Chapter 454: Demoness Zhixiang (2/2)
The closer one came, however, the more easy it was to see the gaps between the various chunks. The gaps looked small, but upon nearing, it became clear that they were actually incredibly wide.
Countless fragments of dust drifted about in the gaps between the various chunks. They glowed brightly, causing the entire bridge itself to also glow.
“The Bridge of Immortal Treading….” murmured Meng Hao inwardly. Even as he neared the bridge, something shocking suddenly neared his field of vision.
Eight dark, blurry figures suddenly appeared up ahead, surrounding the puppet-like woman. As soon as they did, their Cultivation bases began to emanate ripples. The ripples far exceeded anything that Meng Hao could ever have imagined, and gave him the same feeling he’d gotten from the Immortal who had fallen out of the Heavens that year.
These eight figures were Immortals!
As these eight Immortals appeared up ahead, surrounding the woman, they all began to attack. Everything around them trembled as a blinding light appeared, filled with an indescribable feeling of extermination.
Meng Hao had originally assumed that the stiff woman who did not seem to be a Cultivator wouldn’t even move. However, it was at this point that countless ripples suddenly emanated off of her body, spreading out to slam into the divine abilities of the other eight. As a booming sound echoed out, Meng Hao and all the other Cultivators who were holding stones in their hands, coughed up blood. Although they couldn’t see each other clearly, it was possible to sense the shock and injury being experienced by the others.
“She’s not a puppet?” thought Meng Hao, shock filling his heart. At the same time that the boom echoed out, something like a fierce gale swept across everything. Meng Hao’s body did not feel stable, almost as if he were not capable of holding onto the Immortality Bridgestone anymore. The glow in the area began to flicker, and darkened by about half.
“Dammit, dammit….” thought Meng Hao, his fury burning. This was all he could do, however; rage inwardly and hold on tightly to the Immortality Bridgestone.
The booming caused the eight to be sent tumbling backward. In the blink of an eye, the woman proceeded forward with Meng Hao and the others, shooting off into the distance. However, it only took a moment for the eight to return. This time, their bodies were surrounded by bright glows. They looked like eight suns as they charged toward the woman.
The woman’s expression suddenly flickered. Her body disappeared, then reappeared off in the distance, whereupon she transformed into a beam of prismatic light that shot off at high speed.
One of the eight suddenly spoke, his voice cold: “Demoness Zhixiang of the Immortal Demon Sect, you were able to con Young Master out of his precious treasure. We’ve been chasing you for a whole sixty year cycle, and it turns out you were hiding here, pretending to be a puppet of the Bridge of Immortal Treading. Your little ruse fooled us before, but let’s see how exactly you plan to elude us this time!” [1]
With that, the eight of them completely ignored Meng Hao and the others as they sped off in pursuit of the woman.
“She’s a Cultivator who was masquerading as a puppet to avoid pursuit? Immortal Demon Sect? What Sect is that…?” Meng Hao watched them disappear off into the distance, his mind and heart reeling. The Immortality Bridgestone in his hand had not ceased moving. It continued to carry the group of Cultivators toward the Bridge of Immortal Treading. They flew closer and closer, at a speed that Meng Hao had a hard time wrapping his mind around.
It was at this moment that suddenly, a furious roar could be heard from off in the distance. Behind them, eight colorful beams of light could be seen racing toward them. Their speed was such that they would obviously be able to catch up in a short time.
Meng Hao looked back and his pupils constricted. “Just what divine ability is that? The speed they can achieve while flying amongst the stars is….” He watched as the eight figures would move an incredible distance seemingly in a single movement.
It was almost as if the space beneath their feet was being shrunken.
“Shrunken… shrunken….” murmured Meng Hao. He suddenly thought back to when he had left Planet South Heaven and how the land had seemed to shrink. Ignoring the true size of his body, it made it seem as if with a single step he could cross a huge divide.
Even as the eight people sped in pursuit, Meng Hao suddenly felt a tremor run through his body. Roaring sounds could be heard as some massive, invisible force seemed to emanate out from the Immortality Bridgestone in his hand and then suck Meng Hao inside.
The same thing happened to the others. All of the Western Desert Cultivators from Planet South Heaven suddenly vanished as they entered the true Bridge of Immortal Treading.
As for the eight Immortals, when they arrived, they found nothing but empty space. They looked around at the rubble, but dared not enter.
“So, she got away again. This Demoness’s craftiness knows no bounds. This time, however, she abandoned her physical body and paid a heavy price to fuse her soul into the body of one of those ants from South Heaven.”
“The Bridge of Immortal Treading was destroyed by Ancestor Ji long ago. However a mighty force protects it and reforms it every one thousand years. The starry sky cannot go against it and Ji Immortals cannot enter it. We cannot go in, but, she will be forced to come out eventually. When she does, we’ll be waiting for her!” The eight Immortals gave a final look at the Bridge of Immortal Treading before turning and disappearing.
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Zhixiang
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This chapter was sponsored by Anthony Federico
In Chinese, Zhixiang is 芷香 zhǐ xiāng - Zhi is a type of plant root. Xiang means “fragrant” or “incense”. Madam Deathblade also humorously pointed out that in Chinese, her name is a homophone for ”paper box.”