novelraw Chapter 451: The Dangerous White Bone Flower
Chapter 451: The Dangerous White Bone Flower
Jin Yuan demanded: “Who are you?”
She did not believe this woman had stumbled upon them by accident. The woman must have been watching them for some time, perhaps even knew her and Tu Xiao. It might even be that Tu Xiao had been her target from the very start.
Yu Zhao, of course, did not answer Jin Yuan. She tightened her grip on Tu Xiao’s bracelet, delight surging in her eyes. Tu Xiao was the Earth Clan’s young patriarch, a master of Formation Arts; his Storage Space would certainly be packed with formation tools and materials. Yu Zhao had coveted his storage treasure for a long time but knew the difficulty and never dared reveal it. She had not expected that, here in the Land of Divine Remains, she would obtain it without lifting a finger. In truth, she ought to thank Jin Yuan.
Jin Yuan saw Yu Zhao’s meaningful gaze and, for no reason she could name, a restless fury rose in her chest and she wanted to tear the woman to pieces. She pressed again, her tone colder as a chill-edged blade formed at her fingertip: “Who are you really?”
Yu Zhao smiled: “Take a guess.”
At the word, both women moved at once, one withdrawing and one advancing.
Killing intent and wariness flickered across Jin Yuan’s face. Since this woman had seen her kill Tu Xiao, she could not be allowed to live. She must die.
But as Jin Yuan flashed toward Yu Zhao, several streaks of light shot in from different directions. Terrifying forces collided with a thunderous boom, raising waves of air.
Jin Yuan’s figure blurred as she slipped past the incoming strikes by a hair’s breadth. She glared toward the Cultivators who had attacked her, only to find their eyes bloodshot and their blows indiscriminate; they were attacking everyone, not just her.
When she looked up again, the woman’s figure had already been swallowed by the crowd and vanished.“Despicable wretch,” Jin Yuan growled, hatred burning like blood in her heart.
By then Yu Zhao had already altered her face and, using Concealment, blended into another knot of people. While guarding against sudden assaults from those nearby, she kept one eye on the movements of Ancestor Sui Bian.
The old ancestor had already slipped to the position closest to the White Bone Flower. But he was not alone there; several Cultivators of comparable strength ringed the area. Though their eyes were veined with scarlet, they had not lost their senses. As they fought, none used their full strength; each held something back.
The ancestor tried to break through and rush forward, but the others blocked him together and even joined forces to strike at him, turning him into the target of all.
Yu Zhao grew anxious. As the number of deaths mounted, the stamen of the White Bone Flower was clearly beginning to change. If it evolved any further, it could very well produce something astounding.
While she was thinking how to help the ancestor shake off his encirclement, an old crone feinted an attack and, taking advantage of the moment when no one was watching, suddenly flashed to the White Bone Flower.
Ancestor Sui Bian saw it clearly. He could not help widening his eyes and shouting. By the time the others looked over, they saw the old crone pluck the White Bone Flower and, without hesitation, swallow both flower and stem whole. Her lips opened and closed, and a sound like bones grinding rasped out.
Ancestor Sui Bian slapped his thigh in fury: “It’s over. We’re dead for sure.”
An Integration Cultivator, unwilling to let another take the White Bone Flower, leaped forward with a pallid green light glowing in his palm. A strange green sheen flickered in his pupils. Before he could get close to the crone, a titanic force exploded from within her body and hurled him away. No one spared him a glance; every eye fixed on the old crone.
Her hair, once white and thin, turned black and lustrous. Wrinkled skin smoothed and grew supple and pale; the murk in her cloudy eyes cleared like a newborn’s. In the blink of an eye she looked decades younger, restored to youth.
Hands trembling, she stroked her absurdly smooth cheek, mist welling in her eyes as she breathed: “My lifespan has been extended.”
At that, envy flashed across every face. Even Ancestor Sui Bian, who had found the White Bone Flower eerie, could not help wavering at its miraculous effect. If he could be a little younger, would that not be…
The fanciful thought had barely taken shape when a shriek dragged him back to reality. Before their eyes, the crone’s radiant skin melted like burning wax, running in hot rivulets to expose scarlet flesh and gleaming bone. Ancestor Sui Bian stumbled back several steps, the rolls at his waist quivering with fright.
Her screams grew more and more piercing. Then a white gleam flared beneath the bones. A sheath of light wrapped around her Nascent Soul as it tried to flee the body, but it was as if an invisible Barrier had been set over her. No matter how the white light slammed and battered, it could not escape. In the end, the crone’s Nascent Soul dissolved along with all her flesh, and where her skeleton toppled, a White Bone Flower swayed in ghastly bloom.
Those Cultivators who had been on the verge of losing their minds finally fell completely silent. The White Bone Flower was no cultivation treasure to aid their advancement, but a death-dealing ghoul.
Ancestor Sui Bian’s eyes rolled, and he snorted: “That is enough to scare you off? If you do not dare take it, I will.”
He strode forward toward the White Bone Flower. The others wavered, their gazes locked on him, but none dared to move first.
Ancestor Sui Bian halted before the pile of bones. The White Bone Flower above made his skin crawl. He could not help glancing back and, with a soft grunt, searched the crowd.
Where was Yu Zhao?
Where was his excellent junior Yu Zhao?
He scanned the faces several times and finally found someone baring their teeth at him; only then did he realize that Yu Zhao had changed her face again for reasons unknown. The instant he recognized her, a strange calm settled in his heart, and he even felt a surge of heroism, the kind that vowed to protect his junior even at the cost of his own life.
“What are you dawdling for? If you’re going to pluck it, then pluck it,” a bystander snapped, shattering the feeling Ancestor Sui Bian had so painstakingly built up.
He shot the man a vicious glare, then turned back and, under countless watching eyes, slowly reached out his hand.
Up close, the White Bone Flower was crystal clear, possessed of a peculiar, mesmerizing beauty. Ancestor Sui Bian’s gaze glazed for an instant. His reaching hand grew gentler and gentler, as if afraid to harm the delicate blossom with a careless touch.
At the very moment his fingertips were about to brush the petal, his face changed. His fingers clenched into a fist and he smashed it down at the White Bone Flower: “Ha ha ha, you ghostly thing, did you think you could bewitch me? I, this ancestor, am not so shallow. Die!”
He poured his full strength into the punch. A razor crack of sound boomed through the sky. Even the Cultivators who had been muddled by the flower’s allure snapped back to themselves at the deafening shock; their ears rang. As for the White Bone Flower facing that fist, it began to crumble beneath the pressure of the onrushing wind before the blow even landed. Bone splinters burst, and countless streams of black vapor surged out at once.