Ever since he had been appointed the Inferno Kingdom"s Grand Vizier, Situ Cang had always basked in the glory of the looks of admiration from his subjects. It had been an incredibly long time since the last time Situ Cang was reduced to such a tragic state.
Every single bone in his body had been crushed and shattered by old man Chi"s aura. All of his defensive talismans, accessories and ornaments had been completely spent as well. Presently, he laid motionless on the floor, no better than a living corpse. If not for the momentary shallow gasps of air that he took, anyone who pa.s.sed by would almost certainly mistake him for a corpse.
"Cough, cough…" Situ Cang"s head drooped down as he coughed out two swathes of blood. His bulging eyes were bloodshot and filled with a depraved gaze, while his body was completely soaked through with blood. At this moment, he looked no different from a demon that had just crawled up from the depths of h.e.l.l.
Even though old man Chi had not taken his life, his injuries were nevertheless incredibly grievous. As soon as old man Chi departed from this place, he had practically taken out two-thirds of the best medicinal pills within his Interspatial Ring, stuffed them all into his mouth and swallowed them. Otherwise, with such terrifying injuries, even three full months of rest might not be sufficient for him to regain his ability to move.
Situ Cang"s heart was filled with hatred, but he knew that there was nothing he could do against old man Chi right now - old man Chi"s was simply too powerful.
All he could do right now was to recover as best as he could and leave this place as soon as possible.
It was soon dusk. Once night falls, the entire Mystic Woods would be fraught with even more dangers. His subordinates had been completely wiped out by old man Chi in the blink of an eye, and he was now all alone. He knew he had to tread carefully if he wished to return safely to the Inferno Kingdom.
He supported his body and slowly struggled to clamber up to a sitting position. Yet this seemingly simple action took Situ Cang one incense of time to complete because of the extent of his injuries. He leaned on his hands as he sat on the floor. His breath was haggard as he laughed maniacally, "Spare me today, regret it tomorrow! I, Situ Cang, swear that I shall one day personally flay your skin and cut your nerves!"
As Situ Cang swore his revenge, his vicious gaze swept across those several Dawn Sect disciples that were lying motionless on the floor.
Even though the object of Situ Cang"s revenge was somebody else, these disciples still couldn"t help but tremble in trepidation.
It could have been a misperception, but the disciples were almost certain that Situ Cang had gazed directly at them when he said that he was going to personally flay their skin and cut their nerves.
Situ Cang"s injuries had not been any worse than that suffered by the disciples. In fact, the four people who suffered the most grievous injuries around were Situ Cang, Ke Xinwen, Qin Lingyu and Yu Wanrou.
Nevertheless, Situ Cang possessed several high-quality medicinal pills, and his cultivation level had been far higher than the Dawn Sect disciples" cultivation levels to begin with. Therefore, he was the one who managed to recover sufficiently to clamber to his feet first.
Yet how could Situ Cang have known any earlier that old man Chi"s punishment on him was much more than meets the eye -
"Ahh— My cultivation level! Why has my cultivation level fallen to the Nascent Soul stage?!! Ahh—"
Situ Cang had initially intended to enter into a meditative state in order to expedite his recovery process. Yet once he sent his spiritual energy flowing around his body, he immediately discovered a huge problem.
His cultivation level had fallen! It had fallen straight from the secondary-tier Immortal Ascension stage of cultivation to the advanced-tier Nascent Soul stage of cultivation!
Situ Cang did not possess great talents for cultivation. Otherwise, he would never have had to resort to these various dishonest and vile practices in order to painstakingly increase his cultivation level. He had spent a whopping one thousand five hundred years of time before he painstakingly ground his way up from the advanced-tier Nascent Soul stage of cultivation to the secondary-tier Immortal Ascension stage of cultivation. How could he have known that he was going to be beaten back to the same old state as before?
In other words, his efforts over the last one thousand five hundred years of time had been completely wasted by old man Chi. If he wished to regain his secondary-tier Immortal Ascension stage of cultivation once more, he might quite possibly require an even longer time than he did before.
How could this not make him mad?!
The bulging vein on Situ Cang"s forehead began to throb uncontrollably. His eyes bulged out, and his arms trembled as he muttered to himself, "It can"t be. This has to be a mistake. Yes! It"s a mistake. I"m going to check it again!"
Situ Cang closed his eyes and sent his own spiritual energy flowing about within his body once more. This time, he spent a far longer time as he meticulously checked the condition of his body.
Not far away, the Dawn Sect disciples began to tremble in their own skins as well. All of them began to stuff more and more medicinal pills in their mouths. They had only one goal right now - and that was to get well enough to leave this place before Situ Cang exploded with fanaticism.
Their intuition told them that if they continued to stay here any longer, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Unfortunately, lady luck was not on their side. When Situ Cang opened his eyes once again, both of his eyes had already become completely bloodshot.
This was the state of a cultivator experiencing a demonic upheaval!
"Die!" Situ Cang suddenly leapt to his feet and swung his hand at the Dawn Sect disciple closest to him. Bang! A loud tremor rang out, and that disciple instantly exploded into nothing more than traces of blood and gore.
A warm, crimson mush comprising fresh blood, flesh and bones splattered all over the other disciples" bodies, rendering them momentarily frozen with shock.
After what must have felt like eons to the disciples, someone finally came to their senses and screamed out -
"Ahh—Martial brother Ke is dead! He"s dead!!! Ahh—"
This exclamation was like the key that unlocked the floodgates to a dam. Within moments, the entire surroundings were filled with the tragic and pathetic cries of the Dawn Sect disciples. All of them were either exclaiming that "martial brother Ke is dead", or they were shouting "run"…
That"s right. The one that Situ Cang had killed was none other than Ke Xinwen. Ke Xinwen could only count it on his own dumb luck that he had been located closest to where Situ Cang had been.
Ke Xinwen"s death had seemed to draw out the hidden reserves of strength within the rest of the disciples. Within moments, several disciples managed to clamber to their feet. Their bodies were still screaming out in pain. Every time they mustered the spiritual energy from the depths of their bodies, their meridians and Dantian would feel as though they were burning with fire. Even then, their tolerance for such pain surged when faced with the threat of imminent death.
However, it was already too late to begin running for their lives now.
Situ Cang had thoroughly lost his mind as a result of his fallen cultivation level. His bloodl.u.s.t roiled, and he was now reduced to nothing more than a killing machine. At this moment, the disciples thoroughly regretted their decision to follow the Grand Vizier in his pursuit of Jun Xiaomo and Ye Xiuwen. If they had a choice right now, they would definitely choose to abandon this G.o.d of death behind and run as far away as possible. They would never come close to him ever again.
But, did they really have a way out of this predicament right now?
In the end, each and every single one of the disciples found themselves lying helplessly on the ground within moments. Some were dead, while the others were heavily injured.
Situ Cang had evidently found it too boring to simply kill all of these "vermin" before him. Therefore, he decided to have a little bit of "fun" with those who were still alive.
The Dawn Sect disciples who were still alive found themselves experiencing what anyone would easily describe as a glimpse of h.e.l.l. They witnessed the cruel deaths of their martial brothers. From their skin, to their flesh and innards, then to their bones - these disciples were stripped off layer by layer, until they were finally reduced to nothing more than a puddle of b.l.o.o.d.y pulp.
Before they died, they had even moaned in agony and anguish. Some of these disciples had even cast spiteful and odious gazes at Qin Lingyu.
This was because Qin Lingyu was the one who had accepted the Inferno Kingdom"s task to begin with. If not for the fact that Qin Lingyu coveted the Inferno Kingdom"s national treasures, would they find themselves even close to such a predicament right now?!
Qin Lingyu naturally saw the hatred in his martial brothers" eyes. Yet he coughed up a few mouthfuls of blood and turned his pale face away to avoid their gazes.
His own life was in danger right now! Where would he find the heart to care about what his martial brothers thought right now?
Just then, a loud, piercing shriek rang out - it was a lady"s voice.
"Lingyu! Lingyu, quick, save me! Lingyu!!!"
As it turns out, it was none other than Zhong Ruolan who had been travelling together with Qin Lingyu. Her injuries were hardly grievous at all, and she would have fully recovered with a few more hours of rest. Yet little did she know that she would lose her life to the frenzied Situ Cang right now.
Faced with such a crisis, the only person that she could seek help from was that man whom she loved, Qin Lingyu.
Regrettably, her cries for help had been in vain. Inch by inch, Situ Cang began to crush and grind up her bones and flesh in her body, causing her to wail and shriek in pain, anguish and despair.
These shrieks were incredibly earsplitting. Perhaps this might have been what got on the frenzied Situ Cang"s nerves as well, because within moments, he waved his hand, and Zhong Ruolan"s head immediately separated from his body.
Her head fell onto the ground and rolled towards Qin Lingyu"s ear. Her head was almost soaked entirely in crimson-red blood, and her eyes remained wide open as they seemed to lock eyes and glare directly at Qin Lingyu!
She had died with a remaining grievance!
Qin Lingyu was so horrified right now that he began to climb backwards. Then, his hand b.u.mped into another person.
"Ahh--!" Qin Lingyu yelled out in shock. He turned around in jitters as he looked towards who he had b.u.mped into, and he was met with another pair of eyes that was filled with fear and dread.
However, those were eyes that had not slackened yet - they were still spirited and focused.
It was Yu Wanrou"s eyes.
After Zhong Ruolan had perished, only two Dawn Sect disciples remained alive at those grounds - Yu Wanrou and Qin Lingyu.
"Save me! Martial brother Qin, save me!" It was as though Yu Wanrou had managed to grip onto her final lifeline. She wept and wailed as she clung tightly to Qin Lingyu"s arms. Tears and mucus ran all over her face, and her appearances were a complete mess. She was a far cry from the proud and seductive lady she had always appeared to be.
Naturally, Qin Lingyu hardly had the heart to be concerned about Yu Wanrou"s beauty at this moment either.
Qin Lingyu had always been a cold and distant person. Given any normal day, he would already be reticent to put himself in harm"s way to save a person whom he did not consider to be valuable or useful to him, much less in moments of crisis like this.
And this was the case, even if that person had once been his "true love".
Once Situ Cang killed off the rest of the disciples, he began to make his way over towards Qin Lingyu.
In Situ Cang"s eyes, there were only two more "vermin" to exterminate.
Qin Lingyu grabbed hold of Yu Wanrou"s wrist, and a bright gleam flickered across his eyes -
Once Situ Cang drew close enough, he planned to use Yu Wanrou as fodder to s.h.i.+eld himself from Situ Cang.
Yu Wanrou did not notice the surrept.i.tious flicker in Qin Lingyu"s eyes. The anxiety and dread in her heart had completely inhibited her judgment. Right now, she had even thought that Qin Lingyu was grabbing onto her arm because he intended to protect her.
Yu Wanrou"s heart was moved. Her blood and tears were strewn all over her face right now, and her vision was blurry. Nevertheless, she anxiously muttered, "Martial brother Qin, I"ve got some spiritual water with me right now. It"s highly effective in healing wounds and injuries. Hurry up and drink it. Once you do, there will be hope for our escape."
As Yu Wanrou spoke, she immediately retrieved a bottle of spirit spring waters from her Interspatial Ring.
Earlier, she had been worried that others might grow suspicious if her injuries recovered too quickly. Thus, she had resisted the temptation of using these spirit spring waters. But given how the crisis had escalated to where it was right now, she knew that she would never be able to escape from Situ Cang"s grasp with her own abilities. Furthermore, Qin Lingyu"s actions made her think that he still loved her. Therefore, she had revealed the trump card that she had hidden close to her heart.
Qin Lingyu received the spirit spring waters immediately and hurriedly drank its entire contents. Then, a warm sensation immediately coursed through his meridians and Dantian and engulfed his entire body, and the pain experienced by his body rapidly subsided.
This is excellent! Incredible!
A bright glimmer flickered across Qin Lingyu"s eyes. That said, he still had not abandoned his plan to use Yu Wanrou as a meat s.h.i.+eld for his own escape.
Then, Situ Cang"s attack finally arrived. Qin Lingyu"s hand tightened around Yu Wanrou"s wrist. Just as he was about to pull Yu Wanrou in front of her, a wave of immense sword intent ferociously extended horizontally between Qin Lingyu and Situ Cang, cutting off and interrupting Situ Cang"s attack!
In fact, this wave of sword intent was filled with such turbulent energy that it instantly knocked Situ Cang back!