Chapter 35 — Misunderstandings Multiply
Sea of Primordial Tribulation · Page 1 of 3
"Hai! You fiend, this poor Taoist will fight you to the death!" Old Taoist Chen Kong was trapped within the blood cloud, and the essence, qi, and true yuan of his whole body were draining away without cease. Even with all his power he could not check the loss. His guardian flying sword had long since been devoured whole by the blood cloud, not even dregs left behind.
He watched the girl he had been shielding swallowed by the blood cloud, leaving only a stark white skeleton, which then crumbled to the ground and scattered into a heap of white powder. Old Taoist Chen Kong desperately circulated his power to withstand the blood cloud's devouring, but it was a cup of water on a burning cart—in an instant a third of him had been drained away, and the skin of his whole body had shriveled considerably.
Old Taoist Chen Kong felt an unprecedented fury. He knew he would not escape this day, and with a great roar he detonated the true yuan of his entire body, hoping to blast apart the blood cloud and take Zhou Xuan with him to death.
How powerful is the surging true yuan of a Spirit Transformation cultivator? Detonated, it would reduce everything within ten li to fine dust. Yet the blood cloud formed by the Blood-Transforming Divine Blade was viscous and tenacious, wrapping Chen Kong's self-detonating true yuan in a death grip.
Boom! A tremendous roar burst from within the blood cloud. The mass of blood cloud swelled to three zhang across, then abruptly contracted again. The blood light that filled the sky vanished utterly, condensing into a faint thread of crimson that shot into Zhou Yan's hand.
The sun shone down once more, but the forest was unrecognizable. The trees had vanished completely; for a dozen zhang around it was as though a nuclear bomb had struck—not a blade of grass remained, the earth was scorched black, and no trace of life could be seen. The once imposing old Taoist Chen Kong and the girl had not left so much as a hair in this world.
Liao Yanqiao and the other two were left gaping like idiots by this chain of events, unable to tell truth from illusion, until Zhou Xuan—*pff!*—spat out a mouthful of blood. Only then did Liao Yanqiao come to his senses. He was just about to speak when Zhou Jin waved a hand: "That fellow's self-detonation shook my internal organs. The commotion just now was far too great—we leave at once!" With that, he turned into a faint thread of blood light and vanished. Liao Yanqiao sneered in contempt, and the three of them concealed their forms and followed Zhou Xuan.
Bang! A palm slammed onto the table, and the several cups upon it shattered, scalding tea splashing across the floor.
"Ling Fei! Tell me, how have you been serving as this Dragon Group leader? Four members missing, their whereabouts unknown to this day, and now their families are demanding we produce them, and Maoshan is demanding the same of us. What do you expect me to do?" A middle-aged man in a Zhongshan suit sat by the table, his face contorted with rage. Ling Fei stood not far off, deeply embarrassed, unable to summon a word.
"Wuliang Tianzun! Director Zhang, this matter is not Ling Fei's fault either. This poor Taoist received my junior brother Chen Kong's dying thought-message. When I met nephew-disciple Ling Fei at the scene, I discovered that before his death Chen Kong had come into contact with four Dragon Group members. This poor Taoist calculated by the innate hexagrams—alas! I fear the four members have met with grave misfortune." The speaker was a yellow-robed Taoist seated in a corner. This old Taoist was none other than Daoist Chen Yi, sect master of the Ailao Mountain lineage.