Chapter 825: Risking It All!
As the heavenly airship sped through the air, Mistress Red-Dust continued to glance over at Bai Xiaochun, her mood fluctuating unstably. Conflicting emotions appeared in her eyes as she thought back to the battle prowess and techniques he had just put on display.
In the end, she decided not to say anything. Instead, she closed her eyes and focused on trying to recover as quickly as possible. She had received serious injuries, and wouldn’t be back to normal any time soon. Although she could temporarily suppress the effects, that would only work for a short time before she experienced an intense backlash.
As she sighed bitterly in her heart, Bai Xiaochun focused on piloting the heavenly airship. At one point, he suddenly looked over his shoulder in the direction of Lei Shan.
That was when the sound of a shocking explosion could be heard. Everything behind the heavenly airship shook violently as a massive shockwave rolled out.
Several thousand kilometers back, the mountain of boulders exploded out in all directions as the Undying Hex collapsed… and a tall, burly figure appeared!
It was none other than Lei Shan!
No expression could be seen on his face, but he was visibly injured, and seriously at that. Gaping holes could be seen all over him, some of which passed through his entire body. This time, although the wounds continuously healed themselves, it caused the black light in his eyes to begin to fade. And yet, that didn’t stop him from flying up into the air to give chase.
“Impossible!” Mistress Red-Dust blurted in shock. “All those divine abilities you used just now injured that corpse trooper even more than I did! How could he still be chasing us!?!?”
Bai Xiaochun didn’t say anything in response, but his expression turned grimmer. Inwardly, he already knew the answer to the question: it had everything to do with Gongsun Wan’er herself. Although he wasn’t sure of the exact details, he was convinced that it was the case.
“Gongsun Wan’er probably isn’t free yet… hopefully….” However, he couldn’t be sure. Eyes bloodshot from mounting anxiety, he released the helm of the heavenly airship, allowing it to slowly come to a stop. Then he turned and went to stand at the stern, where he looked out at Lei Shan, who was closing in on them from a distance of several hundred kilometers away.
“If I don’t kill him,” he thought, “it’s going to be hard to get away. The longer he continues to hound us like this, the more danger we’ll be in.”
Calming his aura, he reached out with both hands. Eyes glowing, he drew on the power of his cultivation base and simultaneously said in his heart, “Waterswamp!”
Instantly, mist began to roil out in all directions, covering the airship and spreading out to fill a 500-kilometer area!
At the same time, because of how the airship had stopped moving, Lei Shan entered that very 500-kilometer area, and was within the world of mist!
As he entered, Bai Xiaochun’s eyes glittered with killing intent. Dropping his hands, he uttered the next word in his heart.
“Kingdom!!”
Waterswamp Kingdom!
As soon as the full technique was called upon, the entire 500-kilometer area became an enormous, watery swamp. At the same time, the howl of some beast could be heard, seemingly echoing from the distant past, filling the area with power that would be shocking to anyone who could hear it!
Lei Shan’s eyes flickered with black light as he suddenly stopped in place and prepared to back up. However, before he could, the howling of the beast grew more intense, and spikes like enormous mountain peaks began to rise up in the entire 500-kilometer area!
Each and every spike contained mountain-toppling, sea-draining power which filled the air with rumbling sounds as they sped madly toward Lei Shan.
Lei Shan shivered violently, and all of the wounds which had been in the middle of recovery split open, causing black blood to spray out everywhere. He tried to fall back, but before he could, five curved spikes encircled him!
Those five spikes looked like mountain peaks, and they were not arranged in a neat row, but rather, were staggered! Furthermore, as soon as the spikes shot up in to the air, they were followed by what appeared to be an entire continent!
If one looked carefully, it would be possible to see… that it was the clawed hand of some enormous beast!!
The spikes that were the mountain peaks grew off of the clawed hand, and considering how big they were, one could only imagine how huge the hand was!
Those so-called mountain peaks were actually the talons!
As for the ‘continent’, it was actually… the palm of the hand! Although it was clearly visible, it was only a portion of it. And despite the fact that Bai Xiaochun had already glimpsed his life essence spirit on numerous occasions, he was just as shaken this time as he always had been in the past.
As of this moment, that enormous clawed hand seemed to surpass heaven and earth as it closed around Lei Shan!!
The events playing out virtually defied description! No matter how Lei Shan struggled, no matter how he tried to flee, he couldn't escape. He howled in defiance, and the black light in his eyes grew more intense. Black smoke even began to rise up off of him, which formed into the shape of a young girl's head, hovering above his own.
That head let out a miserable shriek as the enormous beast hand slammed into Lei Shan!
A deafening boom echoed out. The ground quaked violently, and then shattered into countless pieces. As for Bai Xiaochun, he coughed up a mouthful of blood and staggered backward. He had already used his Undying Emperor’s Fist to save Mistress Red-Dust, and now he was using this divine ability. This combination had him completely and utterly drained and exhausted.
The clawed hand faded away, leaving behind… nothing but an enormous crater!
It was hundreds of meters wide, and was devoid of mountains, of plants, of vegetation, of anything! It was completely shattered and empty, except for… the corpse of Lei Shan!
He was completely shattered. He lay there unmoving, his legs crushed, his head twisted oddly to the side, his body hardly recognizable as human. And yet, that black glow still flickered in his eyes. It was almost as if the blow Lei Shan had just received was stimulating to him, and actually caused him to recover faster. In the blink of an eye… he yet again flew up into the air!!
The black glow had clearly been reduced by almost half. Furthermore, his aura was greatly weakened compared to before. And yet, the fact that he was still in the fight caused Bai Xiaochun’s heart to fill with despair.
“What kind of recovery power does he have?!?!” he thought, his eyes flickering with madness. Lei Shan could be beaten down relatively easily, but could not be killed. It was enough to leave anyone bristling with anger. Anyone, even a deva, who sustained such injuries would be teetering on the verge of being wiped out for good. And yet here Lei Shan was, rapidly recovering.
Mistress Red-Dust remained silently off to the side, looking at the rapidly recovering Lei Shan as he flew out of the crater. As of this point, she knew that he could not be killed, and that it would be difficult to escape him. Time was of the essence, and she wasn’t sure how long the sealing effect of her Red Dust Violet Road would last.
As soon as that person who bore the visage of Bai Xiaochun emerged, then Mistress Red-Dust knew that she and Bai Hao… would be killed beyond the shadow of a doubt.
With such thoughts on her mind, she looked over at Bai Xiaochun. The divine abilities and magical techniques he had used, including the Waterswamp Kingdom, had caused the gears in her head to begin to turn. But now was not the time to ponder the issue deeply. As of this moment, both of their lives were on the line! She closed her eyes for a brief moment, then forced them to open again. When they did, they shone with the desire to do battle. Without any hesitation, she forcibly suppressed all of her injuries and leaped up into the air.
Instantly, her deva cultivation base roared to life. All of a sudden, she seemed back to normal, like she was once again the sergeant major of the Giant Ghost Legion. Flicking her sleeve, she coolly said, “Get out of here, Bai Hao. The sealing effect limiting communications can only stretch for so far. You absolutely must report this matter to my father the Giant Ghost King. And notify the Grand Heavenmaster too. The person controlling this puppet… has consumed vast amounts of life force, and is clearly intent on bringing disaster to the Wildlands!!”
Not bothering to wait for a response from Bai Xiaochun, she flew off of the heavenly airship toward Lei Shan!
A tremor passed through Bai Xiaochun. All of a sudden, a familiar feeling filled him. Watching Mistress Red-Dust flying off made him feel like he was back in the Luochen Mountains, nothing more than a trifling Qi Condensation cultivator!
A moment later, he spoke, his veins of steel audible in his voice as he said, “Give me the time it takes an incense stick to burn, Zhou Zimo! After that… I’ll take care of everything!”
Instead of piloting the heavenly airship away, he quickly entered a private chamber below the main deck, set up a spell formation, and sat down cross-legged. Then… he took out his turtle wok!