IVYSCP - Chapter 132
Chapter 132
Both palms had already exhausted Yue Shouming's spiritual energy. The force rebounding from the coffin split her palms with countless wounds. Blood dripped from her fingertips. The metallic sweetness surged up her throat and she swallowed it back down hard, yet fresh red blood still trickled from the corner of her lips. Yue Shouming truly smiled, a smile full of blood, a smile so happy.
"Yue Shouming!!!"
Lou Wudu's eyes nearly split with fury as she watched the crystal coffin she had so carefully crafted shatter before her eyes. The Torch Dragon's Heart Crystal inside floated in midair. The gathered soul hovered on the verge of scattering.
Her figure flickered with extreme speed, arriving before the crystal coffin almost instantly, seeking to snatch back Shi Yanchun's soul. Her sword tip met Yue Shouming without hesitation, killing intent surging skyward.
The moment she moved, a formation rose beneath Ling Qingyue's feet, and in a flash she stood blocking Yue Shouming's path.
On the other side, Pei Yin also moved to meet Lou Wudu, instantly teleporting Shi Yanchun's soul to Wang Changming's side.
This time Lou Wudu used her full strength. The instant Jiuge met Shangbieli, Ling Qingyue felt a dull, muffled pain in her chest. Blood poured continuously from her mouth.
Seeing Shi Yanchun's soul vanish before her eyes, Lou Wudu's rage flared even higher. Yet when she saw where Pei Yin had placed Shi Yanchun's soul, she suddenly curved her lips into a smile.
"Many thanks to the Immortal Venerable for lending a hand."
The words had barely fallen when the ground suddenly shook. Countless vines erupted from the earth, layer upon layer protecting Shi Yanchun's soul, and then infinitely growing vines shot out fiercely from behind everyone.
Nie Wenxiao dodged the vines' attack. A glance from the corner of her eye showed Liu Qingtang already bound hand and foot, and she hurriedly moved to help.
"Wansheng!"
A horizontal blade appeared abruptly in Liu Qingtang's hand. When she raised her eyes, a flash of green light passed through them. Gripping the blade tightly, she hacked toward Nie Wenxiao without hesitation.
Nie Wenxiao's heart jolted in alarm. "Qingtang!"
Liu Qingtang acted as if she hadn't heard, turning the blade in her hand straight toward whoever stood before her.
Realizing Liu Qingtang was once again controlled by the Gu Vine, Nie Wenxiao gritted her teeth, evading the surrounding vines while fending off Liu Qingtang's slashing blade.
Though they were fellow disciples of the same sect, Nie Wenxiao knew in her heart that in cultivation and blade technique alike, she was no match for Liu Qingtang, let alone Liu Qingtang with her mind controlled now.
After several dozen exchanges, Nie Wenxiao furrowed her brow, discovering a clue.
Not only was she trading blows evenly with Liu Qingtang, but the vines, too, were unknowingly keeping their distance.
This was...
Nie Wenxiao's attention split for a moment. Then a numbing shock ran through the web of her hand. Liu Qingtang slashed down with force, yet did not truly wound her.
With no time to dwell on such thoughts, Nie Wenxiao focused her mind and met Liu Qingtang's blade.
On the other side, blood traces appeared at Pei Yin's lips as well. She raised a hand and wiped it away, unconsciously looking toward Ling Qingyue. When she saw the dark stain spreading across Ling Qingyue's lapel, her gaze immediately darkened.
"Don't lose focus." Chu Qianshan spoke a warning, giving her a look.
Pei Yin thought of something, pressed her lips together, and nodded.
After that, Chu Qianshan and Pei Congyi raised a formation together, blocking the Gu Vine.
Ling Qingyue had taken Lou Wudu's sword head-on without retreating. After dispersing the force, her body staggered directly and she spat out another mouthful of blood.
"Cough, cough, cough..."
One benefit of the half-demon body was an extremely strong injury recovery ability. Ling Qingyue could feel the demonic qi within her body continuously mending her internal wounds.
Lou Wudu's gaze was cold and heavy as she stared at Yue Shouming behind Ling Qingyue. "Yue Shouming, I have wronged Zhiwei. If you want my life in repayment, I will accept it. But Yanchun is innocent. You should not have touched her."
"Haha, innocent?" Yue Shouming seemed to have heard the greatest joke under heaven. After laughing, she mockingly "looked" toward Lou Wudu. "Does that word coming from your mouth not sicken you? Have the innocent who died by your hand been few? Was my sister not innocent? Were Ah Gui and Ah Mu not innocent? Was Liu Qingtang not innocent? Were the cultivators you forced to kneel in atonement not innocent? Were the people of Linshui Town you killed with Soul Searching not innocent?!"
Lou Wudu could not speak for a moment, yet no trace of repentance showed in her eyes. If she had to choose again, she was afraid she would still do the same.
"You say you can pay with your life, then now, die to atone for your crimes." Yue Shouming laughed coldly. She knew Lou Wudu could not possibly die.
Lou Wudu was inherently an utterly selfish person. She did not feel she was wrong. How could she possibly give up her own life?
Just as expected...
Lou Wudu said coolly, "That will have to wait until I revive Yanchun."
Before reviving Yanchun, she could not die.
"Hypocrite!" Yue Shouming cursed. "You are a hypocritical, selfish person from head to toe! What you do is not for Shi Yanchun at all! It is for yourself. You blame Senior Wang, you blame the Immortal Realm, you blame the Demon Race, yet you have never blamed yourself. When it comes down to it, because of whom did Shi Yanchun die?!"
"Shut up!"
Lou Wudu's inner fury was provoked. "The people of the Immortal Realm are full of schemes. The Demon Race destroyed my Yuelou Country. Wang Changming scattered Yanchun's very soul. Why should I not hate, not resent?"
Yue Shouming's face was pale. She still wanted to speak when her knees buckled and she nearly dropped to the ground. A hand beside her pulled her up firmly, supporting her.
She leaned half her body's weight against that person and laughed softly. "Many thanks."
"It's nothing." Ling Qingyue's voice was muffled.
Yue Shouming lowered her eyes. "Qingyue, I haven't yet said it to you. Long time no see."
Ling Qingyue blinked, feeling a heat behind her eyes. She had just probed Yue Shouming's meridians. The spiritual energy in her body was thin. Her meridians had been severely eroded and were now completely withered. She was already running on fumes.
"...Long time no see."
Ling Qingyue drew a breath and looked directly at Lou Wudu. "The one you should hate most is Lian Yange. But she is already dead. You cannot let go of this hatred, and you are unwilling to face reality. Your sister actually died because of you. You felt that Master wronged Shi Yanchun, so you wanted Master to atone. Later, when you learned of the Revival Art, you went to every length to revive Shi Yanchun. That, too, was merely an attempt to fill that self-reproach and guilt."
"Shi Du, you are not worthy of Shi Yanchun and Sister Yue loving you so deeply, and you never loved them either. You only love yourself."
Lou Wudu sneered. "Absurd. The feelings between Yanchun and me are something you could ever understand. Today, once I take your heart, my Yanchun will be able to live again!"
Wasting no more words, Lou Wudu faced Ling Qingyue directly, holding nothing back.
Several dozen moves were exchanged in a single breath. Then two more people entered the fight, Pei Yin and Qiu Feng.
Pei Yin caught Ling Qingyue, who had been forced back. Her gaze fell upon the sword wounds on Ling Qingyue's shoulder, waist, and abdomen. Her expression was terrifyingly cold. She sent a silent message to Chu Qianshan: Hurry.
The tone was stiff and coldly indifferent, not a trace of respect for her master in it.
Hearing this, Chu Qianshan immediately burned with anger. Yet after seeing the situation over there, she silently swallowed her rage and asked Pei Congyi beside her, "Master, how much longer?"
"Half an incense stick's time."
Dispelling the gu also required time.
Chu Qianshan turned and relayed the message to Pei Yin, imitating the tone perfectly. "Half an incense stick's time."
Look, look at that. Her master's disciple was so obedient. Now look at her own disciple. Truly insolent! Not the slightest bit of a proper disciple's manner.
After receiving the answer, Pei Yin's expression eased slightly.
Half an incense stick's time. They just had to hold out for half an incense stick's time.
Qiu Feng faced Lou Wudu alone. She took one sword strike and three palm blows in succession. The last palm blow struck directly at her heart. The demonic qi throughout her body instinctively surged toward her heart meridians to protect her master.
The abnormality in that split second made Lou Wudu's gaze sharpen. Without pausing to think, she formed her fingers into a claw, intending to rip out Qiu Feng's heart raw to see.
The sword edge grazed past her fingertips. Qiu Feng flickered past before her eyes, already carried aside by Pei Yin. The person before her now was Ling Qingyue.
Ling Qingyue raised her leg and kicked her viciously, then turned her wrist and flicked the blood from the sword edge clean. It was Lou Wudu's blood.
"The heart you want is right here with me."
Lou Wudu lowered her eyes to look at her slashed dharma robe and the wound on her arm deep enough to see bone, from which black smoke curled and sizzled.
She looked at Ling Qingyue with surprise. "You actually used poison?"
Ling Qingyue lifted her chin. "What of it? Against you, there's no need to be so righteous and aboveboard!"
Being suppressed by the cultivation realm difference was frustrating enough. If she didn't use a few tricks, she would truly get her heart ripped out.
Lou Wudu curved her lips, immediately sealing the meridians in her right arm and switching her sword to her left hand. "A useless act."
Ling Qingyue's expression sank. She had not expected Lou Wudu to be ambidextrous with the sword.
From then on, Lou Wudu's intent to end the fight swiftly was extremely clear. Her sword moves aimed at Ling Qingyue's hands and the critical points of her meridians all over her body. She wanted to cripple Ling Qingyue.
With Pei Yin present, Ling Qingyue's movements were very fast. The two cooperated with tacit understanding and could delay for a moment. But before long, both were covered in wounds. Lou Wudu mainly targeted Ling Qingyue, so the sword wounds on Ling Qingyue's body were especially numerous. Pei Yin anxiously blocked for her twice, and two wounds on her back and side were deep and long. Blood nearly soaked through her dharma robe entirely. The glaring red against white was starkly visible, and she looked even more gravely wounded than Ling Qingyue.
When Pei Yin tried to block yet again, her wrist was yanked hard. Ling Qingyue raised her sword and met the blow, fresh blood pouring from her mouth.
Pei Yin was frantic with worry. "Qingyue!"
Ling Qingyue glared at her with reddened eyes, gripping her hand firmly. "No need for you to block."
Lou Wudu sneered coldly and pressed down harder. "Such deep affection. Then let me grant your wish today. Dying on the same year, same month, same day is just fine!"
Pei Yin held Ling Qingyue, and together they resisted, but were still slammed hard into the ground. Pei Yin coughed up blood violently, shielding Ling Qingyue tightly.
The sword edge was pressed before their eyes. Sword qi swirled in chaotic gusts, slicing countless gashes across their bodies.
"Chu Qianshan!!!" Pei Yin shouted out.
Half an incense stick's time had come.
"Here!"
Chu Qianshan answered. Her figure flickered. Her hands rapidly formed seals, and a formation shot straight toward Lou Wudu. Following the formation were two horizontal blades brimming with killing intent.
Nie Wenxiao and Liu Qingtang unleashed a combined strike, coordinating with Chu Qianshan's formation to force Lou Wudu back, giving Pei Yin and Ling Qingyue a moment to breathe.
As soon as they rose, Pei Yin wanted to check Ling Qingyue's injuries when a bottle of medicine was poured into her mouth.
Chu Qianshan was both worried and exasperated. "She has demonic qi protecting her. As long as her heart is still there, she's in no mortal danger. And you? You're comfortable taking two sword strikes? If these two cuts were any deeper, even if you didn't die you'd be crippled."
Pei Yin swallowed the medicinal pills. "I'm fine."
Chu Qianshan choked, so angry she wanted to raise her hand and strike her, but seeing her drenched in blood, she restrained herself.
Ling Qingyue scrambled up. Ignoring the searing pain of her wounds, she looked at Pei Yin, and tears fell.
When Pei Yin finished taking the medicine and looked up, the two exchanged a glance for an instant. Ling Qingyue said nothing, turned, and walked away carrying her sword.
Nie Wenxiao and Liu Qingtang were no match for Lou Wudu. When Ling Qingyue faced Lou Wudu again, she suddenly realized that her cultivation seemed to have dropped...
Not only did Ling Qingyue notice, Lou Wudu noticed too. She stared at her own hands in shock. "How could this be..."
In the next instant, a domineering, overwhelming sword qi tore through the air. Lou Wudu hurriedly raised her sword to block but was still forced back half a step.
Ling Qingyue's gaze froze, then filled with boundless joy.
That was Master's sword qi!
The vines that had originally been attacking everyone under Lou Wudu's control suddenly retreated one after another, all gathering back onto that single "vine tree." The "vine tree" slowly stood up, cradling a faint, flickering soul in its arms.
"Master!" Ling Qingyue was practically weeping with joy.
She had known it, she had known Master would not lose her consciousness so easily. Back in Yuelou Country, the vines they had encountered already carried Master's awareness. Master remembered her aura. Master had also protected the disciples of Piaomiao Sect.
Lou Wudu was full of disbelief. "How is this possible? You have clearly merged with the Gu Vine and become one. Without me dispelling the gu, how could you regain your senses?!"
Pei Congyi said gently, "Three or four hundred years ago, I once traveled to Yuelou and met Yuelou's Little Highness. She accidentally discovered that I knew sorcery, and exchanged Yuelou Gu Techniques for a Spirit-Testing Stone. You are not the only one who knows the Yuelou Gu Techniques."
Lou Wudu whipped her head around to stare at her, her eyes splitting with rage. "It was you!"
Over these years she had hated many people, and among them was the one who had given Shi Yanchun that Spirit-Testing Stone. Sometimes she would think, if Shi Yanchun had never taken back the Spirit-Testing Stone, would everything have been different? She would not have come to the Immortal Realm but would have become Yuelou's sovereign instead. Shi Yanchun would also not have died. She would have remained Yuelou's Highness forever.
Over a hundred years, Wang Changming's entire body's meridians had fused with the Gu Vine and could no longer be separated. Yet precisely because of this, she had been able to survive Lou Wudu's countless torments.
Wang Changming lowered her eyes, gazing at the soul resting quietly in her arms. Her voice was utterly hoarse. "Yanchun, do not blame me."
She is your older sister, yet what she has done is unforgivable.
Shi Yanchun's eyes were tightly shut. A faint smile lingered at her lips, as if she were sleeping peacefully, just like every other afternoon, lying there on the soft couch, the fine rays of sunlight sprinkling down and making every strand of her hair gleam and shine with translucence.
"Shi Du." Wang Changming called her by her original name. "Today I shall cleanse our sect."
Lou Wudu sneered. "A lifetime of your cultivation is now entirely in me. A fool's dream! Give Yanchun back to me!"
Wang Changming controlled the vines. They danced in midair, madly devouring spiritual energy, and the source of that spiritual energy was none other than Lou Wudu!
"What is not yours, you cannot take." Wang Changming shook her head and sighed. "You took my cultivation, but the cultivation mental techniques differ. These two streams of spiritual energy have never fused within your body. If you had not stumbled onto cultivating the Six Desires Path, and created a split body to share the burden for you, the day these two streams of spiritual energy pushed you through the realm and to Ascension would have been the day you died. Do you know what Zhiwei said to me before she left for the Great Wilderness?"
Lou Wudu's expression froze. "She said... what?"
Wang Changming looked at her. "She said your fated tribulation would be hard to pass. She wanted to change fate for you. Changing fate is not tolerated by the Heavenly Dao. Did you think the Heavenly Punishment traces on her body were caused by helping you search for the Revival Art? Actually, those were all traces left from her seeking a path of survival for you. Later, when you seized my lifetime of cultivation and trapped me here, I finally understood what the fated tribulation Zhiwei had divined truly meant."
Lou Wudu blinked. A tear rolled down her cheek. She clenched her teeth fiercely, her eyes bloodshot. "You lie."
What Wang Changming had said was something Yue Shouming had never known. Upon hearing it, she violently spat out blood, her gaze sharp as knives wanting to hack Lou Wudu to pieces.
"Lou Wudu! My sister did not hesitate to bear Heavenly Punishment just so you could live! And what did you do?! To cover up the Heavenly Punishment, you used demonic blood to destroy her physical body and melt her soul! You are unworthy to be human! You are a beast!"
The sword body was trembling. Lou Wudu glanced sideways and realized it was her own hand that was trembling.
Her mental defenses had broken, and Lou Wudu's cultivation dropped even faster, falling from Tribulation Transcendence to Soul Formation in the blink of an eye.
"Qingyue." Wang Changming called out.
Ling Qingyue bowed from a distance. "Master."
Wang Changming let out a long breath. "You shall cleanse the sect on your master's behalf."
Ling Qingyue tightened her grip on her sword. Moments before, she had still feared that Master, seeing her covered in demonic qi, would also expel her from the sect.
"Yes."
Both at Soul Formation cultivation, without the suppression of a realm gap, it became a contest of swordsmanship alone. Ling Qingyue did not worry about losing. Her swordsmanship had always been above Lou Wudu's. Otherwise, the title of Little Sword Venerable could not have fallen upon her back then.
After a hundred moves, Ling Qingyue's sword had already left countless sword wounds on Lou Wudu's body.
Lou Wudu had sealed her right arm's meridians earlier, limiting her movement. Finding the opening in her strikes, Ling Qingyue pierced through her right shoulder with one sword and severed her right arm.
"This sword is for Sister Yue. A person as wonderful as she should never have met you!"
Another sword crippled the meridians of Lou Wudu's left hand. Shangbieli fell to the ground.
"This sword is for Master. Transmitting the teachings and bestowing guidance is a grace weightier than a mountain. You did not know gratitude, betraying your master and destroying your ancestors!"
The sword edge slashed across Lou Wudu's legs. Ling Qingyue pressed her down to kneel on the ground.
"This is for all those you have harmed. You deserve to kneel in atonement!"
Kneeling on the ground, Lou Wudu had already lost the will to struggle. She raised her eyes to look at Shi Yanchun in Wang Changming's arms. In a daze, she seemed to see Shi Yanchun walking toward her step by step.
"Sister." Shi Yanchun called to her.
"Yanchun, I'm sorry." Lou Wudu choked. "Sister can't bring you back to life anymore."
Shi Yanchun walked before her, smiling yet with tears in her eyes. "Once I really wanted to become a remarkable person like you, Sister. You were the future sovereign, accomplished in both civil and martial arts, kind-hearted deep down, wholeheartedly devoted to Yuelou. Truly, you were the person I admired and worshipped most. But Sister..."
Confusion filled Shi Yanchun's eyes. "How did you become like this? You've become someone I don't recognize. My sister was not like this, and I don't want to become a sister like this either."
Lou Wudu was stunned. She saw the disappointment in Shi Yanchun's eyes. Her little sister was also disappointed in her.
She hurriedly explained, "No, that's not it. Yanchun, I did it for you. I did it to revive you..."
Shi Yanchun shook her head at her. "No, Sister. From the moment you made Changming into the Gu Vine, you were no longer doing this for me. You cultivated the Six Desires Path and needed an extreme desire. You..."
"No, no!" Lou Wudu frantically pressed her forehead against the ground, no longer daring to look at her. "Stop, stop talking!"
"Sister." Shi Yanchun reached out a hand toward her. "Apologize to them."
Flesh passed through the sharp blade. Ling Qingyue watched as Lou Wudu, eyes blank, kneeled on the ground and moved forward to meet her sword.
"Qingyue." Lou Wudu raised her head and looked at her, smiling. "After I die, use demonic blood to melt my soul."
This was Yue Zhiwei's manner of death.
A single sword pierced the heart.
As she fell to the ground, a tear slid from the corner of Lou Wudu's eye. A Moon Sun Orchid tumbled out from her robes, utterly withered now that it had lost all spiritual energy.
Shi Yanchun's soul slowly dispersed from Wang Changming's arms, turning into ten thousand motes of spiritual light that drifted away with the wind.
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