Chapter 405 - 217: The Death of Jiu

Chapter 405: Chapter 217: The Death of Jiu

[Die... die... die...]

Zheng Xiu’s expression tightened, as if he had heard some kind of sound.

The cawing of Ravens still filled his ears, but two twisted words subconsciously materialized in his mind. His vision filled with a searing, asphalt-like color, or perhaps blood so thick it looked black.

He clapped his hands over his ears in surprise. Zheng Xiu felt that, for a single moment, he had somehow understood the meaning behind the Ravens’ caws.

The instant he understood the sound, a hallucination of the word "Death" appeared before him.

’Did I just accidentally learn some weird new Skill?’

Zheng Xiu wondered to himself, but he had no time to dwell on it.

"They’re here! Blindfold yourself, quick!"

The Monk gritted his teeth, took out a piece of black cloth, and obediently tied it over his eyes. As for the horse, he would just have to guide it by feel.

The "dark clouds" that blotted out the stars and moon were actually tens of thousands of Ravens. Zheng Xiu had encountered a few of them on their journey, deliberately waiting a moment before killing the stragglers. After this happened several times, Zhu had seen through the Ravens’ eyes and deduced their northbound route.

Raven after Raven collided madly in the sky, shattering into flesh and bone as their feathers rained down. The mangled flesh and blood gradually twisted together in the darkness, congealing into a black, misty mass. A jet-black passage suddenly ripped open within the mass. From it, a horrifying wing composed of countless pale little hands, each as thick as an infant’s, unfurled.

"NEIGH—"

The horse beneath them reared up in terror, its hooves flailing. A moment later, the whites of its eyes showed as it crashed into a large tree by the roadside.

A terrifying aura swept through the sky. Animals, with their keen senses, were the first to feel the threat.

Zheng Xiu and the Monk kicked off from the horse, dismounting at the same time. With his eyes covered, the Monk lost his balance for a moment and tumbled to the side.

Thousands of Ravens circled at high speed under the moon, forming four high walls. From a distance, it looked like a black storm, and right now, Zheng Xiu and the Monk were in its eye.

"Die... die... die... herald death... die... ya..."

The Crow Fosterer struggled out of the Passage, its ten-meter-long, twisted wings spreading wide. The infant arms that formed them made sharp, cracking sounds. Once again, Zheng Xiu vaguely understood the meaning within the cawing—it was like hearing the word "Death" over and over.

Zheng Xiu’s eyes widened, and he touched his ear again in bewilderment.

’I think... I can really understand bird language now?’

’But that doesn’t matter anymore.’

’We only get one good chance.’

’Once Zhu realizes we’re trying to blind him in one go, he won’t let the Crow Fosterer out so easily in the future.’

"Caged Sparrow!"

Zheng Xiu’s chest pulsed. In an instant, black markings spread across his entire body, fangs sprouted, and a white, bony mask covered his face. A single illusory wing grew from his shoulder blade. After so long, Zheng Xiu had once again assumed the white-masked, fanged "Caged Sparrow form."

He suddenly threw the long, oilcloth-wrapped bundle from his back into the sky. "Come and get me!"

[Taunt]!

Zheng Xiu’s roar instantly drew the Crow Fosterer’s attention. The tattered blindfold over its eyes seemed to burn away, turning to ash. Five blood-colored eyes flashed with a crimson light.

The Crow Fosterer originally had six eyes. It had consumed one when it "killed" Zheng Baimei the first time, leaving only five!

Zheng Xiu flapped his wing and soared into the sky.

Boundless black energy surged from behind the Crow Fosterer, coalescing into feathers that shot toward Zheng Xiu like a volley of arrows.

SWISH!

A beam of black light shot from the distant sky like a dark meteor. In a flash, it wiped out all of the Crow Fosterer’s attacks, clearing a wide path for Zheng Xiu.

「Ten li away.」

Feng Bei stood in the dark of night, her feet lightly touching the top of a tree, her long hair dancing in the wind.

A faint sadness touched her face. The towering shadow behind her was still as immense as a a mountain, but the weapon it held was no longer a giant Horse-Cutting Saber, but a menacing Curved Bow.

A faint, spectral Curved Bow also appeared in Feng Bei’s hands. From ten li away, she closed her eyes and drew the bow to its limit.

"Lend me your Archery, Xie Luohe."

Feng Bei condensed the "Omen" capable of annihilating all living things into an Arrow and nocked it on her Longbow.

With a sigh, Feng Bei tilted her head as if to listen, then released her three fingers.

What she was listening to was the "Sound of All Things."

The streaks of black light, arrow after arrow, flew faster and faster.

In an instant, countless streaks of light punched innumerable holes through the Crow Fosterer’s pair of wings.

As fast as lightning, Zheng Xiu flew under Feng Bei’s cover. The inky light streaming from his wing was like a sharp blade, slicing the night in two.

"Die!"

The Crow Fosterer swayed in the night sky, riddled with wounds from the arrows. Just before Zheng Xiu reached it, the second of its five remaining eyes suddenly burst, spraying bright red blood.

He had even closed his eyes beforehand, but he was still hit. In truth, at such close range, when the Crow Fosterer activated its Miracle Technique, Zheng Xiu would have been affected whether his eyes were open or not.

A "Suicide Technique" that could only be performed with "Blindness" as its Restriction was far beyond the scope of ordinary Miracle Techniques.

A Krypton Life Technique.

Like [Zheng Baimei] of the past, the [Zheng Shan] Incarnation’s skin began to crack and weather, drying up bit by bit, turning to dust that scattered in the wind.

His Incarnation was collapsing, approaching... death!

"Here it comes!"

Instead of being alarmed, Zheng Xiu laughed. His eyes shone with spirit. With a rattle of chains, his right palm became covered in blood-red eyes.

A bizarrely shaped paintbrush, bound by chains of eyeballs, appeared in Zheng Xiu’s grasp. With a casual wave, his crumbling body, his very flesh and blood, transformed into a sky full of swords.

All surrounding sound vanished. The world froze, if only for an instant.

An instant of Life and Death Struggle.

"A Krypton Life move? Who doesn’t know one of those?"

Zheng Xiu grinned. In that moment, his sword-heart achieved clarity, and from one principle, he understood a thousand.