Chapter 420 - The Granite Sarcophagus (1/2)
Yu Yifeng clasped firmly on Xiao Chen’s arm, “Calm down!”
Xiao Chen stretched his fingers, his hand numb from the devastating blowback caused when the Great Immortal parried his stroke. Beads of tears hung from his eyelashes as he murmured, “Muxue… She’s… she’s… Six more days, and Red Sleeve will… she will…” His voice broke at the foreboding of whatever monstrosity Red Sleeve could possibly conceive.
“Red Sleeve?” Yu Yifeng uttered, puzzled and confused. Xiao Chen merely shook his head, his expression dour and sullen, simply explaining, “That’s the Divine Corpse.”
Tens of yards behind, the invaders were still incredulous with repudiation. Among them, Zuoqiu Yang felt the worst. The sight of Xiao Chen casually reducing tens of Corpse Puppets into smithereens would forever haunt him like a nightmare, gnawing at his confidence that he began to feel meek and helpless. Even in his best, he could at most kill one or two of these abominations. But Xiao Chen had overdone him by leaps and bounds!
At that precise moment, there was only a bottomless chasm in his heart and from within the dark abyss clambered up jealousy and hatred. Since the day he was born, Zuoqiu Yang was showered with love, respect, and prestige. He was hailed as a child prodigy within his clan in his youth and the exclusive heir of the Leader of the Divine Mist Sect. There he was, roosting at the pinnacle of the world, until the day a young man called Xiao Chen became renowned. From then all, the world collapsed around him. Failures visited him with rhythmic constancy and no matter how hard he tried, Xiao Chen would always be far ahead of him. Just when he thought Xiao Chen was barely nearing the later levels of the Nascent Soul Realm while he was already well beyond, his nemesis has reentered the fold, now wielding the powers of the Nirvana Realm! Why, He almost burst out aloud, Why?!
In his resentment, frustration, and anxiety, his eyes grew scarlet red with hatred. Why!? Why must I be in the shadows of Xiao Chen!?
Just then, a deep groaning rumble came from afar and shocked everyone. Two figures appeared in the horizons, racing quickly towards the battlefield like a pair of shooting stars. As they grew closer, everyone recognized one of them the frigid and deathlike appearance of Ye Wuxin and the other person – no, a thing – was a Corpse Puppet. A Corpse Puppet dressed in the rich velvety raiments of an emperor and a matching headdress!
It was the same Corpse King they had seen before. Only this time, it was nothing more but an asinine lackey without any more of its former fiendish glory and horrors. Nevertheless, the other Corpse Puppets trembled as it drew nearer as if they were shaking with fear. Fueled by Malicious Grudge, it was a common occurrence when a Corpse Puppet with greater and stronger Grudge enters the fold.
The Elders of the Sect present quickly began muttering words of incantations to calm the rest of the Corpse Puppets to prevent them from losing control. The invaders were all reeling with shock for they too felt how powerful this Corpse King was compared to the rest of its lesser counterparts.
The acolytes of the Sect threw themselves to the ground just as Ye Wuxin landed, prostrating themselves humbly at his heels. The Great Immortal went up to the High Chieftain of the Corpse Refinery Sect and asked with a skeptical look, “Was it a failure?”
“The assimilation has failed,” Ye Wuxin nodded grimly, “But it is still under control.” He pivoted and turned to face the legion of invaders. “You might as well stay, since all of you have come a long way. I’m sure we have ample permanent accommodations for all of you here in the Corpse Refinery Sect,” he declared icily. His timely appearance had not only impregnated the defenders with the resolve and confidence to upkeep the defense of the Ridge, but also delivered a powerful blow to the morale of the invaders of the Orthodox Path.
He surveyed the invaders and saw a seething Xiao Chen. In a steely voice, he snickered and said, “I see. It is you. Fine. You would be fit nicely as a human corpse for me.”
“Careful,” The Great Immortal cautioned with a hushed voice, “There is something wrong with this man. He has a Malicious Grudge so great that it dwarfs even that of our century-old Corpse Puppets.”
“Oh?” Ye Wuxin muttered flatly with hardly any interest in the warning, “I’m curious.”
Xiao Chen’s face was flushed with fury. His eyes were boring deep into Ye Wuxin as the urge in him to lunge and tear and rip was burgeoning beyond control. With a snarl, he threw himself at the High Chieftain of the Corpse Refinery Sect, bringing his saber down at his head but his enemy merely nonchalantly raised an arm. A ringing clang resounded across the silent battlefield and Xiao Chen could not quite believe his eyes; Ye Wuxin had only needed two fingers to hold his Blood Lotus Demon Blade in a vice-like grip!
“Funny. Surely you do not believe me as feeble as my Corpse Puppets? You have a great Malicious Grudge too, I hear? Let’s see how powerful it is then.”
No one dared breathe. With two fingers, this man stopped that redoubtable Xiao Chen’s attack?! What is he? Is he even more powerful than the Great Immortal from Hell? But behind him, the other Elders of the Sect were looking as if they had recovered from their bewilderment. They must have realized something.
With his teeth gnashing with anger, Xiao Chen tried as best he could, still the blade would not fall. A single chuckle echoed from amongst the invaders. Zuoqiu Yang, although he himself could not understand why. Yet somehow, he found it amusing seeing Xiao Chen mustering every ounce of strength in his being and yet to no avail. Then a thought came to Zuoqiu Yang, If only Ye Wuxin can give Xiao Chen a good and heavy walloping!
A terrible BANG ensued. But instead of successfully dealing his blow, it was Xiao Chen who was sent flying for several yards like a piece of trash before he crashed to the ground. Ye Wuxin simply needed no Corpse Puppets to do his fighting for him. Not when he was facing the present Xiao Chen and it was more than enough to make Zuoqiu Yang guffaw with satisfaction.
Yu Yifeng rushed to help Xiao Chen with Luo Shangyan and the others following just behind. The Elders Zi Mo and Qingfeng hardly moved; they were guarding against any movements from the millennia-old Corpse King now towering obediently beside Ye Wuxin.
Xiao Chen waved off his friends and glowered at Ye Wuxin, hardly bothered by his failure, “Where’s Muxue!”
“I’ll hazard you’re referring to the girl I had taken just a few days ago? Given to the Corpse King, of course. I guess she has been fully assimilated by it now –”
“WHAT – DID – YOU – SAY!?” Xiao Chen’s left eye shone with a peculiar glow of blood-red as he roared, one word for each breath, with a voice that seemed unfamiliar even to himself.
“As I said, she is now an intrinsic instrument indispensable to the awakening of the Corpse King,” Ye Wuxin pronounced with a devilish grin, “You should be thanking me. She has now attained an everlasting life…”
What he heard made Xiao Chen trembled. Only he was hardly the only one; every single member of the Jade Qing Sect present – most notably Zi Mo and Yanluo, both of whom were already staggering unsteadily – were reeling at the startling and mortifying revelation. With a palpable tremor in his voice that was teetering on breaking, he gasped, “You’ve… she’s… impossible… a Corpse Puppet…”
“Yes, I suppose that’s true,” Ye Wuxin confirmed with a lackadaisical smile.
“I’LL KILL YOU!” Xiao Chen bellowed, charging at Ye Wuxin as he swung his saber again at his enemy. The swinging of his weapon was so forceful that a gale of wind blew and pushed everyone in its way off-balance that Luo Shangyan and her companions all fell down.
CLANG! A deafening ring of steel against steel screamed across the battlefield, its resonance shattering the flagstones of the battered plaza that was the site of the battle of the Ridge, and instantly weakening the foundations of many wavering structures that they immediately crashed into piles of dusty gravel and rubbles on the ground.