Beneath the gorge, pale ghostfire corroded the void with a sizzling hiss.
Gu Yue Gang watched helplessly as the azure protective barrier before him shattered layer by layer beneath the ghostfire's assault. His formerly ruddy cheeks had gone deathly pale. The Two-Headed Hound King, at the peak of ninth-level Qi Condensation, fixed all four emerald-green beast eyes on him. Foul-smelling drool dripped from its enormous elongated muzzles. In the next second, it would tear him to pieces.
"No... I'm the Gu Yue clan's prodigy! My uncle is Steward Li Da! How can I die here?!"
Gu Yue Gang roared hysterically, trying to squeeze out the last trace of spiritual power from his parched body.
Yet at the instant the Two-Headed Hound King suddenly leaped, its ghastly fangs less than three feet from Gu Yue Gang's head—a moment suspended between life and death—an unexpected change erupted!
A blinding violet radiance, like lightning ripping through the firmament in the dead of night, plunged violently from above the cliff, more than a dozen zhang high. Its bone-chilling edge even tore open a gap in the howling black fiend wind around them.
"Who are you?!"
Gu Yue Gang's pupils contracted sharply.
Before he could react, the figure crashed down onto the Two-Headed Hound King's back like a meteor. The newcomer was none other than Fang Cunsheng, who had glimpsed a sliver of hope through the Eye of Cause and Effect!
"Roar—!"
Taken by surprise, the Two-Headed Hound King released a thunderous roar of fury. Its massive body shook violently, trying to throw the unwelcome guest from its back.
But Fang Cunsheng's feet seemed to have taken root, planted firmly on the hound king's thick fur. He had not infused the refined-iron longsword in his hand with any flashy sword qi. Yet the direction indicated by its tip was incomparably precise, stabbing toward the gray death line that only he could see—the vulnerable junction where the Two-Headed Hound King's spine met the demon core in its abdomen!
The surging spiritual power of mid-fourth-level Qi Condensation poured forth without the slightest reservation, flooding through the refined-iron longsword like a breached dam.
"Detonate cause and effect. Shatter!"
Fang Cunsheng's voice rang out in his heart.
Boom!
Under the pull of the power of cause and effect, that gray death line instantly spiraled out of control. The Two-Headed Hound King's demon core, which had been operating at full force, seemed to have a spike driven into it. Its violent demon power reversed course in an instant, rampaging wildly through its abdominal cavity.
"Awooooo—!"
The previously arrogant hound king suddenly let out an agonized, ear-piercing howl. Its massive body convulsed as though struck by lightning. Its four thick legs buckled, and it crashed to its knees. Great mouthfuls of black blood mixed with fragments of internal organs sprayed wildly from its two gaping mouths.
One strike had grievously wounded an ancient beast at the peak of ninth-level Qi Condensation!
The sight fell into Gu Yue Gang's eyes not far away like a bolt from a clear sky. He stared blankly at the young man standing on the hound king's back. He knew those clothes well: the blue robes of the lowest-ranking outsider servants in Gu Yue Estate. But when had the outer estate's servants gained such terrifying combat power?!
"You... You're that Fang Cunsheng from the outer estate?!"
Gu Yue Gang finally recognized that face, his eyes filled with disbelief and horror. In his memory, Fang Cunsheng was nothing more than a timid third-level Qi Condensation weakling with abysmal aptitude. How could he possibly grievously injure a hound king that even Gu Yue Gang had been helpless against with a single sword strike?
Fang Cunsheng paid no attention to Gu Yue Gang's shock.
The moment the hound king fell, he used the rebound to flip through the air. His figure transformed into a blurred wisp of azure smoke and, in the blink of an eye, he reached Gu Yue Gang.
The bloodstained refined-iron longsword suddenly swept up a cold arc without warning, stabbing straight toward Gu Yue Gang's throat!
"You dare murder your master?!"
Gu Yue Gang was scared out of his wits. Although his cultivation had reached the eighth level of Qi Condensation, his spiritual power was exhausted and he had suffered internal injuries. Facing Fang Cunsheng, whose momentum was surging like a rainbow, he felt as powerless as if he were confronting a supreme powerhouse at Foundation Establishment.
At the brink of life and death, Gu Yue Gang proved worthy of being a scion of a cultivation house. A ruthless glint flashed through his eyes. He suddenly bit the tip of his tongue and spat a mouthful of essence blood onto a jade pendant he carried.
Buzz!
A faint ring of blood-colored light rippled outward, barely knocking Fang Cunsheng's refined-iron longsword several inches off course. The blade skimmed past Gu Yue Gang's neck, leaving a bloody line.
"Fang Cunsheng! You lowly slave! If you touch me, my uncle Li Da will make you beg for death and be unable to die, then rip out your soul and refine your marrow..."
Gu Yue Gang backed away awkwardly while issuing threat after threat.
But before he could finish, his words abruptly stopped.
He realized that Fang Cunsheng's sword had never been aimed at his throat.
Riiip—
The crisp sound of tearing cloth rang out. Gu Yue Gang felt a chill across his chest. The azure storage talisman hidden inside his undergarment had somehow fallen into Fang Cunsheng's hand.
"No! Give me back the storage talisman!" Gu Yue Gang's expression changed dramatically. Overcome by panic and rage, he spat out another mouthful of blood. It contained not only his entire fortune, but also the core treasure Chief Steward Xu had personally instructed him to use to collect water from the cold pool. Without it, even if he made it back alive, he would still be doomed!
"Give it back? Gu Yue Gang, when you used the lives of several hundred outer-estate servants as your shields, did you ever think of giving their lives back?"
Fang Cunsheng landed steadily three zhang away, idly turning the azure storage talisman in his hand. In his Eye of Cause and Effect, an exceptionally pure blue thread was connected to the talisman, faintly resonating with the cold pool at the very heart of the mountains.
Just as he thought—the water-collecting treasure.
"Roar—!"
At that moment, the grievously wounded Two-Headed Hound King actually staggered back to its feet. The demon beast's bloodthirsty instinct and savage vitality drove it into complete madness. Two pairs of blood-red eyes locked onto Gu Yue Gang and Fang Cunsheng as its enormous body lunged at them once more.
That was not all. The several hundred surviving Two-Headed Mastiffs nearby had also received the hound king's death command and surged toward the center of the gorge like a rising tide.
"Gu Yue Gang, today you're going to savor the taste of using someone else's blade to kill."
Fang Cunsheng let out a cold laugh.
Without the slightest hesitation, the violet radiance in his eyes flared again, and his entire body became an erratic afterimage. Before the densely packed mastiffs could encircle them, he followed the only azure safe route revealed by the Eye of Cause and Effect, grabbed A-Xing, who had just slid down from the cliff to meet him, and plunged headfirst into a hidden cave of jumbled rocks on one side of the gorge without looking back.
"Fang Cunsheng! Even as a ghost, I won't let you off!"
Gu Yue Gang's desperate, venomous scream echoed through the gorge.
Having lost the defensive treasure inside his storage talisman, with his spiritual power exhausted and his body gravely wounded, Gu Yue Gang was instantly swallowed by the rampaging Two-Headed Hound King and the countless Two-Headed Mastiffs pouncing upon him.
Blood stained all of Yegou Ridge red.
A short while later, in a hidden lava cavern deep within the cave of jumbled rocks.
Fang Cunsheng and A-Xing leaned against the warm stone wall, gasping for breath. Repeatedly using the Eye of Cause and Effect across major realms sent waves of needle-like pain through Fang Cunsheng's mind, leaving his face deathly pale, utterly drained of color.
"Cunsheng... Did we really... really get Gu Yue Gang killed?"
A-Xing collapsed onto the ground, his entire body drenched in cold sweat as though he had just been hauled from the water. Even now, his mind remained blank. That was Gu Yue Gang—the prodigy who had lorded it over the inner estate, Chief Steward Li Da's own nephew. Had he really just died in the mouths of a pack of beasts?
"We didn't get him killed. His own cause and effect caught up with him. He merely reaped what he sowed."
Fang Cunsheng endured the stabbing pain in his mind and spoke coldly. He flipped out the azure storage talisman he had taken from Gu Yue Gang and used a thread of spiritual power to forcibly erase the faint spiritual imprint that belonged to him.
Clatter—
The space inside the storage talisman was not large, only a few cubic zhang. As the spiritual imprint vanished, everything inside spilled noisily across the ground.
Several dozen low-grade spirit stones shimmering with multicolored light, several bottles of healing pills and pills that restored spiritual power, a high-grade flying sword radiating a faint chill, and... an ancient, pitch-black jade purification bottle covered in countless profound water-element runes.
The instant the jade purification bottle appeared, the temperature inside the entire cavern dropped several degrees. A thin layer of white frost even formed faintly across the surrounding stone walls.
Fang Cunsheng's gaze locked onto the jade purification bottle.
He focused his attention and saw an incredibly thick azure thread of cause and effect extending from the top of the bottle, running straight to the Netherworld Cold Pool at the very heart of the Blackwind Mountains.
【Cause-and-Effect Prompt: High-grade arcane artifact, ‘Water-Taming Purification Bottle.’ Contains the Divine Cold-Repelling Incantation, which can withstand the bone-piercing chill of Ninefold Nether Profound Water. Only by possessing this bottle can one venture a hundred zhang beneath the cold pool and collect Ninefold Nether Profound Water without suffering the torment of profound energy devouring the body.】
"The Water-Taming Purification Bottle... So this is the inner estate's trump card."
Fang Cunsheng held the black jade bottle in his hand. It felt icy to the touch, yet the circulation of spiritual power through his body unexpectedly became somewhat smoother. With this artifact, his odds of reaching the bottom of the cold pool and seizing the Blackwind Buddha Blade had increased by another thirty percent out of nowhere!
"Cunsheng, look! There's a letter here too!" A-Xing pulled a secret letter sealed with red wax from a pile of miscellaneous items.
Fang Cunsheng took the letter and tore open the seal at once.
The handwriting was bold and flamboyant, carrying an air of condescending authority. Fang Cunsheng recognized it at a glance: it was the handwriting of Chief Steward Xu, the inner estate's chief steward.
But after reading the contents, his expression darkened completely. The killing intent in his eyes nearly solidified.
The letter's contents were simple, yet vicious to the extreme:
"Gang'er, take three hundred lowly outer-estate servants on this trip. When you reach Yegou Ridge, use the Heart-Eating Curse to detonate the servants' flesh and blood, turning them into a Blood-Fiend Lure. The blood-fiend energy will enrage and draw away the ancient beasts around the cold pool. Once that happens, take the Water-Taming Purification Bottle and enter the depths of the pool. After collecting the Ninefold Nether Profound Water, remember to slaughter every remaining servant beside the pool. Use their resentment to seal the disturbance beneath the pool, then return at once."
"Use three hundred lives as bait, then slaughter them all after collecting the water and use them to seal the disturbance beneath the pool..."
Fang Cunsheng laughed in fury, shaking the secret letter in his hand into countless fragments.
No wonder. No wonder the Gu Yue clan had made such a grand show of mobilizing all these low-level servants. From the very beginning, the three hundred of them had never been a ‘water-collecting team.’ They were livestock kept for slaughter, sacrificial offerings to this fiend-haunted forbidden land!
"The Gu Yue clan... What an exalted cultivation house!" Fang Cunsheng spat each word, his voice as cold as chains clanking up from the Ninefold Netherworld.
"Cunsheng, what did the letter say?" Seeing Fang Cunsheng's terrifying expression, A-Xing was too frightened to speak loudly.
"Nothing." Fang Cunsheng drew a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the killing intent in his heart. He swept all the spirit stones and pills from the ground into his possession, then turned to A-Xing. "A-Xing, eat these pills that restore spiritual power. Next, we're going to the cold pool. The Gu Yue clan wants our lives? Then I'll overturn their cold pool and sever their fortune!"
A-Xing did not know exactly what had happened, but Fang Cunsheng's expression told him that it was time to stake everything. He nodded heavily, grabbed the Spring-Return Pills from the ground, and stuffed them into his mouth.
Rumble—
At that moment, a world-shaking boom suddenly erupted from the depths of the Blackwind Mountains outside the lava cavern.
A terrifying black pillar of light shot into the sky, violently scattering the black clouds overhead. Following it came a terrifying Core Formation-stage pressure that made even Fang Cunsheng's soul tremble, as though an ancient demon god were slowly awakening from its slumber.
That direction was the Netherworld Cold Pool!
The cold pool had stirred, and the Core Formation-stage Black Bear Demon had gone berserk!
Fang Cunsheng abruptly rose to his feet. Through a gap in the lava cavern, he stared toward the black pillar of light, the violet radiance in his eyes burning to its absolute peak.
"The main event is starting. Let's go!"
Amid the black fiend wind filling the sky, the two young figures vanished completely into the deepest heart of the Blackwind Mountains.