Chapter 64: Nether Abyss's Gaze, Heart Chills
The qingmu spirit pearl in his palm cracked with a spiderweb of bloodlines, and Lu Qingyang's Nascent Soul Avatar flickered in and out of existence amidst the Nether Abyss's Protective Aura.
Three days prior, his remote chess match against Taiyi Pavilion's Enforcement Elder Ye Wuchen had left his left arm's Dao patterns still scorched by Qingming Sword Qi.
Su Li emerged from the depths of the cave, a bronze coffin in her hands, her skirt hem stained with nether river water that was corroding the thousand-year-old profound ice, giving off a dark green poisonous mist.
"Old Ghost Ye's Soul-Chasing Mark has permeated the earth veins," she said, flicking off a drop of frost from her temple.
"This Phantom Fluorite mineral vein can at most last another seven days; by then, Taiyi Pavilion's Sky-Surveying Mirror will be able to pinpoint it..."
Before she could finish, Lu Qingyang suddenly yanked her, throwing them both towards a stalactite pillar.
Nine streaks of azure rainbow Sword Qi pierced through the rock wall, carving bottomless ravines where they had just stood.
Ye Wuchen's phantom coalesced within the Sword Qi, his snowy beard still flecked with the red sand unique to the Eastern Barrens.
"This junior certainly knows how to pick a burial ground," the old man said, as seven Nether Abyss lamps flew from his sleeve, their wicks burning with the Nascent Souls of Cultivators.
"The nine-yin Evil Qi of this Nether Abyss is perfect for refining the vitality of the qingmu spirit pearl's plants."
Lu Qingyang pressed his tongue against his palate, spitting the essence of Lightning Tribulation wood, which he had held for half a day, onto the surface of the spirit pearl.
The medicinal field within the pearl instantly sprouted purple lightning vines, which wrapped around the Nether Abyss lamps.
Simultaneously, he flung seventy-two Dragon Scale Darts from his sleeve—these were forged from the inverse scales of a Three-Headed Flood Dragon, specifically designed to penetrate the Protective Aura of Nascent Soul Cultivators.
"Clang!"
Ye Wuchen pointed his fingers like a sword, and the Dragon Scale Darts froze three inches from his glabella.
Lu Qingyang's pupils contracted; this old monster's Sword Intent had reached the Realm of 'All Things as Swords,' and his casual movements formed a superior sword array.
The seven Nether Abyss lamps suddenly inverted, and where the lamp oil spilled, countless pale arms sprouted from the rock wall, their finger gaps oozing corpse fluid that emitted a putrid, soul-corroding stench.
"This is bad!" Su Li bit her fingertip and drew a blood rune on the compass; the bronze box opened in response.
What flew out was not the usual healing elixir, but a charred finger bone—identical to the fragment the Old Drunkard held at his death.
The moment the finger bone touched the ground, a roar of breaking chains echoed from the depths of the Nether Abyss.
The ice beneath Lu Qingyang's feet cracked in a spiderweb pattern, and nine profound iron chains burst from the earth, their ends tethered to a bronze coffin whose surface flickered with runes—the demon-suppressing inscriptions unique to Taiyi Pavilion's Forbidden Land.
"So you already..." Lu Qingyang sidestepped a corpse hand grabbing at his throat, and the qingmu spirit pearl suddenly burst forth with emerald light.
As the hourglass within the pearl inverted, he clearly saw a red thread of Karma connecting Ye Wuchen's phantom to the bronze coffin—this old monster had actually split a wisp of his Primordial Spirit to suppress something here!
Su Li seized the opportunity to embed the compass into the coffin's recess, her eyes glowing with an eerie purple light as she turned: "Daoist Lu, why aren't you acting?"
What she shook from her sleeve were not the silver needles of the Immortal Doctor Valley, but the Soul-Sealing Nails unique to Taiyi Pavilion's Law Enforcement Hall.
Lu Qingyang's molars ground together, making a grating sound.
Three days ago, when this woman was critically injured, he shouldn't have believed her nonsense about "jointly exploring an ancient demon relic."
Now, with Ye Wuchen's sword array in front and a demon from the bronze coffin behind, even the teleportation talisman he had secretly hidden in his pants was losing its spiritual power under the Nether Abyss lamps' light.
"Mr. Lu hates being used as a tool more than anything in his life," he suddenly grinned, clapping his palm to his own crown.
The qingmu spirit pearl shattered in response, and a surging tide of vitality swept through the Nether Abyss; ghost-faced mushrooms that had withered for a thousand years actually sprouted branches and leaves amidst the Evil Qi.
Ye Wuchen's phantom instantly distorted: "You dare..."
Before he finished speaking, a tiny green sprout, an inch long, burst from Lu Qingyang's shattered spirit pearl—it was the remnant root of the dragon blood grass that had been over-ripened that day.
This unassuming stem, upon touching the turbid Qi overflowing from the demon coffin, instantly transformed into a hundred-zhang Azure Dragon, its inverse scales like knives tearing through the Nether Abyss lamp array.
"Go!" Lu Qingyang grabbed Su Li's collar and leaped onto the Dragon's head; behind them came the roar of the coffin lid being flung open.
The demon formed from nine-yin Evil Qi had just poked its head out when it was split in half by a Sword Qi strike from Ye Wuchen's main body, delivered from afar.
Taking advantage of the master and disciple's mutual destruction, the Azure Dragon plunged into a branch of the underground river, the ice shards scraped off its scales forming a barrier behind them.
After three days and three nights of non-stop fleeing, Lu Qingyang clutched Su Li's neck by the cold pool: "The Burial Dragon Abyss map is fake, the bronze box contains a forbidden item from Taiyi Pavilion, and even that finger bone is Ye Wuchen's Physical Body remnant—Fairy Su, what a scheme you have."
The woman's neck turned purple, yet she still smiled: "Daoist Lu, don't you also have a backup plan?" She glanced at the new grass seeds tied around his waist.
"The spirit pearl shatters, and the Dao seed is born—this is the true use of the qingmu spirit pearl, isn't it?"
The pool water suddenly boiled, and thirty-six water swords formed a trapping array.
Lu Qingyang was about to activate his Dao seed when he saw Su Li tear off her human skin mask, revealing a face identical to the one in the Old Drunkard's hidden painting: "Lu Qingyang, do you still remember who saved you from the wolf demon's mouth when you were seven years old?"
The Azure Dragon's inverse scales suddenly grew hot, and Lu Qingyang's Divine Sense trembled violently.
A completely different scene emerged from the depths of his memory: fifteen years ago, the one who held him and fought their way out of the beast tide was clearly a purple-eyed girl, and the wine gourd at the Old Drunkard's waist was carved with Taiyi Pavilion's cloud pattern...