Chapter 428: The Little Girl at the Lotus Pond (2)
Upon hearing Zi Shang’s words, Yun Jiuge immediately cast a ray of Spiritual Light to stop the soldiers from getting into the water. Thereafter, she brandished her whip and flogged every single soldier who tried to save the little girl.
“Lady Yun, what are you doing?” Leng Hui asked. His heart ached when he saw his soldiers being whipped by Yun Jiuge.
“Did I say you could get in the water?” Yun Jiuge yelled. Her face was expressionless and her stern eyes swept across the soldiers’ faces. Her gaze eventually rested on Leng Hui before she continued, “You promised me that you’d listen to everything that I say. But, you and your men were clearly acting however you pleased earlier. Is this how you lead your men?”
“I was wrong. Please punish me accordingly, Lady Yun,” Leng Hui apologized at once. There were still seven cores of the spell formation that needed to be destroyed. He could not afford to offend Yun Jiuge right now.
Although Yun Jiuge knew that Leng Hui was not entirely at fault, she still gave him a whip mercilessly.
She knew she had to teach them a painful lesson now, or they might end up making a bigger, irrevocable mistake in the future.
The 300 elite soldiers only revered Yun Jiuge more after seeing how the emperor of their kingdom was willing to be punished by her in order to appease her.
Yun Jiuge noticed that the soldiers had come to their senses, and she immediately asked Zi Shang, “What’s wrong with the Lotus Pond? How are we supposed to destroy it?”
“Get them to dig a hole and drain all the water in the Lotus Pond,” Zi Shang answered. He controlled Yun Jiuge’s hands and drew two purple lines at the edge of the Lotus Pond while saying, “Ask them to dig a deep hole within these two lines.”
Yun Jiuge glanced at the area that had been marked out by the purple lines. She then grouped the 300 elite soldiers into three different groups and got them to take turns to dig at that area.
Digging a hole was not a difficult task for the elite soldiers. In fact, it was something that they could even easily do with their bare hands. And that was exactly what some of the bolder and stronger soldiers decided to do.
However, those soldiers did not expect the brown soil in the Lotus Pond to be as hard as iron.
“You’ve to use your Spiritual Power as you dig,” Yun Jiuge reminded them from the side. This place would not be regarded as the core of a spell formation if it could be destroyed so easily.
The first group of soldiers who got down to work were panting heavily and were drenched in sweat after digging for around 30 minutes.
“Let the second group take over now,” Yun Jiuge instructed. She felt a little anxious when she saw how little progress they were making. It was a race against time to destroy the spell formation. Things could get very difficult for them later on if they were to waste too much time here.
“I’ll do it,” Leng Hui offered as he stepped forward with a shovel in his hands.
Leng Hui was in the Core Formation stage, and he was able to dig through the soil much more quickly than the soldiers who were still in the Qi Refining stage.
The soldiers felt ashamed when they saw that their emperor had to step in and lend them a hand. They gave their all thereafter. With Leng Hui’s help, they managed to dig a deep hole in an hour’s time.
“That’s enough. All of you, get out of that area now!” Yun Jiuge said. She got the soldiers to retreat to a spot about 100 meters away from the Lotus Pond before she manipulated her Wicked Blade to destroy the wall made of soil in the Lotus Pond.
Her Wicked Blade left a big hole on the wall, but strangely, the black pond water did not even move an inch. It was as though the water had turned to ice. Not a single drop of water flowed out.
“Zi Shang, what should we do next?” Yun Jiuge asked. There was definitely something odd about the Lotus Pond.
“Drip a drop of your blood into the pond to entice the water to move towards the hole. Be careful though — don’t get swallowed up by the water,” Zi Shang instructed.
“Okay,” replied Yun Jiuge as she punctured her finger and squeezed out a single drop of blood.
The black pond water immediately came to life the moment it detected the scent of blood. It acted like a ravenous shark and began chasing after Yun Jiuge’s blood crazily.
Yun Jiuge wrapped the drop of blood with her Spiritual Power before she walked around the edge of the Lotus Pond slowly. Her actions caused numerous turbulent waves to form in the pond, and they chased after Yun Jiuge’s blood frantically.
Yun Jiuge used her blood to guide the pond water towards the hole in the wall.
The black and viscous pond water chased after Yun Jiuge’s blood without hesitation and it burst through the wall in an instant.
The water in the Lotus Pond slowly began to disappear, and the white-skinned little girl looked even more fearful than before when she noticed what was happening. It did not take long before her full body was exposed.
Thereafter, a putrid stench permeated the entire place. Several soldiers finally saw what was within the Lotus Pond, and the sight caused them to puke.
Underneath the white-skinned little girl were countless human skulls with razor sharp teeth. They were strewn all over the bottom of the pond. If the soldiers had entered the pond earlier, they definitely would have been devoured whole by these skulls.
The pink lotus was positioned right above the skulls, and it became extremely frightened when it lost the protection of the pond water around it. It hastily opened the mouths on its petals and led out a distressed shriek in an attempt to call the water back to it.
The black pond water stopped pursuing Yun Jiuge the moment it heard the shriek. It looked like it wanted to return to the Lotus Pond.
Yun Jiuge noticed that the pond water had stopped chasing after her, and she immediately lowered the drop of blood to try and entice the water to move towards her once again.
The pond water hesitated for a moment before it grew in size exponentially and transformed into a big black mouth. Then it lunged at the drop of blood and attempted to swallow it.
Yun Jiuge was taken aback by the water’s sudden change in appearance. She quickly tried to withdraw the drop of blood, but it was too late by then.
Right at that moment, Zi Shang appeared. He hit the pond water with a single strike of his palm and retrieved Yun Jiuge’s drop of blood.
The pond water crashed onto the ground. However, it seemed to know that Zi Shang was not to be trifled with, and it chose not to fight back. Instead, it began rushing back towards the Lotus Pond.
“Trying to run away?” Zi Shang asked as a look of annoyance surfaced on his dashing face. He immediately cast a stream of purplish fog at the hole in the wall with his palm.
The black pond water collided against the fog and was deflected off it. However, that did not stop it from trying to return to the Lotus Pond. It kept charging at the fog, determined to break through the fog at all costs.
“Why are you just standing there? Hurry up and destroy all those skulls in the Lotus Pond!” Zi Shang hollered. He did not forget to keep Yun Jiuge’s drop of blood in his mouth as he fought with the black pond water.
“Oh, okay!” Yun Jiuge replied as she snapped out of her reverie. She immediately called out to Leng Hui, “Hurry up! The faster we destroy this Lotus Pond, the earlier we can help Leng Mo and Leng Bai.”
Leng Hui wondered who the handsome man who suddenly appeared was.
However, he did not have the time to guess. He quickly instructed his elite soldiers to burn the skulls in the Lotus Pond.
A ball of gray Spiritual Flame flew towards the lotus.
The lotus let out an ear-splitting shriek at the sight of the Spiritual Flame. It immediately used the skulls underneath it to extinguish the flame.
Leng Hui was forced to draw upon even more Spiritual Power inside of him to keep the Spiritual Flame alive, and beads of sweat soon dappled his forehead. Likewise, the elite soldiers also began sending more Spiritual Power towards the flame. They finally managed to keep it from being extinguished by the skulls.
The lotus realized that it was not going to be able to put out the Spiritual Flame. It quickly let out another shriek. However, its shriek sounded different this time round.
The white-skinned little girl was galvanized into action at once. She flew towards where the pond water was with countless skulls behind her.
“Scram!” Zi Shang shouted as he unleashed a cloud of purplish fog using his palm and sent the white-skinned little girl back to where she previously was. The skulls behind her were also sent flying and they all ended up being devoured by the Spiritual Flame.
“Take the medicine, Leng Hui,” Yun Jiuge said. She had passed him a bottle of Spiritual Revitalization Pills previously. Leng Hui had only intended to take the pills after he entered the tower, but it looked like he could not afford to wait till then.
He reluctantly took one Spiritual Revitalization Pill before he injected his Spiritual Power into the ball of gray Spiritual Flame once again.
The Spiritual Flame skyrocketed and it did not take long before the whole Lotus Pond was engulfed by it. The lotus shrieked hysterically and kept using the skulls beneath it to block the flame.
The black pond water, knowing that it was in a dire predicament, began to charge at the fog with even more strength than before. However, all its efforts were in vain. It was not able to escape from Zi Shang’s clutches.
All the skulls within the Lotus Pond were burned to ashes in no time. Only the white-skinned little girl and the lotus remained now.
The lotus realized that there was no way out, and it withered on the spot. Its pink petals that had mouths on top of them flew towards the white-skinned little girl’s body.
“I’m begging you! Please let me go! Please! Let me go!” The mouth on the white-skinned little girl’s face was instantly restored when the petals came into contact with her body. She went on her knees and begged Yun Jiuge.
The little girl’s frail, innocent voice sounded just like that of Cui Cui’s.
The soldiers could not help but think of their own younger sisters and loved ones when they heard her.
Every single one of them, including Leng Hui, could not bear to kill her.
However, they also vividly remembered the pain they felt from Yun Jiuge whipping them earlier. Thus, no one dared to beg Yun Jiuge to let the girl live either.
“My dear child, rest in peace!” Yun Jiuge muttered with a sigh before she snapped her fingers. In the next moment, a ball of White Bone Flame landed on the white-skinned little girl.