Chapter 164 — The Forbidden Ground
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 1 of 5
The seemingly endless torrent of beast-demons surged frantically wave after wave, with those few gigantic monstrosities as their spearheads, slamming hard against the barrier of light erected by the righteous cultivators. The barrier tottered on the verge of collapse, and fear was beginning to show plainly on the faces of the young disciples nearby. Xiao Yichen frowned deeply, knowing that unless the leading beasts were driven back, the situation would soon spiral beyond control.
He gave a great shout, called the disciples around him, and was the first to charge at one of the nearby giant beasts. But he had scarcely moved, had not flown more than a few paces, when a sudden gust swept past behind him and a figure shot out from his side like lightning, hurtling straight for that beast.
Xiao Yichen glanced at the figure and started. Though stained crimson, the form was slender, cold, and breathtakingly beautiful—it was Lu Xueling. There above the countless black beast-demons and the righteous disciples' barrier, Lu Xueling seemed to ride the wind straight upward, charging at the beast that was dozens of times her own size.
Another figure darted out beside her—Zeng Shuyan. His originally refined appearance was now smeared with patches of blood and filth, and he called urgently to Xiao Yichen: "Brother Xiao, we must go help her."
Xiao Yichen nodded quickly and rushed forward. The giant beast directly opposite them was the colossal skeletal serpent that had once appeared in the Miao people's Seven-Li Gorge in the southern lands. Beneath the black clouds its bones showed a strange pallor, and the three pairs of brilliantly colored wings that trembled ceaselessly behind it were joined directly to the white bone—a sight grotesque beyond words.
At this moment the skeletal serpent had coiled its enormous body, nearly three zhang long, and its three pairs of wings quivered upon the bone. Its forked tongue flicked ceaselessly from its serpent's head, spewing jets of black vapor, and it glared furious-eyed at the barrier of light. Each time its massive head swept past, cultivators of lesser attainment perished—some crushed in its vast maw, others unable to withstand the black poison, which invaded the heart and killed them.
Having slaughtered many in succession, the skeletal serpent looked upon the righteous disciples scattering before it, its great jaws opening and closing. Though no expression could be read on its nearly fleshless face, its arrogance was plain. And just as it exulted, a white shadow flashed before it and a faint, cold cry rang out. A woman of peerless beauty appeared in midair, the blue immortal sword in her hand blazing with dazzling radiance, and she brought it down in a mighty cleave.
The skeletal serpent let out a rasping roar from within its bones, showing not the slightest intent to dodge. It treated the Divine Sword Tianxuan as though it were nothing at all, opened its vast maw, bared two enormous white fangs, and lunged to bite Lu Xueling.
Those fangs, each larger than a man, gleamed with cold white light as they descended from the sky. Facing this horrifying sight, Lu Xueling's face remained icy and utterly expressionless, as though she did not even regard the skeletal serpent as worth her notice. The radiance of Tianxuan blazed brighter still and soared skyward, like a phoenix crying across the nine heavens amid the black vapor. In an instant it severed the black mist, clove the dark clouds asunder, and before the skeletal serpent could react, struck the bone three feet below its head.
"Hiss... crack!"