Volume 5 Chapter 126

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Volume 5 Chapter 126: Changes From All Sides (Part 2)

"Let’s go in and take a look."

Outside the blood-red valley, a look of determination flashed across Zhang Yi’s face as he said to Dongfang Qingling and Xu Xiurong. Without a hint of doubt or hesitation, he led Dongfang Qingling, Xu Xiurong, and the six male cultivators, who moved like puppets, quickly into the valley, ignoring the raging flames inside.

Once the nine entered the valley, the flames obscured their vision, and the overwhelming heat distorted the air, making it hard to breathe. However, all nine were skilled individuals, and as long as the flames did not actively attack, they could not be harmed.

Dongfang Qingling, Xu Xiurong, and six male cultivators, who looked like puppets, were surrounded by colorful lights. A protective shield made from the Five Elements Taoist Method kept the flames away, but even so, Dongfang Qingling and Xu Xiurong were covered in sweat, making them wonder if they were about to dehydrate and die, even though both practiced water-based techniques.

The leader, Zhang Yi, carried some kind of extraordinary treasure, and the flames around her parted, making her the most relaxed among the nine.

"Where is Xu Qingfan before you leave?"

Zhang Yi frowned as she looked at the endless flames, then turned to Dongfang Qingling and Xu Xiurong to ask.

"There is a cave over there; before we left, Senior Brother Xu went inside."

Dongfang Qingling was also eager to know if Xu Qingfan was safe, so she didn’t hide it anymore and pointed to the hidden cave.

"Let’s go!"

Upon hearing Dongfang Qingling’s words, Zhang Yi hesitated not at all and flew with the group toward the location she pointed out, where the flames stepped back.

But before they reached the cave Dongfang Qingling mentioned, they saw a figure standing proudly in the center of the flames. Although somewhat disheveled, the person’s proud and stubborn spirit shone through. With golden light glimmering on them, they were the only bright spot in the red world of the fiery valley.

Suddenly, the golden light around the golden figure vanished. At the same time, the flames surrounding this figure turned into enormous waves of fire that seemed capable of destroying everything, rushing towards him quickly.

After the golden figure removed the protective golden light, he had no defenses left at all. Under the waves of flames, it seemed like his life was at risk.

"It’s Martial Brother Jin."

Seeing the sudden change before her, Dongfang Qingling realized something and was shocked. Without caring that she had become a lowly prisoner, she used her power to help Jin Qinghan.

Just a moment after Dongfang Qingling, Xu Xiurong hesitated slightly and then also tried to rescue him.

Both of them practiced water-based magic, so their power was weakened in this fiery world, but even so, as they moved their hands, waves of water quickly surged towards Jin Qinghan, extinguishing the flames in their path.

When Zhang Yi saw the two girls act, he frowned slightly but didn’t stop them. He simply floated quietly in this fiery world, watching the situation unfold.

※※※※

Meanwhile, in the valley, Jin Qinghan was covered in wounds, his golden armor cracked, and the "Eight Evil Consciousness King" behind him was close to collapse. Although he had gathered all his Spirit Qi into one point, ready to unleash a powerful attack when Feng Qingtian appeared, Feng Qingtian never gave Jin Qinghan a chance to strike, hiding among the surrounding flames and occasionally launching a surprise attack that made Jin Qinghan panic and worsened his internal injuries.

"It’s now or never."

Feeling the urgency of time and worrying about Xu Qingfan’s safety inside the mountain, Jin Qinghan gritted his teeth and said to himself.

In the moment of his decision, the golden armor on Jin Qinghan, and the "Eight Evil Consciousness King" behind him, suddenly vanished, leaving him without any power to resist.

Earlier, Jin Qinghan wanted to defeat Feng Qingtian with his ability to compress all his Spirit Qi into one point, but Feng Qingtian had vanished into the flames and was nowhere to be seen. While Jin Qinghan had to focus on maintaining the huge amount of Spirit Qi gathered at his fingertips, he also needed to keep his mind on his own defense, which weakened his ability to sense Feng Qingtian’s location. As a result, even now he still had no idea where Feng Qingtian was hiding, and this ability could only be used once, leaving Jin Qinghan to endure the attacks without being able to fight back.

Given this situation, Jin Qinghan was determined to drop his defense, both to lure Feng Qingtian into attacking again and to focus his senses to find Feng Qingtian’s position.

What Jin Qinghan was doing was undoubtedly gambling with his life.

But for Jin Qinghan, even if he were severely injured or killed, he was resolved to defeat Feng Qingtian. This was not only because of his deep desire to overcome Feng Qingtian, but also because if he could seriously injure Feng Qingtian, then even if he himself was hurt or died and couldn’t help Xu Qingfan, he would at least reduce the strength of Xu Qingfan’s opponent in the cave, giving Xu Qingfan a better chance to survive.

These two reasons were enough for Jin Qinghan.

Sure enough, the moment Jin Qinghan dropped his defenses, the flames around him, which had been quietly burning, suddenly surged into a raging wave of fire attacking him from all directions.

At the moment the flames rushed towards him, Jin Qinghan did not dodge or escape. Instead, he slowly closed his eyes, focusing his mind to search for Feng Qingtian’s location.

Jin Qinghan felt that he had never been so focused in his life. With his Divine Sense highly concentrated, nothing within a hundred feet around him could escape his awareness. After just having defeated dozens of "Beast Madness cultivators," he was performing beyond his usual capabilities once more.

The more critical the moment, the stronger the power he displayed; Jin Qinghan was just that kind of person.

With his focus intensely sharpened, Jin Qinghan felt that time was flowing incredibly slowly in his mind. The waves of fire rushing towards him seemed to move as slowly as a snail. They crept closer inch by inch, as if they needed decades to reach him before they could cause any harm.

However, Jin Qinghan did not relax at all. His Divine Sense in this slow-moving world did not decrease in speed; instead, it became even quicker, searching for Feng Qingtian’s hiding place over and over again.

Finally, after what felt like countless years, the waves of fire came close to Jin Qinghan. Yet, his Divine Sense had searched tirelessly around him for Feng Qingtian’s whereabouts, only to despairingly find that Feng Qingtian’s escape was much better than he had imagined. Even with his extraordinary efforts, he still did not detect a trace of Feng Qingtian’s hiding.

As the waves of fire approached, Jin Qinghan’s hair had already turned dry and curled from the intense heat. Even before the flames could reach him, his clothes were already starting to catch fire.

But Jin Qinghan didn’t care about that; only despair remained in his heart.

"Is it possible that even like this, I still can’t see Feng Qingtian’s figure? Am I really going to be defeated by Feng Qingtian again, and possibly lose my life here? Am I truly unable to get past this challenge from Feng Qingtian to save Senior Brother Xu?"

Despite feeling hopeless, Jin Qinghan did not give up at all. He kept searching for the flames around him, looking for Feng Qingtian’s hiding place, even as the fire began to burn his body.

But just then, something unexpected happened.

Jin Qinghan felt that among the countless flames, the valley was filled with pure Fire Spirit Qi. Suddenly, two huge Water Spirit Qi appeared. Although these two Water Spirit Qi were small compared to the Fire Spirit Qi in the valley, the arrival of Water Spirit Qi caused the Fire Spirit Qi to become chaotic, no longer wild and orderly as before.

In this sudden chaos, Jin Qinghan sensed that, not far from him, the Fire Spirit Qi remained orderly. It surged forth, fighting against the suddenly appearing Water Spirit Qi, trying to maintain the balance of Fire Spirit Qi in the valley.

"I found it!"

Jin Qinghan’s heart filled with joy. Without hesitation, ignoring the fierce flames attacking him, he pointed his right hand at the place where the Fire Spirit Qi surged, unleashing the Golden Spirit Qi he had been building up. It shot out like a flash of lightning at an incredible speed.

Then, there was a muffled grunt, blood sprayed everywhere, and blood light shone brightly. But under the endless flames, it quickly turned into steam and disappeared in an instant.

Then, in the blood-red valley, the flames that filled the sky suddenly vanished, revealing Jin Qinghan, Feng Qingtian, Zhang Yi, Dongfang Qingling, Xu Xiurong, and others.

It seemed that Jin Qinghan’s strike had badly injured Feng Qingtian, so much so that he could not even maintain the flames, which had also suddenly disappeared from Jin Qinghan. Jin Qinghan’s body was now completely black, with no hair left, and the air was filled with a horrible smell of burnt flesh that made one feel nauseous.

On the other side, Feng Qingtian in disbelief looked down at the blood-sized hole in his chest. Blood poured out continuously, and in an instant, his purple robe had turned a dark purple color. The blood dripped down from his purple clothes and quickly soaked his shoes and socks.

In the distance, Zhang Yi, Dongfang Qingling, and Xu Xiurong quietly floated in the air, silently watching everything before them, their expressions cold, worried, or incredulous. Although Dongfang Qingling and Xu Xiurong wanted to help Jin Qinghan, they were held back by the six puppet-like cultivators and could not move.

"Bang!"

"Zoom!"

Suddenly, in the now quiet valley, two crashing sounds echoed, and moments later, Jin Qinghan and Feng Qingtian both fell to the ground, equally injured.

Even as they lay on the ground, their eyes continued to silently meet, as if they had been doing so since ancient times.

In Jin Qinghan’s eyes, there was regret mixed with satisfaction, while Feng Qingtian’s gaze was cold and fierce.

Jin Qinghan felt satisfied that he had finally dealt a heavy blow to Feng Qingtian, but he regretted that in this battle, he had lost once again. If it were not for Dongfang Qingling and Xu Xiurong’s sudden intervention, he would not have had the chance to hit Feng Qingtian at all.

Throughout it all, Feng Qingtian’s expression remained cold and fierce, as if he was not worried about his fate at all.

In the end, it was Feng Qingtian who looked away first, slowly turning his head to glance in the direction of Zhang Yi and the others. His gaze grew colder as it moved slowly between Dongfang Qingling, Xu Xiurong, and Zhang Yi, finally settling on Zhang Yi.

Just now, if it weren’t for Dongfang Qingling and Xu Xiurong’s sudden actions, he would not have been discovered by Jin Qinghan. When he responded to Xu Xiurong and Dongfang Qingling, he suddenly realized that Jin Qinghan had found him. He felt a deep concern about the Spirit Qi compression technique created by Jin Qinghan. Just as he was about to use his fire escape technique to change his position, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his mind, as if an invisible blade had sliced through him. In that moment of agony, he could not continue to use the fire escape technique and was ultimately severely injured by Jin Qinghan’s powers.

The reason for his mental pain was indeed because of Zhang Yi’s "Art of Annihilation."

It can be said that Feng Qingtian’s defeat was due to his carelessness, as he was outmatched by the combined efforts of Jin Qinghan, Zhang Yi, Dongfang Qingling, and Xu Xiurong. It could be seen as an honorable defeat.

But for Feng Qingtian, a defeat is just that—a defeat, with no excuses.

"I don’t care how you retaliated against me, but you should not have included me among your targets. So, I had no choice but to act."

Watching Feng Qingtian’s piercing stare, cold and chilling, even Zhang Yi, who is usually proud, felt a shiver go down his spine and involuntarily began to explain.

Seemingly accepting Zhang Yi’s explanation, Feng Qingtian slowly closed his eyes and said nothing.

"It’s Feng Qingtian!"

Finally, Dongfang Qingling recognized the person in purple clothes lying in the pool of blood and gasped in shock.

Normally, Feng Qingtian’s appearance had not changed much besides his clothing, but Dongfang Qingling recognized him now because of the change in his presence. The previous Feng Qingtian had already been quite proud and cold, but the current Feng Qingtian’s pride and coldness were much stronger, filled with a chilling intensity that made anyone who looked at him feel scared.

Zhang Yi and Xu Xiurong had naturally heard of who Feng Qingtian was, the one called Jiuhua since Zhang Xusheng, the most gifted person, becoming a Mahayana Stage master seemed almost certain. They were only puzzled about how far he would go in the Mahayana Stage. When they heard Dongfang Qingling reveal his identity, they looked at Feng Qingtian with curious eyes once again.

Although they wondered why Feng Qingtian suddenly appeared, seeing Jin Qinghan’s charred body twitching as if he could die at any moment made Dongfang Qingling suppress her curiosity and ask Zhang Yi, "Can I save Martial Brother Jin first? He is Senior Brother Xu’s best friend and entered that cave with him. I don’t know why he ended up here."

Zhang Yi originally didn’t care about Jin Qinghan’s life or death, but after hearing Dongfang Qingling’s words, he finally nodded in agreement.

She needed enough bargaining chips to force Xu Qingfan to return the "World Defying Sword" to her, and since Jin Qinghan was Xu Qingfan’s best friend, she could not let this good bargaining chip go to waste.

Seeing Zhang Yi agree, Dongfang Qingling immediately flew towards Jin Qinghan, with Xu Xiurong hurriedly following her, along with four puppet cultivators who were responsible for monitoring them.

Seeing that Jin Qinghan looked like he had turned into a piece of charcoal, Dongfang Qingling was shocked and sensed that Jin Qinghan’s life force was gradually fading. Without any hesitation, she pressed her hands on Jin Qinghan’s still hot body, pouring her powerful healing Water Spirit Qi into him, and Xu Xiurong did the same.

Meanwhile, Feng Qingtian, who was also seriously injured, bleeding from his chest and on the brink of death, had long been forgotten and was about to die.

※※※※

"Feng Qingtian, Xu Qingfan, and Zhang Yi – these three are the people the boss values the most, yet now they are about to fight each other. How very interesting!"

In the sky above Blood Valley, where the clouds meet the blazing sun, a person dressed in black with a half mask on their face smiled lightly and spoke.

"Should we stop them?" asked another person in the same outfit. "If these three end up killing each other, I wonder what the boss would think. Look at Feng Qingtian; he is about to die."

"If these three really die, then it only shows they do not deserve the boss’s attention. I guess the boss would just be glad he didn’t waste his time."

"That’s true."

"Besides, Feng Qingtian is the boss’s most valued person; he won’t die so easily. Don’t forget his background. As for Xu Qingfan, since his opponent is that ‘Sun’ freak, he is truly in danger. But even if we wanted to save him, to be honest, the two of us together might not be able to take on ‘Sun’. Plus, we have another task; we’re just passing by to watch the show, no need to get involved."

"Speaking of which, we’ve been watching the show for a full two hours, right? Aren’t you afraid of delaying the boss’s orders?"

"Those demon beasts won’t arrive for a while; we still have time."

"Ha, ‘Ming’ wanted to weaken the Righteous Alliance using the power of the Southern Wasteland demon beasts while continuing the disaster, but did not expect that the boss had already planned ahead. He let us lead the divided demon beasts to ‘Ming”s various strongholds and weakened both ‘Ming’ and the Righteous Alliance. It seems that in the future, this world will belong to our ‘An’ organization."

"Do not be too confident. The battle between ‘Ming’ and ‘An’ has lasted for eight hundred years, but the final result will still depend on the boss and the two elders ‘Tian’ and ‘Di’. Otherwise, even if we remove all of ‘Ming’s edge powers, it would be pointless."

"However, the time for the showdown is approaching, and this battle truly excites people."

"Yes, the final battle is near. ‘Ming’ has been hiding and plotting, but in the end, we have outsmarted them. It is truly ironic, but I wonder how the boss has prepared."

"The boss will not lose."

※※※※

"It is simpler than I imagined, and the rewards are even greater than I thought."

Before, by amplifying Xu Qingfan’s deep-seated murderous intent, not only did it increase the power of the ‘Beast Madness Energy,’ but it also made Xu Qingfan unable to continue suppressing it. At this moment, ‘Beast Madness Energy’ had spread throughout Xu Qingfan’s body.

Looking at Xu Qingfan, who had red light in his eyes and was growling softly, he had already transformed into a ‘Beast Madness cultivator.’ Because he was suddenly attacked by "Ri" at a critical moment and manipulated, he was now completely controlled by "Ri." Even "Ri" could not help feeling a bit pleased and said with a faint smile.

At this moment, in the empty heart of the mountain, only fewer than a hundred "Beast Madness cultivators" remained due to the ongoing battles. They stood quietly to the side, while Xu Qingfan’s two avatars—Xu Ying and Xu Zhiyuan—stood beside him, their eyes also glowing red like the "Beast Madness cultivators" under his influence.

When "Ri" turned his gaze to Bo Guangyan, who was sitting on the ground looking dazed, his smile grew wider. The battle with Bo Guangyan truly allowed him to gain a lot; originally, his cultivation method was only good at amplifying and guiding certain emotions within a cultivator’s heart, but after fighting with Bo Guangyan, he realized how to suppress certain emotions.

In this way, when he faced an enemy in the future, "Ri" could not only control the emotions he wanted in his opponent’s heart, but he could also suppress the emotions that fought against those he expanded, increasing his power many times over.

Then, "Ri" turned his gaze to Little Black, who was surrounded by a mass of black mist. Thinking of the strange green skeleton, his eyes filled with joy as he slowly reached out to touch the black mist.

But just then, a sudden change occurred.