"Cang Yaochen, you listen to me—I haven't permitted you to pay me back yet."
The words were forced through Jiang Li's clenched teeth, sharp and ruthless. At this moment, Cang Yaochen's breath was as thin as a strand of silk on the verge of snapping. The extraction of half the Divine Marrow had pushed his newly reforged demonic body back to the brink of collapse. Patches of dark-gold light surged erratically beneath his pale skin—a sign of uncontrollable energy and imminent meridians explosion.
In this desolate mortal valley where spiritual energy was sparse and death hung heavy, the eyes and ears of the Sacred Ground would eventually find them like vultures scenting carrion. Jiang Li's right hand gripped the Mirror of Profound Inquiry, the scarlet stain from slaying the Divine General not yet faded from its surface.
"Xuan-Ying Secret Art: Deceiving the Heavens."
She swiped her fingertip across the freezing glass, and the remaining malice poured through the mirror, manifesting a grey, hazy illusion array at the cave entrance. It sealed their presence away from the world. Then, enduring the agonizing sting of her own tearing meridians, she propped up the swaying Cang Yaochen, leaning his broad but cold back against the rough stone wall.
"Nirvana Power—Merge!"
The cinnabar mark on Jiang Li's brow erupted in the darkness, a violent reaction to the newly absorbed marrow energy. She had no intention of following Cang Yaochen's path of gentle guidance—the way of the Evil God was only ever about plunder and destruction. She slammed her palms against his, using her own body as a furnace to forcibly pull the roaring, chaotic energy from his meridians into her own. She refined it through her blood and bone before violently driving it back into him.
This "Cycle of Life and Death" was extremely perilous. Their souls felt as though they were being drenched in molten lava, the sensation of pain doubling with every breath.
"Nngh..."
In his stupor, Cang Yaochen let out a suppressed groan, a sickly flush appearing on his deathly pale face.
Just as their lives hung by a thread, the tall grass outside the cave rustled. It wasn't the movement of a beast, but the rhythmic, measured steps of a cultivator.
"It's near here. The 'Karmic Mirror' sent down from the clouds signaled the strongest concentration of malice in this spot," a young man's voice whispered, unable to hide a nauseating greed.
"Senior Brother, the lords of the Sacred Ground said that as long as we provide the location of those two, our Qingfeng Sect will be granted entry into the outer ranks of the Sacred Ground. This is a once-in-a-century chance for our sect to rise!"
Jiang Li snapped her eyes open, the murderous intent in her crimson pupils nearly manifesting as a physical force.
Mortal lapdogs.
She cast a sideways glance at Cang Yaochen. The energy inside him was at a precarious tipping point; if she let go now, not only would he fail, but his meridians would instantly shatter, killing him. But if she allowed these men to stumble in and break the illusion, the Sacred Ground's execution decree would tear through the void and descend instantly.
Jiang Li's gaze turned ruthless. Maintaining the divine output with her right hand, she grasped the air with her left, and the Heart-Piercing Crossbow appeared silently in her palm. She bit down on the freezing string and yanked it back with her teeth—
Click.
The mechanical snap sounded like a thunderclap in the deathly silent cave.
Outside, three disciples of the Qingfeng Sect had reached the edge of the illusion. The lead disciple stared suspiciously at the seemingly ordinary pile of rubble, his longsword flickering with a thin, pale-green spiritual glow.
"Something's wrong. The placement of these stones..."
Before he could finish, a lethal black shadow erupted from the grey mist!
Thwip!
The first arrow pierced his throat with terrifying precision. The massive momentum carried his body back several meters, pinning him to a withered tree. The malice on the arrowhead detonated, making his flesh hiss as it corroded.
"Senior Brother! Who's there?! Come out!"
The remaining two disciples were scared out of their wits, swinging their swords blindly as they tried to catch a glimpse of their enemy in the mist.
Jiang Li sat deep within the cave, her face as white as paper from overextending her power. She did not reveal herself. Holding her breath, she used her teeth and her single free hand to pull the string again.
"Second."
She whispered, her left hand trembling under the strain. The bolt carried a cold, piercing wind, instantly puncturing the brow of the disciple to her side.
The final disciple broke completely. Dropping his sword, he fled frantically toward the valley entrance, his shrill screams echoing through the wasteland: "Seed of Evil! It's the Seed of Evil! HELP—!"
Jiang Li's eye twitched—she could not let him alert every sect within a hundred miles!
Ignoring the backlash, she forcibly withdrew her right hand from Cang Yaochen. The energy cycle inside her instantly turned chaotic; a mouthful of sweet, metallic blood surged up her throat, but she forced herself to swallow it. She fired the crossbow in rapid succession, three bolts forming a "triangular cage" that cut off the man's retreat.
Thud!
The disciple collapsed into the mud, his heart pierced through from behind.
Jiang Li slumped, nearly toppling over. She propped herself up against the ground, gasping for air. Before she could catch her breath, Cang Yaochen stirred.
His double pupils snapped open, and dark-gold Nirvana fire overflowed from the corners of his eyes. Sensing Jiang Li's weakness, his right hand shot out, catching her and pulling her firmly into his embrace.
"Who told you to let go?"
Cang Yaochen's voice was no longer raspy; it carried the authority and weight of a man who had walked out of a grave. Though he had sacrificed half his marrow, on this wasteland of the mortal realm, he was still an absolute sovereign.
He cast a cold look at the corpses outside and swept his hand across the air.
A torrent of dark red demonic fire roared out, instantly engulfing the entire valley. The bodies of the Qingfeng disciples and the surrounding weeds were incinerated into nothingness. Not even a scent or a grain of dust remained.
"Priest Cang, you..." Jiang Li leaned against his broad chest, listening to the thunderous beat of his heart. The tension in her nerves finally slackened for a moment.
"That old dog Cloud-Ascension hasn't given up. The Sacred Ground's bounty decree has spread across the nine provinces of the mortal realm. From now on, everyone in this world is our enemy."
Cang Yaochen helped Jiang Li stand. He looked toward the flickering lights of distant sects, murderous intent surging in his double pupils like a tide.
"Since they want the lives of the Evil God and the Asura General, then let's see if this mortal soil is deep enough to bury all these lapdogs of the Heavens."
He settled Jiang Li onto his back, the Mirror of Profound Inquiry levitating ahead to lead the way. The two vanished into the thick night. And in every corner of the mortal realm, countless greedy eyes began to slowly open in the darkness, following the karmic guidance of the Sacred Ground.