Chapter 87: The Withering Blood Red Jimsonweed
[Congratulations! A new mythical creature has come into being. You now have 10 available points from introducing greater diversity to the world’s living things through your transformations.]
On Beiluo Lake Island…
Leaning against the railing and listening to the sounds of the wind, Lu Fan downed a mouthful of green plum wine, his white robes swaying gently in the wind.
The system prompt for rewards popped up in front of his eyes.
“Mythical creature? The first Phoenix… What a shame that it’s still a hatchling.”
Lu Fan swirled the alcohol in his bronze wine cup and laughed.
Perhaps it was because the difficulty level of this transformation was not particularly high, so he was only awarded available points and not any transformation reward. This caused Lu Fan to harbour some regret.
If Bai Qingniao wished to raise a true Phoenix, she still had a long way to go.
The Phoenix was an auspicious omen in mythology.
As soon as it became known that Bai Qingniao had a Phoenix, even if it was only a hatchling, anyone on earth would covet it.
At that time, it would be uncertain whether Bai Qingniao would be able to keep this Phoenix.
In contrast, it was Jiang Li’s subordinate—Chi Lian—who made Lu Fan somewhat amazed. She made him understand that this world had no shortage of stubborn and outstanding people.
As for Mo Shougui’s death, he had failed to defeat a mere chicken, so what else could Lu Fan say?
Suddenly, Lu Fan felt a jolt of excitement.
He opened the stats page.
[Host: Lu Fan]
[Title: Qi Refiner (permanent)]
[Refined Qi Level: 2 (Level 3 progress: 445/1000 wisps)]
[Soul Strength: 52 (Points for exchange: 0)]
[Physique Strength: 6 (Points for exchange: 1)]
[Spirit Qi: 389 wisps]
[Transformation Reward: Fantasy Creation Qi Refining Manual, Transformation Technique, Indestructible Demonic Body (Beginner)]
[Current World Ranking: Wuhuang Continent (Low Level Martial World)]
[Access: Quests, Dao Impartment Platform, Spirit Qi Deployment]
[Sub-access: All Method Furnace (Level 1)]
[Spirit Tool: Spirit Pressure Chessboard (Heaven Level Low Grade)]
[Meditation Technique: Heavenly Go Manual (Heaven Level Low Grade)]
[Available Points Awarded: 10]
Lu Fan gazed at the stats page as he sipped on his plum wine.
On the stats page, the [Quests] tab was blinking faintly, as if prompting him to click on it.
He concentrated on it.
The glow of the tab gradually diminished as a prompt popped up.
[Quest explanation: Not only are the progress and advancement of a world demonstrated by an increase in Spirit Qi intensity, but also the diversity of races is a significant representation.]
[Sidequest 1: The Phoenix has appeared, but the heavenly dragon is still far from existence. Create a “Dragon Raising Site” and nurture the first heavenly dragon.]
This time, there were not many quests.
Lu Fan knitted his brows as he stared at the [Quests] page, lost in his own thoughts.
“A Phoenix, a heavenly dragon… Are these in preparation for building a High Level Martial World?” Lu Fan murmured as he leaned back in his wheelchair and felt a gentle breeze caressing his face.
Heavenly dragons and Phoenixes were classified as mythical creatures. Heavenly dragons could tread on clouds, while Phoenixes could fly up to nine days without stopping. Upon reaching maturity, they were sure to become horrifying beings with great destructive potential.
If a High Level Martial Art World were truly created, the appearance of heavenly dragons and Phoenixes would not be surprising at all.
As for the little phoenix hatchling Bai Qingniao was currently raising, it was still very far from becoming a true Phoenix.
“A Dragon Raising Site for raising dragons…?”
This question gave Lu Fan a headache.
In order to raise a dragon, there was first a need to select an organism that could transform into a dragon.
“In 500 years, a water cobra can transform into a river dragon, which can, in turn, transform into a dragon in 1,000 years. In another 500 years, this dragon would be able to transform into a horned dragon, which will become a winged dragon in another 1,000 years.”
A water cobra refers to a snake, which means that snakes can transform into dragons.
Lu Fan could raise a snake into a dragon at the Dragon Raising Site and use Spirit Qi as a catalyst to speed up the evolution and transformation of the snake.
Besides snakes, fish could also transform into dragons. The Chinese saying, “A carp transforms into a dragon upon passing through the dragon gate,” meant exactly that.
Lu Fan pondered over this for a very long time.
And then he came up with a plan.
The Dragon Raising Site… can be linked to the next Secret Realm.
“Sister Ning, some more wine, please.”
Lu Fan regained consciousness and grinned.
Ning Zhao rolled up her sleeves and brought over the green plum wine she had boiled. Then she poured the clear alcohol into Lu Fan’s bronze wine cup.
Lu Fan took a huge whiff of the fragrance given off by the warm alcohol.
Lu Fan’s gaze deepened once again, spanning hundreds of kilometers.
There, a good show was awaiting him.
******
At the Mohist City of Traps in Eastern Lake.
The first-ever assassin, Mo Yiheng, had failed to assassinate the Overlord. In one swift motion, his sword was shattered by the Overlord, and he fell straight into an abyss.
The rangers from the Mo School did not express any emotion in response to this.
To assassins, death was a normal occurrence.
They had come on the iron chain, intending to kill the Overlord.
Although Mo Yiheng had died, there were still hundreds upon thousands of people just like Mo Yiheng.
Yet there was only one Overlord.
As long as the Overlord would die, the West County Army would naturally retreat.
Xiang Shaoyun’s hair blew madly in the wind. The torrential rain poured on his sturdy body, and an eerie glow was reflected off his cold armor.
He caught a glimpse of Mo Yiheng, who had fallen into the abyss.
Mo Yiheng did not appear sad even in the face of death. Instead, he appeared exceptionally calm.
In fact, Xiang Shaoyun even sensed liberation from him.
But of course, Xiang Shaoyun was too lazy to spare much thought to figure out what a deceased person thought.
He looked back.
He raised his long axe high in the air as if he had every intention of chopping off the continuous downpour.
Behind him, the West County warriors were delirious. They waved the long spears in their hands fanatically and responded to their chief commander with roars so loud they could have chased the thunderclouds away!
On the other end of the iron chain, the Mohist rangers, who were clad in black robes, charged forward with swords in their hands.
Zhu’s fiery red attire made her look like a drop of red ink on blotting paper. She steadily ran along the iron chain. On her head were numerous arrows fired from the Mohist City of Traps.
The Overlord’s eyes were like two blazing torches.
He waved his long axe and shield in the air.
Sending the whistling arrows flying one after another, he got on the iron chain in the manner of a demon.
A gigantic eighteen-legged centipede machine, equipped with sharp blades, sprang at Xiang Shaoyun like a giant bug.
Qi and blood surged through Xiang Shaoyun’s body, sending the rain around him out of the void.
The Demonic Qi within the Qi Elixir transformed into an intense pressure and gathered beside him.
Surprisingly, in the face of the Overlord, who was only two meters tall, the gigantic eighteen-legged centipede machine—which was more than ten meters long—appeared timid.
The Overlord’s roar resounded in the storm.
The Western Liang Army’s war drums picked up in tempo. Their beats grew faster and more tightly packed, causing one’s blood vessels to throb and pulsate.
Bearing the entire weight of his axe in one hand, the Overlord swung the weapon downward with great force.
He cut the eighteen-legged centipede machine into two, revealing the part of his body that had been stuck in the now destroyed centipede.
The destroyed centipede machine fell into a bottomless pit.
The Overlord’s entire body was surrounded by a black Demonic Qi. His courage was unparalleled.
The Overlord thoroughly enjoyed this feeling of transcendence, where his strength was concerned.
No matter how strong a Grandmaster was, when it came to being cornered by a thousand people, death was the only way to go.
However, the present Overlord could easily take on a thousand opponents and still emerge triumphantly.
To him, the bloodbath at the Hidden Dragon Ridge was a notable transformation.
Technically, it was Mo Beike who had made the Overlord, Xiang Shaoyun.
The Mohist rangers retreated one after another.
Under the Overlord’s lead, the Western Liang warriors scaled the wall of the Mohist City of Traps effortlessly.
The Mohist City of Traps… was damaged.
******
The sound of violent wheezing lingered.
Mo Liuqi despised his donkey for being too slow. He instantly dismounted and got on his feet, running briskly in the rain.
His quick steps sent mud flying everywhere.
The winding forest paths posed no obstruction to him.
Corpses surfaced from time to time in the white waterfall.
Mo Liuqi did not dare to dawdle.
He was afraid that any delay on his part would rob him of his chance to catch a glimpse of Zhu’s corpse.
He ran unbridled, even as the mountain paths before him were sodden with the rain and the rows of trees on either side of him shook in the strong wind…
At last, brightness could be seen.
He rushed out of the dense forest and came before a thick iron chain.
The 81 Iron Chains before him were covered with Western Liang warriors.
The Mohist City of Traps and the gigantic crossbow machine had been shattered to bits, and the city wall had been fractured…
Mo Liuqi raised his head, as rainwater streamed down his cheeks continuously.
Through the rain, he gazed at the wall of the Mohist City of Traps.
There…
The Overlord’s muscular body stood tall. Even the horrifying storm could not unnerve him one bit.
In fact, his figure atop the city wall was more suffocating than the dark clouds in the sky.
Mo Liuqi’s pupils constricted.
The Overlord carried his axe and shield on his back and cold-bloodedly raised a figure in the air by her neck. The figure was dressed in red robes reminiscent of blood, resembling a blood-red Jimsonweed in bloom.
Mo Liuqi’s heart contracted.
In his hand, he gripped a hairpin with the two crooked words, “Ah Zhu,” engraved on it.
The Western Liang warriors charged toward him one after another, brandishing knives in their hands.
Mo Liuqi sent his Spirit Qi into operation, swiftly dodging the sharp blades. Stepping on the shoulders of the Western Liang warriors, he ran along the iron chain, toward the Mohist City of Traps.
On the Gate Tower…
The Overlord seized the woman in red by the throat.
Even with a mask on, the woman was still gorgeous, and her figure beneath her red robes was extremely hot.
Unfortunately, the Overlord only had Luo Mingsang in his heart. To him, any other woman was merely a human skeleton in makeup.
Nonchalantly, he flung her off the city wall.
The woman’s red robes fluttered. Like a drop of red ink that was rapidly diffusing, she fell from the wall of the Mohist City of Traps.
She resembled a withering flower.
“No!”
Mo Liuqi, who was moving quickly along the iron chain, froze, his face as pale as a ghost.
After throwing the woman in red off the cliff, Xiang Shaoyun turned to go deeper into the Mohist City of Traps. Then, he heard an excruciating scream. His brows furrowed. Feeling something, he stopped in his tracks and slowly turned back.
After seeing Mo Liuqi, who was surrounded by Spirit Qi and in the midst of running toward him, he focused his gaze.
“There are cultivators… at the Mo School too?!”
Mo Liuqi was disoriented.
He had not been this frightened when he failed to assassinate the adviser on Lake Island or even when he dealt with the deadly pressure brought about by Lu Fan’s Spirit Pressure.
With blood dripping from the corners of her mouth, the woman in red seemed to have heard Mo Liuqi’s cries.
Against the backdrop of the rain…
She turned her head tediously and caught a faint glimpse of Mo Liuqi’s silhouette as she continued to fall at breakneck speed.
“Your name is Zhu? That doesn’t sound very nice. How about Ah Zhu?”
“Ah Zhu, won’t you take off your mask just once? Once, just once…”
“When I become the world’s first assassin, you’ll remove your mask for me, won’t you?”
All of a sudden, numerous scenes flashed in front of her eyes.
The corners of her mouth tugged slightly into a smile.
“It’s good that you didn’t die.”
“It’s a pity that…”
“You never got to remove my mask personally.”
On the iron chain…
Mo Liuqi took out a pair of silver scissors and purposefully sending the scissors flying with a hiss.
The sharp end of the scissors flew straight toward the woman in red in an attempt to pierce through her clothes and pin her to the cliff.
But alas…
Mo Liuqi had lost control over the scissors as they flew many meters away.
He could only watch as Zhu fell off a cliff that was shrouded in mist right before his eyes…
Like a drop of blood dripping from his heart, she fell deep into the abyss and broke into smithereens.
The hairpin pierced his skin.
Blood had stained his entire palm.
Perhaps this was the fate of an assassin.
Rain continued beating down.
The world fell into complete silence.
All of a sudden, Mo Liuqi raised his head and stared coldly at the Overlord, who was still standing on the Gate Tower of the Mohist City of Traps.
The silver scissors left the iron chain and cut through the rain, hovering in front of him!
A murderous roar laced with anger and sorrow resounded in his mouth and lingered between the cliff and the waterfall.
“Overlord!!!”