Love Burning Amidst the Ashes. - Chapter 28 - A Blood-Tear Reunion
At the eastern foothills of the Jade Snow Mountain Range lay Cold Mist Ridge.
The biting astral winds were like billions of icy blades, carrying fine snow and hard shards of ice as they viciously lashed against every patch of exposed skin, instantly carving countless tiny wounds into the flesh. Heavy leaden-gray clouds hung low, almost pressing down upon the jagged black mountain ridges. Dull thunder rumbled deep within the clouds, like the suppressed roar of an ancient beast.
The air was cold enough to pierce the bones. Every breath sent a sharp pain through the lungs.
A thick, milky-white mist flowed and churned between the strange, jagged rocks of the valley, swallowing both light and direction. Beyond ten steps, there was nothing but a chaotic expanse of pale, deathly silence.
Xu Qing Xuan was wrapped in a gray cloak stained with mud and shards of ice. He trudged through knee-deep snow and across slick, frozen rocks, each step uneven and labored.
His face was the color of pale parchment after severe blood loss, appearing even more ghastly beneath the cold mist. His lips were cracked and peeling, while every breath he exhaled instantly condensed into white frost.
The bloodstained leather belt around his waist dug deeply into his abdomen. Every step tugged at the old injury in his dantian, bringing a tearing pain that nearly split him apart.
Within his sea of consciousness, the blood-red spatial sigil he had branded at the cost of his lifespan burned like a red-hot iron. Though faint, its heat was unmistakable, guiding him toward the southwest—
Deep within Blood Weeping Valley, at the bottom of Soul Severing Cliff!
“Cough… cough, cough…”
A violent bout of coughing forced him to stop.
He braced himself against a massive black boulder covered in a thick layer of ice. He abruptly covered his mouth and opened his palm.
A viscous mass of dark-purple blood mixed with tiny fragments of internal organs and bizarre shards of ice lay starkly in his hand.
The backlash from using his blood essence for divination, combined with days of relentless travel, was rapidly draining his already collapsing body.
A weakness originating from the very source of his life entwined itself around his soul.
This was the chill brought about by the loss of his lifespan.
Xu Qing Xuan quickly swallowed two Qi Recovery Pills. The faint warmth released by the pills struggled through his frozen meridians, only to disappear almost instantly.
His bloodstained fingers dug tightly into the cracks of the bone-chilling rock. His knuckles turned white from the force as he forcibly suppressed the surging qi and dizziness.
The heat of the sigil within his sea of consciousness grew increasingly distinct.
Qing Feng’s aura was just ahead!
Once he crossed this damned Cold Mist Ridge, he would reach Blood Weeping Valley!
He could not fall here!
Just then, an extremely faint breeze carrying a strong, sweetly fetid scent pierced through the bone-chilling mist and slipped into his nostrils.
Xu Qing Xuan’s pupils suddenly contracted.
That smell…
Blood!
And not just blood—it was the stench of a massive amount of fresh blood mixed with rotting internal organs!
The source…
It was deep within the gorge ahead, where the cold mist churned!
He immediately lowered his body like an alert snow fox. Pressing himself against the icy rock wall, he silently stalked toward the source of the smell.
His photographic memory and instinctive ability to discern even the smallest details of plants and vegetation were pushed to their limits.
His gaze swept over the traces half-buried beneath the snow at his feet—
Chaotic, overlapping footprints of varying depths, all carrying a heavy scent of blood.
Several pieces of crushed dark-green moss, their edges crystallized with dark-red ice.
And…
Several drops of thick, dark-red liquid that had not yet completely frozen, splattered across the side of a protruding black rock.
The Blood Wolf Gang!
These were traces left behind by the Blood Wolf Gang’s bandit cultivators!
They had passed through here not long ago!
Their direction…
The southwest as well.
Blood Weeping Valley!
Xu Qing Xuan’s heart sank.
Members of the Blood Wolf Gang had appeared at Cold Mist Ridge.
That meant the usual route to Blood Weeping Valley had already been blocked.
Were they setting up an ambush?
Or were they tracking the fleeing battle slaves of the Thunder Prison Sect?
Had news of Qing Feng’s fall from the cliff already spread?
Countless thoughts flashed through his sea of consciousness like lightning, bringing an even deeper sense of urgency.
He could not run into the Blood Wolf Gang’s main force!
He had to find another route!
Xu Qing Xuan forcibly gathered his scattered thoughts. His eyes flashed sharply as he quickly surveyed the treacherous terrain concealed beneath the cold mist.
To his left was a steep, smooth cliff covered in a thick layer of ice.
To his right was a bottomless icy chasm where frigid winds howled endlessly.
Only the gorge ahead offered a passage, but it had already been contaminated by the Blood Wolf Gang.
His gaze eventually settled upon the slope to the right of the gorge, where strange, jagged rocks were shrouded in dense cold mist.
The terrain there was steep, littered with piles of loose rocks, slick sheets of ice, and dangerous cracks hidden beneath the frozen surface.
An ordinary cultivator would never dare venture there.
But…
Perhaps there was a chance.
He drew a deep breath of air so cold it stabbed into his lungs, suppressed the agony in his dantian, and summoned the last remnants of his divine sense.
Carefully, he extended it toward the dangerous region ahead.
His divine sense spread like invisible tendrils, threading its way with difficulty through the thick mist and scattered rocks, sensing the texture of the stone, the thickness of the ice, and the direction of the cracks.
At the same time, his fingers subtly formed a hand seal.
A thread of wood spiritual energy, so faint it was nearly imperceptible, quietly spread outward.
It sensed the subtle changes in the airflow…
And the presence of vegetation.
Suddenly!
At the very edge of the perception formed by his divine sense and wood spiritual energy, something appeared behind a massive, slanted black boulder.
An extremely faint yet unusually pure…
Cold Yin water vapor.
It pierced through the dense mist and the obstruction of the rocks, instantly caught by his keen senses.
This water vapor did not originate from snow or ice.
Instead, it carried the distinct aura of water from a deep, frigid pool.
More importantly, the direction in which the vapor escaped faintly pointed deeper into the gorge below.
Could there be…
An underground river passage concealed beneath the rocks and layers of ice?!
Underground rivers often connected to the earth veins.
And at the bottom of Soul Severing Cliff in Blood Weeping Valley was precisely where baleful earth energy gathered!
This underground river could very likely bypass the gorge sealed off by the Blood Wolf Gang and lead directly to the bottom of Soul Severing Cliff!
A tremendous hope instantly overwhelmed the pain and weakness ravaging his body.
A sharp light burst from Xu Qing Xuan’s eyes.
He no longer hesitated.
His figure moved like a ghost merging into the cold mist as he silently approached the slanted black boulder.
Every step was cautious. He avoided slick patches of ice and loose stones that might make a sound.
The dense mist provided the perfect cover.
But it also concealed deadly dangers.
He could clearly hear faint clashes of metal and weapons from deep within the gorge ahead, accompanied by muffled curses and snarls.
Those were the bandit cultivators of the Blood Wolf Gang.
Rounding the boulder, he suddenly found a narrow crevice partially concealed by fallen rocks.
It was only wide enough for a single person to squeeze through sideways.
Bone-chilling air surged from the depths of the crack like a tangible stream of ice, carrying the unmistakable scent of water from a deep pool…
And the faintest trace of blood.
The stone walls around the opening were covered in a thick layer of dark-purple moss, releasing a heavy smell of decaying organic matter.
This was it!
Xu Qing Xuan turned sideways and squeezed into the crevice.
The cold rock pressed tightly against his body, sending a bone-deep chill through him.
The passage was narrow and winding, with almost no light reaching its depths.
Only the faint sound of flowing water and the increasingly intense Yin-cold water vapor guided him forward.
Feeling his way along the wet, icy rock walls, he continued downward, one uneven step after another.
He did not know how much time had passed.
Then, suddenly, the passage opened up.
A gigantic naturally formed cavern appeared before him!
Countless sharp icicles hung upside down from the ceiling, emitting a faint blue glow that cast the entire cavern in a bleak, ghostly light.
A turbulent underground river roared through the cavern, its waters an eerie dark blue and radiating a bone-chilling cold. Pale-white mist rose from its surface.
One side of the underground river was lined with a rugged rocky bank.
On the other was a narrow, slippery path covered in icicles, winding into the darkness beyond.
The air was filled with dense moisture and the cold aura of stone.
Strangely, the smell of blood was much weaker here.
The underground river flowed…
Southwest.
The burning sensation of the sigil pointed in the same direction!
Xu Qing Xuan’s spirits lifted.
Enduring the biting cold and excruciating pain in his body, he stepped onto the slippery path and hurried along the river toward the depths of the cavern.
The roar of the underground river echoed throughout the enormous cavern, masking the hurried sound of his footsteps and ragged breathing.
Time seemed to lose all meaning.
Only the sigil within his sea of consciousness and the underground river rushing beneath his feet guided him toward the only direction that mattered.
He did not know how long he had traveled through the darkness and freezing cold.
Then, a faint light appeared ahead.
It was not the blue glow of the icicles.
It was…
A dim crimson light, resembling the glow of coagulated blood.
At the same time, that familiar stench returned.
A nauseating mixture of heavy blood, sulfurous scorch, and metallic rust once again filled his nose and mouth.
Blood Weeping Valley!
The bottom of Soul Severing Cliff!
He had arrived!
Xu Qing Xuan quickened his pace.
The moment he burst from the cavern’s exit, the hellish sight before him made his breath catch.
A bottomless blood pool stretched before him like the enormous maw of hell. Viscous dark-red water churned within it, releasing faint crimson blood mist.
On either side stood cliffs thousands of zhang high, their dark-red surfaces resembling walls soaked in blood.
The light was dim.
Pale lightning leaked through gaps in the heavy leaden clouds overhead, while several strange ores deep within the blood pool emitted an eerie crimson phosphorescence.
The air was filled with a nauseatingly sweet and rotten stench.
But Xu Qing Xuan’s gaze immediately locked onto the edge of the blood pool.
Near a dark, smooth rock wall covered in mysterious runes…
On top of a massive dark-red boulder—
A charred, curled-up figure lay there, convulsing violently as though it were nothing more than a discarded corpse abandoned by the world.
Countless blue-purple cracks flickered across his skin, splitting open like the crust of molten lava.
Every flash sent tiny silver-white arcs of lightning shooting outward.
Dark-purple blood mixed with faint sparks of electricity continuously leaked from his mouth and nose.
At his right arm, the charred layer of carbonized flesh had peeled away, revealing newly formed dark-red skin beneath.
Underneath it, a web-like black demonic-seed pattern pulsed violently.
Dark-red blood light flowed through the markings, radiating a chilling, savage aura that made one’s heart tremble.
It was Xu Qing Feng!
He was still alive!
But clearly, he was enduring unimaginable torment.
The thunder origin and chaotic aura brought about by swallowing the Thunder Rune Fruit were engaged in a brutal struggle within his body against the backlash of the thunder fiend, the erosion of the demonic seed, and the deadly poison inflicted by Scarface.
“Qing Feng!”
Xu Qing Xuan’s heart leaped into his throat.
An overwhelming pain and fury coiled around his heart like poisonous vines.
He was about to charge forward without regard for anything else—
Buzz!
The blood-red sigil within his sea of consciousness suddenly trembled.
A powerful warning pierced into his mind like an icicle.
Xu Qing Xuan instantly lowered his body and pressed himself against the cold rock wall beside the cavern’s exit like a gecko.
Holding his breath, his eyes flashed sharply as he swept his gaze across the opposite side of the blood pool.
About a hundred zhang away from the rock where Qing Feng lay, three figures silently emerged from behind another massive dark-red boulder like ghosts.
The man at the front was tall and powerfully built.
He wore crude armor made from some kind of dark-red beast hide, its edges adorned with pale, sinister fangs.
His exposed chest and arms were covered in countless crisscrossing scars, while his muscles bulged like forged iron.
A ferocious wolf-skull mask covered his face, leaving only a pair of eyes exposed.
Those eyes gleamed with cruel, greedy red light.
An aura of viciousness far beyond that of a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator radiated from him like a tangible killing wind.
He was, unmistakably, a peak-stage Qi Refining cultivator!
In his hand was a massive blade as wide as a door panel, its grotesque edge covered in dark-red blood grooves.
Fresh chunks of flesh and dried blood clung to its blade.
Two equally vicious bandit cultivators followed behind him.
One carried a poisoned crossbow.
The other wielded a pair of curved hook-blades.
Their auras had also reached the late stage of Qi Refining.
“Boss, look! That kid really isn’t dead yet!”
The crossbow-wielding bandit lowered his voice, excitement and greed evident in his tone as he pointed toward Xu Qing Feng’s convulsing figure in the distance.
“A battle slave from the Thunder Prison Sect! He survived falling from that damned place. He must have something valuable on him! Maybe he’s even carrying that so-called ‘key’ the Thunder Prison Sect is looking for!”
The crimson gaze beneath the wolf-skull mask remained fixed upon Xu Qing Feng.
It lingered especially long on the black demonic-seed markings pulsing with blood light on his right arm.
A low, hoarse laugh escaped him, rough as sandpaper scraping against stone.
“Heh heh… That brat sure has a tough life.”
“But that’s even better. Saves us the trouble of climbing down there to fish out his corpse.”
“Strike while he’s weak and finish him!”
“That strange jade pendant projection… and that fruit he swallowed… they’re all mine!”
He licked his cracked lips, staring at his prey like a starving wolf.
“Old Scar’s information was right after all.”
“Move! Take him alive! Force him to tell us where the jade pendant is!”
The three men moved like three ghostly shadows.
Without making the slightest sound, they leaped down from the rocks and landed on the slick dark-red ground beside the blood pool.
Like hyenas pouncing upon wounded prey, they rapidly surrounded the massive rock where Xu Qing Feng lay.
The pressure of the peak-stage Qi Refining cultivator descended like an invisible mountain upon the unconscious, convulsing Xu Qing Feng.
Xu Qing Xuan’s eyes nearly split with rage.
The Blood Wolf Gang!
A peak-stage Qi Refining cultivator!
They really had come for Qing Feng!
They wanted the jade pendant!
And that “Old Scar”—
Scarface!
It really was a trap!
He absolutely could not allow Qing Feng to fall into their hands!
In the blink of an eye, Xu Qing Xuan’s mind began racing at unprecedented speed.
Fight them head-on?
With his current condition, facing a peak-stage Qi Refining cultivator would be no different from an ant trying to stop a charging cart.
He had to outwit them.
He had to use the terrain to his advantage.
His gaze swept across the surroundings in an instant.
The viscous blood pool.
The rising blood mist.
The jagged rocks.
The dark-purple moss stubbornly growing within the cracks of the rock walls, releasing that thick smell of decay.
And…
The strange ores deep within the blood pool that emitted an eerie crimson phosphorescence.
A plan that might be his only chance of survival instantly took shape.
His movements were as swift as a ghost.
Silently, he pulled the packet of pungent **Beast-Repelling Powder** from his robes.
But instead of scattering it around himself, he exerted all his remaining strength and hurled the entire packet like a hidden weapon toward the depths of the blood pool—
Toward an area filled with ores emitting the strongest crimson phosphorescence.
**Puff!**
The powder exploded above the ores.
A powerful, pungent scent instantly spread through the surroundings.
Immediately afterward, Xu Qing Xuan gathered a thread of faint yet exceptionally pure wood spiritual energy at his fingertip.
Without hesitation, he pressed it against his own brow.
**Pfft!**
Another small mouthful of dark-purple blood mixed with fragments of internal organs sprayed from his lips.
His face instantly turned ashen.
His aura weakened even further.
The cold, deathly sensation caused by the loss of his lifespan surged over him like a tide.
Yet his eyes burned with an insane, unwavering determination.
His bloodstained finger moved rapidly through the air.
Using his blood essence as the offering and his remaining divine sense as ink, he swiftly sketched an extraordinarily complex formation in the void.
It radiated faint spatial fluctuations and the pure essence of vegetation.
An **Spirit-Attracting Blood Talisman**!
“Blood as the sacrifice, all living spirits heed my command! **Edict!**”
His hoarse, broken incantation exploded across the blood pool like thunder.
His voice was not loud, yet it possessed a strange penetrating force.
**Buzz—!**
The instant the blood talisman took shape, it suddenly erupted with dazzling crimson light.
It transformed into a streak of light and shot precisely toward the area of ore where the Beast-Repelling Powder had spread.
**BOOM!!!**
Like a lid compressed to the absolute limit, the dark-red ore—stimulated by the Beast-Repelling Powder and forcibly activated by the Spirit-Attracting Blood Talisman—suddenly erupted with blinding crimson light unlike anything before!
An incomparably violent and chaotic aura, brimming with savagery and an insatiable thirst for blood, swept across the entire bottom of the valley like an ancient ferocious beast awakened from a deep slumber!
“ROAR—!!!”
“HSSSS—!!!”
“AOOO—!!!”
In an instant, countless pairs of crimson, ghostly-green, and ghastly-white eyes suddenly lit up in the dimness—from the depths of the blood pool, within cracks in the rock walls, and among piles of shattered stones.
They were accompanied by deafening roars and savage howls!
The demonic beasts dwelling at the bottom of the valley, long since driven into a state of bloodthirsty frenzy by the corrosive baleful energy, had been thoroughly enraged by the ferocious aura erupting from the ore and the stimulation of the Spirit-Attracting Blood Talisman!
A gigantic python as thick as a water barrel suddenly burst from the blood pool. Its body was covered in dark-red bone armor, while a single horn protruded from its head. Its crimson vertical pupils locked onto the point where the blood talisman had erupted.
Several demonic beasts resembling giant lizards, their bodies covered in dark-red scales and sulfurous flames spewing from their mouths, charged out from cracks in the rocks.
And then there were swarms of red-eyed blood bats, each the size of a fist, their vicious mouths lined with grotesque feeding organs. They plunged down from the shadows above like a black cloud.
And the three Blood Wolf Gang bandit cultivators charging toward Xu Qing Feng were the ones closest to the ore!
A tide of demonic beasts!
It erupted in an instant!
Their targets were the source of the blood talisman—and every living creature nearby!
“Not good! An Attracting Beast Talisman! Which bastard did this?!”
The wolf-masked cultivator’s furious roar was instantly drowned out by the deafening howls of the beasts.
He was the first to bear the brunt.
A giant lizard demonic beast spewing sulfurous flames had already lunged directly at him. A wave of scorching heat mixed with a foul, bloody wind slammed into his face.
“Boss, watch out!”
The crossbow-wielding bandit hurriedly fired a poisoned bolt, but it was deflected by the giant lizard’s hard scales.
The other curved-blade bandit was even worse off. Several red-eyed blood bats swarmed him, eliciting a terrified scream.
The pressure of a peak-stage Qi Refining cultivator erupted instantly, attempting to intimidate the beast horde.
The wolf-masked cultivator let out an enraged roar.
The massive blade in his hand descended with terrifying killing force capable of splitting mountains and shattering stone, cleaving violently toward the charging giant lizard.
**BOOM!**
The giant blade collided head-on with the lizard’s skull!
A violent shockwave sent the viscous blood-pool water surging several zhang into the air, forming dark-red waves.
The giant lizard’s skull split open beneath the blow. Dark-red blood mixed with brain matter sprayed in every direction.
But with its final dying counterattack, its claws wreathed in sulfurous flames tore through the wolf-masked cultivator’s leather armor, leaving three deep, charred claw marks that went straight to the bone!
“ARGH!”
The wolf-masked cultivator roared in pain as he staggered backward.
But even more demonic beasts, completely stimulated by the scent of blood, surged forward like a tidal wave!
The massive tail of the one-horned bone python swept across the ground, smashing a boulder the size of a house into pieces.
The swarm of red-eyed blood bats went completely berserk, frantically gnawing at the spiritual energy barrier.
The three members of the Blood Wolf Gang were instantly caught in the deadly vortex of the beast tide.
They could barely protect themselves!
An opportunity!
Xu Qing Xuan endured the splitting pain in his sea of consciousness and the extreme weakness ravaging his body.
Like an arrow released from a bowstring, he shot out from the cavern entrance.
His feet pounded across the slick, dark-red ground as he raced toward the massive boulder where Qing Feng lay.
He had only one goal—
Take Qing Feng away before the Blood Wolf Gang cultivators could break free from the beast horde!
“Bro… Brother?!”
On top of the boulder, Xu Qing Feng was being violently torn apart from within by the thunder and chaotic energy coursing through his body.
Amid the deafening beast roars and violent energy fluctuations, he suddenly caught a trace of an aura so familiar that it seemed to come straight from the depths of his soul.
He struggled to raise his head.
His eyes were bloodshot, with silver-white lightning and chaotic violet light flickering deep within his pupils.
They instantly locked onto the blue-robed figure racing toward him through the blood mist and chaotic shadows of the beasts.
His elder brother!
It was Qing Xuan!
He had really come!
In the midst of absolute despair, he was like a ray of light tearing through the darkness.
Overwhelming joy and an indescribable ache instantly shattered the will Xu Qing Feng had been desperately forcing himself to maintain.
He struggled to stand, but the movement triggered an even more violent clash within his body.
Another mouthful of black blood streaked with lightning sprayed from his lips.
“Don’t move!”
Xu Qing Xuan’s voice was hoarse, yet carried an undeniable force that instantly pierced through Xu Qing Feng’s chaotic consciousness.
His figure had already reached the base of the boulder like a ghost.
Without the slightest hesitation, the tips of his toes touched the slick rock.
Borrowing its momentum, he launched himself into the air.
Both hands shot forward like lightning, reaching for Xu Qing Feng’s shoulders.
Just as Xu Qing Xuan’s fingers were about to touch his younger brother—
“You little bastard! You want to die?!”
A furious roar filled with overwhelming rage exploded like thunder!
The wolf-masked cultivator appeared drenched in blood—both his own and that of the demonic beasts.
His leather armor was torn apart, and even his mask had split down one side, revealing half of a hideously twisted face.
He had actually carved his way out of the deadly vortex of beasts through sheer brute strength as a peak-stage Qi Refining cultivator!
Although his aura was somewhat disordered, his crimson eyes burned with murderous madness as they locked onto the two brothers on the boulder.
He completely ignored the several demonic beasts pursuing him from behind.
The massive door-wide blade in his hand erupted with dazzling crimson light.
With a terrifying shriek that tore through the air, he poured all of his killing aura into the strike.
Like a crimson streak of destruction, the blade crossed dozens of zhang in an instant and descended viciously toward Xu Qing Xuan’s back!
The timing was vicious and precise to an extreme.
The shadow of death instantly enveloped Xu Qing Xuan.
His previous momentum had been exhausted, while his new strength had yet to gather.
He was suspended in midair with nowhere to borrow strength.
More importantly—
If he dodged, this terrifying strike would land directly on the severely wounded and barely surviving Qing Feng!
At this critical moment—
“ROAR—!!!”
A beast-like roar erupted from Xu Qing Feng’s throat!
The sight of his elder brother in danger was like a spark dropped onto a barrel of explosives.
The thunderous power within his body, forcibly tempered by the Thunder Rune Fruit yet still wildly unstable, along with that trace of dark-violet chaotic energy, completely broke free of its restraints at this moment.
His bloodshot eyes, interwoven with silver-white lightning and chaotic violet light, instantly locked onto the incoming crimson blade aura.
There was no thought.
Only instinct.
His bloodstained left hand became wrapped in dazzling silver-white lightning.
The newly formed silver-white thunder patterns beneath his skin suddenly blazed brightly.
Carrying a savage will to annihilate everything in its path, he ignored the agony tearing through his body and the collapse of his dantian.
He slammed his fist into the void!
But his target was not the blade aura.
It was a dark-red boulder a short distance beneath it, near the edge of the blood pool, half-submerged in viscous bloodwater and covered in thick dark-purple moss.
**BOOOOM—!!!**
A condensed bolt of silver-white lightning, entwined with an almost imperceptible thread of chaotic dark-violet energy, descended like heavenly punishment from the Nine Heavens.
It tore through the dim space and slammed violently into the massive boulder!
The rock was not the target.
The target was the thick layer of dark-purple moss covering it, saturated with an intensely pungent smell of decay.
**SZZZZT—!!!!**
The violent thunder infused with chaotic energy instantly detonated the extremely unstable Yin-cold water fiend energy contained within the dark-purple moss.
A cloud of poisonous, dark-green mist—far more violent and sinister than the previous beast-attracting talisman—erupted like a volcanic explosion.
It mixed with fragments of shattered moss and powdered stone, expanding outward in an instant.
The massive cloud completely engulfed a large section of the area through which the crimson blade aura was traveling.
**HSSSSSS—!!!**
The crimson blade aura containing all of the wolf-masked cultivator’s killing force plunged violently into the poisonous dark-green mist.
The savage killing aura collided fiercely with the sinister, corrosive poison.
The two forces annihilated each other.
The blade aura visibly dimmed and slowed.
Although it ultimately broke through the poisonous mist, its power had been forcibly reduced by more than half.
Its speed had also slowed by a fraction.
That fraction of a moment was enough!
Xu Qing Xuan’s hands reaching for Qing Feng’s shoulders did not hesitate in the slightest.
Just before the blade aura reached them, his fingertips finally touched his younger brother’s burning, trembling body.
“Go!”
With a low shout, Xu Qing Xuan poured every ounce of strength remaining in his body into his arms.
Using the momentum of his forward charge, he violently hauled Xu Qing Feng’s heavy body from the boulder and threw him behind a slightly lower rock nearby.
At the same time, the recoil sent Xu Qing Xuan’s own body flying in the opposite direction like a kite with its string severed.
**BOOM!!!**
The crimson blade aura, already weakened by more than half, crashed violently into the massive boulder where the brothers had been moments earlier.
The hard dark-red rock split like tofu, a terrifying crack several feet deep cleaving through its surface.
Fragments of stone mixed with viscous bloodwater flew in every direction.
The violent shockwave slammed into Xu Qing Xuan’s back.
“PFFT!”
Xu Qing Xuan was struck as though by a mountain.
A huge mouthful of dark-purple blood mixed with fragments of internal organs erupted from his mouth.
His body crashed heavily against the slick, freezing rock and rolled several zhang before finally slamming into a protruding stone formation.
Only then did he stop.
His vision was completely consumed by darkness and flashes of blood-red light.
His aura had weakened to an almost imperceptible level.
Xu Qing Feng, thrown behind another rock, also landed heavily.
The already violent energy within his body spiraled out of control once again.
Lightning raced wildly beneath his skin.
The black demonic-seed markings pulsed frantically.
Overwhelming pain forced him to curl into a ball as suppressed groans escaped his throat.
“Cough… cough… Good… very good!”
The wolf-masked cultivator stared at the massively weakened strike and the edge of his great blade, which was sizzling as the poison corroded it.
His face beneath the mask twisted into an expression of extreme fury.
He had never imagined that these two insignificant brats could still execute such a precise combination under circumstances this desperate.
One had used poison to weaken the blade.
The other had risked his life to save his brother.
“I’ll tear the two of you into pieces!”
“I’ll rip out your souls and refine them!”
He roared viciously.
Completely ignoring the demonic beasts charging toward him again from behind, he raised his massive blade once more.
The crimson light grew even brighter.
His killing intent was utterly relentless.
Step by step, he advanced through the viscous bloodwater toward the two severely wounded brothers lying on the ground.
The terrifying pressure of a peak-stage Qi Refining cultivator descended like an actual mountain.
Xu Qing Feng struggled to raise his head.
His bloodshot eyes, flickering with thunder and chaotic energy, stared fixedly at the approaching god of death.
His bloodstained left hand once again gathered a faint trace of lightning.
Xu Qing Xuan leaned against the freezing stone formation, his bloodstained fingers trembling as he attempted to form another hand seal.
But his sea of consciousness felt as though it were being torn apart.
His vision repeatedly faded into darkness.
The two brothers—
One severely wounded and on the verge of death.
The other completely exhausted and running on the last remnants of his strength.
They had been driven to the very edge of true despair.
Bloody water washed over their ankles.
The shadow of death had never felt so heavy.
Yet at the exact moment the wolf-masked cultivator grinned viciously and raised his massive blade, preparing to deliver the final blow—
**BUZZ!!!**
A resonance far stronger and clearer than anything before suddenly erupted without warning.
It came simultaneously from the dim Yin-Yang Jade Pendant inside Xu Qing Xuan’s robes…
And the mark on Xu Qing Feng’s left shoulder.
Two gray-white halos burst forth from their bodies at the same time, illuminating one another in perfect harmony.
But what happened next was even more terrifying.
The smooth, mirror-like dark rock wall ahead, covered in countless ancient runes, seemed to have been completely activated by the resonance between the two jade artifacts.
Every single rune suddenly blazed with dazzling, ghastly-white light!
An ancient, vast, terrifying aura, seemingly originating from the primordial age of the ancient wilderness, spread throughout the entire bottom of the valley.
It was as though an ancient slumbering dragon had suddenly opened its eyes.
And from the depths of the narrow crack at the base of the rock wall…
There faintly came a low, suppressed roar.
A roar belonging to a primordial beast.
A roar powerful enough to make the very soul tremble.