Chapter 37 — Grotesque Eyes

At this, the burly man stepped forward and addressed the Canglan Sect group: "I advise you few to just surrender quietly, lest we have to raise a hand and leave you with shattered bones and torn sinews, suffering in body and flesh!"

Qi Hao gave a cold snort, and before he could speak, Lu Xueqi's icy voice came from behind him: "Demonic clowns, you still dare act so brazen? Today is the day you die."

Qi Hao and Zeng Shushu both said, "Well said, Junior Sister Lu! Exactly so!"

The burly man's expression changed, his face like frost, and he said coldly, "Then you've brought death on yourselves!"

Without any visible movement, he merely glared toward the four of them. Zhang Qingyue, concentrating on his guard, suddenly saw that within the burly man's normally proportioned eyes, the right one had suddenly doubled in size and turned a crimson red. That whole enormous eye, planted on his face, was both terrifying and absurd.

As he was puzzling over this, a red ray of light suddenly shot out from the burly man's crimson giant eye and streaked toward them. The Canglan Sect group, having found his appearance strange, had long been on their guard. Qi Hao immediately summoned his Cold Ice Immortal Sword, and with two crisp "kacha" sounds, formed two walls of ice before them.

To their surprise, the red ray seemed to carry a fierce and baleful power; moments later it struck the ice wall and instantly melted a small hole through it, piercing straight through. Silent and soundless, yet unstoppable as a cleaver through bamboo, it came rushing on.

Qi Hao was greatly startled. With no time to react further, he at once held the Cold Ice Immortal Sword across the front of the group. The red ray struck the sword, flickered twice, and vanished without a trace amidst the sword's white radiance. But Qi Hao's body trembled, and he caught sight of a small patch on the blade of the Cold Ice Immortal Sword, which had been pure white, now stained with a faint, dull red.

The body of the Cold Ice Sword quivered slightly, as if it had been violated by some evil thing. Qi Hao's heart ached terribly to see it — and indeed, among cultivators, who does not prize his own magical treasure above all? But there was no time for such thoughts now. The red ray had no sooner vanished than another shot from the burly man's crimson giant eye far off, hurtling toward them. When it struck the two ice walls, it likewise silently bored two holes through them without slowing in the slightest, and sped toward the four.

Qi Hao frowned deeply. The Cold Ice Sword flashed white light and rose into the air to meet it, dissolving the red glow into nothing in an instant — but another red mark was left upon the blade.

In the distance, the burly man said not a word. From his crimson giant eye red rays shot out like arrows, ceaselessly, incredibly fast, arriving in a blink. Qi Hao blocked them one by one, but he could see the dull red color spreading ever more, and the white radiance of the Cold Ice Immortal Sword gradually dimming.

The three beside him all saw that things were going badly. Zeng Shushu was the first to rush out, directing his magical treasure, the immortal sword Xuanyuan, and was just about to charge in from the side when the burly man merely turned his head slightly, and another red ray shot from the crimson giant eye toward him. Zeng Shushu could not dodge in time, and had no choice but to summon the Xuanyuan Immortal Sword into the air to block that strange red ray.

Midair, the Xuanyuan Immortal Sword gave off a pale purple radiance and at once dissolved the red ray, but a red mark appeared upon the blade as well, like a thorn lodged in bone, and the Xuanyuan Immortal Sword immediately gave a low, trembling hum.

Zeng Shushu felt a sudden baleful aura surge from the blade, as if it meant to invade his body. Fortunately, at such a distance its power was not strong, and the Xuanyuan Immortal Sword itself at once raised an auspicious aura that counteracted this baleful force.

But that was as far as he could go. He watched the burly man far off standing leisurely in place, tilting his head slightly, that crimson giant eye continuously shooting red rays, pinning both Qi Hao and Zeng Shushu where they stood, unable to advance an inch. And as the red marks gradually multiplied, the two felt the baleful aura from the immortal swords growing ever heavier, and, using the swords as a medium, slowly creeping into their bodies.