Chapter 49
Chapter 49: Clever Use of Death Qi
In the two months since the dragon-blood tempering, Shao Heng had split her time between missions and cultivation. Even now, she only held 426 furnaces of power.
This woman, on the other hand, was peak First Realm—well over 900 furnaces.
Shao Heng couldn’t fight her head-on.
The woman didn’t react to Shao Heng’s disguised face. She clearly didn’t recognize her. That meant the disguise was holding—for now.
Shao Heng’s mind flashed, and she hurled out a vicious threat in Jiang Yun Jiang’s name.
“I’m an inner sect disciple of the True One Yuan Sect—True Lord Tian Bai’s personal disciple, Jiang Yun Jiang!” Her voice was sharp, cutting. “Touch me and see if my Master doesn’t kill you!”
Even as the words left her mouth, she activated Three-Thousand-Li Moon.
Moonlight split her body into three Phantom Bodies, speed surging as she slipped past the crushing palm and fled.
The woman’s brows lifted slightly. She clenched her right hand.
“So arrogant.”
White lotuses bloomed out of thin air. Their petals withered instantly, and a ripple of power rolled outward. Any Phantom Body it brushed shattered on the spot.
In only a couple of breaths, all three Phantom Bodies were destroyed, forcing Shao Heng’s true body into the open.
Shao Heng flicked her wrist.
Thirty-six Jade Bee Needles shot out like a storm.
The woman—Lu Yao—swept her sleeve, blocking them all with a single motion. The reflected force seized control of the needles, and they reversed midair, screaming back toward Shao Heng.
“Bang!”
The Jade Bee Needles struck.
Cloth tore. A crimson, close-fitting soft armor was revealed beneath—First Grade Crimson Jade Armor, Supreme Grade within its tier, layered with 29 Dao-mark restrictions.
Shao Heng twisted, using clever force to pull the needles back into her control, reclaiming them in one sharp breath.
This wasn’t enough.
She couldn’t win.
Without hesitation, she snatched two deep-yellow talismans from her storage ring and burned them with power on the spot.
A First Grade high-tier Blazing Flame Talisman.
A First Grade high-tier Waterlight Talisman.
Fire and water slammed toward Lu Yao at once. Their opposing forces collided and amplified, and thick steam exploded outward, swallowing the space and blocking sight.
Lu Yao shook her head slightly, unimpressed. She formed a seal with her right hand and whispered an incantation.
A raging gale erupted. A green wind beam tore through the talisman force and blew the steam apart in an instant.
“Clang!”
A black-green bell appeared in Shao Heng’s hand. Its shape was strange, carved with obscure sacrificial script. When she rang it, the sound was barely a whisper.
But for Lu Yao, it was like a heavy hammer slamming into her skull.
Shao Heng’s vision swam from the backlash. She wiped blood from the corner of her mouth.
Soul-Seizing Bell.
A Second Grade magic tool, layered with 89 Dao-mark restrictions.
It wasn’t that a First Realm cultivator couldn’t refine a Second Grade magic tool. It was that the strain on divine sense was enormous. With limited power, the refining took far longer than for a First Grade tool.
Shao Heng had used moon essence and sun radiance to accelerate the process, but she’d only refined 31 restrictions so far. She could barely wield it—and every use bit back.
Lu Yao’s mind went hazy. Pain pulsed in her upper dantian. The gale she’d cast wavered and fell into chaos.
Shao Heng seized the opening.
Three-Thousand-Li Moon flared again. Yellow-sprout power poured out as she vanished into moonlight, using the strange night of this world to surge nearly a hundred li in a blink.
By the time she stopped, 70 to 80 percent of her power had been drained. Shao Heng stumbled and dropped to one knee, panting hard.
She swallowed a Rejuvenation Pill and an Origin-Restoring Pill in quick succession. Azure Emperor runes drew in spirit qi from the surroundings as she activated Grace the Four Directions, forcing her body to recover from the bell’s backlash.
Then the ground shuddered.
Dark-green vines burst from the tree beside her—thick as pythons. They slithered down from the branches and snapped toward her throat.
Shao Heng’s divine sense shrieked warning. She sprang backward and drew a razor-sharp black-iron dagger from her storage ring, chopping down hard.
“Snap.”
The dagger hit the vine as if striking metal. Sparks flew.
The blade shattered cleanly in two.
In the same instant, the dragon mark on her arm flashed. A slender White Dragon burst out, tail snapping like a whip. It slammed into the vines and shook the entire tree.
More vines erupted from the brush anyway, surging like a tide.
A spark flared in Shao Heng’s mind.
She raised a finger. A wisp of black death qi rose from her fingertip and pointed straight at the vines.
The charging vines recoiled instantly, shrinking back as if they’d seen something that terrified them down to their roots.
Shao Heng’s eyes narrowed with realization.
“The Azure Emperor is wood-aligned by nature. Now that it has changed a second time… this Frost Under Heaven death qi is a razor-sharp killing method.”
“Against Spirit Plant Tree Demons like these, it’s a natural nemesis.”
“Just as I thought.”
Pressure eased from her shoulders.
Ao Chuan flew back and wrapped around her arm again, his mind-voice carrying through the Blood Pact, proud despite the danger.
“These vines are strange. They can actually fight me to a draw.”
He was clearly bragging, but Shao Heng still glanced at him, surprise flickering.
True Dragons were favored by heaven and earth—living proof of “getting stronger just by breathing.” According to Ao Chuan’s inheritance memories, True Dragons had no bottlenecks before the Third Realm. With enough resources, they simply accumulated power, tempered their bodies, and advanced.
He’d been born only a little over two months.
Yet he was already mid-stage First Realm and not far from late-stage.
Shao Heng’s cultivation speed was among the best of the Human Clan, but she still lagged behind him on the surface.
It was honestly chilling.
After driving the vines back with death qi, Shao Heng didn’t leave.
She’d burned too much power and suffered minor injuries. Since death qi restrained the Vine Demon and kept it from striking, she might as well recover here. If another cultivator passed by, she could even use the Vine Demon as cover.
She drew out more death qi and wrapped it around her clothes, then sat boldly beneath the tree and began to meditate.
Whoosh!
A streak of sword light cleaved through the forest, destroying every tree in its path.
Shao Heng had only been recovering for about a quarter-hour when a goose-yellow figure swept in on a flying sword.
[She’s right on my tail.]
“Yes,” Lu Yao murmured, eyes cold. “If you offend a True Lord’s personal disciple and don’t kill her inside the Mystic Moon Secret Realm… are you going to let her walk out alive when it closes and hand yourself a needless disaster later?”
She’d seen the girl use three different magic tools in succession. Wealthy. And that bell—judging by its might—was almost certainly Second Grade.
Lu Yao was more convinced than ever that this was a personal disciple.
Since the offense was already made, she had to kill her now. Inside this secret realm, True Lord Tian Bai’s calculations couldn’t reach. No matter how powerful he was, he couldn’t peer through Tai Yin’s interference and see what happened here.
So Lu Yao had activated a tracking tool and chased her all the way.
Now she spotted the girl sitting beneath the tree and raised her hand to strike—
But more than ten thick vines exploded out of the brush.