Chapter 133 - Paper Tiger (Part II) (Patreon)

“Old Qi Zhi, are my eyes playing tricks on me, or is that foul creature still underwater?” Gong Cai asked through gritted teeth, shifting his gaze between the black bat and the crevice farther ahead.

In less than a minute, the silver river would plunge through the crevice and connect to the Sword Vein buried deep underground. Once the bat came into contact with it, Gong Cai had no idea what would happen.

Meanwhile, Qi Zhi was thinking about the entire situation, analyzing who could be powerful and bold enough to make a move against them. After hearing Gong Cai’s remark, he shouted, “Brat, don’t play around! If the Sword Vein is damaged under your watch, you are as good as dead!”

“I know that!” Gong Cai shouted back, tightening his grip on the axe’s handle as the painful spikes in his mind intensified.

Hearing Qi Zhi through spiritual communication was never pleasant.

Ignoring the pain, Gong Cai calculated that he had a few seconds to act before the bat reached the crevice and entered the Sword Vein. Gnashing his teeth, he unleashed his peak-stage Qi Condensation cultivation and controlled his Qi through the Dantian near his heart to enhance his body.

He abandoned the idea of using a blade technique or blade lights, sprinted along the riverbank, reached the crevice before the bat, and turned around.

Picking up the severed head hanging from his waist and setting it on the ground, he narrowed his eyes. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he disconnected the meridian linked to the axe’s handle and let the weapon fall.

The moment the axe left his hand, Gong Cai could no longer hear Qi Zhi’s voice, and his mind relaxed slightly. Then, taking a deep breath, he endured the itching sensation spreading through every inch of his body as the huge amount of Qi flowing through him strained his twelve meridians and seven chakra points.

Without delay, he kicked off the ground and jumped into the river.

His Qi was consumed almost completely as the silver waters rushed over him, carrying the sensation of countless blades cutting, slashing, piercing, and twisting through his flesh.

Gong Cai protected his eyes so he wouldn’t lose sight of the bat devoid of Qi. Then, he thrust his massive arm forward, intending to slap the tiny creature away, while he bled from all seven orifices.

As he did so, patches of skin peeled from his arm, exposing muscle and bone beneath.

The physical damage was accompanied by soul damage that Gong Cai lacked the cultivation to recognize.

Just as his bleeding hand was about to touch the bat, the motionless creature, which had allowed the current to carry it until then, turned its head.

Crimson light flashed from the bat’s eyes as a voice echoed in Gong Cai’s mind, formed from pure intent and speaking in a devilish tone.

“I understand now.”

Coughing blood from the wave of intent that struck him, Gong Cai saw the world around him turn crimson as hands surged from below and dragged him downward.

Kicking at his assailant, he glanced down to see what was attacking him and froze.

The mummified body of the woman Lucian had killed was pulling him into the depths.

“Gong Xi...” he tried to mutter underwater, grief flooding his heart along with the temptation to let the crimson ghost drag him into the underworld.

Then his mind cleared, as his damaged soul fought back against the illusion.

Feeling the pain throughout his body intensify and noticing his Qi reserves were about to run dry, Gong Cai unleashed a burst of Qi around himself, propelling himself out of the river.

He landed heavily on the shore, coughing blood and fragments of flesh. Fortunately, once outside the river, the silver water clinging to him became indistinguishable from ordinary water, crystalline in colour and liquid in texture.

With patches of skin missing and deep slashes carved through his muscles, he looked at the black bat drifting through the current and passing beyond the crevice.

Then, rising to one knee, Gong Cai stumbled toward his axe and picked it up. The moment he reconnected the meridian to the handle, Qi Zhi’s furious voice exploded inside his head.

“What have you done, you fool?!” Qi Zhi screamed. “That creature is about to reach the Sword Vein—”

“It used a spiritual technique underwater,” Gong Cai interrupted, his eyes cold despite the pain twisting his features. “An illusion technique.”

Hearing that, Qi Zhi sneered in anger.

“Have you lost your mind?! It’s impossible to use a Qi technique inside those waters,” he snapped, sending another spike of pain through Gong Cai’s skull. “Go! Go! We must intercept it!”

“Old Qi Zhi!” Gong Cai shouted, slamming his free hand into the cave wall and cracking stone. “It used a Qi technique! That creature is either that previous cultivator in disguise, or it serves as a medium for his attacks!”

“Brat, don’t—”

“Stop bullshitting, Formation Spirit,” Gong Cai shouted in anger, watching as the bat entered the crevice and fell into the Sword Vein. “You know what we must do.”

Although he couldn’t see it, Gong Cai was certain the giant silver banner was trembling in a mixture of fear and rage within their underground camp. Then, clicking his tongue and giving the crevice one last hateful look, Gong Cai turned around, picked up Gong Xi’s head, and began walking back toward the Sailor School.

Noticing his movements, Qi Zhi said, “What are you doing? Go check on it! Follow the hidden tunnels to the Sword Vein!”

“I refuse,” Gong Cai answered, glancing at his axe. “We should have known that no random cultivator would make a move here. I’ll report this to Teacher Zhi Jian.”

With a stuttering voice, Qi Zhi said, “Wait! There’s no need to bring Master into this! Go there—”

“That being didn’t try to take the disciples and only attacked one of them to distract us and flee,” Gong Cai said, interrupting Qi Zhi. “He didn’t touch Teacher’s bottom line, so he’s aware of the taboo, but is still going to the Sword Vein. You know what that means.”

Qi Zhi remained silent after that.

Noticing the lack of a response, Gong Cai sheathed the axe on his back and slowly tended to his wounds with minor healing techniques, careful not to worsen his condition. He wanted nothing more than to kill Lucian, but going to the Sword Vein was a death wish. And he needed to be alive to get his revenge.

Meanwhile, Lucian controlled two bats to hunt sleeping mortals through the slums and drain their blood to recover Blood Essence, while most of his attention remained fixed on the bat falling into the darkness.

He felt the pain in his soul lessen as the silver water gradually lost its properties and reverted to ordinary crystalline water. Even this lingering pain was merely residual damage caused by using the Rune of Lust while his soul had been suffering under the river’s countless slashes.

Lucian had acted because he saw Gong Cai’s body peeling apart and came to understand that only a powerful soul could protect the body from the river’s effects, weakening in the process.

As a result, he had been able to drag the cultivator into an illusion and escape the previous attack with relative ease.

It’s time to discover what is so special about this Sword Vein, Lucian thought as he saw nothing but darkness, none of his senses picking up anything unusual.

It was also completely silent, and there was no smell besides his own.

This continued until the bat crossed an invisible threshold, and Lucian felt as though ten thousand swords had struck his soul simultaneously.

All the bats vomited blood, freezing as their eyes burst.

Within the dark space that was his Sea of Consciousness, Lucian’s image wavered as an overwhelming sensation assaulted his soul. A feeling of death washed over him alongside a flood of unknown information, heavily damaging part of his memories and, unknowingly to him, helping the Resonant Sea Ancestor to be almost free.

The moment he sensed the crisis spiking, he commanded the bat near the Sword Vein to explode into a blood mist, severing the connection before any further damage could be done.

Next, he felt that whatever had happened had cut into the foundation of his soul, leaving a permanent mark. The force behind it was so overwhelming that, for a brief instant, Lucian managed to see his own Sea of Consciousness.

There, he saw a silver crack stretched across the darkness, larger than a mountain range.

Because he was far too weak, he couldn’t maintain a connection with the Sea of Consciousness and barely looked into the crack.

Yet before his vision faded, he caught a glimpse of what that silver scar was made of.

Those are memories! Lucian thought before passing out along with the two remaining bats.