trembling, creating ripples after ripples.
These ripples tugged at his three souls of heaven, earth, and man, influencing his reason, thoughts, and emotions.
The hand clutching the soul mark did not act rashly. Though not under Zhan Yun's control, it obediently followed Yu Yuan's command and moved behind the statue, gripping the sword sheath tightly.
His other hand called forth the Crucible of Evil from his Zigong acupoint.
The cauldron spirit bellowed wildly within his chest.
Yu Yuan's eyes gradually took on a profound and enigmatic quality, as if permeated by an external remnant soul, transforming him into someone unrecognizable.
Qi Hongyi and the Ghoul King, also under the statue's thrall, exhibited no such aberrant symptoms.
Yu Yuan's dark and foreboding gaze turned towards Zhan Yun, Zhao Jie, Zhang Miao, and Zhang Manman.
The alluring Zhang Manman, without a moment's hesitation, drew a sharp awl and pierced her own heart, dying instantly.
Zhang Miao, who shared a deep bond with her sister Zhang Manman, felt a massive upheaval in her Heart Lake and a sharp pain in her mind at the moment of her sister's death.
Beads wrapped in crackling lightning flew from Zhang Miao's sleeves and exploded violently.
Zhao Jie, who had led the sisters, was engulfed by hundreds of lightning strikes, the thunderous power released by the beads reducing her to a bloody pulp.
In agony, Zhao Jie, dazed and disoriented, lashed out at Zhan Yun, the one who had imparted to her the secrets of the Nightbane's mystique.
The four members of the Nightbane, once united, were now locked in a deadly struggle.
"A mere enchantment dares to defy the statue of the Boulderdawn? You truly don't know your place," Yan Qiling scoffed, as if he had anticipated this chaos all along.
