Chapter 448 – Ghost City (2/2)

However, she gritted her teeth instead and lowered her head. “Chenglu, we’ve escaped. We’ll go back right now. You have to hold on!”

Hua Chenglu forced out a smile. Just when she wanted to open her mouth to say something, a mouthful of blood gushed out. She became completely sheet-white as she said feebly, “Zijian, I can’t hold on for much longer.”

Her cultivation as a Qi Practitioner was already rather impressive, but the organs were still the weakest part of a human’s body. Countless tiny black insects were currently wreaking havoc in there. If her control over true qi was as intricate as Li Qingshan’s, then she would have been able to kill the black insects, but it was completely impossible for the current her.

Yu Zijian’s heart became filled with pain with that. Tears rolled down her face. “Chenglu, don’t be so foolish. You won’t…”

“I never thought I’d die on my first mission. How… embarrassing. Tell my elder brother that I…”

“Stop, I don’t want to hear it!” Yu Zijian covered her ears.

The black smoke let out a sharp buzz as it sneered. “Children, eat her organs!”

Hua Chenglu said, “It hurts! It hurts so much!”

Yu Zijian was filled with despair. She raised her head instinctively, wanting to look for someone to help her, no matter who it was. A stalwart figure appeared in her mind naturally, but there was nothing in the wilderness around her at all. There was only her best friend moaning in pain in her arms, on the brink of death.

Faced with a situation like this, some people would break into tears, while others would become frantic. However, her gaze gradually became determined under this unbearably great pressure.

“Chenglu, hold on. I won’t let you die. I’ll definitely kill the daemon. I’ll save you and everyone else!” Yu Zijian placed Hua Chenglu on the ground and took her hundred treasures pouch, taking off on the Nine Yang sword and flying back towards the city with determination.

Hua Chenglu extended her hand, but she was unable to say anything at all. All she could do was watch as the violet figure vanished from her vision. Afterwards, she completely fainted from the pain.

After who knew how long, the dim sky began to rain. Droplets of rain fell from the hanging clouds, stretching out into drizzle and falling onto Hua Chenglu’s face. Her face that had become twisted from pain eased up before she knew it.

Hua Chenglu felt the coldness on her face and opened her eyes slowly. The pain had already vanished from her body. For some reason, the black insects she had ingested settled down, no longer gnawing and ripping away at her body crazily. Instead, it lurked within her silently, like regular insects. Even their daemon qi had become extremely faint, almost gone entirely.

“Did Zijian succeed?”

Hua Chenglu was filled with joy from surviving. She immediately mobilised her true qi to purge these tiny insects that had lost their intelligence and only moved according to their instincts from her body. Gazing in the direction of the city gates, she frowned again before propping herself up and making her way towards the small city.

The rain grew heavier, forming a curtain before the city walls. Hua Chengzan entered through the curtain, passing through the gloomy gates and returning to the city that had almost taken her life.

The state of the city left her shocked. A large swathe of structures before her had been razed to the ground with traces of fire. This was the power of a protective supreme grade talisman Hua Chengzan had handed to her. She could vaguely make out countless charred figures on the ground, which had been washed by the rain.

Travelling further ahead, corpses appeared before her one by one. They had either been burnt to a crisp by Lightning Summoning talismans, or they had shattered into pieces after being frozen by Frigid Ice talismans. However, most of them had been pierced or cut apart. They had been slain by a sword.

“Zijian! Zijian!” Hua Chenglu became worried and called out her name. Her voice imbued with true qi boomed through the silent city, but she did not receive a single reply.

The sky grew darker, probably because it was already dusk. Finally, Hua Chenglu found her before a destroyed ancestral hall.

She hugged the Nine Yang sword, sitting with her head lowered on the grey stone steps. The rain moistened her hair, which made it stick to her face. Then, the rain dripped down along her clean cheeks and suddenly turned red. She was covered in blood. Under the rain, blood permeated her surroundings. Only the Nine Yang sword shone like snow.

She stared at the grey tiles before her. Suddenly, a pair of feet appeared on the tiles and a gentle call rang out from above, “Zijian. Zijian, are you fine?”

“Chenglu, I won… But I only saved you…” Yu Zijian seemed to return to her senses. She raised her head slowly and smiled with difficulty. Her face was completely moist, perhaps from the rain or perhaps from tears.

Hua Chenglu saw her smile, and her heart ached. She felt even greater pain than when the black insects gnawed at her. There was nothing she could say.

A few streaks of light shot across the air. One of them was Hua Chengzan.

Afterwards, Hua Chenglu heard from her knowledgeable elder brother that the daemon they had run into was extremely rare. It was known as a “miasma daemon”.

Among the carapace daemonic beasts, some were overly simple and small, without a shred of intelligence. They even paled in comparison to ants, making it basically impossible for them to become actual daemons. However, if they gathered near spiritual veins or spiritual grounds, there was an extremely slim chance that they would develop intelligence over countless years, turning into an existence akin to miasma. Destroying them was very easy. All they had to do was kill most of them.