Critical: Ages Below Critical Chapter 7.3

Chapter 7: Relic of Youtuer (Part 3)

The path extends forward, Tianshu Youhua released a dozen or so large snow eagles to lead the way, the white glow from the eagles illuminating the path beneath their feet.

The soft, white glow added some nobility to the colossal relic and the horrifying atmosphere diminishes. Countless large pillars lie by the sides of the path; in what seem like foundations on the bumpy ground, skeletons can be seen faintly. Broken staircases and archways that are built from luxurious white rocks can be seen all around them, these all point to the high and almighty state the city was once in.

“Pfft.”

“Pffffffffft.”

Along with what sounds like someone blowing out a candle, the dozen snow eagles that have been leading the way disappear, as if a white lantern has been pierced through by the wind.

The darkness seems to fall from the sky, enveloping the three of them. In the pitch-black darkness, only their nervous breaths can be heard. All they can see is the unsettling darkness, as if unknown creatures will rise from the depths.

“Youhua stop running around.” Qi Ling turns to tell Youhua.

“I didn’t move, I’ve always been on your right.” Youhua replies softly.

“Then just now……” Qi Ling pauses, his throat suddenly tightens in fear and he cannot go on. If Youhua has always been on his right, then what just ran past him on his left?

“Sigh.”

A faint sigh is heard in the darkness.

The three hold their breath, not daring to speak.

“Really, what a pity.” In the darkness, a young girl’s voice pierces through the air and reaches them, her voice is unfeeling, as if reading stoicly from a piece of paper.

A white ball of light suddenly appears in Qi Ling’s vision, when the light becomes clearer, Qi Ling makes out a large cocoon suspended in the air, the voice is coming from the inside of the cocoon.

“What’s a pity?” Lianquan moves two steps ahead gently, shielding Qi Ling and Youhua behind her, “Who are you?”

Tianshu Youhua looks at the figure standing before her and Qi Ling and a pinch of regret hits her.

Like cloth being torn, a hole appears on the smooth cocoon before a bloodless hand reaches out, and then the tearing sound continues before the figure struggles out completely, her waterfall-like black hair covers her entire face. The young girl struggles slowly out from the cocoon in an extremely grotesque mannr, the cracking of her bones echoing in the empty darkness, making one’s hair rise. She folds her legs slowly and sits on the cocoon, a few moments later, she lifts her hazy eyes and tells the three of them faintly: “A pity, that all of you are going to die soon.”

Qi Ling’s pupils tighten, “Li……Lijier?!”

“Aiya, you recognise me!” The young girl lifts her murky purple eyes, instead of looking at Qi Ling, she is staring at an unknown point in the air, with a ghastly thin voice, she says, “Then of course you’d recognise it?”

In the wreckage of the building behind her, a massive ball of light suddenly appears, a large butterfly struggles to curl between the stone walls, on its large meaty wings are tentacles dripping with blood, green slime splashing onto the stone pavement, the same sound as blood drops hitting the ground, a murky stench spreading from its undulating wings. Its size is many times bigger then when it had appeared in the town of Fauser.

“Gu Die Lijier……why are you here? Aren’t you……” Qi Ling is so astonished that his words die in his throat.

“I’m here, of course because there’s a ‘secret’ here……” Lijier’s smile is unsettleing, she says, “But you people walked into the radius of the secret, so, you have to die.” After saying that, she stares into an unknown direction and lifts her hand to cover her laugh.

“We don’t want to fight you, you weren’t able to defeat Cang Xue Zhi Ya before, now it is my soul beast. I do not wish to harm you either, tell us how to get out of this place and we will not touch your secret.”

“I couldn’t defeat it before, but now I can.” Lijier changes her position on the cocoon and lifts her hand to stroke a sticky tentacle from Gu Die that hangs above her head.

“Before? Before what?” Qi Ling is confused.

“’Before’, of course I mean before I died.” Lijier frowns slightly before replying in annoyance. After saying that, she gestures lightly and Gu Die rises from the wreckage, teetering as it flies up, the flow of soul powers around it as vast as a grand ocean.

“This……this is not the soul powers of an average soul master……this is…..almost rivaling that of a lord’s……” Lianquan mutters in shock. She cannot believe the power that the young girl facing her has.

Her hands tremble as she directs her sharp chains towards the colossal Gu Die, yet it is as if they are attacking nothing, the chains pierce straight through the beast’s body, just like going through light and fog, not doing any damage at all……

At the same time, Lijier reaches towards Youhua who is standing behind Qi Ling despite being separated by a great distance, as if her arms suddenly extending in another dimension, an unseen hand reaches straight into Youhua’s body. Qi Ling turns in time to see a gaping hole appear on Youhua’s chest suddenly, and then he hears something that sounds like a hand tightening its grip in the bloodied hole, Youhua’s expression twists in pain. Qi Ling brings out his half-blade large sword and brings it down in the air before Youhua, as if cutting onto a transparent hand, a wave of light emits from that location.

Lijier withdraws her hand, her pupils turning golden instantly.

And in the next moment, as if seeing a ghoul, Lijier’s expression changes. She gestures lightly and the large Gu Die flies behind her. She sits herself upright on the white cocoon and her eyes tremble in fear.

The immense relic falls into a terrifying silence.

Youhua supports herself against a wall and as she gasps in pain.

Qi Ling and Lianquan turn their head back and see a figure clade din a black cloak standing behind them.

“You cannot defeat me, so leave.” The figure cladded in black says faintly, voice penetrating.

“You……” Lijier clenches her teeth, looking like she wants to continue arguing, “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to take them away.”

Lijier stares at the people for a very long moment with a hollow gaze in her large eyes. With a roar of anger, she disappears in the darkness.

The person takes off his hood gently to reveal a face so delicately handsome that words can do no justice in describing his appearance. Qi Ling is awestruck.

Although both Yin Chen and him have faces that can be said to be extremely handsome, but the man before him has features even more refined than women, his moist eyes are like jewels, his lashes are long and thin and his skin as white as snow, but when he opens his mouth, his voice is throaty and masculine.

“I am here to take all of you away.”

“You are……” Lianquan asks cautiously.

“’Lord to the Third Degree’, Qi La.” The black cloak-cladded figure replies calmly whilst standing in the darkenss.

The three stand in a daze after hearing the reply.

The young boy ignores the scene before him entirely. He stops touching the ground and presses on a spot that juts out, in the next moment, countless emerald rays swirl out from between his fingers, forming a massive magical array on the ground. Countless complex patterns cover the ground of the Relic of Youtuer instantly.

“Then, let’s start.” He says softly.  His fingers dig into the ground and the rocks shatter.

Following the turbulent green rays from the large magical array, countless poisonous snakes emiting emerald gleams slither from beneath the ground on every inch of the soil in the Relic of Youtuer. In the air, tens of thousands of dead souls like that of Lijier all go up in smokes. Countless souls are torn apart. Innumerable soul beasts explode into nothing……

Wails like ghosts and howls like wolves echo throughout the sky above the relic, as if wanting entire space to tremble and collapse.

Chapter end