Chapter 131 - 130 Contaminated by Magic

Chapter 131: Chapter 130 Contaminated by Magic"If you feel anger, if you know injustice," "Then unsheathe." ——Unsheath. A blade in hand turns into stardust and flowing Liuguang, can it illuminate the dark room? If I truly believe in the sword in my hand... can I possibly cleave through the dark night and restore a clear sky to the world of men? Even if it’s just a flash of sword light, even if it’s just stardust and flowing Liuguang... Embracing the Void Realm. Having returned to Embracing the Void, An Jing was in mid-air, plummeting straight down towards the ceaselessly flowing Great River at the bottom of the valley. But as he fell from mid-air, he burst into laughter: "I’ve understood! I’ve understood!" "The sword should be unsheathed, it can only be unsheathed!" He plunged into the water. If nothing unexpected happened, An Jing would have immediately dived into the river, following its currents for thousands of miles along the valley floor, to completely hide his form and leave the conflict-ridden mountains of the Western Desolation. But having left the Great Void and returned to Embracing the Void, An Jing did not detect the presence of the Heavenly Demon... instead, he sensed another thick scent of blood and fire. "What’s happened?" Raising his eyebrows, An Jing turned around, leaping out of the water, slightly reinforcing his arms with the ’Taibai Fiend Qi’, and reached backwards to grab the cliff wall. His fingers, glowing with a silvery white iron hue, violently smashed the rocks, spraying a cloud of stone chips. An Jing’s hands embedded into the cliff face, stabilizing his figure mid-air. With the strength of a martial artist, climbing cliffs was no different from an ordinary person stepping upstairs; within a few breaths, An Jing scaled the cliff like a giant gecko or a soaring dragon, arriving at the spot from where he had originally fallen. Then, he widened his eyes. The cliff and forest where he had confronted the Evil Born Demon was now nothing but desolation. The once-lush forest was reduced to rows of charred stumps, the ground parched and cracked, the sturdy rock surface of the mountain cliff burst open with crevices, their edges smeared with an ominous shade of dark grey. Upon closer inspection, those dense crevices even had dim black smoke wafting and rising. An Jing surveyed his surroundings to ensure there was no one else around, then knelt to touch the ash and cracks - a slight burning sensation, similar to touching the acidic rain of the Tianyuan Realm, conveyed that the area had indeed been soaked with a high concentration of Demonic Qi. In a corner of this scorched earth, there were numerous bodies that had rotted or even fully skeletonized as if some creature had stripped away their flesh and blood. Yet from the remnants of their clothing, they were unmistakably from the Heaven’s Will Demon Sect and the Red Armored Guards. "Da Chen and the Demon Sect jointly fighting the Heavenly Demon?" An Jing murmured to himself, "Was that Heavenly Demon really so powerful?" It seemed that the Demon Sect, pursuing him, had crashed into Da Chen’s Red Armored Guards and the Evil Born Demon. The time... was probably shortly after he had crossed over into the Tianyuan Realm. Both sides fought a great battle, with heavy casualties for the Demon Sect and Da Chen, and the Evil Born Demon was also seriously injured. This was the conclusion drawn by the Sword Spirit for, in some sense, Demonic Qi was the Heavenly Demon’s life force, and its spillover to this extent proved that the Evil Born Demon had been near death from its injuries as well. But in the end, it did not die, it had emerged victorious. "This is not good news." With an even deeper frown, An Jing was well aware that the Heavenly Demon was the enemy of all living beings: "If Da Chen’s and the Demon Sect’s forces did not eliminate the Heavenly Demon at the first opportunity, things would be terrible once the Heavenly Demon’s injuries healed." "It’s not just that I would have a hard time escaping with my life, but the surrounding villages will surely face catastrophic disaster!" It was at this moment that he saw a plume of black smoke rising up from the distant forests, mixed with dark red sparks. "That place is...?" Tilting his head towards the direction where the black smoke was billowing, An Jing inferred in his heart, "I remember, that is..." "The direction of the village?" As An Jing fled, he had never entered, not even approached, the villages among the Western Desolation mountains. He knew very well that in such marginal areas, where the Demon Sect’s strength was considerable, the mountain areas were in fact the Demon Sect’s stronghold, even their reserve base. To avoid possible encounters with woodcutters, hunters, and herb pickers, An Jing even made a point to detour around the villages. But the Heavenly Demon wouldn’t think this way. It apparently had found a good place to recover from its injuries. At this point, there was no need for further thought. An Jing silently took out his gun and sword box, loading the bullets. Strike it down while it’s weak, take its life, An Jing must eliminate this Evil Born Demon with utmost haste! This was... Unsheath! An Jing hastened through the narrow paths of the mountain forest, it was apparent that a ferocious battle had taken place here not long ago. The wreckage of two flying shuttles lay on the ground, crushing swathes of trees and starting a mountain fire that turned the area, and everything around it, into scorched ruins. The residual heat lingered, smoke billowed into the sky, and the withered or twisted bodies of Demon Sect disciples and Red Armored Guards were scattered on trees and by the roadside. In an effort to intercept the Heavenly Demon from attacking the village, they had actually banded together in a sworn fight to the death. Indeed... even in such times, whether it be the corrupt Da Chen or the bloodthirsty Demon Sect, there would be some who rise above commonality. If not, they wouldn’t be able to form organizations, become major forces, at most they’d be nothing more than insignificant rascals in some rural area. An Jing could tell that without the flying shuttles, it would have been impossible for the Evil Born Demon to kill so many people. An Jing didn’t stop. He moved through the eerily smoldering paths of the mountains. Perhaps, many years after him, no one would ever set foot here again, and no one would know of everything that happened here. No one would know that a group of people who should have been killing each other had actually fought side by side for a common purpose. And midway through his journey, An Jing unexpectedly encountered an acquaintance who had narrowly escaped death, but was merely clinging to life. The Instructor from Hanging Fate Manor, the one-eyed Instructor Li, was now just as singular in both hands and feet. Half of his body was torn off, even gnawed off, and the precisely cut looking wound was eroded by an intense Demonic Qi. Yet it was his iron-tower-like robust body that allowed him to remain alive. Clinging desperately to life. "An Jing." The one-eyed instructor’s form, already close to the last gasp, regained some light in his dim solitary eye as he sensed someone approaching. Seeing that it was a familiar young man, he laughed in surprise, "It’s actually you... you really didn’t run far... Heh heh, but now, you should run." "That Evil Born Demon... *cough*!" Mid-sentence, Instructor Li suddenly puffed out his chest and coughed up a mouthful of pitch-black liquid. This was not blood but a strange substance formed by the liquefaction of internal organs. His face showed blue-black veins spreading out, pulling the muscles on his face into quivering, with a dangerous air to them. "This is magic corruption." The Sword Spirit said, "He is already dead, now just a residue ’left over’ by the Heavenly Demon. In half an hour, or as little as a quarter, he will turn into bone and concentrated fluid, with all his Essence Qi, Soul and Spirit corroded and dissolved by the Demonic Qi, feeding back into the Heavenly Demon itself, becoming nourishment to sustain it." "This Evil Born Demon is very intelligent, it has deliberately left behind those destined to die to ferment hearts of pain and despair, in order to collect more Curse Resentment Soul Power to heal its injuries. If not quickly dealt with, it will surely be a major affliction to this place!"