novelraw Chapter 248 : A Debt of Blood Must Be Paid with Life—A Heavenly Law!
Chapter 248 : A Debt of Blood Must Be Paid with Life—A Heavenly Law!
Chapter 248: A Debt of Blood Must Be Paid with Life—A Heavenly Law!
Crippled Taoist Mourner stepped back and asked solemnly, “This is our first meeting, Fellow Daoist. We bear no grudge nor feud... Oh no—Ye Zhiqiu, quickly return this Fellow Daoist’s storage pouch!”
Mid-sentence, Crippled Taoist Mourner finally remembered that he had just robbed him of his storage pouch.
Not knowing what Ji Yuan intended, Ye Zhiqiu had no choice but to toss the storage pouch he had handed over.
Ji Yuan caught it with one hand.
The previously empty storage pouch now, upon being retrieved, was already filled to the brim.
Spirit stones, spiritual artifacts, along with various pills and talisman papers—it was unclear whose pouch Ye Zhiqiu had scraped them from, but now they had all fallen into Ji Yuan’s hands.
Ji Yuan stowed the pouch away before replying, “That’s not what I was referring to.”
“What, then?”
Crippled Taoist Mourner frowned and asked.
“No matter. You’ll understand once you’re dead.”
As Ji Yuan spoke, his gaze swept to the side toward Ye Zhiqiu...
Sensing Ji Yuan’s glance, the latter actually took the initiative to send a voice transmission: “If you really can kill him, then just do it! That wisp of divine soul can’t kill me!”
Hm?
Ji Yuan was quite surprised by this statement.
Ye Zhiqiu had handed her own divine soul to Crippled Taoist Mourner. By reason, her life should’ve hung on his whim. Yet now she claimed... Crippled Taoist Mourner couldn’t kill her?
What kind of technique was this?
Was it her own creation or a legacy she had inherited?
Ji Yuan thought that if he could acquire such a technique, he’d be even better at swindl—ahem comforting others.
Like that time he encountered Plum Manor—he could’ve simply offered a wisp of his divine soul.
If Plum Manor had his divine soul, they’d certainly trust him, and then he could truly reap the benefits!
“Alright.”
Since Ye Zhiqiu said as much, Ji Yuan naturally agreed without hesitation.
Back at Ghost-Seeking Pit, Ji Yuan had already wanted to kill this Crippled Taoist Mourner, but lacked both the chance and the strength at the time.
Now that they’d crossed paths again... and with Real Person Heaven Silkworm—this so-called “Real Person Crippled”—by his side...
And Crippled Taoist Mourner was even injured...
If not now, then when?
With that thought, Ji Yuan no longer hesitated.
As a half-shadow appeared beside him, Crippled Taoist Mourner’s eyes narrowed sharply.
A thousand thoughts in his mind finally condensed into one word—run!
He suddenly pushed Ye Zhiqiu forward. “You stop this Core Formation!”
Then he turned and fled.
A proper Core Formation cultivator—even if only half his body remained—was not someone a Pseudo-Core cultivator like him could confront head-on. Fleeing was the only sensible option; fighting to the death could wait.
Ye Zhiqiu, pushed forward by him, did not make a move.
Nor did Ji Yuan command Real Person Heaven Silkworm to strike her.
The two passed by each other.
Seeing this, Crippled Taoist Mourner realized something was wrong. “Traitorous wretch—what use are you!”
With that, he crushed the wisp of divine soul Ye Zhiqiu had given him.
Ye Zhiqiu, unharmed moments before, suddenly staggered. Her face turned deathly pale, and her aura instantly dropped from Peak Foundation Establishment to Late Foundation Establishment.
After steadying herself, she wiped the blood from the corner of her lips and glared resentfully toward Crippled Taoist Mourner in the distance, sneering, “Old bastard, didn’t expect that, did you?!”
“Damn it!”
Crippled Taoist Mourner grew slightly flustered, slowing down, and was immediately caught up by Real Person Heaven Silkworm.
Real Person Heaven Silkworm floated above the Endless Sea, riding his escape light. His half-ruined body was strikingly exposed under the blazing sun.
Once a Core Formation cultivator of immortal grace and dignity, he was now reduced to a charred half-body, with twisted and knotted muscles and bones at the severed end, wrapped in black, deathly rotting flesh—barely holding together.
Yet his cultivation... continuously fluctuated between Core Formation and Pseudo-Core.
Knowing he could no longer flee, Crippled Taoist Mourner stopped. He raised the snake-headed cane in his hand.
The snake’s eyes were crimson, its vertical pupils icy cold. Two ghastly white fangs curved like hooks, and strands of dark green poison gas silently seeped from its mouth, curling around the cane and dyeing the surrounding seawater in an ominous ghostly green.
“Jie jie jie jie...”
Crippled Taoist Mourner let out a sharp, tooth-aching cackle, the sound piercing through the Endless Sea and clearly stabbing into Ji Yuan’s ears.
“A Corpse Servant? A Core Formation-stage Corpse Servant? Boy, no matter who you are, once I kill this Corpse Servant, you’re next!”
Crippled Taoist Mourner hadn’t survived this long by being stupid.
As he spoke, he pushed his divine sense to the limit, attempting to detect fluctuations in Real Person Heaven Silkworm’s divine soul due to his unstable cultivation.
At the same time, the snake-headed cane in his hand trembled faintly, and a wisp of formless, intangible demonic miasma slithered silently across the sea’s surface like a venomous snake.
Real Person Heaven Silkworm remained silent. The glint in his left eye was icy and unwavering. But just as the demonic miasma neared his feet—
Buzz!
A giant net, nearly transparent and as thin as cicada wings, abruptly appeared beneath him!
Its strands were hair-fine but incomparably tough, laced with faint metallic gleam and a deathly gray-white aura.
The massive net dipped slightly, catching the sneaking wisp of miasma with perfect precision.
Sizzle sizzle sizzle!
Like cold water hitting boiling oil, the trapped miasma thrashed violently, releasing ear-piercing corrosive sounds.
Heavenly Net’s metallic essence sparkled, entwined with deathly energy. The two forces together tightly bound the poisonous aura, rapidly erasing it before the naked eye.
With his sneak attack foiled, Crippled Taoist Mourner no longer probed. He slammed his cane down hard!
Boom!
Where the tip struck, the sea surface collapsed into a massive depression.
Vast magic power surged out, frantically injecting into the ocean.
In an instant, dark green poison burst forth like an exploding ink sac, spreading madly. Within moments, a dozen-mile radius of seawater turned into a foul, sticky toxic mire. From it, a pure venom-formed emerald-green poison water arrow condensed—its color vivid like jade—whistling with a sharp screech as it tore through the air, shooting straight for Real Person Heaven Silkworm’s face!
Wherever it passed, even the air hissed and corroded.
Ji Yuan watched this scene from the shore with wide eyes but made no move to interfere, letting Real Person Heaven Silkworm act freely.
Against a Pseudo-Core cultivator just one step away from Core Formation... Ji Yuan, even if he acted, could only use talisman treasures or the Spirit Energy Cannon.
Facing the venomous demonic arrow, Real Person Heaven Silkworm’s remaining eye remained lifeless—but his movements were swift as a ghost.
His mangled left arm suddenly swung at an unnatural angle!
Rip—
Dozens of “Heaven Silkworm Threads,” gray-white and glinting with sharp metallic energy, shot out from the broken part of his torso.
These threads, as fine as hair, were incredibly tough and sharp. Instead of directly blocking the arrow, they wove and tugged through the air with uncanny agility!
Buzz!
Like invisible hands plucking harp strings, the fierce poison arrow was forcibly torn apart and scattered by the threads!
Most of the poison was redirected into the toxic mire below, stirring up more dark green bubbles, while the rest was neutralized by the threads’ metallic and deathly auras.
Real Person Heaven Silkworm swayed, his aura clearly dipping once more... falling back into the Pseudo-Core realm.
But he didn’t pause. As he dispersed the poison arrow, he suddenly flicked the Heavenly Net—which had previously trapped the demonic aura!
Whoosh—
The remaining traces of demonic energy on the net fused with metallic energy, transforming into dozens of sharp, gray-gold poison needles. Like a rain of thorns, they blotted out the sky as they shot toward Crippled Taoist Mourner.
Each needle carried the power to pierce metal and stone and the decay of death itself.
Crippled Taoist Mourner’s pupils shrank. He hadn’t expected the Corpse Servant to be this ruthless.
He raised the snake-headed cane horizontally before him, and the snake’s mouth spewed poison mist that thickened tenfold in an instant.
The mist spun rapidly and condensed, forming a massive dark green Bone Shield covered in hideous skull reliefs before Crippled Taoist Mourner.
The Bone Shield radiated a cold, filthy aura, shrouding the entire area.
Puff puff puff puff puff...
A rapid succession of impacts rang out. Most of the poison needles embedded themselves into the Bone Shield, entangled by the dark green demonic poison miasma.
The few that slipped through were blocked by the protective black light from his demon robe.
However, the metallic sharpness and deathly aura carried by those poison needles inflicted a violent impact on the demonic bone shield. Fine cracks spread across the skull reliefs on its surface, and Crippled Taoist Mourner's figure swayed slightly.
Clearly, that strike had inflicted serious damage on him.
Flames of rage surged in Crippled Taoist Mourner’s heart.
He slapped a dusty gray pouch at his waist.
“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”
Three streaks of black qi burst out!
Upon hitting the sea surface, they transformed into three pitch-black refined corpses, their eyes burning with ghastly green ghostfire, bone spurs protruding from their joints.
These refined corpses moved stiffly but with astonishing speed, treading across the waves, leaving behind streaks of putrid water, and charged toward Real Person Heaven Silkworm in a triangular formation!
“Playing with corpses? You’re not the only one who knows how!”
That line was clearly directed at Ji Yuan. Immediately after, Crippled Taoist Mourner formed a series of hand seals, demonic qi surging violently around him.
“Wailing Soul... Devour Heart!”
A formless mental shockwave, laced with sharp, eerie crying, burst out from Crippled Taoist Mourner’s body.
At the same time, he swung his snake-headed staff again, unleashing waves of thin, serpent-like, even more refined emerald-green poison needles hidden within the Wailing Soul's cry—soundless and invisible—as they shot toward Real Person Heaven Silkworm’s vital points.
Refined corpses assaulting.
Wailing Soul–Devour Heart disrupting.
Poison needles ambushing.
Three-pronged, ruthless, and sinister!
Real Person Heaven Silkworm’s mangled body suddenly froze.
His remaining divine soul was indeed affected by the demonic cry of the Wailing Soul. With the three ghastly refined corpses closing in, their claws and fangs brimming with corpse miasma lunging toward him, and poison needles like shadows about to strike—
At that critical moment, a cold glint in Heaven Silkworm’s only remaining eye suddenly exploded in brilliance.
He abruptly opened the half of his mouth that was still intact and let out a sharp, inhuman screech:
“Sssgah!”
This screech was not sound but a technique he had cultivated during life—a spiritual energy burst infused with his own corpse miasma and death qi.
Though far weaker than it was at his peak due to his fallen cultivation, it still carried a brutal aura of destruction as it slammed into the Wailing Soul’s demonic sound.
Buzz!
Two formless mental forces clashed violently in the air.
The interference of Wailing Soul was mostly shattered in an instant.
Seizing this brief window and the mental turbulence caused by the clash of divine souls, Real Person Heaven Silkworm didn’t dodge—on the contrary, his broken body launched forward like a cannonball, slamming straight into the fastest of the charging refined corpses.
“Pff.”
“Crack.”
The refined corpse’s razor-sharp claws tore deeply into Heaven Silkworm’s ruined body!
But at the same time, his Heavenly Net appeared again—this time not to defend, but to strike!
It suddenly spread out, ensnaring the refined corpse that had grabbed hold of him, and even caught the other nearby refined corpse along with it.
Close.
Real Person Heaven Silkworm’s remaining true essence surged wildly into the Heavenly Net, which instantly constricted tight. The metallic filaments of the net shredded and tore with blinding sharpness!
“Awoooo!”
Amid inhuman shrieks, the two refined corpses—normally tough beyond belief—were diced into pieces by the net’s razor-sharp threads as though they were tofu.
Putrid black-red blood and shattered organs churned with metallic qi, turning into blue smoke, then completely devoured and purified by the deathly aura flowing within the net.
The final refined corpse, shocked by the brutal end of its companions, hesitated for a moment—just long enough for a Heavenly Thunder Seed to shoot in from afar and explode right in front of it.
Ji Yuan had finally acted.
Boom—!
A thunderous explosion rocked the area. Even the poison-swamped sea below was blasted into a hollow, and all the drifting poison needles in the air were blown away.
Real Person Heaven Silkworm’s body was flung dozens of feet by the shockwave.
“Courting death!!”
Crippled Taoist Mourner roared in fury and panic, his eyes burning with killing intent as he watched his three refined corpses destroyed in an instant.
“Ten Thousand Serpents Devour the Heart!”
He raised his snake-headed staff high, and demonic essence from his core surged like a broken dam into the green serpent head at the top. The serpent instantly came to life, its crimson eyes glowing with blinding blood light, its poison fangs expanding violently!
“Sssss— Crack!”
What sprayed forth from the serpent’s mouth this time was no longer poison mist or needles, but a flood of millions of fine toxic serpents—purely condensed from poisonous demonic essence—surging in a dark green torrent.
Each serpent wore a hideous face, brimming with corrosive and soul-devouring power, forming a massive “sea of serpents” that blotted out the sky and roared down toward the already heavily wounded Real Person Heaven Silkworm.
This strike drained nearly all of Crippled Taoist Mourner’s pseudo-core magic power—a desperate, full-scale extermination move!
The sea beneath the serpents boiled and vaporized in their wake, rising into thick clouds of dark green toxic smoke.
Real Person Heaven Silkworm’s one remaining eye locked onto the incoming torrent of deathly green. Without expression, he poured all his remaining magic power into his life-bound artifact—Heavenly Net!
“Vmmm... woooo...”
A low, mournful hum emerged from the Heavenly Net.
The transparent net, about ten feet wide, began to tremble violently.
The once-glimmering metallic threads dimmed. Strands of silkworm thread, gray-white and sticky, emerged directly from Heaven Silkworm’s body, flooding into the net before him.
And with them, his already damaged body visibly shriveled like a deflated balloon.
Infused with this flood of gray-white silkworm thread, the Heavenly Net swelled more than tenfold.
It was no longer transparent—it became a thick, viscous gray-white curtain, exuding a dense aura of death.
Its surface no longer bore fine netting, but was now layered with tightly packed silkworm thread, completely filled and covered—forming a nearly solid barrier.
Across its surface, metallic essence manifested as roaming razor-sharp spikes, covering the barrier like gleaming blades.
Real Person Heaven Silkworm extended his only remaining left hand and pushed the massive gray-white barrier forward, meeting the oncoming sea of serpents head-on.
Boom rumble rumble—
As if a thousand muffled thunders exploded over the poisoned sea!
The dark green torrent of serpents slammed into the gray-white barrier.
In an instant, a cataclysmic energy shockwave blasted outward in all directions.
The sea below was crushed into a massive pit several feet deep by the invisible force. Water roiled and boiled, forming an inverted trumpet-shaped vortex.
Toxic demonic essence collided violently with corpse miasma and death aura.
“Zzzz-la—”
A fierce hissing of corrosion rang out. The barrier shook violently, massive craters corroded across its surface. The sticky silkworm threads burned with pungent smoke, dissolving and snapping under the venom’s assault.
The sea of serpents was not unscathed either. Countless serpents burst upon impact with the barrier.
They were torn apart by the indomitable metallic sharpness of the barrier.
More serpents rebounded outward from the shockwaves, splashing back into the sea, boiling vast swaths of water into thicker, bubbling poison.
The clash held for roughly three to five breaths.
All the while, Ji Yuan observed silently, finally appreciating the strength of this Pseudo-Core cultivator—this Crippled Taoist Mourner. If he hadn’t brought this Core Formation corpse servant along today... he might not have been able to take him down!
But now... after a few breaths, the sky-darkening serpents were finally shredded by the Heavenly Net.
And not only that—after annihilating the serpent sea, the Heavenly Net locked firmly onto Crippled Taoist Mourner, who now looked like a spent lamp with dried oil.
After unleashing everything he had—especially that last move, which was essentially a head-on clash with a Core Formation cultivator—he still lost!
To be selected by a Nascent Soul old monster to serve as Jiang Hong’s guardian—Real Person Heaven Silkworm, even in death, even with only half a body remaining—was no match for a mere early Core Formation cultivator.
The battered Heavenly Net pressed forward without pause, descending upon Crippled Taoist Mourner’s head.
With a single sweep, it pulled the old demon into the net.
“Aaaaah!!!”
Amid a wail that sounded like a funeral dirge, Crippled Taoist Mourner was pulled into the Heavenly Net.
Having reached his absolute limit, the Pseudo-Core cultivator had no strength left to resist. He could only let out one final scream as even the black robe he wore—near the level of a supreme-grade spiritual artifact—was shredded into pieces by the net.
Instant death.
Ji Yuan wasn’t about to let this opportunity go to waste. Stepping on his Wind Locust Flying Boat, he dashed forward.
First, he retrieved the storage pouch from Real Person Heaven Silkworm’s hand, then raised a black banner with his right hand.
The Thousand Souls Banner emerged. Ji Yuan formed seals with his left, and stirred the air with his right. A single yin soul was drawn in, feeding the growth of this evolving spiritual artifact.
He finally looked at the remains of Crippled Taoist Mourner, his body heavily decayed...
Forget it—might as well bring it back. Let Yin Child stitch it up later, bury it in the Grave Mound, and see if anything comes of it.
At that thought, Ji Yuan waved his hand and collected Real Person Heaven Silkworm—who had also suffered tremendous depletion—into his storage pouch.
As for the poisoned sea...
Without spiritual energy replenishment, it would dissipate on its own soon enough.
Riding his flying boat, Ji Yuan returned to the shore. Ye Zhiqiu now looked at him with clear respect and fear.
“You...”
Before Ji Yuan could speak, a pale blue escape light rose from the island, tracing a curve and landing right in front of him.
Before the person arrived, the voice had already come:
“Whose brat are you, going out with a Core Formation Corpse Servant escorting you?”