Chapter 281 - The Infernal Abyss (1/2)
Freeing himself from the five enemies surrounding him, Xiao Chen unfurled his Phoenix wings and chased after the pair running away from him. With a ferocious downcut stroke from his saber, he sent a magic blow that shaped like a ten-feet-long scythe that streaked after the escaping pair.
Realizing the incoming blow, one of them turned, hoping to deflect the blow. But before he could do anything, he crumbled to the ground, being mortally struck down by a flying Xiao Chen who had caught up with his Phoenix’s Wings.
The remaining man tossed his sleeves and sent six shiny throwing-knives that shot straight at Xiao Chen. The emerald-green daggers barely missed him by inches as Xiao Chen ducked. But this brief distraction was enough for the five enemies behind to catch up. They rained another brutal onslaught of attacks on Xiao Chen, apparently trying to murder him for good measure.
Xiao Chen was forced to land; the attacks were too much for him and he was heavily outnumbered by a seven-man group who were all not only strong and powerful, but cohesive and tenacious in their compulsion to kill him. “If only Qingluan and the others are here,” Xiao Chen thought in his haste. He needed to evacuate safely, more so, with Xin’er’s pressing injury.
Another volley of throwing knives wheezed dangerously past his hair just when he trailed off. They gleamed in the glow of the moon hanging above, shining with cold fury. Xiao Chen drew his Blood Lotus Demon Blade and parried another barrage of throwing knives training at him and looked north. He muttered a quick spell and the Phoenix Wings on his back flared up, lighting his surroundings with an eruption of a fiery burst and he vanished. Before his enemies could realize where he had gone, he was already in the sky, tearing through the air in a bolt of light, racing as fast as he could towards Huangfu Xin’er.
When he finally got near, Zhiluan barked frantically, “Oh Heavens! I’ve told you every time to meddle only on your own business! Look what have you got us into! It must be that brat yesterday who had leaked our trail!”
Xiao Chen did not attempt to retort; he whisked Huangfu Xin’er off in his arms and conjured the fireballs of the Nine Heaven-scorching Flames technique. He tossed all nine of the fireballs in a hurry, and they whistled off into the wind and rained down Hell onto Earth. Everything in sight was immediately engulfed by a fiery inferno that devoured all plants and trees in its path.
With the seven enemies held off for now, Xiao Chen picked up his pace. They would be safe as long as their pursuers did not pick up any scent of theirs before nightfall.
For almost an hour they flew until the black shroud of Night was fully upon them and reached a mountainous region filled with rocky peaks and jagged spires swathed in gossamer mists that shone like a silvery veil under the moonlit sky, and everything beneath him looked as grim and as macabre as the quiet of the graveyard.
Trying not to look too inconspicuous, Xiao Chen unsummoned the fiery Phoenix Wings and drew his sword before he rode upon it, descending into the shadow of the gorges.
Cold, thick mists rolled across the woods in the quiet vale, penetrated only by the soft shafts of moonlight that illuminated a nebulous path that weaved and twisted deeper into the forest. But there was something eerily creepy about this forgotten jungle—the strange stones sprawled incoherently amid the thickets and bushes and the shifting shadows of the trees did little to dispel the nightmarish atmosphere that lingered ominously around them.
“Meow… It’s terrifying here…”
Zhiluan perched on Xiao Chen’s shoulders, its paws digging deep into his flesh as they trembled with fear.
Xiao Chen held on to the still panting Huangfu Xin’er. He could feel that her pulse was erratic; she must have channeled her powers earlier and the exertion has aggravated her injury. “How are you now?” he asked with concern.
Huangfu Xin’er head tilted back against him to look at him. “You should have just left.” She breathed with ice in her voice.
“Shhh! Enough bickering, you two. We don’t want to be noticed hiding here!” Zhiluan hissed.
The air around them was unusually chilly, and steam escaped from their mouths whenever they spoke. The presence of Huangfu Xin’er and Zhiluan were the only things that gave Xiao Chen any warmth in this ghastly forest.
They wandered through the woods and came upon a cave where they took refuge for the night. But the shelter was no less comforting; icy winds whistled in through the mouth of the cave and Zhiluan was sneezing uncontrollably. Fearing that her injury would worsen, Xiao Chen hung his Fire-heart Jade around Huangfu Xin’er’s neck to keep her warm.
They could not start a fire, for fears of attracting any enemies. Hence, Xiao Chen extracted a mink coat he previously bought for Murong Xian’er from his Divine Vessel and tossed it to Zhiluan.
The cat spirit wrapped itself with the fur and pursed its lips as it began grumbling, “I should never have followed you! There’s hardly any security with you, not with enemies chasing for your life almost every day!”
Xiao Chen ignored him, devoting his thoughts instead to the seven dark-clad strangers who had attacked them. Who were they, and by whose orders did they come to try to kill him? He remembered about the assassins whom he encountered at the Thousand Summits Mountain. He was certain they were acting on the bidding of the Ling Clan. But the skills and tenacity of this seven-man group were wholly different. These were highly-trained assassins that not even the Ling Clan or the Zuoqiu Clan would be able to command…
He was never short of enemies who wanted to bury him, but he was fortunate that none of the seven assassins were overly powerful conjurers like those with powers of the Nascent Soul Realm. But unbeknownst to him, something was happening in the faraway Tianyuan City.
Five old elders were seated together in the citadel of the Immortals’ League at Tianyuan City. These five men wielded the highest authority in the League and indescribable powers themselves. Yet under the wavering glow from the lamps burning overhead, distinctive frowns creased upon their ancient foreheads.
“It seems there’s indeed a problem with that place… All domains beyond Lv. 7 of the Forest of Illusory Moon have collapsed…”