33: Chapter 33 Facing the Enemy Head-on (Part 1)

The Old Daoist in Yellow Robes' voice, urgent and hoarse, rasped out like a broken bellows.

It carried an unprecedented gravity and warning.

Beads of sweat rolled down his withered face.

His murky eyes were fixed unwaveringly on the rampaging black shadows.

"These... are no ordinary demons or evil spirits. They are the true elites of this buried era, the favored sons of that epoch who, treading over mountains of corpses and oceans of blood, enduring countless slaughters, were ultimately assimilated and twisted by the times...!"

Ding Qing's movements hitched slightly. His gaze, sharp as a blade from beneath the shadow of his hat brim, stabbed toward the old Daoist.

"What are you trying to tell me?"

His voice was thick with the scent of blood and disdain.

The old Daoist gasped for breath.

The "Black Mountain" within him seemed to grow even more restless with the arrival of the shadows, causing another trickle of blood laced with black Qi to spill from the corner of his mouth.

"They bear part of the Origin imprints of that era. Within this fragment of the past, they are nearly... undying and indestructible!"

"Our power can only temporarily scatter and suppress them, but cannot utterly annihilate their existence!"

His bony, trembling finger pointed toward the still-expanding rift in the sky.

Pointed at those endlessly surging, ravenously devouring shadows:

"Every time we forcibly disturb the imprint, rouse them, and slay them, what we summon next... will be them, drawn from a deeper, closer-to-their-Peak state of this past imprint!"

Deep apprehension flickered in the old Daoist's eyes.

"The more we kill, the stronger they become! Until... this fragment of the past is dragged completely toward its final moment of destruction.

Welcoming their terrifying forms from the height of their power!

By then, we will be like turtles in a jar, doomed for all eternity. Only by finding the Blade Master and borrowing his power can we turn the tide!"

He stared fixedly at Ding Qing, a trace of grim determination deep within his murky eyes:

"Do not linger in battle! Do not indulge in momentary satisfaction! Suppress your Qi and blood, and follow this old man to break through!

Finding the Blade Master is our only path to survival.

Otherwise... we will be buried here today, turned into nourishment for the lingering obsessions of this past, sinking into eternal damnation!"

BOOM——!!!

Almost the instant the old Daoist's words fell.

One of the nearest twisted black shadows, its form noticeably more solid than the others.

Seemed utterly captivated by the terrifying, blazing, supremely Yang, and supremely fierce Qi and blood burning like a torch upon Ding Qing's body.

It abandoned its pursuit of fleeing ordinary people, letting out a shriek brimming with greed and savagery.

Its viscous dark form stretched and contorted violently.

Like a venomous serpent choosing its prey, it surged toward Ding Qing, enveloped in a Yin-cold Death Qi that could freeze the Soul, pouncing to devour him.

Its speed was ghostly fast! Its might, far surpassing anything encountered at Phoenix Mountain!

The obsessions of an era's heroes, even if just a shadow from an imprint of the past, their ferocious power was still monstrously fierce!

Ding Qing's fist tore through the air, carrying the force of ten thousand jun, and smashed toward the pouncing solid shadow!

"ROAR——!"

The shadow emitted a shriek that set teeth on edge. Its viscous body, the moment the fist made contact, warped and contorted bizarrely, like flowing water.

The force vanished like a clay ox entering the sea, only stirring up violent, nearly dispersing ripples of darkness.

...

...

"Boom!"

The pouncing shadow was sent flying backward, smashing through half a mud-brick wall. Its viscous dark body churned violently before exploding with a roar.

Immediately, deep within the rift, darkness churned violently. An even more ferocious, more condensed roar exploded.

A larger shadow, with a more hideous form, its body wreathed in nearly solidified resentful black Qi, descended with bone-piercing Yin cold, pouncing down at an even greater speed!

Endless to kill, stronger with each battle!

Ding Qing had already lost count of how many he had shattered.

Despair, like icy seawater, for the first time truly breached the dam of his molten-lava-like Battle Intent.

The muscles coiled like iron all over his body trembled at a high frequency. The nine black restraining patterns beneath his skin throbbed madly.

Yet his Aura was no longer as ferocious and domineering as before; instead, it revealed hints of exhaustion and weakness.

With every punch thrown, every stomp to execute the Eight Steps of the Heavenly Dragon, a tearing, mournful cry came from deep within his bones and sinews.

The roaring torrent of his Qi and blood became sluggish and heavy.

His proud Great Perfection Iron Cloth Shirt golden body had now become a target constantly leaking vitality.

Those black shadows locked onto him with greed.

Every pounce.

Every contact of Aura.

It felt as if countless icy straws pierced his flesh, forcibly siphoning away that supremely Yang, supremely fierce essence of life.

Fatigue, like maggots clinging to bone, spread madly from his limbs and bones, eroding his will, solid as bedrock.

"Thud!"

A claw from a shadow, fast as a ghost, finally broke through the blockade of his fist wind and tore viciously into Ding Qing's side.

A piercing screech, like metal scraping metal, sparks flying.

Intense pain, mixed with an invasive force of Yin-cold deathly stillness, followed the point of impact, drilling viciously inward!

Ding Qing grunted.

The stone slab beneath his feet exploded. For the first time, his body was shaken, staggering back half a step.

From his side came a long-absent, bone-deep chill of intense pain.

He jerked his head up. Beneath the shadow of his hat brim, those eyes burning with molten lava were finally shrouded by a trace of icy gloom.

Can't kill them! Truly can't kill them!

Every all-out effort to annihilate them merely fed stronger monsters to this damned "past imprint."

This very world itself was his enemy!

"Hah... hah..."

Ding Qing's breathing was ragged, his chest like a tattered bellows.

He glanced to the side.

The Old Daoist in Yellow Robes was in worse shape than him.

His withered frame teetered precariously. The coarse cloth official robe was already torn to shreds by the shadows.

His exposed skin was covered with blue-black, frostbite-like marks. The blood trickling from his mouth was now thick with black Qi.

But his murky old eyes were fixed solely on Ding Qing.

There was no urging, no blame within them.

Only a kind of calmness—the dead stillness of one who had long foreseen the outcome.

He was waiting.

Waiting for Ding Qing to recognize this cold reality himself.

Waiting for this proud Vicious Beast to lower its own head before the cage of despair.

Another shadow, nearly twice as large as before, descended from the rift with a suffocating Aura, roaring down like a collapsing mountain.

A massive claw swept out, its trajectory tearing through space clearly visible!

Its target was directly Ding Qing's head.

Can't withstand it!

A direct block would result in severe injury!

Time to go!

"GO——!!!"

A roar, like that of a wounded Vicious Beast on the brink of death, finally exploded from deep within Ding Qing's throat.

The sound carried a towering Aura, along with icy resolve.

He no longer looked at the terrifying shadow bearing down on him. All his remaining Qi and blood blazed forth. The nine black patterns instantly seemed on the verge of bursting from his body.

Eight Steps of the Heavenly Dragon!

"SHREEE——!"

The sonic boom of air being brutally torn apart pierced the eardrums.

Ding Qing's figure left behind an almost solid afterimage where he stood.

His true body, however, had transformed into a black lightning bolt skimming the ground, no longer seeking lethality, only pursuing extreme speed.

His target: straight for outside the city!

A flash of sharp light appeared in the Old Daoist in Yellow Robes' murky eyes. Without the slightest hesitation.

The moment Ding Qing's roar left his mouth, his hunched, withered form clung to the trajectory Ding Qing tore open like a clinging bone-maggot.

A bony finger pointed out.

A corner of the massive Black Mountain flashed briefly in the air before rapidly spreading a series of invisible ripples behind the two.

The massive claw of the pouncing shadow slammed viciously onto the ripples.

BOOM——!!!

Like a mountain collapsing and the earth splitting!

Violent shockwaves and the power of the Black Mountain clashed fiercely, annihilating each other.

The old Daoist's body shook violently. He spat out another mouthful of black blood, his face instantly turning ashen as paper, his Aura wilting to its limit.

But this obstruction bought the two a sliver of life in the nick of time!

Two figures shot forth like arrows from a bow.

They crashed through the billowing dust and the chaotic, fleeing figures, flying toward the teetering city gate of Baiye City.

[Multiple successful direct confrontations. Obtained stronger points: 3200 points.]

[Current points: 3210 points. Can be used for deduction or enhancement of martial arts.]