Chapter 165 - 125: Someone Even More Sinister Has Arrived

Chapter 165: Chapter 125: Someone Even More Sinister Has Arrived

"Both the Ink Race and the Spirit Race have the ability to call for aid."

Qiu Yuehan paused. "The Ink Race are creatures with no eyes. They’re shaped like spheres, white on the left and black on the right, and they look like oversized blobs of ink. They’re not easy to deal with."

Lu Changyuan had never heard of this race, nor had he ever seen it mentioned in any records. They must have been wiped out during the ancient war of the Ten Thousand Races. Only an Old Monster among Old Monsters like Qiu Yuehan would know even a little about them.

The Moon Fairy raised her sword. "You or me?"

Lu Changyuan was slightly surprised. He sheathed Broken Thought and gestured for her to proceed.

This was the first time Lu Changyuan had seen an uninjured Qiu Yuehan, at her full power, use her sword.

Miao Yu’s Thirteen Swords—Moon on a Rocking Boat.

The light of the sword seemed to create ripples in the rain, spreading out slowly. With unstoppable power, it crushed the ink monster in the downpour. But it wasn’t over, for the next sword strike arrived in an instant.

Xuan Ying!

This was Lu Changyuan’s Winter Sword.

Under the difficult tutelage of the Little Fairy and Jiang Jiayi, Qiu Yuehan had been forced to rapidly master the Four Seasons Sword Technique.

As it was currently winter, this Sword Move was inherently more powerful. In Qiu Yuehan’s hands, it became utterly terrifying, tearing the very clouds in the sky asunder.

Xue Yanluo stared at Qiu Yuehan in disbelief, a hint of fear now in his eyes.

’This chief disciple of Miao Yu Palace should be at the Half-Step Fifth Realm. Even if she had a fortuitous encounter in the last six months and broke through to the Fifth Realm, she shouldn’t be this powerful.’

’What kind of Fifth Realm cultivator can tear the sky apart?’

Lu Changyuan’s kind.

Lu Changyuan stroked his chin. ’Even I find that sword strike of Qiu Yuehan’s terrifying.’

’Such a fierce Moon Fairy, such a fierce sword.’

Xue Yanluo grunted, panting as if on his deathbed. "The reason I said you two can’t get out either... Once the rain stops, you should go see for yourselves. The road out of this village no longer exists. I tried a few days ago, but no matter how I walk toward the exit, I always end up back in the village."

This domain-like barrier wasn’t here a short while ago. But seven days ago, Xue Yanluo discovered that everything had changed. Monsters appeared in the rain, and the road at the village entrance became blurry. By then, even if he wanted to leave, he couldn’t.

They did not have to wait long.

Perhaps because it was daytime, the ink rain was wary of the sun’s light. Or perhaps it feared Jiang Jiayi on Celestial Mountain Peak. Either way, the rain stopped quickly.

Qiu Yuehan said, "The rain has stopped. Shall we go take a look?"

Lu Changyuan nodded.

They left Bai Wei’s house. The ink rain that had fallen on the ground began to fade, dissipating bit by bit. The snow that had been dyed black, yet to melt, gradually returned to its pure white color.

It seemed the downpour was the Painting Demon’s Magic. Now that the Magic had failed, everything naturally returned to its original state.

It wasn’t until they reached the village entrance that Qiu Yuehan spoke softly, "He has the aura of death on him."

Although she had yet to take charge of the Path of Death, the Moon Fairy could still tell that Xue Yanluo was dying.

Lu Changyuan nodded. He had naturally seen it too. "His Yin Yang Qi is in turmoil. Could it be a backlash? But from his appearance, it doesn’t seem like he’s forgotten his own gender."

For a practitioner of the Yin-Yang Dao, forgetting one’s own gender would result in an immediate backlash from the Dao itself.

But Xue Yanluo was clearly still very much a man, so it was a mystery why the backlash was so severe.

Following the path they had taken, Qiu Yuehan and Lu Changyuan arrived at the village entrance.

"We can’t get out."

At a glance, the blurry path ahead looked no different from when they had arrived. But upon closer inspection, a hazy quality could be seen along the roadside.

Lu Changyuan spoke, crouching down to look at the hazy space. "If you keep walking down this road, you’ll eventually turn around and head back."

It was like the "ghost walls" of folklore—you can get in, but you can’t get out. This wasn’t a real ghost wall, however, but a far more advanced form of Magic.

The Painting Demon had erased the very concept of an "exit." No matter which way one walked, they could only take the path of the "entrance," which, as Xue Yanluo had said, led back into the village.

Qiu Yuehan raised her sword. "Shall we force our way out?"

Seeing the Moon Fairy eager for a fight, Lu Changyuan could only say, "No rush."

This was a creation of the Painting Demon, once known as Yao Guang but now fallen to the Sixth Realm. Anyone else would indeed find it very difficult to get out.

But was Qiu Yuehan just "anyone else"?

Obviously not.

The Painting Demon’s ability to erase concepts was already an insidious technique in the Cultivation Realm. But next to Lu Changyuan stood someone even more insidious: Qiu Yuehan, the Nether Monarch, who could bestow the concept of death upon things that had no life.

’When it comes to insidious tricks, who could possibly out-scheme the Nether Monarch?’

Lu Changyuan gave the black-robed Fairy Qing Han a peculiar look.

Then, he found himself thinking of Qiu Yuehan’s moon-white bodice.

Qiu Yuehan was a little puzzled. "Why are you looking at me like that? Is there something on my face? Or is my dress not neat?"

’That can’t be it.’

’I was so careful about straightening my skirt when I got out of the sedan chair.’

"It’s nothing. Just looking at you. We’re in no hurry to get out, anyway."

’Why would we leave?’

Lu Changyuan stretched lazily, not the least bit flustered. He even felt a little like laughing.

’The Painting Demon has no way of killing me, or Qiu Yuehan for that matter. The tables have turned... No, from the moment we stepped into this village, the roles of hunter and hunted were reversed.’

’Since we’re here anyway, we might as well have a bite before we leave.’

’I only ate half of the Blood Demon, and I’m not full yet. Heh, this Painting Demon seems like a pretty good next course—quite filling, I’d imagine.’