Chapter 132 - Paper Tiger (Part I) (Patreon)

The axe met no resistance as it cleaved Lucian’s body in half. Accompanied by the sharp edge, Lucian’s skin, blood, muscles, bones, and organs shifted. A crimson image of a half-closed eye that was formed by three lines surrounded by a circle of sigils appeared over his left eye as his face melted.

Devilish Arts: Boon of Sloth - Body Over Mind

The axe-wielder immediately noticed something was wrong. Through the meridian connected to the axe, he spread Qi waves, his peak-stage Qi Condensation aura pressing against Lucian to lock him in place.

It was all for nothing.

With a crimson explosion, Lucian’s body dissipated, and three bats flew toward the corridor he had come from. Each bat was injured, missing patches of fur and bleeding slightly, but fully capable of flying.

“Gong Cai, follow those creatures!” the old man shouted, his voice rebounding through the cave. “It’s one of his demonic techniques! He can escape with it!”

Spinning around with bloodshot eyes and straining muscles, Gong Cai commanded the Dantian near his heart, Qi empowering his body as he chased the bats.

The cave was enormous, and if not for the Qi emanating from the river, visible only to cultivators who had come into contact with the Sword Vein, Gong Cai would have lost his targets. In fact, two os his targets, and his Qi perception picked a single bat.

“Petty tricks,” he shouted, noticing that one bat emanated a Qi Deviation while the other two were devoid of Qi.

Gong Cai sent Qi into his arms through the meridian connected to the axe’s handle. His Qi generated a silver light that hummed around the blade. In the next second, he swung three times upward, and silver lights shot into the air through the blade.

They weren’t powerful enough to kill someone as strong as Gong Cai, so he wasn’t using them to damage the bats. Instead, he was attempting to determine whether any of them were illusions.

Meanwhile, controlling the bats, Lucian saw the light’s trajectories and grew suspicious.

What is he planning?

None of the lights was aimed at the bats. Through his enhanced vision, he saw them fly toward the stalactites.

Feeling a dangerous sensation, Lucian commanded one bat to continue flying higher into the cave at a slower pace, weaving between the sharp stalactites, and another to fly near the river, also slowing down.

The third remained in the middle of the cavern, flying at full speed.

When the silver lights reached the ceiling, there was a burst of Qi, and the stalactites absorbed them.

Then the entire ceiling hummed.

Tiny blade lights spread among the stalactites before raining downward.

When those lights reached the river, they rebounded upward and toward the walls, the power of each blade diminishing while their range expanded.

Gong Cai ignored the blades striking him, most unable to pierce his enhanced skin, as he kept his attention fixed on the three bats.

Meanwhile, Lucian was caught by surprise by the wide area affected.

The cave was suddenly filled with silver light, countless Qi projectiles spreading in every direction, making it impossible for the bats to escape unscathed.

Every bat was struck dozens of times, all three folding their wings and trying to protect their heads.

The bat near the river fell into it and was swept away by the current, while the one weaving through the stalactites stumbled against their sharp edges, losing part of one wing and spilling blood before regaining balance and flying with difficulty to the exit.

At last, the bat flying through the middle managed to dodge several attacks, but ended up with holes in both wings, crashing onto the ground before using its claws to drag itself away.

After checking on each bat, Gong Cai scowled. All bats were struck, and none was an illusion! To make matters worse, he had lost two of them, both the one on the ground and the one in the river. They were the ones lacking Qi, and he couldn't see them beyond the silver lights.

The remaining bat, however, he could perceive just fine. It was struggling toward the exit while emanating waves of Qi deviation.

“Old Qi Zhi, I’ll kill that one!” he shouted, rushing toward the exit.

After speaking, he felt a sensation akin to a blade carving through his skull as Qi Zhi’s voice sounded inside his mind.

“Go faster, brat! Two of them are ahead of you, and the other one is being swept to—” Qi Zhi abruptly stopped, and then screeched in surprise. “Oh no! It’s going to the Sword Vein!”

Feeling goosebumps, Gong Cai scowled, glancing at the mummified severed head of his dead companion tied to his waist before giving an unwilling glare toward the exit. The Qi deviation bat was going there, and the one crawling on the ground surely would follow!

“You devious bastard!”

With a pained scream, he knew he couldn’t ignore his duties. He kicked off the ground, following the riverbank in the opposite direction.

Meanwhile, Lucian controlled the two escaping bats while feeling his soul being sliced through his connection to the third bat in the river.

The creature couldn’t swim, and the river's current was stronger than it appeared. And that wasn’t even accounting for the pain Lucian was feeling in his soul.

What is this river? He thought, inwardly struggling to maintain control over three bodies. How can it affect my soul?!

In Lucian’s understanding, the most powerful aspect he possessed wasn’t his pitiful amount of Blood Essence, the barely awakened Seven Curses, the weak inverted cultivation, nor the even weaker natural cultivation.

It was his soul.

Being unable to use it to his full extent was one of his greatest regrets, but he fully trusted its power.

While his body could be depleted of Blood Essence, while he could lose the powers granted by the Seven Curses, and while his cultivation could be crippled with relative ease, his soul was not something easily influenced by external forces.

Throughout the ages, his soul was tempered. Year after year, tragedy after tragedy, loss after loss. It was the only aspect of him that had reached a level where no one else in his world could.

And now, it was being harmed by an unknown silver river.

Feeling his soul being damaged, Lucian was enraged and almost killed the bat in the river to sever the connection.

That was when he noticed Gong Cai rushing after it.

Why isn't he pursuing the ones escaping? Lucian thought, gritting his teeth inwardly and restraining himself from killing the bat.

Originally, Lucian had only wanted to gather information about Bai Xiaomeng and, if possible, rescue her without endangering Wang Chen’s life. However, he came to realize his planning had been flawed.

Despite never admitting it aloud, the reason he hadn’t entered the building beneath the Sword Formation Banner was that he had recognized how dangerous it was. That formation was at least at the Foundation Establishment level, and he had no idea how it functioned.

If the being behind it noticed his connection to Bai Xiaomeng, it could use her as a hostage, and his whole plan would be worth less than a fart. Besides, those silver lights were very strong. He would likely die if struck by thousands of them.

At least, I planted a few seeds. I’ll come back later, he thought through the pain, letting Gong Cai pursue the drowning bat without interference.

Previously, when he spread the Rune of Lust and said he would be back, he unleashed it until it came into contact with the young people. He used his voice to plant mental seeds, while ensuring that Qi Zhi and Gong Cai would focus on his regeneration.

He didn’t know if his plan would work, or if his enemies would find and cleanse the mental seeds. For now, he would prioritize escaping. And to survive and gain more information, he didn’t mind enduring the pain in his soul, even if it unnerved him greatly.

As the river carried the bat downstream and the other two creatures searched for a way out under Lucian’s control, Gong Cai was sweating bullets.

He had been following the bat, waiting for it to leave the water so he could strike and then pursue the others, but as time passed, he was beginning to lose his mind.

“Old Qi Zhi,” he muttered through gritted teeth. “What kind of Qi technique can maintain its form inside a Sword Vein tributary for so long?!”

Never once had he seen anything last for so long within the silver river!

Whether people, objects, or spiritual techniques, everything eventually dissipated.

Unbeknownst to Gong Cai, he wasn’t the only one puzzled. Qi Zhi himself, capable of sensing presences throughout the cave, was equally stupefied.

“Cut the crap,” he shouted, his voice carving into Gong Cai’s mind. “Keep pursuing it! It will either leave the river and head toward the Sword Vein, or it will dissipate! Pursue it! Pursue it!”

Hearing the nagging voice accompanied by the painful sensation in his skull, Gong Cai gritted his teeth and continued chasing the bat. He was faster than it, and if not for the silver river, he would have attacked already.

Unfortunately, his blade techniques would simply rebound if used above the water, rendering them useless. Entering the river himself was also out of the question. Gong Cai didn’t know how the bat didn’t dissipate, but he was absolutely certain he wouldn’t last even ten seconds in there.

As they descended deeper underground, the river gradually approached a narrow crevice.

Meanwhile, after a few minutes, one of the bats fleeing through the other side of the cave found an exit, allowing Lucian to escape to the surface. At that point, he could have killed the bat in the river and used the Rune of Sloth to recover his human form. He would just drain a few mortals for that.

However, Lucian wasn’t able to suppress his curiosity.

Even as his soul was being relentlessly cut apart, Lucian chose to wait and see what lay at the end of the river. He wanted to know if fortune favoured him enough to catch a glimpse of the Sword Qi or Sword Vein, those so-called taboos feared by Grandmaster Miao.