met free Chapter 525 Undercurrents Stir Again
Chapter 525 Undercurrents Stir Again
I stared into the eyes of the three-tailed black leopard in the front row.
Its fur had a sickly purple hue, and its pupils, instead of the murky look of a beast, resembled glass beads soaked in ink—I had seen something similar seven years ago in a mass grave, when Blood Fiend used evil magic to seal the wild dogs' intelligence, forcing them to crash into my barrier.
“I’m being manipulated,” I whispered into the communication talisman, the star-shaped markings on my palm burning. “My intelligence has been sealed; I’m being used as a live target.”
Zi Ling's fire talisman slammed onto the array flags with a "snap," sparks flying as the morning dew on her eyelashes turned into a fine mist: "Then let's burn through this lousy control!" Her other hand gripped my sleeve, her fingertips trembling, "But this number..."
The vibrations of the spiritual vein suddenly intensified, like someone pounding a muffled drum underground.
I looked in the direction she was pointing—the morning mist had dissipated, and the sunlight illuminated the countless black dots covering the mountains and fields clearly.
It wasn't a hundred, it wasn't a thousand, it was a tide that couldn't even fill the mountain valley. The demonic beasts at the very front crashed into the mountain-protecting formation, and the blue light was cracked like a spider web.
"Elder Qingfeng!" I bent down and grabbed the spiritual vein map on the stone platform. "The lightning net is pressing southeast!"
They're going to charge the center of the formation!
A suppressed cough came from below, mixed with the sound of magical artifacts clashing: "I have already sent Mingxin to lead the disciples to the left route!"
Young friend, please take a look—"
A bolt of lightning suddenly erupted from the mountain ridge on the left, like a golden snake darting into the herd of beasts.
The monster struck by the lightning emitted black smoke from its body, burning even more fiercely than ordinary lightning magic.
My pupils contracted slightly—this was Elder Qingfeng's improved "Evil-Breaking Thunder," specifically designed to counter insidious and poisonous spells.
"Great!" Zi Ling's eyes lit up, and she quickly slapped three more fire talismans, the flames and sparks flying towards the gap in the lightning net. "Senior sister, look!"
Brother Wen's side—"
The cold light of the Ice Soul Sword suddenly pierced through the smoke and dust.
Wen Chen's figure was as swift as a startled swan. Wherever his sword pointed, ice crystals burst from the neck of the three-tailed black leopard, and even the blood froze into red coral.
With each demon beast he slayed, the ice wall advanced half a foot towards the center of the formation. His cuffs were covered with fine animal hair, and his hair was frosted with white, making him look even more like an iceberg than usual.
“Brother Chen’s sword technique…” Zi Ling’s voice suddenly choked.
I followed her gaze and looked over—from the monster's corpse, which had been shattered by the Ice Soul Sword, a wisp of extremely faint black mist seeped out.
The moment the black mist touched the air, it twisted and drifted northwest as if it were alive.
I gripped the spiritual vein diagram tightly.
Seven years ago, the black mist from Blood Fiend's evil magic emanated from his sleeves; three months ago, the incantations on the stone walls of the underground palace where he was sealed were also this murky color. "It's Blood Fiend!" I roared at the communication talisman, "These demonic beasts are his puppet soldiers!"
Wen Chen's swordplay paused, and the ice wall suddenly condensed into ice crystal spikes, piercing the beast horde even faster: "I'll head northwest to find the source."
"No!" I almost shouted, "He wants to distract us!"
Before the words were finished, a cold laugh suddenly came from the mountaintop.
The sound was like shards of glass scraping against my eardrums. I looked up—Blood Fiend was standing on the highest rock, his dark cloak fluttering in the mountain wind, and the scar on his left eye gleaming blue in the sunlight.
He was twirling a black talisman in his hand, and there was dark red blood under his fingernails, whether it was from a demon beast or someone else, no one knew.
"Fairy Xiao has a good eye." He tilted his head and smiled. "But guess what I'm raising these puppet soldiers for?"
He tossed the talisman into the air.
I could see the pattern on it clearly—it was a twisted chain with a tiny "seal" character at the end.
When we sealed him three months ago, we inscribed this kind of "seal" incantation in the barrier.
"Watch out!" I lunged forward to grab Ziling, but it was too late.
The talisman slammed into the soil beside the array's eye platform with a "bang," as if an invisible hand had grasped the spiritual veins, and the blue light of the mountain-protecting array dimmed slightly with a "sizzle."
Zi Ling's fire talisman suddenly went out, sparks crackling as they fell at her feet; Elder Qingfeng's coughing stopped, and I heard his rapid breathing: "The spiritual vein... the spiritual vein has been disturbed!"
Cracks appeared in Wen Chen's ice wall, and ice crystals fell down in a flurry.
The front row of demonic beasts crashed through the gap, and the sharp claws of the three-tailed black leopard grazed the hem of my clothes, leaving five deep marks on the stone platform.
Zi Ling screamed and threw out the last fire talisman. The flames wrapped around the leopard's tail, and the smell of burnt flesh mixed with the smell of blood rushed into her nostrils.
I knelt on the ground, my fingertips touching the soil where the talisman was inserted.
The temperature there was abnormally low, as if even the heat from the earth's veins had been sucked out.
Even more strangely, I could feel the talisman vibrating, not from spiritual energy fluctuations, but more like... the buzzing of space being torn apart.
Three months ago, I read a few words in an ancient book and they suddenly came to mind: "The Spirit Sealing Spell can lock the soul. If it is activated by the power of space, it can break the thousand-year seal."
I suddenly touched my chest; the copper plate was still there, burning hot against my heart.
It was pried off the stone wall of the Blood Fiend Palace, and the back was engraved with the same chain pattern as the talisman.
"Senior Sister!" Zi Ling's shout pulled me back to reality.
She was using her sword to deflect a lunging blue-scaled wolf when her hairpin tilted and a coral bead fell to the ground and rolled twice.
Wen Chen's Ice Soul Sword swept in from the side, freezing the Azure Scale Wolf into an ice sculpture before shattering it into pieces with a "crack".
I stared at the second talisman in Blood Fiend's hand.
He was still smiling, but there was a hint of urgency in his smile, as if he was afraid of something and kept looking at the sky.
I suddenly realized—he wasn't trying to activate the mountain-protecting formation, but rather the seal beneath the ground.
Three months ago, we joined forces to seal his main soul, but now this black mist... is the "key" he nurtured with his split soul.
The talisman vibrated even more violently.
I could clearly feel a force tearing at space, like a baby trying to break free of its amniotic sac.
The copper plate in my arms suddenly became scalding hot. I touched the ancient jade slip at my waist—it was brought out from the underground palace and contained ancient sealing techniques.
"Ziling!" I ripped off a communication talisman and tossed it to her. "Go help Elder Qingfeng stabilize the array's core!" Then I shouted to Wen Chen in the distance, "Brother Chen, press your sword energy towards the talisman!"
Wen Chen looked up at me, the cold light of the Ice Soul Sword reflecting off the reddened corners of his eyes.
He didn't speak, but he nodded.
The ice crystals whipped up by the sword wind, wrapped in black mist, surged toward the direction of the talisman.
Blood Fiend's expression changed.
He finally stopped laughing, and just as he was about to throw out the third talisman, Wen Chen's ice wall was already at his feet.
He cursed something, turned and ran, his black cloak sweeping across the rocks, kicking up a cloud of pebbles.
I bent down, picked up the coral beads from the ground, and put them into Ziling's hand.
Her hands were still hot; the residual warmth of the fire talisman burned my palm through the coral beads.
A mountain wind swept in, carrying dust and smoke. I squinted at the spot where the talisman had been inserted—the soil there was cracking, revealing the stone bricks underneath that gleamed with a ghostly light.
That's the top of the underground palace.
Three months ago, we used a sealing technique to suppress the Blood Fiend's main soul underneath.
Now, he uses these puppet soldiers as hammers and talismans as chisels to break through that layer of stone bricks.
I took out the ancient book and jade slip from my bosom.
The patterns on the cover suddenly lit up, overlapping with the chain patterns on the talisman.
It turned out to be the case.
The star-shaped patterns on my fingertips were so hot they almost bled. The ancient jade slip in my palm turned its pages automatically under the stimulation of spiritual power. The four seal characters "Boundary-Breaking Talisman" on the yellowed silk glowed with a faint blue light—the fragments I copied in the Blood Fiend Palace three months ago were finally connected into a complete line in my memory.
"It's a space spell!" I gritted my teeth and pressed the jade slip into the soil where the talisman was inserted. The spiritual power, following the lines, seeped into the crack in the ground like a living thing.
Zi Ling had just extinguished the last fire lizard that lunged at the array's core when, as she turned, the coral bead in her hair struck the hilt of her sword with a crisp sound, mingling with my rapid breathing: "This talisman isn't for breaking the array; it's for breaking through the seal of the underground palace!"
"Then let's break spirit with spirit!" Zi Ling wiped the blood from her face and tossed the storage bag to me. "The cinnabar I just refined the other day is in the innermost layer!"
The moment I caught the storage bag, the talisman suddenly burst out with a blinding black light.
The tremors of the earth veins turned into a roar, as if a giant hammer was striking the ground, and the spiritual vein diagram on the stone platform cracked open with a "crash".
I bit my tongue hard, and as the metallic sweetness flooded my mouth, the star pattern on my fingertips finally resonated with the incantation on the jade slip—the outline of the Reverse Spirit Incantation appeared above the talisman, and red sand mixed with my blood droplets condensed into a thin chain along the trajectory of the incantation.
"Give me the suppression!" I slammed my entire palm into the center of the Reverse Spirit Spell.
The spiritual energy flowed like a river bursting its banks, pouring into the fingertips along the meridians, causing the wrist bones to make soft "crackling" sounds.
The black light of the talisman and the red light of the Reverse Spirit Curse intertwined and tore at each other, and the stone bricks on the ground began to fall off in a rustling sound, revealing the mottled blue patterns on the top of the underground palace—the soul-sealing seal we carved three months ago.
"Excellent tactic!"
A clear, melodious voice suddenly seeped out from the mountain breeze.
I looked up and saw the ethereal immortal standing on the rocky left. His moon-white Taoist robe fluttered without wind, and with a gentle flick of his whisk, dozens of illusory figures emerged from his sleeves, surrounding the Blood Fiend.
The black cloak of the Blood Demon was fluttering loudly in the air currents created by the phantom. He turned around sharply, his nails digging deeply into his palms: "Old man!"
Didn't you say you'd just stand by and watch?
"Enough observing." The illusory figures of the ethereal immortals spoke simultaneously, each identical to the original. "You've disrupted the spiritual veins and injured my disciples; the word 'observation' should be changed to 'management.'"
It was at this moment that Wen Chen's Ice Soul Sword pierced through.
He was originally slaying demons in the beast horde thirty feet away, but now he seemed to teleport there as if stepping on ice shards, his sword tip covered with ice crystals about a foot long, aiming straight for the Blood Demon's throat.
Blood Fiend hurriedly spun around, his black cloak sweeping out a cloud of black mist, only to be frozen into fragments by the chilling power of the Ice Soul Sword.
Wen Chen's sleeves were stained with freshly splashed beast blood, and the frost on his hair was even thicker than before. The corners of his eyes were so red that they looked like they were about to bleed—I knew he must have forcibly activated his sword heart, exchanging spiritual power to burn his meridians for speed.
"Brother Chen!" My voice was mostly drowned out by the rumble of the earth veins, but I saw him turn his head to look at me. In the cold light of the Ice Soul Sword, his eyes were sharper than the blade.
When Blood Fiend was forced to the edge of the cliff, he finally panicked.
He pulled out seven black nails from his pocket and hammered them into the rock beneath his feet. The moment the nails pierced the stone, ripples spread through the air like water.
My heart skipped a beat—this was an attempt to forcibly tear through space to escape!
"Chains!" I swung the bronze bell from my waist at the ground.
It was a rubbing of the chain pattern on the stone wall of the underground palace. Now, driven by spiritual power, seven copper-rusted chains shot out from the crack in the ground and "cracked" wrapped around Xue Sha's ankle.
He staggered and fell, his black cloak torn by the rocks, revealing a gruesome scar beneath.
"Xiao Yao! How dare you—"
His curse suddenly caught in his throat.
A sharp whistling sound suddenly rolled in from the mountain wind, like countless fingernails scraping against glass.
I looked in the direction of the sound and saw that the clouds to the west had been torn open, and shadows were spreading down like a tide.
That is......
My breathing suddenly stopped.
The monster was ten zhang tall, its entire body as black as water that had been submerged in an abyss, and every scale gleamed with a cold light.
Its eyes were two flickering red flames, and most terrifying of all was the translucent stone embedded in its chest—it looked very much like the spirit crystal we had seen in the Spirit Vein Eye, but it had a deathly gray base color and its surface was covered with spiderweb-like cracks.
With each step it took, a deep crack appeared in the ground.
The stone brick beneath my feet shattered into two pieces with a "crack." Ziling hurriedly grabbed my arm. The warmth of her palm seeped through my sleeve, but it was colder than the mountain wind.
Blood Fiend suddenly laughed, his laughter filled with a manic jubilation: "Did you see that?"
This is the spirit-eating beast I raised in the Underworld!
So what if you sealed my main soul?
Once it devours the mountain's spiritual veins, even ten underground palaces wouldn't be able to trap me—"
"Shut up!" Wen Chen's Ice Soul Sword pierced through his left shoulder.
Blood Fiend's laughter stopped abruptly, but he still stared at the demonic beast, his grin widening.
The spirit-eating beast took another step closer.
The rumble of the earth's veins turned into a wailing, as if some living creature was crying out underground.
I smelled the stench of decay, like thousand-year-old dead wood mixed with putrid blood, making me dizzy.
Zi Ling's fingers dug into the back of my hand: "Senior sister, that stone..."
“I know.” I stared at the stone on the beast’s chest, my throat tightening.
Three months ago, in the deepest part of the Blood Fiend Palace, there was also a pattern of this stone carved on the stone wall, with small characters next to it that read "Guiding spirits and locking souls, using evil to nourish evil".
Wen Chen's Ice Soul Sword suddenly trembled violently.
I looked up at him, and he was staring at the spirit-eating beast. The redness at the corners of his eyes spread down to his eyes, as if his meridians had been burned by some force.
"Retreat," he said suddenly, his voice colder than the Ice Soul Sword, "Protect the array's core first."
I gripped the bronze bell at my waist tightly.
The chains were still wrapped around Blood Fiend's ankles, but his gaze had already drifted toward the Spirit-Eating Beast, as if he were waiting for something.
The spirit-eating beast approached again.
The earth shook so badly that my knees went weak.
Ziling helped me up; her hairpin had fallen off at some point, and her long hair was being blown by the mountain wind, covering half of her face.
The sound of Elder Qingfeng coughing came from afar, more urgent than before, as if he was coughing up his lungs.
I stared at the stone on the beast's chest and suddenly remembered the hot copper plate in my arms—it was pried off the stone wall of the underground palace, and the chain pattern on the back was now branding my heart through my clothes.
A mountain breeze carrying the smell of decay swept over me, and I squinted.
The shadow of the spirit-eating beast has already enveloped us.