700 A Stroke From the Faded Pas (2/2)
One of the Nine Primeval Seals, the Yin-Yang Seal!
A Yin-Yang Seal with the Frost-eye Crystal as a catalyst!
Gu Xiaosang shivered with the cold, and her face grew pale as the golden flames began to desecrate her person. Together with Meng Qi, who was also trembling with the cold, she endured the blow.
A crack appeared on the Frost-eye Crystal. Another use of the ore will fully exhaust its powers and it would no longer be useful as a material for forging Divine Weapons!
”Crack!” The loud snap came from afar. The Sun God had stepped through the anomaly, crossing from the past into the present. A mere glance from him would have been sufficient to disintegrate Meng Qi and Gu Xiaosang.
Suddenly his aura dipped and plummetted. His body began to shrink rapidly as if the decay of Time was flaying his outer skins!
More than tens of thousands of years had passed since the age of the Gods. The Sun God should have long perished and his powers spent, yet his physical form remained. Within its form was the power that could still lay waste to the entire land!
By passing through time, the Sun God had taken too close a step to his own death as the instantaneous blight of Time gnawed at his body. With barely any power left to stare at Meng Qi, he summoned his remaining strength and rekindled the flames of his body, blazing with multitudes of colors before turning into a streaking light of rainbow colors that zipped through the freezing ice and entered Xi's forehead.
Without any ado, the freezing ice spreading around Xi instantly melted. He opened his eyes which now had fiery orbs of suns in them as if preparing himself to meld with the flames of the Phoenix.
The frozen mask on his face broke into pieces and fell off, revealing his gnarled face. It was reduced into ashes before its fragments even reached the ground.
Xi coughed up some blood—blood that burned with flames. He turned away from them haphazardly and left.
He had fallen into a very weak state, a state of frailty that Meng Qi could not understand, and both he and Gu Xiaosang could not help but feel aghast by this change.
Meng Qi watched the figure of Xi disappear into the distance before he finally heaved a sigh of relief. He suddenly felt the soreness and weariness of his body weighing upon him as well as the pain of his internal injuries. He had lost even the strength to activate the Ancient Space-breaching Talisman!
Gu Xiaosang coughed lightly, her voice weak and sickly. Meng Qi struggled and made his way to her and helped her to stand. ”Are you all right?”
Despite whatever intentions the cunning demoness may have had, it was undeniable that she had just saved his life.
Gu Xiaosang smiled as she answered. Her lips were pale and colorless, with traces of blood upon it. ”I, I have saved you once again, Husband.”
Her eyes were gleaming with tears as she looked cheerfully at him, not betraying any emotion.
”Let us leave this place and find a place to heal.” Meng Qi watched her swallow a healing elixir and he took a Bhaisajyaguru Relieve Pill himself.
With difficulty, Gu Xiaosang raised an arm and pointed into the distance. ”There are some ruins there.”
Meng Qi looked closely into the distance. The blood that Xi had vomited was still burning, and the tongues of the flames were hemmed with golden sparkles. It looked similar to the flames sent forth by the Sun God earlier. Beside the puddle of blood were several fragments that glittered like amber.
He suddenly had an idea. He walked toward the fiery blood, took out the Fiery Core of the Grand Sun, and placed it in the flames.
In no time, the Fiery Core of the Grand Sun shone brightly as it absorbed all of the fiery blood, leaving not even a drop. It now looked more like a miniature sun, with a greater amount of heat and horror contained within.
A look at the ore told Meng Qi that its grade had elevated, so the number of times it could be used had increased as well.
”The Sun God would never have expected that his tens of thousands of years of planning would be foiled by you. Your intrusion into his designs has forced him into aggression that resulted in only a sliver of his powers left.” Gu Xiaosang struggled to keep up with his pace. The elixir she took had begun to take effect, and her speech was no longer sporadic.
”No wonder...” Meng Qi thought quietly as he stowed the Fiery Core of the Grand Sun. He studied the amber-like fragments in his hands and found that they were pieces from a broken mirror. The cracks on the fragments hindered him from seeing his own reflection, yet it still held an inexplicably mysterious aura.
”These are fragments from the Mirror of Tomorrow!” Meng Qi exhaled a breath. He began to understand: the Mirror of Tomorrow had been taken by Xi. To think that its fragments had now fallen into his hands without much effort!
”It is not safe for us to linger, Husband. Let us move somewhere else to heal.” Gu Xiaosang suggested.
Meng Qi agreed readily. The commotion that they had caused earlier was too great to have escaped the notice of others!
He was about to move when Gu Xiaosang suddenly contorted in pain. She continued smiling as she spoke to Meng Qi. ”Can you help me, Husband? My wounds are aching.”
Meng Qi realized that it could be a ruse, but having been saved by her earlier, he could only frown and nod.
Gu Xiaosang leaned over and he caught a whiff of her sweet scent and the softness of her tender skin.
They helped each other and moved as quickly as they could in the direction of the Hall of Today under the guidance of Gu Xiaosang.
At length, Meng Qi saw a huge but empty Ashram Hall.
They stepped inside. After making sure that they were alone, Meng Qi breathed easily. Gu Xiaosang then spoke. ”The Hall of Yesterday and the Hall of Tomorrow were still intact even after the fall of the Ninth Heaven. They were mutilated and destroyed sometime later on purpose.”
”It was later destroyed? Was it done by the Thunder God who had sealed this level? Or was it someone else who came before He did?” Meng Qi thought quietly to himself. His vigilance dipped momentarily.
Just then, a slender and fair finger tapped on his chest. Meng Qi felt a flow of energy rushing into his body and restraining his Vital Spirit.
”You!” Meng Qi exclaimed immediately. He was still weakened by the drawbacks of using the Nature-involving Knack earlier. This had contributed to his inability to react quickly enough, and he could only watch blankly as Gu Xiaosang incapacitated him. ”What are you trying to do?”
Gu Xiaosang straightened herself despite her still weak aura. With a sickly expression, she smiled and plainly said, ”Guess.”