Chapter 127: As Fickle as a Flipping Book

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Just as the two of them took a step, preparing to pass by the spatial rift, it unexpectedly doubled in size, becoming large enough for two people to pass through. An intense nether-spring aura washed over them—cold, deep, and bone-chillingly sharp—forcing them back. Wisps of black energy seeped from the opening.

“We can’t escape. Prepare to fight cautiously. This Nether-Creature will definitely be more ferocious than the last one,” Ye Yiming sighed, his expression turning grim. He readied the Thirtieth-Leaf spiritual talisman he had taken from Chu Xiangzi’s body.

As they watched, the spatial rift did not disappoint. What emerged from it was a human! A strikingly handsome human, at that. The only thing that set him apart from a normal person was the slightly bronze hue of his skin.

No. Qin Haoxuan quickly sensed that the being was emanating demonic energy, not the spiritual aura of a cultivator.

As Qin Haoxuan sized him up, the being sized them up in return. In his eyes, they could see the look of disdain unique to intelligent creatures, the way a person might look at an insect.

“Junior Brother, be careful…” Ye Yiming whispered. “I’ve never encountered a situation like this… In the Aqueous Manor, the stranger things are, the more dangerous they tend to be… His eyes are full of intelligence… This is already a demon…”

Before Ye Yiming had even finished speaking, and before Qin Haoxuan could reply, the “human” took a folding fan from his robes. With a casual flick, he snapped it open and said with a touch of flair, “Humans? You may address this seat as Young Master ‘Xing’. Kneel before this seat, and I shall spare your lives.”

Qin Haoxuan silently observed Xing. The corner of his outer robe was stained with blood. It wasn’t human blood; it had to be from a monster. Do demons attack other demons?

“Be careful…” Ye Yiming reminded Qin Haoxuan, clutching the Thirtieth-Leaf talisman. If this demon dared to approach, he would activate it without hesitation.

He warned him again, “Even Spirit Tree Realm demons can’t speak human language, yet this one can. This demon is not simple. When the fight starts, I’ll hold him off. You must escape from here as quickly as possible!”

What worried Ye Yiming most was that this demon could speak. Typically, even demons with strength equivalent to the Spirit Tree Realm could not speak human language, yet this one, whose power was at most equivalent to the Twentieth-Leaf, could speak fluently. He was certain to be even more difficult to deal with than the last creature.

Xing let out an arrogant, strange laugh. “Well, you two? Are you not going to kneel? Must this seat be forced to act? To suck out your flesh and blood?”

Xing advanced on them with the refined air of a scholar, forcing Qin Haoxuan and Ye Yiming to retreat several more steps.

Although Ye Yiming held a powerful talisman, he didn’t dare to use it rashly. It was the only thing they had that could seriously harm Xing. Nether-Creatures were not only physically tough but also incredibly agile. If he missed, they would have no other way to hurt it. As for the two Twentieth-Leaf talismans, their power would be insufficient to break through the creature’s formidable physical defense.

As he closed in, Xing continued to ramble, “Kneel, and you can live…”

A smile slowly bloomed on Qin Haoxuan’s tense and somber face. The sight of it was somewhat jarring to Xing.

“Senior Brother,” Qin Haoxuan whispered, “this demon keeps talking but hasn’t made a move… Perhaps he’s injured. Look at the corner of his robe…”

Ye Yiming was surprised by Qin Haoxuan’s calmness. He quickly glanced at Xing’s robe. Instinctively, Xing tried to hide the stained corner behind his back, a movement that both of them caught.

“Senior Brother, attack!” Qin Haoxuan shouted. He rapidly condensed the golden, misty spiritual sense in his mind, forming a giant golden rod and shooting it towards the Nether-Creature. At the same time, Ye Yiming activated one of the Twentieth-Leaf talismans. The talisman shattered, and the potent spiritual energy within it formed a sharp blade that stabbed fiercely at Xing.

Xing’s eyes widened, a triumphant smirk on his lips. An attack of this level was powerful, but it was too slow! How could it possibly hit him? This must be their trump card. Just as he was about to leap aside, he was unexpectedly struck by a mental attack from the weaker-looking human, and an immense pain exploded in his head.

“Argh!” As Xing cried out from the mental assault, the Twentieth-Leaf talisman slammed squarely into his body. A green light flared around him as he was hit. He shrieked and leaped away, staring at Qin Haoxuan in astonishment. He could not fathom why such a weak, low-level cultivator possessed such powerful spiritual sense.

Although Xing’s power was greater than the last Nether-Creature’s, his spiritual sense was similarly weak, much weaker than that of a typical Twentieth-Leaf cultivator.

While Qin Haoxuan’s attack hadn’t shattered his soul, it had filled his eyes with terror. He jumped and hopped back a great distance.

Just as Xing was about to dive back into the spatial rift, the dark opening suddenly snapped shut.

“Damn it! Why did it close?” Xing yelped. He quickly waved his hands and shouted, “Stop! Stop! Don’t fight! I surrender, I surrender! Nothing good will come of this for either of us if we continue!”

Ye Yiming stared in surprise. Besides being physically powerful, the Nether-race was known for never surrendering. Any surrender was surely a trick.

He quietly reminded Qin Haoxuan, “Don’t believe the words of a Nether-Creature. This is most likely a feigned surrender.”

Hearing this, Xing’s face fell into a miserable expression. “I’m really surrendering! If you shatter my spiritual sense, I’ll die! How can I not surrender? Don’t you humans have a saying, ‘He who understands the times is a wise man’?”

Ye Yiming was taken aback. Although Xing’s logic was sound, who knew if he was being sincere? If he attacked them from behind, given his strength, they would be in serious trouble.

Qin Haoxuan stared at Xing with knife-sharp eyes. He secretly gathered his spiritual sense, calculating. One or two more attacks might be enough to kill this creature. But its body was extremely tough. In its death throes, it could injure him or Ye Yiming, which would be a huge problem in this dangerous place. Most importantly, he suspected the demon had other tricks up its sleeve. If they fought to the death, could he guarantee their safety? And if he exhausted his spiritual sense, what would he do if they encountered another Nether-Creature?

“You can go,” Qin Haoxuan said after staring at Xing for a long moment.

Xing froze, looking at Qin Haoxuan in astonishment. His eyes widened. “You’re really letting me go?”

Not wanting to waste any more words or let the creature guess his thoughts, Qin Haoxuan simply said, “Get lost.”

Xing’s eyes darted back and forth, considering the possibilities. Finally, he broke into a sudden smile. “This seat has no desire to fight to the death with you either. And you want to conserve your strength, right? Excellent. Since our meeting is fate, you should at least give this seat some benefits…”

“In that case, let’s just fight to the death.” Qin Haoxuan immediately assumed a fighting stance. He hadn’t expected this seemingly refined and cunning demon to also have such a shameless side.

Xing, in turn, hadn’t expected Qin Haoxuan’s attitude to flip so quickly. He instinctively took a step back, waving his hands with a laugh. “A joke, just a joke! My friend, can’t you take a joke? I’ll get lost right now…”

Qin Haoxuan was disoriented by Xing’s rapid changes in demeanor. Xing was already backing away. “Rest assured, this seat will absolutely not attack you. I will stay far away from you. You are more terrifying than the powerful beings in the Netherworld!” As he spoke, he continued to retreat. Once he was a safe distance away, he immediately turned and fled.

Qin Haoxuan finally felt a sense of relief. “Senior Brother,” he said to Ye Yiming, “we can finally leave this place.”

Ye Yiming nodded. They chose the opposite direction from where Xing had fled, but he remained cautious, holding the Thirtieth-Leaf talisman at the ready, carefully scanning their surroundings for any sign of a surprise attack.

Night had fallen, and the beautiful garden now looked dark and menacing under the eerie glow cast by the green lake water high above. After about an hour, Ye Yiming finally led Qin Haoxuan to an exit. It split into two paths: a narrow, dark lane and a path leading to a courtyard. After much consideration, Ye Yiming chose the lane. “There are too many rooms in the courtyard,” he explained. “It would be hard to spot an ambush. This lane is narrow; as long as we’re careful, the chance of a surprise attack is low.”

Qin Haoxuan readily agreed. After all, Ye Yiming had been to the Aqueous Manor more than ten times and had far more experience than he did.

The lane was only wide enough for three people to walk abreast. On one side were low shrubs that couldn’t hide anyone, and on the other was a high red wall. The possibility of an ambush was indeed small, but the chance of a head-on encounter was high.

They had just started down the path when a washbasin-sized black hole opened up ahead. A swarm of twenty to thirty Nether-Souls poured out.

Their only choice was to kill their way through.

Qin Haoxuan stepped forward. In his mind, golden rods of spiritual sense formed one after another, raining down on the Nether-Souls. These creatures, which would have taken a Tenth-Leaf cultivator great effort to kill, were more fragile than tofu under the assault of his spiritual sense. In the blink of an eye, they all dissolved into green smoke.

Ye Yiming stood by with a wry smile. He, the Guiding Senior Brother, was now being protected by his junior, who seemed to be the natural bane of all Nether-Creatures.

After passing through the lane, they arrived in a beautiful courtyard. Though not as magnificent as the first garden, it was still vast, complete with streams, rockeries, and stone tables and benches.

The first thing they saw upon entering, however, was a ground littered with corpses. There were bodies of Nether-Creatures and their fellow Taichu disciples. A tragic and exceptionally brutal battle had clearly taken place here not long ago.