Estranged Chapter 43

Published at 23rd of August 2021 02:08:42 PM

Chapter 43:

Proofread by Annie & Snake & Lucia

Changming wanted to destroy Heavenly City, just like how Zhang Mu razed Seven Star Rivers that day. He wanted to leave no stone unturned and seal it completely, setting all the people confined here free.

The reason for this was the people who were hiding behind the scenes and scheming to stop them all the time, going as far as following them to the past, wanting to change the future and reach their goal sooner.

The case of Heavenly City would delay them.

Since the Nine Layers of the Abyss was so special to them they had more than one chess piece, Chen Ting, here.

Even though Yun Weisi said nothing, he tacitly agreed to this plan.

But nights belonged to Yun Hai.

Compared to Yun Weisi, Yun Hai would do things that stirred up more trouble.

Therefore, when Changming rescued Xu Jingxian, and Heavenly City was in turmoil because of the five elders’ death, the sky split and the earth cracked in Heavenly City.

Xu Jingxian’s expression changed suddenly as she was enduring the flames that engulfed her, holding Changming’s arm tightly.

She recalled Seven Star Rivers at once.

“Is it going to end the same way?”

Changming hummed in agreement, looking at her restless and pained appearance.

“Can you still walk?”

“I, I…”

Xu Jingxian couldn’t even cry. Her tongue started feeling numb as if it had been tied in a knot.

Why would they call it a magic herb that gathers nature’s spiritual powers when it was poisonous!

“Where are we going, quick, let’s go!”

She did not need to urge him. Changming grabbed her arm and leapt onto the Yunding Tower. The two of them landed on its top, watching the ground crack, the lake flow down, and the houses in the city collapse. The sky was dark and silent, and only fires burning everywhere in the city illuminated the scene.

When the last ray of sunset was swallowed by black clouds, the messengers of darkness came swarming in flocks, pursuing the sweetest smell of blood and flesh.

“Those vultures…”

Xu Jingxian thought of them and quickly urged Changming to find a safer place.

But Changming shook his head.

“Wait.”

“It’s too late to wait!”

Xu Jingxian was feeling a little better but still could not control her expression. Her mouth was distorted, and she was drooling as she talked, like an eighty-year-old lady approaching her coffin. She angrily raised her trembling sleeve, trying to cover it desperately. If she knew that the Yangzhen Grass’s effect was so violent, she would have—

Swallowed it with her eyes closed nevertheless.

“Lady Xu.”

Changming was standing on the roof with his hands clasped behind his back and was looking at the ever-changing and boiling dark clouds in the distance. He seemed enigmatic. His long hair and robes were fluttering in the fair wind as if he was not of this world.

And the girl next to him, who covered her drooling mouth with a sleeve, didn’t resemble an immortal at all.

His next question made Xu Jingxian’s hairs stand.

“Are you sure that what you ate was Yangzhen Grass?”

Xu Jingxian: ?!!

The suspicions buried in her heart surfaced at once.

“Why do you ask?”

“If it was the Yangzhen Grass, why would you suffer so much? Who knows, maybe that Elder Lu has already used it, and you ate a fake.”

“Impossible!” Xu Jingxian retorted reflexively, “If Lu Jianmu used it, why would he cut such a sorry figure? Moreover, in the ancient literature that I found, it was written clearly that Yangzhen Grass indeed has golden veins. It’s impossible to imitate, and not a single fake in this world can resemble this grass!”

Changming raised his eyebrows in amusement: “Why have I never heard you mention that these ancient records describe the golden veins of Yangzhen Grass?”

Xu Jingxian was unable to respond. She could not admit that she didn’t believe him and concealed some details.

After blabbering for a while, she found that the uncomfortable feeling on her body was gradually disappearing, replaced by warmth rising from her dantian and flowing over to her limbs and bones.

“Why didn’t you use the Yangzhen Grass?”

Xu Jingxian hesitated for a bit, but finally decided to ask.

All the cultivators who learned about the existence and effects of the Yangzhen Grass should be unable to resist this temptation.

“It’s of no use to me.”

Changming said indifferently. He seemed to be chitchatting with her, but in truth he was observing the sky colour, waiting for the result on Yun Hai’s side.

“I’m wounded severely, and can’t handle something that intense.”

If he ate the Yangzhen Grass, his reaction probably wouldn’t have been any better. Who knows, maybe he would have breathed his last breath.

Only the spiritual powers of the Sifei Sword could slowly nourish his body, and perhaps help him get through the bottleneck of the eighth level of the Zhiyu Nianyue Scripture.

“You shouldn’t worry about me deceiving you. After all, you accompanied me here, so the Yangzhen Grass is a reward that I owe you.”

Xu Jingxian looked at his half-smiling eyes and understood that he must have guessed all her secret concerns.

Xu Jingxian, whose face was thicker than city walls, showed no shame and even scolded him: “I’m just worried that I might have eaten a fraud, how can it harm you? All in all, we’ve gone through many hardships together, so relax, I’ll certainly protect you with all my might, and I won’t let my sect master put his hands on you… Hey, your hair?”

She had no time to look around while she was struggling to endure the suffering, and only now did she notice that his hair near his waist turned snow-white at some point.

It was night, and dark colours blended with the firelights. His white hair that was fluttering in the wind didn’t make him look old, but rather added charm to its long-haired owner.

“Really…” is beautiful.

Xu Jingxian’s naughty nature flared up again, and she stretched her hand out to touch it.

She grabbed a lock of his hair, but it was quickly gone with the wind, making her palm itch.

But no matter how pretty it was—

“Aren’t you wounded, why is your hair like this?”

Changming said sheer nonsense: “It’s the latest fashion in the Nine Layers of the Abyss. After some time, everyone outside will follow suit and dye their hair this way.”

You scammer!

Scammer: lit. deceiving ghost.

Xu Jingxian snorted disdainfully, releasing his hair to dance in the air freely.

And heard Changming’s voice: “The time has come.”

What time has come?

Xu Jingxian had no time to react and heard the sound of flapping wings.

Clap-clap.

It was getting closer and sharper.

Xu Jingxian was more than familiar with that sound after having spent two months in this place.

Vultures.

Those vultures were out!

Like judges conducting a trial at night, they never stopped until they saw blood.

At that moment, the people who were fighting with each other suddenly regained consciousness as the vultures roused fear in their hearts. Forgetting about treasures, they hurried to turn and run away, looking for houses to hide in.

But not everyone was so resolute in their actions. Some people, seeing so close at hand the treasures that occupied their thoughts day and night, rushed to seize the desired things. Those who hesitated for a single moment fell prey to the vultures. They brandished their weapons, giving their lives in an attempt to drive away the vultures, but the latter rallied together to attack the people ferociously. Very soon, these people had their heads broken by the beaks and started bleeding heavily, falling into the cracks in the ground. Their deaths were quite grim.

But no one came to mourn for them.

Heavenly City was submerged into chaos.

Human lives become insignificant in times of mortal danger.

Some people pushed their companions in front of themselves; some closed doors in front of their Daoist partners, listening to their anguished wailing as they were being eaten by the vultures; some became food to the vultures to save their fellow disciples, but the rescued disciples did not turn around and ran away without looking back.

Xu Jingxian and Changming were standing on a roof, so they became easy targets.

Many vultures flew towards them from afar, getting close in the blink of an eye.

Xu Jingxian grabbed Changming and wanted to flee, but he stopped her.

“Wait.”

Still, waiting? For what?

Xu Jingxian understood nothing. Hadn’t he said that the time had already come just now?

At this moment, a ray of light lit up the whole sky.

The bolt of lightning split the sky into two twisted parts, so dazzling that some people were almost blinded; many vultures fell from the air as well.

Rumble!

A rolling thunder followed. But the rift cut open by the lightning did not close and was only growing larger as if an immense force was ripping apart the sky, and it could not remain whole anymore.

“Go!”

Changming pulled Xu Jingxian with one hand, making a way through with the Sifei Sword in his other hand. They leapt from the roof towards the rift in the horizon.

A large number of vultures were frightened by the sudden lightning and thunder, and went insane, so their numbers reduced. Some were affected by the Sifei Sword’s qi and soon fell to the ground. Some subconsciously avoided Changming, so the two of them were able to pass unimpeded.

A whirlwind, an enormous whirlwind descended from the clouds, carrying everything away.

Many people saw it and were terrified, running in the opposite direction. But Xu Jingxian saw Changming rushing towards the whirlwind without looking back.

“Where are we going!”

She was shouting very loudly to make him hear her.

But Changming did not answer and even released her hand, letting her go by herself.

Xu Jingxian had no other option but to follow him closely.

She realized that her speed had indeed increased compared to how it used to be before she took the Yangzhen Grass.

She could not use her spiritual power now, yet her speed was so fast. She had changed compared to the time when she fought with Elder Liu in the Yunding Tower.

Although many vultures were brought down, people could not rejoice for too long.

Something even more horrifying happened.

Elder Ning Han, who had left Elder Liu to run away alone, had returned on the other side of Heavenly City.

Behind him was a group of people in black capes whose features were indiscernible. They had no weapons, but their nails were two or three cun long. They reached out, catching people who had not managed to avoid them in time. Black qi was pouring from their nails, and the attacked people dropped dead at once. When the wind blew, those people turned into ashes and flew away, with not a single bone left.

2-3 cun: 8±2 cm

Elder Ning was a demon dressed in the clothes of an elder. He was only borrowing Ning Han’s body. Half of his face vaguely resembled Ning Han, but the other half was completely blue and hideous, with a blood-red eye.

Is he…

“That demon from Seven Star Rivers?!”

Xu Jingxian recognised him at first glance.

That day, the demon used Zhang Mu’s body to hide beside Bei Shu. He sucked Bei Shu’s vital energy in the middle of the night and killed him, but ran into Changming unexpectedly. Under the siege of cultivators, he smashed the cracked pot, chose to destroy the First Layer of the Abyss, Seven Star Rivers, and escaped without leaving a trace.

Smashed the cracked pot: act recklessly because of an error

It turned out that he had never left the Nine Layers of the Abyss, but found another good vessel. As one of the five elders, he had countless resources, which was enough for him to replenish his energy and start an even more violent massacre.

But Changming did not care about them and did not even look back, rushing towards the hurricane that connected the earth with the sky.

Yun Hai opened a gap there, breaking the Yunding Lake Formation of Heavenly City. Very soon, the whole place would collapse like Seven Star Rivers.

The earth was still shaking.

Heavenly City was almost destroyed.

The Yunding Tower had been standing firmly alone, but it was shaken by waves of the lake with its water flow reversed. One pillar collapsed. Pull one hair, and the whole body moves; the entire Yunding Tower quickly slanted, its roof submerging into the water. That destroyed the last trace of its original appearance.

Pull one hair, and the whole body moves: a slight change can affect the whole situation

When Changming took Xu Jingxian through the whirlpool and came to the original seashore, many people also reacted and left Heavenly City through the whirlwind, escaping and saving their lives.

Zhang Mu, leading a large group of demons, was chasing them.

The vast seashore turned into a battlefield for humans and demons.

The spiritual power that had been suppressed for a long time was now unsealed, and many cultivators were prepared to start killing to vent their frustration.

But very soon, the people noticed that these demons were no ordinary evil spirits.

They were predators, even fiercer than those vultures.

Zhang Mu’s subordinates opened the path for him, and he encountered no resistance.

Blood painted the inshore waters red, but the seawater quickly washed it away.

Battle cries burst everywhere, but they could not break the endless night.

Endless night: fig. long-suffering

These people had never felt so weak compared to demons.

Even cultivators who were able to do fine on their own outside, and were never defeated after coming to the Nine Layers of the Abyss, now had trouble surviving this attack, just as if they were pulling on the collar only to expose their elbows.

Pulling on the collar only to expose their elbows: have too many difficulties

When Xu Jingxian killed one demon, others came at her from every direction, so she couldn’t even throw a glance at Changming.

The Yangzhen Grass’s spiritual powers had not yet mixed with hers, and she still could not fight at her best.

Zhang Mu squinted his eyes, his gaze landing on one person in the chaotic battlefield.

Jiufang Changming.

The Sifei Sword always held demons in fear.

Although Changming’s spiritual powers were badly damaged, he had the Sifei Sword and the Art of conferring spirit, so he could easily change the situation.

Just when the Sifei Sword cut a demon in half, Zhang Mu moved.

He crossed the sea of people, light and swift as the wind, one moment still several zhang away, and right behind Changming’s back the next moment.

Zhang: 3.33 m

Zhang Mu stretched out his hand.

This hand was full of blue veins, and his nails were raven. He only needed to touch Changming’s body to contaminate it with demonic qi.

Zhang Mu was determined to win.

He could not wait to see this tidy person rolling on the ground wailing in pain, defiled by demonic qi.

A sword ray came!

Ruthless and aggressive, it was one that could see nothing worthwhile all around.

Could see nothing worthwhile all around: arrogant

Carrying the will to cut through anything in the world.

Zhang Mu’s expression froze for a moment. As soon as he realized that this sword qi broke through the barrier around him, he was forced to retreat, leaving the sweet prey for the time being.

Yun Hai approached him slowly.

On meeting a demon, he slew the demon; on meeting a god, he slew the god. He closed the distance between them to one chi, one of his steps covering a thousand li.

Chi: 0.33 meters

His footsteps were steady, and his sword edge was resolute; his spiritual powers were so vigorous that no one dared test his abilities.

Zhang Mu looked at him and suddenly laughed.

The cultivators were retreating as they fought and had already shrunk into a small circle, but Zhang Mu suddenly ordered to halt the attack.

He said to Yun Hai with a smile: “I never expected the venerable Daoist sect master to be one of my kin, what a pleasant surprise! You want to protect them, but will they return the favour?”

Zhang Mu pointed to the crowd. Many people looked at Yun Hai anxiously and doubtfully and subconsciously distanced themselves from him.

Yun Hai was standing all alone in front of the demons.

He coldly smiled, paying no attention to Zhang Mu’s words. He slowly raised the Chunzhao Sword.

At this moment, someone walked out of the crowd.

Disregarding the crowd, he came near Yun Hai and stopped, looking at Zhang Mu.

“I’ve heard that demons are usually true to their words. I want to offer you a bet. If I win, you will give up on the attack. How about it?”

Zhang Mu said coldly: “What qualifications do you have to offer me a bet? On the Seven Star Platform that day, if it wasn’t for your deception, you would have died.”

“Because I’m the one who was the strongest person in the world, Jiufang Changming, his shifu. Isn’t this enough to be qualified?”

Changming smiled faintly, oblivious to the uproar behind his back.

“You are taunting this venerable one’s beloved disciple, how could this venerable one just sit and watch?”’

Chapter end