Chapter 54

Chapter 54: Utterly Deranged

Hu Qing flew toward Shui Xin’s direction—slowly.

She was gambling.

She was betting her wild idea against the will of little li realm itself.

She’d seen the Heavenly Dao intervene before. Back then, Ancient Palace City had appeared as if summoned by the world’s own intent. If the heavens could do that once, maybe they wouldn’t stand aside now.

She’d sworn a heaven-and-earth oath, tying herself to little li realm.

If it worked…

Pain seared through her palm. Something was forming there, inch by inch, as if carved with a dull knife. The agony spread through her entire body until she could barely feel anything else.

Too slow.

Her body wasn’t tough enough.

Her lightning wasn’t enough.

She forced her eyes upward.

Ahead, Shui Xin was wrapped in black qi, fighting like a monster. Zhe Liu met him with a silver sword, their blows splitting the air.

Shui Xin had grown stronger. Zhe Liu couldn’t shake him off, only struggle against the relentless assault.

Above them, lightning writhed through the sky and struck both of them—Shui Xin and Zhe Liu—again and again.

Neither seemed to notice. They fought like nothing existed but each other.

Hu Qing bared her teeth.

Then she surged forward, speed exploding.

Juan Bu screamed, “What are you doing—”

Hu Qing slammed into the cloud layer.

Lightning swallowed her whole.

Down below, Shui Xin didn’t even look up. His forbidden art had locked his mind onto one target: Zhe Liu. Once Zhe Liu died, he would kill anything that moved unless the art was broken.

Zhe Liu saw Hu Qing vanish into the lightning and felt a flicker of unease.

But the devil-maddened monk attacked again. Zhe Liu had to answer, and the unease was gone in an instant.

Another forbidden art? Another suicide method?

Let them try.

They didn’t understand an immortal’s methods.

An immortal would not fall.

In the clouds, Hu Qing’s nerves were flayed by lightning. Every breath tasted like burning metal.

She clenched her teeth and growled, over and over, “Heaven-Delegated Execution… Heaven-Delegated Execution…”

Halfway.

Almost.

Three strokes left. Two.

One.

Soul power braced lightning power as the rune completed in her palm. The moment it formed, half her sea of consciousness went empty, as if scooped out with a spoon.

Hu Qing flipped in midair and dove.

Shui Xin, blinded by the forbidden art, didn’t see her.

Zhe Liu did—out of the corner of his eye. A human shape wrapped in lightning was plunging toward him. He tried to shift away—

The black figure of Shui Xin split into three.

Three shadows surged in, trapping Zhe Liu in a tightening ring.

Zhe Liu struck three palms in rapid succession. The three black figures took the blows head-on without slowing.

Then they flashed.

In the next heartbeat, they were right on top of him—front, left, right—locking him in place.

Zhe Liu’s eyes widened.

Did he just move through space?

In a lower realm?

How?

He had no time for the answer.

Hu Qing was already there.

Her right fist was coming down like a hammer—then, at the last instant, it opened into a palm and pressed gently against his forehead.

Gently.

Almost tender.

Zhe Liu stared through the space between her fingers.

Hu Qing was covered in dragon scales slick with blood. Where scales didn’t cover her, skin was scorched and torn. Blood ran from the corners of her eyes, her nostrils, the edges of her mouth.

And yet she was smiling.

A brilliant, satisfied smile.

Zhe Liu felt… nothing.

No pain. No impact. No damage.

Why was she smiling?

Her lips moved without sound.

Zhe Liu read the shape of the word.

Execute.

Execute what?

Execute him?

Absurd.

He was an immortal—a Spirit Immortal Lord. How could a cultivator defeat him?

Reality should be the opposite: two bugs crushed in his palm.

Still dreaming, Zhe Liu died smiling.

His body and soul scattered like sand, grains slipping away into the air.

No reincarnation. No possession. No second chance to realize the truth.

In a way, it was mercy.

Hu Qing felt like she’d died too.

Heaven-Delegated Execution sounded grand. The price was almost dying for real.

But it wasn’t over.

Shui Xin was still lost in black qi.

Hu Qing had planned for that the moment she saw him fall into devilhood.

As Zhe Liu broke apart from the head down, Hu Qing didn’t wait for Shui Xin to turn. She reached out with her left hand and pressed it onto the nearest black head.

A tiny flame shot out.

The three shadows snapped back into one body. Shui Xin clutched his head, staggering.

Hu Qing didn’t let herself fall yet.

She dropped from the air and flicked her left wrist. A huge thick cloth snapped open beneath the dissolving sand, catching every last grain—along with whatever else was mixed inside.

She held on, trembling, until the dark clouds tore away.

Sunlight poured down.

The last of the black qi melted under the light. A pale monk stumbled, groaning softly, “Ow… ow…”

The tiny flame slipped back into Hu Qing’s hand.

With the last of her strength, Hu Qing forced out one question. “Where’s the spirit skiff?”

Her vision went black.

She collapsed.

Shui Xin caught her, tightened the cloth and bundled it up, then released another spirit skiff. The earlier one had been thrown like a bomb when Zhe Liu first caught up.

He checked Hu Qing quickly.

Stamina depleted. Spiritual power depleted. Soul power depleted.

He wasn’t any better.

All he could do was feed her pills by the handful, then swallow his own, and wait for their bodies to repair themselves.

Hu Qing slept for days.

When she finally woke, heavy-limbed and aching, she found they were still in the same place.

Outside the spirit skiff, Shui Xin sat with his back to her. Multiple pots were set over small fires, each boiling a different kind of mushroom. He picked up a mushroom shaped like a rabbit and fed it to a rabbit.

Hu Qing’s eye twitched. “You’re insane. You’re using live animals to test poison.”

“You’re awake.” Shui Xin turned.

Hu Qing screamed. “A ghost!”

Shui Xin stared at her. His face was swollen with blisters, so puffy and mottled his features were hard to make out. He pointed at himself. “Guess who did this to me.”

Hu Qing didn’t blink. “Anyway, not me.”

“….” Shui Xin’s gaze went flat. She’d ruined his face and still refused to admit it. Utterly deranged.

Hu Qing tried to sit up, made it halfway, then dropped back onto the bedding. “Tired. I’m lying down.”

Then, like she hadn’t just screamed at him, she asked, “Why aren’t we heading back? Does the Sect Master know we’re fine?”

“I didn’t tell him,” Shui Xin said.

He let the rabbit go. The rabbit didn’t even run.

“Killing an immortal in one day?” Shui Xin’s voice stayed calm, but his eyes were sharp. “The less anyone knows, the better. Let’s stall for a few more days. When we go back, we’ll say Zhe Liu ran away. You can make up a convincing story.”

Hu Qing thought about it and nodded. Let Zhe Liu become a missing person.

After all, who would believe two Nascent Soul Stage cultivators could kill an immortal?

She frowned. “Do you think Zhe Liu’s sect can see his final moments?”

Cultivators had plenty of tricks for leaving images at death. Immortals would have even more.

Hu Qing didn’t know. But she didn’t think it would matter. She’d borrowed the power of heaven and earth. If anything could drown traces, it was that.

She let out a breath. “Whatever. Outsiders can’t enter little li realm anyway. Worst case… we just don’t leave.”