Chapter 106 – 《World Ode of the Phoenix – Fragments》 (1)
Black Demon howled painfully as a big cloud of bloody mist erupted from his shoulder. He incited the ferocity in his nature and with a big bellow of rage, unexpectedly grabbed the blade of Lan Xueruo’s jade sword and swung out ferociously… Since Lan Xueruo’s “Monarch Sword” had just exhausted its power and Black Demon’s strength was astonishingly great, the sword had actually been forcibly taken away forcibly by Black Demon and caught her off guard.
Crap! Seeing how Lan Xueruo had injured Black Demon with a thrust, Yun Che’s heart immediately thumped. If she had kept on sparring with him, they could’ve stalled for a little while longer; but stabbing him through the shoulder would undoubtedly rouse his ferocious nature. One could imagine the following consequences.
Black Demon grabbed Lan Xueruo’s sword and fell back panickedly. His face had already turned malevolent, and a wild roar came from his mouth: “GO AND… CATCH THAT BITCH FOR ME! As for the rest, KILL THEM ALL!!”
As Yun Che expected, the furious Black Demon had commanded his men to directly attack. Momentarily, the Black Demon Mercenary Group that had been waiting for quite a while grabbed their weapons and rushed up while roaring. The three vice-captains started attacking Lan Xueruo as well.
If they were to rush up here, who knows how many here would be killed or injured. Yun Che did not dare to hesitate; he walked quickly to Lan Xueruo’s side while grabbing onto a Sky Tremor Bomb, and threw it with all his strength.
BOOM!!!!
As the Sky Tremor Bomb landed, it released a huge boom, as if thunder had descended to earth. The explosion blasted away the dozen or more Black Demon mercenaries who had rushed at the front-most lines, and they laid on the floor whilst wimping in pain. Six of them had both of their legs blown away; three of them had the flesh of their entire body turned into paste; while the rest suffered from different degrees of damage.
The Black Demon Mercenary Group that had just begun to rush in, paused momentarily. All of their expressions became lifeless as they stared at the big hole that had been blasted open. Even Black Demon, who was applying medicine on his wound, had his eyes wide open. The three vice-captains also retreated a step back with faces filled with horror.
“What… what was that… What just happened?”
Yun Che stood in front of Lan Xueruo with the second Sky Tremor Bomb in his right and a Poison Fire Rod in his left . His gaze swept coldly over the Black Demon mercenaries who were rooted by fear before coldly laughing: “Whoever wants to die, come take a step forward and try!”
Lan Xueruo took a look at the item on Yun Che’s and cried out silently: “Sky Tremor Bomb? How do you have the Xiao Sect’s Sky Tremor Bomb?”
“I took them from the treasury of the branch sect.” Yun Che replied softly while holding onto Lan Xueruo. They fell back step-by-step until they reached Feng Baichuan’s side.
The Sky Tremor Bomb just now had brought about a huge deterrence, causing these Black Demon mercenaries to momentarily not dare to push forward.
“Clan Leader Feng, do you know of any places where we can temporarily hide in?” Yun Che raised the hand that held the Sky Tremor Bomb while staring fiercely at the Black Demon Mercenary Group in front as he lowered his voice to ask Feng Baichuan. He had a total of six Sky Tremor Bombs: three had been used when dealing with Xiao Zaichi, one had just been used, and currently, only two were left on his body. The most he could do was cause a temporary deterrence.
Yun Che’s words caused Feng Baichuan’s expression to turn rigid for a moment, but he remained silent.
Yun Che lowered his voice and asked: “These people said you guys have a seal in the back mountain, is it true? You guys surely have a way to open the seal, and allow your clansmen to retreat inside before reactivating the seal again. At the very least, it will temporarily keep everyone safe.”
“Out of the question!” What surprised Yun Che was that Feng Baichuan did not deny it, but instead rejected: “That place is the sacred ground the phoenix left behind, and also where the divine spirit of the phoenix lies. If every clansman were to go there, we would offend the divine spirit of the phoenix, and the sins that our clan committed will never be forgiven.”
Yun Che gritted his teeth and said: “These people all carry an extremely heavy scent of bloodlust and killing intent. This means that they have killed quite a number of people. I reckon that claiming to be a mercenary group is just a cover and they are actually a bandit group who kill people for their property If they were really determined to kill us, they would not have a shred of mercy when killing your clansmen! Your clansmen are almost all dead, why do you still care about offending or not offending!!”
Yun Che’s words caused Feng Baichuan’s expression to violently fluctuate. After taking a glance at Feng Zu’er and Feng Xian’er who were huddled tightly around his body, he gritted his teeth and quietly instructed the elders by his side: “Inform every one of our clansmen to retreat to the rear mountains!”
“Clan Leader, could it be that you’re…”
“Go quickly! Protecting our lives is more important, do not worry about anything else for now!” Feng Baichuan sternly commanded with firm determination.
The people who had received the command started to retreat in the direction of the rear mountain. Yun Che and Lan Xueruo continued to stand there, holding up the Sky Tremor Bomb, which was like a reaper’s death scythe, and deterred the Black Demon Mercenary Group from taking a step forward.
“What exactly is that?” Black Demon pressed down on his shoulder while asking with his face twitching.
“I have heard that Xiao Sect’s artifact department had created a formidable artifact. All you have to do is throw it and it will result in a terrifying energy blast. It seems he just threw that kind of item!”
“What? Xiao Sect? Did you say Xiao Sect?” Black Demon’s body suddenly shivered and he nearly fell on his bottom in alarm. He suddenly recalled that this beauty in front of him appeared to be only seventeen to eighteen years old, yet had the strength of the third level of the True Profound Realm. Aside from the four major sects, who else could groom such a monster?
The more he thought about it, the more he realized its possibility. All of a sudden, Black Demon started to sweat profusely. Had he known that they belonged to the Xiao Sect, he would not have dared to provoke them even if he had the courage of ten thousand. However, he had already provoked them…
Black Demon gritted his teeth… In that case, everyone besides the woman must be killed! If anyone escaped… To the Xiao Sect, eradicating his little mercenary group would be as simple as crushing a small ant.
“They’re trying to escape!”
Vice-Captain Black Wolf reported. Taking advantage of the time when they were afraid to move forward, Feng Baichuan brought his clansmen and retreated hurriedly, rushing straight for the rear mountains.
“F*ck them, they want to run? The rear mountains are surrounded by cliffs! Even if they were to grow wings, they can forget about flying away! After them!” Black Demon commanded.
“But… but…” Black Wolf took a look at the Sky Tremor Bomb in Yun Che’s hand and did not dare to make the slightest of movements.
“An item with that sort of frightening power must be extremely precious! They shouldn’t have too many on them, maybe the one he’s holding is the last one! Split into two groups and go right away!”
The Black Demon Mercenary Group immediately dispersed; splitting into two groups from the left and right, they roared as they chased toward the direction of the rear mountains. Yun Che’s expression turned solemn. He then swung his arm and threw the Sky Tremor Bomb to the right before quickly taking out the last Sky Tremor Bomb and throwing it to the left with all his strength.
BOOM!!
BOOM!!
The two loud explosions blasted the people from the Black Demon Mercenary Group into a complete mess. Blood-curdling screeches sounded again and again as the explosions filled the entire valley entrance up with sand clouds. The Black Demon Mercenary Group stopped their pursuit once again; some even fell on their bottom trying to fall back and did not dare to move forward anymore. Treasuring one’s life is human instinct, and in the face of such a life-threatening menace, most of the Black Demon Mercenary Group were unwilling dash forward at the risk of their life.
“Senior Sister, we must hurry!!” After using the last Sky Tremor Bomb, Yun Che took advantage of the sand cloud to veil their movement. Yun Che pulled Lan Xueruo’s hand and quickly ran in the direction Feng Baichuan went towards.
There was no trace of Yun Che and the others once the sand cloud subsided. The destroyed village had no signs of life, and only some of the scattered people that were running in the direction of the rear mountain could be seen far away. Black Demon cursed before bellowing: “What are you guys standing there for! Go and chase them down! Except for the woman, kill all without exception!!”
Yun Che’s injuries had not fully healed and his body was rather weak. However, with Lan Xueruo’s assistance, they were able to quickly catch up to Feng Baichuan. A total of two hundred and twelve clansmen all followed closely behind him; not a single clansman was left behind, be it the elderlies or the children.
Murderous shouts came from behind and seemed to get closer and closer, with the possibility of catching up anytime.
After stepping into the rear mountain region, they were faced with cliffs so tall their summits could not be seen. A huge sigil measuring several meters was embedded in the mountain wall in front of them. A beautiful red color emerged from the entire sigil, glowing bright and dark at times, as a pattern of numerous scarlet flames that fiercely burned, lay at the center of the sigil.
“Is this the seal the Black Demon Mercenary Group mentioned earlier?” Yun Che raised his head as he curiously looked at the strange red sigil.
“That’s right. This is a sigil which seals the ruins the phoenix left behind. Only those with the bloodline of the phoenix can open it using fresh blood.” Feng Baichuan replied.
“Clan Leader, are we really going in? Our ancestors said before that only one person could enter at a time. If so many people were to enter together, we might offend the divine spirit of the phoenix.” A elder asked with a solemn face.
“There’s no other choice.” Feng Baichuan quickly went in front of the sigil, bit his finger, and dripped his blood on the sigil.
Immediately, the faintly-glowing sigil suddenly glowed bright red before vanishing on the spot to reveal a mysterious entrance.
“Quick! Go in quickly!” Feng Baichuan, who had lifted the sigil, ordered hurriedly.
The clansmen of the phoenix clan swarmed in like fish. This sacred ground that they had not dared to rashly step in before, had become their only life-saving escape route. Among them, many would have chosen death than do something that would offend the divine spirit of the phoenix. However, they could not ignore their family and children.
The Black Demon Mercenary Group caught up right when everyone entered the cave.. Feng Baichuan ran into the cave quickly, and with a simple hand gesture the red sigil reappeared to completely cover up the cave’s entrance.
“F*ck! They really did know how to lift this seal!” Black Demon clenched his fist and growled fiercely: “Since they kept denying previously, this means that some treasure really is hidden behind this seal!”
“Captain, what do we do now?”
“What do we do? We’re obviously going to wait here!” Black Demon laughed coldly: “They think we won’t be able to capture them once they escape inside? Heh, there’s definitely no food inside the cave, much less water. I don’t believe they would choose to die from starvation and dehydration than to come out. I’d like to see how many days they’ll last!”